Born Wild: Saturday 5:00 PM

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Hey, welcome to Crossroads.

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Now as you might notice,

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this is a bit of a different weekend for us.

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In addition to the, well,

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few tons of dirt that we've got here,

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in just a few minutes

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there's going to be a wild horse on this stage

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Wild as in never been saddled, never been ridden.

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And a good friend of our community, Todd Pierce,

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in just under an hour is going to help this horse understand

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who it was created to be and what it was created for.

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This horse is going to understand more

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of the beautiful potential that God has put into it.

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And along the way, I think you and I can see the same thing

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You and I are going to go on this journey as well

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to understand that we have a lot to relate to this horse about,

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that God has beautiful potential for us

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and wants us to walk in power and in freedom.

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Now you might be wondering, hey, how does the horse do?

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Is the horse ok with the lights and the sounds and the crowds?

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The horse does great.

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This has been done many, many, many times by Todd and his team.

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They are experts at it.

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And we've got an great veternary staff here

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to make sure the horses are well taken care of.

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The important thing here is that

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in the same way this horse is going to understand

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more of the fullness of what God created it to be,

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you and I are going to understand

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and have a clear picture of who God is

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and how He created us to run free.

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[music: Dear God]

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- Well, welcome to Crossroads, everybody.

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How are we today? [cheers] Great.

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Hey, how are you doing? How are you?

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Good to see you. I've never met before.

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Yes, this is a real horse.

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And that was real poop

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you saw about 45 seconds ago. Yeah.

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You might get to throw somebody in that in a little bit.

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Yeah.

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Hey, I'm so glad you came to Crossroads.

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Whatever site you're at, if you're streaming with us,

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it's really, really good to be with you today.

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Let me tell you a couple things of what's happening.

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What you're going to see today is real.

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It's not fabricated. It's not planned.

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People know that Crossroads is a pretty big church.

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You're able to get pretty big because

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you understand systems and processes

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and all that stuff that has to happen

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for something to grow and deal with scale.

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The downside of that is because we're a big church,

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people assume we're not telling the truth oftentimes.

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They assume that there's some ulterior agenda.

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They assume that it's not really what we're saying.

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But I'm telling you, this is the really real.

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I've got my friend here, Todd Pierce,

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who has never seen this horse.

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We're doing eight different experiences over this week.

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Every time it's a different horse.

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That horse has never had a saddle on it.

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A person has never been on the horse.

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They may have been around the horses,

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but never been on the horse.

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And Todd didn't choose the horses,

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has never seen the horse.

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So my friend Todd, it's the first time

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he's seen this horse right now.

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Is it at he? [horse whinny]

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Is he a he or a she? He?

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[laughter] I can't --

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Oh, yeah. There you go. All right.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good for you. Good for you. Okay.

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So, a few years ago I had Todd Pierce on my podcast.

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Somebody recommended he should do that

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or I should have him on.

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We had a good conversation,

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and then about a year or so later,

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he invited me on a hunting trip in Idaho.

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And I said, great, I'll go.

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So we became friends then, and he actually

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told me what he did. I didn't really understand it.

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That he has this magical, mystical,

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really strange connection with horses.

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He was a professional rodeo bareback rider

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back in the day.

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And he has this unique ability to connect with horses.

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And he's basically, he doesn't like what I say this,

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he's basically a horse whisperer.

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He can understand horses.

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He can get them to do what other people

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have not been able to get them to do.

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He can enable a horse to ride him in under an hour.

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It's happened every time.

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We'll see if it happens now,

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because of the connection, he has the horse

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and it's not his abilities with a horse.

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It's also his understanding of the character of God.

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And he treats the horse like God treats us.

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He has an attitude towards the horse

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like the attitude God has towards us.

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And that right there is the problem

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with many of us, because a lot of us think

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that God has a bad attitude towards us.

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We have a bad understanding of God.

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We think God is just waking up

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on the wrong side of the bed all the time

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and just wanting to take it out on us,

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and he's always looking for us to screw up.

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And that's part of why many of us

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just aren't that interested into God,

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or aren't interested in giving Him our whole life.

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So, every horse presents a unique person in this room.

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Some of you may find, like that horse is me.

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If you came another experience,

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you might look at that horse and said,

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that horse is me.

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All of these horses are different

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and many of us are going like, that's my story.

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It's pretty cool.

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So, why don't we welcome on stage

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my friend Todd Pierce.

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Well, I've been a little frustrated because

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our previous times the horse has been, like,

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really small and incredibly tame with like,

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like guinea pigs, basically.

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- He's not the one that has to ride him.

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Right.

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Not this guy, though. This guy is--

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- No. He's big. - And it's interesting.

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The last one that we did actually was a --

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What? Females are mares? Fillies?

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- Well, she'd be a filly because she's only two.

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She's a mare after she's older and has a baby.

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- Okay, so a female.

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And I was surprised by that one because

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she just looked nice and sweet, was coming up to me

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and loving me and everything.

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But then once you got in, she was like, woo.

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- Yeah, you don't go there. - Yeah.

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- She was -- And a lot of us are like that.

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We look good, we seem nice, but as soon as

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someone presses us into us a little bit,

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it's like we're out, our claws are out.

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So you just never know. So.

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- Yeah. So, you want to ride this one?

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- Maybe, I'll see how you do on it.

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I'll do want him.

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He looks pretty intense, though, I got to tell you.

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- Yeah, well we'll see what he has to say about it.

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- And one thing we should probably tell everybody,

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and then I'll get off the stage and let you do your thing.

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Make sure you tell one of your stories.

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I keep telling you, tell your stories

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because they're all so good.

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This horse is not freaked out.

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We have a lot of people concerned

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about the safety of horses.

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Todd's more concerned about the safety of horse

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than anybody in here is.

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He's a hyper, hyper horse lover.

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It's not as loud in the ring as it is in our sights

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because the speakers are coming out to you.

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The horse is certainly in a strange environment

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like what's going on here,

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but the horse is not being hurt.

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In fact, the horse is going to be helped today.

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So, horse is fine. They're doing really well.

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Anything else you want to tell us

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before we're letting you do your thing?

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- No. Thank you. - All right, man.

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- And yeah, I just honor you for doing

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all this work and getting me here.

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- I'm not doing all the work.

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I'm just watching you do the work,

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and it's really good, so thank you.

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- All right. Wow.

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This is -- How many of you have never been

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to one of these experiences?

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That's quite a few of you.

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I don't think I'm ever going to get used

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to walking into a church and seeing a horse.

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And and so I --it's kind of like,

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I don't want to get used to it because

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this is such a unique thing

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and there's been so much effort put into it.

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And it takes some really courageous people

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that decide that if Jesus said

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it was worth it to die

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so that you and I could live,

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we've got a church that's, like,

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what will we not do in order for people

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to understand the goodness of God?

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And so they didn't do this

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because they wanted to put on a show.

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They understand the the principles that Jesus used

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and He loved to teach through parables.

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He loved to give physical pictures

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of spiritual truths so that people could

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at least consider the depth of who they are.

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That just because you can't understand it

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with your brain doesn't make it not real.

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That there's things that are going to go

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beyond your understanding, and they're going

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to transform something inside of you.

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And so today, if you've got enough hope

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or enough faith to believe that in a moment,

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that in one evening that God can actually

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heal you and transform you,

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just raise your hand with me.

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I want to see how much faith we got in the room.

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Okay. I love the honesty.

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There's people that are like, "I don't know.

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We'll see about that."

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Which is super honest because I love that

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Jesus just walked through crowds

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and He did His thing, and He's the Son of God,

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He's God incarnate, walking around

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with all the power and the authority

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over the universes, over galaxies.

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And He just walked among people

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and they rejected Him or they loved Him.

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And the truth was still what He was here to reveal.

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Oh, I don't know if y'all heard that,

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but it was like [raspberry sound].

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Yeah, if looks could kill.

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So I'm going to just introduce myself to him

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because I'm just another person to him.

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He has no idea why he's here and.

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Yeah, so we're going to talk for a minute

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in ways that he understands a little bit better

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because he doesn't understand English.

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But He understands this. Let's go, son.

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[music]

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- There's a lot of conversation going on right now.

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And he doesn't have any reason to trust me.

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And so he's paying attention to a lot of things

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that you guys can't perceive right now.

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But there's this relentless pursuit of God

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that makes it to where all of us

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are in this building.

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And I don't know how you got here,

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whether you were led here or drug here

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or driven here or something pulled you here.

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But I hope that none of you take for granted

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that you're sitting in this space right now

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because if we can just embrace a moment

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and realize the significance of it,

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then we won't be like the fools that

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just go through life thinking that

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they can take things for granted

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and have no consequence to it.

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So I'm just negotiating with him and in a way

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that he already knows that I'm powerful.

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And he's got a proper understanding of that.

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What he doesn't know yet is if I'm good.

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The Bible says that it's the goodness of God

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that leads people to repentance.

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And the only way I know to display goodness to him

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is that he's paying attention

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to what's going on inside of me.

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He's got senses that we don't have,

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and he's so in tune to what's going on

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in the in the room right now.

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And so, if you will, I would love everybody

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to just take a big old deep breath,

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like from your belly all the way in.

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Let's just say, "Holy Spirit,

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You really are welcome here.

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We don't understand all of Your ways,

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but we just know that You're good

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and we want to be transformed by You."

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That's a good boy.

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[music]

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- I wish you all could feel what I feel right now.

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It's not just his breath.

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It's not just smelling me.

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He's having a face to face encounter that

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you will never see him do this with another horse.

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He knows that there's something different

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than what he's ever experienced.

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And all the fear and the aggression,

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you can feel it melting away.

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But he's got a story

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and he didn't just show up here.

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He's been through some things and I see some marks

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and I see some battle wounds, so to speak.

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I see some fear in his eyes.

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But it's really quickly looking like fire.

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And he wants to know what to do with it.

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[music]

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- So much beauty and power and potential.

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So much fear and anxiety and so much reason to have it.

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And if he could tell you a stories, it would be --

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Oh, Brian. Brian Tome is the pastor.

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So that's why I keep saying Brian because

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he keeps putting these thoughts in my head

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and I'm like --

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So when I was just a boy

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I had some learning disabilities,

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and there was a time I can remember

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I was like in second grade

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and everybody was going around the classroom

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and reading, and it got to me.

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And I didn't know that this was a problem,

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but I didn't know how to read very good.

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And so I was sounding out my words

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and trying to read,

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and the whole classroom laughed.

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And I don't really remember feeling sad about it,

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but I do remember something

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that I decided in that moment,

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and that was that I'm dumb. Go figure.

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I didn't realize I'm the dumb kid in class,

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but I'm actually the dumb kid in class.

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And I can laugh about it now only because

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Jesus has come in and didn't take away

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the event in my life that helped me

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understand something different

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than what I had heard in that moment.

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There's a story that's been told throughout my life,

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and some of it hasn't been true.

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And Jesus doesn't just come to save us

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from going to hell.

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He comes to make it to where we become whole people again.

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And so whatever it is that's got in the way

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for this horse, it's just part of his story

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that he's made some decisions somewhere along the way,

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apart from the fact that he's just naturally wild

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and wants to do things on his own.

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Outside of those instincts, he's got

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some other reasons why he's afraid right now,

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and there's events in his life that have happened

00:26:00

that have helped him make those decisions.

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And so I'm going to ask him to reconsider

00:26:05

some of the things that he believed about people

00:26:08

and what he believed about authority

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and what he believed about himself.

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I couldn't undo what happened in that classroom,

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but what I could do is realize that

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it just wasn't true.

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And it mattered to that little boy.

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Come to find, I really can't read very good.

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So -- But I ain't dumb, or not dumb as some think.

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I sure do learn different than everybody else or --

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Yeah.

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But I want to help him with those things,

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and I'll be patient with him because

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I can tell that they go really deep.

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But it's amazing what happens when

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fear gets love to it.

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It's not just truth, it's love.

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And when truth and love are what it is

00:27:09

that Jesus said that He was, then it's like,

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"Oh, I can see now what you're talking about, King Jesus.

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And if it's that Spirit that was you were carrying,

00:27:18

that Holy Spirit is and it's the same Spirit

00:27:22

that made You raise from the dead.

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That's pretty dang powerful.

00:27:26

And if it's that loving and kind and tender,

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then I want to spend the rest of my life

00:27:33

just experiencing what it's like

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to have Your presence."

00:27:41

And when he said that He'll bind up broken pieces

00:27:44

and He'll bring healing

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and it'll make our hearts whole again.

00:27:52

Is it possible?

00:27:55

Is it possible for us to actually be healed

00:27:58

and be whole again?

00:28:01

I'll tell you, my wife and I, we're --

00:28:04

We're just -- We got our minds made up,

00:28:07

we're going to spend the rest of our lives

00:28:09

learning how to be whole together,

00:28:11

instead of just bringing our brokenness to each other

00:28:14

and feeding off of each other's brokenness.

00:28:19

It brings so much courage when her and I

00:28:24

in just honesty and sincerity towards each other

00:28:26

can just talk about our stories

00:28:28

and the ways that we've been hurt

00:28:30

and the ways that we've hurt each other.

00:28:36

I need a stepladder.

00:28:42

I don't know how to get on you without startling you.

00:28:48

So, kind of chewing right now.

00:28:52

It's kind of a sign like, it would be

00:28:55

like if I was talking to someone, they said,

00:28:57

"Okay, it's okay, we're good right now."

00:29:05

Which is really shocking that he's good with all this.

00:29:10

But it's not just happening to him,

00:29:12

it's happening in him.

00:29:14

And there's stuff that's happening in you right now.

00:29:17

It's not happening to you.

00:29:19

And your story

00:29:20

and the reason you're in this building,

00:29:34

it starts to make sense when this Prince of Peace

00:29:36

enters our story and start showing us

00:29:40

the broken pieces and He's not afraid of it.

00:29:50

You're so brave.

00:29:59

Remember this? Hmm?

00:30:05

[music]

00:33:22

[whinny]

00:33:27

- I'm purposely making myself vulnerable to him

00:33:30

only because he doesn't understand this language.

00:33:34

He doesn't know why someone that carries

00:33:37

the authority and the power that I have,

00:33:39

something that he's afraid of, would be here.

00:33:44

And I think this is why, like, the imagery

00:33:47

of what it is that Jesus did to where

00:33:55

He just put Himself in this position and He says,

00:33:57

"I'm going to let you all kill Me now,"

00:33:58

because I don't ever want you to question,

00:34:02

have any doubt how far would have Jesus gone

00:34:06

so that I could be saved.

00:34:15

I'm not sure why it takes so much convincing,

00:34:18

but somehow I was able to ignore the fact

00:34:23

that God actually loved me

00:34:24

and had a plan for my life for 21 years.

00:34:30

But once I realized that,

00:34:32

I don't know what else to do with my life

00:34:35

other than continue to stay in this place

00:34:38

of just knowing what is it like to be loved,

00:34:42

so loved that I'm not ashamed,

00:34:45

that I'm reminded of my strengths

00:34:47

and how intentional Jesus has been

00:34:51

about bringing me to this place.

00:35:01

No. Don't clap.

00:35:08

I know. You want to help me up?

00:35:17

Yeah. That's not going to help much, huh?

00:35:24

So, he's all rigid and heartbeat's going.

00:35:30

He's pretty, pretty startled.

00:35:36

Am I going to help him if I respond to him

00:35:38

with the same level of anxiety?

00:35:42

Or can he realize that, "Okay, that was super scary.

00:35:46

What just happened?" Nothing, son.

00:35:51

We're just learning, and I won't always fall off.

00:35:57

One day you're going to move really, really fast

00:35:59

and we're going to do it together.

00:36:12

It's okay. It's okay.

00:36:15

[music]

00:38:14

- He's trembling.

00:38:21

And he's giving me a hug.

00:38:27

I know I hugged him first,

00:38:29

but he's given me his face.

00:38:36

He wants to be comforted.

00:38:40

And if this is what Holy Spirit is as a comforter,

00:38:46

then let's let everything that's between us,

00:38:49

anything that's getting in the way,

00:38:51

make sure it's not in the way anymore.

00:39:06

Good boy. You're built to carry me.

00:39:19

And whenever you do that, it's going to blow your mind

00:39:28

what it is that you and I can do together.

00:39:35

If God said that we were created in His image,

00:39:38

and we choose to live our lives separated from Him.

00:40:11

Good job.

00:42:21

I remember the day that someone taught me

00:42:26

what it means to repent, because I know

00:42:27

when I gave my life to Jesus, I just --

00:42:30

I just wanted Him to fix me, like I'm broken.

00:42:34

I'm addicted to all sorts of things,

00:42:38

and I'm hurting the people that I love the most.

00:42:43

I just wanted it over.

00:42:49

And here we are 30 years later,

00:42:52

still have the same heart cry that,

00:42:57

"Papa, I want to be whole.

00:42:59

I need You now more than ever.

00:43:01

I'm so grateful for what You've done in me,

00:43:03

what You're continuing to do in me."

00:43:06

But we don't outgrow it.

00:43:17

Repentance was just given to me as a way

00:43:21

to just rethink what it is that I believe.

00:43:26

Is what I believe about myself based on

00:43:28

my experiences and what the world has told me?

00:43:30

Or is there -- Does God actually have

00:43:33

something to say about who I am?

00:43:39

And is He going to be patient enough with me

00:43:41

that while I'm in my process and figuring it out,

00:43:46

how do I even move?

00:43:48

Because He doesn't know how to move right now.

00:43:50

Because the last time he moved, he moved

00:43:52

and then he scared and moved too fast

00:43:54

and I fell off.

00:43:56

And it's like, I've got to build some confidence

00:43:59

with him that he knows how to move his feet,

00:44:03

and it's not going to --

00:44:07

He wants to stay in this place,

00:44:09

but I love him too much to let him just stay here.

00:44:20

[clicks tongue] Yeah.

00:44:42

[music]

00:46:58

- So much courage.

00:47:06

Every one of us have been given

00:47:10

a place of influence.

00:47:14

And the influence that you've been trusted with,

00:47:18

I hope you're thinking through some of those things,

00:47:22

because we're stewards of one heart,

00:47:24

and how it is that we steward our inner man,

00:47:27

the way we're stewarding ourselves is how it is

00:47:29

that we're going to steward the people around us.

00:47:36

Yeah, you may have heard the phrase

00:47:39

that hurt people hurt people.

00:47:43

It's just true.

00:47:46

But until I'm not a hurt person,

00:47:48

there are some things that I can learn

00:47:51

that I don't have to keep hurting the people

00:47:53

around me to get my way,

00:47:54

because that's not really what I want.

00:47:57

I want to preserve a connection that makes it

00:47:59

to where I continue to have access.

00:48:22

[music]

00:51:28

- Step by step,

00:51:31

and it's going to take him a little bit

00:51:34

and we're not going to get it done tonight.

00:51:36

I'm really, really grateful for the courage

00:51:38

that he showed and the willingness to say yes

00:51:43

when every part of him is screaming, no.

00:51:46

I don't want to be one of those Christians.

00:51:52

I don't know what those are like,

00:51:55

but I know what you're going to be like

00:51:57

because you're ruined now.

00:52:00

You can't ever look in the mirror the same.

00:52:04

If this is how far Papa would go to say,

00:52:08

"You are My beloved one and My favor is resting on you.

00:52:12

All I want is oneness with you."

00:52:16

We got a lifetime to learn to walk.

00:52:21

It won't take that long with this guy.

00:52:26

I would love to have some more time with him,

00:52:28

to tell you the truth.

00:52:34

One more step, huh? One more step.

00:52:42

I don't know.

00:52:44

I think you're really ready to go on a lap.

00:52:54

So, when I was in college, I went to college,

00:52:58

got on the track team as a pole vaulter.

00:53:01

And I had a really bad coach in high school,

00:53:05

so he taught me to go just high enough

00:53:07

that a college scout thought,

00:53:09

"Man, I could do something with that kid."

00:53:12

So, all he did was taught me to go higher

00:53:14

with really bad form.

00:53:16

So sometimes I'd go really high

00:53:19

and sometimes I'd go really far.

00:53:23

And the really far sucked because

00:53:26

there's only mats for so far

00:53:28

and then there's not mats anymore.

00:53:31

And so one day I went far

00:53:37

and knocked myself out

00:53:39

and broke my pelvis right down the middle.

00:53:42

And when you knock yourself out, you're not always --

00:53:46

You haven't got your wits about you.

00:53:48

So I thought, "Well, that was embarrassing."

00:53:52

So I got up and walked down to the end

00:53:54

of the runway and started taking off running.

00:53:56

And my legs weren't going the right directions.

00:53:59

And I realized that something's wrong.

00:54:04

So, when Brian was saying that the reason

00:54:06

I just fall off, now that I'm 52,

00:54:11

somehow that injuries need to be re-healed.

00:54:18

And so, from a horsemanship perspective,

00:54:25

I'm not going to claim to be any kind of horseman.

00:54:30

There's people that can teach horses to do

00:54:31

amazing things, and I'm not one of those guys.

00:54:35

So don't mistake this as horsemanship.

00:54:37

I don't recommend this at any level,

00:54:40

other than what the intended purpose is,

00:54:44

is that you can see how powerful love is

00:54:46

and what happens when you carry peace into a storm.

00:54:50

Because there was a storm raging inside of this guy,

00:54:53

and there was no way you were going to get close to him.

00:54:59

And to do this? Not in your wildest dreams.

00:55:05

He couldn't. He couldn't even imagine this.

00:55:10

And I think that this is how, like,

00:55:14

if you'll give permission to Holy Spirit to say

00:55:18

if we're going to take it this deep,

00:55:20

what does it mean for me to respond to this love

00:55:23

and this message that makes it to where

00:55:24

I don't walk out of this building

00:55:26

the same person that I came in as?

00:55:31

Jesus said it was worth it.

00:55:36

I think this guy's sufficiently demonstrated

00:55:41

that it's worth it.

00:55:44

Like, how tragic would it been had all of his fear

00:55:48

and his insecurities made it to where

00:55:50

he either became a slave because

00:55:51

someone had to beat him out of it or force him,

00:55:56

tie him up until he wasn't scared anymore.

00:55:58

That don't make no sense.

00:56:02

What if that was his fate?

00:56:04

Or maybe even just left alone?

00:56:07

Like, someone said, "He's too dangerous.

00:56:09

We're not going to do anything with that one.

00:56:13

He's dog food."

00:56:16

So, the value placed on the horse is what it is

00:56:21

that I think Papa's wanting to say over you

00:56:23

is that there is so much value on you

00:56:26

and this is what I have for you.

00:56:32

- So, Todd, we saw this horse came in.

00:56:36

I don't know a lot about horses.

00:56:38

I've watched through the years now about,

00:56:41

I don't know, about 20 of these guys.

00:56:43

This guy had as much defenses up as I've seen,

00:56:46

as I've come to understand.

00:56:48

It's really pretty remarkable that

00:56:49

you got as far with them as you did.

00:56:51

I would call that riding.

00:56:52

Would you not call him riding?

00:56:53

I call riding, he's on his back.

00:56:55

Took a few steps. They can applause you now, right?

00:56:59

- Yeah. - Yeah, let's give Todd a hand.

00:57:01

Come on. Give him a little hand. Right?

00:57:03

[applause]

00:57:06

Let's say I was a horse owner and I had that horse

00:57:09

and I brought in somebody to get to

00:57:12

as far as you got today,

00:57:14

how long would that process normally take?

00:57:17

- They would, I would say at minimum a week

00:57:22

that you'd want to spend giving this horse

00:57:24

an opportunity to think through some of this stuff,

00:57:27

and you'd work him in a round pen

00:57:28

until their fatigue was a real encourager

00:57:32

for them to do something else.

00:57:34

We didn't use that with him.

00:57:37

- Well, what I like about it, and I think

00:57:39

with the spiritual thing that I was thinking,

00:57:41

this, of all the horses, this is probably

00:57:43

the one that touched me personally the most

00:57:45

of all the ones that we've done, you know,

00:57:46

this whole week, this guy I most related to.

00:57:49

And what I really -- what got me was, you know,

00:57:56

you knew as far as you could push that horse

00:57:59

and you're like, "Okay, that's enough.

00:58:01

That's enough for today."

00:58:02

I feel like God does that with me, you know?

00:58:05

He pushes and I go, and He goes, "Okay, okay, okay."

00:58:09

Unlike those, as you mentioned,

00:58:11

those old Western movies where you've got

00:58:12

some guy who's got they got multiple ropes

00:58:15

around the horse's neck

00:58:16

and everybody's leaning back and beating him in.

00:58:18

I mean, my experience with God is not that.

00:58:20

It's it's what you just did today.

00:58:22

Like He pushes, He pushes and, "Okay, okay."

00:58:27

And why does He push, by the way?

00:58:29

He pushes because if this horse

00:58:32

let's a Todd master him,

00:58:35

this horse will be stronger and live longer.

00:58:38

One rider on a horse can run up

00:58:42

an entire wild herd of horses.

00:58:46

Because that, I learned this from Todd.

00:58:48

Because that's one person

00:58:50

who unlocks this being's potential.

00:58:53

And many of us think, you know, that's the system.

00:58:56

Like, stay away from God.

00:58:57

Just get enough of God that I have fire insurance,

00:58:59

or God's close enough that

00:59:01

if I'm really in trouble, maybe He's there.

00:59:03

But I'm not really going to --

00:59:04

I'm not going to give Him my life.

00:59:06

I'm not really going to get serious

00:59:08

and actually have Him tell me what to do

00:59:10

and actually have Him at the center of my life.

00:59:12

I'm not going to do that because we think,

00:59:14

"Oh, no, I need to be free.

00:59:15

Free as defined by I do whatever I want to do."

00:59:18

But no, you get to be free

00:59:19

when you have a master who loves you

00:59:22

and can call things out of you

00:59:24

that you can't do on your own,

00:59:25

you get stronger, you get more powerful.

00:59:29

And that's the invitation that God makes of us.

00:59:33

Anything else you want to say?

00:59:36

- One puts how many to flight,

00:59:38

and two puts 10,000 to flight.

00:59:42

I just think that that's the image I was getting

00:59:44

when you were describing

00:59:45

what it is that when we partner with God,

00:59:48

we've got way more influence than we realize.

00:59:51

And Brian has this thing.

00:59:54

It's okay if I talk about the scorpion?

00:59:56

- Yeah, yeah.

00:59:59

- In his office, before we every time

01:00:02

before we come out and and present ourselves,

01:00:04

we put our foot on top of a petrified scorpion,

01:00:10

just as a symbolic, prophetic act that

01:00:12

we've got authority over evil

01:00:14

and that no evil gets to just live in this place.

01:00:18

And so whatever it is that you're struggling with,

01:00:20

you've got authority over it in Jesus'

01:00:23

name, if you will just allow this power to come within you.

01:00:26

And so it's not just a small yes.

01:00:29

This this makes it to where the whole world

01:00:31

is waiting to see what will happen.

01:00:32

And if there's two people --

01:00:33

If there's one person that will say yes to Him,

01:00:37

and then we get together in partnership.

01:00:39

And that's why Brian's a covenant brother with me.

01:00:42

We're not just friends.

01:00:44

Where it's way deeper than that.

01:00:46

He and I have chose to lock arms

01:00:48

and fight together to where

01:00:51

we're exponentially that much more powerful.

01:00:54

And we're going to stand against

01:00:55

the enemies of light and darkness has to flee.

01:01:00

So, I just think that this is a remarkable moment

01:01:03

for everybody to really consider

01:01:04

what you're going to walk out of here with.

01:01:06

- Yeah. So here's what we're going to do.

01:01:08

We're all, all of our sites, online,

01:01:10

you can you could do this

01:01:11

as part of our digital church.

01:01:13

We're going to sing. We're going to sing as one.

01:01:15

We're going to tell God we're thankful

01:01:17

for His presence in our lives,

01:01:18

or maybe invite Him into our lives.

01:01:20

And we're just going to be cued into Him

01:01:22

that He's just -- He is better to us

01:01:25

than Todd has been to this horse.

01:01:27

We're going to sing, and then in all of our sites,

01:01:29

we've got some people want to pray for you,

01:01:31

like, your pains, your issues, your hang ups.

01:01:35

Maybe you realize, ?Man, that God

01:01:38

that I saw Todd represent, I don't know that God.

01:01:40

I know the God of religion. I know the God of fear.

01:01:42

I know the God of hatred.

01:01:44

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

01:01:45

I probably need to give my life to that God."

01:01:48

These people can pray with you.

01:01:49

We have trained folks. They're ninjas.

01:01:51

They're ninjas in relation to prayer.

01:01:53

They're not weird.

01:01:54

They would love to pray for you. They would.

01:01:56

We're going to come forward at all of our sites

01:01:58

and just come on down.

01:01:59

Why not take advantage of it?

01:02:00

You came out, you did this thing today.

01:02:03

Why not do the whole thing?

01:02:04

You might actually be thankful you did,

01:02:06

just like I thank this horse.

01:02:07

You think this horse is thankful that this happened today?

01:02:10

Yes, yes. Yeah. All right.

01:02:12

Let me pray for us and then let's --

01:02:14

Why don't we all stand right now?

01:02:16

Let's also stand, every site we're in right now.

01:02:18

Let's go ahead and stand. Let's pray.

01:02:19

And then let's sing together.

01:02:21

God, You are good to give us a person like Todd

01:02:25

who helps us understand You better.

01:02:28

I thank You that You, man, You know when to push

01:02:31

and You know when to get off.

01:02:32

You know when to jump on.

01:02:34

You know when to slide back.

01:02:35

You know when to pull. You know when to push.

01:02:38

And You do it because You are

01:02:40

an amazing, loving Father.

01:02:43

Thank You for being who I am not,

01:02:46

but I need to be more like You.

01:02:50

God, when You just hear the songs of Your children,

01:02:53

Your sons, Your daughters just singing to you,

01:02:55

telling You that we appreciate You

01:02:57

and we're thankful for You. Amen.

01:03:02

We'll invite all the prayer folks to come down front.

01:03:04

If at any moment you want to come down front

01:03:06

or right after the song,

01:03:07

you can do that in all of our sites. Let's

01:03:09

Let's sing this song.

01:03:16

- Sing these words of trust,

01:03:18

opening ourselves to God.

01:03:20

[music]

01:07:34

- Hey, thank you so much for watching.

01:07:36

Thank you for being a part of today.

01:07:37

Now, just to reiterate, this is all unscripted

01:07:40

It is a new horse every single time

01:07:43

that hasn't been ridden, hasn't been trained

01:07:45

And, man, this is an experience.

01:07:47

This is an experience

01:07:48

that is unlike any church service I have been to

01:07:50

And why do we do this?

01:07:52

We do all of this in the hopes that

01:07:54

it will help you see yourself and see God in a new way.

01:07:58

It's in the hopes that you'll take a step towards God

01:08:01

and connect with Him in a fresh way.

01:08:03

That's what we want for you.

01:08:04

And a couple ways you can do that,

01:08:06

like, you might have questions as a result of this weekend

01:08:09

You might want to pray with somebody.

01:08:11

You might want to process with somebody.

01:08:13

Hey, we are here for that.

01:08:14

You can just head to crossroads.net,

01:08:16

click the chat button,

01:08:18

and my team would love to talk with you.

01:08:19

You can even email me directly at andy.reider@crossroads.net.

01:08:23

This spiritual journey is not meant to be walked alone.

01:08:26

It's meant to be lived with community.

01:08:29

So, we'd love to be with you

01:08:31

to help you take your next step with God.

01:08:33

And we say this a lot around here,

01:08:35

but we are a community that you belong to,

01:08:38

not just content that you watch, right?

01:08:40

Man, and one perfect way, perfect way

01:08:43

that you can lean into that reality of who this movement is,

01:08:47

of what this church is all about is by coming to

01:08:49

something that we call the Anywhere Weekend.

01:08:51

Now our Crossroads Anywhere Community

01:08:53

doesn't meet weekly in a church building like this.

01:08:56

We are scattered all over the globe

01:08:58

in homes, in dorms, in bars and coffee shops all over the place.

01:09:01

But once a year, once a year in the summer

01:09:05

we get to come together for a time to be encouraged,

01:09:07

for a time to make friends from the other side of the globe,

01:09:10

and, man, to get refreshed for another year

01:09:13

of being the church, not just going to church.

01:09:16

So, July 19-21 we would love to have you join us.

01:09:20

All the info is at crossroads.net/AnywhereWeekend

01:09:24

and you can RSVP right there.

01:09:25

You do not want to miss it.

01:09:27

Make sure you tune in next week as Alli Patterson talks to us

01:09:31

about how Jesus heals. We'll see you next week.

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