-
00:00:05
- You've just
stepped into a world
-
00:00:06
where education,
food, medical care
-
00:00:09
and hope in general
is not a given.
-
00:00:12
A place that is not distant
from us, but worlds apart.
-
00:00:16
Over the past few years,
the people of Crossroads
-
00:00:19
have stepped up to
sponsor kids in Latin America
-
00:00:22
through Compassion
International.
-
00:00:24
We have traveled
there, build relationships,
-
00:00:27
served alongside
our new friends,
-
00:00:29
and encountered
God along the way.
-
00:00:31
But our work is not done yet.
-
00:00:33
We don't do this because
we want a pat on the back,
-
00:00:35
to make ourselves feel
better, or to check a box.
-
00:00:38
God has set us on a mission.
-
00:00:41
In Acts 1:8 it says:
-
00:00:52
We're on a mission to
bring hope to the hopeless
-
00:00:55
and light to dark places.
-
00:00:57
And when we do,
we live a life more full
-
00:00:59
than we could
have ever imagined.
-
00:01:01
When we sponsor a kid,
-
00:01:03
it is us that's going
on an adventure
-
00:01:06
and it is us
joining their family.
-
00:01:08
This is the Gospel.
This is the Good News.
-
00:04:11
- I love that song, and
those words are so true.
-
00:04:14
Like, that's what God does.
-
00:04:15
That's who He is.
-
00:04:16
Hey, my name is Andy Reider.
-
00:04:18
I lead Crossroads
Anywhere and I'm your pastor.
-
00:04:20
Crossroads is a community
of people all over the world,
-
00:04:22
meeting in our nine
physical locations,
-
00:04:24
but also in homes, dorm
rooms, coffee shops,
-
00:04:28
prisons, bars, anywhere.
-
00:04:29
So together, anywhere you are,
-
00:04:31
we want you to join with
us in singing this next song
-
00:04:34
because the church
is something we are.
-
00:04:36
It's not a building
we show up at
-
00:04:38
or a service we just watch.
-
00:04:39
It's about who we are
and it's about what we do.
-
00:04:42
So join us in singing to a
God who loves us so much
-
00:04:46
that it changes everything.
-
00:05:05
- Let's go this morning.
-
00:05:07
My name's Justin.
Let's sing together.
-
00:07:15
- We make a choice
no matter what we face
-
00:07:17
to say that He's
worthy of our praise.
-
00:14:30
- Let me pray for us.
-
00:14:31
Oh, God, we praise You
-
00:14:33
because You're
so faithful and good.
-
00:14:36
Just like we sing, so
whether it's through the storm
-
00:14:40
or through the
beauty of the morning,
-
00:14:42
whether it's through
the night or the morning,
-
00:14:45
we put our hope in You and
say You can have our praise.
-
00:14:49
I look throughout this room
-
00:14:50
and maybe even
at home right now,
-
00:14:52
there's hands lifted high
because we found life in You
-
00:14:56
and we say You're
King and I'm not.
-
00:15:00
You're so, so good, my word.
-
00:15:05
Thank You for Your love
and Your kindness towards us.
-
00:15:07
We praise you this morning.
-
00:15:09
I praise you this morning.
-
00:15:11
I thank you for Your
love and Your power.
-
00:15:14
I pray all this because of
You, Jesus. Amen. Amen.
-
00:15:19
- Hey, thank you so
much for singing with us.
-
00:15:21
In honor of Juneteenth
coming up, we want to invite you
-
00:15:23
to a really, really
special night of prayer
-
00:15:25
for freedom and unity.
-
00:15:27
Juneteenth announced
the abolition of slavery
-
00:15:29
to the last group of
enslaved people three years
-
00:15:33
after the Emancipation
Proclamation was signed.
-
00:15:35
Yet, there's still so
much work left to do.
-
00:15:39
Join us in praying for
community freedom
-
00:15:41
and racial healing
and reconciliation
-
00:15:43
led by our very
own Hannah Driskill.
-
00:15:46
There will be a time
to bless you with prayer
-
00:15:48
in any area you
need in your life.
-
00:15:51
Head to crossroads.net/
Juneteenth for more info.
-
00:15:54
Now we're going to jump
in with our weekly teaching
-
00:15:57
as Brian talks to us
about the Holy Spirit
-
00:15:59
empowers us to change the world.
-
00:16:04
- My name is Victor Martinez,
-
00:16:05
and I've been
connected to Compassion
-
00:16:07
sponsoring other kids
for over six years now.
-
00:16:10
And more recently, I
started a relationship
-
00:16:14
with Bismarck, a
boy that we sponsor.
-
00:16:17
But it wasn't until
a few months ago
-
00:16:19
that I met him for
the first time in person
-
00:16:22
when I had the chance
to go to Nicaragua.
-
00:16:24
So I've been sponsoring
Bismarck for three years
-
00:16:28
at the point of meeting him.
-
00:16:29
So a group of us show
up to Bismarck's house
-
00:16:32
and he's looking to
see who his sponsor is.
-
00:16:35
And I knew that he was Bismarck.
-
00:16:38
But it broke my heart that
he didn't know who I was.
-
00:16:41
That happened because I
had not written him a letter.
-
00:16:45
So that was one
of the moments that
-
00:16:47
I felt deep conviction
that he had been hoping
-
00:16:52
and he even made
the comment that
-
00:16:53
he had been hoping to
hear from his sponsor.
-
00:16:56
And at that moment,
I realized that, okay,
-
00:16:59
this is something that
I want to do differently.
-
00:17:01
This relationship is
one that there's a kid
-
00:17:03
on the other side that
genuinely loves me,
-
00:17:05
even though he
doesn't know who I am.
-
00:17:07
When I got to meet
Bismarck and his family,
-
00:17:09
it was the family that said,
-
00:17:11
"Hey, we regularly pray for you
-
00:17:12
and we're so thankful
for your sponsorship."
-
00:17:15
And knowing that there's
this group of people
-
00:17:17
that are praying
for me even when
-
00:17:19
I don't feel like
I really earned it
-
00:17:21
because I haven't been
engaging with them,
-
00:17:25
felt very special
and undeserving,
-
00:17:27
yet I'm so grateful
that they are doing that
-
00:17:31
and they're doing
that regularly.
-
00:17:33
God has placed us on
this earth to learn more
-
00:17:40
of His character, sometimes
through other people.
-
00:17:45
And the best way to
really do that is engaging
-
00:17:47
in relationship
with other people.
-
00:17:48
You know, Compassion can
seem like a huge organization,
-
00:17:52
so sometimes it feels
like by just engaging
-
00:17:55
in this sponsorship
relationship that
-
00:17:57
it is just one more number.
-
00:17:59
And the beautiful thing
about Compassion's model
-
00:18:03
is that one more number
means one more real connection,
-
00:18:08
one more real relationship.
-
00:18:10
We don't know what's
going to be the impact
-
00:18:12
that we're going to
have in the other kid.
-
00:18:14
We don't know what's the impact
that's going to be in our life.
-
00:18:23
- Good morning.
-
00:18:24
It's great to be with everybody
at Crossroads today, it is.
-
00:18:26
It is a it is a really,
really good, important day
-
00:18:31
for us and for our church.
-
00:18:32
And today I'm going to
talk about Compassion.
-
00:18:35
I'm also going to continue
to talk what we talked about
-
00:18:38
which is in the book of
Acts X Factor, X Factor.
-
00:18:41
What is it that makes
some people really attractive
-
00:18:46
even though they
don't have the attributes
-
00:18:48
to be on the cover of magazine?
-
00:18:49
Why is it that some people
don't impress anybody
-
00:18:51
in the weight room and
yet every team they're on,
-
00:18:54
they tend to win?
-
00:18:55
It's because they have
the X factor, the intangible.
-
00:18:58
The Bible tells
us that all people
-
00:19:00
who come into
relationship with Jesus
-
00:19:02
have His Spirit, known
as the Holy Spirit,
-
00:19:06
that dwells in us and
gives us capacities
-
00:19:09
beyond what we normally have.
-
00:19:10
It gives us an X factor.
-
00:19:11
Today, you might have a capacity
-
00:19:13
to feel something
you might not have felt.
-
00:19:15
You might have a
capacity to do something
-
00:19:17
you may not have
been willing to do before.
-
00:19:19
We're going to pray about that,
and let's do that right now.
-
00:19:21
God, I'm thankful
for our morning
-
00:19:24
and I'm thankful for everyone
-
00:19:26
who is a part of Crossroads,
everyone who's here,
-
00:19:28
whether they're in a
coffee shop, a bar, a site,
-
00:19:31
in Kentucky, Ohio,
wherever we are.
-
00:19:33
We are thankful that
-- gosh, I hope no one's
-
00:19:35
in a bar at this
hour of the morning,
-
00:19:39
but I thank You for who
you are, what you've done.
-
00:19:43
And I ask You to
help me to be clear
-
00:19:45
to help your people, to
be helpful in Your mission.
-
00:19:49
And I pray these
things according to
-
00:19:50
the character and
identity of Jesus. Amen.
-
00:19:55
You know, we talk
about changing the world,
-
00:19:58
Crossroads, we connect
seekers to a community
-
00:20:02
growing of Christ followers
who are changing the world.
-
00:20:04
We talk about
change in the world.
-
00:20:06
The truth is, individually,
-
00:20:08
I don't think there's
anybody here today
-
00:20:10
that's probably going to
change the world individually.
-
00:20:13
Mother Teresa changed the world.
-
00:20:14
Steve Jobs changed the world.
-
00:20:16
Billy Graham changed the world.
-
00:20:18
Us individually, you
know, we're not going to
-
00:20:21
change the world individually.
-
00:20:22
I'm sorry to burst your bubble.
-
00:20:24
You could do anything
you want. No, you can't.
-
00:20:26
You're not, as an individual,
going to change the world.
-
00:20:28
Sorry, but you could
be a part of something
-
00:20:31
that's changed the world.
-
00:20:32
That's called the church that
we see in the Book of Acts.
-
00:20:36
And individually, you
might change a life.
-
00:20:41
There might be a person
who is different on this world
-
00:20:45
and different after
this world than you
-
00:20:48
than when you actually
came in and impact their life.
-
00:20:51
The Book of Acts Chapter two,
-
00:20:54
we see a picture
of the early church.
-
00:20:56
It's one of the
passages in the Acts
-
00:20:58
that's often times
given as a template
-
00:21:00
for what a church looks like.
-
00:21:02
The Bible doesn't talk
about video screens and haze
-
00:21:06
and LEDs and
lights and, you know,
-
00:21:09
staff structures and
all that kind of stuff.
-
00:21:11
Churches could use those things
-
00:21:12
to accomplish the
mission of God.
-
00:21:14
But the Book of Acts
-
00:21:15
really knows nothing
about those things.
-
00:21:17
Here's what it does know a bit
about, Acts 2:44, it says this:
-
00:21:37
Some people take
this as a proof text for
-
00:21:40
nobody should have nice things,
-
00:21:42
nobody should actually
own anything personally,
-
00:21:44
it should all be communal.
-
00:21:47
Kind of an early
nod to Karl Marx,
-
00:21:51
except with some
spirituality towards it.
-
00:21:53
And I often times
was influenced by this,
-
00:21:56
this thinking that's
caused me often times
-
00:21:59
to feel guilty for
nice things I have,
-
00:22:02
abilities that I have.
-
00:22:03
Recently, I went over
to Israel to film a series
-
00:22:06
that we're going
to do this next fall.
-
00:22:09
We've learned from you
the favorite thing that we do
-
00:22:11
is preaching series in Israel.
-
00:22:13
So we've got another
one coming up this fall.
-
00:22:15
It's going to be pretty cool.
-
00:22:17
But I had a really
cool thing happen.
-
00:22:19
On my way back on my last leg,
-
00:22:22
I got upgraded to first class
-
00:22:24
from New York to to Cincinnati.
-
00:22:28
It made me feel kind of
guilty, you know, I really did.
-
00:22:31
I don't buy first class,
-
00:22:32
Crossroads doesn't
buy me first class.
-
00:22:34
In fact, for most of
my life, when I walk by,
-
00:22:37
I'll use all you losers
inside of first class.
-
00:22:41
Truth be told, I don't like you.
-
00:22:43
I don't like you at all.
-
00:22:44
Because I've walked in
first class much of my life
-
00:22:46
walked by, [grumbling]
-
00:22:48
"All the money you
could have saved the poor.
-
00:22:50
Aren't you real cool?
-
00:22:51
Wish -- We all
should be first class."
-
00:22:53
I had -- I went through
a season of my life
-
00:22:54
where I was, like, on
equal fairsies, socialism,
-
00:22:58
where I was really
judgmental and critical
-
00:23:00
of people who did
things that I didn't do,
-
00:23:02
had things I didn't have.
-
00:23:03
And so I would
have this judgment
-
00:23:05
of everybody in first
class and now I'm, like,
-
00:23:07
I'm sitting in first class
-
00:23:08
and people are probably
doing the same thing to me.
-
00:23:11
To which I say, "Ha
ha, you are a loser.
-
00:23:14
I'm in first class. You aren't."
-
00:23:16
No, no, I don't say that.
-
00:23:18
Anyway, this idea of,
"Hey, shouldn't we all
-
00:23:22
have the same things?"
-
00:23:23
I thought was informed
by the Book of Acts,
-
00:23:25
but it really isn't.
-
00:23:27
The Book of Acts is not saying
-
00:23:29
that you can't earn own
personal possessions.
-
00:23:31
It's not saying
that there can't be
-
00:23:35
very wealthy people
who also follow Jesus.
-
00:23:37
It's not saying that.
-
00:23:38
What's happening
here is during Pentecost,
-
00:23:41
the high holy day in
Jerusalem, all the Jews
-
00:23:46
from the Roman Empire
would come to Israel.
-
00:23:48
And they were -- they need a
place to stay. So what happened?
-
00:23:51
You'd put people
up in your house.
-
00:23:52
People were sitting
on top of one another.
-
00:23:54
You had all things in common,
-
00:23:56
people selling stuff to
enable someone to eat.
-
00:23:59
This is not saying
that everybody has to
-
00:24:02
not have any
personal possessions.
-
00:24:04
It's saying this: That
your attitude towards
-
00:24:09
other people of the faith should
be that this is your family.
-
00:24:14
Your attitude is not
that you're like family.
-
00:24:17
The Bible doesn't say if
you're a follower of Jesus
-
00:24:20
then you're like a sister
or you're like a brother.
-
00:24:24
The Bible says, Jesus
says, you are my brother,
-
00:24:27
you are my sister.
-
00:24:28
In fact, even more so
than people in my family
-
00:24:32
of origin, there's a
bond that's with us.
-
00:24:35
And when you have a brother
or a sister who's in need,
-
00:24:39
a family member who's
in need, what do you do?
-
00:24:42
You do something about it.
-
00:24:44
You don't just wish about,
you don't just pray about it,
-
00:24:46
you don't just hope about it,
you don't just cry about it.
-
00:24:48
You actually do
something about it.
-
00:24:51
This was what the early
followers of Christ were doing.
-
00:24:53
They saw that
people that had needs
-
00:24:55
and they're actually
doing something.
-
00:24:57
They're pushing on it.
-
00:25:01
Oh, about 20 years or so
ago, I had an outside speaker
-
00:25:04
come in to Crossroads and speak.
-
00:25:07
And I knew he was a good
speaker, so I brought him in.
-
00:25:09
He came to a midweek service,
a Wednesday night service.
-
00:25:12
His name was Tony Campolo.
-
00:25:14
He's an old Italian firebrand.
-
00:25:16
Some people might
might know Tony.
-
00:25:17
I just brought him
in to bless the church
-
00:25:19
with another voice and
just kind of fire us up.
-
00:25:22
And Tony came in and
he went after a passage
-
00:25:26
in the Bible in a
really, really fresh way.
-
00:25:28
At the end of that,
he had an application
-
00:25:30
for an organization called
Compassion International
-
00:25:34
that I really had not
done anything with.
-
00:25:36
I don't think I had
even heard of it.
-
00:25:38
And that's when I got
involved in this organization
-
00:25:42
called Compassion International,
where at that point
-
00:25:45
it was like $38 a month
where I would give money
-
00:25:49
every month and all of
us could sign up for it.
-
00:25:52
And he didn't ask me.
-
00:25:53
He just brought these
forms and passed them out.
-
00:25:55
And a bunch of us signed
up where for $38 a month
-
00:25:58
we could feed
and educate a child
-
00:26:01
for the rest of their life
in a third world country.
-
00:26:03
Crossroads has always cared
about the plight of the poor.
-
00:26:06
In fact, let me tell
you something.
-
00:26:08
You have an opportunity
to sponsor a child
-
00:26:09
through Compassion
International.
-
00:26:11
And if you don't,
let me just say this,
-
00:26:14
it doesn't matter if you
do that or not today,
-
00:26:17
there is a call on your
life to care for the poor.
-
00:26:22
And anybody who
doesn't care for the poor
-
00:26:25
doesn't care about God.
-
00:26:28
You can talk all you
want about God, all of --
-
00:26:31
But if you don't
tangibly care for the poor
-
00:26:35
and the needy,
you're not caring for
-
00:26:38
the things that God cares about.
-
00:26:39
That's why Crossroads has
always cared for the poor.
-
00:26:42
A significant
portion of our budget
-
00:26:44
goes to those
who are in poverty.
-
00:26:45
We have portions of our
budget that's benevolence
-
00:26:47
for people who are
committed to our church
-
00:26:50
and in financial hardship.
-
00:26:51
And we have a
fund, a budget item,
-
00:26:53
we help people out financially,
-
00:26:55
whether it's in
central Kentucky,
-
00:26:56
whether it's Cincinnati,
northern Ohio, wherever it is.
-
00:27:00
We're engaged in the poverty
situation in our community.
-
00:27:03
Fortunately in America,
when you are in poverty
-
00:27:07
in America, generally,
you still have access
-
00:27:11
to food every day and
an educational system,
-
00:27:14
even though the educational
system might not be as good
-
00:27:17
as a more Richie Rich
educational system.
-
00:27:19
There's still some
things for you.
-
00:27:20
In third world countries,
those things don't happen.
-
00:27:23
So for Compassion
International, when Tony talked
-
00:27:26
about this, like,
"Oh, okay, okay,
-
00:27:28
so I could actually
take care of somebody
-
00:27:30
for the rest of
their childhood."
-
00:27:32
It's kind of crazy.
-
00:27:33
Way back when I was 38
bucks, there were 14 years.
-
00:27:35
It's been 14 years since
it's gone up to $43 a month.
-
00:27:40
$43 a month I can educate and
feed a child until they're 18.
-
00:27:45
That's like - that's like
the best deal going.
-
00:27:47
Why did the early
church make sure
-
00:27:50
nobody had needs
who were in their midst?
-
00:27:52
Needs, not wants, needs.
-
00:27:55
Why is it that I
wanted to do that?
-
00:27:59
It's because the early
church took their cues from,
-
00:28:02
Well, who do you think?
-
00:28:03
Who do you think the early
church took their cues from?
-
00:28:05
Who do you think it is?
-
00:28:07
Jesus. Yes, that's
always the answer.
-
00:28:09
Come on, you're in church,
-
00:28:10
the answer to every
question is Jesus.
-
00:28:13
Let's give me another one.
-
00:28:15
What has brown
fur and a bushy tail?
-
00:28:20
Jesus. Yeah. There you
go. Good. You're getting this.
-
00:28:22
It's not a squirrel. It's Jesus.
-
00:28:23
That's always the
answer in church.
-
00:28:25
So Jesus is the inspiration
-
00:28:28
for everything in
the Book of Acts,
-
00:28:30
the Acts of the early church.
-
00:28:32
And Jesus in the Book
of Matthew, Chapter 25,
-
00:28:35
one of the last things He taught
-
00:28:37
in the authorized
biography of Matthew,
-
00:28:40
according to Matthew,
was He gave this story
-
00:28:43
of two types of people
coming before God.
-
00:28:47
And God divides them
into the sheep and the goats.
-
00:28:51
He sends one to the
right who are the sheep
-
00:28:53
and the ones to the
left who are the goats.
-
00:28:54
And I was just,
as I said, in Israel,
-
00:28:56
and we did a shoot.
-
00:28:58
We were supposed to
have a shoot with sheep,
-
00:29:00
but the person we hired
didn't come with sheep,
-
00:29:03
they came with goats.
-
00:29:05
Which is not bad because
when a sheep is shorn,
-
00:29:09
the untrained eye really
can't tell the difference
-
00:29:11
between a sheep
and a goat. You laugh.
-
00:29:14
Obviously you've never
been to Israel. It's true.
-
00:29:17
The trained eye
can tell a difference.
-
00:29:19
The untrained eye really
they're about the same size,
-
00:29:22
about the same
dimensions, all that stuff.
-
00:29:25
It's hard. It's hard
to tell the difference.
-
00:29:27
So that's why I think
Jesus is using this thing
-
00:29:29
between sheep and goat.
-
00:29:31
So off to the right, off to
the right goes the sheep.
-
00:29:34
And the sheep go,
"Hey, what am I --
-
00:29:37
What am I doing over here?
-
00:29:39
How come you're
getting me close to you?"
-
00:29:41
And Jesus says, "Well,
because when I was sick,
-
00:29:45
you came and helped me.
-
00:29:46
When I was hungry, you fed me.
-
00:29:48
When I was in prison.
-
00:29:49
When I was in prison,
you came and visited me.
-
00:29:52
When I was hungry,
you came and fed me.
-
00:29:55
So that's why you're
getting in heaven.
-
00:29:57
That's why you're
getting close to me."
-
00:29:59
And the people go, like,
they say, "Well, wait a minute.
-
00:30:03
Jesus, we never seen you
naked, in prison, hungry."
-
00:30:07
And here's what
Jesus says. Jesus says:
-
00:30:34
Jesus says, "I take it
personal when you care
-
00:30:39
for the people who are hurting.
-
00:30:41
I take it personal,
they're my brothers.
-
00:30:44
They're your brothers,
you're caring for Me."
-
00:30:48
And then He says to the
people who go off the left,
-
00:30:50
the goats, He said, "You're
going over here because
-
00:30:53
when I was sick, you
didn't care about me.
-
00:30:55
When I was in prison,
you didn't come visit me.
-
00:30:58
When I was naked, you
didn't come give me clothes.
-
00:31:02
When I was hungry,
you didn't feed me."
-
00:31:03
And they're saying, "Whoa, whoa.
-
00:31:05
What are you
talking about? What?
-
00:31:07
We didn't seen you
naked or sick or in prison?
-
00:31:11
What are you talking about?
-
00:31:12
We didn't see you in
that situation, Jesus?
-
00:31:14
If we had seen you, we would
have done something about it."
-
00:31:17
And Jesus says
this then, He says:
-
00:31:19
Truly, I say to you, as you
did -- this is verse 45, 45.
-
00:31:24
Then he will answer,
"Truly, I say to you,
-
00:31:26
as you did not do it for
one of the least of these,
-
00:31:30
you did not do it for me."
-
00:31:35
Jesus takes it personally
-
00:31:38
how you and I
encounter the poor.
-
00:31:46
It's not -- this is not a
fairsies financial situation
-
00:31:50
that, according to God,
this is not a theoretical thing
-
00:31:56
do you care?
-
00:31:58
Of course, who doesn't
care for the poor, right?
-
00:32:00
Everyone cares
for the poor, right?
-
00:32:01
We all care for the
poor, meaning, like,
-
00:32:03
"Well, I hope they get better.
-
00:32:04
I hope everyone does better.
-
00:32:06
I hope everybody goes to bed
-
00:32:07
with some food
in their stomach."
-
00:32:08
I mean, everybody
emotionally cares for the poor.
-
00:32:13
Jesus is telling me, telling
us you need to physically
-
00:32:16
and financially
care for the poor.
-
00:32:18
In fact, if you're not
physically and financially
-
00:32:22
caring for the poor
you could almost say
-
00:32:28
God doesn't care about you,
-
00:32:29
because I go off to the left.
-
00:32:32
This is Jesus words, by the way,
-
00:32:33
they go off the
left away from Him.
-
00:32:36
God takes it very personal
-
00:32:43
how we interact
with His children,
-
00:32:45
it's His family and
they're our family.
-
00:32:49
So when Tony gave a
talk basically like this.
-
00:32:53
I was like, "Okay. I guess --
-
00:32:56
I guess I should sponsor
somebody because
-
00:32:58
I want somebody in
heaven speaking up for me.
-
00:33:02
I want, when I go to
heaven or when I die,
-
00:33:04
when I take my motorcycle
straight on into a bread truck.
-
00:33:07
Like, some people
are going, like,
-
00:33:08
"What if I get hit by
a by bread truck?'
-
00:33:10
Well, for me, it's a
real possibility, right?
-
00:33:12
So someday I'm going to die.
-
00:33:14
And when I go to God,
I'm going to go to God,
-
00:33:17
I want to know who's
standing up for me.
-
00:33:21
Like, is this a precursor
of what Jesus says
-
00:33:24
what God is going
to be asking us?
-
00:33:25
Is He going to say to us,
-
00:33:27
"Okay, well, how did
you take care of me?
-
00:33:28
How did you take care of me?"
-
00:33:30
And the fortunately is
being a part of Crossroads,
-
00:33:33
all of us who are tithers
here at Crossroads,
-
00:33:36
all of us will have
people stand up for us.
-
00:33:38
We just don't know who
they are. All of us will.
-
00:33:41
But I thought I'd really
love to have somebody go,
-
00:33:45
"Jesus, right here, right here.
-
00:33:47
He fed me right here.
-
00:33:49
I got this one covered.
I can vouch for him.
-
00:33:51
I saw this guy. I know him."
-
00:33:54
Like, I figured I had to get
somebody to speak for me.
-
00:33:57
This is Jesus's words,
so we signed up.
-
00:33:59
We got this little guy
by the name of Twill,
-
00:34:02
Twill in Haiti, and Twill
aged out of the program.
-
00:34:05
And then we we've gotten
two children since then.
-
00:34:09
We sponsor two.
-
00:34:10
And by the way,
I'm a empty nester.
-
00:34:12
Lib and I are empty nesters
in prime income earning years.
-
00:34:15
God's blessed us
very, very much.
-
00:34:17
After this weekend, we're
going to have three children.
-
00:34:19
Three of them. Partly
because they're my family
-
00:34:23
and I want to bless
Jesus and I bless Jesus
-
00:34:26
by blessing people who
are in difficult situations.
-
00:34:28
And part of it is I
want some witnesses
-
00:34:31
when I get to heaven.
-
00:34:33
I want an amen corner
when I get to heaven.
-
00:34:35
I'm telling you, I'm
one of these weird guys,
-
00:34:37
I actually believe
what's in the Bible.
-
00:34:42
I know, I know. There's
not many of us left.
-
00:34:45
Not only do I actually
believe it, I do it.
-
00:34:49
What? What? You actually
read what's in the Bible,
-
00:34:54
you actually believe it,
-
00:34:56
and you bend
your life around it?
-
00:34:58
Yes. Everybody who
has the X Factor does this.
-
00:35:02
Yes. This is not about
being a nice person,
-
00:35:06
what nice people do.
-
00:35:07
It's not about checking
off the religion box.
-
00:35:09
It's what -- No, it's about I
want the X Factor in my life.
-
00:35:13
And I get that by honoring Jesus
-
00:35:16
and honoring the Spirit.
-
00:35:18
And that means when
I have an opportunity
-
00:35:20
to do something that
Jesus would do, I do it.
-
00:35:25
I do it, and so do you.
-
00:35:29
So do you if you
have the X Factor.
-
00:35:32
I got more to teach on this.
-
00:35:33
Let me just say
this ahead of time.
-
00:35:35
$43 a month, man, I tell you,
-
00:35:37
the impulse decisions we
make, many of us are crazy.
-
00:35:44
Like many of us don't even look
-
00:35:46
at our credit card
statements because
-
00:35:48
we don't want to get
bummed out line by line.
-
00:35:50
And we actually don't
even know the things
-
00:35:52
that are on there
that get sucked out
-
00:35:54
of our account every month.
-
00:35:55
We don't even know,
and yet it still happens.
-
00:35:57
We pay for streaming
services we never use.
-
00:36:01
We don't even know all the
streaming services we have.
-
00:36:04
We find out about
a new one, we go,
-
00:36:06
"Oh, I'll take that one too."
And that's fine.
-
00:36:09
We impulse those
things all the time.
-
00:36:10
When's the last time
you impulsed something
-
00:36:12
where someone could
actually live a longer,
-
00:36:14
more healthy,
more educated life?
-
00:36:17
How often do we do that?
-
00:36:19
We always got money
for Hulu, for Amazon Prime,
-
00:36:22
for Netflix, for
Apple+, for whatever,
-
00:36:26
highest speed Internet possible,
for Starbucks, for this.
-
00:36:29
And I'm not shaming any of us
-
00:36:31
for having all those things.
-
00:36:32
I have like all those things
I mentioned and more.
-
00:36:35
God's blessed me greatly.
-
00:36:36
This is not about we
should not have nice things.
-
00:36:39
It's not about that.
-
00:36:40
This is about will we make
space in our finances for Jesus?
-
00:36:47
Let me also say this.
-
00:36:48
I know whenever someone
gives a talk like this to me,
-
00:36:52
there's a voice in your
ear that's telling you
-
00:36:54
to disqualify
everything I'm saying.
-
00:36:57
There's a voice that
does not want you
-
00:36:59
to get on the agenda of
God and become generous.
-
00:37:03
I know that. I know
that, that's the way,
-
00:37:05
because I know that
because I know you
-
00:37:06
because I'm like you
because I'm human.
-
00:37:08
I don't like when someone
talks about this stuff
-
00:37:10
because I just
want to be affirmed
-
00:37:12
for what I'm currently doing.
-
00:37:13
I generally don't
want to be pushed
-
00:37:14
to do something different.
-
00:37:15
And so one of the
tactics of the enemy
-
00:37:17
will be to tell us things like,
-
00:37:20
"Well, Crossroads is doing
this because, you know,
-
00:37:23
they get these kickbacks
from Compassion International.
-
00:37:26
Compassion International
pays Crossroads do this
-
00:37:28
and Brian Tome probably
gets a commission,
-
00:37:31
even if he gets like $0.50,
$0.50 off of $43 bucks,
-
00:37:35
dude's raking it in up
there on this very clearly."
-
00:37:39
I get nothing from --
-
00:37:42
I've never gotten
anything from Compassion.
-
00:37:45
I've gone to two past
retreats where I went
-
00:37:47
and hung out with other
pastors around the country.
-
00:37:49
That's what I've gotten
from them in 15 years,
-
00:37:51
two pastors, I gotten that.
-
00:37:52
That was kind of cool,
meeting other pastors,
-
00:37:54
brainstorm with
them, all that stuff.
-
00:37:56
I've never gotten
anything from that.
-
00:37:59
Crossroads has never gotten
anything from Compassion.
-
00:38:01
I've heard other churches do.
-
00:38:03
I don't know what they're doing.
-
00:38:04
Maybe we're a bunch of losers
-
00:38:06
not sucking some for
ourselves over here.
-
00:38:07
I don't know. I don't
know what's going on.
-
00:38:09
No, we've never,
ever, ever, ever, ever
-
00:38:11
had anything from Compassion,
-
00:38:13
never taken anything
from Compassion.
-
00:38:16
This is a matter of
following the heart of God,
-
00:38:20
following the will of God.
-
00:38:24
When I first started with Twill
-
00:38:28
and we started supporting Twill,
-
00:38:31
I didn't write him a letter.
Lib and I didn't write letters.
-
00:38:33
We just thought, "Eh."
-
00:38:36
Oh, compassion,
because, you know,
-
00:38:37
I tend to be cynical,
maybe you are.
-
00:38:39
I'm like, "Oh, it's all
going to the same place,
-
00:38:43
the money is, and
they're just giving us
-
00:38:45
these individual children to
be sort of a marketing ploy."
-
00:38:50
And nothing wrong
with marketing.
-
00:38:52
God loves marketers.
Nothing wrong with marketing.
-
00:38:54
That's fine, but it's
just a marketing ploy.
-
00:38:56
The kids don't really know us.
-
00:38:58
We're writing letters.
-
00:38:59
It's -- no matter
what happens, it's --
-
00:39:02
they don't -- they
don't care. It's fine.
-
00:39:04
We'll just keep paying our money
-
00:39:05
and it's going to a good
place and helping people.
-
00:39:08
That's fine."
-
00:39:09
And Twill aged
out of the system.
-
00:39:11
I don't think I wrote a
letter the entire time.
-
00:39:13
I think Lib did 1 or 2, but
I never did a single one."
-
00:39:16
And Twill would send us letters.
-
00:39:19
I had the opportunity
to do a Compassion trip
-
00:39:22
in Nicaragua and go see
what's happening in Nicaragua.
-
00:39:28
At that point, I had
signed for another child
-
00:39:31
and we went and I was
utterly blown away what I saw.
-
00:39:36
I saw the education.
-
00:39:38
I saw binders inside of
the school of all of the kids
-
00:39:41
and their accomplishments,
their whole history
-
00:39:43
of the progress they're
making with their education.
-
00:39:47
I went in homes.
I went in homes.
-
00:39:50
And one home I went
in had a big photo
-
00:39:54
of an American
family up on the wall,
-
00:39:57
a big photo, a very
small, one room house,
-
00:40:01
very similar to the
houses or the houses
-
00:40:03
you may have walked
in when you came into
-
00:40:05
a Crossroads site
today, very similar to that.
-
00:40:08
And I asked the
translator, I said, "What?
-
00:40:10
Who's those people? What's up?"
-
00:40:11
There was a picture of a
couple of American people,
-
00:40:13
white American people,
like, having drinks,
-
00:40:16
they, like, had
like a margarita.
-
00:40:18
It looked like in a restaurant
overlooking the beach.
-
00:40:21
They were going like.
[laughter]
-
00:40:26
And I said, "What's
that situation?"
-
00:40:28
And they said,
"Oh, well, that's --
-
00:40:30
those were their sponsors."
-
00:40:31
I said, "What do you mean were?"
-
00:40:33
They said, "Well, they they
stopped sponsoring them.
-
00:40:35
They just they dropped off.
-
00:40:37
But this family still
prays for them regularly.
-
00:40:42
That's why the
picture is still up there."
-
00:40:44
"Wait, they dropped
off?" "Yeah."
-
00:40:45
"And they still pray
for them?" "Yeah."
-
00:40:48
So I went back and started doing
-
00:40:50
some Facebook sleuthing,
-
00:40:57
and I found them.
-
00:40:58
I found them, Greg and
Tessie. I found them.
-
00:41:01
So I won't give
you the last name.
-
00:41:03
I won't give you the last name.
-
00:41:05
So I messaged them out.
-
00:41:06
I said, "Hey, hey. I
just want you to know,
-
00:41:08
it's awesome God's blessed.
-
00:41:10
You look like you're taking
some really great vacations.
-
00:41:13
That's what it looks
like on Facebook.
-
00:41:14
Just want you to know,
just want you to know,
-
00:41:18
Bianca and Rudy,
(Bianca is Rudy's mom)
-
00:41:21
They still pray for you.
-
00:41:23
And you -- and
you just dropped off.
-
00:41:25
You probably should
have said something,
-
00:41:27
but don't worry about
it, I'll cover them.
-
00:41:28
I'll take care of them.
-
00:41:30
Just thought I'll let you
know that family is going
-
00:41:32
to be taken care of while
you take care of vacations."
-
00:41:34
And then for some reason,
they didn't respond to me.
-
00:41:36
I don't understand why.
So I responded back again.
-
00:41:40
And finally I said, "Okay,
I'm getting too much out
-
00:41:42
of this so I stopped.
I got to stop."
-
00:41:44
Here's what I'm saying,
friends, I'm saying this:
-
00:41:46
Those kids know us.
Those families know us.
-
00:41:52
It's a light, it's
a literal lifeline.
-
00:41:54
And there's not even
when other kids in the family
-
00:41:57
don't get sponsored,
it still helps the family
-
00:42:00
because they have
one less mouth to feed.
-
00:42:04
Lib and I went over our
most recent time to Nicaragua,
-
00:42:08
and we saw our -- we saw
Rudy for the second time.
-
00:42:15
Crossroads does Go Trips,
-
00:42:16
we serve the poor in
Cincinnati, in Lexington.
-
00:42:20
Other parts of the world.
-
00:42:21
So when we're going over
to do a Go Nicaragua trip,
-
00:42:24
we stopped in and
saw Rudy again.
-
00:42:26
We hadn't seen him and
Bianca for a few years.
-
00:42:30
Here's what happened
the last time we saw him.
-
00:42:34
- Hola.
- Hola. Good to see you, Rudy.
-
00:42:37
Rudy, my wife, Libby.
- Nice to meet you finally.
-
00:42:42
Oh, my goodness.
-
00:42:44
- And this is for you.
- All right.
-
00:42:46
- Yeah, you can
open it, he says.
-
00:42:48
- It's good.
-
00:42:50
- Oh, that's awesome.
- That's a picture.
-
00:43:00
"I'll always be
grateful with you
-
00:43:01
for everything that
you've done for us.
-
00:43:05
If the world would have
more people like you,
-
00:43:08
it would be a better place.
-
00:43:10
Your love changed my life
and it changed it for good.
-
00:43:13
And your love made
me to have hope
-
00:43:15
and be happy in my life."
-
00:43:18
- Good, dude, brother. You're
a good man, a good man.
-
00:43:21
- [speaking Spanish]
-
00:43:24
- I feel very grateful for
everything you've done for me.
-
00:43:29
And that I really
hope that someday
-
00:43:31
I can give him back
everything he gave to me.
-
00:43:33
- We are telling you
that you are loved
-
00:43:36
and you are not forgotten.
-
00:43:38
[translating to Spanish]
-
00:43:41
- God is going to do a
great thing in your future.
-
00:43:43
You need to have hope.
-
00:43:44
[translating to Spanish]
-
00:43:52
- You're a good man.
- Yes, you are.
-
00:43:56
- God is going to do a good
thing in your life right now.
-
00:44:00
[translating to Spanish]
-
00:44:01
- I'm looking at a
young godly man.
-
00:44:06
[translating to Spanish]
-
00:44:07
I'm looking at a
young godly man.
-
00:44:10
[translating to Spanish]
-
00:44:14
You're stronger than
you have any idea.
-
00:44:16
[translating to Spanish]
-
00:44:19
God's going to do a big
thing in you, a big thing.
-
00:44:25
I love you. I'm proud of you.
-
00:44:28
You're like my own son.
-
00:44:47
[applause]
-
00:44:48
- Man, I don't know how
many times I've seen that video,
-
00:44:50
it still hits me so hard.
-
00:44:53
I don't know if it's --
-
00:44:57
I don't know if it's
because, uh, you know,
-
00:45:00
seeing the impact of a family
-
00:45:02
who's just thankful
that you're alive,
-
00:45:04
thankful for living my life.
-
00:45:07
I don't know, if it's
just the emotion of, like,
-
00:45:10
what we do for that
relative to all that we have
-
00:45:13
and all that we do
and all that we own
-
00:45:16
is so small for us
and where we are.
-
00:45:20
I don't know what
it is, it just -- it is -
-
00:45:23
Am I moved because
I'm being like Jesus
-
00:45:27
and it feels good to
actually be living the Bible.
-
00:45:31
I don't -- I don't
know what it is,
-
00:45:34
but I know it hits
me deep every time.
-
00:45:38
In the Book of
Acts, Chapter four,
-
00:45:40
they talk about
the local church.
-
00:45:42
It says this: And there was
not -- verse 34, Acts 4:34:
-
00:46:06
It's risky for for us to do
this weekend, very risky.
-
00:46:11
We've said it many times
-
00:46:12
and people tend
to not believe us,
-
00:46:14
Crossroads operates
on very thin margins.
-
00:46:17
We have big budget.
-
00:46:18
We also have a
lot of commitments.
-
00:46:19
We operate on very thin margins
-
00:46:21
and we really can't
afford people cannibalizing
-
00:46:26
whatever giving they
have of Crossroads.
-
00:46:28
"Oh, Crossroads is fine.
-
00:46:29
They've got LCD screens,
pullaway from here
-
00:46:31
and stick it over here."
-
00:46:32
We really can't afford
that at all, but yet
-
00:46:36
we do this regularly
because we're willing
-
00:46:41
to pay the price
and we're ready.
-
00:46:42
And I'll say, I hope you
all sponsor Compassion.
-
00:46:46
I hope you all do,
and I hope you all
-
00:46:48
don't cannibalize your
giving to Crossroads.
-
00:46:51
And if you do,
we'll figure it out.
-
00:46:53
We'll figure it out.
-
00:46:55
But I think the
capacity we have,
-
00:46:58
if we want to be
like the early church,
-
00:47:00
is more than we think.
-
00:47:01
These people are making
sure people don't have needs
-
00:47:04
because they sell
things, they sell land.
-
00:47:06
These are people who have
resources, they have money.
-
00:47:08
They're selling their land.
-
00:47:09
They're selling things so
that other people can live.
-
00:47:14
Maybe I get emotional
because I feel like
-
00:47:16
in these moments where
maybe our purest as a church.
-
00:47:20
Great music and half
decent talk, wow, big deal.
-
00:47:25
But man, when
someone's life is different
-
00:47:27
because of that, oh,
my goodness. Wow.
-
00:47:30
I think sometimes, I wonder,
could God get Crossroads
-
00:47:35
to the size it is right
now, as a church,
-
00:47:36
we are stronger right now
than we've been in 26 years.
-
00:47:39
I'll say it again, we
are strongest right now
-
00:47:41
than we have been.
-
00:47:42
Forget all COVID stuff,
your church right now
-
00:47:45
is stronger than it's
ever been right now.
-
00:47:48
Could God have
done all that He's done,
-
00:47:51
amassed this many people
simply because God would say,
-
00:47:54
"Someday there's gonna
be a bunch of people
-
00:47:57
gathered in this thing
called Crossroads.
-
00:48:00
And that church is
going to move my family
-
00:48:04
to help other family members.
-
00:48:06
That church is
going to do that."
-
00:48:09
And I wonder if this
is all -- if this is --
-
00:48:11
if this is the apex
of what we do
-
00:48:13
and we change
thousands of more lives,
-
00:48:15
literally change, and
then we go out of business.
-
00:48:17
I can live with that.
I can live with that.
-
00:48:20
And I hope, I hope, I
hope that you can, too.
-
00:48:23
So here's what
we're going to do,
-
00:48:25
here's what we're going to do.
-
00:48:28
We're going to have
each community pastor
-
00:48:31
give logistics for
what's going to happen
-
00:48:32
inside of your rooms in
a little bit, like a minute,
-
00:48:39
we're going to have
the bands come up
-
00:48:40
and we're going to sing songs
-
00:48:42
and it's going to be
really cool and festive.
-
00:48:44
And in your rooms
you're going to go
-
00:48:47
and you're going to
get one of those packets
-
00:48:50
that's a real child,
-
00:48:51
and that would be the
child that you sponsor.
-
00:48:53
That would be the
child that you can have
-
00:48:54
a letter writing conversation
with, if you'd like.
-
00:48:58
That's the child.
-
00:48:59
And then you're going to
come back to your seats.
-
00:49:02
You'll come back to your seat
-
00:49:03
and you're going to
write your first letter.
-
00:49:05
It can be just like
three sentences,
-
00:49:07
three sentences right there.
-
00:49:08
You doing your information
-
00:49:10
and you're going
to take the photo,
-
00:49:11
the photo you got
when you came in today.
-
00:49:13
You're going to take that photo.
-
00:49:15
Compassion is so
good. They work with us.
-
00:49:17
We push their
boundaries all the time.
-
00:49:19
We were the first -- We had
the largest single day thing
-
00:49:23
in Compassion's history
a number of years ago.
-
00:49:25
And they said, "Well,
you want the real packet
-
00:49:28
up on the back wall?"
-
00:49:29
I said, "Yes, Can you do that?"
"Yeah, yeah, we'll do that."
-
00:49:32
Now they're saying,
"Hey, we really would like
-
00:49:34
to take these pictures
because a bunch of years ago
-
00:49:36
we had a partner
in South Africa,
-
00:49:38
a bunch of years
ago, we realized
-
00:49:40
that we are in spiritual poverty
-
00:49:43
while they're in
financial poverty.
-
00:49:45
And we sent them over photos,
-
00:49:48
all of our photos
were on their huts
-
00:49:51
and they prayed for us.
-
00:49:52
And this is the service
where they got those photos.
-
00:49:55
We'd like to do something
like that right now.
-
00:49:57
Could we actually have,
send over our photos
-
00:49:59
so everybody who gets sponsored
-
00:50:01
our photo is in their thing
so they're praying for us?
-
00:50:04
We're not just, you know,
helping out somebody
-
00:50:07
because we're the superior ones.
-
00:50:09
No, we're all in God's family.
-
00:50:11
So maybe they can
have our picture, too.
-
00:50:13
And they can pray for us, too.
-
00:50:16
Some of you are going
to want to look cool.
-
00:50:18
You are, I know you,
you want to look cool?
-
00:50:21
You want to go back
there, you want to --
-
00:50:23
You want to just
look like, I'm doing it.
-
00:50:24
I'm doing the thing. You're
going to go get a packet,
-
00:50:27
you're going to come back
-
00:50:28
and then you're not
going to do anything.
-
00:50:30
Let me tell you, if you
take a packet to look like,
-
00:50:32
you know, you're
cool and you care,
-
00:50:35
what happens as soon
as you take that packet,
-
00:50:38
Compassion goes,
"Oh, this person is done.
-
00:50:39
They're out of the system now."
-
00:50:41
Whether you make your
first commitment or not,
-
00:50:43
they're out of the system
-
00:50:44
and they will not
be in the system
-
00:50:46
and they will go hungry.
-
00:50:47
So if you want God to
send you straight to hell,
-
00:50:50
take one of those
packets. It's worse.
-
00:50:53
You're not even going
to the left as a goat,
-
00:50:55
you're specifically making it
-
00:50:56
so nobody else
can get that person.
-
00:50:59
My gosh, don't do
that. Don't do that.
-
00:51:03
If you don't get up
to go get a packet,
-
00:51:05
we're just going to assume
-
00:51:06
that you've already
got five kids.
-
00:51:08
Okay? We're gonna assume
you already got five kids,
-
00:51:11
or we're going to assume
-
00:51:12
you're really,
really stretching it
-
00:51:15
and you already have one kid.
-
00:51:16
Okay, we're going
to assume that.
-
00:51:18
Please, if you go get one,
go get one, come right back.
-
00:51:21
And then we're
going to drop them off
-
00:51:23
when we leave at the
end of our time, our service.
-
00:51:26
One more thing, I know
there's one more thing,
-
00:51:29
I just forgot it. There
is one more thing.
-
00:51:30
What is my one more thing?
-
00:51:32
There is. There is.
Hold on just a minute.
-
00:51:35
This is a very spiritually
weighty moment,
-
00:51:37
and I feel like I'm
forgetting something
-
00:51:39
and I'm not thinking
right. Hold on, hold on.
-
00:51:45
When you go get that child,
-
00:51:46
just assume the one
that God guides you to
-
00:51:49
is the one it is.
-
00:51:50
Just grab it, grab
that child, come back.
-
00:51:53
If there's a logjam
and people can't get
-
00:51:55
to wherever that
child is or wherever
-
00:51:56
those packets are
in your building,
-
00:51:58
they might, "Eh,
I'll get it later,"
-
00:51:59
and they might just drop off.
-
00:52:00
So when you go see one,
just grab it immediately.
-
00:52:04
Let me pray for us, and then --
-
00:52:06
and then I'll tell what we're
going to do in our rooms.
-
00:52:08
You know, we're going to do?
-
00:52:11
We're going to go get Jesus
is what we're going to do.
-
00:52:13
We're going to get Jesus.
Those things are Him.
-
00:52:16
Those children are
Him, that's who they are.
-
00:52:20
We don't have a lot of
goals here at Crossroads.
-
00:52:22
We don't have attendance goals.
-
00:52:23
We don't have budget goals.
-
00:52:24
We have a budget, we don't like,
"This year we want to hit this."
-
00:52:27
We don't have a lot
of goals around here.
-
00:52:29
I have a goal for this weekend.
-
00:52:30
If we hit 5100 kids,
-
00:52:32
we will take care of
every child in Nicaragua
-
00:52:34
that Compassion
has, all of them.
-
00:52:36
We'll just bless the
entire country. 5100.
-
00:52:40
I want 5100. Who wants
5100? Who wants it?
-
00:52:42
Lib and I are blessed. We are.
-
00:52:45
We're going to take
another child this week.
-
00:52:47
And I ask you, man, just
take care of one of God's kids
-
00:52:52
and take care of your future.
-
00:52:54
Lord, I thank you
for the opportunity
-
00:52:57
to partner with a great
organization like Compassion.
-
00:53:00
And God, would You what
your children do right now?
-
00:53:03
And I mean, the children
in all of our rooms right now.
-
00:53:05
Watch what we do right now.
-
00:53:07
Would You honor those who
are trying to honor You? Amen.
-
00:53:13
- I think we'd all say we
want God to use us, right?
-
00:53:16
And I think we'd all say we
want to change the world.
-
00:53:19
Hey, there are moments
where you can say yes to that,
-
00:53:22
where that can
not just be an idea,
-
00:53:24
but it can be
something you live into.
-
00:53:27
I don't know what I expected
-
00:53:29
when I heard about Compassion.
-
00:53:31
I don't know what I thought
it was that they actually did.
-
00:53:34
I thought it was, you
know, useful, it was helpful.
-
00:53:37
But I'll tell you, I couldn't
have been more wrong
-
00:53:40
or more undersold this.
-
00:53:42
A few months ago, I
got to visit Nicaragua
-
00:53:44
and visit and meet the girl
that I've been sponsoring,
-
00:53:47
Natalie, getting to
see where she lived,
-
00:53:50
getting to see the
way that she grew up
-
00:53:52
in circumstances that
by any one's standards
-
00:53:55
would be considered
extreme poverty,
-
00:53:58
and how she has
hope for the future.
-
00:54:02
How she believes
something about herself
-
00:54:05
and the potential
that's available to her
-
00:54:07
because someone
thousands of miles away said,
-
00:54:11
"Yes, I want to be
a part of your story."
-
00:54:14
That's what we're
signing up for.
-
00:54:16
It's not just to send money,
-
00:54:17
it's to sign up
for a relationship.
-
00:54:20
It's to sign up to be
a vote of confidence
-
00:54:22
and faith and trust that, man,
-
00:54:25
there are bright futures
ahead for this kid.
-
00:54:27
So don't tune out.
Don't check out.
-
00:54:31
Instead, lean in, say
yes to God using you.
-
00:54:35
This is personal for me.
-
00:54:37
I want to see tens of thousands
of kids' futures changed
-
00:54:41
because a group of people
called Crossroads said yes.
-
00:54:46
So, if you're feeling
any sort of tug,
-
00:54:49
I want you to lean in
-
00:54:51
and head to
Crossroads.net/Compassion.
-
00:54:53
Right there on the screen
-
00:54:55
you'll see the button
that just says sponsor.
-
00:54:57
Once you click on that,
you're going to have the chance
-
00:54:59
to look over the names and faces
-
00:55:02
of thousands of kids
who you can help support,
-
00:55:06
who you can help encourage,
-
00:55:07
who you can write with regularly
-
00:55:10
and tell them who they are,
-
00:55:11
and that the future
for them is bright,
-
00:55:14
because it is and
because it can be
-
00:55:17
when you and I step in,
when you and I lean in
-
00:55:22
to help see transformation
and new hope
-
00:55:25
come to families
in Central America.
-
00:56:13
Here's what we're saying.
-
00:57:49
Lord, all of this is response
-
00:57:51
to what You've
done, who You are.
-
00:58:19
Lord, we respond
to you right now
-
00:58:23
and says send us
out as light carriers
-
00:58:25
to carry your life in your hope,
-
00:58:29
put into action these words.
-
01:00:17
- I see blank spots on
the walls where I am.
-
01:00:20
That's why I love being
a part of our church.
-
01:00:23
That's why I love being
in ministry with you.
-
01:00:25
We don't, again, just think
about things, we do things.
-
01:00:28
That's great.
-
01:00:29
So when you bring that back,
-
01:00:31
make sure you write it down.
-
01:00:32
If you only give a
couple sentences
-
01:00:34
for your very first
letter, that's okay.
-
01:00:36
Make sure, as you put it in
and do all the information,
-
01:00:38
seal it really well
because if your photo
-
01:00:40
or something falls out then
we can't do anything about that.
-
01:00:43
Compassion has
changed their systems.
-
01:00:45
This is good, friends.
-
01:00:46
This is actually when
we are the body of Christ.
-
01:00:49
This is when we act as
family toward our family.
-
01:00:54
Why don't we all stand again
-
01:00:56
and we're going to -- we
got another song here, right?
-
01:00:58
We got another song.
We got a little time.
-
01:01:00
So let's sing here.
-
01:01:01
And then when we're
done on your way out,
-
01:01:04
you'll drop those things off
in the containers in the atrium.
-
01:01:07
All right, let's thank
God for allowing us
-
01:01:10
to be part of this right now.
-
01:01:14
- Sing this together. You reign.
-
01:01:59
- Let's sing this, sing,
holy, there's no one like Him.
-
01:02:04
No one before Him.
-
01:02:05
And so, God, right now
we seal this moment
-
01:02:08
to say in my heart, I want
no one else on your throne.
-
01:02:12
I want no one else, no one
else on the throne of my heart.
-
01:02:16
And all I do, whether it's
with my hands, my mouth,
-
01:02:20
my feet, my bank
account, I want it all
-
01:02:25
to be response to
who You are. Sing Holy.
-
01:03:03
- There was a video that I
was going to show in my talk
-
01:03:06
and I thought I was more
pinched on time than I was.
-
01:03:08
Maybe we could play this
while you just play in the back.
-
01:03:11
See if our video
guys can get it up.
-
01:03:12
This is the video, and this
is meant as encouraging.
-
01:03:14
This is what's going to happen
with you and your children.
-
01:03:19
This was, gosh,
six years or so ago.
-
01:03:22
We had somebody found
out that they were going
-
01:03:25
to a part of a part
of South America
-
01:03:28
or Central America
where their child was.
-
01:03:30
So they told them, "Hey,
I've got this backpack.
-
01:03:33
Would you check it as luggage?
-
01:03:34
Would you take the
backpack and find my child."
-
01:03:38
And Compassion helped with this.
-
01:03:39
"Find my child and and
give them this backpack.
-
01:03:42
I just want to bless them."
-
01:03:44
And somebody there had a camera
-
01:03:47
and they they took
a video of the girl
-
01:03:50
who had gotten this backpack,
-
01:03:51
who'd been in communication
with her sponsor.
-
01:03:55
And I want to
make sure as a sign
-
01:03:57
of the impact that
you're about to have.
-
01:03:59
Let's roll that right
now, if we could.
-
01:04:03
- Hola, Victoria.
- Hello, dear Victoria.
-
01:04:05
- [speaking Spanish]
-
01:04:08
- Thank you for the
gift that you sent me.
-
01:04:12
May God for many
blessings in your family.
-
01:04:16
Thank you for being my
sponsor and my friend for me.
-
01:04:21
May God bless you.
-
01:04:24
May God bless
you and your family.
-
01:04:26
[translating to Spanish]
-
01:04:30
May God pour many
blessings on your family.
-
01:04:32
I love you very much.
Have a Merry Christmas.
-
01:04:38
Have a Merry Christmas
with your family full of health.
-
01:04:43
- Gracias.
- Thank you.
-
01:04:51
- It's pretty amazing.
-
01:04:52
You're going to have
children having that reaction
-
01:04:55
when they hear your name.
-
01:04:58
Am I trying to
pull heartstrings?
-
01:05:00
Maybe a little bit.
-
01:05:04
I make no apologies.
-
01:05:06
I'll do whatever
I can to get you
-
01:05:08
to honor the will of God.
-
01:05:09
I'll do whatever
I can to get you
-
01:05:10
out of your American doldrums
of justifying your current.
-
01:05:13
I'll fight for those
kids, and we will too.
-
01:05:17
We will too.
-
01:05:19
And it's an honor and
it's a blessing to do that.
-
01:05:21
Let's sing this right now
-
01:05:23
and then you're released
whenever you want
-
01:05:24
and drop those packets off.
-
01:05:26
Thanks for being
part of our team.
-
01:07:47
- Great. Great.
-
01:07:53
- Thank you so much
for joining this weekend.
-
01:07:55
I think this is a really,
really special time
-
01:07:57
and it could change the lives
-
01:08:00
of children all over the world.
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01:08:01
Don't forget to join
us next weekend
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01:08:03
as Brian Tome talks about
the power of movement.