Undercover Hero Mission | Heroes Week 3

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- Welcome to Crossroads, I'm Kyle.

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We exist to guide you on the adventurous life

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that God has designed you for.

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This is the Heroes Journey

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where we're uncovering your path to greatness.

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Every week of The Heroes Journey,

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you're being given a mission...

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to go on a journey and discover

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the hero that God made you to be.

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You'll face people who want to stop you,

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obstacles, fears, reasons to quit,

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but if you persevere,

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you'll find yourself on a path to greatness.

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This week, Brian's going to talk about that path

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and how it's not about being great,

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it's about doing great.

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But I'm not really sure what our mission

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is supposed to be, it's supposed to get delivered

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I think any minute.

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Oh, there it is. There -- Okay, great.

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Got the dossier here.

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Let's open it up and see what's inside.

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Really important message.

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It says: this week's mission is not in this dossier.

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I'm not sure why they went through all that effort then.

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It was too risky to send on foot,

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instead Brian will receive a call on a red phone --

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there it is -- at some point in the episode.

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Okay, great. Then I guess let's hear from Brian.

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- At its most basic level, what is a hero?

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Elon Musk, he's a tech genius,

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and he makes a pretty good car. But is he a hero?

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Drake is great at rapping

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and providing Instagram captions to a generation.

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But is he a hero?

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Kylie Jenner has amazing business acumen,

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the youngest billionaire ever, I think.

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But is she a hero?

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That's what we're talking about today.

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My name's Brian Tome, Senior Pastor at Crossroads.

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Let me just pray for you, real briefly.

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God help us to get Your truth in us. Amen.

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What a hero is is someone was in need

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and now they have that need met.

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And if you ever had that done for you,

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if you've been ran out of gas on the side of the road

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and somebody came and brought you gas,

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that person was a hero.

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If there was ever too much month at the end of your money

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and somebody actually helped you pay a bill,

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that person was a hero.

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If there's ever somebody who watched your kids

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in a pinch, that person is a hero.

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Meeting needs.

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Jesus met needs again and again and again,

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which is why He's the ultimate hero,

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which is why we date time after Him,

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which is why this journey is ultimately about Him.

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I'm going to take a look at one of

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His more classic vignettes in His life.

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It comes from the book of John 13,

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and let's just read it together.

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Here's what it says:

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We're in this week three of The Hero Journey

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where we're trying to figure out

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how I could be great, how I could be a hero,

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not that anyone ever aspires to be one,

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but who is a hero.

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And we see why Jesus is great.

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We see why He's a hero to millions, if not billions

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of people around the world for centuries.

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This is the scene known as the Last Supper.

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This is right before Jesus is going to be

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arrested, tried, and crucified.

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He's having His Last Supper before then,

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and everyone comes into the room to eat

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and as they come into the room to eat,

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they recognize something's missing here.

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But no one says anything

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because it's very, very awkward.

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And they go to eat.

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And this would have been tables that are about yo high

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and they sit down on these tables.

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They would have been on their knees on pillows,

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and they're sitting there

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and they've kind of gather their legs up.

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Yes, this is a core workout, unless you're wondering.

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There is no CG that is keeping my legs under me.

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Yes, my core is that strong.

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Yes, I know you're impressed.

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Nonetheless, they're sitting like this,

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and therefore someone else is sitting like that

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and their feet are in my face

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and my feet are in their face.

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Nobody likes feet in their face,

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especially not after someone has walked

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on dirt for miles and walked through places

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where donkeys -- come along, Donkey --

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where donkeys and where camels have walked.

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Your feet were disgusting.

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Therefore, when you rented a room

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like they did in the upper room,

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what normally would come with it

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would be somebody to wash the guests' feet.

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That person wasn't there, that servant wasn't there.

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And so awkwardly, no one wants to do this.

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They just head to the table

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and Jesus decides He's going to be the one

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to actually wash the feet.

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It says He takes off His outer garment

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and he takes off His outer garment

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and He goes down onto His knees to wash feet.

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While He's down there, it says outer garment.

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So does He have an undergarment on?

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We don't know.

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Some people think he had an undergarment on,

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He's there in His undergarments.

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Some people believe, no, the outer garments' off

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and that's the garment, that's the only garment He had.

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And it says He takes a towel

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and wraps it around His waist,

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which is what you would have done

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if you were actually entirely naked.

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There He is washing -- (phone rings)

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- Hello.

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- Hello. Kind of in the middle of something.

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- Heroes, your mission this week is top secret.

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Shut the doors, stop all recording devices,

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put your phones away except this old timey red one.

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Okay, everyone ready?

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This is your mission: Go love somebody anonymously.

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Your printed guide will help you figure out

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an undercover hero mission to do this week,

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complete with a calling card.

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Good luck and goodbye, heroes!

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(tone) If you'd like to make a call,

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please hang up and try again.

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If you need help, hang up and --

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- Sneak up along the side of the building.

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No, over here, that building.

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(doorbell)

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- I'd actually like to pay for the car behind me too, please.

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- Today, I'm going to buy somebody's gas for them,

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and they have no idea it's coming.

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- Secret Hero Mission, free to a good home.

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- Thank you.

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- --Doing anything.

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- You have the best hair.

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I hope you have a wonderful day.

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You're awesome. - Thank you.

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- That's the kind of stuff we're looking at

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in the guide this week.

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Make sure you do that.

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But He's down on His hands and knees

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washing the disgusting feet of His disciples.

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We're uncomfortable thinking of Jesus like this.

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We're uncomfortable thinking of Jesus

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on His knees, naked, washing feet.

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We're uncomfortable with the scene

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of the Cross, the crucifixion.

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If you're Catholic, you've seen crucifixion

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or depictions of Jesus on the Cross,

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if you're Protestant.

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He's always up there. And what's happened?

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There's a towel around His midsection.

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He didn't have any towel on when He was on the Cross.

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He was stripped naked and He was beaten.

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That's part of the humiliation that took place with Him.

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This is how He serves us and meets us in our needs.

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He actually gets humiliated on our behalf.

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The Bible says that God is a god of justice,

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and if He's not just, then He's not good.

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And there has to be justice for our sin,

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for our choices.

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And Jesus served us and met a need

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by going to the Cross

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and serving justice on our behalf

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and having himself stripped and beaten for us

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so we wouldn't have to be stripped and beaten.

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Not that God would do that to you,

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but God doesn't ever beat you or punish you

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once you come into relationship with Him.

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That's a core tenet of Christianity,

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because Jesus bore our shame.

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Isaiah says that by His stripes, we are healed.

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And this ultimate humiliating sacrifice of Jesus

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meeting our needs at the end of His life,

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He's doing it right now.

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He's on his hands and knees, washing feet.

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How would you feel if someone

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was sticking their fingers between your toes,

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getting all the dirt?

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It's kind of gross.

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Have you ever had that done to you?

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I have.

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If you've had that done to you,

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I know one thing about you, you grew up in church.

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That's what I know about you.

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If you've had that done to you,

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you've been in churchy circles because

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church people love doing this.

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And we should, we should, actually.

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Because when we read the Bible,

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we're supposed to do what's in the Bible.

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It's a good idea.

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But sometimes we go a little too far

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in that we replicate certain scenes from the Bible

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that don't need to be replicated.

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You don't need to replicate

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putting yourself on a Cross, don't need to do that.

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And you don't need to replicate

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washing somebody's feet because

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here's the missing component for us today.

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While symbolically, we might do that because we say,

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"I want to serve you."

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Realistically, we're not helping anybody at all.

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Nobody needs their feet washed.

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We're just not walking through dirt.

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We don't -- We don't want that.

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I mean, if someone's going to come over

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and they're going to mow my grass, okay.

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Someone wants to come over, or even brush my teeth for me,

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that's a little weird,

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but at least I'm going to brush my teeth.

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If you want to do it for me. Okay?

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This is what a hero does, he sees what is needed,

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what you want, and He washed his feet.

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It's uncomfortable and the disciples

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were very uncomfortable as well.

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That's what the next section says.

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Peter is highly uncomfortable,

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and he needed his feet done.

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He was highly uncomfortable because

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he didn't want Jesus naked on His knees

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before him washing his feet.

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It was highly uncomfortable for him.

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Jesus says,

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"Hey, if you're not going to have me serve you,

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then you're just not fit for me."

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When we don't like things like the Cross,

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when we say, "That's disgusting, I don't want that.

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That's too barbaric. That's too ancient."

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We're basically saying to Jesus,

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"I don't want the way you serve me."

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And Jesus, "If you will not allow Me to serve you,

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then you don't get any of Me."

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And when Peter hears this says, "Okay,

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fine, do my feet and do my belly button too.

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Do my whole body, I don't give a --

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Do my whole body because I want you.

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That's what I want."

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This is why Peter is is such a hero,

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he's always aggressive, he's always pushing.

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And so he's like, "Okay, if that's what takes,

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then keep doing it. Keep washing more."

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The story continues in verse 12:

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He put His clothes back on.

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And resumed His place, He said to them,

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They are very uncomfortable about what Jesus is doing,

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and He says, "Look, I am your Master

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and I am your Teacher.

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And if you don't want to do what your Master

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and what your Teacher is doing,

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then you're not fit.

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Because a servant's not greater than his master,

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and I'm your master and you just saw me serve.

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And if you, as my servant, don't want to do

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what your master has done and serve,

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then you're missing it.

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There's something fundamentally wrong with you."

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If you and I can't name and identify ways and places

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that we've gone out of our way to serve others,

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which might make us a hero in their eyes

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and might not make a hero in their eyes.

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It doesn't matter.

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What matters is we're serving Jesus,

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our Master, our Teacher, our Lord

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who's established for us a way to live.

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And Jesus says to you, to us blessed are you

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if you hear about these ideas.

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No, He doesn't say that.

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He doesn't say blessed are you

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if you have warm emotions about serving, no.

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He says, blessed are you if you do it, if you do it.

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- Back to Brian in just a minute.

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I want to take a second to talk about giving.

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Everything we do at Crossroads is only made possible

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through the generosity of faithful people

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who respond to God's call

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to mirror His character through generosity.

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If you want to join that community,

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you can do that simply by taking our Tithe Test.

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Go to Crossroads.net/tithetest.

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It works like this. You try giving, tithing for 90 days,

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and if at the end of those 90 days,

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you don't experience more of God.

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We'll give you all of your money back.

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Second, College Camp is coming up.

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If you're in college,

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you need to get to College Camp.

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It's an amazing experience designed just for you.

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I'll be there at it.

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I get to be one of the teachers, super pumped for it.

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Before we get back to Brian,

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I want you to take a look at this story.

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Here's somebody from our community who's finding that

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the path to greatness goes right through serving.

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- I'm Miles.

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I serve at Crossroads Uptown on the Connections Team.

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I've always had a relationship, I would say with God.

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It was just a matter of making it my own.

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And in college is really when I kind of

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took the reins of my faith and said,

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"You know, this is what I want to do with my life."

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And that has just allowed me

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to see God in a whole different light.

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I grew up, was an only child, so everything

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I did was like had to make friends and like,

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be super, super extroverted and outgoing,

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getting to know people on a deeper level

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and really like connecting with them.

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But as I, you know, got into this serving role

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and kind of came into like where I am in my faith,

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I was like, "Oh, these are like gifts

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that I can use to give to other people."

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And didn't think that that could be used

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as a way to, you know, be a light in God's Kingdom

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and to really bring people into it.

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I went to the University of Cincinnati.

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We really wanted to get connected

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and know some more people and just have a community.

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So took the chance and came to Crossroads Uptown

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with a couple of friends who had invited me.

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And ended up running into

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the former college director over there.

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I was like, "I want to get more connected around here."

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He's like, "You'd be great on the Connect Team."

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I said, "Okay, awesome. Like, what does that entail?"

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He's like, "Smile, wave, point people

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or show them exactly where we need to go,

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and just kind of be the first face people see

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when they walk in the doors."

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And from there, it just kind of went

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and turned into what it is today.

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Using those traits that way God's given them

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has definitely filled me.

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It's allowed me to be more intentional

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on the way that I smile, the way that I talk,

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the way that I just interact with people

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on a day to day basis.

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And it's just allowed me to be better at my job,

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and friendships, like all across the board,

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just being more in tune with these traits

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and these gifts has allowed me to just,

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you know, tenfold be a better Miles.

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It's kind of -- it's really cool

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just seeing how God's worked.

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And it just came from stepping out on a limb

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and just trusting that, you know,

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wherever I land is going to be somewhere beautiful.

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And, you know, here we are five years later

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and it's pretty beautiful.

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So I look forward to Sunday mornings so, so much.

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And I enjoy getting to serve.

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And it's amazing getting to see the same faces,

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familiar faces, but then, you know, connecting with them.

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"Hey, you know, what's your name?

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I see you here all the time."

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So definitely getting to just feel closer to God

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and feel like you're getting to do something

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that is His work that He's designed you to do

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is really cool.

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- I had somebody close to me recently

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who's a senior citizen have an accident

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and there wasn't anybody in their sphere

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to help them out.

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They had their car towed away

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and they came back to their house

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and they had no way to get stuff that was in the car.

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And they just have a lot, a lot of struggles

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as as all of us will eventually with age.

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And so I went down and had to get all the stuff

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out of their car and take it back to them.

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Not sure if it's totaled or not, but let's just get it.

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So I went down, I got all that stuff out,

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came up and dropped it off.

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And when I came up, they said, "Oh, we just found out I need

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the license plate taken off."

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It's like, I kind of thought to myself,

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"I've got to get to work this morning."

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I kind of left the house early

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so I could get to work and I got to go to work.

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And I started like thinking, I thought,

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"No, I am talking about service this week.

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I am talking about doing things for people

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that they need and would appreciate."

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I kind of said, "Hey, could we set

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an appointment later on to wash your feet?

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How about if I do that instead?

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Could we do that?"

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So I felt that nudge of God

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and so went all the way back down to that yard

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where that car was towed

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and got the license plate and came back.

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And as I was doing that, I wasn't sure

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which was more important to me,

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that I was serving this elderly couple,

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or if I was serving my God, my ultimate hero,

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because I know exactly that's what He would have done.

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This is a decision that you and I have.

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Will we do what needs to be done

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for people who are close to us and around us?

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I go to various pastors meetings.

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And one pastor meeting I was in,

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a bunch of pastors of different kind of churches.

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There was an African-American pastor,

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a friend of mine, who said, "Look,"

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he wasn't a friend of mine then, I just met him.

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He said, "Look, I don't need

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any more foot washing ceremonies.

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I don't need anybody coming to wash my feet."

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And what he meant by that was

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it's awkward when white people want to wash my feet

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because they feel like they're serving me.

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And what he said was, "If you want to serve me,

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meet some of my needs.

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Help us in the way that there are unjust things

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that are happening in culture.

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Help come alongside me and people in my church

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who have significant needs.

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But you kind of just having

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an emotional moment and washing my feet,

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as an African-American pastor, he said,

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does nothing for me. Stop doing it.

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People are tired of symbolic gestures.

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People are tired of words, whatever they are,

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whoever they are, white people, black people, Hispanic people.

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I'm not talking about race things,

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I'm talking with people of all different

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levels of the economic spectrum.

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People aren't looking for platitudes and ideas.

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Looking and waiting for somebody

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who will do something for us that needs done

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that no one else will want to do.

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When that happens, you're great.

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When that happens, you're a hero.

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James 2:14, the last verse we'll share today,

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James, who is believed to be

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actually the brother of Jesus

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who's responsible for the Book of James,

00:21:55

and that's who I believe wrote the book of James.

00:21:58

James, the brother of Jesus says:

00:22:26

Faith without service is dead.

00:22:31

Faith without meeting needs is dead.

00:22:36

Faith without stepping out of

00:22:38

your preferred schedule for the day

00:22:40

and bending it for somebody else is dead.

00:22:44

This week we meet needs.

00:22:46

What happens if all over the country,

00:22:48

everybody who's with us right now,

00:22:49

what happens if we meet needs, for people who are around us?

00:22:52

What happens if you're blessed enough financially

00:22:55

to pay for the person's drive in order behind you,

00:23:01

the drive thru order behind you?

00:23:02

What happens if people get their meal paid for

00:23:05

and they don't even know who did it?

00:23:07

What happens if those of us

00:23:08

who've got financial means actually buy

00:23:10

other people's gas this week?

00:23:12

What happens if we actually

00:23:14

open doors for people this week?

00:23:16

What happens if we actually serve somebody

00:23:18

by going out of our way to encourage somebody

00:23:21

and tell them something positive about themselves?

00:23:24

What happens?

00:23:25

They go on and on and on.

00:23:26

This week ask God to open up your eyes

00:23:30

to see the way to bless people,

00:23:32

and not only that, in doing so, you'll be like your Master.

00:23:35

You'll be like a servant and you can bless His heart.

00:23:38

That's the song we're going to do right now

00:23:39

that is written, it kind of comes out

00:23:41

of our culture here at Crossroads.

00:23:43

When I get up in the morning

00:23:44

one of my most consistent prayers is,

00:23:46

God, if you've got anything going on today,

00:23:48

I want to be a part of it.

00:23:49

That's the heart of this song that we wrote,

00:23:51

we want to bless the heart of God.

00:23:56

- Jesus, knowing that the Father

00:23:58

had given all things into His hands

00:24:01

and that He had come from God

00:24:02

and was going back to God, rose from supper.

00:24:05

He laid aside His outer garments.

00:24:07

And taking the towel, tied it around His waist.

00:24:10

Then He poured water into a basin

00:24:13

and begin to wash the disciples' feet

00:24:15

and to wipe them with the towel

00:24:16

that was wrapped around Him.

00:24:19

When He had washed their feet

00:24:21

and put on His outer garments and resumed His place,

00:24:23

He said to them, "Do you understand

00:24:26

what I have done to you?

00:24:27

You call me Teacher and Lord,

00:24:30

and you are right, for so I am.

00:24:32

If I then your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet,

00:24:36

you also ought to wash one another's feet.

00:24:39

For I have given you an example

00:24:41

that you also should do just as I have done to you.

00:28:12

- Hey, if you liked that song,

00:28:13

you can find more just like it by searching

00:28:15

for Crossroads wherever you listen to music.

00:28:17

And this week, don't forget

00:28:19

to uncover your hero mission in your guide

00:28:21

and with your group.

00:28:23

If you have anything in your life

00:28:24

that we can pray for you about, that we can help you with,

00:28:27

if you want to get connected,

00:28:28

just go to online.crossroads.net.

00:28:30

Make sure you have the Crossroads app,

00:28:32

if you don't already.

00:28:33

It's free wherever you get apps.

00:28:34

We will see you next week on Crossroads.

00:28:41

- There's a war going on around you

00:28:43

that you're not supposed to know about,

00:28:45

a battle raging that they're banking

00:28:46

you'll passively accept, like today's weather.

00:28:49

It looks like rain, but whatever, right?

00:28:51

The casualties are obvious, strewn across your feed

00:28:54

like bugs in a windshield.

00:28:56

But they're hoping you'll accept the splatter

00:28:57

as a normal part of normal life,

00:28:59

just colorful guts to wash out of your view,

00:29:02

fleeting inconvenience.

00:29:04

They're even working on a bubble gum flavored

00:29:06

numbing cream for your palate

00:29:07

so you can't taste the smoke from the burning world

00:29:09

you drive through on your way to target.

00:29:11

I hear it's delicious. Why?

00:29:18

- For our 25th anniversary, we wanted

00:29:20

to bless a number of our reach out partners

00:29:22

by giving away $2.5 million over 25 weeks.

00:29:27

We want to bless as we've been blessed.

00:29:35

- I guess I would have to say

00:29:38

I grew up in Martin County here.

00:29:40

By the time I was 16

00:29:41

I was addicted to all types of medicine.

00:29:49

They was paying my way into pill doctors,

00:29:51

my uncle was, for the pills, just, you know,

00:29:54

he would take all the pain pills

00:29:56

and he'd give me some nerve pills

00:29:57

and I'd go crazy for a week at a time.

00:30:01

But I got on meth and meth took my sanity.

00:30:09

I lost all sense of reality.

00:30:10

It took me to the darkest place in my life

00:30:14

where, as far as bad stuff,

00:30:16

there isn't anything I haven't done.

00:30:18

And I really didn't care.

00:30:19

I had so many enemies and you done run over

00:30:23

every good person that would help you.

00:30:25

And like, I just loved me.

00:30:27

But it took me to a place.

00:30:29

I was just miserable, miserable,

00:30:32

and I got so miserable and enough to change my life.

00:30:36

I'm so thankful for that low point, because

00:30:39

if things would have just --

00:30:40

if I would have skipped by, I don't think

00:30:42

I would have ever realized

00:30:44

I had to lose it all to decide to change.

00:31:06

- I was born and raised in Martin County,

00:31:08

and so I have a lot of great memories

00:31:10

in eastern Kentucky and Martin County,

00:31:11

but on the other end, it's also the place in 1964,

00:31:14

President Johnson came and declared the war on poverty.

00:31:16

So it's been a very impoverished place

00:31:19

and people have sensationalized

00:31:22

just what happens here

00:31:23

and have put labels on people here.

00:31:26

Probably the thing that breaks my heart the most

00:31:28

as I see our people is the way they're portrayed

00:31:31

outside of this community.

00:31:32

Because probably some of the greatest people

00:31:34

I've ever met in my life,

00:31:36

probably some of the most wisest people

00:31:38

I've ever met in my life

00:31:40

live in these hills and hollers.

00:31:41

And so my desire has always been,

00:31:44

I want to tell the good things of what happens here.

00:31:46

ARO's mission is to be Christ's love in action

00:31:48

in all that we do.

00:31:49

ARO focuses in three areas.

00:31:51

One is education.

00:31:52

The other piece is addiction.

00:31:54

I don't know of a family in Martin County

00:31:56

whose life has not been impacted by the abuse

00:31:59

and use of drugs and alcohol.

00:32:00

And then, of course, the third area

00:32:02

is bringing in short-term mission teams.

00:32:04

We call it work and witness teams because

00:32:07

it's not just about coming in and working,

00:32:09

it's about witnessing the love and the hope of Christ

00:32:12

as they're here to serve alongside of us.

00:32:15

- I had a friend and I got a message from her,

00:32:18

asked how I was doing, and she was like,

00:32:20

"You need to go to rehab."

00:32:22

And I was like, "You tell them to call me and I'll go."

00:32:26

I left a couple of days later.

00:32:28

I hated it the first 20 days,

00:32:30

and then that's when I ended up,

00:32:33

I celebrate recovery in a rehab.

00:32:36

And I was having a service similar to last night,

00:32:40

and some guys like, "You ought to go up there and pray."

00:32:44

And I wanted to, but I had a chip on my shoulder

00:32:48

where I was a tough guy, and it cost me

00:32:50

a lot of hard time being a tough guy.

00:32:55

After I went to the altar and prayed,

00:32:56

I caught myself the next day in group feeling pity

00:33:01

for strange people that didn't even know

00:33:04

about their struggles, and that was weird to me

00:33:08

because I never had a heart,

00:33:10

so for nobody but myself that benefited me.

00:33:13

Just one prayer and my feelings toward myself

00:33:16

and the world changed.

00:33:19

When I was a kid, I can remember ARO

00:33:23

coming to my house and painting it.

00:33:25

Actually, Dwayne and his crew put the roof on,

00:33:29

like before my father passed away.

00:33:32

They fixed the floors

00:33:33

and there's coming back to fix some more.

00:33:37

This is a poor community, and they've served

00:33:41

so many people, like so many people that I know,

00:33:44

so many people that I don't know.

00:33:46

They're such a blessing to all this community.

00:33:50

- My prayer is always that Crossroads

00:33:53

would receive a heart change

00:33:55

and go back into their community and realize

00:33:57

if it can happen in Martin County,

00:33:58

engaging community, it can happen where we live.

00:34:01

I want our people to be seen in such a way

00:34:04

that when people come here to serve alongside of us,

00:34:08

that they literally leave changed because of

00:34:10

what people have spoken into their lives,

00:34:12

the people that live here.

00:34:13

That's the story I try to tell people,

00:34:15

that this is a place that literally

00:34:16

when you come in and experience it

00:34:18

will change your life

00:34:19

if you'll come in and with an open heart.

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