Let Yourself Hear the Call of God

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- Hey, welcome to Crossroads. My name is Andy Reider,

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community pastor of Crossroads Anywhere,

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and we're a church that meets in rooms like this one

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and online in homes, bars, dorms, cafes,

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even prisons all over the globe.

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And you're joining us today as we continue

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a deep dive into what it looks like

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to actually hear from God.

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And depending on who you are

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and what your background is,

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that might sound comforting,

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that might sound crazy, like, that might sound

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really encouraging, or that might be insane.

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But for this time, whoever you are and wherever you are,

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I just hope that you'll be open and consider

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the idea that maybe God has good things

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that He wants to speak into your life.

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A quick overview of what we're going to be doing today.

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First, we're going to spend some time in worship.

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This is using music to connect us to God

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as the soundtrack to a conversation with Him.

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Second, we're actually going to be hearing

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from our teaching pastor about how and why

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we'd want to hear from God for ourselves.

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And third, we're going to hear from

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our senior pastor about some really important

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and really exciting things that are coming up

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for our entire community.

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So let's jump in right now with worship.

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- Hey, welcome to Crossroads.

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If it's your first time, we're glad you're here.

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If you're joining online, glad you're here,

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why don't you join us?

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We're going to sing songs and tell the story of our God.

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- Listen to these words, Psalm 19:1-9 says:

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That's the God we respond to, the God we sing to,

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the God I've given my life to and I'll give

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my voice to Him right here and right now.

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Because He and His love endure forever.

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Let's start with this chorus.

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- She says I'll never stop singing.

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- Every song that we sing here,

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every song we sing is a prayer of humility,

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but some songs are dangerous prayers of surrender.

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That's exactly what this song is for us,

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dangerous prayer of surrender.

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- What does that mean when we say take me deeper?

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I mean, do you want -- do you want it?

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I assume we do a bunch of us here

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in the room I'm in anyway,

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we got hands that are raised high.

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What is it when you say you want to go deeper?

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What does that mean for you?

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Does that mean you want to hear some sermon

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where there's a Greek word or a Hebrew word?

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Does that mean you want to hear some

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theological concept you haven't heard before?

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Does that mean you want -- I just ask, what?

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What does that mean to you?

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I love that we sing that song,

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and I love that it looks like some of us want it.

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But what is it that we want?

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Next week, next week starts the most important

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six weeks really in my life.

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Next week starts the most important six weeks of my life.

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The most important six weeks our church has ever gone.

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It's under -- It's what we call a Push.

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We're going to push on each other.

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Like, do you want God?

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What does that mean to have God?

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Do you want to hear God more than you do right now?

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Have you ever heard God?

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Do you want a touch of the miraculous maybe?

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Do you want to see God use you in a profound way

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instead of just internally processing

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whatever your beliefs are, to actually know

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that God is using.

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We want to push on each other over the next six weeks.

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It's going to be powerful. It's going to be great.

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And we're going to start this Push,

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you got when you came in, whatever site

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you're in right now, welcome to Crossroads, by the way.

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You got one of these. Yes, you can clap for that.

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You got one of these little cards that explains all this.

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It's going to be a multi-sensory

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multi-pronged multi attack.

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We're going to push on each other, say,

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Do you want God? Do you want more of God?

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Do you want a peace that passes all understanding?

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Do you want something that's beyond human explanation?

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Because if you want more of God,

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that's what should be happening more of.

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And we're going to start this Push with something

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I've been looking to do for years and years and years.

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We'll probably gonna do it every single year.

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We're going to have an old school, old school revival.

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You might even think what's a revival?

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You find out today. Old school, old school.

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Actually new school, because most of us

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have never been to one, never been to one.

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It's going to be at our base camp property

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next weekend, Friday, Friday night, Saturday.

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And before I tell you anything about that,

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let's just look at a little tight recap

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of we had Woman Camp and Man Camp

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over the last few weekends.

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You can go ahead and have a seat and let's check this out.

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- What I witnessed for four hours

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of you guys walking in it was seriously

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about the most inspiring thing I've ever seen.

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Normal human beings don't do what you did today.

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- It is so exciting to see how God

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has brought women from all over to this land,

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to this tent and in this moment,

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to be unleashed with purpose and power,

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to get off the sidelines

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and into what he has called us to.

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- I know that you want more,

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and God goes where He's wanted.

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- Let's go.

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- Come on. Are you kidding me? Wow!

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We hired a guy at Crossroads a while ago,

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and the first week on the job he said,

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"I should go check out one of these camp things."

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And he came to one of our camps, and he said,

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"I thought camps were an extension of the weekend."

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He said, "Instead, what I found out was

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the weekends are an extension of camps."

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You don't understand who we are as a church

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until you've been to a Man Camp,

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Woman Camp or Couples Camp.

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I mean, we're glad that you're here.

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You're part of the church,

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but it's in those environments

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where you see our rawness.

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It's in those environments where you see our zeal.

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It's in those environments where you see

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our playfulness, our humorous,

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our junior high humor, our aggressive nature,

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and our intensity.

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And you see, a lion's share of the miracles

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we see are on a year by year basis.

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Crazy, crazy things have been happening.

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This last week at Man Camp we had

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93 people who said they had

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an actual physical healing as a result of prayer.

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93. [applause]

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This included a guy who had a boot on his leg

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and he didn't need a boot on his leg anymore.

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This included a person who came in the tent

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and they were having hernia issues,

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and some guy put his hand on the hernia.

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It must have been fun and awkward.

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He put his hand there and he got up, he was like,

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"My gosh, this is great." He's bouncing around.

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He goes out and tell somebody in line,

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a line hundreds of people long to actually get prayed for.

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He tells them, "My gosh, I had this hernia.

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It's gone, it's gone."

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The guy said, "I don't even think I could ask

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for prayer for my ulcer or some other thing."

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He comes in, bam! It's gone.

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We had another woman, a Woman Camp,

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come in and she's on her last round of hearing aids.

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Last round of hearing aids.

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Um, I guess there's three levels or something like that.

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And the woman is praying for her I know,

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a friend of mine said, "I don't know anything

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about ear, ear ear physiology or Scientology."

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Scientology? [laughter]

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What's the word? Ear? Anatomy.

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That's fine. We'll go with that.

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But I see, I see, I see hairs that are bent down

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and they're starting to stand up.

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And she didn't even know that that's part of

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the key things on an eardrum is the hair follicles.

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What do you know? She comes to the tent,

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no more hearing aids. No.

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I know, I know that this sounds crazy,

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televangelist, weird.

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These are just people story telling us

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what actually happened.

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And that's what I'm saying, do you want deeper

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or you just want a philosophy?

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A lot of us are functional atheists.

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We go about our life with the right beliefs,

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but in terms of how we trust God

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and the things we trust Him more,

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we may as well be atheists.

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We come into a weekend, we put our church on,

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we try to dabble in our faith after having

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whatever kind of weekend we have.

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But a lot of us, man, we just need to see

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the beauty of God who just wants a friendship with you.

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He wants to know you. He knows you very well,

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but He wants you to know Him

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and go deeper into understanding Him

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and fuller levels of yielding your life to Him.

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That's when the peace that passes all understanding.

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So next week, you may not be a --

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Next week, you may not be a big camper,

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that's okay. It's Friday and Saturday.

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You can camp Friday night.

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You don't have to camp Friday night.

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You can come in and come out on Friday.

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Come in and come out Saturday.

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We just want to get you to a place

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where you might sense God.

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It is ridiculous the level of rigorousness

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our church has about this.

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That's what you're going to find when you come out here.

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First of all, don't come expecting

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some cultivated Crossroads white glove experience

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where people have coffee stations

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every five feet for you, no,

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you're going to come out because you want God

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and you're going to have to work for it.

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You're going to have to push into it.

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And that's maybe why stuff happens

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when we have these camps.

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Woman Camp a few weeks ago,

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they were sleeping in 85 degree temperatures

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at night, 85.

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Like this is even women

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who aren't even going through menopause,

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they're sleeping in 85. That's horrible.

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I hate -- I'm a hoss, I love camping.

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I hate camping in the heat.

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And yet these women did.

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Crazy things happened at Woman Camp.

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Cheers to all you ladies! Awesome!

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Last week at Man Camp we thought

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we were gonna have a bunch of no shows.

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We had some, but at least no shows ever

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in hurricane wind, we had hurricamp is what we had.

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Guys walking in 30 mile an hour winds

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with 60 mile an hour gusts pelting them in the face.

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They can't --I'm standing there with my bullhorn.

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I keep swapping out bullhorns because

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it keeps getting keeps getting drenched

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and shorted out electronically.

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And guys can't even open their eyes

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from being pelted in the face.

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It was crazy.

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Maybe, maybe, maybe that's why things like that

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happen in a camp environment because God says,

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"Oh, I see you want it." That's where God goes.

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He goes where He's wanted

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and He goes when people want him.

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I'm asking you to revive yourself.

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I'm asking you to, in fact, some of you

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aren't going to revive yourself.

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Some of you are going to are going to vive yourself

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because you've never been vived?

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It's going to be great. Like, seriously.

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Your neighbors, someone who doesn't go to church,

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whatever, it's going to be really good.

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There's going to be kid stuff that's happening.

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There's going to be little worship sets

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and another big massive worship times,

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solitude times, games, just a whole bunch

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of things for you to choose your thing

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and connect with God. It's going to be great.

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Now, you got this when you came in today.

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It explains the the 10X Journey

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that we're going to go on next weekend.

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And again, that revival sort of marks the start of it.

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What would it look like if God got ahold of all of us?

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What would it look like if Crossroads had

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our influence go to 10X what it is right now?

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What would that look like if Crossroads

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was a church of 500,000 people

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who were very, very strong in God and operating

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in a peace that passes all understanding,

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and we're up for seeing things

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that human ingenuity can't bring about?

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That's what we're starting.

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Next week is going to be amazing.

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And Kyle is going to kick that off today.

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Look at this when you go out.

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Great having you. Kyle, come on up here.

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Come on up here, I'm about done. Come on.

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We're going to do the huge handoff,

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and there it is.

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- [laughs] Smooth.

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Don't you wish he'd get excited sometimes>

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You know what I mean.

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It's like just NyQuil all the time,

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just unbelievable. Oh, spectacular.

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Hey, if you're brand new, welcome today.

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We're glad that you're with us.

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You might hear this stuff and be like,

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"This is a lot. Can I do it?"

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Yeah, absolutely. Jump into all of it.

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You will be glad that you did.

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You, by the way, you're joining us

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in the last week of a series about how to hear from God

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and then the 10X Push starts next week.

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And you might be thinking like 10X.

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You know, 10X might seem kind of audacious,

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like, speaking of hearing from God,

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would God ever say or give somebody a vision

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to have a 10X kind of life?

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If you actually heard from God,

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if you heard Him speak to you,

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wouldn't He want to put you back in your place

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if you started getting all high and mighty like that?

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There's actually a spot in the Bible in Matthew 13

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where Jesus is super direct about the kind of life

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that He came to offer you and me,

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and exactly what our place is.

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It's this four part parable that has to do with a seed.

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And the seed is His Word and what happens

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when we actually hear it and understand.

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It says this Matthew 13:23:

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See, Jesus says, "When you actually hear My voice,

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if you actually could hear Me,

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what you would hear Me saying is, 'Go for it.

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I have 100 fold life for you.'"

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And so we think 10X in ten years is a good place to start.

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And that's the good news.

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If you ever felt like if God was to talk to you,

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He would just put you back in your place.

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Let me just remove that lie from your brain right now.

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No, He wouldn't.

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He wants to push you out of the place

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you've put yourself in and give you more life

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than you ever thought was possible. The 10X life.

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Now, the dividing line between the 10X life

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and the Zero-x life is 100% whether you hear from God.

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And the only way, only way to hear from God

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is to put yourself in a place to be pushed. Period.

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That's what we're doing as a church

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and we hope to do the rest of our time today.

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Let's pray before we go any further.

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God, thank You so much

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for the push You've already given us.

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I already see it happening,

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and I'm asking that for me, for everybody here,

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everybody watching online,

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everybody in all of our sites

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that You would push us today closer to You. Amen.

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Now, hearing from God, you know, that means,

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like, kind of like learning His language,

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which might feel a little bit

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like learning a foreign language.

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Anybody learn a foreign language in high school?

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I took Spanish. I know about two words:

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gracias and then muchos gracias.

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That's about all that I remember.

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And by the way, happy Hispanic Heritage month. Amazing.

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There's a language I wish I had taken, though.

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A language that would have been

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so much more helpful in my life than Spanish.

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It's the language of wife.

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They did not offer this at my high school.

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Maybe they did at yours. I don't know why.

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Last last week, Sarah and I,

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we celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

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I've learned a couple of things about speaking wife.

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I couldn't say I'm fluent exactly,

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but I've learned a couple of things.

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And so if you're a younger husband or a husband to be,

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I just got a couple of tips

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just to get you started in the language

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i just want to share with you.

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Number one, your wife, if she ever says,

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"What do you want to eat?"

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Let me just tell you something about wife.

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This is lesson number one.

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Oftentimes question marks do not indicate a question,

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and this is a perfect example. This is not a question.

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If your wife asks you what you want to eat,

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she actually means, "I want you to figure out

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what I want to eat by thinking is the things I like

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and then suggest them to me

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until I know which one I want."

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That's what she actually means.

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Another one, "I don't need any presents."

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Now, listen, you're going to hear that

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and you'll be like, "I married Mother Teresa.

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Wow, how lucky am I?" Okay, great.

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Praise her for that for sure, but do not be fooled.

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This does not mean "I don't want presents."

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This means I want a very specific present,

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but I'm not going to tell you what it is,

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because you should already know. Okay?

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I'm just telling you, fellas, if you want

00:31:00

to win this one, just take your credit card

00:31:01

and hand it to her friends, okay?

00:31:03

That's the only move you got there.

00:31:04

Another one, "Where are you?"

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Again, not a question.

00:31:08

This is a statement of profound proportions,

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because you should be here.

00:31:12

That's what that one means.

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And then the last one.

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The last one. Um, two words, "It's fine."

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Okay, listen, I -- If you ever hear

00:31:29

these words in your marriage,

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and I pray you don't, I pray you don't.

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If you ever hear your wife say, "It's fine,"

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I'm just going to tell you, the only thing

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I know with 100% certainty is that it's not fine at all.

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Okay? Just a couple of things there.

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Now, I learned this because I've listened

00:31:48

to my wife, you know, and a lot of wives,

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they'll complain that their husbands

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never listen to them.

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I'm proud to say I've never heard my wife say that.

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Never have. Not a single time.

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That's a slow burn. You get that one eventually.

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Anyway, wives, give you a brief overview of husband.

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You know, just kind of train you too.

00:32:07

Here's three common phrases you'll hear:

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what time is it? Have you seen my shorts?

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And I'm going to cut the grass.

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Now all of these actually translate to the same thing:

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do you want to have sexy time?

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That's basically all you need to know

00:32:24

about speaking husband.

00:32:25

You're an expert. You're fluent now. Okay?

00:32:30

When you get married, right, you get in that relationship

00:32:33

you have to learn not just to hear the words,

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but to understand what's actually being said

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and who the person actually is.

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And it turns out this is the same as us and Jesus.

00:32:45

It's the same exact thing.

00:32:46

See, when you actually do what He said

00:32:48

in that verse we read earlier,

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when you hear Him and you understand Him,

00:32:51

what you'll hear and who you'll understand

00:32:53

is a guy who's extremely pushy.

00:32:56

You know that Jesus was pushy.

00:32:59

His favorite word He ever said

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was one of the pushiest ones that there is.

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It's the word that I say when I get behind

00:33:04

a slow car, which happens all the time.

00:33:06

I feel like some of you are praying for me

00:33:07

to have patience, and I would like you to stop, please.

00:33:10

Slow cars are everywhere. I say, "Go, go, come on, go."

00:33:15

96 times Jesus says go.

00:33:18

96 times He sees somebody and He looks at them

00:33:21

and He goes, "What are you doing? Go, go!"

00:33:25

The most famous of those is probably Matthew 28,

00:33:27

what's called the Great Commission says:

00:33:41

Now you might wonder how many times did He say stay?

00:33:43

You know, isn't that about, you know,

00:33:45

kind of quiet, still Jesus, doesn't He say stay?

00:33:48

Well, yeah, He says it four times, four,

00:33:51

and they all kind of sound like this one

00:33:53

from Luke 12. Jesus says:

00:33:58

See, even when Jesus says stay, He goes,

00:34:01

I'm just setting you up to get ready to go.

00:34:04

Jesus is the pushy God of go.

00:34:06

He's not the cautious God of stay where it's comfortable.

00:34:09

The other time, there were 72 people

00:34:11

who were following Him, He'd been building into them.

00:34:13

He'd been pushing on them a little bit.

00:34:14

And then he gives Him this shove out the door, literally.

00:34:17

He tells him to pick up everything

00:34:18

and to go out to the towns around.

00:34:20

Says they're going to cast out demons,

00:34:21

they're going to heal people.

00:34:23

It's going to be awesome.

00:34:24

And then this is the pep talk He gives them.

00:34:26

This is the final word. Listen to this Luke 10:3:

00:34:29

Jesus says go, exclamation point! He shouts it.

00:34:36

Which just imagine Friday Night Football locker room,

00:34:40

the coach is giving his team a pump up speech

00:34:41

right before we take the field.

00:34:43

Coach is like, "Fellas, we're like lambs among wolves.

00:34:47

Anyways, get out there. "You'd be like," What?

00:34:49

Coach, what are you --

00:34:51

This is not really motivating.

00:34:52

What are you trying to do here?"

00:34:54

Well, what Jesus is doing is He's saying, "Hey,

00:34:57

if you perceive that the world is risky

00:34:59

and dangerous, you got it right.

00:35:01

Guess what? Go anyway. Go."

00:35:06

He had 12 people, we call them the 12 disciples.

00:35:09

And they were just working, you know,

00:35:11

at a job on a Tuesday or Wednesday.

00:35:13

And Jesus walks up and he goes, "Follow me."

00:35:15

Pushy, pushy Jesus.

00:35:18

He does this again and again and again.

00:35:19

After the cross and after the tomb,

00:35:21

His followers are huddled in this little room

00:35:23

and He walks up to them and He says,

00:35:25

"Go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth."

00:35:28

He pushes them.

00:35:29

The point is this: if you haven't been pushed by God,

00:35:34

you have never heard Him.

00:35:37

It's the language He speaks.

00:35:38

There isn't any other language.

00:35:41

You might be like, well, "Kyle, isn't God a loving Father?"

00:35:45

Yeah, He is. See, He doesn't push you down,

00:35:50

I think that's the misperception of God

00:35:51

is that He's trying to crush you down

00:35:53

and put you in your spot. He's trying to push you down.

00:35:55

No, He's trying to push you out of the places

00:35:58

where you've settled for less than what He has for you.

00:36:01

He's not the WWE wrestler jumping off

00:36:04

the top rope doing a moonsault,

00:36:06

just elbow dropping to the mat.

00:36:08

He's not that. He wants to pick you up

00:36:10

and push you to more.

00:36:12

See, His push is one direction.

00:36:14

His push is always towards His promise. Always.

00:36:18

Never any other. Always towards His promise.

00:36:22

Why would we need that push?

00:36:25

It's because you and I on our own

00:36:26

we'll actually just stay.

00:36:28

We don't want the push. We want to be passive.

00:36:30

We're cool to just stay wherever it is, right?

00:36:33

Just where it's comfortable, where it's safe,

00:36:35

where it's known, where it's not risky.

00:36:37

Sometimes we even spiritualize it as,

00:36:39

like, the smart, wise thing to do.

00:36:43

But this is never the people who get God.

00:36:46

People get God are people who go after the promise,

00:36:48

the people who want to be pushed.

00:36:50

In the Old Testament, maybe the central story

00:36:52

of the entire thing is the story of the Exodus,

00:36:54

where the nation of Israel, they leave Egypt.

00:36:56

They were in slavery and they are heading

00:36:58

to the Promised Land.

00:36:59

And there's a scene where they're on

00:37:00

the verge of the Promised land, this amazing place

00:37:02

that God's promised that they can have,

00:37:04

that they can take.

00:37:06

And they go in and they send some spies,

00:37:08

and most of the spies come back and they say,

00:37:10

"Hey, two things to report back.

00:37:12

Two things report back. One, the land is awesome,

00:37:16

flowing with milk and honey. I mean, whew."

00:37:19

Which I've always wondered, like, why milk and honey?

00:37:21

You know what I mean?

00:37:22

Like, is that like cybertrucks

00:37:23

and gold bouillon or something now?

00:37:25

I don't know what that would be like,

00:37:26

but it was awesome. They love it.

00:37:28

And then they go, "But the second thing though,

00:37:30

however, a problem, it's full of giants

00:37:32

and so we can't take it."

00:37:34

This is their actual report from Numbers 13:32, it says:

00:37:54

That's how I know I'm not related to any of those people.

00:37:56

They were, though, related to a guy named Anak.

00:37:59

There was a giant in the land, a famous giant.

00:38:02

This guy named Anak.

00:38:03

And they were descendants of Anak.

00:38:05

And the people hear this and go, "Oh, my gosh,

00:38:07

all the people are giants.

00:38:09

Oh, man, we could never take them.

00:38:12

--e should. We should just stay here,

00:38:13

or maybe you know what better?

00:38:15

We should go back to slavery in Egypt."

00:38:17

See, rather than be pushed towards the promise

00:38:19

they decide to be passive.

00:38:21

Now, the tragedy in the story is that thing about giants,

00:38:26

it wasn't even true.

00:38:28

See, ten verses earlier it says this in Numbers 13, it says:

00:38:41

Three guys. There were three guys there who were big.

00:38:46

Now this was an army, by the way,

00:38:51

600,000 men of fighting age.

00:38:52

And they look in the land and they see three guys

00:38:55

and go, "Oh man, we better --

00:38:57

We better sit this one out," decide to be passive.

00:38:59

Why does that happen?

00:39:01

Because the voice of fear talked to them.

00:39:03

See, there's another voice besides God

00:39:04

that wants you to be passive,

00:39:06

doesn't want you to be pushed.

00:39:07

It wants you to be passive, to pass on being pushed

00:39:10

in just to stay where you are.

00:39:12

They listen to that voice.

00:39:14

Now fear does this thing, it always inflates the danger.

00:39:17

It's like a telescope.

00:39:19

It peers into your future about what's coming,

00:39:22

and it inflates the danger to the point

00:39:24

where you decide not to move.

00:39:26

And I think this is exactly

00:39:28

what might be happening to you right now

00:39:30

when it comes to this 10X Push.

00:39:32

You might have heard Brian say earlier

00:39:34

or one of the videos the last couple of weeks

00:39:36

that this is a spiritual journey

00:39:37

that will end in a financial commitment.

00:39:39

And that voice might be talking to you

00:39:42

and going, "Oh, man, you don't got extra money.

00:39:45

You can't do this. This is going to be --

00:39:46

This is bad. I do not want to do this.

00:39:49

This is -- We better sit this one out."

00:39:52

Just please listen to me.

00:39:53

Your life is and always will be limited

00:39:59

in the places you refuse to be pushed.

00:40:03

It just will. So if you listen to --

00:40:07

Don't listen to fear. Don't listen to the voice of fear.

00:40:10

Listen to God and let Him push you

00:40:12

to a place you could never imagine on your own.

00:40:17

You know none of those people who had that bad report,

00:40:20

none of the people who decided to stay passive

00:40:22

ever got the promise. None of them did.

00:40:25

They wait till they all die off.

00:40:26

And then the two guys, the two spies who said,

00:40:28

"No, I think we can take them," Joshua and Caleb,

00:40:30

they lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land.

00:40:33

And God gives them this charge

00:40:35

as they're getting ready to go. Joshua 1:9 says:

00:40:47

There's the pushy God again. Go!

00:40:49

Not the Lord your God is with you

00:40:51

wherever you choose to stay comfortable. No.

00:40:53

Wherever you go towards danger.

00:40:57

You know every once in a while the people of God,

00:41:00

they remember this about God

00:41:02

and they let God push them.

00:41:04

And what happens is a awakening breaks out

00:41:07

across the nation.

00:41:09

And I'll just say our nation needs an awakening.

00:41:11

We don't need political reform; we need spiritual reform.

00:41:13

And the only thing that can do that

00:41:15

is a revival, an awakening of God's people.

00:41:19

Now, you might not know much about revivals.

00:41:21

That wouldn't be surprising.

00:41:22

There's actually not a lot of great content

00:41:24

out there about them.

00:41:26

Our team wanted to do some research on it.

00:41:27

We were looking for documentaries

00:41:29

and we couldn't find anything.

00:41:30

And so what we ended up doing was spending

00:41:32

months and months researching

00:41:34

and carefully creating a documentary

00:41:36

that we're going to show you now,

00:41:37

and it's about 15 minutes long, which I know,

00:41:40

I know, your 2024 brain just went,

00:41:42

"15 minute video. That's more than TikTok!"

00:41:46

You can handle it. I believe in you.

00:41:49

You can totally handle it. You'll be just fine.

00:41:51

And as you watch it, I want you to watch for

00:41:54

this history that repeats itself. Okay?

00:41:57

People get passive and they fall away from faith.

00:42:01

And then a small group of people decide to lean in

00:42:05

and let God push them and an awakening breaks out.

00:42:09

See, every, every, every national awakening

00:42:12

begins with personal revival.

00:42:17

- In our modern age, the idea of revival

00:42:19

or the concept of a great awakening

00:42:21

may sound like fanatical religious folklore

00:42:24

steeped in mystery and myth, but they're actually

00:42:27

well documented historical events

00:42:29

with lasting cultural impact.

00:42:31

We're now living in one of

00:42:32

the most contentious times in human history.

00:42:35

War, divisive politics, mental illness,

00:42:37

despair, loneliness, they're at all time highs.

00:42:41

But what if I told you that this isn't actually new?

00:42:44

Not really. That over the past hundreds of years,

00:42:47

the same exact thing happened.

00:42:49

People went away from God.

00:42:51

Their faith got stale.

00:42:53

Things got bad.

00:42:54

But then God revived them.

00:42:56

Fast forward to 2024.

00:42:58

We have dead things in our lives and in our country

00:43:02

that need to be brought back to life.

00:43:04

As followers of Jesus, we have reason to believe

00:43:06

that not only is revival possible,

00:43:09

it's actually part of God's design,

00:43:11

His rescue plan for every generation,

00:43:13

and that based on history, we're actually overdue.

00:43:17

Revivals and awakenings are real,

00:43:20

radical and history changing.

00:43:22

They bring dead things back to life,

00:43:25

and they're still happening.

00:43:26

Dr. Michael McClymond, one of

00:43:28

the foremost experts on the topic, says

00:43:30

spiritual revivals and awakenings have happened

00:43:32

in the history of America every 50 years or so.

00:43:35

Let's look at five of the biggest revival

00:43:38

movements in America that just might uncover

00:43:40

how we can be part of the next movement of God.

00:43:44

In the early 1700s, when America

00:43:46

was still just a ragtag group of colonies,

00:43:49

the fate that brought many settlers here had died.

00:43:52

Corrupted by greed and ambition,

00:43:53

the future of the New World looked bleak.

00:43:56

Then a revolutionary thing happened that no one expected,

00:43:59

a radical spiritual wave swept through the young colonies,

00:44:02

and their dead faith wasn't dead anymore.

00:44:04

It undyed. It was revived.

00:44:07

This historical reality was called the Great Awakening

00:44:09

and changed the course of history forever.

00:44:11

It even played a large role in kickstarting

00:44:14

the American Revolution and the founding of our country.

00:44:17

Speaking in 1818, the second President

00:44:19

of the United States, John Adams, said,

00:44:33

Rewind to the early 1700s, as the colonies

00:44:36

of America went through severe growing pains.

00:44:46

One historian wrote that it was a time when:

00:44:57

Sound familiar?

00:44:59

The European Enlightenment, or Age of Reason,

00:45:02

had made its way across the Atlantic Ocean

00:45:04

to the American colonies.

00:45:06

Christians were feeling complacent

00:45:08

with their method of worship,

00:45:09

and were disillusioned with how wealth

00:45:11

and rationalism were dominating the culture.

00:45:14

God's people needed to be brought back to life.

00:45:18

The stage was set for a renewal of faith.

00:45:21

And in the late 1720s an awakening began to take root.

00:45:25

A young man named George Whitefield came to America.

00:45:28

Unlike the monotone preachers of the day who

00:45:31

taught the Bible like a dry academic religious lecture,

00:45:34

George Whitefield was a performer.

00:45:36

He was dramatic and commanding,

00:45:38

with a booming voice, said to be able

00:45:40

to reach 15,000 people without amplification.

00:45:44

He brought new life to teaching the Word of God.

00:45:47

Breaking with tradition, Whitfield

00:45:50

held meetings outside in the open air

00:45:52

where large crowds flocked around him

00:45:54

and passerbys were drawn in.

00:45:56

It offended many of the traditional preachers

00:45:58

of the day, but it worked.

00:46:00

It's estimated that 80% of American colonists

00:46:03

personally heard Whitfield preach.

00:46:06

During the awakening Church attendance swelled

00:46:08

from 14% to 55%.

00:46:12

The gift of the First Great Awakening of faith

00:46:15

was understanding that God was not

00:46:17

a disapproving father looking for an opportunity

00:46:19

to punish his children, which is how it felt

00:46:21

to serve this guy, but a merciful,

00:46:24

pursuing, personal God.

00:46:26

It supported important Bible-based values

00:46:29

like human dignity, education, missions,

00:46:32

humanitarianism, inclusion, and equality.

00:46:35

The revival also led to the establishment

00:46:37

of several renowned educational institutions

00:46:40

including Princeton, Rutgers, Brown,

00:46:42

and Dartmouth universities.

00:46:44

By the time the First Great Awakening died down,

00:46:46

the seeds of a new country had already started to bloom.

00:46:50

But humans are nothing if not predictable.

00:46:53

And so the pendulum swung again.

00:46:56

By the end of the 18th century,

00:46:58

the Industrial Revolution brought

00:46:59

huge technological advancements,

00:47:01

but many educated Americans no longer

00:47:03

profess traditional Christian beliefs.

00:47:05

Church attendance had plummeted again,

00:47:07

with only 6% of America's population belonging to one.

00:47:11

It was in reaction to this growing imbalance

00:47:13

that a revival spread westward

00:47:15

in the first half of the 19th century.

00:47:17

A second Great Awakening had begun.

00:47:22

Where would you least expect a revival to start?

00:47:25

How about Bourbon country?

00:47:27

In August 1801, a Presbyterian minister

00:47:30

named Barton Stone, living in

00:47:33

the wilderness of Kentucky, prepared for

00:47:34

a communion service at Cambridge.

00:47:37

While it was common for this tiny community

00:47:39

of church goers to spend days preparing

00:47:41

for these services, this particular meeting

00:47:44

exploded far beyond anyone's expectations.

00:47:48

The faithful planning of a small community

00:47:50

met the supernatural wave of the Spirit of God,

00:47:53

and it's estimated that 20,000 people showed up.

00:47:57

That was 10% of the entire population

00:48:00

of Kentucky at the time.

00:48:01

People camped around the Cane Ridge Meeting House

00:48:04

for over a mile.

00:48:06

The sound of the crowd was described

00:48:08

like the thunder of Niagara Falls.

00:48:11

Cane Ridge is found in Bourbon country,

00:48:13

so the spirits flowed in every sense.

00:48:15

The event was so disruptive that

00:48:17

the military helped with logistics, water,

00:48:20

tents and order.

00:48:21

One pastor reported that after Cane Ridge,

00:48:23

not a single month passed for the next 25 years

00:48:27

without news of a revival happening

00:48:29

someplace in America.

00:48:31

It might have started small, but the ripple kept growing.

00:48:35

The second Great Awakening really reached

00:48:38

its peak with Charles Finney.

00:48:39

Despite looking more like a pirate than a preacher,

00:48:43

Finney brought the lessons learned at Cambridge

00:48:45

to the heart of America's greatest cities,

00:48:47

Philadelphia, Boston and New York.

00:48:50

Historians estimate that as many as

00:48:52

500,000 people came to faith

00:48:55

through Finney's urban gatherings.

00:48:57

Emphasizing our potential to do good in the world,

00:49:00

Finney was an early advocate of

00:49:02

the abolitionist movement against slavery,

00:49:05

and many of his converts joined in that work.

00:49:08

By the mid 1800s, the population of America

00:49:10

had increased four fold, but church attendance

00:49:13

surpassed it, growing 10X over the same period of time,

00:49:17

all while simultaneously laying the tracks

00:49:19

that would eventually lead to the end of slavery.

00:49:22

While the first two Great Awakenings were started

00:49:25

by the experts led by professional clergy,

00:49:27

the next wave of revival would be in response

00:49:30

to a regular person who had the boldness

00:49:32

to ask God to move.

00:49:38

Imagine this, what would happen if we simply asked

00:49:41

God, what would you have me do?

00:49:43

America was a nervous wreck leading up to the Civil War.

00:49:46

Tensions between the states,

00:49:49

widespread labor disputes, and regular bank crises

00:49:51

made anxiety and stress a way of life.

00:49:54

Jeremiah Lanphier lived in New York City

00:49:57

in the midst of this crisis.

00:49:59

Jeremiah earnestly prayed, "Lord,

00:50:02

what would you have me do?"

00:50:04

Working with his local church, he started

00:50:06

weekly prayer meetings during the lunch hour.

00:50:08

No preaching, no music, just a quiet space to pray together.

00:50:12

It became so popular the prayer meetings

00:50:15

moved from weekly to daily.

00:50:17

With the original location bursting at the seams,

00:50:20

other local churches began to host

00:50:22

lunch hour prayer at the same time.

00:50:24

The New York Times apparently tried to count

00:50:27

all the people coming to these meetings,

00:50:29

but they couldn't count them all

00:50:30

before the hour finished.

00:50:32

But it's estimated that 10,000 men prayed

00:50:35

on a regular basis during this time

00:50:37

throughout the city.

00:50:38

The meetings continued to grow,

00:50:40

eventually spilling out of New York

00:50:42

and springing up all around the country,

00:50:43

with revival breaking out alongside it.

00:50:46

Sometimes called the Great Prayer Meeting Revival,

00:50:50

historians estimate that as many as

00:50:51

1 million people swelled into American churches,

00:50:55

all prompted by the desire of one businessman

00:50:58

to see hope and peace come to his peers.

00:51:04

In the first years of the 20th century,

00:51:06

a black pastor named William Seymour,

00:51:09

blind in one eye, traveled from Mississippi

00:51:11

to Los Angeles in hopes of getting a job at a local church.

00:51:15

They rejected him, but undeterred,

00:51:17

he started prayer meetings in a nearby house.

00:51:20

Born at the end of the slave era

00:51:22

and living during Jim Crow,

00:51:24

Seymour routinely experienced racism,

00:51:27

even among other Christians.

00:51:28

Known for his humility and commitment to prayer,

00:51:31

he would spend hours each day seeking God on his knees.

00:51:35

Things began to change when he invited others to join him.

00:51:39

Daily prayer meetings started in a house,

00:51:41

but when attendees swelled, they moved

00:51:44

into a broken down building on Azusa Street.

00:51:46

It was a ramshackle place with people sitting

00:51:49

on old benches, crates and barrels.

00:51:52

Yet historians believe anywhere from 300

00:51:55

to 1500 people would cram into

00:51:58

this 2400 square foot building on Azusa Street daily.

00:52:02

A mixed crowd of all races,

00:52:04

which only intensified much of the racism

00:52:06

that Seymour was experiencing.

00:52:08

For the next three years people gathered there

00:52:11

daily to pray together, and many had

00:52:14

supernatural experiences, including healings,

00:52:17

speaking in other languages,

00:52:18

intense emotional outpouring, singing and shaking.

00:52:23

It grew to such a pitch that it made

00:52:25

the front page of the LA times.

00:52:28

Hundreds of missionaries came out of

00:52:30

the Azusa Street Revival.

00:52:32

Known as the Missionaries of the One Way Ticket,

00:52:35

they flew off to far flung countries

00:52:37

across the globe without a return ticket.

00:52:39

Their goal? To introduce others to the God

00:52:43

that they met on Azusa Street.

00:52:49

In 1941, a young seminary student

00:52:52

named Jim Rayburn started Young Life.

00:52:55

Doing things that had never been done,

00:52:57

like establishing summer camps and busing kids

00:52:59

from all over the country to attend

00:53:01

in order to reach teenagers with the hope of Christ.

00:53:05

A decade later, Bill Bright started

00:53:08

Campus Crusade for Christ with a similar intent

00:53:11

to reach college students using methods

00:53:13

considered revolutionary for the time.

00:53:16

Around that same time, a young preacher

00:53:18

named Billy Graham started holding Crusades,

00:53:21

filling football stadiums and coliseums

00:53:24

with people eager to hear his message.

00:53:26

Graham became one of the most effective

00:53:28

evangelists of all time, with historians

00:53:31

estimating some 21 million people attended

00:53:35

one of his more than 400 Crusades all over the world.

00:53:39

As the Vietnam War raged overseas

00:53:41

and young people saw their friends

00:53:43

and colleagues sent off to war, at home,

00:53:45

the Civil Rights Movement was sweeping across the country.

00:53:48

Hearts were ready for a spiritual awakening,

00:53:52

beginning with people that traditional churches

00:53:54

of the time were disavowing: hippies, stoners,

00:53:57

and the counterculture.

00:53:58

The Jesus movement was born out of the hunger

00:54:02

of young people to experience personal revival.

00:54:04

In the years that followed, God's spirit

00:54:07

poured out over a broken and hurting nation.

00:54:10

Much like the ministry of Jesus's disciples

00:54:13

in the book of Acts, young people took to

00:54:16

the streets preaching the gospel to anyone

00:54:18

who would listen, and thousands were saved

00:54:20

and baptized right on the spot,

00:54:22

on beaches or in bathtubs.

00:54:24

Many saw miracles and supernatural manifestations

00:54:27

of the Spirit of God that radically transformed

00:54:30

a disenfranchized generation into passionate

00:54:33

Jesus followers.

00:54:36

If personal revivals and awakening movements

00:54:39

really do happen every 50 years or so,

00:54:41

we are perfectly primed for one in our lifetimes.

00:54:45

In fact, we're overdue.

00:54:47

The question we have to ask ourselves is

00:54:49

if we really want it.

00:54:51

John Tyson, a pastor in New York City

00:54:53

and student of revivals who has visited the site

00:54:56

of many Great Awakenings, summarizes his learnings

00:54:59

as God comes where He's wanted.

00:55:02

It's often assumed the movement of God comes

00:55:04

spontaneously and organically without planning.

00:55:08

While we can't control what God does,

00:55:10

every revival is built around planning and methods.

00:55:13

Whether it's gathering daily for prayer,

00:55:15

preaching outside, or gathering people

00:55:17

into football stadiums, an awakening

00:55:19

is strengthened, not weakened,

00:55:22

by deliberate actions taken

00:55:24

to fan the flame of God's movement.

00:55:26

So how can our planning and preparation meet up

00:55:29

with the move of God's Spirit across our country?

00:55:31

Sometimes it involves dramatic outdoor preaching,

00:55:34

like with George Whitefield.

00:55:35

Other times its focus on prayer in the inner city,

00:55:38

like on Azusa Street.

00:55:39

Sometimes revivals begin among teenagers

00:55:42

and college students,

00:55:43

and sometimes among businessmen.

00:55:46

Revival is equally possible in the rural areas

00:55:49

of Kentucky and in booming metropolises

00:55:51

like New York and Philadelphia.

00:55:54

Revival isn't even a 20th century idea.

00:55:57

It shows up throughout the Bible,

00:55:59

from God rescuing a whole nation out of slavery

00:56:02

in Exodus, to rebuilding city walls in Nehemiah,

00:56:04

to the unexpected outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts.

00:56:08

It's a play that God has run again and again,

00:56:11

because He is unrelenting in His pursuit of His people.

00:56:16

The world would say there's no way to turn the tides,

00:56:19

but to look back at history shows that

00:56:20

God has done it over and over again.

00:56:23

Practical wisdom would tell us to hunker down

00:56:25

and protect ourselves from the onslaught we're in.

00:56:28

But by learning about the history of awakenings,

00:56:30

it's clear a move of God can heal an entire nation.

00:56:35

Safety says the risk isn't worth it.

00:56:37

With awakenings, there's always a price to pay.

00:56:41

Lamphier gave up his lunch hour for years.

00:56:43

Seymour endured ridicule and racism.

00:56:46

Church leadership told Jim Rayburn

00:56:48

and Bill Bright their methods were too radical,

00:56:50

yet all signed on the dotted lines.

00:56:53

Revival can be a messy business.

00:56:56

Coming back to life is always worth the price.

00:56:59

It's time to make history.

00:57:05

Now, okay, why?

00:57:07

Why would we spend all that time making that video

00:57:11

and all that time having you watch it?

00:57:13

Why would we do that?

00:57:14

Because too many of us believe that can't happen.

00:57:18

Too many of us think that never,

00:57:20

America is too far gone.

00:57:21

Most Christians that I hear,

00:57:22

that's how we talk about our country,

00:57:24

"We're too far gone. We're just, you know,

00:57:26

just kind of get rid of it."

00:57:27

There's actually a movement, by the way,

00:57:29

in the church where instead of going after people,

00:57:31

the wisdom says, actually be a fortress church,

00:57:34

just kind of close your walls and kind of hunker down

00:57:38

and try to preserve and protect.

00:57:40

But the problem is, that's not the story of the Bible.

00:57:42

And what history says is it's happened before.

00:57:45

Why can't it happen again?

00:57:47

Why not us? And why not now?

00:57:50

That's what we're saying.

00:57:51

What would happen in your life if you let God push you?

00:57:55

What would happen in our nation?

00:57:56

What would happen in your family?

00:57:58

Let Him push you.

00:57:59

There was that quote in there that I love.

00:58:01

Did you see it from John Tyson? He says:

00:58:07

If you want God to know He's wanted,

00:58:09

just tell God He can push you, that's all.

00:58:11

Put yourself in a place to be pushed.

00:58:14

That's the 10X Push. That's the revival.

00:58:16

Which, by the way, if you go to the revival,

00:58:18

please carpool. Please do.

00:58:20

We are hoping and praying and expecting

00:58:23

that thing to be jammed.

00:58:24

So grab some people and throw them in your car.

00:58:26

And by the way, we're looking for volunteers.

00:58:29

If you want to volunteer to help put that thing on,

00:58:31

we would love to have you.

00:58:32

There's a QR code you can scan.

00:58:33

You can go to Crossroads.net/revival,

00:58:36

would love to have you put your shoulder to the plow

00:58:38

and help make this an amazing experience

00:58:40

where people get revived.

00:58:43

Now The Push, it's all this pushing, right?

00:58:47

All this pushing, our goal is not actually

00:58:51

for you to hear from us. It's not not the goal.

00:58:55

Our goal is to push you to hear from God.

00:58:59

That's the goal.

00:59:00

Now there's a fundraising playbook.

00:59:02

You may you may not know this playbook.

00:59:04

There's a fundraising playbook,

00:59:05

it's called the thermometer method.

00:59:07

Now in the thermometer method,

00:59:08

when you have a goal to raise funds,

00:59:10

what you do is you you set the goal, right?

00:59:12

Maybe you've seen this outside of a firehouse

00:59:14

or somewhere, somewhere raising money.

00:59:16

And you make the thermometer.

00:59:17

And then as people give money, you put red paint

00:59:19

on there, the mercury, until you hit the goal,

00:59:22

whatever that is, it's how you raise money.

00:59:24

And you go around to people who are your donors

00:59:26

and you give them a fair share checklist.

00:59:28

You go, "Hey, you know, we're trying to raise

00:59:29

whatever it is. And so we're kind of hoping

00:59:31

and thinking that maybe you could give us this much money."

00:59:34

That's the actual playbook.

00:59:36

That's not what we're doing.

00:59:37

What we're doing is the thermostat.

00:59:40

We're saying, what would happen if we let God

00:59:44

grab hold of each of our hearts

00:59:46

and just push that temperature higher?

00:59:49

What would happen? And the way that happens,

00:59:51

by the way, is that we hear from Him.

00:59:54

See, God's word is not like our word.

00:59:57

Our words can be nice. They can be encouraging.

01:00:00

They can be complimentary.

01:00:01

God's Word is categorically different.

01:00:05

When God speaks things that had no life come to life.

01:00:09

That's why it's called revival.

01:00:12

We see this at the very beginning of

01:00:14

the book of John describing Jesus. John 1:1-3 says:

01:00:36

There's this idea that God's Word creates life.

01:00:40

If that sounds familiar, by the way,

01:00:42

it's because it's a retelling of Genesis one,

01:00:44

which I know you've all heard before.

01:00:46

And so I put it into a different language

01:00:48

just to kind of emphasize this point.

01:00:50

Our words are different than God's Words,

01:00:52

similar to how my kids words are different than mine.

01:00:55

They are gen alpha and they use slang.

01:00:58

And this was their interpretation of Genesis one.

01:01:28

Right? Some of you are like, what does that even mean?

01:01:32

I actually have no idea. I literally no idea.

01:01:35

My words and my kids words are different.

01:01:37

It's us and God. Very different.

01:01:39

See, the thing I want you to take away is that

01:01:41

when God speaks, it's not an opinion.

01:01:45

When He says something to you, it's not a compliment.

01:01:49

It's not a suggestion.

01:01:51

When he speaks, reality itself changes

01:01:55

and dead things come to life.

01:01:58

Now, the crazier claim, I find this in the Bible,

01:02:00

it's not just that God spoke and created the earth.

01:02:02

This is very specific, it's words God uses to create.

01:02:05

In John 1 and in Genesis 1 word is what creates.

01:02:09

It's not just that He did that a long time ago,

01:02:11

it's that the Bible says currently, right now,

01:02:14

our entire universe, you and I, every molecule,

01:02:17

every atom, every galaxy, all of it

01:02:19

is sustained by His Word.

01:02:22

Listen to this in Hebrews 1, it says:

01:02:35

Sounds crazy, doesn't it? \

01:02:36

Like, surely that's not what science says, is it?

01:02:39

I mean, that couldn't possibly.

01:02:40

What a nice poetic -- That sounds insane.

01:02:43

What do you know about string theory?

01:02:45

Let me just tell you about it real quick,

01:02:47

I promise, real quick.

01:02:48

This is the leading theory of everything

01:02:50

in physics to describe reality.

01:02:52

And what it basically says is that

01:02:53

if you take matter and you chop it

01:02:55

into its smallest pieces, you go beyond atoms

01:02:58

to protons and neutrons

01:02:59

and beyond that to quarks and muons.

01:03:00

You keep cutting and cutting until you can't cut anymore.

01:03:03

It says the smallest bit of matter

01:03:05

that you'll end up with is not a point,

01:03:07

but a tiny loop like string.

01:03:10

And that string will be vibrating.

01:03:13

And that vibration is what gives it its reality.

01:03:17

Well, do you know that sound is vibration?

01:03:21

When I'm speaking right now, what's happening is

01:03:23

my voice is being amplified

01:03:25

and it's hitting your eardrum and causing it to vibrate.

01:03:29

That's the universe.

01:03:31

That's the entire thing.

01:03:32

We sang the song earlier that the skies

01:03:34

proclaim His name, that the stars sing out.

01:03:37

That's literally what's happening.

01:03:38

See, the Word of God creates life.

01:03:42

It has the power to sustain you

01:03:44

and revive you and awaken you.

01:03:48

In the Gospel there's actually three times

01:03:50

where Jesus speaks to someone

01:03:52

and raises them from the dead.

01:03:54

They all follow the same basic pattern.

01:03:56

Jesus goes to them, their family, their friends,

01:03:58

understandably all upset, all crying.

01:04:01

And Jesus goes, "Oh man, don't worry about it.

01:04:04

They're not dead. They're just asleep.

01:04:06

Here, I'll wake them up. I will awaken them."

01:04:10

And then he goes to them and He shouts.

01:04:13

Here's one example from John 11,

01:04:14

his buddy Lazarus had died. He goes to raise him.

01:04:23

And the guy walks out alive.

01:04:26

We just heard in that video that we watched

01:04:28

the kind of booming voice of George Whitfield.

01:04:31

He had a voice that 15,000 people could hear,

01:04:36

unamplified. Very jealous of that.

01:04:38

I do not think I have one of those. 15,000 people.

01:04:43

Well, do you know Jesus talked to 20,000 people at once?

01:04:48

He had the same voice.

01:04:49

I don't know what you've imagined

01:04:51

His voice might sound like.

01:04:52

You know, it'd be quiet and whisper

01:04:55

and kind little Jesus and just petting lambs

01:04:57

and being all cute and soft and quiet.

01:05:00

No, He was loud.

01:05:02

His powerful Word upholds the universe.

01:05:05

When he speaks, it has force to it.

01:05:08

His Words are a shove or a push in the direction of life.

01:05:12

And every push, every time He speaks, every push,

01:05:15

it follows the same exact pattern one.

01:05:18

There's an interruption to your regular routine.

01:05:20

Out of nowhere, like a two by four,

01:05:22

it just wham hits you.

01:05:23

And then two, when that happens, you have a choice.

01:05:27

And the choice is to be passive or to be pushed.

01:05:31

This is the story of the whole Bible.

01:05:33

Paul going to Damascus. Light comes out of nowhere.

01:05:36

Voice, boom, knocks off his horse.

01:05:38

Wow. Interrupting moment.

01:05:39

Didn't ask for it, whatever. Boom.

01:05:41

And he has a choice: Will I be pushed or will I be passive?

01:05:46

The disciples talk about them earlier.

01:05:47

Literally 12 dudes just hanging out in their day jobs.

01:05:50

It's 11:30 a.m. on a Tuesday

01:05:53

and dude walks by and says, "Follow me."

01:05:55

Push. Interruption out of nowhere.

01:05:57

Didn't expect it. They didn't ask for it.

01:05:59

There's a choice: passive or be pushed.

01:06:01

Moses and the burning bush.

01:06:03

Samuel and the voice that he heard in the night.

01:06:06

Abraham being told to go.

01:06:08

Every person who responded to every awakening

01:06:10

we just heard about, none of them planned

01:06:12

on being swept up into anything.

01:06:15

There was a moment they heard about

01:06:17

something happening and they had a choice:

01:06:19

Am I going to put myself in a place to be pushed,

01:06:21

or am I going to be passive?

01:06:24

This is the story of faith.

01:06:27

It's my story. I'll tell you that.

01:06:29

When I got called into ministry,

01:06:30

I wasn't looking to be in ministry.

01:06:32

No way at all. Came out of nowhere,

01:06:35

interrupting moment in my life.

01:06:37

And I had the choice: be passive, be pushed.

01:06:39

Marriage, same thing.

01:06:40

Wasn't planning on getting married when I got married?

01:06:42

Not at all. Passive, be pushed.

01:06:45

And the reason that I have such strong faith

01:06:48

and I don't worry, which people tell me,

01:06:50

they're like, "Kyle, it's weird

01:06:52

how much stress you don't have."

01:06:54

You know, they're like, "Do you really?

01:06:56

Do you really not get stressed out?"

01:06:58

And I go, "No, not really, I really don't."

01:07:04

And the reason is because of

01:07:06

the past financial campaigns

01:07:08

that I've gone through at Crossroads.

01:07:09

I let God push me financially.

01:07:12

And what I found at the end of it

01:07:14

was God has so much more.

01:07:16

He's so much more abundant and kind and amazing

01:07:19

that I don't have to worry about anything,

01:07:21

and so I don't.

01:07:22

There's a verse in the Bible where Jesus

01:07:24

actually says, He says, "Do not worry."

01:07:26

And I know that can be very frustrating, right?

01:07:28

Do not worry. Gosh, it's just -- wish it was that easy.

01:07:31

Well, it's a command that you won't understand

01:07:33

unless you've allowed God to push you

01:07:35

and you've seen His ridiculous, abundant provision.

01:07:38

But when you do, you're like, "I get it."

01:07:40

Now, this for you, by the way, this this push,

01:07:43

this is the interrupting moment.

01:07:46

It's here right now.

01:07:48

There's a revival and a push starting

01:07:51

in just a matter of days.

01:07:52

The moment happened. I know you didn't ask for it.

01:07:55

I know it's a busy season or whatever it is in your life.

01:07:58

I know it's not something you would have planned,

01:08:00

but it's here and so you have a choice.

01:08:04

Are you going to be passive

01:08:06

or are you going to be pushed?

01:08:08

You can have a push free life.

01:08:10

You really can. That's that's an option.

01:08:12

You can totally have a push free life.

01:08:13

You can stay where it's comfortable,

01:08:15

where it's known, where it's safe,

01:08:16

where everything's predictable.

01:08:18

You can totally have a push free life,

01:08:19

just don't expect to go very far, that's all.

01:08:23

On the other hand, if you choose to lean in,

01:08:27

I believe God has more for you.

01:08:29

And not just a little bit,

01:08:31

like at least a 10X amount of Him.

01:08:35

10x more peace. Do you want that if it were available?

01:08:38

Would you want 10X more joy if you could have it?

01:08:41

Would you want 10X more sense of purpose if you could?

01:08:44

10X more sense of His pleasure and His affirmation,

01:08:46

if you could have that, would you want it?

01:08:48

Because that's the stakes.

01:08:50

That's what's on the line.

01:08:52

We've made a plan for you.

01:08:53

This is the calendar right here.

01:08:55

You see that? It's getting started.

01:08:57

The Push and the Revival.

01:08:58

You might be going like, "Man, The Push and the Revival,

01:09:02

week one, the same weekend?

01:09:04

I don't think I can do that."

01:09:07

Oh, yeah? Have you ever gone to

01:09:09

your kid's crappy soccer game on a Friday night

01:09:11

and the Bengals on Sunday?

01:09:13

Yeah, you can do multiple things in one weekend.

01:09:16

I believe in you.

01:09:17

To be pushed you really do have to show up.

01:09:19

I mean, you really do.

01:09:20

You have to make a choice.

01:09:21

You have to say, "This is going to be

01:09:23

the priority in my calendar.

01:09:24

For the next six weeks, this is number one.

01:09:27

For the next six weeks it's more important to me

01:09:31

that I show up and I let God push me,

01:09:33

I hear His voice and I come alive and I get 10X.

01:09:36

That's more important to me than it is

01:09:37

that I hit every workout, or that it is

01:09:40

that I hit every club that I go to usually,

01:09:42

or my golf outing or whatever."

01:09:44

This has to become the most important thing to you.

01:09:48

If you engage, I think you'll be happy that you did.

01:09:53

Now, I know there's some of you

01:09:55

who may be choosing not to.

01:09:57

You may still be in that moment.

01:09:59

And if that's you, I just want you to be honest

01:10:01

about why you're choosing to be passive.

01:10:04

I think it's easy in a place like this,

01:10:06

especially if you're newer, to walk in and go,

01:10:08

"You know, I'm not going to engage in this,

01:10:10

just trying to raise money.

01:10:11

This is about lining the coffers

01:10:12

and making big fat bank accounts.

01:10:15

That's what this is about."

01:10:16

Listen, that's not your real objection.

01:10:18

How do I know that?

01:10:19

Because it's really easy to find out that's not true.

01:10:22

We do an independent audit every year.

01:10:23

We spend our money as judiciously as we can

01:10:26

to make it go as far as possible for ministry.

01:10:28

We don't have a big fat savings account.

01:10:30

We do everything, everything, everything

01:10:31

we say we're going to do. You can see it happen.

01:10:33

That's not a real objection.

01:10:35

Take you five minutes to correct that one.

01:10:37

See, if you don't choose to engage,

01:10:38

just be honest with yourself,

01:10:41

it's because you're scared that

01:10:43

if you actually hear God's voice,

01:10:47

He's going to push you.

01:10:49

And if He pushes you, it's going to be uncomfortable.

01:10:52

And if you feel that way, man, so much empathy,

01:10:55

so much grace. Please hear that from me.

01:10:57

And let me just tell you, by the way,

01:10:59

that what you're thinking is 100% true.

01:11:03

He will show up, He will push you,

01:11:06

and it will be uncomfortable.

01:11:08

But do you know what's on the other side of uncomfortable?

01:11:11

The unimaginable life.

01:11:14

God has a life for you that you can't --

01:11:16

Your brain can't stretch to 10X.

01:11:18

It can't even go that far, much less 100X,

01:11:21

and that's the promise He has in Scripture.

01:11:23

He says this in Ephesians 3:20:

01:11:35

Bible says, God can do so much more

01:11:38

than you can possibly imagine.

01:11:40

Look, our hope for you is that years and years from now

01:11:45

you would look back on these six weeks,

01:11:47

you'd look back on this revival and you would say,

01:11:49

"That's the moment. That's when it changed.

01:11:52

That's when I went from 1X, 0x to 2X to 10X to 30X.

01:11:57

That's when God got hold of my life

01:11:58

and I'm so thankful that changed my life."

01:12:02

That's what we hope.

01:12:03

10X is possible for you if you choose to engage.

01:12:09

Let me pray for you.

01:12:10

God, thank You so much for everybody hanging in.

01:12:12

Thank You so much for the power of Your Word.

01:12:14

God, we're asking You to unleash Your power on us.

01:12:17

I'm asking that You would enlarge our view of our life.

01:12:20

I'm asking You would not hold back on anything,

01:12:23

anything You have for us at all.

01:12:26

If you want to, by the way, just keep

01:12:27

your keep your eyes closed if they're closed.

01:12:29

And you want God to push you,

01:12:32

I want you to just say, "God, push me.

01:12:42

God, push us. Amen.

01:12:47

- 3, 2, 1. Ignition sequence start.

01:12:52

[engines firing]

01:13:22

[typing]

01:13:25

[Music: Let the New Begin by We are CHPTRS]

01:13:28

Won’t give up

01:13:32

Won’t give in

01:13:36

Take everything we have

01:13:40

and let the new begin

01:13:45

- That's one small step for man;

01:13:48

one giant leap for mankind.

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