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00:00:44
- We have some of God's
goodness planned today
-
00:00:47
for everybody, don't we?
-
00:00:48
- Yeah, we do. Welcome to
Week 3 of the Good God Journey.
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00:00:52
We've got a little bit
of happiness in this van
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00:00:54
because you know how we do.
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00:00:55
Ready, Kyle?
- Show us!
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00:01:00
- We have so much
happiness. I know. Oh.
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00:01:04
- Wheelbarrow, get
in the wheelbarrow.
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00:01:06
- Look at that, hi, baby. Hi.
-
00:01:09
We lost some. I'm
going to get them.
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00:01:11
- A pile. Get in there.
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00:01:13
Yeah, we got plenty
of room. Here we go.
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00:01:14
[indiscernible}
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00:01:18
OK, so we're going to go
spread some of God's goodness
-
00:01:21
to people with some
puppy petting. Let's go.
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00:01:24
- Would you like to pet a puppy today?
- Yes.
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00:01:26
-That's Minnie.
She's very sweet.
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00:01:29
- She's so sweet.
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00:01:30
You're spending
a little bit of joy.
-
00:01:33
- Come on. This way. Come on.
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00:01:35
- Hi, would you
like to pet a puppy.
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00:01:37
- We have cute
ones and cuter ones.
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00:01:39
- Yeah, we do.
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00:01:40
- We've got a fluffy one.
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00:01:41
Look, they're the same size.
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00:01:44
- Can I pet a puppy?
- Yeah, you can.
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00:01:45
Of course you can pet a
puppy. Can you say hi?
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00:01:48
- Stay.
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00:01:49
- Hi, would you
like to pet a puppy.
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00:01:51
- Here you go.
Minnie, no. Luna, no.
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00:01:54
Would you like a
wheelbarrow of puppies?
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00:01:56
- Play nice.
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00:01:57
- I think we're doing great.
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00:01:59
- Yeah, we are.
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00:02:01
-Oh, please, pet a puppy.
-
00:02:03
Do you guys like puppies?
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00:02:04
- Yeah.
- You do? You like puppies.
-
00:02:06
Would you like to pet
a puppy? That's Minnie.
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00:02:07
- That's so sweet.
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00:02:08
- And Luna. Yeah.
-
00:02:10
- Oh, yeah, they are.
-
00:02:11
- What we've learned is
that everyone likes puppies,
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00:02:13
but puppies don't
like wheelbarrows.
-
00:02:15
- No, they don't.
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00:02:16
- It's an important thing to
know about life, apparently.
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00:02:19
- That was so much
fun and so incredible.
-
00:02:22
Man, aren't puppies just good?
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00:02:23
- There's something just
amazingly good about them.
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00:02:26
- Yeah, they're incredible.
- You were so good.
-
00:02:27
- Today we're
going to be talking
-
00:02:29
about God as a good King.
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00:02:31
Let's get started.
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00:02:33
- Is God good?
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00:02:35
Is He good on day one
of working from home?
-
00:02:37
How about day one 180?
-
00:02:39
Is God good when
school is online?
-
00:02:42
Is He good when your
business is struggling?
-
00:02:44
Is He good even one
when everything in the world
-
00:02:47
makes you want to scream,
"Good God, what is going on
-
00:02:50
and where are You?"
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00:02:52
That's a fair question
and actually a great prayer
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00:02:54
because we believe there is a
good God with good answers.
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00:03:11
- Hey, I'm Brian.
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00:03:12
Welcome to Week 3 of
the Good God Journey.
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00:03:15
We're looking at
how in the Bible,
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00:03:17
when you open it up
there's a double helix strand
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00:03:20
that comes up out of the
Bible showing two huge roles
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00:03:24
of God: the role of
Father and the role of King.
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00:03:28
And when we don't
see Him as both of these
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00:03:31
we will misinterpret
what He's doing
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00:03:34
and what He says
as not being good.
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00:03:37
I'm in a place right now
where very few people
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00:03:41
have ever get to, it's a castle.
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00:03:43
It's a real live
legitimate castle,
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00:03:45
except I'm not in France,
our budget isn't that big.
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00:03:49
I'm in Kentucky,
yeah, I'm a Kentucky.
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00:03:52
And, man, I'm in America.
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00:03:55
That's right, America.
I love America.
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00:03:58
Many people
will call it 'Merica.
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00:03:59
I love America.
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00:04:01
There's no place else I'd rather
live on God's green earth.
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00:04:05
And I also recognize
that there's things
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00:04:07
inside of our culture
that make it difficult
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00:04:10
for me to understand
the God who is.
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00:04:14
Our culture is about democracy.
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00:04:16
Our culture is about
everybody doing
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00:04:18
whatever you
should be able to do.
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00:04:20
Our culture is about we have
a say on what our leaders do.
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00:04:23
And that's good. I think
that works well for us.
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00:04:26
It works better than
many of the king models
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00:04:28
we have across the world
right now or the dictatorships.
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00:04:32
But those are flawed
people with flawed motives.
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00:04:36
And the Bible
shows God as a King
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00:04:40
who is overseeing a kingdom.
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00:04:42
Every kingdom has a king.
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00:04:45
Every king is an authority.
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00:04:47
And if you and I don't recognize
God as King of our life,
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00:04:53
we will not have the
life that we need to have,
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00:04:55
we'll not understand God,
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00:04:57
and we'll be
frustrated repeatedly.
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00:05:01
God is a King
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00:05:03
who has His Kingdom's
best interests at heart.
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00:05:07
And I want us today to learn
to give control to that King,
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00:05:13
to give our life to that King.
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00:05:16
In the book of Matthew 6:9,
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00:05:19
it's well known as
the Lord's Prayer.
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00:05:21
Jesus taught us how
to pray. He says this:
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00:05:45
That's a great, great passage.
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00:05:46
And we see a bunch of
things happening there.
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00:05:49
One of them is this double
helix strand comes up.
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00:05:52
Jesus says our
Father. Our father.
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00:05:56
Actually, the word
that he uses there
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00:05:58
or that's use there
in the Greek is Abba,
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00:06:02
which can be translated daddy.
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00:06:05
Daddy, hey, daddy, to talk
to your Heavenly Father.
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00:06:07
Daddy had that kind of
familiarity and warmth.
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00:06:11
And that daddy also
has power and authority.
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00:06:16
He is a King.
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00:06:17
It talks about a Kingdom
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00:06:20
and He is the King
of that Kingdom.
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00:06:25
Kings are foreign
concepts for us.
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00:06:27
We don't understand them.
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00:06:28
We've run away from them.
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00:06:30
In American history
ran away from our king
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00:06:33
way back when in England because
we wanted to be on our own.
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00:06:36
And many of us still run
away from God today.
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00:06:40
His Kingdom requires us
being in alignment with Him
-
00:06:44
if we want our life to work.
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00:06:46
A number of years ago,
that really great movie,
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00:06:49
The King's Speech came out.
-
00:06:50
It was about King George,
the king of England,
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00:06:52
during World War II.
-
00:06:54
And he had a speech impediment
-
00:06:57
and he was trying
to get some coaching
-
00:06:58
on how to mobilize and
motivate the kingdom of England.
-
00:07:03
And his daughters
just loved him.
-
00:07:06
There was just a
tenderness there.
-
00:07:08
They would come up and
they would sit on his lap
-
00:07:10
during the movie and
they would play with him.
-
00:07:13
It was a daddy/daughter
relationship
-
00:07:15
that was really beautiful.
-
00:07:17
And then he comes
out to give his speech
-
00:07:20
and they see him in
all of his king regalia
-
00:07:24
and they stop
-
00:07:27
and they curtsy,
-
00:07:28
because they realize
that their daddy is the king.
-
00:07:32
He can't be reduced
to just the warmth guy,
-
00:07:34
he's also a power guy.
-
00:07:37
Friends, you and I
have to have this.
-
00:07:40
We have to have a sense
of confidence around God
-
00:07:43
that He cares for
us, He loves us.
-
00:07:45
And we have to have
a sense of reverence
-
00:07:48
that He is an authority.
-
00:07:49
He is a King that has
an agenda He's working.
-
00:07:52
He's got things that He's
doing that we can't understand.
-
00:07:54
And when we get that, we
can start to see that He's good.
-
00:07:59
And the more we
rebel against it,
-
00:08:01
the more will struggle
with His goodness.
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00:08:09
- Man, I know that submitting
to God as a good King
-
00:08:12
can feel weighty,
but it's so good.
-
00:08:15
There's goodness
waiting on the other side,
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00:08:16
no matter the area of your
life, your finances included.
-
00:08:20
- Absolutely.
-
00:08:21
And giving is one of the ways
that we can submit to God.
-
00:08:24
He wants us to do that.
-
00:08:26
- Which we get, this is not a
commercial to get your money.
-
00:08:28
If you're new to church,
you're just checking out God,
-
00:08:30
this is not for you.
-
00:08:32
But if you're somebody
who wants to take the step
-
00:08:34
to say to God, "I trust
You as my good King,"
-
00:08:36
then don't miss out on His
goodness. This is for you.
-
00:08:39
- Absolutely. You
can do that right now
-
00:08:42
by going to Crossroads.net/give
-
00:08:44
or text Crossroads to 313131.
-
00:08:48
- This week, our friend
Chuck got to catch up
-
00:08:50
with one of his friends
who's experiencing
-
00:08:51
more of God's goodness
-
00:08:53
through learning to submit
to Him as a good King.
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00:09:03
- I'm great. How are you?
-
00:09:05
Doing all right.
-
00:09:06
- Thanks for having me.
-
00:09:07
- How would you
describe yourself
-
00:09:09
as a young man, early
teen, as it relates to faith
-
00:09:11
and your relationship with God?
-
00:09:13
- My mom always
had me in church.
-
00:09:15
You know, going to
church my whole life,
-
00:09:18
I knew God was real, but,
you know, those desires
-
00:09:21
and temptations kind
of -- they take over.
-
00:09:24
And you start living a way
that you know is not godlike.
-
00:09:30
So there was always a
check in my spirit to say,
-
00:09:34
"Oh, you're doing wrong,"
but you kind of bypassed that.
-
00:09:37
I didn't see God as a King.
-
00:09:39
I think that's where my
life took a dramatic turn
-
00:09:44
when it came to my
relationship with women.
-
00:09:47
In simple terms,
I went hog wild.
-
00:09:51
You know, seeing -- growing up,
-
00:09:52
seeing some of the
men cousins, you know,
-
00:09:55
with my family being from
New Orleans is a big party city.
-
00:10:00
And, you know, you
got uncles and cousins
-
00:10:04
and they're living the
Mardi Gras lifestyle.
-
00:10:06
And, you know, I
learn from them guys.
-
00:10:08
And it just became
almost like a habit for me.
-
00:10:12
And it was really
destructive when I look back.
-
00:10:14
When I got to UC, there
were times, you know,
-
00:10:17
a young lady came up
to me at the food court
-
00:10:21
and found out she
was a cheerleader.
-
00:10:23
That night I went out with
the whole cheerleading team.
-
00:10:25
There was a few guys
that would come over
-
00:10:27
from Cincinnati
Christian University
-
00:10:30
that they were so
solid in their faith.
-
00:10:33
I mean, they didn't
have girlfriends.
-
00:10:34
They didn't go out.
-
00:10:36
They were really strong.
-
00:10:38
I went back to my
roots: I need God.
-
00:10:40
But what does that look like?
-
00:10:42
Because you start
to form these habits,
-
00:10:44
especially for me
with women, it was like
-
00:10:46
it was always this on my mind.
-
00:10:49
And Got spoke
clearly to me and said,
-
00:10:52
"You have to learn
how to be single
-
00:10:54
before you can be faithful."
-
00:10:55
So I think those examples of God
-
00:10:58
putting those young men
in my life as examples
-
00:11:01
is something else
like, "I want that."
-
00:11:03
And this was the path of
submitting to God as King.
-
00:11:07
As I progress and started
coming to Crossroads,
-
00:11:11
met John, he took it
to a whole other level.
-
00:11:14
I never submitted it to
anybody, especially a man.
-
00:11:17
So once we got closer, he
started learning my struggle.
-
00:11:22
- And and particularly
your struggle with women.
-
00:11:24
- Yes. You know, I remember
a moment we're shooting pool.
-
00:11:28
A young lady comes up to me
-
00:11:29
and he comes wraps
his arm around me like,
-
00:11:31
"Yeah, he can't talk to you."
-
00:11:32
I'm like, "I'm a grown
man, John." Right?
-
00:11:36
But looking back, you
know, those type of moments
-
00:11:39
frustrated me in the moment
because I'm like, "I'm grown."
-
00:11:42
But he was really trying
to put me in a rhythm
-
00:11:45
of being single and
knowing who I am
-
00:11:48
and trying to prepare myself
for a wife and family one day.
-
00:11:52
He brought me into his family.
-
00:11:54
There were times I would
stay the weekend there.
-
00:11:57
So that was my first time
-
00:11:58
really seeing a
Christian family interact.
-
00:12:03
It was really like
a two year period
-
00:12:05
that I really went
into a safe place.
-
00:12:10
Sometimes -- I'm not
saying submitting to him
-
00:12:13
or submitting to God was easy.
-
00:12:15
It came with some turbulence.
-
00:12:16
- Right, right.
-
00:12:17
- But when I look back,
-
00:12:19
it helped me become
who I am to today.
-
00:12:22
I went from being
a broken individual
-
00:12:25
that didn't have a purpose,
-
00:12:27
didn't have a destiny in life,
-
00:12:31
something I was pursuing,
-
00:12:32
thinking only about me to
submitting to God as King
-
00:12:38
and then having
fruit in my life.
-
00:12:40
I know what
friendship looks like.
-
00:12:43
Friendship is family.
-
00:12:45
You know, I
have fruit in my life
-
00:12:47
from my relationship
with my wife.
-
00:12:50
I have two awesome kids.
-
00:12:52
And it's given me
a purpose in life.
-
00:12:55
And I know my destiny is
one day to be with that King,
-
00:12:59
but I am working very hard
-
00:13:01
to submit to that King
in this journey now
-
00:13:05
so I can not only
have fruit in my life,
-
00:13:07
but leave a legacy
for fruit in my kids' life.
-
00:13:25
- Isaiah 6:1 says:
-
00:14:31
The Lord, the King it
says is high and lifted up,
-
00:14:35
high and exalted, He is
the highest King of all Kings.
-
00:14:41
My most stark image of royalty
was the pictures and images
-
00:14:46
from when Lady Di was
married to Princess Charles
-
00:14:49
and she had that that gown,
-
00:14:51
that train on the end
of her wedding gown
-
00:14:53
that went all the way down
the aisle at Westminster Abbey.
-
00:14:58
It was the kind of train that
only royalty could afford.
-
00:15:03
Isaiah has this vision of
God in His holy throne room
-
00:15:08
as King and he's
like, "Oh, the throne,
-
00:15:10
it fills the temple."
-
00:15:11
It's like in front of his face.
-
00:15:13
It's not just all the
way down the aisle.
-
00:15:15
It's filling the whole thing.
-
00:15:17
What's being said here?
-
00:15:19
In ancient customs,
whenever a king
-
00:15:21
would conquer another
king, he would go to that king
-
00:15:24
and cut off the
train of his robe
-
00:15:27
and he would attach
it to his train showing,
-
00:15:30
"Your kingdom is now my kingdom.
-
00:15:33
I beat you. You're under me."
-
00:15:35
So God has so many victories,
-
00:15:36
He has so much possessions,
-
00:15:38
He has so much territory
-
00:15:40
that it fills the
entire entire place.
-
00:15:44
And Isaiah not only
sees this massive robe
-
00:15:47
with the victories of God,
-
00:15:49
he also see these angelic
beings, the seraphim.
-
00:15:53
They've got two wings
that are fluttering around,
-
00:15:56
they've two wings that are
that are covering their face,
-
00:15:59
they've got two wings that
are covering over their feet.
-
00:16:02
This is a far cry from the
Hallmark angels that we know.
-
00:16:06
You know the kind
I'm talking to about,
-
00:16:08
those fat little white babies
with suction cup darts
-
00:16:11
that try to make
people fall in love.
-
00:16:14
It has nothing to do with
what God's angels are.
-
00:16:17
God's angels are His sentries.
-
00:16:19
They're there to
serve His bidding.
-
00:16:21
And these angelic
beings are awesome.
-
00:16:27
And why would they have
wings covering their face?
-
00:16:29
Do you know why?
-
00:16:31
Because they aren't fit to
look into the face of the King.
-
00:16:35
They have to cover
themselves because
-
00:16:38
they say to one another,
"He's holy, holy, holy."
-
00:16:41
Holiness means distinct,
-
00:16:43
it means other than, it
means of your own category.
-
00:16:47
And they keep saying that
to God, "You're different,
-
00:16:49
You're distinct, You're
different, You're distinct."
-
00:16:53
We like to think of God
as just my, He's my buddy.
-
00:16:56
He's my homeboy.
God's my copilot.
-
00:17:01
He's the big guy in the sky.
-
00:17:03
He's, you know,
all these things.
-
00:17:05
Yeah, maybe He is big.
-
00:17:06
Yeah, maybe you've got a
good relationship with Him,
-
00:17:09
but hey, man, He's a King.
-
00:17:13
He is God, He's not
down on our level.
-
00:17:16
That's why they're
covering their face.
-
00:17:18
His glory and splendor and
otherness is so beyond them
-
00:17:22
that they've got
to cover their face.
-
00:17:24
I think this is where
Steven Spielberg
-
00:17:26
really got it right with
Raiders of the Lost Ark.
-
00:17:28
Remember that old movie?
-
00:17:29
They open up The
Ark of the Covenant
-
00:17:31
and the Spirit of
the Lord comes out
-
00:17:32
and melts off the Nazi's faces.
-
00:17:35
Awesome seeing
Nazi faces melted.
-
00:17:38
God bless America.
That is amazing stuff.
-
00:17:41
Steven Spielberg maybe
had this right because
-
00:17:44
as a person with
Jewish heritage,
-
00:17:46
maybe he understood
this passage.
-
00:17:48
In modern American Christendom,
-
00:17:50
we have all these
worship songs that are --
-
00:17:52
Some of them are just like
lovey-dovey, sappy stuff to God.
-
00:17:57
Like, "Oh, I want to
gaze into your face.
-
00:18:00
I want to touch your
face. Oh, I love you."
-
00:18:03
Let me tell you something,
-
00:18:05
no one has ever
seen the face of God.
-
00:18:07
You don't ever want
to see the face of God
-
00:18:09
because you will
die, you'll freaking die.
-
00:18:11
Angels can't see
the face of God.
-
00:18:12
They're covering their face.
-
00:18:14
You have prophets
in the Old Testament,
-
00:18:15
the best they can
get is they get placed
-
00:18:17
into a cleft of a rock and
God passes back side by them.
-
00:18:23
He is different. He is distinct.
-
00:18:25
He is above. He is
beyond. He is a King.
-
00:18:31
And they flutter about
covering their feet as well,
-
00:18:33
because the feet were signs
of unholiness, of being common.
-
00:18:38
We still see that today
in the Middle East.
-
00:18:40
They will insult people by
throwing their shoes at people.
-
00:18:43
George Bush had throw
shoes thrown at him
-
00:18:46
by Middle Easterners.
-
00:18:47
They were trying to
say, "The feet is common.
-
00:18:49
It's unholy stuff.
We're insulting you."
-
00:18:51
When Saddam Hussein's
statue came down,
-
00:18:54
countrymen of Iraq
were taking their shoes
-
00:18:56
and smacking him in the
face, his statue in the face,
-
00:18:59
showing, "That we're putting
our uncleanness on you,
-
00:19:02
or in other words, our
normalness on you."
-
00:19:05
God is above, He's beyond.
-
00:19:08
Let's keep going.
-
00:19:09
Check out some other crazy
things that are happening here.
-
00:19:12
It says that the
threshold's shook.
-
00:19:16
Things were shaking
with the holiness of God.
-
00:19:19
And when Isaiah sees all
this, he says, "Ho, whoa,
-
00:19:24
woe is me. Woe is me.
-
00:19:28
I am undone. I'm a
man of unclean lips."
-
00:19:34
God is a daddy who we
can crawl upon us in His lap
-
00:19:36
and we can get comforted
-
00:19:39
and we can have closeness
and unity, absolutely.
-
00:19:44
And He's a King and
He's above and beyond.
-
00:19:49
And when you see
Him, you will be undone.
-
00:19:53
This is a prophet, this is
an Old Testament prophet
-
00:19:56
that he is undone when he sees
God, it totally crushes him.
-
00:20:03
I think we're losing some of
the awe and mystique of God.
-
00:20:06
We're trying to make
Him so understandable
-
00:20:08
and so inoffensive that
we losing the holiness,
-
00:20:12
the grandeur, the
awe, the mystery,
-
00:20:16
the power of God,
the utter power of God.
-
00:20:21
These angels go and
they take a burning coal
-
00:20:26
and they (sizzle sound effect)
-
00:20:28
They singe Isaiah's lips
taking away the impurity.
-
00:20:35
Now, what Isaiah
is experiencing here,
-
00:20:38
he isn't just experiencing God.
-
00:20:40
He's also experiencing
a renewed calling
-
00:20:43
for what God wants his life.
-
00:20:44
That's what I want from you.
-
00:20:45
I want you to have
a renewed calling
-
00:20:48
for the things that God
wants to do in your life,
-
00:20:52
the things that the King wants
to use you for in His Kingdom.
-
00:20:57
We talked about this last week.
-
00:21:01
And let's use this
triangle in a different way.
-
00:21:07
These are the three points
of our relationship with God.
-
00:21:10
Last week we talked
about what it was like
-
00:21:12
to have God as a Father.
-
00:21:14
The Father, you remember,
gives us our identity
-
00:21:18
and out of our identity
comes our works.
-
00:21:20
Well, similarly, we have a King.
-
00:21:25
The King gives us our authority,
-
00:21:31
that's a big word to
spell upside down.
-
00:21:34
I hope I spelled that right.
-
00:21:36
The King gives us our authority
-
00:21:39
and out of our authority
comes our power.
-
00:21:45
If you've ever felt
like you lack power,
-
00:21:47
like you lack zeal, that
you lack the resources
-
00:21:51
to get done what
you need to get done,
-
00:21:53
what God wants you to be
done, it might be because
-
00:21:58
you're not allowing the
King to give you His authority.
-
00:22:04
And out of that authority
comes our power.
-
00:22:07
I heard a former
executive from --
-
00:22:10
A senior executive with a
Japanese auto manufacturer
-
00:22:16
speak a long time ago.
-
00:22:17
And he tells the story
of when Japanese cars
-
00:22:23
were really coming into power.
-
00:22:25
Americans were buying more
and more of them, of course.
-
00:22:27
Why? Because they were
really superior vehicles
-
00:22:30
back in the '70s and '80s.
-
00:22:32
And he, as a senior official
with this automotive company,
-
00:22:39
received somebody from
the president's cabinet.
-
00:22:44
And that person
was saying, "Look,
-
00:22:47
this is what the president
would like to do with,"
-
00:22:48
I don't remember
what it was, taxes
-
00:22:50
or with how you're manufacturing
or tariffs or whatever.
-
00:22:54
The president was wanting
to level the playing field
-
00:22:56
and do something about
America getting undercut
-
00:22:59
and not selling as many cars.
-
00:23:01
And so as they were talking
about this the Toyota guy
-
00:23:04
said, "Whoa, you don't
-- you don't understand.
-
00:23:07
You don't understand."
-
00:23:08
And the guy from the
cabinet cut him off and said,
-
00:23:10
"Hold, whoa, you
don't understand.
-
00:23:13
I represent the power
of the presidency.
-
00:23:17
You don't understand I
represent the power that
-
00:23:20
influences and sets laws in
which you're doing business.
-
00:23:26
You will listen to me."
-
00:23:28
That's what they did.
-
00:23:29
What happened?
-
00:23:30
That guy was operating
under the authority
-
00:23:34
of the President of
the United States,
-
00:23:36
and out of that he had power
with what he was saying.
-
00:23:40
When I started to realize
that God has unique power,
-
00:23:43
when I slot myself
under His Kingship,
-
00:23:46
when He gives me
authority, that's when
-
00:23:48
some really powerful things
started to happen with me.
-
00:23:51
It changes everything.
-
00:23:53
Some time ago I was
ready to go on stage
-
00:23:56
speaking at a camp,
one of our camps.
-
00:23:58
I think it was man
camp I was speaking at.
-
00:24:01
And that week
before I just had a --
-
00:24:03
I had a bad week. It
was a bad week. I did--
-
00:24:06
I don't remember
exactly what that week,
-
00:24:07
but I remember feeling
like I had disqualified myself
-
00:24:12
with things that I
had done that week.
-
00:24:13
I wasn't really
walking close with God.
-
00:24:15
I was just going after
my own agenda, not His.
-
00:24:18
I remember being
convicted over that
-
00:24:21
before I got up on
stage and I realized,
-
00:24:23
"Oh my gosh, I
can't -- I can't do this.
-
00:24:25
This is -- I'm not I'm
not qualified to do this."
-
00:24:28
And I sensed God say to me
very clearly, he said, "Brian.
-
00:24:34
I qualify you. You don't qualify
yourself, I qualify you."
-
00:24:39
And when I got up on
stage, I remember giving
-
00:24:43
one of those just magical talks
-
00:24:45
where I just felt like
it was God Himself
-
00:24:47
working through my mouth
because I was operating
-
00:24:50
under His authority
and His power.
-
00:24:52
I've been really blessed
to have a hand in seeing
-
00:24:59
a number of literal,
physical, miraculous healings,
-
00:25:03
seeing people healed
of things that God used,
-
00:25:08
was it my prayer?
-
00:25:09
Was somebody else who prayed
earlier than day, later on?
-
00:25:11
I don't know, but there's
just a number of them,
-
00:25:16
a whole bunch of people
who had infertility issues
-
00:25:19
and couldn't get pregnant.
-
00:25:20
And I put my hand on
their bellies and prayed,
-
00:25:22
and they would tell me it was
that day when we conceived.
-
00:25:26
People who had eye conditions
and couldn't see a monitor.
-
00:25:29
And the next -- the
next literally minute
-
00:25:31
when they went out to the
atrium they could see a monitor.
-
00:25:33
People who had
nerve damage in arms.
-
00:25:35
It's just a bunch of things.
-
00:25:36
I'm not captain televangelist
health and wealth thing.
-
00:25:39
I'm not, I'm just humbled to
have been able to be used
-
00:25:43
by God however many times
to see crazy things happen.
-
00:25:50
And it happens not because
I have some technique
-
00:25:56
that makes crazy things happen.
-
00:25:58
By the way, it's
called a miracle.
-
00:26:00
It doesn't happen all the time.
-
00:26:01
If it happened all the time
it wouldn't be called miracle.
-
00:26:03
It would be called
good things you can do
-
00:26:05
to get what you want.
-
00:26:06
No, a miracle happens rarely
-
00:26:08
and it's something
that God does.
-
00:26:10
But the reason I think it's
happened as much as it has
-
00:26:13
is because I recognize
God has given me authority
-
00:26:17
and I don't just have
to beg for things.
-
00:26:19
He's given me authority as
I come under His Kingship,
-
00:26:24
and that gives me power to do
the things He's asked me to do.
-
00:26:29
You're not a --
-
00:26:30
You're not a weak, groveling
little orphan heart that
-
00:26:32
has no resources if you
have a relationship with Jesus.
-
00:26:35
No, you're not.
-
00:26:36
You're under the
authority of a King
-
00:26:39
who has vast, endless resources.
-
00:26:42
But you have to ask yourself,
-
00:26:44
"Am I under His authority,
under his kingship?"
-
00:26:48
This is why baptism is critical.
-
00:26:51
Baptism is when somebody
chooses to lower themselves
-
00:26:57
under the ways of God
and they get baptized.
-
00:27:02
They get dunked in water,
-
00:27:04
they die to all
of their old stuff.
-
00:27:07
And when they come
back up out of the water,
-
00:27:09
they come with the
authority of the King
-
00:27:11
because they've lowered
themselves underneath God.
-
00:27:15
We're going to have an
opportunity for you to do that
-
00:27:16
later on this journey.
-
00:27:17
I meet people who just don't
feel comfortable baptism,
-
00:27:20
"I don't want to."
-
00:27:21
Why don't you feel
comfortable baptism?
-
00:27:23
I'll tell you why, it isn't
because you feel like
-
00:27:25
you're going to be embarrassed
-
00:27:26
if you're wet in
front of people.
-
00:27:28
That may be part of it.
-
00:27:29
At the heart of it
is you don't want
-
00:27:32
to lower yourself
underneath God.
-
00:27:35
At the heart of it is you
don't want to submit yourself
-
00:27:39
in a humbling situation
where you go under the water
-
00:27:45
signifying that you have
died to your own stuff,
-
00:27:48
died your own self,
died your own ways
-
00:27:50
and you're giving
your life to God.
-
00:27:53
Every great person in the New
Testament portion of the Bible,
-
00:27:56
every single one
has been baptized.
-
00:28:00
It's a decision they made.
-
00:28:01
Not their parents made
for them, though I think
-
00:28:03
there's something about
infant baptism, dedication.
-
00:28:06
I'm not anti that.
-
00:28:07
I baptized my kids, little ones,
-
00:28:10
but all of them, in
and of their own will
-
00:28:13
need to come to a place
where they lowered themselves
-
00:28:17
before the King.
-
00:28:18
And when you do that,
-
00:28:20
you lower yourself
beneath His throne.
-
00:28:25
This is a key, pivotal moment.
-
00:28:28
For everybody who
would have a life
-
00:28:31
that goes on a
different trajectory,
-
00:28:32
a life underneath God,
-
00:28:33
a life where you start
to see that He's good,
-
00:28:36
a moment where you
bow before the throne,
-
00:28:41
where you put yourself in
humility under His authority.
-
00:28:45
That is not my seat.
-
00:28:48
This is the place where we
start to feel His goodness.
-
00:28:53
The place where
life starts to get good
-
00:28:56
because it's in proper order.
-
00:28:58
There's God and there's me.
-
00:28:59
God, me, God, me.
-
00:29:02
When I came on this
set today, I saw that.
-
00:29:06
And I was like, "Oh,
man. I want to -- I want to --
-
00:29:09
I want to get on that.
-
00:29:10
Where do you get
a throne like that?
-
00:29:12
EBay friends. eBay has it all.
-
00:29:14
That's where you
get a throne like that.
-
00:29:15
But I'll tell you, as much
as I want to sit on that throne
-
00:29:19
and while there's
nothing special
-
00:29:20
about this physical object,
-
00:29:22
I don't want to sit in
the throne because
-
00:29:24
I don't want to delude
myself at all to believe
-
00:29:27
that I am King,
-
00:29:29
that I am somehow this
hyper authority for men.
-
00:29:32
And here's the problem.
-
00:29:34
There are people in
churches right now,
-
00:29:38
with us right now, you might
have all the good beliefs.
-
00:29:41
You might be able to
answer multiple choice
-
00:29:43
on who Jesus is, maybe
even got baptized through this.
-
00:29:46
You're on this freaking
chair every day.
-
00:29:48
You're on this chair
all the time because
-
00:29:49
you're living your life
the way you want to do it.
-
00:29:51
You think what
you want to think.
-
00:29:53
You spend money on what
you want to spend money on.
-
00:29:55
You sex the way you want to sex.
-
00:29:57
You talk the way you talk.
-
00:29:58
And then you verify
and validate it. Why?
-
00:30:01
Because you are king,
you're just giving lip service.
-
00:30:05
So long as you're on
the throne of your own life,
-
00:30:09
your life cannot be good.
-
00:30:12
So long as you're on
the throne of your own life,
-
00:30:15
you are usurping
the power of God
-
00:30:17
and you're inviting Him --
-
00:30:20
You're inviting Him to
not show you goodness.
-
00:30:23
You're inviting Him
to go to war with you.
-
00:30:26
Do you want to go
to war with God?
-
00:30:28
Some of us, you've
been at war with God.
-
00:30:30
That's why life hasn't
been working out.
-
00:30:31
I'm not saying, "Hey,
you're a bad person."
-
00:30:34
I'm saying, "Here's a key.
-
00:30:35
This could be good
news for you, because
-
00:30:36
now you know why
things aren't working,
-
00:30:39
because you're not under
the authority of the King
-
00:30:42
and there's not a power to
your life that comes forth."
-
00:30:47
When I'm down in my appropriate
posture before the King
-
00:30:52
there are riches that
are available to me.
-
00:30:58
There are things that I
couldn't have otherwise.
-
00:31:03
There is -- there is an
inheritance that comes
-
00:31:07
to those who know God
as my Dad and my King.
-
00:31:13
There are future
blessings that are stored up
-
00:31:17
for those who are down
on their knee before God.
-
00:31:22
And until you can
take this posture,
-
00:31:26
there's just things in life
that will not pop your way.
-
00:31:28
And I'm not saying everything
in life is going to be easy.
-
00:31:31
I'm not saying everything
in life is going to be great.
-
00:31:33
But I'm saying
what's easy and great
-
00:31:35
is coming under
the Kingship of God
-
00:31:37
and things just
make sense this way.
-
00:31:44
This week you're going to
get one of these these coins.
-
00:31:48
It's got two sides to it,
Good Father and Good King.
-
00:31:54
This is a device to help
you in your spiritual walk,
-
00:31:57
to help you connect
with God on both --
-
00:32:00
In both of these spheres
or both of these realms.
-
00:32:04
You can pray to
God as your King.
-
00:32:06
You can pray to God is your Dad.
-
00:32:08
Sometimes helps
me to be very specific
-
00:32:10
in one of those
roles when I do that.
-
00:32:13
Maybe if I'm feeling defeated,
-
00:32:15
if I'm feeling unloved,
-
00:32:17
if I'm feeling rejected,
-
00:32:18
maybe I want to go to
my dad and say, "Dad,
-
00:32:22
would you help me
sense your pleasure?
-
00:32:25
Would you just comfort me?
-
00:32:26
I want to crawl up in your lap?"
-
00:32:29
Sometimes if I'm
feeling like I'm not worthy,
-
00:32:31
I don't have the ability, I
don't have the strength,
-
00:32:34
I go to my King and say, "Lord."
-
00:32:36
That's what it means for
Him to be King, He's Lord.
-
00:32:39
Not just savior who
saves us, He's Lord.
-
00:32:42
"Would you give me your power
to do what you want me to do?"
-
00:32:47
Think of that when
you have this coin.
-
00:32:49
Maybe you want to do things
in your personal time with God,
-
00:32:51
your prayer time.
-
00:32:52
Maybe you want to
pray to God as King.
-
00:32:56
"God, I submit to you
right now the urges
-
00:32:59
that I've been feeling
and I can't control.
-
00:33:01
I submit them to you
because they are Yours."
-
00:33:04
Or, "Father, I recognize
Your goodness in my life.
-
00:33:10
Thank you for adopting me."
-
00:33:11
Use that in your time with God
-
00:33:13
or use that just as
a memory device
-
00:33:15
as you go about your day.
-
00:33:18
God being King is
all through the Bible
-
00:33:21
from the beginning to the end.
-
00:33:22
At the very, very end of
the Bible in Revelation 4,
-
00:33:27
here we have a
vision of the future.
-
00:33:30
And they're still saying,
"Holy, holy, holy is the King."
-
00:33:35
We've got these 24 elders.
-
00:33:37
We're not sure exactly
who those folks are,
-
00:33:39
but they've got their
crowns and they come
-
00:33:41
and they cast their
crowns down at the throne.
-
00:33:43
Why do they have crowns?
-
00:33:45
They have crowns because God has
given them authority and power.
-
00:33:48
A lot of people with us
have authority and power.
-
00:33:50
Whatever it is, governmental
authority and power,
-
00:33:52
business authority and power,
-
00:33:54
family authority and power.
-
00:33:56
We recognize that all
those things are things
-
00:33:58
that God in His
Kingship has given us.
-
00:34:01
But they all pale in
comparison to His Kingdom
-
00:34:04
and they cast it down
and say, "You are worthy."
-
00:34:09
The best way for
us to cement today
-
00:34:12
is to be down on our knees,
-
00:34:14
casting our own
crowns before Him
-
00:34:16
and telling Him He is worthy.
-
00:34:19
Let's tell Him that right now.
-
00:34:22
God, You are not just
worthy, not just holy,
-
00:34:26
but You are my
ultimate authority.
-
00:34:29
I put myself under You.
-
00:34:32
I yield to what You say
and Your commands,
-
00:34:35
not what I say and my desires.
-
00:34:38
Thank You for
being a patient King
-
00:34:40
and for being a good King.
-
00:34:42
I recognize you as that today
-
00:34:45
and I pray these things in
your name, Jesus. Amen.
-
00:43:39
- Thanks for singing
with us today.
-
00:43:40
If you like that
music, great news,
-
00:43:42
you can listen to it
throughout your week.
-
00:43:44
It's available on
Apple Music, Spotify,
-
00:43:46
wherever you get your music.
-
00:43:47
- We are so glad that
you are here along with us
-
00:43:50
on this Journey. You're
right in the middle of it.
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00:43:52
Do not give up!
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00:43:53
To make sure that you're getting
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00:43:54
the full Journey
experience, please be sure
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00:43:57
to download the
Crossroads Anywhere app.
-
00:43:59
- It's got amazing
stuff in there.
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00:44:00
There's individual work for you.
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00:44:01
There's group guides for you.
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00:44:02
Thousands of people are
doing it every single week.
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00:44:05
You don't want to miss out.
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00:44:06
And if you have any
questions about the Journey,
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00:44:08
about how to do it,
Crossroads, anything,
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00:44:10
we would love to
answer those for you.
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00:44:12
Go to Crossroads.net,
click the chat button,
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00:44:14
we would love to
talk with you today.
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00:44:15
- It's been awesome
hanging with you all.
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00:44:17
We can't wait to
see you next week.