God Wants You to Have Better Sex

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- How about that?

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Hey. Welcome here,

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whether you're online or in the room.

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My name is Justin. I'm one of the music guys around here.

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I don't know what you come in believing about God

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or what you've heard about God,

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but I believe in a God of joy,

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a God that gives energy,

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that rejuvenates, that refreshes.

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So right here today,

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I believe what He has for you.

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And so right now, if you're not standing,

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go ahead and stand with us.

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We're going to sing songs to God

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and about this God of joy.

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We're so glad you're here with us.

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- This God has good for us always.

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- Lord. I, I set my eyes on You today

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and I say those words only to You

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because I believe You are the source,

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that You're the source of every good and perfect gift.

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And the God of joy, that You would delight in us,

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that You would smile on us.

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In Your Bible, Zephaniah 3:17 says

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You're the one who exalts over us

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with loud singing and dancing.

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Like, You'd be the one in the aisles tonight

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dancing up and down, because that's Your joy for us,

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because You want to give us life,

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because You want to refresh us.

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And so all I can do is smile and say thank You.

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I recognize You and want to recognize You

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for who You are, giver of life and joy.

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And so I do that, I thank You.

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And I pray all this because of You, Jesus. Amen.

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Amen. Yeah. It's so good to be together.

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So glad you're with us online.

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In the room, why don't you turn to somebody

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and for 10s laugh right in their face.

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I'm just kidding. Don't do that.

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Turn to somebody and say, "Hey, I'm glad to be here with you.

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So glad you're with us."

00:13:44

- Well, hey, everyone, welcome to Crossroads.

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I'm Eric, and I am so glad

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you are joining us online today.

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If you did not know, Crossroads is one church

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with many locations meeting both physically

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and digitally all over the world.

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And we have a whole group of people

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all across the world who are a part of

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our Crossroads Anywhere community.

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And we truly believe that you don't have to be

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located near one of our physical church buildings

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to be a real, active and known part of our church.

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There's people leading watch parties

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in their homes or dorm rooms,

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people leading groups online,

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people going deeper into the weekly teachings,

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asking the difficult questions about God,

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and people simply praying for one another.

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These are all ways to be in community,

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and it's actually one of the practices

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that lead to spiritual growth.

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So, if you want ideas on how you can engage

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with others at Crossroads, in community,

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head to crossroads.net.

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Another way you can grow with others

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is through attending one of our Crossroads Camps.

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And yes, I'm talking about camping outside

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in a tent on the ground and it's probably

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a little outside of your comfort zone.

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Trust me, it's out of mine too.

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But Camps are an opportunity for you to be off

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and to hear from God, to have fun

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and to do it all with hundreds of people around you.

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You'll camp in a small group of people

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who could become some of your best friends one day.

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You never know.

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We have two more Camps that are left this year.

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That's Woman Camp if you're a woman,

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Man Camp if you're a man.

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And let me tell you for me, I found community

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at Man Camp a few years ago

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when one of my friends invited me, said,

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"Eric, do you want to come?"

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And my first response was, "Absolutely not,"

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because I don't like camping.

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But I decided to say yes and take him up on his offer.

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And I'm 11 Man Camps in now

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and I can't get enough of it.

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It's just life changing.

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I love the atmosphere of Camp.

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I love growing with God

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and I love my community of brothers.

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So let me tell you, it's worth it.

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And this is your last call to sign up

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for either one of those.

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You can do that by heading

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to crossroads.net/camps to sign up,

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and you should bring a friend along with you.

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And something else that might be

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a little out of our comfort zone, but it's

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so good for our spiritual growth is giving.

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Being generous is never easy, let's be honest,

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and it's never comfortable.

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And in my life, I have found that

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it's always good for me when I lean into God.

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It loosens the grip that money has on my life,

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and it helps me communicate to Him that I trust Him

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and that I want to put Him first.

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If you want to join me in that,

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you can do that at Crossroads.net/give.

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Now, today we're going to be focusing

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on a very adult topic.

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So I want to take a minute

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to warn all of the parents.

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If you have little kids in the room with you

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and they're normally watching and listening,

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you may be in for some conversations that

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you might not want to talk about with your kids.

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So, please use your discretion if this is

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the right content for your whole family to receive

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and know that we have amazing digital content

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made specifically for kids aged ten and under.

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And you can find that in our app

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or you can search Crossroads Kids' Club on YouTube.

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And all of our content for middle schoolers

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and high schoolers can be found

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at Crossroads.net/watch.

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So right now, let's hear from

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our senior pastor Brian Tome

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as we continue in our series Thirsty.

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[happy music]

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[birds chirping]

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- [sighs] So refreshing.

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Nothing is more satisfying than natural pure water

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flowing from nature's bosom.

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When you reach for a drink to quench your thirst,

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make sure it is water.

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[FX explosion]

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Don't drink from some dysentery ridden

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raccoon swimming pool.

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- Nature sucks.

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- You need a drink that says, "I'm here to party

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and I might have just swallowed a cicada.

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- Cicada. [FX explosion]

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- Something that'll swell your tongue

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and make your insides glow in the dark.

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- Radiation. - Nature.

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- Cicada. - Radiation.

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You need Thirsty. - Thirsty.

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- A drink designed by scientists at a lab

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in the basement of your mom's house.

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It's full of all kinds of things you can't spell:

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So the next time you got a thirst,

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grab the drink that will do absolutely nothing for you.

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- Thirsty.

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- It comes in six flavors that aren't real flavors.

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- Six flavors.

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- Thirsty.

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-The drink that will leave you wanting more.

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[FX explosion]

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- Yeah. Hey, so good to be with everybody today.

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It's going to be a good day.

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It's going to be an interesting day.

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It's going to be probably be an offensive day.

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It's going to be --

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I'm an equal opportunity offender.

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Because after all, we're talking about, like,

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the most sensitive topic you could talk about

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that is I'm talking today. I'm talking about sex.

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[music: Let's Talk About Sex, Salt-n-Pepa]

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Come on, let's talk about sex, baby.

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Let's talk about you and me.

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Let's talk about all the good things

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- All right. Good, good. Enough of that.

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Now I want to say this before I go further,

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today, I'm going to be talking about sex,

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but I'll tell you, there's a sexuality

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I'm not talking about.

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I just want to get this out of the way with.

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I get asked a lot, emailed a lot.

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You know tell me about LGBTQIA+.

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What's your take on this?

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The teachers, leaders of Crossroads,

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I'm done giving a --

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I am done giving a soundbite answer.

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I'm done even responding to emails on that question.

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Here's what I tell everybody, I'll tell you.

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If you want to know, read this book.

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It's called People to Be Loved by Preston Sprinkle.

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It is thorough. It's fantastic.

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He says, and it's what we've always taught around here,

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he says this:

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Homosexuality is not some issue to be debated,

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but people to be loved.

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Now, I want to talk from here,

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I want to talk about the ideal of sex

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between a man and a woman,

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or what if you're never going to be married?

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What if you're single right now,

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will be single forever, what do you do?

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I don't know exactly the answer to that question,

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but I can't tell you God is good. He is good.

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And He has things for you that you may not have imagined.

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He has a very deep well for you to drink from.

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Let's pray before I go any further.

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Father, I'm really honored to talk about

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something transcendent, a little nervous about it,

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to be honest, a little queasy about it

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because it's always controversial

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if we hear something we don't want to hear.

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And I know, though, You bring people

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to Crossroads who are thirsty,

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who want something beyond what we'll get

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someplace else on the radio, movies,

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our streaming platforms, whatever it is.

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I pray You give us Your clarity.

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Help me to be clear.

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Help me to be very intuitive,

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and most importantly, to be very truthful.

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And I pray these things according to

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the character and identity of Jesus. Amen.

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When I was a kid, you ever have one of those things

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where you have a memory and then all of a sudden,

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years and years later, you realize,

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"Oh, that's what happened way back when.

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I didn't realize that." You ever have one of those?

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When I was a little kid, I was over at

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my extended relatives house, and I was,

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I think 6 or 7, and I was a spaz.

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I know that surprises you.

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I was a spaz playing horse,

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playing pig, round the world.

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And I was just -- I remember jumping on people

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and just running around like a maniac.

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And my older cousin had a boyfriend.

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They were about 16 or so, and I was just panting.

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I was thirsty and and I didn't have any water.

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And he said, "Here, I got some."

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And he gave me this cup and I chugged this cup.

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And I don't know if it went down the wrong pipe

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or what happened, if I was so over exhausted.

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It was just like the most horrible thing.

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It went wrong places.

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I was freaked out and I started crying.

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And I ran inside and I talked to my mom and dad.

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I was coughing everything out and everything.

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And I remember them looking at him,

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giving him a bit of an evil look.

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And I didn't understand what that was about.

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And I've always wondered, how did that take place?

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What was that?

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And then a few years ago, it dawned on me.

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I thought, "Oh, my cousin's boyfriend was over

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and he had vodka in the cup, and he thought

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it'd be fun giving the little spaz some water.

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And he chugged vodka."

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My first bit of alcohol, and it just it was,

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you know, it was horrible.

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Now, vodka could have its place for you

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in the right time, in the right place,

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if that's what your thing is.

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You want to be a person of moderation.

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But in that situation, actually any situation,

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if you want to be hydrated,

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vodka is the wrong answer.

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I think there's a message for us in this about sex,

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where we want sex to hydrate us

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and it may give us a buzz.

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It does give us a buzz, orgasm does that.

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I'm going to be very frank and very direct today,

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not because I want shock value,

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but because I want to be Helpful,

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but there's only one source of true hydration

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that nourishes our soul.

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Let's look at 1 Corinthians 10:1-4.

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I'm going to give you a lot of Bible today.

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You okay with that? A lot of Bible today

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because this stuff I'm gonna share with you

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isn't my opinion.

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It's the stuff that has been in God's Word

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for generations and eons.

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Here's what it says in 1 Corinthians 7 --

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Excuse me, chapter ten:

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This is talking about their forefathers

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of the faith in the Old Testament,

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and they experienced things that were transcendent.

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And the Apostle Paul is telling them

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in these writings they actually experienced Jesus.

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This is, you're going to see, comes in the context

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of a sex chapter in the Bible.

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And I want to be clear, no matter

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what you're doing sexually right now,

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no matter if you're doing it great,

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if you're not doing it at all, if you're doing it horribly,

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if you're in a marriage, if you're not married,

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if you're never going to be married,

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here we all have this in common:

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sex is not the source of your hydration.

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Jesus is the source of your hydration.

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If you want to have a full soul,

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if you want to have a pep in your step,

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if you want to have

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a peace that passes understanding,

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have a joyful outlook,

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sense the abiding presence of God,

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sex is not what does it.

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It's the presence of Jesus Himself.

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He is who does it. He is who nourishes us.

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Let's go all the way back,

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all the way back in the book of Genesis,

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the very beginning where sex starts.

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And we see that actually the beginning of

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where Jesus is, because God is referred to

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in the plural, because God;s always existed

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in a Trinity: God the Father, God the Son,

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and God the Holy Spirit, all one.

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And this is a precursor of understanding marriage

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between a man and a woman.

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Let's go back to Genesis 1, here's what it says:

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I am not interested today in you towing the line

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and drawing boxes of who's in and who's out,

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who's done bad things, who's done horrible things,

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who's done good things, you're right, you're wrong.

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I'm not interested in that today.

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I'm interested in you seeing the character of God,

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who God is, which will impact

00:26:01

your sense of hydration

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and it will impact your sexual choices.

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Here we have the first instance of sex.

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God is in a multiple relationship with Himself,

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God the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit.

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And He says, "Look, there's an individual guy,

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a little incomplete," creates a woman.

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So they are one and we are made in His image.

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That means there's things about God

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that we have in common with Him

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that no other created thing does.

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One of them is we exist in community

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with each other, man and a woman,

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complementary parts that come together,

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similar to how God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

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have complementary parts.

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And there's fruitful and multiplication.

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When a man and a woman come together,

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you can reproduce, you can create more people.

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That's the only way it happens.

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Although I know science is doing

00:26:51

some different things to address that.

00:26:53

But here we have a replication of God.

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God creates and a man and a woman can create,

00:27:00

being fruitful and multiply.

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Genesis 2:24 says this:

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Again, this is about the identity of God

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and how when a man and a woman get married,

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we complement God, we reflect God rather,

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because we become one person.

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That's a crazy thing, one person.

00:27:32

So the act of sexual intercourse.

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Here he goes, hand motion coming.

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The act of sexual intercourse.

00:27:40

Maybe more like this. You know?

00:27:42

The act of sexual intercourse

00:27:45

is a physical representation of what's happened

00:27:48

when a man and a woman get married.

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Because before God, you're not two individuals,

00:27:52

you're now one person before God.

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That's why divorce is so catastrophic for you,

00:27:56

any of you who've been through it,

00:27:58

it's because of ripping, there's a tearing,

00:27:59

because you are one soul with that person.

00:28:02

And when you have sex,

00:28:04

it's a physical representation

00:28:06

of what that relationship should be.

00:28:08

You are one person, one mass.

00:28:12

Now let me tell you, I want you --

00:28:17

I want you, if you want it,

00:28:18

I want you to be different.

00:28:20

I want you to be different than the rest of the world

00:28:22

that is just struggling and feeling alone

00:28:24

and isolated and not feeling joyful.

00:28:27

And this is part of the answer to this.

00:28:30

I'm going to say some things today

00:28:32

and I already have that are very, very different.

00:28:34

And I want to be different,

00:28:36

but I want you to be different if that's what you want,

00:28:39

if you want to get on a different path with God,

00:28:42

a different place of connection with Him,

00:28:46

this is really important.

00:28:47

That's why this stuff comes up in the Bible all the time.

00:28:51

And it's the same message again and again.

00:28:54

If you want to be different,

00:28:56

you're going to have to think different.

00:28:58

And it's hard to talk about this because

00:29:01

our sexuality in our country and our culture

00:29:04

is changing so quickly.

00:29:06

Like, in fact, we started Crossroads

00:29:10

28 years or so ago, I felt like I talked about sex

00:29:14

about every two months.

00:29:15

It was simple message. Stop it, stop it, stop it.

00:29:18

Would you just stop it?

00:29:19

I mean, there were just people at Crossroads

00:29:21

just screwing like bunnies

00:29:23

all over the place all the time.

00:29:25

Go Trips, Go Trips, mission trips,

00:29:28

people hooking up on mission trips,

00:29:29

people having affairs on mission trips.

00:29:31

I'm not kidding around. It was like, my gosh.

00:29:35

Now, today, statistics would say Americans

00:29:38

are having sex at a very underwhelming space,

00:29:42

at least with another person.

00:29:45

And when we are having sex, it just looks very different.

00:29:49

I interact with a lot of single guys,

00:29:51

and they tell me that women are very,

00:29:54

very frequently the aggressors in the relationship,

00:29:57

which is a pretty, pretty new thing.

00:29:59

They tell me things like

00:30:02

when their girlfriend is and when he's choosing

00:30:06

that he wants to be chaste or absetenent,

00:30:08

she many times doesn't like it

00:30:10

and will say things like, "You need to man up,

00:30:12

you need to man up." Actual quotes.

00:30:15

Women being the aggressors

00:30:17

and needing a boyfriend to affirm them,

00:30:20

to affirm her is a is a pretty recent phenomenon

00:30:23

to the degree that it is.

00:30:25

Previously straight people

00:30:27

becoming same sex oriented.

00:30:30

Some of them, some of them because

00:30:32

they couldn't find somebody of the opposite sex,

00:30:35

or somebody of the opposite sex actually hurt them

00:30:37

and wounded them so deeply that they have

00:30:39

to experiment and try different things right now.

00:30:42

It's never been more popular and more pervasive

00:30:45

having sex with yourself than it is right now.

00:30:49

We are just having private sexual experiences

00:30:54

to an unbelievable degree,

00:30:56

and it's actually hurting us

00:30:58

and our ability to have actual human relationships.

00:31:00

A friend of mine is a sex therapist,

00:31:02

and I've had her on my podcast,

00:31:04

and she says her fastest growing clientele

00:31:06

is young men in their 20s who cannot perform

00:31:10

with their girlfriends because

00:31:12

they've had sex by themselves so many times

00:31:14

and seen so many images that they have

00:31:17

unbelievable pressure of not being able to perform

00:31:19

and then they can't perform.

00:31:21

I mean, guys not being able to get an erection

00:31:23

in their 20s, that was never a thing. It wasn't.

00:31:29

Things are different. They are harder today.

00:31:33

Harder, he said harder. I don't mean --

00:31:36

I don't mean things are --

00:31:41

When I was younger, when I was younger,

00:31:44

you had to work to get pornography.

00:31:45

It was hard, difficult to get pornography.

00:31:48

You had to be careful where you went,

00:31:50

because you wouldn't want to go to one

00:31:51

of those places by the side of the highway

00:31:53

everyone knows you and knows you're a pervert

00:31:55

if you're going in there.

00:31:56

You go in, you have to actually buy something.

00:31:57

You couldn't see something for free

00:31:59

in the privacy of your home.

00:32:00

You had to go someplace, buy something,

00:32:02

put it inside of a paper bag, bring it home.

00:32:03

You're coming out, you're hoping no one sees you

00:32:05

with a little paper bag inside the convenience store.

00:32:07

Which, by the way, like, is that why

00:32:11

they're called Come and Go?

00:32:12

I don't understand those stores. Have you ever?

00:32:15

I'm serious, have you ever seen these stores

00:32:17

Come and Go? Like, is there no board members

00:32:19

who will go, "Should we change the name

00:32:21

of our store? It just seems a little inappropriate."

00:32:25

Okay, but I digress.

00:32:28

It's not just these things, it's even stuff

00:32:30

that I hate to tell you about,

00:32:32

but you're going to find out about it

00:32:33

if you don't know it already.

00:32:34

This is, again, the landscape of how difficult

00:32:38

it is for you to operate on different levels sexually.

00:32:42

If you don't want to be with somebody else,

00:32:45

you can have your AI boyfriend, AI girlfriend.

00:32:49

You can go and you can pick the body type you want,

00:32:51

hair, hair color,

00:32:53

the occupation you want the person to be in,

00:32:57

the personality type the person has.

00:33:00

And then you give them access to your calendar.

00:33:02

You give them access to your emails

00:33:04

so they know you.

00:33:06

You give them your cell phone and they text you.

00:33:08

"How was your meeting? I was thinking about you."

00:33:10

And they sext you.

00:33:13

This is horrible and a temptation

00:33:17

that I am so glad I didn't have to do.

00:33:19

I guess I still have to deal with it now,

00:33:21

but when I was younger, especially.

00:33:23

My goodness, I'm saying the landscape for sexuality

00:33:26

is unlike anything that's ever happened

00:33:29

in anthropological history.

00:33:32

You and I are in strange and uncharted

00:33:35

and dangerous and difficult waters.

00:33:38

And the best sex, the best sex

00:33:41

reflects God's relationship with you and me.

00:33:45

I'll say it again the best sex reflects

00:33:46

God's relationship with you and I.

00:33:48

Whether you're single or married or whatever you are,

00:33:51

He wants to have an intimate relationship with you.

00:33:54

In the book of Psalms 103:8, it tells us

00:33:57

about who you can be wedded to.

00:34:08

So He is not angry with you.

00:34:11

He is slow, or He is slow to anger.

00:34:13

He gets over it really fast because

00:34:15

He's merciful and He's gracious

00:34:18

and He's abounding in steadfast love.

00:34:20

His love for you isn't fickle

00:34:22

like your and my love is for other people

00:34:24

or other things. He's there all the time.

00:34:28

You can't change how much He loves you.

00:34:30

No matter what you're going to do or not do

00:34:31

He loves you.

00:34:34

In Ephesians, New Testament portion of the Bible,

00:34:36

that's in the strain, the stream of

00:34:39

everything else through the Bible on sexuality.

00:34:42

Here's what the Apostle Paul says:

00:34:48

We just read that, quoting that verse.

00:34:51

And here's the bam.

00:35:00

So he's saying the mystery, the mystery isn't

00:35:02

when a man and woman come together

00:35:03

and they make public proclamation

00:35:05

that they're married.

00:35:07

That, that's an amazing mystery.

00:35:08

He says, no, the mystery is that

00:35:10

this is what Jesus does with us.

00:35:12

If you've received Christ, if you're going

00:35:14

to come into a relationship with Him,

00:35:16

whether you're male or female,

00:35:17

you're a part of the bride of Christ.

00:35:20

He's the bridegroom, He's the groom,

00:35:22

and He comes and He weds us.

00:35:24

So Paul is saying here, the Bible is saying,

00:35:26

just like this physical reality of man and woman

00:35:29

reproduce, multiply, beautiful ones there.

00:35:32

This actually just mirrors and sets us up

00:35:35

to understand what Jesus does for us.

00:35:37

He weds us. Get ready for it. He weds us.

00:35:41

He inserts Himself inside of us.

00:35:45

He gives us the Holy Spirit

00:35:47

and we have the fruit of the Spirit.

00:35:49

We can replicate things that we can only have with Him.

00:35:52

He says this is the mystery,

00:35:54

it's about God and us in the church.

00:35:56

God weds Himself to you.

00:35:58

You're married to Him if you receive Him.

00:36:00

And He's a great spouse.

00:36:03

He's a great man.

00:36:04

I mean, He is slow to anger.

00:36:06

He gets over stuff. He's always there.

00:36:08

He's for us.

00:36:15

We don't talk too much about sex at our Camps.

00:36:18

Man Camp it's the last day to sign up for Man Camp.

00:36:21

A couple couple weeks away. I hope you all come.

00:36:23

We have seven countries coming: France, Uruguay,

00:36:25

people coming all over the world coming to our camps

00:36:27

and some of you have never been out.

00:36:29

Come on out. We'll take care of you.

00:36:30

We'll help you figure out your gear, all that stuff.

00:36:32

Woman Camp is also coming up,

00:36:34

last day to sign up for Woman Camp

00:36:36

is actually this weekend.

00:36:37

At Man Camp -- I don't really talk --

00:36:39

I don't think I've ever given --

00:36:41

I've never given a sex talk I think at Man Camp.

00:36:43

Men are about a lot more than sex.

00:36:45

I don't know what happens at Woman Camp.

00:36:46

If they never invite me, I would love to give

00:36:48

a sex talk a Woman Camp. I would love.

00:36:50

I would love to tell you women everything

00:36:52

you need to know, I would love to do that.

00:36:55

That would be very stupid

00:36:56

and not qualified for that at all.

00:36:59

I don't know what happens at Woman Camp.

00:37:00

But let me tell you, my favorite camp of all

00:37:02

is Couples Camp and I do talk about sex.

00:37:04

It comes up every Couples Camp to one degree

00:37:06

or another because it's important in marriage,

00:37:08

which is where the next portion of our talk is going to go.

00:37:11

And I want to let you see a little strange moment

00:37:14

that we had at our last couples camp.

00:37:19

- One Alpha.

00:37:20

- Well, we found some footage from a recent camp

00:37:24

that features you guys and we'd love show it to you.

00:37:27

- Oh, my gosh.

00:37:28

- We've talked more about sex at this Couples Camp

00:37:32

than I think we ever have, it's kind of --

00:37:34

And I'm just interacting with more couples

00:37:37

that haven't had sex for 3 or 4 years.

00:37:39

And I'm not talking about people who are past 60.

00:37:41

Things change, you know, when you're past 60,

00:37:43

you're just, you know, it's just different,

00:37:44

not that important to me.

00:37:46

- Don't buy that!

00:37:47

- As everyone --

00:37:49

Not everybody. Not everybody.

00:37:51

[cheers]

00:37:52

Not everybody.

00:37:54

- So who yelled, "Don't buy that"?

00:37:57

Nice. Why? Tell us about that moment.

00:38:00

- Well, I personally believe that sex is

00:38:05

a God given sacrament to marriage.

00:38:08

And I think that without that,

00:38:12

marriage is oftentimes don't stay together.

00:38:15

- And you say, "Don't buy that,"

00:38:16

specifically to the over 60 comment?

00:38:18

- Yes, because I am long past 60

00:38:22

and she's a little bit past it too.

00:38:25

- Yes.

00:38:26

I was married 30 years before being widowed.

00:38:30

My late husband was never very sexually interested.

00:38:36

After we had children, he stopped sleeping with me.

00:38:40

I was 44 years old.

00:38:42

- In my case, my first marriage,

00:38:44

she loved to talk and talk, talk, talk about sex.

00:38:48

But then it seemed like there was never the actual thing.

00:38:53

What ended up happening with me was I strayed

00:38:58

because I felt like I'm in my 20s.

00:39:01

I'm a halfway attractive guy.

00:39:02

What doesn't she see interesting in me?

00:39:05

You know, that wasn't good for our marriage.

00:39:07

And eventually, after 16 years, our marriage

00:39:10

ended up in a very bitter divorce.

00:39:12

Five years after that, I remarried.

00:39:14

Our sex life was good until she had some physical problems.

00:39:18

And I understood that.

00:39:20

We met a Crossroads.

00:39:22

We met in the Senior Connection.

00:39:24

I had been widowed two years at that point.

00:39:28

You had been widowed seven years at that point.

00:39:31

- When we met, there were just --

00:39:34

There was an instant connection

00:39:37

because of our shared widowhood.

00:39:40

- What I would say to young couples is

00:39:42

it takes practice.

00:39:43

It's like following Jesus.

00:39:46

It sounds real easy

00:39:47

and then you find out that there's a lot more involved.

00:39:52

- I would definitely say to make time

00:39:55

and to be, like Jeff said, intentional.

00:40:00

- Trying to elevate the sacrament

00:40:03

of sex in a marriage, you know,

00:40:06

and finding the joy in that,

00:40:07

it's one of the few things that you can do

00:40:11

for each other, and they don't have a big price tag.

00:40:16

- Man, isn't that beautiful.

00:40:19

It's so empowering when someone shares

00:40:21

a bit of their story, it's just very vulnerable.

00:40:26

That first verse we read today,

00:40:28

or one of the first ones in the book of Genesis,

00:40:30

remember it said that Adam and Eve

00:40:32

were naked and not ashamed.

00:40:35

Sex, whether and it's inside marriage,

00:40:38

I think it's actually more difficult

00:40:40

inside of a marriage for some reason.

00:40:43

It's about intimacy. Into me see, into me see.

00:40:49

It's about allowing someone to see you.

00:40:51

And it's said there that Adam and Eve

00:40:53

were naked and had no shame.

00:40:54

Who's the last person, has there ever been somebody

00:40:57

that you've been completely naked with

00:41:00

and you're okay with that?

00:41:02

Very, very few people, even in marriage,

00:41:05

are ever fully naked in front of their spouse.

00:41:08

Got to have a towel on us. Got to have this or that.

00:41:10

Adam and Eve had leaves on them

00:41:11

when stuff started happening.

00:41:14

Because the most important thing about sex,

00:41:16

the reason and the way sex is great is

00:41:18

when we are intimate and we can be seen

00:41:21

and allow someone to see us,

00:41:22

because that's amazing about God.

00:41:24

He sees you and He sees all your warts,

00:41:27

all your pimples, all your sags,

00:41:30

everything about your life and He still wants you.

00:41:34

And when we look at somebody else

00:41:36

and we see things aren't as big or too big,

00:41:41

or there's moles, and when you accept

00:41:44

and receive that person and they you,

00:41:47

it paves the way for an amazing sexual relationship.

00:41:51

Which reminds you again how good God is

00:41:54

to be with us while we're so afraid

00:41:57

to share parts of ourselves with Him,

00:41:59

even though he knows every part of us.

00:42:05

In 1 Corinthians, it goes on.

00:42:07

It gives us a reason, a little teaching

00:42:10

about why it's important for people

00:42:13

who are married to stay sexually active.

00:42:15

Let's see what it says.

00:42:24

Let me stop right here.

00:42:25

I want you to notice here in this passage

00:42:27

that oftentimes the Bible gets given

00:42:30

the reputation of being sexist.

00:42:32

It's always given that reputation

00:42:34

by people who've never actually read it.

00:42:36

When you read this, I want you to notice that

00:42:38

the same exact words, the same exact expectations

00:42:41

are given to the husband as to the wife.

00:42:44

Same, same thing. Next verse.

00:42:46

But because the temptation. Excuse me.

00:42:48

Where is it? Verse four.

00:42:59

Why is that? Because it's not my body anymore,

00:43:01

it's our body. We are one.

00:43:18

Sex inside of a marriage is important.

00:43:20

It shows that we are one.

00:43:23

It's not just a way to feel good

00:43:25

and have orgasm and have connection,

00:43:27

but it's a way to remind ourselves that

00:43:29

we are one before God.

00:43:32

And accommodating one another is something

00:43:35

that's important to do sexually in the bedroom.

00:43:38

God, have you ever considered God accommodates us?

00:43:41

He does.

00:43:42

I've given a talk on that before.

00:43:44

I'm not going to go that here right now.

00:43:45

But this is what happens.

00:43:47

Now, whenever the biblical view of sex comes up,

00:43:53

people like me are accused of being a prude,

00:43:55

being repressive, being backwards, or even being,

00:43:59

here's the word puritanical.

00:44:01

It's funny to me when someone

00:44:03

talks about being puritanical

00:44:05

or they don't even know what that means.

00:44:07

The Puritans,

00:44:09

and they couldn't even name a single Puritan.

00:44:12

Can you name a single Puritan?

00:44:14

You ever read any of their stuff?

00:44:16

John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards,

00:44:18

they're not what people expected.

00:44:21

Rodney Stark talks about this.

00:44:24

He's a historian and sociologist

00:44:26

out of the University of Baylor.

00:44:27

And he talks about the Puritans'

00:44:31

way to apply this passage,

00:44:34

about men satisfying their wives

00:44:37

who want to be satisfied and wives satisfying

00:44:40

their men who want to be satisfied.

00:44:43

Here's what he says from history:

00:45:20

We maybe should start doing that here

00:45:21

as part of our services. You know?

00:46:00

The stream of Christianity is that sex is very important,

00:46:03

it's very transcendent.

00:46:05

It's not something to be played with,

00:46:06

like vodka is, but in the right context

00:46:08

it's supposed to be celebrated. It's supposed to be grown,

00:46:11

it's supposed to be enjoyed,

00:46:13

and it's supposed to be reminded that

00:46:14

it reflects my love relationship with God.

00:46:19

And by the way, I know, I know that this is really difficult.

00:46:26

I know right now there's some very awkward people

00:46:29

sitting beside each other.

00:46:31

One spouse is saying, "Man, I hope they're hearing this.

00:46:34

We are going to talk about this later on."

00:46:36

This is, this is.

00:46:38

And the other spouse is saying, "Oh no,

00:46:42

there's going to be --

00:46:43

This is now a Billy club that's going to be used

00:46:46

to beat me up into doing what needs to be done.

00:46:51

Those tensions are difficult to the person

00:46:56

who is not wanting to work on

00:46:58

your sex relationship inside of your marriage.

00:47:01

I would just say if you don't want to work on it,

00:47:04

you have to understand in this area

00:47:05

you're outside the will of God.

00:47:09

I mean, it says it very clearly.

00:47:10

If you don't want to work on it,

00:47:12

you've got a major barrier with God on this,

00:47:15

let alone what's happening to him or her over there.

00:47:17

To the person who wants to use this

00:47:19

to push the issue and kind of make it

00:47:23

just kind of power up on it,

00:47:24

I would say that's not what love is.

00:47:26

1 Corinthians 13:4 says:

00:47:41

You need to continue to love your spouse

00:47:44

and be patient while not giving up.

00:47:46

And the other person needs to constantly ask,

00:47:48

"Why God, don't I want

00:47:50

what you say I should be wanting

00:47:54

and getting to a place where you could both

00:47:56

be naked and vulnerable in front of each other?"

00:47:59

It's a place of holiness.

00:48:02

It's hard for me to give this talk because

00:48:05

I'm not speaking as somebody

00:48:07

who has an unbelievable track record

00:48:10

and Lib and I having unbelievable great sex

00:48:12

for our 30, whatever, 30.

00:48:16

I don't know, 30, 30 some years.

00:48:20

I'll give you a bit of our story.

00:48:22

Lib and I have been out of sync sexually

00:48:25

for our entire marriage.

00:48:26

We've had sex, had good sex, satisfied each other.

00:48:30

Keep working on it, but it's never come easy.

00:48:33

Some of you, you're like, "Gosh, I don't know how --

00:48:36

Wow. Okay. It just seems like a natural,

00:48:39

easy fulfilling for both people all the time."

00:48:43

Great. That's not been our experience.

00:48:45

We come into the marriage,

00:48:46

one person having had previous partners,

00:48:49

another person being a virgin.

00:48:53

And things not being ideal on the wedding night.

00:48:58

We didn't talk about that the way that we should have.

00:49:01

Being in a purity culture where you're told,

00:49:04

"Don't do it, don't do it,

00:49:05

don't do it, don't do it,"

00:49:06

which is kind of a good thing when you're 16.

00:49:08

But when you've had that as your primary,

00:49:11

defining thing of how you serve Jesus,

00:49:13

not having sex and saying no to those urges,

00:49:16

you don't just all of a sudden turn it on

00:49:18

and not have some learning or relearning to do.

00:49:24

Very complicated for us.

00:49:26

When we got married,

00:49:27

I was closer to my sexual prime than Lib was

00:49:29

so I'm like, "Come on, let's go," all the time.

00:49:31

"Come on, come on, let's go, let's go.

00:49:32

Let's go, let's go, let's go. Ready?

00:49:34

Ready. Right now. Ready. Are you ready?

00:49:36

Ready, ready. Right, right. Just go, go, go, go, go, go."

00:49:38

And she was further.

00:49:39

She wasn't towards her sexual prime.

00:49:41

So we were sort of that way.

00:49:45

And then as we age, we age and I age

00:49:51

and I get to age, I don't know, 40, 45

00:49:56

and my sex drive turns off.

00:49:57

And I just go, "Hallelujah, Lord, thank you so much."

00:50:02

It was -- because I'm one of these weird people.

00:50:04

I'm one of these weird people who,

00:50:06

when I read the Bible, I actually do it.

00:50:10

I know. I read it and I go, "I should actually do it."

00:50:14

So from age 15 through every time I would read,

00:50:18

"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.

00:50:21

Your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out."

00:50:23

I would say in all honesty, "God,

00:50:25

You want me to cut my dick off?

00:50:30

I can't stop. I can't stop thinking about it.

00:50:32

I can't stop touching it, I can't. I can't."

00:50:36

It was. It was oppressive, honestly, honestly.

00:50:39

Some of you know, it's oppressive.

00:50:41

You don't want to think about it as often you do.

00:50:43

You don't want your eyes to go where they go.

00:50:45

It was -- And then when it turned off,

00:50:47

because it did, it was great.

00:50:49

Well, the problem was then

00:50:50

Lib is close to her sexual prime.

00:50:56

And just, you know, we worked on it,

00:50:58

but, you know, I was in other things.

00:51:01

I just wasn't as attentive to her as I should have been.

00:51:03

And, you know, again, just been like this,

00:51:06

you know, which actually, it's kind of like

00:51:09

us and God, isn't it?

00:51:11

You know, sometimes we're just not connecting with God.

00:51:14

But am I working it? Am I trying?

00:51:16

Am I trying to improve the relationship?

00:51:19

And then add insult to injury, my urologist tests me,

00:51:27

finds out a couple of years ago.

00:51:29

"Hey. Hey, man, you got to have,

00:51:30

like, no testosterone left."

00:51:31

Oh! So I take these testosterone shots once a week

00:51:35

and basically, basically makes me,

00:51:37

like, a 35 year old or something.

00:51:38

I'm like, "Woo, let's go. Come on."

00:51:41

And she's past menopause.

00:51:43

So again, it's like -- It's like this.

00:51:50

And she takes care of me. She's amazing.

00:51:53

We work on each other.

00:51:54

All I'm saying, I'm not --

00:51:55

All I'm saying is this: sex,

00:51:59

even when it doesn't come natural,

00:52:01

it's worth the fight.

00:52:04

And if you're in a situation where

00:52:08

that's not going to be happening

00:52:09

and you're maybe just you're single,

00:52:11

you need to know and understand, hey, hey.

00:52:14

Being married, according to the apostle Paul

00:52:16

in the New Testament, isn't the best thing.

00:52:18

The best thing is to be single.

00:52:20

He put a lot of time in this.

00:52:21

Hey, man, it's awesome to be single. It's great.

00:52:24

Yeah, yeah.

00:52:25

If you're married, don't clap right now.

00:52:26

Don't. Don't, married people. Don't.

00:52:28

Do not, do not clap right now.

00:52:30

But that's a whole other talk about

00:52:32

how awesome it is to be single and the freedoms that you have

00:52:34

and the flexibilities and all of that stuff. Right?

00:52:39

But whatever our station is, sex is going to be an issue.

00:52:44

It's going to be a constant temptation for us.

00:52:47

If you care about our relationship with God

00:52:49

and you want to honor a relationship with God,

00:52:53

the biggest and most powerful sex organ

00:52:57

in our bodies is between our ears. It's our brain.

00:53:00

And once we stop being vulnerable and open

00:53:05

and communicating, and once we start

00:53:07

feeding fantasies and all that stuff,

00:53:10

it affects our libido.

00:53:13

There is such a thing as, Marvin Gaye is right.

00:53:15

Marvin Gaye is right.

00:53:16

There is such a thing as sexual healing.

00:53:19

But most of the times we can't have sex

00:53:24

and just overcome our difficulties.

00:53:26

Most of the times it's more complicated.

00:53:28

It's longer relationships,

00:53:30

it's longer conversations.

00:53:31

It's open vulnerability for that.

00:53:36

But I have a heart for because I've talked

00:53:38

with enough couples for what USA Today calls

00:53:41

the sexless marriages.

00:53:43

Here's what the marriages look like

00:53:44

where there isn't a sex in it.

00:53:45

40% feel less confident,

00:53:48

60% increased emotional distance,

00:53:52

70% less satisfied,

00:53:54

10% infidelity reported. Reported.

00:53:56

There's more infidelity than that.

00:53:58

Emotional distance,

00:54:00

7% reported pornography addiction.

00:54:02

They reported it.

00:54:05

Of course, people use pornography every week,

00:54:07

go online. It's never an addiction.

00:54:08

So that's a very, very low because

00:54:12

trying to act out, trying to get where we need to go,

00:54:14

there's never healthy outcomes

00:54:16

when we are seeing what God wants

00:54:19

and going in the opposite direction.

00:54:21

Bad sex, likewise, it drains us.

00:54:25

Bad sex drains us.

00:54:26

Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 10. Here's what it says:

00:54:49

There is a moment if you want to be faithful

00:54:53

to God, which means taking your sexual urges,

00:54:56

your sexual passions to Him,

00:54:57

place them before Him and saying,

00:54:58

"What do you want me to do with these?

00:55:00

What do I do with this stuff?

00:55:01

How do I honor You in the relationship?"

00:55:04

We have to realize it's going to be

00:55:05

an ongoing battle to be chaste

00:55:07

if we're not married.

00:55:09

Just like if you are married,

00:55:11

it's going to be an ongoing battle

00:55:13

to stay fresh sexually and an ongoing battle

00:55:16

to not have an affair on your spouse.

00:55:17

All of us, we're in a battle.

00:55:20

All of us, if you want to be faithful to God,

00:55:22

it's going to be difficult.

00:55:24

There's going to be pitfalls,

00:55:25

and people will tell you it's unhealthy

00:55:27

to suppress those urges. It's unhealthy.

00:55:30

Oh, no, no, it's unhealthy to listen to

00:55:33

the world's view of sexuality

00:55:35

that's not bringing us life.

00:55:37

Maybe that's related to our mental health crisis.

00:55:39

Maybe it's related to our divisiveness

00:55:41

with one another.

00:55:42

Maybe it's related to us taking more meds

00:55:45

to feel at peace and less anxiety.

00:55:47

Maybe all -- I'm saying is this,

00:55:49

should we be taking cues from our culture

00:55:52

on anything about personal health?

00:55:54

I don't think so.

00:56:00

What this verse says here is that God is aware

00:56:03

how difficult it is, and He will make a way for us.

00:56:08

There's things that we say that aren't in the Bible.

00:56:10

Here's one: God will never give you

00:56:12

anything that you can't handle.

00:56:15

I hear people say that.

00:56:16

I'm like, no, it's not true.

00:56:18

A lot of things come your way you can't handle.

00:56:20

You're going to die of something you can't handle.

00:56:22

You're going to die. It's going to be horrible.

00:56:29

The people who got crucified for their faith

00:56:32

are the people, there have been people

00:56:34

who recanted their faith

00:56:35

right before they were crucified.

00:56:39

It's not true. Sorry. You're going to have pain.

00:56:41

It's a matter of when it is.

00:56:42

And hopefully you'll get through it by the grace of God.

00:56:44

But don't say I'm not going to have any pain.

00:56:46

I'm not going to have that happen,

00:56:47

because God's not going to give me anything

00:56:49

I can't handle because I can't handle that.

00:56:51

Here's what this means, and it's in the context of it.

00:56:53

It's in the context of sexual temptation.

00:56:55

It says that you can say no to sexual temptation,

00:56:59

because God's going to make sure you don't have

00:57:01

anything come to you sexually you can't handle.

00:57:03

Meaning you may have some sexual fantasy

00:57:06

of some person coming and knocking on your door,

00:57:08

or some people coming and knocking your door

00:57:11

that you know that you cannot say no

00:57:13

to that sexual temptation.

00:57:15

Good news is they're never going to know about you.

00:57:19

Second thing is, if they see you,

00:57:20

they're not going to be attracted to you at all.

00:57:23

Third thing, if they're attracted to you,

00:57:25

they want to have sex with you,

00:57:26

they're not going to be able to find your house.

00:57:28

Or if they find your house, they ring the doorbell.

00:57:31

God's going to make sure the doorbell doesn't ring.

00:57:34

Or if it does ring and they get inside

00:57:37

just before you connect,

00:57:39

your grandmother's going to call you.

00:57:42

And then if your grandmother doesn't call you,

00:57:45

you are going to have the strength to say

00:57:47

to yourself, "I thought I was. No, I'm not going.

00:57:50

No, I'm not going to do it. Nope, nope, nope, nope."

00:57:54

You and I are not animals.

00:57:55

We're created in the image of God.

00:57:58

We have the capacity to make decisions

00:58:00

that other animals don't.

00:58:03

My cat, Frank, he does not have the capacity

00:58:06

to stop scratching my couch.

00:58:08

I can't train him. I just can't.

00:58:10

I've told him I'm plucking his freaking claws out

00:58:13

or giving him to somebody.

00:58:15

I can't. Of course she loves Frank.

00:58:17

I can't. I can't. He cannot stop his urge

00:58:20

to do this on soft things.

00:58:23

We have a female dog, Peanut, right now.

00:58:25

We've had three male dogs before.

00:58:27

If you've ever had a male dog,

00:58:28

we neuter them immediately. Why is that?

00:58:31

It's because male dogs, doesn't matter

00:58:33

how you train them, when there's a bitch in heat,

00:58:36

they're on her all the time.

00:58:38

By the way, it's a scientific canine term.

00:58:40

Don't give me grief about that.

00:58:41

They can't say no to their urges.

00:58:45

It's not possible.

00:58:46

They smell the thing when at the time of the month.

00:58:48

And you can't. You can't.

00:58:50

You and I are different.

00:58:52

We can say no to things that we feel,

00:58:56

we can not act on things that we want to do.

00:58:59

God's given you those capacities.

00:59:03

This is when we realize that

00:59:05

God isn't a philosophy.

00:59:07

He's not a belief system.

00:59:10

He is a person who wants a love relationship

00:59:13

with you and I.

00:59:15

And there's a strength that we can draw on with that,

00:59:18

you and I can withdraw from sexual temptations.

00:59:28

When Lib and I were dating, she came up into --

00:59:34

I don't know how I went so fast today,

00:59:36

I went fast, this service.

00:59:38

Did I talk faster or did I leave stuff out?

00:59:40

Let me see.

00:59:42

Maybe I didn't leave in the offensive things.

00:59:44

Let's see if I can find them.

00:59:47

No, I just I'm getting crisper.

00:59:49

Okay, fine. All right.

00:59:55

When I was dating Lib, I was a slob.

01:00:00

And when she would come over to my apartment,

01:00:02

she'd tidy up. I told her, "Don't, stop. Stop."

01:00:05

She couldn't help herself because it's disgusting

01:00:08

that I would seriously take plates

01:00:12

and throw them away and buy new ones

01:00:14

before I would clean plates. True story.

01:00:18

So she would see the the sink mounded up

01:00:22

and she, "Stop. Stop."

01:00:23

She couldn't help herself.

01:00:24

I was a slob, I was horrible.

01:00:26

And one day she ventured up into the bedroom

01:00:29

to clean that up and she noticed that on

01:00:35

the nightstand was a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue,

01:00:41

because I figured I could walk out of the Stop and Go.

01:00:44

That's what they called them in Pittsburgh,

01:00:46

the Stop and Go.

01:00:47

I could walk out of the Stop and Go

01:00:49

with the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition

01:00:50

that wasn't stuffed in a paper sack,

01:00:52

and I wouldn't be a perv.

01:00:54

And those pages, those pages were well worn.

01:00:59

And she put two and two together,

01:01:01

and she understandably and justifiably,

01:01:04

was not happy, she felt, you know, belittled,

01:01:09

not valued, concerned like about my character

01:01:13

and saying things like,

01:01:16

which were totally understandable at that place,

01:01:19

"And you want -- you're in ministry,

01:01:20

you want to go into ministry?"

01:01:22

And understandably read the riot act

01:01:25

and was hurt and offended.

01:01:27

And then she brought it up the next day,

01:01:31

and then the next week, and then the next month.

01:01:37

And I said to her, "I'm glad

01:01:42

Jesus isn't anything like you."

01:01:47

And she understood what I meant.

01:01:51

Romans says that there is therefore now

01:01:54

no condemnation for anyone who is in Christ.

01:01:56

That means and that's because when He comes to you

01:02:01

and He enters you, and you become one with Him,

01:02:05

when you go to see Him whenever that is,

01:02:08

and maybe sooner than you think,

01:02:10

He doesn't see all of your sin.

01:02:13

He doesn't see all of your sexual slip ups.

01:02:16

He doesn't see all of your selfish.

01:02:17

He doesn't see all of your stuff.

01:02:19

He sees Jesus because He's in you.

01:02:21

He's one. He can't separate it.

01:02:23

He sees you, and He can't condemn Himself.

01:02:25

That's the good news of the grace of Jesus Christ,

01:02:28

that it's His life and not my life,

01:02:31

and my life is His life because He's in me.

01:02:33

Am I getting this? That's why --

01:02:36

Why would I want to take Jesus

01:02:38

to do something He doesn't want to do?

01:02:40

He wouldn't want to do that.

01:02:42

No one ever comes out of a masturbation session

01:02:45

going, "Whoa, man, I feel closer to God now.

01:02:47

Wow. Awesome."

01:02:49

Nobody, nobody ever has seen walking out of

01:02:53

the place where they've been living with somebody

01:02:55

for five years and say,

01:02:56

"Oh man, that really inspires me.

01:02:57

Those people have been living there for five years."

01:03:00

That doesn't doesn't inspire us.

01:03:01

Someone who's been married for 50 years,

01:03:04

that inspires us. Wow.

01:03:06

Someone actually declared it and committed to it

01:03:09

and is doing it for years and decades.

01:03:12

That's inspiring. Why is it inspiring?

01:03:15

It's because it tells us something about God.

01:03:17

We don't even know it, that's what God is to us,

01:03:21

faithful and in us and with us.

01:03:25

And Lib knew when I said that that it was

01:03:27

a breaking point, because she's experienced

01:03:29

that same grace too, and that never came up again.

01:03:33

An amazing wife of of grace because she knows

01:03:38

her God is a God of grace too.

01:03:40

He's over your stuff.

01:03:42

He doesn't care what you did last night.

01:03:43

He cares about it, but he's not going to

01:03:45

hold it over your relationship. Hold over you.

01:03:47

He understands the urges you feel,

01:03:49

whatever those urges are.

01:03:51

He's not frightened by it. He's not afraid of it.

01:03:54

He's not even defining you by it.

01:03:57

He wants to walk it through with you.

01:03:59

But He is a God of grace.

01:04:01

I'll give it to you again.

01:04:03

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger.

01:04:11

He doesn't just have love, He abounds in love.

01:04:16

Not just abounding love,

01:04:17

He abounds in steadfast love.

01:04:19

Always there, always there. Always there.

01:04:21

Thick and thin. Thick and thin he's with you.

01:04:23

Rich or poor. He's with you in sickness and in health.

01:04:26

He's with you in high times and low times,

01:04:28

poor times, impoverished times,

01:04:30

lonely times and extroverted times. He's with you.

01:04:33

He doesn't leave you whether you feel it or not.

01:04:36

He's present and He loves you.

01:04:38

And that is what inspires us

01:04:41

or should inspire us to love Him with my sex life,

01:04:45

whatever it looks like or whatever it doesn't look like.

01:04:49

He's good and He wants to be married to you.

01:04:52

We're going to sing to Him,

01:04:54

but let's pray before we do that.

01:04:56

God, You're worthy of every song we sing

01:05:00

and You're worthy of our life,

01:05:03

and You're worthy of us bending our desires

01:05:08

and our life toward You, that's what we want to do.

01:05:13

And we are living in awesome appreciation

01:05:18

of Your steadfast love as we stand against

01:05:21

our shame and turn and walk the other way.

01:05:25

We pray these things according to

01:05:26

the name of Jesus. Amen.

01:12:15

- Hey, we'd always love to connect with you

01:12:18

personally and pray for you, especially

01:12:20

if something from today's message is hitting home.

01:12:23

You can easily chat with us at crossroads.net

01:12:26

or send us an email at anywhere@crossroads.net

01:12:29

and we would love to talk with you.

01:12:32

We also want to equip you with more resources

01:12:34

to dive deeper into these topics from today,

01:12:37

and throughout the series,

01:12:38

that will help you grow spiritually.

01:12:41

So text "Thirsty" to 301301

01:12:44

to get a link of resources

01:12:46

or to check out our different articles, podcasts

01:12:49

and book recommendations in the Crossroads App.

01:12:53

Hey, one thing I want to let you know of

01:12:54

that's coming up, this October we're kicking off

01:12:58

an important series that will change

01:13:00

the future of Crossroads.

01:13:02

Everyone will need a printed guide,

01:13:04

and we will mail these to the Anywhere community

01:13:07

in the next couple of weeks.

01:13:08

So please do me a favor

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and head to crossroads.net/Anywhere

01:13:12

and let us know how many of these guides

01:13:15

you will need for the adults in your family

01:13:17

by September 1st.

01:13:19

If you live near a Crossroads building,

01:13:22

you'll grab one in person when those come up

01:13:24

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01:13:27

So seriously, head to crossroads.net/Anywhere

01:13:30

right now and sign up to receive

01:13:32

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And they are free, you just need to sign up.

01:13:37

Hey, as always, thank you for joining us

01:13:39

and we'll see you back right here next week.

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