Plan to Move | Thrive This Winter Week 3

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Winter's coming [birds chirping] cold, long, dark,

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and it's going to be amazing!

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Get yourself a shot in the arm of encouragement.

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Just survive? Hibernate?

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No way!

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God wants you to thrive this winter

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and we'll show you how.

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A new weekly series from Crossroads.

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Check it out by download the Crossroads app

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on your smart TV or crossroads.net.

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- Hey, everyone, and welcome to Crossroads Church.

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I am so glad that you're with us for week three

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of the series called Thrive this Winter.

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This series we're talking about

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not just how to survive, but to thrive.

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I'm Hannah and I'm usually here with my buddy Justin.

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- I'm here. - Okay.

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- I'm here. - With a chicken?

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- That's -- Well, yeah.

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What do people love to eat on Thanksgiving?

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- Turkey. - Chicken. I mean, seriously.

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Last week they made me wear a scarf?

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- They did.

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- This week we asked for a turkey

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and we got a little chicken.

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- Production is struggling right now.

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But -- we love our team, but here's the deal,

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there's good luck in every chicken.

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Did you know that? - No.

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- There's a wishbone. - Oh, yes.

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- Yes, right? - Chickens have wishbones, too?

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- I thought it was just turkey. - No, no, no.

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So there is a wishbone in here

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that you have to get out.

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- Me.

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- Yes. Yeah. You feel good about that?

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- I don't, no.

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- I've got a knife for you.

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So the wishbone's right here.

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And I just say --

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-We're going to do this live right now?

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- Yeah. It's only been sitting for a few hours.

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It's totally fine. It smells great.

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- Mhm. - How are you feeling?

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- So where is it?

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- It's it's hidden right like shoulder blade

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of this chicken that was alive one time but it's not now.

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- Is this the neck? Oh, my God.

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- Oh, all right.

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- Watch the knife situation.

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- Come on just break it open. Come on.

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- How does one go for this?

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- No don't delicate. No, go for it.

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All right, you seem like you're struggling with this.

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- Very much. Yes.

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- A little bit. You seem a little squeamish.

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- Yeah. - So we're going to move on

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to see what Brian has to say about planning.

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And we'll get back to this little later

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- Okay.

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- Hey, welcome to Crossroads.

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My name is Brian.

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I want to help you today thrive this winter.

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Who wants to thrive this winter,

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not only just this winter, but on into the future?

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If you want to thrive this winter,

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you've got to learn to plan.

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It's got to be important to you.

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I hear some of us going, "Oh, planning?

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Oh, I like to plan. I like to plan.

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I bet he's going to talk about

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people don't plan to fail, they just fail to plan."

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No, I'm not talking about that.

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There's some truth to that.

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I actually think that our culture

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has become consumed with plans

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and it's paralyzed us from actually doing things

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and it's going to paralyze us

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from doing anything to actually thrive this winter.

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The Book of Proverbs 16:3, it says:

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Plans only mean as much as you work.

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It's when we work the thing that we planned on

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is when we thrive.

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It's been said by a number of people,

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including a song by Trace Adkins,

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if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

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I think the original is an old Yiddish proverb

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that says We plan, God laughs.

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This is true.

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There is an unpredictability to our lives

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that our plans can't accommodate.

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Who would have ever thought

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we would have dealt with the things

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in 2020 that we're dealing with?

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Any plans we had they're just (sound effect),

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they're upended. It's like 52 pick up.

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I find it fascinating that I'm the guy

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talking about plans because

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I've seen God up end my life again and again and again.

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I do make plans.

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I've been able to do some really cool things.

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And yet historically I've been an awful planner.

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I just had last night,

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it's a recurring nightmare for me,

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things around college.

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It took me 7 years to get my 4 year degree,

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in large part because I was an awful planner.

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Awful at planning what course I should take.

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Awful at planning how I should study.

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And so my nightmare is that the college contacts me

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and I have to go back and complete my degree

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and take another test that I didn't plan very well for.

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It's it happens all the time.

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It's terrifying to me.

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When I was in college, I used to do work

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with students in junior high and high school,

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and I did that as well when I finished college.

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And when I would go and give talks

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or give Bible studies, I would always show up

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having not planned what I was going to say.

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And I would go, "Okay, everybody,"

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I would play Bible roulette.

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I would say, "Take out your Bibles,

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we're going to look today at Ezekiel 32:13.

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That's what we're going to look at today.

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It says this: They shall bring to ruin the pride..."

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And I would just make stuff up.

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I would hate to go back and hear

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the awful things I taught that

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were probably dead wrong

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because I didn't prepare, I didn't plan.

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Even today, one of the things in my family is that

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I'm last minute in planning for family vacations.

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Everyone's got to have their stuff together

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for their events.

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I'm more of a spontaneous guy,

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and yet I know how to plan well enough

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to get me to work things.

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It doesn't matter what you plan,

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it matters the work that's coming out of the plan.

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But the plan is critical this winter.

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What we're going to talk about is

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the kind of plan where thoughts and ideas

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do not substitute for actions.

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It's spiritual formation.

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It's what happens when we take our thoughts,

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our beliefs, and we transfer it into actions.

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A lot of people have a lot of beliefs about God.

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A lot of people have a lot of ideas about God.

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A lot of people love to think about theology

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and think about all kinds of stuff.

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That's fine. Have your beliefs,

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have your thoughts, have your theology,

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all that's important, but just understand

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until you work on that plan,

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until you put it into action, it's lifeless.

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I want today for some of you to up the ante in your life.

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I want today to up your game

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in terms of your spiritual formation.

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I want today to help you not just see

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your plans are critical with your business

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or with your family or with your workout regimen.

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But I want you to see that there is a place

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to go with you or God where you have got

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to connect your plans and your work.

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When I go on a bike trip, I cast a wide net

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to a bunch of guys who rides and say,

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"Hey, how about we go to this place?"

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And all of a sudden the text thread lights up,

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guys are like, "Oh, yeah, that'd be great."

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And then while we're planning,

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getting the dates and all that stuff,

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there comes a line in the sand where

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you have to buy your plane ticket

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or you have to give your money

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to the guy who's driving the pickup truck,

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who's pulling the trailers,

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and you've got to give him jack.

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And at that point, the people who love planning,

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many of the people love planning, just don't do it.

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And then what happens then is

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there's then a new text thread

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for people who actually are in

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because they're going to actually do it.

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There's a lot of people

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who are into talking about Jesus

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and talking about the kingdom of God

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or into talking about who God is.

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When it comes down to putting your life on the line

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are just not willing to follow through on their plans.

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We're going to look at this

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a number of different ways.

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In one of Jesus classic teachings

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in the Book of Luke, Chapter 14, here's what it says:

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Here we see Jesus talk about somebody

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who just starts working about something,

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but he hasn't planned accordingly.

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He hasn't set in his mind the right steps.

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And why would he plan?

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He would plan because he wants to build something.

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Today I want to help you to build your life

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and build your walk with God.

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- OH!

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Well, Brian has some really amazing things

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to say about planning.

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And I really liked that when you go in with a plan,

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you can accomplish something.

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But it's not what I did here.

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I actually didn't have a plan and so,

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I don't know that I would say I was successful.

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- You tried, I'm proud of you.

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- So much so, this is how my planning went,

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because I didn't plan.

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I did find a wishbone, but I broke it.

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So does that mean I'm going to have bad luck?

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- No, no, it's double. That's what it means.

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So, 2020, your year, it's looking up.

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It's going to be a strong ending.

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- Good. That's good.

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- Brian's had some great things

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to say to us about planning.

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One of the places I use planning the most in my life

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is with this spiritual discipline of tithing.

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I set a plan and then I put it into action.

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So if it's the same for you

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or if you'd like to join us in helping us

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spread this message of Jesus and hope

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you can do that with us at Crossroads.net/give.

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- Let's catch back up with Brian

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and see what he has to say about

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how planning is actually just the first step.

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- In order for us to build something,

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specifically and especially a great life,

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we're going to have to have the right plans.

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I am in a planning center extraordinaire right now.

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It's an architectural office, Platt Designs.

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If you want to get something really cool planned out

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to build, this is the place for you to come.

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I love -- I feel the energy in here because

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I've done a lot of building stuff in my life before.,

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whether houses we build or I built

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or buildings that Crossroads has been a part of,

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there's got to be ample time

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in a place like this where you're doing the plans.

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But there's also a sense where

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you can get so extreme in the plans that it's like,

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"Okay, we've got to break ground now.

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We've got to go now."

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God wants us to plan, but He wants us to build.

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It's been noticed that the millennial generation

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are some of the most anal planners

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in the history of American culture.

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Many millennials have their very hour

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boiled down to this exactly what I need to do

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this minute and this hour.

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There's a whole structure of things you can buy for that.

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And there's a stress that comes with many millennials

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so concerned about the futures

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and planning helps some of them feel

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like they have a sense of control.

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One person commenting on this says:

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There may be pressure to it,

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but we just have to live it.

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And we can't -- we can't see around every corner

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and there's going to be things

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that are going to pop up that

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we're going to have no idea how to deal with.

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That's why in a building project,

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there's always what's known as a contingency fund.

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You set aside money that you're planning to use

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that you can't even foresee

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what you're planning to use it for because,

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you know uncertainty is right around the corner.

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But you have to start building

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and you can't wrestle down every scenario.

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You've got to just put something in your budget.

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I am right now in the midst of deep, deep planning,

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and I'm laying things out to plan right now

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for an elk hung.

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Now I can hear the eyeballs rolling,

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some people going, "Oh, my God, here goes Brian

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talking about his latest adventure, talking --"

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Yeah, yeah, yes, I am. Yes, yes, yes.

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I am just talking about some of the things I know

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and trying to help you do the things that you know

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or the things that God wants you to do.

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Way, way back when I've always thought,

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man, it would be amazing to go on an elk hunt,

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these huge majestic creatures

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and be able to bag one of those suckers

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and feed my family on that meat for months

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and months and months and months,

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hundreds of pounds of meat.

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That would be amazing.

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But I always thought that I just couldn't do it

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because I couldn't get a tag.

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That's the permission to get an elk license.

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Because in Ohio, where I live, guess what?

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There's not a lot of elk in Ohio, there's not.

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So you've got to apply for a license

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or a tag in another state.

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And there's out of state residents,

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out-of-state requirements, it costs more money,

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it's hard to get, all that stuff.

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And it's very expensive, so I thought,

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because you have to hire some guy,

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you have to go to some property,

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pay thousands and thousands of dollars.

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And I found out that, no,

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you can actually go to Colorado

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and you can buy a tag over the counter.

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I started researching.

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I started planning and, "Oh, my gosh,

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that's exactly what it's like."

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Now, some of you are going,

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"Oh, must be nice to be you.

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I like to go elk hunting but,

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you know I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth."

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I'm not either and I don't have one right now either.

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You know what you could do,

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if you wanted to go elk hunting, just as an example.

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You could plan for it.

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It would take you $3-4 a day, for a year,

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plan out $3-4 a day.

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That would cover your gas,

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that would cover your tag,

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that would cover some of your gear.

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You can do things.

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You can build things right now if you want to,

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but you're going to have to sacrifice

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something like maybe your Starbucks habit every day,

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maybe fewer streaming platforms, whatever it is.

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That's what Jesus says.

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He says you count the cost before you build.

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Are you counting the cost?

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There's possibilities you could build,

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but you have to plan.

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You have to count the cost.

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I've gotten deep in the weeds.

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It's actually been very, very fun.

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I've told you I have

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some planning deficiencies in my background.

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I've actually gotten okay with it and I enjoy it.

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So I had to figure out what is the right gun

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that I need to take out?

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What's the right rifle?

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What is the right ammunition?

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I chose a gun and the ammunition,

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for those who are hunting geeks,

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I chose the most versatile all round ammo,

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.300 Win. Mag. is what I've chosen.

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And part of how I'm able to do it so relatively cheaply,

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I'll probably be more like a budget

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of $2 a day over a year

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because we're not staying in hotels or anything.

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I'm taking the backpack I use,

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I've got a dust that thing off.

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I generally don't backpack,

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but I'll take a backpack to use my stuff

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heading out into the wilderness,

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going to be doing hiking,

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miles and miles of hiking every day.

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Adequate water goes in the backpack.

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Very, very critical.

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Needing that backpack as well, because

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if I happen to get an elk,

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I'm going to have to take multiple trips

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hauling out a lot of weight of meat.

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To find that sucker, to find it I had to have optics.

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I had this already.

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And I'll have to sit in the side of a hillside

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just what's known as glassing,

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just glassing to see if I can find where an elk is.

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Oh, I see one.

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And then figuring out, planning out,

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I'm going to have to take this route

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so he doesn't see me.

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Where is the wind coming,

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so he doesn't get a whiff of my odor?

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These are all part of the plans.

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What am I going to be wearing.

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Something that causes me to be a bit camouflaged,

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yet I've got to have 500 square inches

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of hunter's orange as per Colorado regulations.

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And by the way, where we have base camp,

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it may snow up in the mountains

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and I'm going to have to get chains for my tires,

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four of them, because I have four wheel drive,

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because if you get stuck in the mountains

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in the midst of snow, no one's coming to get you.

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And let's just hope just maybe, maybe,

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just maybe, maybe we get one.

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And I've got to have something to carve it up

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to butcher on the spot those elk.

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You're like, "You're carving yourself?"

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Yes, yes, all that.

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But you have to plan, you have to prepare for this.

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Now, this is something that I'm doing.

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You can just see that level of planning.

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If I get an elk, if I get one,

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it's only because of all of these plans

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and all that much more.

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If you want to get something in your life,

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if you want to conquer something in your life,

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and I hope you do and I hope you know what it is,

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you're going to have to plan.

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Now, as Jesus talks about building things, He says,

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"Let me make sure you understand the metaphor."

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He switches immediately from a building metaphor

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to a war metaphor. He says this:

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Jesus says, "Let me make sure you understand this.

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I'm going to give you a building metaphor.

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Let's do a war metaphor."

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There is a importance to counting,

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whether it's $4 a day,

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whether it's your contingency aspect of your budget,

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or whether it's the number of people

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you have to deploy into battle, you count.

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And if you see somebody has more guys than you,

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you're likely going to lose

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and you likely need to change your plans.

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Counting is a critical aspect of planning.

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Mike Tyson had a famous quote

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just before he was going into the ring

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he had a press conference

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and some of the press conference said,

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"Hey, I understand, Champ,

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that this guy says he has a plan for you."

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And he says, "Well, everyone has a plan,

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until they get punched in the mouth."

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Actually, the way he said it was,

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[high voice] "Everyone has a plan

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until they get punched in the mouth."

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Never has there been a more manly man

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with a more confusing cadence.

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Mike Tyson, if you're watching right now,

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please do not be offended.

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I do not want to be pounded into applesauce by you,

00:19:05

So I'm just using it as an illustration. Sorry.

00:19:08

So let's use a literal battle quote, if we could.

00:19:11

Dwight D. Eisenhower, the commander of

00:19:13

the armed forces during World War II

00:19:15

and also a US president, he says:

00:19:27

What does he mean by this?

00:19:28

He means that while we may be counting

00:19:31

the troops that we have and we may be planning

00:19:34

where to put our offensives onto the beachhead,

00:19:37

things go wrong.

00:19:39

That's why you need contingency funds.

00:19:41

Things go wrong, or as the military knows it as

00:19:44

it's known as the fog of war.

00:19:46

When you get into war,

00:19:48

there are confusing things that pop up

00:19:50

and all of a sudden everything has changed.

00:19:51

But if you didn't have the plans ahead of time,

00:19:54

you wouldn't have the flexibility

00:19:56

to make the possible changes that you could.

00:20:00

It can be very stressful when someone

00:20:02

comes into this part of this architectural office

00:20:05

to figure out exactly what textures

00:20:10

and what colors to put into their rooms.

00:20:14

What kind of coverings?

00:20:15

What kind of stuff should go onto the windows?

00:20:20

What kind of stuff should go over the couches?

00:20:25

What about the tile that ought to be on the bathroom?

00:20:31

What about the really cool stuff.

00:20:34

Like I don't know what you would do with this,

00:20:36

but this is just cool. Oh so smooth. So nice.

00:20:41

I could totally geek out at all of the finishes.

00:20:44

Some people get stressed out by this,

00:20:46

some people really geek out on it.

00:20:48

It's really critical to make your plans in here.

00:20:51

But here's the thing, at some point,

00:20:54

you actually have to build,

00:20:56

at some point you actually have to go to war

00:20:59

or whatever your planning is,

00:21:00

at some point you have to actually apply for the job.

00:21:03

At some point you have to actually ask her out.

00:21:07

At some point you have to actually

00:21:09

file the paperwork and start your LLC.

00:21:12

At some point you have to actually

00:21:14

put your shingle out

00:21:15

and announce yourself as a new business.

00:21:18

At some point you have to actually have sex

00:21:21

if you want to have a child.

00:21:23

Hopefully that's not surprising to you.

00:21:25

At some point you've got to do the thing

00:21:28

and not just plan the thing.

00:21:29

Now, I'm going to make a switch here. You ready?

00:21:31

So far, the spiritual content is real,

00:21:35

but it's kind of lower shelf, "Oh, planning.

00:21:38

I need to have it, okay."

00:21:39

Okay. Here's what Jesus is saying.

00:21:41

He's not really primarily concerned

00:21:43

about you building a house.

00:21:45

He's not trying to give insight to commanders of armies,

00:21:51

He's drawing on the physical

00:21:54

to help us to understand the spiritual.

00:21:56

That's what I've been doing this whole time.

00:21:58

The physical process of planning and doing elk,

00:22:01

the physical process of planning

00:22:03

and building a building,

00:22:04

the physical process of having a life goal

00:22:07

of running for office and actually run.

00:22:09

All that's -- all that's important.

00:22:11

But here's the thing that it all builds to:

00:22:14

How are you building your life spiritually?

00:22:19

Where are you going spiritually?

00:22:23

What are you not just planning to do spiritually,

00:22:26

but what are you doing spiritually?

00:22:28

Some of us are in perpetual seeking mode.

00:22:31

We're always looking for some new insight,

00:22:34

some new theological angle, some new person

00:22:37

who's going to make us feel spiritual,

00:22:40

Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Jesus, whatever it takes.

00:22:44

Something that'll just make me feel spiritual.

00:22:47

"Oh, Dalai Lama -- oh!

00:22:48

But then he said -- Oh, I didn't know that."

00:22:51

And I think a part of that's fine.

00:22:52

Dalai Lama seemed like a great guy

00:22:54

and said some great things.

00:22:56

Gandhi set out a trajectory

00:22:58

for how to get authority's attention that is

00:23:02

incredibly helpful, healthy, and very wonderful.

00:23:05

But as I talk about Jesus,

00:23:06

I want to be really, really clear,

00:23:08

Jesus is not interested in us getting more spiritual.

00:23:11

He's not interested in us getting more enlightened.

00:23:13

He's interested in us building our life on Him.

00:23:17

He's interested and us saying to Him,

00:23:21

"You are the fight I'm willing to fight."

00:23:23

He's interested in us saying to Him,

00:23:25

"You are the one I'm going to build my life on."

00:23:29

So as he talks about buildings and wars

00:23:32

His big closing statement is:

00:23:47

Any of you that cannot take your plans for your life

00:23:52

and give them to Me, you cannot be My disciple.

00:23:57

Jesus is not interested

00:23:59

in giving us more spiritual thoughts.

00:24:02

He's interested in us adhering to Him

00:24:06

and us grabbing Him and us following Him

00:24:10

and us fighting alongside of Him and behind Him.

00:24:15

Jesus isn't interested in

00:24:17

us believing the right things.

00:24:20

He's not interested in us talking the right things.

00:24:23

He's not interested in us planning

00:24:25

to someday get serious with Him.

00:24:28

No, He wants us to shut our mind, shut our mouth,

00:24:33

shut ourselves on Him, and to finish.

00:24:38

The reason why we plan is because we want

00:24:41

to build something and we want to finish it.

00:24:42

The reason why we plan is we want to go to war,

00:24:44

we want to actually win it.

00:24:46

And the reason we seek spiritually is because

00:24:49

we want to find the one who is

00:24:51

and who has always been known as a power

00:24:54

and a transcendence that surpasses any other person,

00:24:58

any other world view, any other philosophy.

00:25:01

Friends, at some point you have to stop

00:25:04

thinking about things and you start to do things.

00:25:08

Maybe this is the day

00:25:10

where you actually embrace Christ,

00:25:12

where you give your life to Him.

00:25:14

Right now, you can say it right now,

00:25:15

I want to do right now, right now you're going to say,

00:25:17

"Hey, Jesus, right now, Jesus,

00:25:19

I want to give You my life."

00:25:20

Just say it, "Jesus, I want to give You my life.

00:25:24

I want You inside of my spirit.

00:25:29

Forgive me for my willy-nilliness, my sins.

00:25:35

Fill me with Your Spirit.

00:25:38

As best as I can, I will build my life on You.

00:25:42

I will fight for You and with You.

00:25:45

I will go a different trajectory in my life."

00:25:49

When you say that and when you do that,

00:25:51

you go from planning to building.

00:25:55

Now it's important to understand as we talk about

00:25:59

the things we're doing

00:26:01

and the things that we're building,

00:26:03

we can't control our life.

00:26:06

As much as we would like to, we can't.

00:26:08

And that's part of what gets many of us

00:26:10

hung up with our plans is we think that

00:26:12

our plans are a way to control our life.

00:26:15

And they're not, you just can't control your life.

00:26:18

I don't care what plans you had in 2020,

00:26:20

they didn't happen, did they? Most of them.

00:26:23

I don't care what philosophy you had in 2020,

00:26:25

it just didn't quite work out that way, did it?

00:26:28

There's another book in the New Testament,

00:26:30

The Book of James and it's believed that

00:26:33

Jesus's brother actually wrote it.

00:26:37

They had a lot of commonalities

00:26:38

and they had a lot of shared experiences

00:26:41

when they were younger.

00:26:42

In James 4:13 it says this:

00:27:23

When we know the right thing to do,

00:27:25

when we're planning on doing the right thing,

00:27:28

that's wonderful, but we have to do it.

00:27:32

And when we set these plans up,

00:27:36

we can't control our future, we can't control 2021.

00:27:41

God could bring another pandemic,

00:27:42

sorry to depress you. I hope not.

00:27:44

God could bring more killer hornets

00:27:46

or whatever the heck those things.

00:27:47

He could bring more stuff that we're not willing.

00:27:50

So I got -- I have to hold my plans loosely.

00:27:53

I've got to hold my plans loosely,

00:27:54

but I have to have something to hold.

00:27:57

I've got to have something to hold.

00:27:59

But I realize there could be an X factor

00:28:01

of something changing in these plans

00:28:03

that they just evaporate. Right?

00:28:04

You have all your plans

00:28:06

and you get a medical diagnosis and it evaporates.

00:28:09

You have all these plans and all of a sudden

00:28:11

the economy tanks and it evaporates.

00:28:14

You have all these plans, all of a sudden

00:28:16

you find that you have infertility

00:28:18

and those plans, at least for that year,

00:28:20

may vanish, at least for a temporary season.

00:28:23

Friends, 2021 is right around the corner.

00:28:28

It is coming up.

00:28:31

We need to decide right now during this winter of 2020,

00:28:36

what do we want 2021 to look like?

00:28:38

What do we want our future to look like?

00:28:40

And instead of on the morning of January 1st going,

00:28:44

"Oh, I need to have some resolutions for the year,"

00:28:46

which often times don't get followed through on

00:28:49

because we haven't counted the cost.

00:28:51

We need to right now be thinking about

00:28:53

what are the things that I want to build

00:28:56

spiritually, emotionally, intellectually,

00:29:00

physically, occupationally, all kinds of -ally words.

00:29:05

What are the things you want to do?

00:29:07

And here's my advice. Here's my advice.

00:29:09

My advice is find one area and go after that area.

00:29:16

This is this is all the planning.

00:29:18

I'm not planning much of anything else.

00:29:20

This is all I've been planning right now

00:29:21

and I've been focused on that.

00:29:23

You're probably not going to be able

00:29:24

to be better read, more relationally connected,

00:29:28

more physically fit, more biblically literate,

00:29:31

more emotionally solid.

00:29:34

You probably are not going be able to do

00:29:35

all the things that you want to do.

00:29:37

What is an area you want to plan around and go after?

00:29:41

And there's no need waiting for 2021.

00:29:43

In fact as you're doing your plans,

00:29:47

just start with something, start building.

00:29:50

If it's physical fitness, just start something.

00:29:54

What would it be?

00:29:55

I don't know. You choose, you plan.

00:29:57

Eliminating carbs?

00:29:59

A 20 minute walk a day?

00:30:02

Push ups at commercial time?

00:30:04

Start, start building.

00:30:08

If you want to get ahead financially,

00:30:09

you want more resources,

00:30:12

okay, right now, start right now.

00:30:13

What is that?

00:30:14

Networking with some folks?

00:30:16

Is that what it is?

00:30:17

Is it taking a budgeting workshop to be able

00:30:21

to control the money that God is blessing you with?

00:30:25

Is it applying for some different job?

00:30:28

Just start right now. Start now.

00:30:30

If spiritually you want to feel closer with God,

00:30:32

what is it?

00:30:33

One of the things probably is

00:30:35

I need to actually know what His Words are.

00:30:37

He planned on me knowing Him, and He knew

00:30:40

that I needed to understand His Word and His heart.

00:30:42

So right now, you just start reading this

00:30:45

or reading your Crossroads app or whatever.

00:30:47

Friends, don't let your life pass you by.

00:30:50

Don't do it. Don't do it.

00:30:52

Don't be one of the ones who are deluded

00:30:54

thinking you can just think about good things

00:30:56

and your life can go forward.

00:30:57

It doesn't work that way.

00:30:58

Don't be one of the people just think,

00:30:59

"Well, I'm just planning, but someday..."

00:31:01

No, when you can hunt elk, hunt elk.

00:31:04

When you can ask someone to marry you,

00:31:05

ask them to marry you.

00:31:07

When you can start a business, start a business.

00:31:10

Plan about it, but work about it because

00:31:15

the real fruit comes is when you finish about it.

00:31:19

Let me pray for you right now.

00:31:21

God, I'm thankful that You're a God

00:31:24

that pushes us beyond and You're also so practical.

00:31:28

God, You know that we need to plan

00:31:31

and not just run off all willy-nilly.

00:31:33

And I thank You for the model of Jesus and I thank You

00:31:35

that He is one who finished His life well.

00:31:38

He built it and He finished it

00:31:41

and He counsels us how to do that.

00:31:44

I pray, God, that there would be a time

00:31:46

when 2022 comes and there will be people who say,

00:31:50

"I remember that talk that Jesus gave

00:31:54

about building things and wars and elk.

00:31:58

I remember something said there,

00:31:59

but that started something new for me.

00:32:03

It started me building something

00:32:04

that actually got finished."

00:32:06

God, would You bless all who are on that path

00:32:11

and keep the sun

00:32:13

from evaporating the mist of our life.

00:32:15

I pray this things according to Your name, Jesus. Amen.

00:32:26

- Man, I needed to hear that, Justin.

00:32:27

I know that I have plans that I like,

00:32:30

but I need to put them before God.

00:32:32

I need to give them to Him. - That's right.

00:32:33

One of the places for me

00:32:35

where I put them before God is using worship,

00:32:38

times of singing, prayers to melodies,

00:32:41

I get to lay my plans before Him,

00:32:42

submit them to Him.

00:32:43

And Scripture tells us over and over again

00:32:46

that God is for you, He's with you.

00:32:49

Proverbs 16:3 says: Commit your work to the Lord

00:32:52

and your plans will succeed.

00:32:53

We have a Good Father and a Good King

00:32:56

that we can bring our plans before

00:32:58

and lay them down before Him

00:32:59

and trust Him fully in that.

00:33:00

So that's what we're going to do

00:33:01

with these songs right now.

00:42:33

- Man, I've had a great time learning here today

00:42:35

and growing in my understanding of planning.

00:42:38

And if you want to know what's next,

00:42:40

if you don't want to miss anything,

00:42:42

you can text the word "NEXT" to 313131

00:42:45

to stay updated on the next episode.

00:42:48

- Let's be honest, you and I

00:42:49

have two options for this winter:

00:42:52

We can either isolate, hibernate, hunker down,

00:42:55

or we can make a plan and grow in it.

00:42:58

And you can do that best with other people around you.

00:43:01

So don't isolate, step into community, find your people,

00:43:04

find your group at Crossroads.net/give groups.

00:43:06

- You know, Justin,

00:43:07

Christmas is right around the corner.

00:43:09

- Come on. - It is. It's coming.

00:43:10

And whether you're new here

00:43:11

or have been around for a long time,

00:43:13

here at Crossroads we do something

00:43:15

called the Christmas Gift Drive.

00:43:17

And that's just where we get physical gifts

00:43:18

to children to remind them

00:43:20

how much their heavenly father loves them.

00:43:22

If you're interested or want to know more,

00:43:24

you can go to Crossroads.net/CGD.

00:43:28

- So glad you were with us today.

00:43:30

We'll see you back here next time

00:43:32

for our new series called Christmas Time 2020.

00:43:36

[Cuckoo clock]

00:43:38

- Is Christmas cancelled this year?

00:43:39

- Does Santa have to wear a mask?

00:43:40

- Does Santa have COVID?

00:43:42

- Am I still going to get presents?

00:43:44

- This year's a little cuckoo.

00:43:45

The good news, Christmas is coming.

00:43:48

A season of hope and light.

00:43:49

It might just be exactly what this weary world needs most.

00:43:54

Christmas Time 2020, a new weekly series from Crossroads.

00:43:57

- Are we still having Christmas?

00:43:59

- Heck, yeah, we are, kid.

00:44:01

Check out the Crossroads app on your smart TV

00:44:03

or go to Crossroads.net/Christmas.

00:44:04

[cuckoo clock]

	Planning To Thrive 📖	2:42
	How To Build A Great Plan🏗	10:14
	Worship: The Fathers House	33:04
	Worship: Faithful	37:37

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