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- I'm Brian Tome, Senior
Pastor at Crossroads.
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Happy Easter. It's great
to be with you today.
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I am in a desert.
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This might be a bit
what you feel like.
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If we've ever needed
Easter, we need it now.
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Some of us are
dry, we're worn out.
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We want to encourage you.
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We want to give
you a sense of hope.
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We've got some
good teaching for you.
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00:00:18
We've got great music.
We've got a lot of creativity.
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00:00:20
So let's get going.
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- Easter is a radical
story of rescue,
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more meaningful today than ever.
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The past year has felt
like a storm in the desert.
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It tried to break you.
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Isolation, loss, fear, a
future out of your control.
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Sometimes it felt like
you would not survive.
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But one man weathered the storm.
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One man suffered its
wrath for you and beat death.
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Easter is the promise of
that power now living in you,
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the power to survive the storm,
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the power to be unbreakable.
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I've been tested
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But not like you have
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Yet at every temptation
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You never gave in
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I've been broken
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But not like you were
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You laid in a grave still
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Three days later walked out
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All that I may face
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You've already seen
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You're my Red Sea parted
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The walls I've built, fallen
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Prison doors opened
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Bright light in the darkness
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My home when I've wandered
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A well in my desert
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No matter what comes
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You're my rock, my salvation
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Unbreakable
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With you I'm safe to
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Give up control
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Cause you're my strength when
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I have no strength at all
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You conquered every grave
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That might stand in my way
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You're my Red Sea parted
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The walls I've built, fallen
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Prison doors opened
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Bright light in the darkness
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My home when I've wandered
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A well in my desert
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No matter what comes
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You're my rock, my salvation
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Unbreakable
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You're my Red Sea parted
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The walls I've built, fallen
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Prison doors opened
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Bright light in the darkness
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My home when I've wandered
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A well in my desert
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No matter what comes
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You're my rock, my salvation
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Unbreakable
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- The idea of being
unbreakable is so appealing,
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but how do you get there,
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how do you thrive in the desert?
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It starts by finding
a new power source,
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the power that Jesus
offers us through Easter.
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- I'm in a desert right now
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Deserts are difficult,
dry, harsh terrain.
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I want to talk to those of
us who might feel today
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like I'm in a desert,
I'm in a difficult spot.
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There's a harshness to life.
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There's a dryness to life.
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Easter is about meeting
us in those difficult positions,
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enabling us to keep going
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and come out better
on the other side.
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Jesus had all kinds
of desserts in His life.
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It was a difficult life He led.
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At the end of His life,
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that ends in an
excruciating way,
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He is crucified,
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which is where we get
the word for excruciating,
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because it's the most
painful invention of death
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that humans have ever invented.
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After that desert on a cross,
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we'll talk about
it a little bit,
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He's put into a tomb.
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It's a dark place.
It's a desert of sorts.
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And then three days later,
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He literally, physically
and historically
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comes back from the dead.
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The Book of Romans
8:11 says this:
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That verse says
there was a power
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that enabled Jesus
to be unbreakable
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and that power that
brought Him back to life,
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that same power,
that same spirit
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can actually dwell in you and I
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and not only enable
us to be unbreakable,
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to actually thrive
and go to a new place.
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The Bible is full of
deserts where people
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are forced to learn that
they actually are unbreakable.
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We saw a week or so ago,
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if you were in a
previous series,
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that Moses was in
a desert for 40 years
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waiting to hear the call of God.
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He was unbreakable.
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We also learned that
the nation of Israel
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went a 40 year period
through the desert
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waiting for their next era.
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Jesus had a period in
the desert for 40 days
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before all the amazing
stuff that's recorded
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about Him happens, before
all the amazing teachings,
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all the amazing miracles,
He first goes through a desert.
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Remember, when you're in
the desert, you can do this.
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You have the ability
to stay where you are
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and not be moved and
not be turned into dust.
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Remember that there
is a different thing
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on the other side and
that the same Spirit
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that did that in Jesus
can do that inside of you.
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I want to help you
today, but I also want
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to help you by not blowing
bubbles up your butt.
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I mean, I know as preachers
we like doing that, right?
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We like just telling you
that everything is good.
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Let's ignore all the bad stuff.
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Let's be happy, happy,
happy, happy, happy.
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Christians have a
real hard time with this.
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We don't like difficulty.
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We don't have a
theology of difficulty.
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We always want to
get the nice, happy bow.
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We want to make us believe that
everything is going to be okay.
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It's one of the
reasons why I generally
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don't like Christian
movies at all.
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It's like 90 minutes
of desert and difficult,
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then, oh, it's all solved now.
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Oh, nice little bow,
everything's good.
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Accept Jesus and your life
is always great all the time.
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It doesn't work that way.
It doesn't work that way.
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Sometimes there's no
pretty bow on the end of it,
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at least not for a
long period of time.
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And you've got to know this
because I know you can do this.
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You can, you can be unbreakable.
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You can keep going.
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Don't keep wondering
when it's all going to end
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so much as wondering,
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"God, what are you
doing in me right now?"
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One of the greatest
Christian thinkers
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of the 20th century, C.S. Lewis.
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And he said this:
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I don't want to cut
down your problems
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and minimize your problems.
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I want to bring you some
fresh water in the desert
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in which you're in right now.
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Some of us are a
desert of poverty.
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Some of us are in a
desert of separation,
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a desert of loneliness,
a desert of divorce,
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a desert of chemical dependency,
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a desert of bankruptcy,
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a desert of just confusion
over what my future is like.
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You're in the desert,
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suck everything
out of it that you can.
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You can do this.
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God has created you
to be unbreakable.
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And with His Spirit,
you can do things
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that you never
thought that you could.
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I know that there's
somebody else like you
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on the planet right
now that's making it
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and you can make it.
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History is littered
with spiritual greats
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who are spiritual greats
because of the desert
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that they were in.
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The stats are telling us right
now that we're in a desert.
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Mental illness is skyrocketing,
suicide is skyrocketing,
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depression is skyrocketing.
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I ran across one
study that talks about
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how younger folks are
especially vulnerable
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and likely in a
desert right now.
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The study says this:
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So says the Scientific American.
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Now, are younger people
weaker than older people?
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No, no, but why are
younger people tending
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to have more desert
like situations right now?
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It's because the
younger you are,
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the less you've
been hit in the mouth.
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The younger you are, the
less you've been fortified
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and actually learned
that you are unbreakable,
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that the same Spirit
that brought life to Jesus
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can bring life to you.
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But you'd only learn that
when you go through a desert
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and you learn to hang
on and you learn that
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I can do this and you
learn that God is greater
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than all of my weaknesses.
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And as you go through
deserts, you grow in confidence
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because you've seen what
God's done in your past
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and you say, "I'm
going to take this one.
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I don't like it, but
I'm going to take it."
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People like you
have not just survived,
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but they've actually thrived.
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- Throughout history,
God's chosen people, Israel
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faced unimaginable hardship
as they fought to survive.
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They longed for a Savior.
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They were enslaved by Egypt,
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and God promised
He would rescue them,
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that soon He would
send the Messiah.
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But they grew
restless and impatient.
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They despaired that God
would keep His promise.
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God felt far away.
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His people feared
He had forgotten them.
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God saw their suffering
so He sent a messenger.
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He called Moses as a
prophet to remind His beloved
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of His promise to rescue them
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and to lead them to
the Promised Land.
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He filled Moses with Ruaha,
the very breath of God,
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and Moses went to Israel
with God's words in his mouth
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and songs of rescue on his lips.
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I am an instrument,
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I am an instrument,
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I am an instrument of peace
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I am a messenger,
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voice in the wilderness,
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I am a mouth piece
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Prepare ye the way,
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prepare ye the way,
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prepare ye the way for the Lord.
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Prepare ye the way,
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prepare ye the way,
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prepare ye the way for the Lord.
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Comfort ooo comfort
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oh take comfort
my love, my comfort.
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(Hallelujah)
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Comfort ooo comfort
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oh take comfort
my love, my comfort.
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(Hallelujah)
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The war you've been
fighting will soon be over
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Prepare ye the way,
the way for the Lord
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(Hallelujah)
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The road rises up,
high in the desert,
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you'll wander no more,
no more, no more
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Prepare ye the
way, the way for Lord
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Prepare ye the
way, the way for Lord
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And he shall reign
forever and ever
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Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
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And he shall reign
forever and ever
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Hallelujah
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Comfort ooo comfort
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oh take comfort
my love, my comfort.
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And he shall reign
forever and ever
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Comfort ooo comfort
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(Hallelujah)
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oh take comfort
my love, my comfort.
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And he shall reign
forever and ever
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Prepare ye the way,
Prepare ye the way,
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Prepare ye the way of the Lord
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(vocalizing)
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Prepare ye the way,
Prepare ye the way,
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Prepare
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No matter how desperate
the night has become,
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the rescue is coming
as sure as the dawn.
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No matter how desperate
the night has become,
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the rescue is coming
as sure as the dawn.
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00:15:29
No matter how desperate
the night has become,
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00:15:36
the rescue is coming
as sure as the dawn.
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00:15:42
No matter how desperate
the night has become,
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the rescue is coming
as sure as the dawn.
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(Hallelujah)
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Prepare ye the way,
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Prepare ye the way,
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Prepare ye the way of the Lord
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Prepare ye the way,
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Prepare ye the way,
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Prepare ye the way of the Lord
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- Wow, after seeing
something like that,
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you have to ask yourself,
What am I watching?"
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- Oh, my gosh, yes.
- Is this real life?
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- Absolutely. You know what?
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I'm here to tell you
that this is real life.
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This is a church and
you can be a part of it.
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- Hey, my name is Kyle.
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I'm the community pastor
for Crossroads Church online.
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It's my job to take that
thing you just watched
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00:16:51
and show you how
you can be a part of it.
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- That's right. And
my name's Hannah
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and I'm a part of
the team that makes
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all of this stuff that
you're experiencing today.
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- And this is Crossroads Church.
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It's an online community
that you can be
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a full part of no
matter where you live.
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- And that starts with watching
the weekly online message.
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That message is
there for you to get
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00:17:10
weekly inspiration, weekly hope,
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weekly truth, weekly
encouragement.
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And throughout the week,
there are different ways
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for us to connect
anywhere as well.
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- That's step one,
but don't stop there.
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There's a step two.
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00:17:23
There is so much more for you
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than just an inspiring,
helpful episode every week,
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there's an entire community,
experiences, connections,
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and more helpful
content that you can
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00:17:35
have access to
throughout your week.
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You can get everything
just by signing up
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for our weekly newsletter.
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00:17:42
If you are in the
desert right now,
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00:17:44
you need to know
that you're not alone.
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00:17:47
Jesus isn't just powerful,
He wants to meet you
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00:17:50
in your hard times and
take you to a new place,
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00:17:53
just like He's done
for so many people.
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- And I sat on the floor
and I just started crying
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00:18:00
and I asked God, like,
"Why do you hate me?
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Why are you doing this to me?
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00:18:04
Why would you take that away?"
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00:18:10
I had three
surgeries in four years
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and all of them
came from wrestling.
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00:18:17
Doctors had told me I had
basically distorted my bones
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and they would pop out
of place and pop back in.
-
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They told me I'm
pretty much a danger
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00:18:27
to myself and others,
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something can break
and it might be fatal.
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00:18:32
And they didn't want
to have that liability
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00:18:36
out there and put
that on other kids also.
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00:18:38
It just put me in a dark
place for a long time.
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00:18:42
Wrestling for me at that point
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00:18:43
was a top tier priority for me.
-
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It was where I belonged
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00:18:50
and that was the only
place I felt like I belonged.
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And so when I lost that,
I lost a part of myself
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00:18:56
and I didn't know who I was.
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00:18:59
And it just took a
toll on me mentally.
-
00:19:01
I remember one night distinctly,
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00:19:04
this was the first
time I was able
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00:19:05
to make it off the
couch and up to my room
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00:19:08
in about three months.
-
00:19:10
And I sat on the floor
and I just started crying
-
00:19:13
and I asked God, like,
"Why do you hate me?
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00:19:15
Why are you doing this to me?
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00:19:17
Why would you take that away?"
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00:19:19
So I ran from God and I
wanted nothing to do with Him.
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00:19:24
I think that turning
point was when
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00:19:27
I met someone who really
showed me what it means
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00:19:31
to follow God and
truly trust in Him
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00:19:33
and that He's not just
there for the good times
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and getting you through
whatever you want,
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00:19:38
that He's there
through all of it.
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00:19:40
And now I get the chance
to do that same thing
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00:19:43
and coach and tell kids
that they have a chance
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to do something different
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and sports doesn't
make them who they are.
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Now, since I'm not wrestling,
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00:19:54
I've found a deeper love for God
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00:19:57
and just a better
understanding for His Word.
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00:20:00
Just following His lead
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00:20:02
and doing what I can
to further the Kingdom.
-
00:24:06
- In Matthew 4 it says
that Jesus was led
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00:24:11
by the Spirit into the
wilderness, or desert,
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00:24:15
to be tempted.
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00:24:16
Now, the Spirit led
Him into the wilderness,
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00:24:19
but it also says at the
very end of the section
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that then God sent angels.
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Then God ministered to Him.
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So for 40 days in this
desert, He didn't feel God.
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00:24:31
He was prompted
by God to go there,
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00:24:33
but he didn't feel God
while He was there.
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00:24:35
I think that during
that 40 days,
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Jesus learned that he was
stronger than He thought.
-
00:24:40
Now God was empowering
Him. God was --
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00:24:43
God was doing things
in and through Him.
-
00:24:45
Okay, Jesus is God Himself,
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00:24:46
so there was some
power He had there.
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00:24:48
But Jesus learned some things
about Himself in that 40 days.
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00:24:51
That's the way it is
with us in our desert.
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00:24:54
I came out of a
desert not too long ago.
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00:24:56
We went into COVID and all
the difficulties around COVID.
-
00:24:59
I had all kinds of problems
in my life that you may have,
-
00:25:02
problems in my home
life, problems with aging,
-
00:25:06
problems of all kind of things.
-
00:25:09
And then all the problems
of COVID came on top of it.
-
00:25:11
And I found myself
some time in that desert
-
00:25:15
was the beginning of me
coming out of it was realizing,
-
00:25:18
"Oh, my goodness, this
thing called Crossroads
-
00:25:21
that I'm a part
of, that I've been
-
00:25:22
a part of building
for all this time.
-
00:25:24
We didn't even have in building
Easter services last year,
-
00:25:27
which is kind of a
big thing for churches.
-
00:25:29
What is going on with it?
-
00:25:31
People are dropping off.
-
00:25:33
All the visual indicators
are just not good
-
00:25:36
because things are shut down."
-
00:25:38
And I started going
into this kind of pity party
-
00:25:40
and in a difficult dry place.
-
00:25:42
And beginning of the
end of my desert was
-
00:25:46
when I sensed God
whispered to me, saying, "Brian,
-
00:25:49
Brian, you can handle this."
-
00:25:51
I'm not going to say
that I am unbreakable
-
00:25:54
and I have all the power.
-
00:25:55
I'm not trying to say that.
-
00:25:56
I just recognize
that I'm stronger
-
00:25:59
than I was giving
myself credit for
-
00:26:01
and other people
before me and right now
-
00:26:03
in modern times are doing things
-
00:26:05
much more difficult than I am.
-
00:26:06
I can endure.
-
00:26:09
This is the story of Jesus.
-
00:26:13
He not only endures
while He's in the wilderness,
-
00:26:17
but coming out of that He
endures public persecution.
-
00:26:21
He endures people
not understanding Him.
-
00:26:24
He endures feeling like
people have abandoned Him.
-
00:26:27
He endures an awful,
-
00:26:29
excruciating
experience on the Cross.
-
00:26:33
Nails taken through His
wrists, through His feet.
-
00:26:36
He's been flogged. He's been
beaten. He's been clubbed.
-
00:26:40
He's had people spitting at Him.
-
00:26:43
He's up on a cross
-
00:26:44
and He's having to push up to
exhale and drop down to inhale,
-
00:26:48
push up, drop down,
while His beaten back
-
00:26:51
is going up and down
a rough hewn cross.
-
00:26:55
Friends, that is a desert.
-
00:26:57
It is difficult. It's grueling.
-
00:27:00
And we can take
hope that our desert
-
00:27:03
is never going to
be like His desert
-
00:27:05
and that there is a
God who cares for us.
-
00:27:10
And Jesus went through
that difficulty on the Cross
-
00:27:13
because God was
thinking about you and me.
-
00:27:16
He was thinking about
taking all of our pain,
-
00:27:19
all of our suffering,
all of our sinfulness,
-
00:27:21
and putting it on His back
so we wouldn't have to bear
-
00:27:23
that pain and suffering and
sinfulness for all of eternity.
-
00:27:27
That is the Good News.
-
00:33:19
- Jesus has the
power to rescue you
-
00:33:21
and He will meet
you where you are.
-
00:33:23
You may not immediately
be out of the desert,
-
00:33:26
but you can have hope
even in the hardest of times.
-
00:33:33
- Ali was diagnosed
with lung cancer.
-
00:33:36
- Mike was diagnosed
with neuroendocrine cancer
-
00:33:40
and I was eight months pregnant,
-
00:33:42
- Something like this was
just like, "It's just too much."
-
00:33:46
It was too much.
-
00:33:51
It really starts in college.
-
00:33:55
Leslie started dating her
first husband, Mike, there,
-
00:34:01
who was also a
good friend of mine.
-
00:34:02
And eventually Mike
and Leslie get married.
-
00:34:06
During that time, I got
married to my first wife, Ali.
-
00:34:11
A couple of years into
mine and Ali's marriage,
-
00:34:16
Ali was diagnosed
with lung cancer.
-
00:34:20
And we had just had
our daughter, Olivia,
-
00:34:24
and Olivia had just turned
one when Ali passed away.
-
00:34:30
- In 2012, Mike was diagnosed
with neuroendocrine cancer
-
00:34:39
and I was eight months pregnant.
-
00:34:41
It was stage four and
it had metastasized
-
00:34:43
to his liver when
he was diagnosed
-
00:34:45
so I kind of saw the
writing on the wall
-
00:34:48
and knew that our story wasn't
going to have a happy ending.
-
00:34:55
Mike passed away
November 10th, 2013.
-
00:35:01
You have in your
mind this picture
-
00:35:04
of what you
think your life is --
-
00:35:05
how your life is
going to play out.
-
00:35:07
And I didn't know
how to live that life.
-
00:35:10
And it was at that
point that I reached out
-
00:35:12
to reconnect with Ben.
-
00:35:15
- There's a comfort knowing that
-
00:35:17
you don't have to explain
it to this other person.
-
00:35:21
You know, you feel kind of like
-
00:35:22
you're all alone in the grief.
-
00:35:24
And when you've got
someone that's in it with you,
-
00:35:27
it does so much to
ease that loneliness.
-
00:35:31
It's really hard to describe.
-
00:35:33
- It just worked, like
we would get together
-
00:35:35
and go do things and our
kiddos got along really well.
-
00:35:39
- It was kind of just
right in front of our face.
-
00:35:42
- That was sort of the beginning
of our romantic relationship.
-
00:35:45
Two years from the point we
started dating, we got married
-
00:35:51
- And we found out
we were pregnant.
-
00:35:53
And then we found
out that our baby
-
00:35:59
was going to have Down syndrome.
-
00:36:00
Yeah, we really felt like we
had been through so much
-
00:36:04
and that something
like this was just like,
-
00:36:08
it's just too much.
It was too much.
-
00:36:11
- Yeah, I thought, "Goodness,
we've --we've paid our dues."
-
00:36:15
- Yeah. And I think
in the same way
-
00:36:17
that you can grieve
the loss of a person,
-
00:36:20
you definitely grieve the loss
of expectations that you have.
-
00:36:24
- Again, you have
this vision of how
-
00:36:27
this blended family
is going to play out
-
00:36:29
and that little extra chromosome
wasn't part of that vision.
-
00:36:34
We wanted to get
to a place where
-
00:36:35
we were excited to
welcome our baby.
-
00:36:38
And in order to do that,
we needed to take the time
-
00:36:41
to grieve and then
educate ourselves
-
00:36:46
so that we understood, like,
what does this really mean?
-
00:36:49
- We met with other families
-
00:36:51
that have kids with
Down's syndrome.
-
00:36:54
And the more we learned
-
00:36:56
and the more we
were exposed to it,
-
00:36:57
the more we realize like
this isn't such a scary thing.
-
00:37:00
It's just not that terrible.
-
00:37:02
In fact, it's not terrible
at all, you know?
-
00:37:04
And we had to get to that point.
-
00:37:08
- So Nash was born
November 28th, 2016.
-
00:37:12
- He's awesome and he's brought
so much joy into our lives.
-
00:37:16
And sometimes I feel
shame for how we reacted
-
00:37:21
to that diagnosis and
how much fear we had.
-
00:37:24
We just -- we had no idea
how many positive things
-
00:37:28
would come from it.
-
00:37:31
All the twists and
turns that we've had,
-
00:37:33
together and separately, I think
-
00:37:36
what we're able to do
is look back on all that
-
00:37:40
and see how God
has taken certain things
-
00:37:44
and used them to build
us, to build our character,
-
00:37:49
to build our relationship.
-
00:37:50
And there were definitely times
-
00:37:52
where I felt a distance from God
-
00:37:55
and I questioned why I
had to be going through this.
-
00:37:59
In my gut I just
knew that there was
-
00:38:01
something on
the other side of it
-
00:38:03
and that I just
had to trust God.
-
00:38:06
- When Mike died,
there was a moment
-
00:38:09
where I just kind of
crawled up in bed with him
-
00:38:11
and I -- that moment was
-
00:38:16
the most connected
to God I have ever felt.
-
00:38:19
I was overcome with this, like
everything's going to be okay.
-
00:38:22
So I think even
though I had moments
-
00:38:24
where I questioned
why God had allowed me
-
00:38:28
to be in this situation, I had
something to come back to.
-
00:38:34
- Nothing gets wasted.
God doesn't waste anything.
-
00:38:36
And although it may be
tragic, it may feel unfair,
-
00:38:41
when you have that perspective,
-
00:38:43
you can look at it
from a different angle
-
00:38:45
and see that this
is going to be used.
-
00:38:49
I'm sure other things
will happen in our lives
-
00:38:51
that are going to
be bad. You know?
-
00:38:53
We also know that
those things are going
-
00:38:56
to be used for
good in other ways
-
00:38:58
that we just don't know about
-
00:38:59
and we'll be patient and wait
and see how they get used.
-
00:43:16
The book of Ephesians 1:18 says:
-
00:43:52
The reason why we
know the name of Jesus
-
00:43:55
is because He went
through the desert,
-
00:43:57
He went through the pain.
-
00:43:59
That's why we know His name.
-
00:44:04
The pain and
difficulty of the desert
-
00:44:06
equips us for a
future that is amazing.
-
00:44:08
We don't know what
it's going to come,
-
00:44:10
but it is going to come.
-
00:44:11
And His name is
above every other name.
-
00:44:13
What kind of names
is his name above?
-
00:44:17
They're talking
about the names of
-
00:44:20
depression and
hopelessness, fear and anxiety,
-
00:44:27
credit card debt and bankruptcy,
-
00:44:30
uncertainty and confusion,
malaise and status quo,
-
00:44:36
loneliness and rejection.
-
00:44:39
These are the names
that we encounter
-
00:44:41
when we're in the desert
-
00:44:43
and these are the
names that Jesus
-
00:44:46
trounces by His
victory on the Cross.
-
00:44:49
These are the names, they're
trying to call out to you
-
00:44:53
that God has forsaken you
and He has abandoned you.
-
00:44:56
No, He has not,
you're just in a desert.
-
00:45:00
And it's not unlike the
desert Jesus went through
-
00:45:02
and all the greats
of previous history.
-
00:45:04
You can do this. You can.
-
00:45:06
You can be unbreakable
and the Spirit
-
00:45:08
that gave life to His body
can give life to yours.
-
00:45:12
This dry, desolated place
that you may find yourself in
-
00:45:17
leaves us with two choices:
-
00:45:21
Dry out and die by
living on our own strength
-
00:45:25
or look for the waters of
nutrition and nourishment
-
00:45:29
that He brings to us.
-
00:45:31
Psalm 50:15, He says:
-
00:45:42
We need delivered.
-
00:45:44
We need delivered
from everything
-
00:45:46
that's gotten us
inside the desert.
-
00:45:49
Some of us have got
like capital P problems,
-
00:45:53
not just adult problems,
but capital P problems.
-
00:45:59
The kind of problems
that movies are made of
-
00:46:01
and we leave those
movies feeling depressed.
-
00:46:03
The kind of problems that I
don't even want to talk about
-
00:46:06
because other
people are going to go,
-
00:46:08
"I didn't need to
hear that on Easter."
-
00:46:10
You know that's you.
-
00:46:11
You know it if you're
one of those folks like,
-
00:46:13
"Man, this is -- it's
going to take more than
-
00:46:15
a little pick me up
sermon to get me going."
-
00:46:17
I know. I know.
-
00:46:20
That's exactly why Jesus
came and lived the life He lived
-
00:46:22
and died the death He did
-
00:46:24
and offers the
Spirit that He offers.
-
00:46:27
Most Americans are on
a self-improvement plan.
-
00:46:30
They believe that,
-
00:46:32
"I'm just an understandably
flawed person
-
00:46:34
in need of a couple
of helpful principles
-
00:46:37
just to get me over the edge."
-
00:46:39
When I say you got
this, I'm trying to tell you
-
00:46:42
you are stronger than you think
-
00:46:44
and we're also not
as strong as we think,
-
00:46:48
because we need Jesus to
make a difference in our life.
-
00:46:53
We need Him. We need Him.
-
00:46:56
We need Him to have died
the death He died for us.
-
00:46:59
And we need the
resurrection power that He has.
-
00:47:02
That's the story of Easter,
-
00:47:05
that someone came
back from the dead.
-
00:47:07
And if that power still
exists today, and it does,
-
00:47:10
I've felt that power.
I've sensed that power.
-
00:47:13
I am where I am today
because of that power.
-
00:47:14
That power comes to normal,
average people like you and I.
-
00:47:20
Easter is about the
hope of the resurrection,
-
00:47:23
the hope of a new day,
-
00:47:25
the hope of a mist coming
and moistening our skin,
-
00:47:29
the hope of an oasis that's just
around the next craggy rock,
-
00:47:33
the hope that there is a
beautiful life ahead of me.
-
00:47:37
And if there's not a
beautiful life ahead of me,
-
00:47:39
there's a beautiful
eternity ahead of me.
-
00:47:42
I don't know if you've
ever reached out to Him
-
00:47:45
and actually asked
Him for His Spirit
-
00:47:49
to come into your life
where you are right now,
-
00:47:52
but I want to pray for
you and I want to trust
-
00:47:55
that your desert is
going to be survivable
-
00:47:58
and you are going to be
able to get through your desert
-
00:48:01
through the
resurrection of power
-
00:48:03
that comes through His Spirit.
-
00:48:05
Let me pray for you right now.
-
00:48:06
And if you want
to pray this prayer,
-
00:48:08
I'll do a little pauses and
you can just pray it out loud.
-
00:48:12
Muttered it if someone
sitting next to you.
-
00:48:14
Romans 10:9says, If
we believe with our hearts
-
00:48:16
that Jesus has been
raised from the dead
-
00:48:18
and we confess with our mouth.
-
00:48:20
So confess it,
make this a prayer.
-
00:48:22
It goes something like this:
Jesus, I need Your power.
-
00:48:28
I'm not sure I can last in this
desert, but I will continue,
-
00:48:33
but I need Your Spirit.
-
00:48:38
I ask forgiveness for my sin.
-
00:48:42
I asked that You would
fill me with Your presence.
-
00:48:46
And I not only will stand in
this desert to be unbreakable,
-
00:48:51
but I will follow You as best I
can the rest of my life. Amen.
-
00:49:01
Man, that was good stuff.
-
00:49:03
Hey, for those of you
-
00:49:04
who received Christ
for the first time,
-
00:49:06
you're going to have
this new adventure
-
00:49:08
of the same Spirit that
raised Him from the dead
-
00:49:10
working in and through you.
-
00:49:11
It's great having
you part of the family.
-
00:49:15
Hey, I hope we've
delivered by giving you
-
00:49:17
some encouragement or
at least some awareness
-
00:49:20
of what it's like
to be in the desert.
-
00:49:22
There is a God who loves you,
cares for you and empowers you.
-
00:49:27
I hope you have an amazing
Easter, the rest of your day.
-
00:49:30
And I hope to see
you back next week.
-
00:49:31
We're here every
week. We'll see you then.
-
00:49:35
- Man, what a great
time that we've had today.
-
00:49:37
I hope you learned that
you and I are unbreakable,
-
00:49:41
no matter what
we're facing our lives.
-
00:49:42
And that's because
Jesus beat death.
-
00:49:45
And that same power that
raised Jesus from the dead
-
00:49:48
is in you and it's in me.
-
00:49:50
And we've had
such a good journey
-
00:49:51
learning about that today.
-
00:49:52
- Absolutely. Look,
that's why we exist
-
00:49:54
to guide you forward
on your journey with God.
-
00:49:57
And look, part of
that journey is learning
-
00:49:59
to trust Him with
everything in your life:
-
00:50:01
your career, your relationships,
even your finances.
-
00:50:04
And I know right now
you want to click away.
-
00:50:06
Please hang on for a second.
-
00:50:07
Look, learning to trust God
with your money is a step
-
00:50:10
that every single person
who wants to follow Jesus
-
00:50:13
has to pass through.
And I'm telling you,
-
00:50:15
it's an incredible,
incredible journey in which
-
00:50:18
you actually receive
more than you give.
-
00:50:21
See, God actually
says in the Bible that
-
00:50:23
when we trust Him
with our finances,
-
00:50:24
He will bless our lives
in ways and places
-
00:50:27
that money cannot buy.
-
00:50:29
And look, I know that
might sound self-serving.
-
00:50:30
It does, right?
- Yeah, just a little bit.
-
00:50:32
- For a church to say that,
-
00:50:33
but we've actually
designed a way around that.
-
00:50:35
- That's right. We've
made something just for you
-
00:50:37
called the 90 Day Title Test.
-
00:50:39
In this 90 days, we want you
to test God with your finances,
-
00:50:42
because if He's not
moving in your life,
-
00:50:44
we'll give you all
your money back.
-
00:50:46
That's how strong
we believe in this tithe.
-
00:50:48
That's how strong we believe
-
00:50:50
that God will bless
you in every area.
-
00:50:53
So you can try this out by going
to Crossroads.net/tithetest.
-
00:50:57
- And when you do that,
-
00:50:58
you'll be prompted to
submit a prayer request.
-
00:51:00
We would love to just partner
with you, us and our team,
-
00:51:03
and pray for that
thing, that place
-
00:51:04
that you want God's
breakthrough in your life.
-
00:51:06
- That's right. You
can connect with me
-
00:51:08
by going to
hannah.sheppard@crossroads.net.
-
00:51:11
You can email me. That's
me. I'm going to respond.
-
00:51:14
- She actually will,
or you can email me,
-
00:51:16
kyle.ranson@crossroads.net.
-
00:51:17
We would love to
connect with you.
-
00:51:19
- Come back next week where
we're going to be exploring
-
00:51:21
what it means to take on life
-
00:51:23
and have the endurance to last.
-
00:51:27
- If you liked what
you saw today,
-
00:51:29
there's actually way
more to this story.
-
00:51:31
God has more to
say about getting you
-
00:51:33
out of the desert
that you're in.
-
00:51:34
And if you want that, go to
Crossroads.net/unbreakable
-
00:51:38
to watch more episodes
of the same story right now.