The 10X Push Celebration

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- Well, hey, welcome to Crossroads.

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Now, we are a church that meets in buildings like this

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and all over the place online,

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in bars, dorms, cafes, all over the place

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and wherever you are, whether you're joining us

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online or in person, we're so glad that you're here.

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My name is Andy Reiter, I lead Crossroads Anywhere,

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our group that meet all over the globe.

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Now, over the last six weeks of what

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we've been calling the 10X Push,

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we've just been asking God to multiply

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our sense of what's possible and to move

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to make heaven come to earth.

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Now, the heart behind all of this is that

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we want to see revival.

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And if you're new around here,

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I would highly, highly recommend that you catch up

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on the last six weeks of content and check out

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Kyle's Mission Briefing at Crossroads.net/10X

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to get a sense of what exactly we're running after

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as a part of this Push.

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Now, in just a few minutes,

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Brian is going to announce what we committed

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as a result of that Push.

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But first, I want you to hear directly from Him.

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- How are we all doing today?

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Yes we are. It's a big day today.

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We have been on a six week Journey

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as God's been pushing us.

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We've been pushing each other

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and it actually culminated in a financial commitment

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that we made last weekend.

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And you're probably curious

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what number is more important?

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You're probably curious, probably curious.

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Here's the number.

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The number -- the number is, one,

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because there's one God we're going to worship today.

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Let's let's stand up right now.

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And let's go ahead and worship Him.

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- That's right. He deserves all the glory.

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You may not even remember that six weeks ago,

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these are the first words we sang to start this Journey.

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We took what Jesus said when He said,

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"Hey, pray like this," we got a melody to it.

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And six weeks ago we started on this Journey

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and said, Father, let Your Kingdom come

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right here in my heart.

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That's how we're going to start today. Let's go.

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- That's what we want, Lord. All glory to You.

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- Everybody, just getting started.

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If you're online, glad you're here with us.

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If you're in the room, grab a seat.

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We got more to do.

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- These people are jacked in here.

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These people are jacked in this place, man.

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All right, so let's talk numbers here.

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This is a number that's reflective

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of the personal Journey that everybody went through here.

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We never told you what to commit.

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We never told you what to give.

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We just try to facilitate you getting with God

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and God pushing you.

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And this reflects the total of everyone's on your own,

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you deciding what God wants you to do,

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our commitment here, and let me tell you,

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it's a big number. It's a really big number.

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It's a big number because we're actually a big church.

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And you're going to see in a moment

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we're not just a big church.

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We're a big church with a lot of big people

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who have big faith.

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I'm talking big, big, big faith.

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This isn't like faith promise,

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I believe that God's going to give me

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$1 million when I hit the lottery.

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And I'm going to give that.

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No, no, no, this was you put pencil to paper

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and did work with God in terms of

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what you wanted to do.

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I've interacted with some people on this.

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I've heard people say,

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"Man, I just trust Crossroads so much.

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You guys are doing great, you guys."

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And I'm talking to people who are inside our church

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and I always correct them.

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I say it's we guys, we guys.

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There's no like you guys, we guys,

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all of us at all of our sites all across the country,

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everyone in this room at all different economic levels,

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we all equally are in this

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because God is about our hearts

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and God's blessed different ones of us

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with different amounts and gives different ones of us

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the ability to commit different amounts.

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But you are important,

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however big or small your number is,

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because it's a reflection to God

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of who we are as a church.

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Just maybe, just maybe, God may use us for an awakening.

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Just maybe He may do that.

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The experts told us that, they looked at our books,

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they looked at, you know what we've done

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in previous things that are similar to this

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and said, "Well, you know, %75 million

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would be really amazing, if $75 million

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above and beyond what people regularly give

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over three years to go towards all the things be great."

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Like, what are the things?

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Here are some of the things,

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in case you haven't never seen them.

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Because it wasn't about the things.

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It was about our hearts with God.

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It was about these things: blowing out camps

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and a place for revival,

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Reachout, the campus for girls rescued out of sex slavery.

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Every prison, being inside every single prison

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in all of America, inside every single one of them.

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Nicaragua projects, Guatemala projects,

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a stage to bless our Anywhere Community

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all over the world.

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Kids and Student apps, Crossroads App 2.0.

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Dayton and Columbus.

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By the way, we, uh -- this number is good enough.

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We just bought Columbus a building this last week.

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[cheers] Columbus. Yeah. Great.

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World class experiences elevated the stage experience

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and on every one of our sites,

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kids and student spaces, 1824 in all sites,

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Crossroads in Espanol at all sites.

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Yes, si, si, si, as soon as we have

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more than two people who speak Spanish every site.

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Yeah, ready for it? Right.

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Victor's all on that.

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And then the ability to get into new cities.

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We want to be in ten cities over the next ten years.

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Now this stuff, this stuff was a stretch.

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Like, the experts said 75 million.

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We were like, okay, that gets us started.

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But that -- that doesn't get --

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That doesn't really get it done.

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Doesn't get it done. Uh, actually not close.

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So I've been praying for a much larger number,

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and I've been queasy to tell people what it is.

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I've told some people and they just went,

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"oh, really? Yeah. I'll be praying for you."

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So let's see what we got up here.

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Are you ready? There we go. Okay.

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We have first.

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Oh come on, you like that.

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There's only one God.

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That's what that means right there. Right?

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Come on, come on. Are we not excited yet?

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Get out of town!

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Get out of town! Get out of town!

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Wait. Hold on, hold on.

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Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

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Something's not right here.

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That is not right.

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I'm sorry. It's not right.

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You want to know how faithful you are?

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You know what happens when you go before God

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and you put stuff on the table and you say,

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"Lord, I just want to be a part of something

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that's bigger and beyond"?

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You know what it's like to be a part of

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a church that has people all around you

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who are all in on Jesus and want people to be all in?

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You know what that's like? It's pretty special.

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Come on now. Come on. Come on.

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That is $200 million.

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Hey, all that stuff up there,

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we're gonna do it all. All of it.

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Every last one of it, and more.

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That's how good our God is, man.

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Now we're going to worship.

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We're going to worship.

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Actually, let's just tell Him right now

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before I give anything else,

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let's tell Him right now before I say anything else.

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Let's do it worthy of it all.

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Let's tell Him.

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- All right, let me let me say a couple.

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He's so good, isn't He? God, you were so good.

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You were so big.

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You're bigger than anything we could have thought of.

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You give visions that are beyond any vision

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any human being could come up with.

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You have compassion that's beyond any compassion,

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any amalgamation people have because

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you are compassionate in and of yourself.

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You are the searcher. You are the reacher.

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You are the person who pulls people to you.

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And we're thankful to be a part of what You're doing.

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You're good. Yeah.

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Now, before we keep saying something,

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say a couple of things. This is really important.

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Context is really, really important here.

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You got to hear me say this.

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The Bible says that to whom much is given,

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much is required.

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I will tell you, there is an ominous weight

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that we have on us as a church.

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And I feel as a as a leader

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and the rest of us do, the leadership,

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to make sure this goes to everywhere

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God wants it to go, to do things that are miraculous.

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All right? Now again, we, I think

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one of the reasons this is so big is because

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we've proven faithful. We've talked about this.

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Friends, your giving is going to be in good hands.

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I'm telling you, it's going to be in good hands.

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It's going to be gone to work.

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But we feel the ominous need for that.

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And every commitment, every commitment in here is important.

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It's not just important

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because it goes into this number,

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but it's important to God because you reflect the whole.

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We are people here at Crossroads who do.

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We don't just say, we do.

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So even if you think your commitment is small,

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it's not a small commitment.

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It's not small in the eyes of God.

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It's not small because we have so many other people

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who may have small commitments

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that make a huge chunk of this.

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So do not be deflated.

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If this is such a huge number, you go,

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"Well, my thing doesn't matter." It does matter.

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It matters spiritually and it matters financially.

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Your commitment matters.

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And now we get to, man, we get --

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Who's ready? I'm ready. Who's ready? I'm ready.

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Come on, put me in, coach. Come on.

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He's worthy. Let's tell him again.

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This is about God. This is not about us.

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We haven't talked about these things on a weekend much.

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We haven't put dollar figures on these on the weekend.

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We did it during Mission Briefings, if you came.

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Because it's been about God

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and it's been about you, and more people

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are going to get more of God because He's worthy.

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Let's go. Come on.

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- Come on. Let's stand.

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- Just think about where you started

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six weeks ago, six years ago.

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Think about the journey that God has had you on.

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He's not too big to be personal with you.

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We look at a number like that and go,

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"I don't even, like, I don't fathom those dollars."

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But our God is powerful. He's with you.

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- We pray together.

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I'll let my words be few

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and I'll stand in awe of who You are, God.

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And I just say thank you.

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All because of you, Jesus. Amen.

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Come on. Come on.

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It's amazing. So glad you're with us online.

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If you're in the room, turn to somebody

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and say, "Can you believe that?"

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- So are you ready? [bells]

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- Yippee! Kai!

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- How are you guys doing? - [cheers]

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Wait, wait. Did you see Die Hard in that clip?

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Yeah.

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- I did too. Last year there was a challenge

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that either me or Brian would preach

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a Christmas message on Die Hard.

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Die Hard is a Christmas movie,

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and that's going to happen, so you won't want to miss that.

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But man, this is one of the best series we do all year.

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It's going to be a lot of fun.

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But my goodness, what a day.

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How about God moving through your hearts in this 10X Push?

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Man, I am so excited about that.

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And I just want to say this.

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I want to just emphasize what you've heard already,

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which is get started.

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There is something powerful about

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not just making the commitment,

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but stepping into that commitment.

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It could be a big amount, it could be a small amount.

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But get started.

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There is a powerful thing that happens there.

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So what I want to do for just a few minutes

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is just add encouragement to what has already been

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an amazing day for all of us.

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So let me pray. God, I just pray that

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You would encourage our hearts as we step into

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this next phase of The Push.

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God, you have led many people in here

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on a spiritual journey, and you have led many people

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in here to make a financial commitment.

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And God, as I think about what comes next, God,

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I just believe that there's truth and guidance

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and encouragement You want to give all of us.

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Maybe some of us just are coming

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for the first time today to Crossroads.

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And I believe this message, God, that You want to share

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is as applicable as if they had been here

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for the last 6 or 7 weeks, or the last 6 or 7 years.

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So God, would You speak?

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Would You encourage our hearts today?

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And I pray this in Jesus's name. Amen. Amen.

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Our heart with The Push has been about awakening.

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That's what we want to see.

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We want to see God bring literally hundreds of

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thousands of people into a saving relationship with Jesus.

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And as their lives are changed,

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we believe that can change the world.

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And that's what we've been praying for.

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And so we've been praying big and impossible prayers.

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We put these impossible headlines out.

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If you were working through the guide,

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we had these impossible headlines of what we said,

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"Man, this doesn't seem possible, but God can do it."

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We put everything on the table.

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One of the things we did was just say,

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"God, everything is yours and we want to hear from You."

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Some of us did some hard math and calculated

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and said, "Hey, this is what I feel like

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God is calling us to."

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And I know that many of us experience God.

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We experience the presence of God.

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I believe that the seeds of an awakening,

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we can't make an awakening happen.

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We can't engineer an awakening.

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But I believe that God has already put those seeds

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in many of our hearts.

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And this is what I also know, I know because

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I've been a part of campaigns for the last several years

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of me being a part of Crossroads, in the last 20 years

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of me being a part of Crossroads.

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And here's what I know.

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I got a great question at one of the Mission Briefings.

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So if you were around, one of the things we offered

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is an opportunity to get in a smaller context

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and hear about those four territories,

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that list of things as we were kind of

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on this Journey together.

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And one of the best questions I got at a Mission Briefing

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came from someone who, like me,

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had been a part of campaigns before.

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And they said this, they said, "Chuck, I'm excited about this.

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I've been here before. I've been on this Journey.

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I've done and made a commitment.

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And I remember the power of that number reveal."

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They actually talked about what we've experienced today.

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And then their question was this:

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But what are we going to do for people six months later

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or nine months later or 18 months later?"

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Because there is this mountaintop experience,

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the celebration. Look at what we've committed.

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It's awesome. And then there's the reality that sets in.

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And I said, "That's a really good question."

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That's a really good question, because some of us,

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the only Christmas at the Movies

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we're going to experience is in here,

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because we gave up Netflix for three years. [laughter]

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So some of us, our travel plans are going to

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look different than they even looked six weeks ago

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because of where the spirit is leading us.

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Some of us won't have all of the assets to fall back on

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that we had before this commitment.

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And the question is, what happens then?

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What happens as we follow through on that commitment?

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One of the things you can see is

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we've been borrowing from NASA

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and the story of the moonshot.

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And one of the astronauts that was a part of

00:36:37

the Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin had an interesting story,

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and I want to just put ourselves

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in that space of Buzz Aldrin. So imagine this.

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Imagine this, folks. Imagine that some time ago,

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let's say a month ago, you landed on the moon.

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But today you're standing in line at Kroger to buy eggs.

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It's a little bit of a disconnect. Right?

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And so Buzz Aldrin honestly tells the story about

00:37:04

how he was not prepared for what came after the moon.

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And when he came back home, I think he traveled to,

00:37:11

like, 45 countries in the first 26 days

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because this was a global phenomenon

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and everybody was excited.

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But at some point, all of that buzz went away

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and he found himself in Kroger buying eggs.

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And he really struggled.

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He struggled to adjust to the normalcy of life again.

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And in fact, it cost him his marriage.

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It cost him his psychological security.

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He was really struggling.

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And one of the things that he eventually concluded

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is this, that he had experienced

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the melancholy of things done,

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that after the moon, after the high thing,

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there's a melancholy that sets in

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because life just gets back to normal.

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And here's what I know, I know that

00:37:53

most of our life with God is

00:37:54

not going to be experienced on the mountaintop.

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That most of our life with God

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is the melancholy of things done.

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It's what one pastor called

00:38:04

a long obedience in the same direction.

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Now, I think that there are things

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built into the rhythm of God's church

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that help us to deal with what happens

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when we come off of the mountaintop.

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One of the things that is a part

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of church tradition and has been

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for many, many centuries, honestly,

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is something called the church calendar.

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So there is a rhythm to

00:38:25

the annual calendar of the church,

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and some of us may have grown up

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in more liturgical churches

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or churches that follow the church calendar.

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Here's a pie chart that

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just breaks down the church calendar.

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So just to give you a sense of where we are,

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we're actually stepping into advent.

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Advent is the time when we anticipate Christmas.

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And so that actually starts next week.

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And then from advent we move into Christmas.

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Everybody's heard of Christmas.

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Everybody's excited about Christmas.

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All that. We know that. Right?

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And then after Christmas you kind of moved to lent.

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And lent is the place where

00:38:55

we're kind of anticipating Easter.

00:38:56

And then, of course, there's Eastertide.

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It's called because Easter in the church calendar

00:39:01

isn't just one day, but it actually is a season

00:39:03

that the church steps into together.

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But I want you to notice, I want you to notice

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that the vast majority of the church calendar

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is that blue thing right there on my left.

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Do you know what that's called?

00:39:14

Do you know what that section of the church calendar is called?

00:39:18

It's called Ordinary Time.

00:39:21

It's called Ordinary Time because most of the year,

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and hey, most of your walk with Jesus

00:39:27

is going to be spent in ordinary time.

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And in Ordinary time we have a choice

00:39:33

because all of these other experiences

00:39:35

are like mountaintop experiences.

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But we have a choice.

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See, here's the thing,

00:39:39

a spiritual awakening is exciting,

00:39:41

and what God has done in the last seven weeks

00:39:43

in our church is exciting.

00:39:44

But those things are temporary experiences

00:39:47

of the richness of the Spirit of God.

00:39:48

It doesn't, though, have to lead to a rut.

00:39:52

See, I think we have two choices

00:39:54

when you come down off the mountain top.

00:39:56

Choice number one is you go from

00:39:58

the mountain top into a rut.

00:40:00

But there's a different story you can live

00:40:02

if you're willing to lean into relationships

00:40:06

and healthy rhythms of receiving,

00:40:08

relationships and rejoicing.

00:40:13

Let me see if that changes. There you go.

00:40:16

Now, don't adjust your television.

00:40:19

There's a reason why that's in Spanish,

00:40:22

because one of the things that God has called us to do,

00:40:25

and we're going to be able to do,

00:40:26

is have Crossroads Espanol

00:40:28

in every location of Crossroads

00:40:30

so that we can be one

00:40:31

with our neighbors who speak Spanish.

00:40:33

I'm excited about that. I'm excited about that.

00:40:36

And so one of the things I want to do

00:40:39

is to my Spanish brothers and sisters,

00:40:41

I want to just get into a rhythm of

00:40:42

that main point of my message, I want to say it in Spanish.

00:40:45

So, para permanecer en una vida plena debemos establecer

00:40:50

ritmos de recibmiento, relaciones y regocijo.

00:40:56

And for my Spanish brothers and sisters,

00:40:58

that is not AI, that was me speaking

00:41:00

so that's why it didn't sound so good.

00:41:04

And here's the thing, today

00:41:05

I'm just going to talk for a few minutes.

00:41:07

I want to talk about what does it mean

00:41:08

to practice receiving in ordinary time?

00:41:11

What does it mean to lean

00:41:12

into relationships in ordinary time?

00:41:14

And then that last point around rejoicing in ordinary time,

00:41:18

that's when you all get to be preachers and teachers.

00:41:20

We're going to --

00:41:21

You're going to help me with that third point.

00:41:23

So I want you to take out your phone, if you didn't already

00:41:25

when you were instructed to do so.

00:41:27

And I want you to text a story of gratitude to 301301.

00:41:33

What is something God has done in your life

00:41:35

that you're thankful for, that you're rejoicing about?

00:41:38

It may be a couple sentences.

00:41:39

You may have something longer than that.

00:41:41

I want you to share that.

00:41:43

And later on we're going to get to celebrate that.

00:41:46

So let me root these in a scripture.

00:41:48

This is one of those scriptures that

00:41:49

if somebody is new to following Jesus,

00:41:51

it's one of those scriptures that

00:41:53

I will point them to to help them understand

00:41:55

the normal arc of following Jesus.

00:41:58

It comes from the book of Colossians,

00:41:59

which is a letter to a small church,

00:42:01

and it says this in Colossians 2:6-7:

00:42:04

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus.

00:42:07

Everybody say received. - Received.

00:42:10

- So as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord,

00:42:12

so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him

00:42:15

and established in the faith, just as you were taught,

00:42:18

abounding in thanksgiving.

00:42:21

So what you see here is that

00:42:23

the normal arc of a Christian life,

00:42:24

I believe the normal arc of how

00:42:26

we lean into ordinary time and have rhythms

00:42:28

are that we have rhythms of receiving,

00:42:31

relationship and rejoicing.

00:42:32

Let's talk a bit about receiving.

00:42:35

You know, one of the things that makes following Jesus different

00:42:38

than other religions is this:

00:42:41

every other religion has a formula that goes like this.

00:42:46

You do good things

00:42:49

and you get a good relationship with a higher power.

00:42:53

Every other religion says that.

00:42:54

Every other religion has a path,

00:42:56

these works, these things you have to do,

00:42:58

and that is how you get to relationship

00:43:00

with your higher power.

00:43:02

But Jesus flips that script, and in following Jesus,

00:43:06

it isn't about the good things that we do

00:43:08

that get us to relationship with God,

00:43:09

it's about the good things

00:43:11

Jesus did for us that we receive,

00:43:13

as it says in this verse, and out of receiving,

00:43:16

we grow in our relationship with God.

00:43:18

So if you want to think about it this way,

00:43:20

your role in following God is to be a good receiver.

00:43:25

And God's role is to root you and to strengthen you

00:43:29

and to build you up so that you overflow with thanksgiving.

00:43:33

So when I think about being a good receiver,

00:43:36

I think about a bucket list location

00:43:38

that I have not been to yet.

00:43:39

I'm sure many of you have, and that is,

00:43:41

I really want to see the sequoia trees in California.

00:43:45

They are just breathtaking, breathtaking to see these.

00:43:50

And what does it take to be a really tall sequoia?

00:43:55

They have to be a good receiver.

00:43:57

All that tree does to grow is get really good

00:44:00

at receiving nutrients from the soil

00:44:02

in the ground through its root system.

00:44:04

And all that tree does to be an amazing,

00:44:07

amazing feat of nature is they receive

00:44:10

the light energy from the sun that enables them to grow.

00:44:14

Sequoias are good receivers.

00:44:17

How good of a receiver are you?

00:44:19

See, because if on one hand we're talking

00:44:21

about being receivers,

00:44:22

I think the other extreme is being a doer.

00:44:26

And there's a difference between a doer and a receiver.

00:44:29

So I'm going to give you a couple questions

00:44:31

that will help you to maybe just assess

00:44:34

a little bit if you're more on the doer side

00:44:37

or more on the receiving side.

00:44:38

Here's question number one.

00:44:40

Is it easier for you to volunteer at church

00:44:43

or to spend time with God?

00:44:46

Doers are really good at doing things,

00:44:51

but what it takes to receive is to spend time with God

00:44:55

and allow Him to shape and form you.

00:44:57

Not saying there's anything wrong with volunteering,

00:44:59

but what side is easier for you?

00:45:00

That might give you a sense

00:45:02

of whether you're a doer or a receiver?

00:45:03

Here's the second question.

00:45:04

Are you able to take a compliment,

00:45:07

or do you push back when people think or encourage you?

00:45:10

Seriously, like, somebody comes up to you and says,

00:45:12

"Hey, thank you for what you did."

00:45:14

Are you a person who can simply just say thank you?

00:45:16

Or are you a person who's like, "No, no, no, no, no, no."

00:45:18

This person, it was that person."

00:45:19

And you really have a hard time taking a compliment.

00:45:22

Doers have a hard time receiving compliments,

00:45:25

but receivers know how to say two magic words: thank you.

00:45:30

Let's just say that together. Let's just practice that.

00:45:32

So I'm going to encourage you right now.

00:45:34

I want to encourage you because you showed up today.

00:45:37

There you go. There you go.

00:45:39

See, you're growing in your ability

00:45:41

to be a receiver right now.

00:45:42

Here's another question.

00:45:44

Do you feel like it all rides on you in life?

00:45:47

Or do you leave space for God to work?

00:45:50

Doers think it all falls on them.

00:45:53

Let me tell you something.

00:45:55

Many of us who've made commitments,

00:45:57

hopefully you know it does not all fall on you.

00:46:01

We serve a God who is generous to you,

00:46:04

even as you are generous to others.

00:46:06

And so are you going to leave space for God to work,

00:46:09

or are you going to try to just muscle up

00:46:10

and tough it through?

00:46:12

I want to encourage you to be a receiver,

00:46:14

even in how you follow up on your commitments.

00:46:16

I want to just give you some thoughts

00:46:18

on how do you receive, how do you get good at receiving?

00:46:20

Well, number one, spend time with God.

00:46:22

Spend time with God, whether it was the guide

00:46:25

or the Crossroads App.

00:46:26

Many of us, the reason that the last six weeks

00:46:29

have been so powerful is you prioritized being here.

00:46:33

You prioritized spending time with God.

00:46:35

I want to just encourage you, don't stop doing that.

00:46:38

Crossroads App is an easy way for you

00:46:40

to read Scripture every day, to pray every day,

00:46:43

to practice gratitude every day.

00:46:45

I want to encourage you to prioritize

00:46:47

being a good receiver by spending time with God.

00:46:50

And here's the other thing, give yourself grace.

00:46:54

I think part of being a good receiver

00:46:56

is giving yourself grace, recognizing that

00:46:58

you're not always going to get it right.

00:46:59

And as you come into the holidays

00:47:01

with the commitments that you've made,

00:47:02

they're going to be some choices

00:47:04

that might be a little bit painful.

00:47:05

And you might be pouting some days

00:47:08

about the commitment that you made.

00:47:09

Give yourself grace. That's what good receivers do.

00:47:14

So in ordinary time, I want to encourage us

00:47:16

to allow ourselves to be good receivers.

00:47:18

Now, as God often does, He tests me on something

00:47:21

I'm about to say to make sure I believe it.

00:47:23

And that literally happened today.

00:47:25

So I was someplace and I was grabbing a meal,

00:47:28

and I was in line to get the meal,

00:47:30

and the owner of the place recognized me and said,

00:47:32

"Hey, I want to tell you how my life

00:47:34

has been impacted by Crossroads."

00:47:36

And him and his wife have been coming,

00:47:38

and he just talked about how it's been a blessing

00:47:40

for them and their family.

00:47:41

He says, "So, whatever you want today, it's on me."

00:47:44

And I want to tell you, my initial response was

00:47:47

to do the noble thing and be like, "Oh no, no, no, no,

00:47:49

no, you're a business owner.

00:47:51

I want to support your business. No, no, no, no."

00:47:53

And honestly, there was a part of me that felt like,

00:47:55

well, that's the right thing to do, right?

00:47:58

No, you know what I did? I said thank you and I received that.

00:48:05

Listen, I believe that God is going

00:48:07

to be generous to you in some ways,

00:48:09

and I want to encourage you, don't turn that away.

00:48:13

When God shows up in that way,

00:48:14

just say and receive what He has for you.

00:48:18

So as we lean into ordinary time, let's be good receivers.

00:48:21

The second thing is lean into relationships.

00:48:23

Notice again in Colossians 2:6-7 it says:

00:48:27

do this just as you were taught.

00:48:29

Now here's the thing, teaching happens

00:48:31

in the context of relationships.

00:48:33

It assumes relationships.

00:48:34

There's an African proverb that puts it this way:

00:48:36

if you want to go fast, go alone.

00:48:38

But if you want to go far, go together.

00:48:41

And what God is calling us to in 10X Push

00:48:44

and what He's calling us to as we pray and say,

00:48:47

"God, we want to be people with whom You could work."

00:48:50

To bring an awakening into our country, into this world,

00:48:53

we need to go far, but the way to do that

00:48:55

is to go together, to go together.

00:48:59

Relationships are key.

00:49:01

I want to go back to that image of the sequoia trees.

00:49:04

They're massive. They're super tall.

00:49:07

Their trunks are unbelievable.

00:49:08

You see for perspective, we got a guy there

00:49:10

just to show you how tall and massive these trees are.

00:49:12

So you might think that because they're so big

00:49:15

and massive, their root system must be huge.

00:49:18

That if you could dig into the ground

00:49:20

and the root system of the sequoia,

00:49:21

you would actually be able to walk through their roots

00:49:23

like you can see people walking through like a big pipe, right?

00:49:26

You would imagine that to be true, but that's not the case.

00:49:29

Actually, given their size,

00:49:31

their root system is actually relatively small.

00:49:34

But here's why, because what they've learned

00:49:38

about sequoias is they know how to operate

00:49:41

as one organism with each other.

00:49:43

They do something called root grafting,

00:49:46

and what that means is that the root level,

00:49:48

they are able to lend energy to each other when they need it.

00:49:52

They are able to lend water to each other when they need it.

00:49:56

There's a song that we sung in my gospel church

00:49:58

that says, "I need you to survive."

00:50:00

And sequoia trees grow tall because they've understood

00:50:04

that they need each other to survive.

00:50:06

Friends, let me tell, you for where God is taking our church,

00:50:09

you have got to be grafted in relationally.

00:50:12

You've got to have some roots.

00:50:13

And so I want to encourage you to prioritize relationships.

00:50:16

Look at what it says in Hebrews 10:24. It says:

00:50:19

And let us consider how to stir up one another

00:50:22

to love and good works, not neglecting meeting together,

00:50:26

as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another,

00:50:28

and all the more as you see the day approaching.

00:50:33

Hey, listen, I know groups were optional

00:50:35

for those of us who went through The Push,

00:50:38

but some of us got in a group.

00:50:40

And I've heard stories about how

00:50:41

some of those groups helped people navigate

00:50:44

some of the tension they were experiencing.

00:50:46

You know what I also have heard?

00:50:47

I've heard of roommates who said,

00:50:49

"Hey, we're in this together. We go to the same church."

00:50:52

And there were conversations that were had about money

00:50:54

that were new conversations for those roommates to have

00:50:57

and through that, God did something in their relationship.

00:51:00

I know this because this was true for me.

00:51:01

I know that for my wife and I, we had some conversations

00:51:05

because of The Push that took us to deeper places

00:51:08

with God and with each other.

00:51:09

In fact, one of the things that was so cool for me

00:51:12

is last Sunday we were at the 11:45 service.

00:51:14

We were up in the second balcony

00:51:16

and we came with our kids because the last time

00:51:19

we had a commitment like this,

00:51:20

our kids were too young to understand it.

00:51:22

But now they're 16, 13 and 10 and they understand it.

00:51:25

And so we did some things as a family.

00:51:27

That table exercise, we did that as a family,

00:51:29

and we actually kept it on our little table

00:51:31

for many days so we could just continue

00:51:33

to pray about it and reflect on it.

00:51:35

And so one of the cool things for us

00:51:36

was last Sunday when we made that commitment,

00:51:38

it wasn't me, nor was it my wife

00:51:40

who wrote our commitment card out.

00:51:41

It was my son, my 13 year old son,

00:51:44

and we came up here as a family.

00:51:45

If you heard the 11:45, you might have seen us.

00:51:47

We came up as a family

00:51:48

and we dropped that card in there together.

00:51:50

So I want to encourage you, if you're doing something

00:51:53

or did something that helped spur you on

00:51:55

to love and good deeds, stay connected

00:51:58

and continue to prioritize relationships.

00:52:01

In ordinary time, let's spur one another on

00:52:05

to love and good deeds.

00:52:06

So in ordinary time, we want to be good receivers.

00:52:09

In ordinary time,

00:52:10

we want to spur one another on to good deeds.

00:52:12

One other thing, we want to rejoice.

00:52:13

I love that this verse ends with

00:52:15

being overflowing with thankfulness.

00:52:18

I say this every year and I think it's more

00:52:21

and more true every year.

00:52:23

I believe the most important holiday we need

00:52:26

as Americans is happening next Thursday.

00:52:30

I believe that Thanksgiving helps us to detach

00:52:34

from the materialistic world that we live in,

00:52:36

and step back and be thankful for the ways

00:52:38

that God has shown up.

00:52:40

I think there's something powerful about the fact

00:52:42

that all we celebrate Thanksgiving to do

00:52:45

is to be together with people we love and care about.

00:52:48

We need that more now than ever before.

00:52:51

I believe Thanksgiving is a healthy

00:52:53

and good spiritual discipline for us as a country.

00:52:56

That's why one of the things that my family is doing

00:52:58

is we're going to be at the Thanksgiving Eve service

00:53:00

that's happening here in Oakley,

00:53:02

and that's happening at other locations of Crossroads.

00:53:04

We're going to be here because it's a discipline

00:53:06

and it's a practice.

00:53:07

And is it the best time to come at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday

00:53:11

and spend a couple hours in the evening doing that

00:53:13

when you got all kinds of things you're cooking

00:53:15

and trying to get done?

00:53:16

No, it may not be the most convenient time, but we need it.

00:53:19

And when I say we need it, I'm talking about the Mingo family.

00:53:22

But I would actually extend that and say,

00:53:24

I think you needed to.

00:53:26

The practice of Thanksgiving is so powerful.

00:53:28

So again, that's why in a couple of minutes,

00:53:30

in a couple minutes, I'm hoping that you got a chance

00:53:32

to go to 301301 and share a story.

00:53:34

Because we're going to get to spur one another on

00:53:37

to love and good deeds.

00:53:38

We're going to get to to hear and rejoice together

00:53:41

at what God is doing, because there's so much evidence

00:53:44

that gratitude impacts health and longevity.

00:53:47

You've probably heard this, but gratitude

00:53:49

improves your emotional and social well-being.

00:53:52

They've proven that gratitude leads to better sleep quality.

00:53:55

Who would like more sleep and better sleep?

00:53:57

Amen, somebody. Yes, yes. Me too.

00:53:59

It lowers depression risks.

00:54:02

It has favorable markers on cardiovascular disease.

00:54:04

And there's actually a study that has demonstrated

00:54:06

that gratitude actually helps women live longer.

00:54:11

I'm telling you, God knew what He was doing

00:54:14

when He said that one of the ways that

00:54:16

you continue to thrive and don't fall into

00:54:18

a spiritual rut is you practice the rhythm of rejoicing.

00:54:23

And so I want us to do that right now.

00:54:25

How many people would love

00:54:26

to practice this together right now? [cheers]

00:54:29

Well, I hope, I hope so, I hope so,

00:54:31

because that's what we're about to do.

00:54:33

So, I'm looking at my phone here, or my iPad,

00:54:36

because there's some stories that have been coming in.

00:54:39

And I want to have the opportunity to share

00:54:40

some of these moments with you.

00:54:42

And then we're going to sing together as a church.

00:54:44

We're going to have a chance to be thankful.

00:54:46

We're going to have a chance to rejoice

00:54:47

and just remember all that God has done for us.

00:54:49

Because, friends, let me tell you,

00:54:51

what is happening at Crossroads is not normal.

00:54:54

This is not normal. It is not normal.

00:54:56

And here's the beautiful thing, because it's not normal,

00:54:59

there are going to be hundreds of girls in Nepal

00:55:02

who will be rescued from trafficking

00:55:04

and live a free life. [applause]

00:55:06

Because this is not normal.

00:55:08

Because this is not normal, there are going to be

00:55:10

inmates in every prison in America

00:55:12

that feel like they've been forgotten,

00:55:14

but they're going to get this device,

00:55:16

and on that device they're going to know

00:55:17

there's a church in Cincinnati, Ohio,

00:55:19

and Lexington and Columbus and Dayton that loves them.

00:55:22

That's for them.

00:55:24

That's not normal, but it's going to happen.

00:55:26

It's going to happen.

00:55:28

Because of that there are going to be

00:55:29

thousands of young people who come to faith in Jesus

00:55:33

and get baptized at camps.

00:55:35

That's not normal, but it's going to happen.

00:55:37

It's going to happen. And so you know what?

00:55:40

We have a lot to be thankful for

00:55:42

and we have a lot to rejoice over.

00:55:45

So I just want to read some of these.

00:55:46

We got around 200 responses just now

00:55:49

from all of you of things to rejoice.

00:55:52

I'm just going to read some of these.

00:55:54

Somebody said I'm grateful for my family and my friends.

00:55:57

I'm wondering if the second one is from my daughter.

00:55:59

It says my adorable puppy.

00:56:02

We don't have one yet, but my -- it's going to be soon.

00:56:04

It's going to be soon.

00:56:05

Somebody said I'm thankful for three healthy babies.

00:56:08

Somebody said I'm grateful for the ability

00:56:10

to visit family throughout this holiday season.

00:56:13

Somebody said I'm thankful for God's resilience

00:56:15

and faithfulness through what has been a hard year.

00:56:18

He is good. He is kind. He is so gracious.

00:56:21

Thank you Jesus. Amen.

00:56:24

Somebody said I get to see my son

00:56:25

who's been away at boot camp training.

00:56:27

I've missed him so much.

00:56:29

Somebody else said last year at this time

00:56:31

my wife and I were separated.

00:56:33

This year, our relationship is stronger

00:56:35

than it has been in almost 20 years and I am so grateful.

00:56:39

We rejoice. We celebrate that.

00:56:43

Somebody said I got a clear brain scan.

00:56:45

Can I get an amen on that?

00:56:50

Somebody said I finished cancer treatment on Monday.

00:56:54

Praise God for that.

00:56:56

How about this one?

00:56:57

I'm grateful that my husband survived cancer.

00:56:59

Our daughter survived the death of her fiancé

00:57:02

and is now married with two daughters.

00:57:03

Our beautiful, healthy granddaughters

00:57:05

talk about God taking beauty from ashes. Amen. Amen.

00:57:11

Man, there's so many of these.

00:57:12

There's so many that are good.

00:57:14

Let me just read a couple more.

00:57:15

Somebody said I'm thankful my police officer husband

00:57:18

is now retired. Praise God for that

00:57:22

and for the protection over a career.

00:57:24

I'm thankful that my niece accepted my invitation

00:57:27

to come to Crossroads.

00:57:28

She's now been coming here for ten months

00:57:30

and joined the 10X Push. Praise God for that.

00:57:34

God has broken the bond of a generation of addiction with me.

00:57:38

Praise the Lord! Praise God.

00:57:43

There's so many of these that we can be thankful for.

00:57:45

There's so many reminders that all our lives

00:57:49

God has been faithful and we can sing of the goodness of God.

00:57:52

So I'm gonna invite you to stand.

00:57:54

I'm gonna invite you to stand.

00:57:55

And it's ordinary time now, it's ordinary time.

00:57:58

The Push is over, but that doesn't mean

00:58:01

that we have to go into a rut.

00:58:02

So I want us to link arms in this ordinary time

00:58:05

and say I am going to receive.

00:58:08

I am going to connect and have those roots grafted

00:58:12

with other people in this community.

00:58:13

And I'm going to rejoice,

00:58:15

because no matter what the time,

00:58:17

our God is faithful and our God is good.

00:58:19

God, I pray that you would meet us

00:58:21

in this moment of rejoicing.

00:58:23

And I pray, God, that what we say to You now

00:58:25

would simply be a prayer of gratitude

00:58:27

for all that You have done and all that you are going to do.

00:58:31

In Jesus's name, Amen.

00:58:35

- Man, it is just so good to be a part

00:58:37

of this community with you all.

00:58:39

I'm so thankful, whether it's in the ordinary moments

00:58:41

or the extraordinary ones, that we have a community

00:58:44

that is faithful and that leans in in big ways.

00:58:46

Now, if you haven't committed yet,

00:58:48

maybe you just heard about the 10X Push

00:58:50

for the first time and you want more information

00:58:52

or you're ready to commit, you can do that

00:58:54

at crossroads.net/commit.

00:58:56

And remember, for all of us, it doesn't matter

00:58:59

what we say, it matters what we do.

00:59:01

So if you've committed, get started now.

00:59:04

Go to crossroads.net and let's do the tangible action

00:59:07

of adjusting our giving to begin fulfilling on that

00:59:09

so that this transformative work

00:59:11

can get started right away.

00:59:13

Now, another way that we as a community

00:59:15

are working to try and bring heaven to earth

00:59:17

is actually through something called Christmas Gift Drive.

00:59:20

And as God expands His Kingdom 10X through our church,

00:59:22

we want to continue to be a blessing

00:59:23

in our local communities.

00:59:24

And that's why we're doing another year

00:59:26

of Christmas Gift Drive this season.

00:59:28

The holidays are a really challenging time

00:59:30

for families impacted by incarceration and poverty,

00:59:33

and so we want to bring joy to these families.

00:59:36

You can check out crossroads.net/CGD

00:59:39

to see how you can serve or give a gift

00:59:41

no matter where you live.

00:59:43

Purchase as many gifts online as you'd like,

00:59:45

it's super simple, by December 8th

00:59:47

and we'll handle all the distribution.

00:59:49

Your gifts, along with thousands of others, it's amazing.

00:59:52

We'll give nearly 6000 children gifts this year

00:59:54

who otherwise wouldn't have any.

00:59:56

So do this with us, jump in,

00:59:59

make Christmas Gift Drive happen, and these things will --

01:00:03

I got to see these gifts be distributed

01:00:05

and it was beautiful, in local correctional institutions.

01:00:08

The hope, the joy, the moments that

01:00:10

this created for families to have, man,

01:00:12

just a light in the darkness and experience joy

01:00:15

and hope and dignity is so, so good.

01:00:18

So thank you for being on the team with us.

01:00:20

I'm so grateful for all of you.

01:00:22

We'll see you right here next week.

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