The Step Every Follower Must Take

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- Welcome to Crossroads.

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I'm Andy and I'm so glad you've joined us today.

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Every week we learn from a book in the Bible,

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and today we're reading from

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the book of Mark as a church together.

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And specifically we're focusing in

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on the idea of lines and circles.

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Now, what do lines and circles

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have to do with Jesus in the Bible?

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Hey, we'll get there in just a little bit.

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Right now we're going to spend some time worshiping together.

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We believe the lyrics that we sing

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are actual truths about God,

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and that we can do this wherever you are,

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whenever you're worshiping.

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Let's do this together right now.

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- Here's the story of His love for us.

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- There's nothing more that I want for you today

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than to hear the invitation of Jesus.

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Listen. Listen to the circle

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that He puts around all of us.

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His words says this Jesus said,

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"Who needs a doctor, the healthy or the sick?"

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I'm here inviting outsiders, not insiders.

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That's me. Anybody else?

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An outsider, not an insider?

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An invitation to a changed life.

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Changed inside and out.

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It's because Jesus has changed my life inside and out

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that I'll sing these next words.

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They're a response to His invitation

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and it never grows tired.

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When I forget it, I need to come back to it

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and say, "Okay, every time we sing these words,

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I'll throw my hands up.

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Every time we sing these words, I'll throw my heart out.

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And I'll put my voice out there and say,

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'You're my king because of what You've done.'"

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My response to Him.

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- Jesus, I don't -- I don't attempt to--

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I don't attempt to speak for everyone in this space.

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But you are my king because You've changed my life,

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because You've brought hope when there was hopelessness,

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because You've healed things that were broken,

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and because You keep inviting me in

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to more and more life, more peace,

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more strength, more perseverance.

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All of it comes from You and I've found that to be true

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and so You are my king. I praise You, Jesus, above all.

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I do all this because of You. Amen.

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So good. So good to be with you today.

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Hey, that's not just a statement that's just

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on a screen that many of us in this space just say.

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I don't throw words around lightly in my life.

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I don't throw those words around lightly.

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So my decisions, my choices, my actions,

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I want all of it to say He's my king.

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Not perfect, not at all.

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But that's where I'm aiming my life at.

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And my wife and I, my family, we do that also with our wallets.

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So we say, I want my money to be where my heart is

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and You're my King, so You can have it.

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We put our money to His work, not ours.

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And we do that at Crossroads.net/give.

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And if you're back from Super Bowl,

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if it's one of the first times you've been in here,

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great. You're in the right place.

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Don't worry about that.

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But if you're saying Jesus is my King,

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it shows up also at crossroads.net/give. Right?

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Glad you're here. Why don't you grab a seat,

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make your way back to your seats.

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Tell somebody around you, "Man, I'm glad to be here with you."

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If you're online, glad you're joining us, too.

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So the money we give fuels things that change

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this community and changes communities around the world.

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What you're about to see is a story

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not of a place that we just give, but a place we go.

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- Nestled along South Africa's stunning coastline

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and rolling hills, a less visible

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but profound struggle unfolds,

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a battle against poverty and educational disparities.

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Post-apartheid, deep rooted inequalities

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have created two drastically different worlds

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for children inside the country

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when it comes to access to education

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and basic necessities.

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- Amid these challenges,

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hope shines through groups like Build the Future.

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- Transforming communities and bringing

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lasting change to children's lives

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by helping make their dreams of bright futures accessible.

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Crossroads partnership with Build the Future

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ensures funds for education and the aid

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of thousands of volunteers coming alongside

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these communities, fighting for the future

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of South Africa's youth.

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As South Africa transforms, we stand by these children.

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Every child deserves a chance to learn,

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grow, and reach their potential.

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Investing in their education means investing in

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a brighter, more inclusive South Africa

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for generations to come.

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- For over two decades, God has called Crossroads

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to go and change the world.

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When it comes to solving the really big problems

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of injustice, poverty, and exploitation,

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people often think that someone else will step in.

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Well, hey, congrats! Your name is someone else.

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We believe that the church, and not just Crossroads,

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but the church everywhere, is God's plan

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for restoration and healing. That's why we go.

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And serving others is one of what we call

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seven proven practices that lead to growth.

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The work including aiding vulnerable children,

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at risk communities, and exploited individuals,

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it's always done in partnership with organizations

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local to that area that understand

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how to implement sustainable change.

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You can check out all of our Go Trips,

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both global and domestic to the US

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at crossroads.net/Trips.

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This really is an invitation

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to step into an adventure with God,

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to be a part of changing someone's life,

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and it might even change your own life.

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Now, today begins our first week going through the book of Mark.

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We'll see in Mark that Jesus was really good

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at drawing lines, or put another way,

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providing clarity between two different viewpoints.

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Jesus was all about challenging people

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to something better, asking them

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to cross over the lines into His Kingdom.

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And it's always through an invitation

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to anyone that's interested.

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- Some of us see lines as divisive,

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limiting and restrictive.

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Others see lines and think, "Sweet.

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Now we know exactly where to go and what to do."

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In their purest form, lines provide clarity

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about the space between two points.

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What if I told you that

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Jesus was really good at drawing lines?

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He was all about challenging people to something better.

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Jesus constantly challenges people

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to step over the line, to receive more.

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When we choose to step over the line Jesus draws,

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we are stepping into more of His goodness.

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Circles, on the other hand, they're just lines that curve.

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A circle shows us

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where the energy is concentrated in the middle.

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A circle surrounds and identifies what is valued.

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Everyone wants to feel valued and known.

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All throughout history, Jesus has been weaponized

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or minimized by people who want Him to fit into

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their circle, club, or the in-crowd.

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Jesus drew His own circle, and it turns out

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it was bigger than anyone could have ever expected.

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Whether you resonate more with lines or circles,

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Jesus calls you

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to step into more of His concentrated goodness.

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Jesus wants all of us to step over the line

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into His giant circle.

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- Woo. Thank you, yeah, yeah.

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Thank you thank you thank you, for everyone at sites.

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Good morning. Just bringing you into the story.

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It has not been a good morning for me.

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Literally woke up and my house was freezing

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because my furnace is broken.

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And then on the way into work,

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the car I've been borrowing

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died on the side of the highway.

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So just got here. So glad to be with you.

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Can't wait to jump into things today.

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We are starting a new series

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I've been pumped about for months.

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It's on the book of Mark looking at the life of Jesus

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and the way that He taught.

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And what we're going to look at is

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how Jesus always did two things together.

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He always drew lines and He always drew circles.

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The lines are lines of truth that you have to cross,

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and the circles are grace to enter into.

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And I want you to know from the beginning

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whether you've been following Jesus for decades,

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or whether you don't yet believe,

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there is more for you,

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there is more grace than you can imagine.

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There is a more abundant life that you can have

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if you're willing to cross the line of truth.

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And today, I'm hoping that we take

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a step across that line together.

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Let's pray before we go any further.

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God, thank You.

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Thank You for repair people who fix furnaces.

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Thank You for my wife who came

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and rescued me from the side of the highway.

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Thank You for everybody who fought through

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all kinds of difficulty.

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God, I know, and in this room are people

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who fought through things much worse than those

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just to get here to hear Your Word.

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I pray that you plant it deeply in us.

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Help us get closer to You today. Amen. Amen.

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Well, if we haven't met, my name is Kyle.

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I'm the lead pastor here at Crossroads.

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I'm also the loser of the Super Bowl of Preaching.

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So, just so you know, my kids came to Super Bowl

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and they showed up and they were like,

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"Dad," you know, first question is like,

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"Dad, did you win last service?"

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And I was like, "I did not."

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And they were so disappointed. You know?

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I was like, "Ah, kids, you're supposed to be

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a blessing is what the Bible says.

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This is not blessing me."

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I feel like in my life,

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maybe you have this going on right now.

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I know a lot of people who are having their first kid,

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like the first kid is about to get here.

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And I just find expecting parents, parents to be,

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they're so cute, aren't they? Right, parents veterans?

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They're just sweetly naive, you know?

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They just, they're just funny.

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They say things that we look at and we laugh about.

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Now we give them advice, um, we tell them things like,

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"You know, when you give them a parent

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you're going to love, you're going to need to grow

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in things like love and and patience."

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And that's totally true.

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But we don't tell them all the truth.

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And so today I thought we would just do that

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just in safety of, you know, just just us in here.

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I'm going to tell you the whole truth.

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You also have to grow, not just in love and patience,

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but in other skills like hostage negotiation skills.

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Those are some things. You can watch some movies,

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maybe some Liam Neeson movies. I don't know.

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Uh, and lying.

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You're going to have to get way better at lying

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when you have kids, just totally being honest with you.

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Like the pastors say, "I gotta get better at lying?"

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Yeah. You do, I absolutely, totally.

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Here's why. Because what's going to happen is

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one day that little baby will grow up

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and they'll discover crayons,

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and they'll take the crayons

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and they'll draw pictures on paper.

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And they'll walk up to you with those pictures,

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like they're holding the Mona Lisa, so proud.

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And just go, "Look, dad, and what I drew."

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And you'll go, "That's great, great."

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That's the lie part, you're going to have to do it.

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And then you're going to say, "What is it?"

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And they're going to say, "Guess."

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Is it a rabid grizzly bear

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eating a horse made of spaghetti? Is that?

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And then they're like, "No, it's mom."

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Oh, thank you. Right. Good good good good good good.

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That's where the lies come in.

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One of my favorite accounts on Instagram

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is this guy who takes his kids drawings,

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and he makes him in a life-like images.

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Um, this is, I don't know what that's supposed to be.

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It's like a llama situation, not entirely sure.

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Uh, that's, I believe, a squirrel.

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That's a kid's squirrel.

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Again, just this is you can practice the lying part

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right now, if you like. That's a giraffe.

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Say, "Great job, kids. Wow." Practice the lying.

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Super good. That's a bird.

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I'm not sure exactly what kind.

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Uh, and then there's the actual Mona Lisa.

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That's what they do. Terrible, terrible, terrible.

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Now that's funny, right, kid drawings.

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They're terrible. You get to lie about it.

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But it contains this deep truth.

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See, here's the point.

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It's possible to look at a picture

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that someone else has drawn

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and not see what they intend. Totally possible.

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See one thing. "Oh, I thought I was looking at X,

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but it was actually Y." That's entirely possible.

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And this is what happens with Jesus often, I believe.

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It's very possible to look at the pictures

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that He draws of reality and what's meaningful in life

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and how to follow God, to look at it

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and to see a different picture than what He intended.

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Now, if you want to figure out what He said

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about those things, what we have to go on are His Words.

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And those words are in the four authorized biographies

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of His life: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

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You have to dissect them, understand them.

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And in there again, you see these pictures

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that He creates.

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The key to understanding His style, however,

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is this: He always, always, always, always

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draws circles and lines together.

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Never does one without the other.

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And in your life, what you have to understand

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is there won't be a moment where Jesus

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draws a line in the sand

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without a circle of invitation on the other side,

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and there won't be a circle of invitation

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without a line you have to cross.

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You can think about the circles and lines

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as truth and grace, truth and grace.

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Now, most of us, we tend to default to either

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truth or grace as kind of our baseline way of acting.

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Think about yourself.

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Maybe at work, maybe you're a manager,

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maybe you're a truth person.

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And the way it comes out is that you tell

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your employees exactly what to do

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and exactly the way you want it,

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but maybe you forget to encourage them.

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Okay, on the other side, you might be a grace person.

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Maybe you manage through grace

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and you would know this was you because

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you might have a hard time delivering full truth.

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You cut the corners.

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You're afraid to kind of be fully candid.

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Most of us are one or the other, but Jesus came full of both.

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It's one of the most unique things about Him.

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John 1:14 says: And the word, that's Jesus,

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became flesh and dwelt among us,

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and we beheld His glory,

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the glory as of the only begotten Father,

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full of grace and truth. Both together.

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Now the idea for this series came because

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I heard someone say, "Jesus draws circles.

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Jesus doesn't draw lines.

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He doesn't. He never draws lines."

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And I thought, that's not -- that's not true.

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But I understand why we would think it might be.

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It's because we increasingly live

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in a sound bite world, right?

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Where you read the headline,

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I don't know when the last time I --

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This is what I do. I'm telling on myself here.

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I go to read the article, whether it's on ESPN

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or BBC or wherever I get news from. Right?

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I look at the headline and then I read that,

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and then I jump to the article, first sentence,

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skip some stuff, middle, skip some stuff,

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and next article. Right?

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That's what we do.

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You watch four seconds of a video.

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You jump to conclusions without the larger context.

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This is, all of us, how we live and how we behave.

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It's an increasingly common thing

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to have our attention span that's just been eroded.

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It was just a couple of years ago,

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social media as one example, a best practice

00:31:23

in social media videos was measured in number of minutes.

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How many minutes do you want your video to be

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to get people to watch it?

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And is it seven minutes? Is it ten minutes?

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And then was it was 2 minutes or 3 minutes?

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Do you know now the leaders in social media marketing,

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social media video creation would tell you

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the ideal length for a social media video on TikTok

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is between 10 to 15 seconds. That's all you want.

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You can Google this stuff for yourself.

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Some of it sounds ridiculous, I promise it's true.

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The NIH actually has an article published

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on their website in which they label

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TikTok Use Disorder, a new condition that people have.

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It's crazy. Right?

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So another study where they actually went in

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and sort of tried to uncover what is this thing

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that's happening to us.

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And the study said, it was a study of teenagers

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who used TikTok, and it was the average TikTok user

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has an attention span of nine seconds.

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Now, before you judge that, the average non TikTok user

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has an average attention span of 12 seconds.

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Okay, so if you're like, "I don't do TikTok."

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Well, me neither. I don't have TikTok,

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but I love me some Instagram Reels, you know what I mean?

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And some YouTube Reels. It's the same thing.

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It's the same thing. And the point is,

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if you want to understand Jesus, you can't take

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your 21st century American attention span

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and apply it to the Gospels and think

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you're going to understand anything about Him.

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You will literally see a picture

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He did not intend you to see,

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because it's not the one that He drew for you.

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What we have to do is we have to slow down.

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See, the words of the Bible were written 2000 years ago,

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before cars or the internet or TikTok

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or Instagram or anything.

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We need to slow way down,

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and that's what we're doing in this series.

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We're going to slow way down

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and look at the teachings of Jesus to try to understand

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who He is and what it is He's calling us to.

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Now we're going to do that, like I said,

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in the book of Mark.

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Good opening question about the book of Mark is:

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who wrote the book of Mark?

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Here's a little quiz. I'd like you to take a vote.

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Who thinks that Doug wrote the book of Mark?

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Hands for Doug? Okay.

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Who thinks that John wrote the book of Mark?

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Hands for John? No? Steve? Okay.

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Uh, Mark, who votes Mark?

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I'm seeing lots of Mark hands. Very popular answer.

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That's incorrect. Mark did not write the book of Mark.

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Is actually John, not even kidding.

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It's a guy named John.

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He does have a second name of Mark,

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but he's a guy who is not one of the 12 disciples.

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He shows up later on in the New Testament.

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He was a friend of both the Apostle Peter and Paul.

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The first time he shows up and is in Acts 12. It says:

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If you read Acts 15, it calls him John, who was called Mark.

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Like somehow that was his nickname.

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That's not a good nickname. That's real weird. You know?

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I don't understand it, but that was his nickname.

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The Bible is full of lots of AKAs.

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Not the sorority, not the sorority.

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People with two names is what I mean. Full of lots of them.

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We're actually going to see two more today,

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just to warn you, I'm not sure why that is.

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Very confusing.

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But this is the guy, he's now known as John Mark.

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And what historians believe is that the book of Mark

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is Peter, his friend Peter's first hand accounts

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told to John Mark, who wrote them all down.

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And so when you're reading the book of Mark,

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maybe you've never heard this before.

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When you're reading the book of Mark,

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what you're reading is Peter,

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one of the three closest friends of Jesus's

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first hand memories and accounts

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of what it was like to follow Him.

00:35:00

What were the words that He said?

00:35:02

Now, this is one more important thing about the book of Mark.

00:35:05

It's also believed it was

00:35:06

the earliest recorded of the four Gospels.

00:35:09

And so when we read the words, we're reading

00:35:11

the first ever first hand accounts of what Jesus said.

00:35:17

Now in the book, the chapter one, he lays it out

00:35:21

and he gives the first six words

00:35:24

Jesus ever gave as instruction.

00:35:26

And that's what we're going to spend all of our time on today.

00:35:28

They are these, Mark 1:15: Jesus said,

00:35:32

"Repent and believe the good news!"

00:35:36

Repent and believe the good news.

00:35:38

Now this pattern, these first instructions of Jesus,

00:35:41

they're like the spine that runs through

00:35:43

every single teaching He ever gives.

00:35:46

And if you can see this, if you can unlock it

00:35:48

in your mind when you read scripture,

00:35:50

when you read Mark or any of the gospels

00:35:52

and you read the words of Jesus,

00:35:53

you'll start to see the picture click into place.

00:35:56

Repent is the line. It's the line of truth.

00:35:59

And what it means, it's the the Greek word metanoia.

00:36:02

And what it means is to change one's mind.

00:36:04

See, what happens is there's a line on the ground,

00:36:06

and you walk up to the line believing one thing,

00:36:09

and you see a different truth.

00:36:11

And what you do is you change your mind

00:36:13

and you step across into the new truth.

00:36:16

That's what repentance means. Change one's mind.

00:36:19

Now the circle is believe the good news,

00:36:21

and the good news is euangelion.

00:36:24

That's the word in Greek.

00:36:25

What it actually means is a reward for good tidings.

00:36:30

Not just the good news themselves,

00:36:31

but the reward and the other side.

00:36:32

And this is kind of how it works together.

00:36:34

You cross the line of truth, you change your mind.

00:36:37

And on the other side is this circle of good news

00:36:41

that you get to step into: more of God's grace,

00:36:43

more of God's favor,

00:36:45

but you only get it after you cross the line.

00:36:48

Now, while in every person's life there is

00:36:52

a first time you change your mind,

00:36:54

a first repentance and belief of the good news.

00:36:57

It's not a one time thing, not at all.

00:37:01

You see, what God's always doing is drawing more,

00:37:04

your whole life, He'll draw a line

00:37:06

and He'll invite you into a circle.

00:37:07

And you'll have a choice to make.

00:37:09

And as soon as you cross that line

00:37:10

and step into the more of that circle of God's grace,

00:37:12

there'll be another line that He'll invite

00:37:14

you to cross and another circle.

00:37:16

This is the path you take if you want to have

00:37:19

what Jesus describes as the abundant life,

00:37:23

it's the only path He draws.

00:37:25

Take Peter's own calling as an example.

00:37:27

Now this is another -- Peter is another AKA.

00:37:29

This is Peter aka Simon. Again, two first names, strange.

00:37:34

Here we go, Mark 1:16: As He, that's Jesus,

00:37:38

walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon

00:37:40

and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea;

00:37:43

for they were fishermen.

00:37:44

Then Jesus said to them, "Follow Me," line,

00:37:48

"and I will make you become fishers of men." Circle.

00:37:51

They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

00:37:54

Now the line is follow Me. Why?

00:37:56

Well, because up to this point in their lives,

00:37:58

they have been following them. They've been self led.

00:38:02

They had been believing that they were the best ones

00:38:05

to to lead their own lives.

00:38:06

They walk to this line and Jesus says, "Follow Me,"

00:38:09

and they have to confront the truth of

00:38:11

"Maybe I'm not the best one to lead my life.

00:38:13

Maybe it's Jesus." And they do.

00:38:16

And they step across that line, and they follow Him.

00:38:19

Now on the other side of the line is the circle,

00:38:22

"I'll make you fishers of men."

00:38:23

Up to this point they were just normal fishermen

00:38:25

with a normal boat and a normal revenue

00:38:28

and normal everything.

00:38:30

And Jesus says, "I'm going to make you more

00:38:32

than you can possibly imagine. I'll make you leaders.

00:38:36

I'll make you people that are remembered,

00:38:38

literally, thousands of years later."

00:38:39

He invites them into this amazing, amazing circle,

00:38:41

but they don't get it unless they cross the line.

00:38:44

Now, interestingly, this is kind of

00:38:46

how Jesus always tends to call people.

00:38:48

There's a follow Me moment that

00:38:50

they have to choose to step across or not.

00:38:52

We're going to read about Levi, aka Matthew.

00:38:55

That's our other person with two names today

00:38:57

in just a minute, and you'll see the same exact line drawn.

00:39:00

Now, what we don't know is how many people

00:39:02

Jesus said this to, for sure the 12 disciples,

00:39:06

but it's possible He said this to hundreds of people,

00:39:09

and they walked up to the line and they went like this.

00:39:12

"Uh, no thanks. Oh, I don't know if I can quite --

00:39:15

I don't know if I can quite do that."

00:39:17

See, everybody who crosses the line

00:39:19

stepped into more and more.

00:39:23

And here's the story of the calling of of Levi.

00:39:26

We'll look at this for the rest of our time together.

00:39:28

It Begins in Mark 2:13, it says:

00:39:30

Once again Jesus went outside beside the lake.

00:39:33

A large crowd came to Him, and He began to teach them.

00:39:36

As He walked along, He saw Levi son of Alphaeus

00:39:39

sitting at the tax collector's booth.

00:39:41

"Follow Me," Jesus told him,

00:39:44

and Levi got up and followed Him.

00:39:46

Again, he had the choice to make and he crosses the line.

00:39:49

Now the amazing part is after he crosses the line,

00:39:51

Jesus goes back to his house and He's like,

00:39:53

"All right, let's go hang out."

00:39:55

And it says this in Mark 2:15:

00:39:57

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house,

00:39:59

many tax collectors and sinners were eating

00:40:01

with Him and His disciples,

00:40:02

for there were many who followed Him.

00:40:05

Jesus basically goes like, "Hey, that's awesome,

00:40:07

you follow Me, I'm going to go to your house

00:40:09

and we're just going to have a giant party here."

00:40:12

Spread the tablecloth out and just have a good time.

00:40:15

Now at this table, if you've heard of this before,

00:40:18

Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners.

00:40:21

What does does that mean?

00:40:22

Well, these are people who Jesus,

00:40:24

as a rabbi, was not supposed to be around.

00:40:27

They were the people who were kind of

00:40:29

outside of the circle of acceptance.

00:40:32

But Jesus walks up and He meets with them anyway.

00:40:35

And this is the kind of circle

00:40:36

that we aspire to be at Crossroads.

00:40:38

You hear us say, a lot of times, you know,

00:40:40

no matter who you are, what you believe, you're welcome here.

00:40:43

And we really mean that, totally mean that.

00:40:46

We want to be just like Jesus to go, "Hey,

00:40:48

whoever wants to hang out, whoever wants to be around,

00:40:51

man, get around the table.

00:40:52

We'd love to be friends with you.

00:40:53

Love to hang out with you. Love it, love it, love it."

00:40:56

In fact, we're so much this way that

00:40:58

it freaks out a lot of other churches,

00:40:59

freaks out a lot other Christians.

00:41:01

They see us doing things that they just don't understand:

00:41:03

Super Bowl of Preaching, our mission trips.

00:41:05

You heard about Go Trips earlier.

00:41:07

You know, for other churches, just about every other

00:41:10

one I've ever seen, ever heard of, you have to be

00:41:12

a believer in Jesus, in many cases, have to be baptized

00:41:16

in order to go on a go trip or on a mission trip.

00:41:19

And at Crossroads we went, "Hey, you're welcome to go.

00:41:22

Our motivation as a believer is to go

00:41:25

and to follow Jesus's command to love people.

00:41:28

I don't know why you're going,

00:41:30

could be for a different reason, but man, you're welcome.

00:41:32

You're welcome to be at the table. You're welcome to."

00:41:35

And I just want to say, if this is you right now,

00:41:37

that's awesome. So pumped that you're with us.

00:41:39

You don't have to believe anything to belong here.

00:41:42

We just love that you're here and and and

00:41:46

there is and will be a line of faith

00:41:48

on the sand in front of you.

00:41:50

And there will be more that you will not experience

00:41:53

until you cross that line.

00:41:55

It's possible to come here and sit in this seat

00:41:57

and listen for years and years and years

00:41:59

and never cross that line.

00:42:01

My hope and my prayer is that you do

00:42:03

so that you experience the more,

00:42:05

the goodness of God that's on the other side.

00:42:08

Because, see, when you cross the line into faith,

00:42:10

you join the family of God and you always, always,

00:42:13

always have a seat at His table.

00:42:15

Once you cross that line, there's no going backwards.

00:42:17

You always have a seat at His table.

00:42:19

The circle of grace is always for you.

00:42:21

You don't have to maintain your membership,

00:42:23

which is what makes God's circles different

00:42:25

than the world circles.

00:42:26

Because, see, the world also draws circles

00:42:28

and the world also draws lines.

00:42:31

But in the world's circles,

00:42:32

you must maintain membership.

00:42:34

Sometimes it's literally paying your dues.

00:42:36

Sometimes it's doing all the right things,

00:42:38

continuing to vote the right way,

00:42:40

believe the right things, all of that,

00:42:41

you have to maintain your membership.

00:42:43

But at God's circle, you never, ever have to maintain it.

00:42:47

You don't lose your seat at the table,

00:42:49

and it's because God the Father's grace

00:42:52

is very different than earthly father's grace.

00:42:56

Which brings me back to new parents.

00:42:57

Got to talk about this for a minute.

00:42:59

Um. New parents, I know you thought I was done with you.

00:43:01

I'm not, I'm not. You're just you're so, so cute.

00:43:04

One of the things I hear new parents say is,

00:43:07

"My kids will never have screens."

00:43:09

And I hear them whispering this

00:43:11

when I'm at a restaurant and my kids are being crazy,

00:43:13

and I hand them my phone and I see

00:43:15

these little judgmental looks from the side like,

00:43:17

"Oh my gosh, that'll never do that, ever, right?"

00:43:20

Here's the thing you don't yet understand:

00:43:23

Screens aren't screens. They are free babysitters.

00:43:27

That's what they are.

00:43:29

And just like wine calms you down,

00:43:32

screens calm kids down.

00:43:33

Only if you give them wine, you get arrested.

00:43:36

So give them screens, it'll go so much better for you.

00:43:40

I also hear new parents talking about bedtime routines.

00:43:44

You know? They say things like I've never heard this before.

00:43:46

Kids thrive on routine. Oh, I didn't know that.

00:43:48

"And so we're going to have a routine.

00:43:50

Great routine. We're going to every bedtime.

00:43:53

We're going to light a candle.

00:43:55

We're going to play Baby Einstein music

00:43:58

so our kid will be smarter by osmosis because that's a thing.

00:44:01

And then we'll have a nice little thing."

00:44:03

They envisioned like the Von Trapp family like this,

00:44:05

you know, just kind of going off to bed. Just a beautiful --

00:44:07

[singing] So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, good night.

00:44:11

- I hate to go and leave this pretty sight.

00:44:17

- That's what they think, that's what they think. No.

00:44:20

You know want to know what it's actually like at bedtime?

00:44:23

It looks like this.

00:44:25

[Music: Disturbed - Down with the Sickness]

00:44:28

Just getting in there. Just grabbing him.

00:44:30

Just get him to the ground. Get him there. Right?

00:44:33

That's bad time. Whew.

00:44:39

That's what I play every night to psych myself up for bedtime.

00:44:42

Just kind of get ready for it, bedtime's like that.

00:44:46

For my kids, I've been a parent for 13 years, okay?

00:44:49

And every bedtime, it's like they have this.

00:44:52

They're like, "Dad, it's our first time, man.

00:44:53

Don't freak out if we don't do it perfect.

00:44:56

Because it's like, it's like our first time, you know?"

00:44:59

And to be fair, I do change the rules all the time.

00:45:02

And by all the time, I mean never.

00:45:03

And to be fair, I mean, are you freaking kidding me? Never.

00:45:06

The rules of the Ranson house for bedtime are as follows.

00:45:09

Rule 1: go upstairs.

00:45:13

Rule 2: Stay there.

00:45:16

Rule 3: Do not come out unless you have to pee

00:45:19

or you have an emergency.

00:45:22

Now, emergencies are not things like

00:45:24

I have an urgent question about koala bears.

00:45:27

That can wait till the morning.

00:45:29

Emergencies require you to be actively and profusely bleeding.

00:45:33

If that's the case, come out of your room.

00:45:35

Otherwise, see rule 1 and 2: Go upstairs and stay there.

00:45:38

That's what we do. After 13 years,

00:45:40

I've had enough of this crap, right?

00:45:41

That's kind of how I feel every night.

00:45:43

Literally last night, this is exactly how I felt.

00:45:45

I was like, "Are you freaking kidding me?

00:45:46

Why are you -- why are you here?

00:45:47

Why are you still here? This is my time off. Go away."

00:45:51

You know that's how you feel, 13 years you're worn out.

00:45:54

Now why? Why is that?

00:45:56

It's because human mercy is kind of like a pie.

00:46:01

Beautiful, delicious pie. Let's call it apple. Right?

00:46:06

And what happens is, every day,

00:46:08

those little monsters in your house,

00:46:09

they require some of your mercy.

00:46:11

And so you get the pie out. You cut out a piece.

00:46:14

You put it on a plate, and you give it to them.

00:46:17

And then you put the pie back.

00:46:19

And the next day they come out.

00:46:20

They don't know the bedtime rules again somehow.

00:46:22

You get the pie back out. You put more on a plate.

00:46:24

You give it to them.

00:46:26

And eventually what happens is

00:46:27

you just sort of run out of pie.

00:46:30

And there's a day where you pull it out

00:46:33

and it's sticky glue goop --

00:46:35

What am I'm trying to say? Sticky goo and crumbs.

00:46:38

That's it. There's nothing left. This is human mercy.

00:46:42

But see, God's mercy, His circle of grace

00:46:45

is different than our circle.

00:46:47

God's is more like this. G

00:46:49

od's is like He gets it out, and you need some mercy.

00:46:53

You screw up, you do things,

00:46:54

you yell at your kids for bed time, as an example.

00:46:57

God gives you a piece, gives you the mercy for the day.

00:47:00

He puts the pie back and then the next day,

00:47:03

guess what happens? Pie's whole. It's whole.

00:47:08

This is the mercy of God.

00:47:10

It actually says this in Lamentations 3:22. It says:

00:47:25

Every morning.

00:47:26

So, if you're in here and you've ever felt like,

00:47:29

"Man, God must be about to give up on me.

00:47:31

I've been a believer for a while

00:47:34

and I've just screwed up again and again.

00:47:36

I can't kick that habit. I can't kick that thought.

00:47:38

I can't do whatever. Surely God's mercy will run out."

00:47:40

No, no, no, day after day He's going to pull out

00:47:43

a brand new fresh baked pie of mercy for you.

00:47:46

That's the gospel. That's the circle.

00:47:49

Now, that word, which translates mercies,

00:47:53

in this case, his steadfast love and mercies,

00:47:56

that word is not actually mercies.

00:48:00

You want to know what it is?

00:48:02

It's the word womb. That's interesting.

00:48:05

Think about this, the picture that He's drawing,

00:48:09

the picture God's drawing is to say,

00:48:11

"My love, My mercy, My grace fully encircles you

00:48:17

like a womb of care. It will never, ever, ever --

00:48:21

You can't possibly, possibly be abandoned."

00:48:24

That's what God says His love is like.

00:48:26

And again, I just think about that,

00:48:27

that's good news for me today.

00:48:29

Yelled at my kids again last night for bedtime.

00:48:31

Really did, not kidding.

00:48:33

Like God, I just need Your mercy again today.

00:48:36

Again today could You use me?

00:48:37

Again today could You forgive me?

00:48:39

Again today could You give me mercy?

00:48:40

And every single morning God says yes.

00:48:43

See, the circle is better than you can imagine.

00:48:46

I don't know how much of God's grace

00:48:48

you've experienced at this point in your life.

00:48:50

I promise you, for every single one of us in this room,

00:48:52

every single one of us listening, there is more.

00:48:56

However, we won't get it unless

00:48:59

we cross the line of truth in front of us. We never will.

00:49:02

Now, at that dinner where they're eating at the table

00:49:05

and tax collectors and sinners are there,

00:49:07

the Pharisees show up.

00:49:08

These are the self-righteous religious people.

00:49:10

They show up and they're not happy with Jesus.

00:49:12

They're like, "You cannot eat with these people.

00:49:15

That's not okay."

00:49:16

And they start giving Him all this grief.

00:49:18

And this is Jesus's response to them, Mark 2:17:

00:49:21

On hearing this, Jesus said to them,

00:49:23

"It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

00:49:27

I haven't come to call the righteous, but sinners.

00:49:31

See, there's a line He draws.

00:49:33

He goes, "If you want the doctor's help,

00:49:35

there's a line of truth you have to cross called "I'm sick."

00:49:39

And if you're not willing to cross that line,

00:49:41

you won't get the help on the other side.

00:49:43

Similarly with God, if you want the grace,

00:49:47

there's a line you have to cross called "I'm a Sinner."

00:49:50

And if you're not willing to cross that line,

00:49:52

you don't get to experience His grace.

00:49:54

There is no grace without truth.

00:49:57

Thankfully, there is no truth

00:49:58

that doesn't result in receiving more grace.

00:50:01

But this is the line.

00:50:02

Now again I said, the world draws circles, world draws line.

00:50:06

World circles are different.

00:50:07

Well, the world's lines are also different.

00:50:09

See, the world draws lines

00:50:11

that only some people can can cross.

00:50:14

They're always exclusionary lines.

00:50:16

You got to have the right test score, t

00:50:18

he right pedigree, the right skin color,

00:50:20

the right voting record, the right something.

00:50:22

And it's not a line that everybody can cross.

00:50:25

Literally, they draw lines.

00:50:26

You know, reading through history

00:50:28

the last couple of years and just learning more,

00:50:30

I learned about something called redlining.

00:50:31

I don't know if you've heard of this or not.

00:50:33

It's a thing. You can go look it up.

00:50:35

1935 The Federal Home Loan Association

00:50:40

commissioned a study of 239 US cities

00:50:43

in which they wanted every single neighborhood

00:50:46

outlined and ranked in one of four categories.

00:50:50

Basically trying to decide, you know, how risky is it

00:50:53

to give a loan to the people who live in this area?

00:50:55

The first was green, then blue, then yellow, then red.

00:50:59

And if you were in a red outlined neighborhood,

00:51:01

you could not get a loan.

00:51:03

Do you know that there were only six

00:51:05

majority African American neighborhoods

00:51:07

in the entire United States that were not outlined in red?

00:51:11

And you might hear that and go, "That's impossible.

00:51:13

That really happened?" Yeah, it really happened.

00:51:15

You can look it up. It shouldn't be shocking.

00:51:18

This is how the world always draws lines,

00:51:20

always to exclude people. Always.

00:51:23

But Jesus draws different kinds of lines.

00:51:25

The lines that Jesus draws

00:51:27

are the lines that anyone can cross.

00:51:30

Whether you're a slave or a king, you can --

00:51:32

We can all cross the line and the cost is exactly the same,

00:51:37

it's believing that He is who He said He is,

00:51:39

and that we are not the leaders of our lives,

00:51:42

and that we are the sick in need of the doctor,

00:51:45

and that we are the sinner in need of grace.

00:51:48

If you walk up to that line, anybody and everybody

00:51:51

can step right across it, right across it,

00:51:55

to repent and believe the good news,

00:51:58

to face the truth and to cross the line.

00:52:01

And one of the other problems that we have

00:52:03

that I see in our modern culture is that

00:52:05

we have a truth avoidance culture.

00:52:07

We don't like to tell the truth.

00:52:08

We don't like to look at the truth.

00:52:10

We won't stay long enough to find the truth.

00:52:12

We won't dig hard enough to find the truth.

00:52:13

But if you can't get to the truth,

00:52:16

you will be held back your entire life.

00:52:19

You will never, ever experience freedom.

00:52:21

You'll never experience growth.

00:52:23

Step out of the spiritual side for a second.

00:52:26

Let's talk about the business side of things for a minute.

00:52:28

One of the world's greatest entrepreneurs

00:52:30

in history is Jeff Bezos, and he writes

00:52:33

these amazing shareholder letters every single year

00:52:36

as the chairman of Amazon.

00:52:38

He puts these little nuggets of truth in there.

00:52:40

And one, a few years ago, he wrote about

00:52:42

a friend of his who was trying to do a handstand.

00:52:45

Anybody in here do a handstand as an adult?

00:52:48

That would be amazing if you can.

00:52:49

I'd like you to demonstrate later.

00:52:51

That'd be actually amazing. Harder than you think.

00:52:53

This friend wanted to do a handstand

00:52:55

and actually hired a handstand coach to do it.

00:52:58

Don't know if you knew that was a thing,

00:53:00

but there are handstand coaches, so if you want one,

00:53:02

look that up on the internet. Congratulations.

00:53:04

This is what the coach said:

00:53:36

See now, long before Jeff Bezos,

00:53:38

when Jesus came on the scene,

00:53:39

Jesus had the same view of facing the truth.

00:53:42

It's absolutely essential. Absolutely.

00:53:46

I want you to think about in your life,

00:53:47

there's probably a line of truth that God's drawn for you,

00:53:50

somewhere, somewhere in your life

00:53:52

that you're unwilling to cross.

00:53:54

And the reason is because it's uncomfortable.

00:53:56

The truth is almost always uncomfortable to face.

00:54:00

Maybe it's a line about, you know about God's standards

00:54:03

for your body, God's standards for sex.

00:54:05

But you just, "Yeah, just I don't quite want to."

00:54:08

Maybe it's about giving, "I know -- I don't want to."

00:54:10

Maybe it's about forgiveness

00:54:11

or letting go of bitterness. "Ugh."

00:54:13

You can't cross the line. It's uncomfortable to face.

00:54:15

And because of that, it holds us back.

00:54:19

We're missing the point of the truth.

00:54:21

I think it's easy to see the goodness of the circle,

00:54:23

right? It's like, "Oh, yeah, God's fresh baked mercy.

00:54:26

Yeah, come on, let's get some of that mercy."

00:54:28

But do you know that there's a gospel,

00:54:30

there's a good news about the line.

00:54:32

Jesus says this in John 8:31: If you abide in My Word,

00:54:37

you're truly My disciples, and you will know the truth,

00:54:42

and the truth will set you free.

00:54:44

See, there's a place in your life where you're bound up.

00:54:47

You're in bondage.

00:54:48

And it's not grace that sets you free.

00:54:51

It's the truth that sets you free. Why?

00:54:54

Well, because what we're bound by are lies,

00:54:57

beliefs that we have that are attached to us

00:55:00

that we think we cannot escape.

00:55:02

And it's because of what Jesus says

00:55:03

a few verses later after he says the truth sets you free,

00:55:06

He says, "You have a father and he's a father of lies,

00:55:10

and he's coming after you," coming after you.

00:55:13

Now, as we've been talking about truth,

00:55:16

we've been talking about the truth of God,

00:55:18

that's the Word of God, the Word of God.

00:55:20

And it is a line. Truth is a line, but it's not a dull one.

00:55:24

It's actually a very, very sharp line.

00:55:27

Listen to what it says in Hebrews 4:12:

00:55:38

See, we're bound by these lies that we believe.

00:55:40

There are things like, I could never, ever get over my past.

00:55:45

Things like I could never be forgiven

00:55:47

or I'll always be alone or,

00:55:50

no, I'll never be good enough.

00:55:52

All of these lies, they just follow us around

00:55:54

and we're stuck with them.

00:55:55

But these lines, when they meet the line of truth,

00:55:58

something incredible happens to them.

00:56:00

Psalm says that as far as the East is from the West,

00:56:04

so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

00:56:07

See, when you walk up to the line, it turns out

00:56:09

that the line is something like a conveyor belt.

00:56:13

And when those lies meet the line,

00:56:16

they just go away forever.

00:56:20

And you walk across it free.

00:56:22

You step across it into grace and the lies are just gone.

00:56:27

This is the promise of the line.

00:56:30

Where in your life do you

00:56:32

not want to face the truth about you?

00:56:34

Wherever that is, you're going to stay stuck.

00:56:36

That stuff will stay there.

00:56:37

But when you cross the line, it'll all go away

00:56:41

and it'll disappear and you'll find freedom.

00:56:44

See, the line is a gift.

00:56:45

I think this is the thing that we don't understand.

00:56:47

The line is a complete and total gift.

00:56:53

It takes the baggage away you never could.

00:57:00

I became Lead Pastor, I think it's been about 6 weeks,

00:57:02

something like that.

00:57:04

First time it was public was actually at a staff training.

00:57:07

We do a staff training with our staff

00:57:09

every other Wednesday, we announce it to them.

00:57:11

And as soon as it was announced,

00:57:12

that's basically when it became public.

00:57:14

I started functioning as Lead Pastor.

00:57:17

That matters because of what happened

00:57:18

the day before and on that morning.

00:57:21

The day before I had a meeting, and it was one of those

00:57:23

where I think I had an hour scheduled

00:57:25

and I was running behind, and things happened

00:57:27

and there were some fires that put out.

00:57:28

And so I go into the meeting with only 15 minutes.

00:57:30

It's a meeting with Justin and Robbie,

00:57:32

who run Crossroads Music and Worship.

00:57:34

And we had some things we wanted to discuss.

00:57:35

And because we were short on time,

00:57:37

I just jumped straight into the things

00:57:39

that I didn't like and what I wanted to see change

00:57:41

and just, you know, just for efficiency,

00:57:43

just bam, bam, bam, just going to hammer through some stuff.

00:57:45

And then I left.

00:57:46

The next morning I show up

00:57:47

and we're at staff training, and we always start

00:57:49

with 30 minutes of worship together,

00:57:51

which is absolutely amazing.

00:57:52

And I'm sitting there in my seat, I'm worshiping,

00:57:54

and I'm watching Justin and Robbie and the team

00:57:57

that they lead just do an incredible job

00:57:59

blessing me and our whole staff and leading us in worship.

00:58:02

And not just a good job like performing well

00:58:04

or singing well, they were definitely doing that,

00:58:06

but just in their genuineness of worship.

00:58:08

And in that moment, I just felt this convicting truth

00:58:11

of I had been a bad leader.

00:58:14

I had not done what I needed to do.

00:58:16

And to be clear, there are some times

00:58:17

you just need to say something. There are.

00:58:19

There are certainly times you just start out

00:58:21

and you know, just say what you think.

00:58:23

But in this moment, the conviction I felt from God was,

00:58:25

"Hey, that wasn't what I wanted you to do.

00:58:27

You need to apologize."

00:58:29

And so I texted them and I said, "Hey, guys,

00:58:31

I need to meet with you as soon as this is over,

00:58:33

uh, down front, I got to say something to you."

00:58:36

And they met with me, and I apologized.

00:58:38

I said, "Hey, I need to repent.

00:58:40

That was not great of me.

00:58:42

I should have started this way.

00:58:43

I should have said, 'Hey, thank you

00:58:45

for the amazing work that you do.

00:58:47

Thank you for the incredible worship culture

00:58:48

that you've created at Crossroads.

00:58:50

Thank you for the amazing songs that you've written

00:58:52

that have blessed me and my family,

00:58:53

God of the Breakthrough and Always Moving

00:58:55

and all these great songs. Thank you, thank you.'

00:58:57

That's how I should have started.

00:58:58

They were so kind. They were so generous.

00:59:00

They say, "Hey, man, don't worry about it.

00:59:02

All good. All forgiven." I say, "Okay, great. Thanks."

00:59:05

Then I went back up to my desk and I'm sitting there.

00:59:07

It's probably about an hour later, it hit me.

00:59:11

I was like, "Oh, man, that was my first moment

00:59:14

being lead pastor and the first thing I did

00:59:17

is screw up and have to apologize.

00:59:20

That's not a great sign. You know?

00:59:23

This might not go well."

00:59:24

I was like, "Crap, it just -- dang it."

00:59:26

I was already off to a bad start.

00:59:29

And then it hit me, "Repent and believe the good news."

00:59:34

Then I felt God say to me, "Kyle, guess what

00:59:36

My call to you yesterday was?

00:59:39


00:59:40

Guess what My call today to you is?

00:59:42


00:59:44

Guess what My call to you tomorrow will be?

00:59:46

Repent and believe the good news. Did you repent?" I did.

00:59:51

"Do you believe the good news that you're forgiven?"

00:59:53

I do. "Great job."

00:59:56

And I went, "Okay, maybe there's

00:59:57

nothing more important, nothing better that could

01:00:00

forever be the first thing I ever Lead Pastor then repent,

01:00:03

because it's the call on my life

01:00:05

and it's the call on yours.

01:00:07

If you want, if you want to experience

01:00:10

the abundant life that God has for you,

01:00:12

you have to live the repent and believe life

01:00:15

day after day after day after day.

01:00:17

And you'll walk up to the line and at some point

01:00:19

you have to recondition yourself to go,

01:00:21

"This sword, this line is not to poke me.

01:00:25

It's not to put me down.

01:00:27

It's not to put me in my place.

01:00:28

It's to create freedom for me so I can step into

01:00:31

the life and be the person that God has called me to be."

01:00:34

Repent and believe.

01:00:36

Where, where, where in your life is God calling you to that?

01:00:42

Repents and believe.

01:00:43

There's a circle and there's a line.

01:00:46

My prayer for you is you have the courage to cross the line,

01:00:50

that you get to experience the circle of grace

01:00:52

on the other side. Let me pray for you.

01:00:53

God, thank You for everyone here.

01:00:55

Thank You for the invitation You give us.

01:00:57

Thank You, Lord, that there is a grace on the other side.

01:01:00

You could have just made a line.

01:01:01

You could have just had a line of truth,

01:01:03

"You're sinners and you're sick,

01:01:05

and I just want you to see it and that's it."

01:01:08

But You didn't stop there.

01:01:09

You created a circle of grace for us to step into.

01:01:12

God, I'm praying for each one of us that

01:01:13

if we're in here today and we need mercy,

01:01:15

that we'd receive mercy.

01:01:17

If we're in here today and we need to face that truth,

01:01:19

that we'd face it, You'd give us the courage to cross

01:01:21

so we can see and experience more of You. Amen.

01:01:25

Thanks for being here.

01:01:28

- Hey, thanks so much for watching.

01:01:29

But you should know Crossroads isn't just content to watch.

01:01:32

We are a community that you can belong to.

01:01:34

And if you want to grow, I'd highly recommend

01:01:36

you check out our upcoming cohorts.

01:01:38

These are opportunities for growth and connection

01:01:40

that you can do on your own time,

01:01:41

but still alongside other people.

01:01:44

They involve small daily challenges,

01:01:46

some weekly input and training, and way more

01:01:48

to help you get traction in a specific area of your life.

01:01:51

Starting in just a few weeks, we have

01:01:53

21 days to build a marriage you'll love,

01:01:55

led by my wife, Rachel and I,

01:01:57

and also 21 days to Better Dating.

01:01:59

If you want to make the step from watching church

01:02:02

to being a part of this church,

01:02:03

we're also hosting a Digital Connect event

01:02:05

led by my buddy and teammate Daniel Montgomery

01:02:07

on February 18th, 12 p.m. Eastern Standard.

01:02:10

We'd love to see you there, connect with you personally,

01:02:13

and help you get connected to others in the community.

01:02:15

You can head to Crossroads.net/anywhere

01:02:18

to find out more. We'll see you back next week.

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