The Winning Bracket | Jesus According to His Alleged Best Friend Week 1 | Anywhere Service

Who we put in the center of our bracket matters, right? Well, no matter how terrible your bracket was this year, there’s a winning bracket out there. When we put Jesus in the center of our lives, we get a light that pushes out all the darkness.

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    - Hey, I'm Kyle. This is Crossroads.
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    And today we start a new series on the book of John.
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    - I'm John. Nice to meet you. You may have heard of me.
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    I'm kind of Jesus's best friend. No big deal.
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    Not really sure how I ended up here in America.
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    I've been seeing a lot of sights.
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    It's bad. It kind of sucks.
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    -We're learning about Jesus from John's perspective
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    who He really was.
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    - Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Yeah, yeah. We hear about --
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    you want to hear about Jesus? Of course.
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    Yeah. The big man. Everybody wants to hear about Him.
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    And like I said, we were best friends,
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    like Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg
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    or Kanye and Kanye.
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    He was just like a normal dude.
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    He had a job. We went fishing together.
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    He put on the sandals one at a time,
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    just like everybody else.
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    But at the same time,
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    He was also an alien, not from this earth.
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    He was like Thanos, but not purple or evil.
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    Dude just said and did things that no man could do.
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    He was God in human form.
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    Anyways, I get paid for this? I'll tithe it, I swear.
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    I just want to more of whatever this is.
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    Look, it comes with its own little baptismal.
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    - Well, you get the idea.
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    Let's get started with my friend Hannah
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    talking about light.
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    And actually, before we get started,
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    I want you to know that we're completely donor funded.
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    It's because of generous givers like you
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    and me and my family, thousands of others
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    who make this message possible.
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    Let's go to Hannah.
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    - Now I'm a little bit late, actually, super late.
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    But I'm finally filling out
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    my NCAA March Madness bracket.
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    No, this is not a basketball. It's a light.
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    I'll get to that in a second.
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    Anyway, I'm pretty sure that I have it narrowed down
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    to who will for sure, maybe, possibly, probably not win.
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    I'm not sure what the point of brackets area anyway.
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    Hey, I'm Hannah. And believe it or not,
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    I think that my bracket that I don't understand
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    and Jesus might just have something in common.
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    See, when I'm filling out my bracket,
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    I'm looking for that top spot,
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    the one who's going to shine above the rest,
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    the team that will be a true winner.
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    Today, we're going to talk about how Jesus
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    is the true winner.
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    No, not in that like cliché statement way,
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    but how He's the winner specifically over darkness.
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    Some call this light.
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    Now, He's not just any light. He is the light.
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    Now we all have some sort of bracket in life,
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    some space where we have a winning spot
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    and it's designed for something.
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    Today, I'm going to tell you why Jesus has
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    that winning spot in my bracket
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    and why He deserves that spot in yours.
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    Okay. Let me tell you why I was late
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    building out my NCAA bracket.
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    It's because I was busy. Maybe out of town. Tired?
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    No, actually, it's just because I really don't care
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    too much about who actually wins this time around.
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    But I think I know some ancient characters
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    who have a bracket of their own that they're trying to fill out,
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    and they probably care a lot more than me.
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    Like I said, this NCAA bracket,
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    it has something to do with Jesus
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    and I'm about to prove it to you right now.
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    I love how we're meeting this John character
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    and bringing him into our current context,
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    because I bet an NCAA bracket like thing
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    where there's the boxes and the lines
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    that would have been really useful for John
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    and people like John living in his time.
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    See, the apostle John, the follower of Jesus,
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    the disciple, he calls himself the one who Jesus loves,
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    this guy and many people during the same time period
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    he lived, they were all looking for someone
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    to fill this highest ranking spot,
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    and that is the Messiah.
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    They were looking for the ultimate winner over darkness,
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    and there's only one spot for that.
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    They were searching for the one who was going
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    to come and finally save and deliver them.
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    And you're like, "Save and deliver them from what?
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    Aren't we talking about the Jews here?
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    God's chosen people who were already
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    rescued from Egypt by Moses?"
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    Well, this is God's chosen people we're talking about,
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    but we're not exactly talking about the Jews in Egypt.
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    Let me catch you up.
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    We're talking about people who wanted
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    to be delivered from darkness.
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    They were searching for light.
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    In John 1:1 it says:
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    Why is the writer, John, telling us all of this?
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    Why is he talking about lights, and being in the beginning?
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    Why's he even going back to Genesis?
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    Didn't we just do that?
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    No, no. He's doing this because he's trying to let us,
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    the reader, know who Jesus is.
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    See, it's right here in this important distinction,
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    but very clever conjunction that the writer makes,
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    that we understand who Jesus is.
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    He's both Word and He's flesh.
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    It means that He's both Divine, Son of God,
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    and He's human, the son of man.
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    Let me tell you why this distinction is so important.
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    Because in a world where truth is so hard to nail down,
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    we're so subjective,
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    the concept of God is hard to decipher.
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    It's out there among all the noise
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    of all the other things that call themselves gods.
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    God gave us a sure way to know what He is like
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    and who He is, and that is through Jesus.
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    So God is holy. Yeah.
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    And we can't see Him,
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    which makes Him feel really far away.
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    He made sure that we don't have to wonder
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    or question about what his character is
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    because of Jesus, Jesus is God in human form.
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    And He made sure that we will be able to know
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    that He is light, who will always beat darkness.
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    Now the Bible points to this consistently
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    in Colossians 1:15 it says:
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    And in Hebrews 1:3 it says:
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    But why? Why do we need to know what God is like?
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    Why does it matter if He's represented in Jesus?
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    Well, I think there's a host of reasons,
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    but I think it's because God wants us
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    to be able to distinguish Him as light.
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    He wants us to be able to identify that it is Him
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    who is truth, who is life, who is peace,
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    and who is light that shines in the darkness.
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    See, on that NCAA bracket that I mentioned earlier,
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    there's only one space for the winner.
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    There's a lot of contenders,
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    a lot of teams that compete.
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    A lot of people that really want
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    to get into that final spot.
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    But at the end of the day, there's just one.
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    Now, if the apostle John had had a bracket,
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    there would only be one space for the Messiah, too,
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    one space for the Savior, the coming person
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    that was supposed to change everything.
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    But just like the teams on my NCAA bracket,
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    there would have been a lot of people,
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    a lot of competitors, if you will,
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    a lot of contenders trying to make their way
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    to that winning spot.
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    Now, if you don't believe me that there is
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    a ranking situation in the Bible,
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    I'm going to tell you is right here in the Bible.
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    John the Baptist, not the Apostle John,
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    a different John, who's Jesus's cousin,
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    some people even thought he was the Messiah.
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    He said this:
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    See y'all, there it is. There's a ranking.
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    So there's people moving all around,
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    all over the bracket,
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    trying to get into that final spot.
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    And so the people, like John I imagine,
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    people like Moses, people like John the Baptist
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    perhaps even were like, "Who is this messiah?
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    Who's going to fill that final spot?
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    Who is going to be the light
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    that saves us from darkness?"
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    They're saying, "Will you be the one
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    that takes away all the pain, all the suffering?
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    They're searching, and honestly, aren't we all?
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    We all might have a bracket of some sort in our life,
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    that thing where we're like
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    there is only one winning spot,
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    something where we want to fill the ultimate space,
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    something where we have actually tried everything
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    and we've moved all the boxes around
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    trying to figure out what is going to be the winner,
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    what is going to be the thing
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    that takes away the darkness.
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    Maybe we're searching for the ultimate thing
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    that will make us happy.
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    And so we've tried all these different things.
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    We moved around the boxes.
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    Maybe we're searching for the one thing
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    that will bring us peace.
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    Maybe we're looking for the one thing
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    that's going to take away the gnawing feeling
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    of loneliness, the feeling of worthlessness.
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    Maybe we're looking for the thing
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    that's going to take away darkness.
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    And I'm telling you, I got the answer. It's the light.
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    - So this tinder isn't used to start fires?
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    - No, no, it does something very different.
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    I mean, it'll burn your life down, but --
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    - That's okay, that's okay. Huh? Interesting.
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    I don't know if you guys have heard
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    about these things called phones. They're amazing.
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    Like, we never had these where I'm from, you know?
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    - Uh huh. - I learned there's this thing
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    called the Crossroads app, and you can get it,
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    and you can read the Bible in the app.
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    And like, where do I get that again?
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    - At the App Store. - The App Store.
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    - It's kind of like a market kind of thing,
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    like where you get your breads and your apps together?
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    - No, not at all.
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    - Is there another place I can get it?
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    - You can go to Crossroads.net.
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    - Oh, I love nets. - You can look there.
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    - Love nets. - It's not what you think it is.
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    - Okay, well, either way, there's this like --
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    There's this, like, painting that moves.
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    What do you call that?
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    - Magic. - Magic.
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    Let's watch some magic right now.
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    - This is a story from the Bible Challenge.
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    - I'm Rico Calles
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    and I am a cross-country and track coach.
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    So I wake up every morning and get ready for my day.
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    I grab a cup of coffee
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    and I come to the chair that I'm sitting at right now.
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    The Bible challenge is fun because
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    even though I'm by myself, I know that
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    there are other people doing it alongside me.
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    And it's also really cool to see
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    how they're interpreting something
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    and how it's applying to their life.
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    I think when we were going through the Book of Daniel,
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    it was pretty awesome to see just like
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    his discipline and how Daniel
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    would pray at the same time in the same place.
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    So those were like predictable patterns in his life.
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    That idea from the Book of Daniel can easily
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    be replicated with the kids that I coach
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    in the sport of running.
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    Even on the tough days when we don't want to,
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    like, we're going to show up and we're going to do it
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    because that's one of our team values.
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    As a result of me participating in it,
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    I get to influence other lives as a result of that.
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    - So, we're searching, we keep looking
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    and we're searching on how we're going to fill
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    our brackets, whatever that bracket is for you.
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    We keep looking for what we're going to think
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    is going to be the winner.
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    We keep asking ourselves, what is that ultimate thing
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    that will make the darkness in my life go away?
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    We fill it.
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    We fill our brackets with all types of stuff.
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    It's all artificial.
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    We fill it with maybe striving,
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    striving for the next best thing.
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    And so we see one part like, "Oh, this job.
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    You know what? That's not good enough.
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    That's not going to move on to the next round.
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    Get a new job."
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    Maybe we fill our bracket with isolation
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    and self reliance.
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    We say, "I tried that small group.
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    I tried that group of friends. They didn't make the cut.
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    You know what's better? Me on my own. Me, myself and I."
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    Maybe we fill up our brackets, our lives
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    with immediate gratification.
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    We think that's the way out of darkness
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    is simply satisfying every single thing that we want.
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    Maybe we think the way out of darkness is just numbing,
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    because it's better not to feel.
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    We're all searching and we're looking for
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    the physical thing that can fix our spiritual problem.
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    You see, there is actually a fix,
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    a fix to the darkness, and it's called light.
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    Maybe you've tried it out. Maybe you haven't.
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    But this light, the light, by the way,
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    is the only thing that can drive out darkness.
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    It's the only thing that's more powerful
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    than what can feel like thick and heavy, heavy space.
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    See, and that's where Jesus comes in.
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    I think God knew that humans that He placed in
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    a very physical world would always look for
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    a physical fix to a spiritual problem.
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    And that's why Jesus is the perfect combination,
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    see, because he's both God and man, God and flesh.
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    This physical flesh over here
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    is also the divine spiritual God,
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    someone who, when we see him, we can say,
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    we've seen the Father because He is the Father.
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    See, and He's the only physical being
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    with the divine power to drive away darkness.
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    Yeah, maybe I'm talking about physical darkness,
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    like, dark at night with stars.
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    Yeah, Jesus can drive it out.
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    But that's not really what I'm getting at.
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    I'm talking about driving out the spiritual darkness
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    that you and I all have.
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    And you know what? It's on display everywhere,
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    the kind of darkness that makes us hate our brother.
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    See, it's this kind of darkness that leads us
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    to believe we'll be alone, unloved, forever.
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    It's the kind of darkness that lets hatred
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    and division rule.
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    This kind of darkness is the kind
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    that Jesus came to overcome.
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    And, yes, He came to overcome it for the world,
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    but also in our own personal lives.
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    The Bible calls Him the light of the world, and He is.
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    But he's also the light of our personal worlds.
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    And it's in this light that gives us hope.
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    It helps us see that there is a better way,
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    there is a better plan.
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    There is a light that reminds us
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    we don't have to be in darkness.
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    We don't have to be broken.
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    We don't have to be even in sin.
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    We can be whole.
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    Now, you might be asking yourself,
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    "Hannah, how can you believe this?
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    I don't even see the physical darkness you're talking about.
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    I don't actually even need a Savior."
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    Maybe you're right, but if you're anything like me,
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    you know that in the back of your mind,
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    without Jesus there is something missing.
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    There's a piece of you that feels a void.
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    I'll tell you how I believe in the light.
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    It's this thing called faith.
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    Yeah. Faith lets us believe this.
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    Sometimes I actually look around
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    and it's hard to have faith because I'm like,
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    "The darkness is winning.
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    The darkness is all around and it's still winning.
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    What did Jesus overcome?
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    There's war, there's famine, there's poverty,
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    there's stealing.
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    There are people cutting you in COVID lines
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    and then threatening to harm you."
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    That's a true story, it happened to a friend of mine.
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    The world is crazy.
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    But you know what?
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    Then I take a look at my own personal life,
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    and I think about the mess that I was before Jesus.
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    I think about the person that's obsessed
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    with perfection, with overworking, with striving.
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    The person who thinks, "You know what,
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    if I get the next best thing,
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    then I'm going to be whole."
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    I think about my own futile solutions
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    that I have put in all of these brackets.
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    See, my bracket was filled with both self-loathing,
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    simultaneously toxic autonomy.
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    I look at how I was,
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    and Sundays maybe even still struggle with this.
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    But I was headed for spiritual
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    and emotional destruction.
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    And then there's this light.
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    Jesus who offers me and, oh, you, by the way,
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    He offers us a better way.
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    He lets me know that the anger
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    that I struggle with sometimes,
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    the pride that I struggle with sometimes,
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    those things don't have to rule my life.
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    See, when I look at Jesus, when I look at the light,
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    His light shines out the darkness because I know
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    that I actually can be compassionate just like Him.
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    He offers me hope.
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    He lets me know that, you know what?
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    I can have an impact on this world, just like He did.
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    And when I look at those actions,
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    when I look at the light, I'm looking at God.
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    See I'm living proof that the light works, y'all.
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    Me standing right here is living proof that the light works.
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    I'm a walking example that God in the flesh,
  • 00:16:58
    who we call Jesus,
  • 00:16:59
    is the only one who deserves the center bracket.
  • 00:17:03
    He's the only winner that can overcome the darkness.
  • 00:17:07
    He's the only light.
  • 00:17:09
    You know, I can't believe it sometimes,
  • 00:17:11
    but He actually wants a relationship with me.
  • 00:17:16
    He actually wants a relationship with you.
  • 00:17:20
    He might be saying to you, "Listen,
  • 00:17:22
    you've tried all the other lights."
  • 00:17:25
    Remember I had that orb, that artificial light,
  • 00:17:27
    that candle, that artificial light,
  • 00:17:29
    the lamp, that artificial light.
  • 00:17:31
    You've tried all the other artificial lights
  • 00:17:34
    trying to fix your dark situations
  • 00:17:36
    and you filled your bracket.
  • 00:17:37
    You said, "This one's going to be the winner.
  • 00:17:39
    No, no, no. It's going to be this one.
  • 00:17:41
    It's going to be this one."
  • 00:17:42
    You filled it with anything and everything else.
  • 00:17:46
    But Jesus is saying, "What about me?
  • 00:17:49
    How about you give the real source of light a try?"
  • 00:17:55
    See when we have this light,
  • 00:17:57
    the ultimate winner of darkness, it changes things.
  • 00:18:01
    When we have the light that Jesus offers,
  • 00:18:04
    He doesn't just say, "Oh, no,
  • 00:18:06
    everything's going to be perfect."
  • 00:18:07
    You know what?
  • 00:18:08
    When we have the light that Jesus offers,
  • 00:18:10
    it gives us a blueprint for how
  • 00:18:12
    we should see everything else in our lives.
  • 00:18:14
    And that's through, remember, He's the light and the Word.
  • 00:18:18
    See, our standard for what is true starts to change.
  • 00:18:21
    Our standard for what is good starts to shift.
  • 00:18:24
    It's no longer this, like, murky out there thing.
  • 00:18:27
    We can literally look at Jesus and see God,
  • 00:18:30
    and things start to clear up
  • 00:18:32
    because it's this God, it's this Jesus
  • 00:18:35
    who's the light that drives out darkness.
  • 00:18:38
    In a second we're about to head to worship,
  • 00:18:40
    which is just prayer set to music.
  • 00:18:43
    And you might be like,
  • 00:18:44
    "Why do I need to pray set to music?"
  • 00:18:46
    But that moment of worship, it does something.
  • 00:18:48
    It aligns us with God.
  • 00:18:51
    Now, if you're looking for that light
  • 00:18:52
    that I talked about, if you're one of the ones
  • 00:18:54
    who are like, "You know what?
  • 00:18:56
    I've actually tried all the other things in my life
  • 00:18:58
    that I thought were going to be
  • 00:19:00
    the ultimate light to drive out darkness.
  • 00:19:02
    And nothing has worked. Nothing's worked."
  • 00:19:04
    This moment of worship is for you to really think about
  • 00:19:08
    if you want to invite that light into your life
  • 00:19:10
    to align yourself.
  • 00:19:11
    But for those of you who are ready right now,
  • 00:19:13
    if you're like, "I actually don't need to think,
  • 00:19:15
    I actually have tried all the other artificial lights
  • 00:19:17
    and I'm ready to make that shift right this second."
  • 00:19:19
    I want you to pray with me.
  • 00:19:21
    You can repeat after me if that's helpful.
  • 00:19:23
    God, it's me, Hannah.
  • 00:19:26
    Now you say your name.
  • 00:19:29
    And I'm coming to You because I've tried everything.
  • 00:19:33
    I've tried all the other artificial lights.
  • 00:19:37
    I've been looking for something to drive out darkness.
  • 00:19:42
    I recognize that that is you, God.
  • 00:19:45
    I want You to be the ultimate source
  • 00:19:48
    of light in my life.
  • 00:19:50
    Come into my heart right now.
  • 00:19:52
    Make space in my heart right now.
  • 00:19:56
    In Jesus name. Amen.
  • 00:19:58
    Hey, if you prayed that prayer, I want to know actually.
  • 00:20:01
    You can email me right now. I will respond.
  • 00:20:05
    At Hannah.Driskill@Crossroads.net.
  • 00:20:08
    And if you don't want to chat with me, that's okay.
  • 00:20:10
    You can chat with anyone.
  • 00:20:12
    If you just prayed that prayer,
  • 00:20:13
    I want you to chat with somebody.
  • 00:20:15
    Don't just live that out alone.
  • 00:20:16
    You can go to Crossroads.net to chat with someone right now.
  • 00:20:19
    Let's worship together.
  • 00:23:45
    - Hey, we hope you enjoyed this week's message
  • 00:23:47
    from my friend Hannah.
  • 00:23:48
    If you have any more questions,
  • 00:23:50
    I live at the Sea of Galilee in a nice little chateau.
  • 00:23:52
    - No, no, no, no. We have a chat on the website.
  • 00:23:55
    It's far easier than that.
  • 00:23:57
    - Cool. Yeah, I love that, tickets are expensive.
  • 00:24:00
    Crossroads is donor funded, which means
  • 00:24:01
    the money that you and others put forward
  • 00:24:04
    to actually help us do stuff like this.
  • 00:24:06
    - Mm-hmm. We also use some of that money
  • 00:24:09
    to do things like help you understand
  • 00:24:11
    what you were trying to say in the Book of John.
  • 00:24:13
    This is a free guidebook we put together
  • 00:24:15
    about the book of John, it gives you a context
  • 00:24:17
    that you maybe left out, things you assumed.
  • 00:24:20
    - I think I wrote it pretty good.
  • 00:24:21
    - It's free at Crossroads.net/BibleChallenge.
  • 00:24:23
    We will mail one to your house.
  • 00:24:25
    - Very cool. I don't remember it being that small.
  • 00:24:27
    - Speaking of that. Easter is coming up.
  • 00:24:29
    - Easter. I remember that.
  • 00:24:31
    - Cool, uh-huh. Thank you. Good.
  • 00:24:32
    And we have a sneak peek of it for you.
  • 00:24:35
    - Easter is a love story,
  • 00:24:38
    an act of love for a heartbroken world,
  • 00:24:41
    the fulfillment of the promise
  • 00:24:43
    that no matter what has happened in your life,
  • 00:24:45
    what you've done or how far you feel from God,
  • 00:24:48
    love says you are worth dying for.
  • 00:24:52
    The good news of Easter is that
  • 00:24:54
    we don't have to wonder if we are loved
  • 00:24:56
    or what that love will do for us.
  • 00:24:59
    Love has come to save us all.
  • 00:25:11
    Join us for Easter with Crossroads.
  • 00:25:13
    Find service times at Crossroads.net/Easter.
  • 00:25:18
    - You can check it out.
  • 00:25:19
    We'll see you next week on Crossroads.
  • 00:25:21
    Do you want to say that part? - No.
  • 00:25:22
    - Give it a little, you can. - No, I'll get it next time.
  • 00:25:25
    - Why don't you give the people the last line?
  • 00:25:27
    Come on. Come on. You got it.
  • 00:25:29
    - We'll see you next week on Crossroads.
  • 00:25:31
    - A little -- A little more. - Yeah, okay.
  • 00:25:34
    We'll see you next week on Crossroads.
  • 00:25:35
    - Perfect. - That felt good.
  • 00:25:36
    - Uh-huh. Bye.
  • 00:25:40
    - You know, the best way to get to know someone
  • 00:25:41
    is through the lens of people who are closest to them.
  • 00:25:44
    That would include the Apostle John.
  • 00:25:47
    Lots of people have a cultural touchpoint for Jesus,
  • 00:25:51
    but few people knew what He was really, really like.
  • 00:25:54
    I'm going to give you today two stories
  • 00:25:57
    that are polar opposite extremes of seeing Jesus.
  • 00:26:02
    Oftentimes when we see the extremes of somebody,
  • 00:26:05
    we understand the totality of who they are.
  • 00:26:10
    - Come to Crossroads Church for the next series:
  • 00:26:13
    Jesus according to His alleged best friend,
  • 00:26:17
    and hear all about who Jesus was.
  • 00:26:20
    Quick note, not alleged. True.
  • 00:26:22
    It's in the Bible. Doesn't matter who wrote it. [tone]
  • 00:26:26
    - And I just -- I don't know why --
  • 00:26:28
    I don't know why he's here.
  • 00:26:29
    I feel like it's an online church
  • 00:26:31
    and he's never even seen a phone before?
  • 00:26:32
    Like, he's just making it worse
  • 00:26:34
    and I feel like we're going to lose people.
  • 00:26:35
    I just -- I just need you guys to -- [tone]

Apr 4, 2022 • 26 mins 38 sec

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