How to Make a Plan and Follow Through

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- I have a dream that one day:

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- Hey, welcome to Crossroads and a special welcome

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to anyone who is joining us for the first time.

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I'm Sean, a community coach for Crossroads Anywhere,

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which means I'm here to help you build community

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wherever you are.

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Now Crossroads is a church of people meeting in person

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and digitally all over the country,

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and we're so glad that you joined us today.

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You're joining us for our second week

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in the book of Nehemiah, where we're talking about

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bridging the gap between the vision of our life

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and how to make it real.

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But before we dive into that,

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we're going to spend some time in worship through song.

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We call it our prayers set to music,

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and this is a way to put our attention towards God

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and to tell Him that we want more of Him

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and what He wants to do in our lives.

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So turn up the volume, go full screen,

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and let's get started.

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- Following the Lord, we're following Jesus.

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He is real. He is present.

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He is with us, even right here in this moment.

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I want you to sing this with me right here.

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You're more than a story.

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- Hey, I don't know if this is true for you,

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but for me, I think it's weird to sing about someone's blood.

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Like, unless it's a T Swift breakup song,

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it's pretty weird, right?

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But here's why we embrace the weird.

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Because we believe something miraculous

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and mysterious happens because of the blood of Jesus.

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Think of it like this.

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Blood represents life.

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It represents power, inheritance, sacrifice.

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We believe there's something miraculous done

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by Jesus giving of His own blood,

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by laying down His life.

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Like, we actually believe these words of this verse,

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written -- Let me do face ID. Got it.

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Now it's got my face.

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These words, written after Jesus died on a Cross,

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rose again, and the writer says this:

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In Jesus we have redemption through His blood,

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the forgiveness of our trespasses,

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according to the riches of His grace,

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which he lavished upon us.

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Everybody do what I do, I have my kids do

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when we read this verse, say lavished.

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Come on, say it better. Say lavished.

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If singing about blood wasn't weird,

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maybe it's weird for you to say lavished like that.

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Embrace the weird, because love and blood

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go hand in hand with this King.

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It's what He laid down for you to give us life.

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Sing about that freedom.

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- That's what his blood did for us.

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[crying]

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- She's beautiful, guys.

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- Oh, it is so good to see you.

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- We don't want more friends, we want real friends.

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Friends who make us feel like we belong.

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Imagine being able to be yourself

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and still be accepted. No judgments. No fine print.

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Groups are a safe space to be who we are

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and grow together.

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Life is better together. Join a group.

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- Well, hey, I've got a few things

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I want to put on your radar today.

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And they're all around community,

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which is something I am super passionate about.

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First off is the Connect Event

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special for a Crossroads Anywhere community

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on Sunday, January 14th from 12 to 1 p.m..

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You know, Crossroads is a movement of people

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meeting in person and digitally all over the country,

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and this event is meant for you to meet others

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in our community digitally and learn more about

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how you might be able to meet

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and connect with others in your physical area.

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Plus, we'll even hook you up with a free gift card

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for just attending, so don't miss it!

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Join us on Sunday, January 14th from 12 to 1

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and RSVP at Crossroads.net/anywhere.

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Now, if you can't make it to the connect event,

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there are still other ways

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to get connected to community around here.

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One of the best ways is to find a group to be a part of.

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Whether you're simply looking to connect

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with others in a similar life stage,

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seeking spiritual growth,

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or deep healing in an area of your life,

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we have options for you.

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We have hundreds of groups waiting for you

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in person and digitally, and you can find out

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more information by going to crossroads.net/groups.

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Now, one of my favorite weekends of the year

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is coming up just around the corner.

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It's Super Bowl Sunday and at Crossroad,

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it's not just about the football.

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You know, many years ago we took the weekend

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when nobody went to church

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and we turned it into an experience.

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It became our highest attended weekend of the year.

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It will be loud, it will be unpredictable,

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and it probably should have gotten us shut down years ago.

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It's the Super Bowl of Preaching,

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and there's going to be a great experience for you

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beyond watching the crazy thing online.

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Now, if you're a part of our Anywhere community,

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you can sign up to receive a kit from us

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that will help you host your own experience at home.

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If you want to host friends to stream the service with you,

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use it for that.

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Or if you'd rather just watch the actual Super Bowl

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and throw a party with your friends,

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we'd love to help make that happen.

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We have 50 kits available

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and they're first come, first serve.

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Now head on over to Crossroads.net/anywhere

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to sign up for your kit, and we'll mail it to you

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wherever you are.

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Now, if you're wondering about who funds this place,

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the Connect events, this online experience,

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let's be clear on who is not.

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There are no corporate sponsors

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or franchise affiliations.

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It's simply the generosity of everyday people

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in our community that fuels live change

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that we experience around here.

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You can be a part of that generosity,

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or if you just want to learn more

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about what we believe about it,

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you can go to crossroads.net/give.

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Now, today we're continuing to talk about vision.

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Let's dive in as Chuck Mingo talks about

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having a plan and how to get the tools to execute it.

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- I know, like you want --

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Good news, Chuck is speaking tonight.

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- We love Brian.

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- I know, but I know they like you

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better than they like me. You say that all the time.

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I understand, I understand, but he is speaking.

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He's got a good talk tonight.

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I'm looking forward to hearing it myself. Excuse me.

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I should've say something different there.

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- Okay.

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Because this is, uh, this is going to go to all sites.

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So I should have said this.

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Actually, it's Thursday night.

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This is very fun, isn't it? - It is.

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- What if we just start over? - We could just read it.

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- Because I said tonight

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and I should be saying today because

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they're going to be watching this on Sunday.

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See how good you are Thursday, first time.

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- Yes.

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- You get the raw, you get the raw Crossroads

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and everybody else gets like this. [indiscernible]

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- Here's here's a good news. Good news is this,

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good news is this, Chuck is actually speaking today.

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He's speaking today.

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I know you like him more than me.

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You tell me that all the time. I know that.

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So he's speaking today,

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and we're going to let him do his thing.

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But first, before he does that,

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I got really good stuff that's going on

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I want to make everyone aware of.

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Chuck was on staff for full time staff for how long?

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- 15, 15 years? - 15 years.

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And then how long did you go into on to part time staff?

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- It's been about 2 years now, a little bit over.

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- So two years ago he's on part time staff.

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He teaches here, does some other things.

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But he is the leader, the director for --

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- Yeah, for Undivided. So Undivided is a -- yes.

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Got some Undivided love in the house.

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And Undivided is a ministry that really is enabling

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the church to love and lead well on race.

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That's what we're doing.

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We've been doing it in churches

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and also in organizations across the country.

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- So good news on that is that people have noticed

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in the publishing industry across the country,

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like, yeah, this guy's got a voice,

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him and a buddy of his

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who's also part of our church, Troy Jackson.

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They said, would you write a book

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on this whole race thing?

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And they have and they've included me in the editing.

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I didn't write anything but ran some drafts by me

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and stuff like that. It's really cool.

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And that book is available.

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It's really, really solid.

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It's just really, it's really cool that our church

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gets to be a part of that, especially, you know,

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we've taken our lumps on race around here.

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- Oh, yeah. - You know, all of our country

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has take our lumps on race,

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on both sides, not talking about it right.

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It's not talking about not enough times.

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It's not whatever it is. And we've been in that.

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But it's also a tension we choose to stay in

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because God wants all people to be undivided and to be one.

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And so we're thankful to be on that journey

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here at Crossroads and thankful for you

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that you've done this book. Dude, well done.

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- Thank you. - Fantastic.

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- Thank you. - How's it feel to be an author?

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- It's amazing. It's been a surreal week

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and I'm just so grateful. I've been --

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My two words have been gladness and gratitude.

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And I have a lot of it, particularly

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for our community here at Crossroads. Yeah.

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- Well, and you're also going to bless us

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because you got a special deal for us

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in case we should happen to read that book.

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- Absolutely. Yeah. You know, I want

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the friends and family discount

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for my friends and family at Crossroads, right?

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So Baker Publishing has said that effective,

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I think February -- not February, through February 29th

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they're going to give you, Crossroads,

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40% off of however many books you want to buy.

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So you can go to Baker Books. I think we've got a QR code.

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There's a little code there, CROSSROADS24.

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If that's a blessing to you or someone in your life,

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want you to definitely not have to pay full price

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because your friends and family. So there you go.

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- Well, you have, been a fantastic friend to me,

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fantastic leader around here, communicator around here.

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We're thankful that we get to be in ministry with you,

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and we're ecstatic to see how God's using you

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in ways that are beyond the Crossroads hemisphere.

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So well done, good and faithful servant.

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- Thank you so much. Thank you.

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- Love you. - Love you, man.

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- All right, so I got a question, though.

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Here's my question: is it too late into January

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to say Happy New Year?

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- No. - Okay, well, happy new year.

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Happy New Year, everybody.

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It's really great to be here.

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And I love how we're kicking this year off

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with this series that's based on one of

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my favorite, favorite characters in the Bible,

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the character of Nehemiah.

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And we're going to get into that.

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But I want you to know, today we're talking about

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the spiritual practice of planning.

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Yes, you heard me correctly.

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I believe that planning is a spiritual discipline,

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that it is a practice that we see modeled in the Bible,

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we see modeled in the life of Jesus,

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we see modeled in the character of God.

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Now some of you are super excited.

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Who's planners in the house?

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Planners in the house are like, you know what?

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I wish you'd have told me that because I would have

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planned to have somebody here who needs to hear this message.

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I know that because that's how the planners think.

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How many of you are on the other side of the equation,

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you're just not into planning?

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In fact, I'm going to have you raise your hand,

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but you're a little bit annoyed

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because you're planning to do something.

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It's like, "Chuck, that's not spontaneous enough."

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Who are the non planners in the house?

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How many of those do we have?

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All right. So yeah, you know we can be

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on different extremes when it comes to planning.

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I know for me I am a planner, I am a planner.

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And obviously I'm not alone, especially at this time of year.

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Planners, journals, calendars is a $1 billion industry.

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So somebody's making a whole lot of money

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on people who want to plan.

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In fact, I came across this quote. It said:

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Anybody guilty of that? Yes. Okay. Right.

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Yeah, yeah. Just keeping it real.

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And, you know, yet all of us may have some struggle

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with this concept of planning.

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I actually am a planner. I love to plan.

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I go through a whole process at the end of the year

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to do this kind of planning thing and set goals.

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I'm not a resolutions person, but I am a goals person.

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Like, I like a goals with a spreadsheet kind of person.

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That's who I am and I love the plan.

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But here's the thing, with me I realize

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there's two ditches that I can fall into

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as it relates to planning.

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The one side of that ditch is I can actually

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really get upset when things don't go according to my plan.

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So that's one of the things that I can fall into the ditch.

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But here's the other one. I told you, I have spreadsheets.

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I have those kind of strategic plans.

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I can get enamored with what's on the spreadsheet

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more than I'm enamored with taking what's in the spreadsheet

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and waking up every day

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and doing the hard work of making it a reality.

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And so maybe you're a planner.

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Maybe you're not a planner.

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But all of us have something, a vision

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that we want to bring about to reality.

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A God given vision.

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You see, we got vision over here kind of reflected

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as part of the journey.

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And then we've got over here reality.

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And what is in between? The messy middle.

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What is up with this wall?

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This is clearly unfinished.

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This isn't anything that we would say is complete.

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And in the middle of your vision and reality

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is exactly where we need a plan.

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Now, here's the thing.

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I believe, because planning is a spiritual discipline,

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that you have a spiritual enemy

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that wants to come against your planning.

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Look at what Jesus says in John 10:10. He says:

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I believe that one of the things the enemy

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wants to steal, kill, and destroy

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are visions that God has given you.

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I think there are people who are here today

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that have God sized vision,

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something that God has put in your heart.

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Maybe it's a personal vision.

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Maybe it's a family vision.

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Maybe it's an organizational vision.

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Maybe it's a vision for your community.

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Maybe it's a vision for your street,

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your block, whatever it is, God has put it there

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and yet it will be opposed.

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We don't plan in a vacuum, right?

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Life is difficult.

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Anybody realize that life is difficult?

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Life is hard. Life is difficult.

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And so we'll spend a lot of time in the messy middle.

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But the big idea today is this:

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The only way to fill the gap between vision and reality

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is with a God given plan.

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We need a plan, and we see that God

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has in His character this idea and passion for planning.

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One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11, which says:

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And I believe these words are some of the ideas

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that Nehemiah, this character in the Bible,

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had to hold on to in his messy middle.

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Nehemiah was a historical character in the Bible

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whose homeland was Israel and his hometown,

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if you were, the most important city in that area,

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was the city of Jerusalem.

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But when we come to Nehemiah's story,

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he's not in Jerusalem because Jerusalem had been sacked.

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It had been conquered by another king.

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And he's actually a servant to that other king.

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But every now and then there were some people

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who had left behind in Jerusalem,

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but they weren't doing really well.

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The walls were broken down.

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It was not a good situation.

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They were under oppression, and they were not able

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to live fully into the identity

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that God had for them as a people,

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and certainly the vision that God had

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for the city of Jerusalem.

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And so this comes to Nehemiah, and it breaks his heart.

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And Brian talked last week about what happens

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from that point is Nehemiah gets a vision,

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and his vision is, "I want to go to Jerusalem

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and I want to rebuild that wall.

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I want to actually make a difference

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in the lives of the people of God."

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He wants to go from vision to reality.

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And what we're going to look at today

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is how does Nehemiah walk out that plan?

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And I want to say this, like,

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hearing as you're in captivity that there is

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a city miles away that needs to be rebuilt

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is what is called a BHAG.

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Does anybody know what that means?

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It is a big, hairy, audacious goal.

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A big, hairy, audacious goal.

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And I'm guessing that if we were to get together

00:28:29

and connect, maybe there's something stirring in you.

00:28:32

And one of the reasons you don't even want to claim it

00:28:34

is because it's a BHAG.

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It's a big, hairy, audacious goal.

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And yet it may be the very thing

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that God is calling you to.

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If that's true, then I want you to lean,

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I want to help you lean into the four essentials

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of the spiritual discipline of planning,

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things we see in the story of Nehemiah.

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And the first is you have to confront reality.

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You have to confront reality.

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Look at what it says in Nehemiah 2:12:

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So Nehemiah is doing this at night.

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He's doing it with a small group of people.

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He's really trying to be low key. What is he doing? He says:

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He's walking around and he's seeing these broken down walls,

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and he's looking at all of the things that would need to happen

00:29:30

for this place to be strengthened. He said:

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So the first thing Nehemiah does is

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he confronts reality and what is his reality?

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It's broken down walls. It's broken down walls.

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One of the books that has inspired me

00:30:12

as it relates to planning is called

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The Redemptive Nonprofit, and it's from

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an organization called Praxis Labs.

00:30:17

And this is one of the things they talk about

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when they talk about planning. They say:

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They're talking about the spiritual discipline

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of planning and the need to confront reality.

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And I'm drawn to this three fold illustration

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of reality: dignity, tragedy, and possibility.

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What does it mean to confront the dignity of your reality?

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It means this: that we are not failures.

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We are image bearers.

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That we are literally created with the capacity

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to make and create things that serve people and honor God.

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So one of the things that you have to ask yourself is,

00:31:06

is my vision rooted in the dignity of other people

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or am I in this for myself?

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Is my vision actually something

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that's going to degrade other people,

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or is it going to build people up?

00:31:18

We have to confront the reality

00:31:19

that God is not going to bless your vision

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if the vision is selfish and actually harms other people.

00:31:24

God is not going to bless that.

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But if there is something God has put in your heart

00:31:28

that recognizes and elevates the dignity of the individual,

00:31:31

even if it's you, hey, I want to get my life different.

00:31:33

I want to grow, I want to change, I want to heal.

00:31:35

That's something that taps into the dignity

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that is essential for any Godly plan.

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But here's the second thing we have to confront the tragedy.

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And what is the tragedy?

00:31:46

The tragedy is because of

00:31:49

something called the sinful nature,

00:31:50

everything that we do in this world is tainted

00:31:54

by the impact and the effect of sin.

00:31:57

So even some of my best ideas

00:31:59

aren't going to be great ideas

00:32:01

because they're tainted and impacted.

00:32:03

And I have to be willing to confront that reality.

00:32:06

In fact, I've got some bricks up here

00:32:08

to just help us kind of lock in the things

00:32:10

that must be true if we're going to build this plan.

00:32:13

As you confront reality, one of the things

00:32:17

that you have to be willing to do is reflect.

00:32:18

I, like I told you, I've got spreadsheets. I love the plan.

00:32:21

And so it was doing that work over the Christmas break.

00:32:25

Nd usually I'm really excited to get to the,

00:32:27

okay, what's my word for the year?

00:32:29

What are the 3 or 4 things I'm going to go after?

00:32:31

And I did that, but that was way, way less time

00:32:35

than the time I spent really reflecting in 2023.

00:32:38

I went through five areas of my life,

00:32:40

went through my spiritual life, my relationships,

00:32:43

my intellectual life, my physical life

00:32:46

and my financial life.

00:32:47

And I just asked some really good and honest questions.

00:32:50

First, what's good in these areas?

00:32:52

Where is God blessing? What is God doing?

00:32:54

And then I asked the question,

00:32:56

what's broken in these areas?

00:32:58

And I sat in some of the disappointments of 2023.

00:33:02

I sat in some of the ways that I didn't do

00:33:04

what I said I was going to do in 2023,

00:33:06

and I sat in that honestly with God.

00:33:09

And I want to tell you, I didn't need as much time

00:33:12

to set goals because sitting in that reality,

00:33:15

reckoning with the tragedy was enough for me

00:33:18

to know very clearly, "Here is where God is calling me to go."

00:33:22

It was a powerful way to reflect on the year,

00:33:25

but thankfully we don't have to stay stuck in the tragedy.

00:33:29

Yes, there's probably things you started and didn't finish.

00:33:31

Yes, there may be plans that

00:33:33

you don't know how you're going to achieve,

00:33:34

but I love Nehemiah's hope in the midst of the tragedy.

00:33:38

Yes, he inspects the walls.

00:33:39

He sees all that's broken.

00:33:41

But this is what he says when he finally goes public

00:33:44

in Nehemiah 2:17, he says:

00:33:48

You all see it. You see the broken down walls.

00:33:50

And we have these in our lives, our broken down walls.

00:33:52

But listen to what he says. He says:

00:34:00

What I love about Nehemiah's vision is that

00:34:02

it was never really just about the wall,

00:34:05

but what he understood was the rebuilding of the wall

00:34:08

was going to be the catalyst

00:34:09

for God to do the work of rebuilding people.

00:34:12

Every plan that is worthwhile, ultimately, is about people.

00:34:17

It's about building up people who God loves

00:34:20

and cares about, including you.

00:34:23

God has plans for your life because

00:34:25

He wants to build you up.

00:34:26

He is not content with you staying with

00:34:28

the broken down walls in your life.

00:34:30

He wants to build you up.

00:34:31

Our God is in the redemption business.

00:34:33

He's in the reconstruction business, if you will.

00:34:36

You can trust that that is what He wants to do in your life.

00:34:39

But we have to be willing to confront reality.

00:34:42

Now, what is the other thing that Nehemiah needs?

00:34:44

After he confronts reality, he recognizes

00:34:46

he needs to lean into relationships.

00:34:49

When you read the book of Nehemiah,

00:34:51

you will read a bunch of names.

00:34:53

In fact, a lot of us are doing this right now.

00:34:54

We have a Bible challenge

00:34:56

and you can join us in the Crossroads App.

00:34:57

There's a daily reading we're all doing.

00:34:59

We're reading through this book together.

00:35:01

And you'll notice a lot of names in Nehemiah.

00:35:04

It was important for him to recognize

00:35:07

the relationships and the interconnectedness

00:35:09

that he had with other people.

00:35:11

You know, this weekend, as we remember

00:35:13

the legacy of Doctor Martin Luther King,

00:35:14

one of the interesting insights about his life

00:35:17

was highlighted in an interview that

00:35:19

me and Troy Jackson, my coauthor, did with Brian

00:35:21

on his Aggressive Life podcast.

00:35:22

It's coming out on MLK day, and it's this idea

00:35:26

that we often think about King as kind of

00:35:28

this self-made leader, right?

00:35:29

Like, you know, heard a calling from God

00:35:31

on the mountaintop and begin to lead the people.

00:35:33

But that's actually not the story.

00:35:35

When Martin Luther King was in Montgomery, Alabama,

00:35:37

it was actually the people around him

00:35:39

who were already organizing around

00:35:42

the Montgomery bus boycott, already training people

00:35:45

on nonviolent resistance, already enabling people

00:35:48

like Rosa Parks to be ready for a moment

00:35:50

when it was time to take this campaign into action.

00:35:53

And in many ways, that group of leaders,

00:35:55

everyday people, shaped Martin Luther King.

00:35:58

Troy, my co-founder, also had his PhD,

00:36:01

he did a PhD on King and made it a book called Becoming King.

00:36:04

And I love what he says here. He says:

00:36:16

You know, I will honestly say the book

00:36:19

that Troy and I wrote would not exist

00:36:21

had it not been for our relationship.

00:36:23

Because in 2014 I met Troy in the Oakley Atrium

00:36:27

by the fireplace for the very first time.

00:36:29

Actually, Brian introduced us to each other.

00:36:31

And Troy, at that time, had the ability to call me up

00:36:36

and call me in to God's heart

00:36:39

for racial healing and justice,

00:36:40

and it sparked something in me

00:36:42

that God took and continued to grow.

00:36:45

It was a seed that began to germinate.

00:36:47

I put it this way: Troy has the blackest name

00:36:50

you could think of, but Troy is a 53 year old white guy.

00:36:53

So if you were thinking about Troy as a black guy,

00:36:56

he is not. We couldn't be more different.

00:36:58

He's from Anderson, Indiana.

00:36:59

I'm from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

00:37:00

We have very different musical styles.

00:37:02

Let's just say that, people that were interested in,

00:37:04

his favorite songs are songs I don't know.

00:37:06

And many of mine are songs that he doesn't know.

00:37:08

But anyway, yes, you're right.

00:37:10

So that relationship, that cross-cultural relationship

00:37:12

really became the fuel and the crucible that was

00:37:15

growing me into the leader God had called me to be.

00:37:18

And I think about that, and I think about

00:37:20

the plans that you have, the visions you have,

00:37:22

and I think you need three kinds of people.

00:37:25

I think you need counsel in your life.

00:37:28

Organizations have a board of directors.

00:37:30

Here at Crossroads we have a spiritual board, CEO,

00:37:32

you know, organizations all over the world have counsel.

00:37:35

People who are really guiding your journey.

00:37:38

I think we all need counsel.

00:37:39

But here's the other thing. We need constituencies.

00:37:42

What do I mean when I say that?

00:37:43

Well, think about it in terms of the political context.

00:37:46

If you're a representative, you're representing

00:37:48

the people who voted for you.

00:37:50

And so your goal is to represent their interests.

00:37:53

And I think about it this way.

00:37:54

When it comes to plans in our lives,

00:37:57

who are we accountable to?

00:37:59

Who are the people who have the right to say,

00:38:02

"You committed to this, and I want that for you

00:38:04

and maybe even need that from you."

00:38:06

We need a constituency.

00:38:08

I think about in my life, when I've had

00:38:10

the most success at weight loss and being healthy,

00:38:13

it wasn't because I really wanted to look good

00:38:16

in clothing up on a stage, that didn't do it.

00:38:18

That wasn't enough motivation.

00:38:19

But when I envisioned my three kids having kids

00:38:22

and I envisioned being a grandfather

00:38:24

who can actually still get on a bike

00:38:26

and ride with his grandchildren.

00:38:27

When I envisioned being a grandfather

00:38:29

who could be present for the next generation of Mingos,

00:38:31

if God chooses to bring more Mingos into the world,

00:38:34

that's been the motivation.

00:38:35

My kids, my wife were the constituency

00:38:38

that motivated me to follow through with my plans.

00:38:40

Who's your constituency as you think about

00:38:43

the plans that God has in your life?

00:38:44

But then you also need collaborators.

00:38:47

You need people who are going to roll up their sleeves

00:38:49

and get in the trenches with you.

00:38:50

In Nehemiah's story we hear a lot,

00:38:52

and you'll hear a lot about the people he collaborated with.

00:38:55

And it's one of the reasons why

00:38:57

we do groups at Crossroads, because we want

00:38:59

you to have people in your life

00:39:01

who will roll up their sleeves and do life with you.

00:39:04

So I'm excited that one of the groups

00:39:06

that we're doing as we launch groups in this season

00:39:08

is based on the book Living Undivided.

00:39:10

And if you want to go to Crossroads.net/Bookstudy,

00:39:12

you can learn more about that.

00:39:14

The groups are starting in the week of January 22nd.

00:39:16

I'm going to be leading a group.

00:39:17

Others are going to be leading groups all across the city,

00:39:20

all across the region, and even across states.

00:39:21

There's going to be people

00:39:23

who are rolling up their sleeves and saying, "Hey,

00:39:25

this is a vision God has for the church.

00:39:26

How can we lean into it?"

00:39:28

And I'm excited about that, because I know

00:39:30

what happens when you get into groups.

00:39:32

When you get around collaborators,

00:39:34

there's the possibility of change

00:39:35

that isn't possible any other kind of way.

00:39:38

So, you know, we talked about it earlier.

00:39:40

If you want to do a group, go to that site so we know,

00:39:43

so we can support you and resource you.

00:39:45

There's going to be video teachings

00:39:46

that Troy and I have done, ten minute teachings

00:39:48

that will be a part of every week of the group.

00:39:50

That's the way you'll access those.

00:39:52

And if that's not good enough, we're throwing a party

00:39:54

for everybody who does the book study at the end,

00:39:56

and we want to invite you to that.

00:39:58

And that's the way you'll get plugged into that as well,

00:40:00

because we're hoping this is the beginning of a journey

00:40:02

that we can continue to be on as a community together.

00:40:05

So I want to encourage you to think about that.

00:40:07

Now, maybe Living Undivided is not the group for you.

00:40:09

We have a lot of other groups.

00:40:11

We have men's groups and women's groups.

00:40:13

We have mom's groups and dad's groups.

00:40:15

And maybe that's not where you are in your life,

00:40:17

but you need healing.

00:40:18

We have amazing healing groups.

00:40:20

There are healing groups like Divorce and Beyond

00:40:22

for people who have experienced divorce.

00:40:24

I know for some of us there's a grieving that happened.

00:40:26

Maybe you lost someone in your life.

00:40:28

We've got groups for that.

00:40:29

I want you to have collaborators.

00:40:31

God wants you to have collaborators.

00:40:33

These are people who help you stick to the plan

00:40:36

that God has for your life.

00:40:37

And the other thing that groups give you,

00:40:39

what you need and what Nehemiah needed was resilience.

00:40:44

Resilience.

00:40:45

Any plan that's going to succeed has to have

00:40:49

an element of resilience because

00:40:51

you know what life will do?

00:40:53

You know what life will do?

00:40:54

Life will mess up your plans. Life will.

00:40:57

Life will take you off schedule, right?

00:40:59

Things will happen that you couldn't anticipate.

00:41:02

And when that happens, the only way that

00:41:05

you're going to be able to continue with

00:41:07

what God has for you is if you have

00:41:09

a measure of resilience.

00:41:11

I mean, think about this. I think about, like,

00:41:13

what are great plans that have happened in the world?

00:41:16

Amazing plans.

00:41:17

I think it's hard to argue that a plan

00:41:20

that actually intended to take men to space, the moon,

00:41:25

and bring them back in one piece was a pretty elegant plan.

00:41:28

Would you agree with that?

00:41:30

That that was a pretty elegant plan.

00:41:31

And yet, even with the elegance of that plan,

00:41:34

even with the full weight and power of the government,

00:41:37

even with the best engineers on that plan and mission,

00:41:41

one of those missions led to this famous line,

00:41:44

"Houston, we've had a problem." Right?

00:41:48

And you got to believe at that point,

00:41:50

the only -- one of the -- one of the reasons,

00:41:51

I mean, I think there was a lot of divine intervention there.

00:41:54

But one of the reasons they were able to get these,

00:41:56

I mean, think about it,

00:41:57

they were 200,000 miles away from Earth.

00:42:00

They were literally living on six ounces of water a day,

00:42:05

which is one fifth of what a human needs.

00:42:07

And they were in basically a small refrigerator

00:42:09

because the temperature wouldn't go above 37 degrees.

00:42:13

So when you think about all that had to happen

00:42:15

to solve that problem, it took a ton of resilience.

00:42:19

And I want to tell you, part of the resilience

00:42:21

was there because they had done the planning process,

00:42:24

because they could name what had gone wrong,

00:42:27

and they could start to think about contingency plans

00:42:29

to make a difference.

00:42:30

And the fact that in a narrow window,

00:42:32

they actually returned those men home is a miracle.

00:42:35

It really is a miracle.

00:42:38

And yet it was because of the resilience

00:42:40

of those engineers, it was because of

00:42:42

the resilience of the astronauts

00:42:43

that they were actually able to do that.

00:42:45

One of the things that Troy and I experienced

00:42:47

in the writing process was a setback,

00:42:50

a significant setback.

00:42:51

Actually, the book was going to launch

00:42:53

this time last year, and it was at the printer already.

00:42:58

And while it was at the printer, we got some feedback

00:43:01

that was really challenging.

00:43:03

Feedback that said, "Hey, I don't know

00:43:05

if this is the tone you want for this book.

00:43:07

And I think there's some missing pieces

00:43:08

and elements of this book."

00:43:10

And let me just tell you, at the point

00:43:11

where your book is at the printer,

00:43:13

that's the wrong time to hear that kind of feedback.

00:43:15

And we had to make a choice.

00:43:17

And one of the choices that was a legitimate choice

00:43:19

is we could have ignored that feedback and said,

00:43:22

"We're pressing on ahead."

00:43:23

But here's what we both knew.

00:43:25

We both knew that the people who were giving us

00:43:27

that feedback were what the Bible calls,

00:43:30

it was wounds from a friend.

00:43:31

And the Bible says wounds from a friend can be trusted.

00:43:35

And so the question became, would we have the humility

00:43:38

to receive this corrective feedback?

00:43:41

And then would we have the courage

00:43:43

to actually trust God and despite the cost

00:43:45

of pulling the book off the printer and all of that

00:43:47

and all the things that we had planned that

00:43:49

then had to shift for another year,

00:43:51

would we be willing to trust God and press in?

00:43:54

And I will tell you, I am so glad that we did,

00:43:56

because there is no doubt it's a better book.

00:43:59

It's a better book because we had the resilience

00:44:01

to work through that.

00:44:03

You know, we got feedback.

00:44:04

Nehemiah got pushback.

00:44:07

There were literally people who wanted to kill him

00:44:09

and end his work.

00:44:11

At one point, it says Nehemiah and his workers

00:44:13

were working with a hammer in one hand

00:44:15

and swords in the other.

00:44:18

That's some pushback.

00:44:20

I don't know about your plan, but my guess is

00:44:22

you're not out there trying to lose weight

00:44:24

with, like, you know, a treadmill in one hand

00:44:26

and a shotgun in the other. I hope you're not doing that.

00:44:29

I hope things haven't gotten that bad for you.

00:44:31

I hope people aren't opposing your weight loss that bad.

00:44:34

I hope people aren't opposing your new business that bad.

00:44:36

I hope people aren't opposing

00:44:37

you being in a healthy relationship that bad.

00:44:39

But here's what I know.

00:44:40

I know for Nehemiah, he had the resilience

00:44:43

to withstand even that level of pushback. You know why?

00:44:46

Because he was able to lean into relationships.

00:44:49

He leaned into relationships with other people,

00:44:51

but he also leaned into relationship with God.

00:44:53

See, his confidence in the completion of his plan

00:44:55

had way less to do with the people,

00:44:57

and it had way more to do with the God of heaven.

00:45:00

This is what he says to that pushback

00:45:01

in Nehemiah 2:20. He says:

00:45:08

So here's what I know, all of us are going to have

00:45:11

a Houston, we've had a problem moment.

00:45:13

Whatever your plan is, there's going to be

00:45:15

a Houston, we've had a problem moment.

00:45:17

It reminds me one of the best quotes

00:45:18

I think Mike Tyson ever said, which is that

00:45:20

everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

00:45:22

Have you ever been punched in the mouth?

00:45:24

Some of us are like,

00:45:25

"Yeah, I physically have been punched in the mouth."

00:45:27

That's a whole different story.

00:45:29

I mean, have you been punched in the mouth

00:45:30

as it relates to something you want to go after?

00:45:33

Have you experienced that kind of setback,

00:45:35

maybe that kind of pushback?

00:45:37

Here's the interesting thing.

00:45:39

Apollo 13 astronauts said this:

00:45:51

I think sometimes right when we get to the point

00:45:54

where God is beginning to take new ground,

00:45:57

right when we're at the point

00:45:59

where we're going to start to see fruit

00:46:01

from the long, hard work that God has called us to,

00:46:04

that's the very point where the pushback

00:46:06

gets the most extreme, and we're tempted to retreat.

00:46:10

And I just want to say to you, hey,

00:46:11

what if that is the very place where God

00:46:14

wants to begin a miraculous recovery in your life?

00:46:17

What if that is the very moment that God wants

00:46:20

to do something in you that you never thought possible?

00:46:23

What if you're right at the point of breakthrough?

00:46:26

What if you're right at the point of change?

00:46:28

What if you're right at the point of growth, of healing,

00:46:31

of experiencing God's powerful work in your life?

00:46:33

And what you need to do is have enough resilience

00:46:36

to trust that the God of heaven will bring victory,

00:46:40

even when it seems like all you see is defeat.

00:46:44

I want to encourage you to lean in this year

00:46:47

to having that kind of resilience.

00:46:50

And let me tell you one way you can have it.

00:46:52

One way you can have it is by really making

00:46:55

this idea of planning something different

00:46:58

than if you don't have God involved,

00:46:59

because I think that one of the key pieces

00:47:02

of a godly spiritual practice of planning is rejoicing.

00:47:06

And I don't mean rejoicing when you cross the finish line.

00:47:09

See, the Bible says, rejoice in the Lord always.

00:47:13

And again I say rejoice.

00:47:14

The Bible tells us that we don't have to wait

00:47:17

for the victory to begin to rejoice in God.

00:47:20

It's really interesting what happens

00:47:22

after Nehemiah rebuilds the wall.

00:47:24

Remember, it was never just about the wall,

00:47:26

it was about rebuilding people.

00:47:28

And so as they have rebuilt the wall,

00:47:30

they were able to do something because

00:47:31

of the safety and protection they now had

00:47:34

that they hadn't done in many, many years.

00:47:36

They were able to hear God's Word read to them.

00:47:40

They were able to have a public reading of the Bible.

00:47:43

And Ezra, who has a whole story dedicated to him

00:47:46

about the rebuilding of the temple,

00:47:47

he was a contemporary of Nehemiah.

00:47:49

Ezra gets together and he begins to read the law to the people.

00:47:54

And as he's reading the law,

00:47:56

it's a really striking thing because

00:47:58

as he's reading the law, the people are reminded

00:48:00

about the goodness of God.

00:48:02

They're reminded about God's covenant relationship

00:48:05

with them as a nation.

00:48:06

They're reminded about all the promises of God.

00:48:09

But here's the other thing.

00:48:10

They're reminded of all the ways they fall short.

00:48:14

Have you ever actually gotten success

00:48:18

only to realize that that success

00:48:20

was just the beginning of the journey?

00:48:22

Like, you thought that first level of success would be it.

00:48:25

And then when you get there you realize

00:48:27

how woefully inadequate you are.

00:48:29

Like, you really wanted to get married,

00:48:30

you got married, and now you're realizing

00:48:33

how woefully, inadequately prepared you are for marriage.

00:48:36

You know, you really wanted to start something new.

00:48:38

You started something new, and now you're realizing

00:48:41

how woefully inadequate you are as a leader

00:48:43

and God is stretching you in your leadership.

00:48:45

You know, you really wanted to break an addiction,

00:48:47

and now you've actually gotten

00:48:48

some victory over that addiction.

00:48:50

But you're recognizing all the friends in my life

00:48:52

were people that were formed by the addiction,

00:48:54

and I got to go in a different direction relationally

00:48:56

if I'm going to continue in this journey.

00:48:58

What do you do when that's the place that you are?

00:49:01

Here's what the people did.

00:49:02

They begin to weep. They begin to weep.

00:49:05

They were heartbroken because they recognized

00:49:07

there is no way we can live into who God wants us to be.

00:49:11

There is no way.

00:49:13

I know we rebuilt the wall and that's wonderful.

00:49:15

But God, how are you going to rebuild us?

00:49:18

We are so broken. We are so in need.

00:49:20

We need help. And they begin to weep.

00:49:24

And you would think that Nehemiah as a leader

00:49:27

would say to the people, "Hey, remember the vision,

00:49:29

remember the vision."

00:49:31

But that's actually not what he says.

00:49:32

You know what Nehemiah does?

00:49:34

As people are weeping,

00:49:35

as they're realizing their inadequacy,

00:49:37

he calls time out and he says, "Guys, let me tell you,

00:49:40

you know what we're going to do?

00:49:41

We're going to throw a party."

00:49:43

What? We're going to throw a party?

00:49:44

That's exactly what he says.

00:49:46

Here's what he says in Nehemiah 8:10. He says:

00:50:01

I want to say that a couple times together.

00:50:02

The joy of the Lord is our strength.

00:50:04

Let's say that together.

00:50:06

The joy of the Lord is our strength.

00:50:08

Let's say it again, the joy of the Lord is our strength.

00:50:11

Now why would Nehemiah say that,

00:50:14

go and celebrate, go have a party?

00:50:16

It's because Nehemiah knew what all of us need to know

00:50:20

about any change and any plan

00:50:22

that God is working in our lives.

00:50:23

And it's this: God is involved in the process,

00:50:29

and sometimes the process is the point.

00:50:32

Let me say it again.

00:50:33

God is involved in the process

00:50:36

and sometimes the process is the point.

00:50:39

I'm not saying that God won't get you to a new reality,

00:50:42

but you know what God wants to do?

00:50:43

He wants to make you a new person

00:50:45

by the time you get to that reality.

00:50:47

He wants to give you something that will help you

00:50:50

climb the next mountain that He has for you,

00:50:52

that will help you continue to experience

00:50:55

the ways that he wants to change and grow you.

00:50:57

I came across a teaching

00:50:58

and it's from Christina Patterson, and she said this

00:51:01

about why would they weep and why can they have joy? She said:

00:51:15

Friends, that's good news.

00:51:17

That is really good news to know that

00:51:19

where you feel inadequate right now

00:51:21

is the very place God is affirming and confirming.

00:51:25

He's going to give you the wisdom, the discernment,

00:51:27

and the strength to actually change.

00:51:31

So stay resilient.

00:51:32

Keep working the plan and recognize that, friends,

00:51:35

you can rejoice when your plan succeeds,

00:51:38

but you can also rejoice when your plans go awry.

00:51:42

Look at what it says in the New Testament.

00:51:43

James chapter one says:

00:51:50

Who celebrates a trial?

00:51:52

Who does backflips when the thing gets hard?

00:51:55

Yeah. Me neither, but that's what the Bible says to do. Why?

00:52:09

Let me tell you, you can rejoice in the trial

00:52:12

because the God who gave you the vision

00:52:14

is the God who will give you the victory.

00:52:17

You can rejoice because you can have

00:52:19

the same words be your prayer

00:52:20

that was Nehemiah's prayer in 2:20.

00:52:22

The God of heaven will make us prosper.

00:52:24

God will make you prosper when you don't want to prosper.

00:52:27

He will make you prosper when you're resisting

00:52:28

the prosperity He wants to bring into your life.

00:52:30

God will make us prosper and we,

00:52:33

his servants, will arise and build.

00:52:34

You can celebrate because our God uses setbacks

00:52:38

to stage amazing comebacks. It is what He does.

00:52:42

So when things look like they're at their bleakest,

00:52:44

when it seems like nothing's going to change,

00:52:46

that's the very moment where God starts to show off

00:52:49

and starts to do things that only God can do.

00:52:52

I love this verse. Proverbs 24:16 says:

00:52:58

Think about that, seven times of failure,

00:53:02

seven times where you didn't get it right,

00:53:04

seven times where once again you fell into that trap.

00:53:07

And yet, because of the goodness and grace of God,

00:53:10

you can rise again.

00:53:11

This is not the end of your story.

00:53:14

See, here's the good news.

00:53:15

Joy becomes a weapon in our plan.

00:53:18

Because Joy says to us, it says to others,

00:53:21

and it says to the enemy,

00:53:22

God is not done with my story.

00:53:24

And so joy becomes a weapon that fuels us

00:53:28

and continues to move us forward.

00:53:29

God is a planner.

00:53:30

The beautiful thing about God, though, is

00:53:32

He is a planner who always finishes what He starts.

00:53:36

And God wants to invite you into relationship with Him

00:53:40

for the things He wants to do in your life.

00:53:42

I think sometimes we want to say, "God,

00:53:44

would you come and bless my plan?"

00:53:45

God is saying, "My plan for you is so much better.

00:53:49

Would you come and be a part of

00:53:50

what I have envisioned for your life?"

00:53:53

And thankfully, He's resilient.

00:53:55

God is not going to give up on you.

00:53:58

He has grace for you, upon grace for you,

00:54:00

upon grace for you. God is patient with you.

00:54:03

He knows the weaknesses that we have.

00:54:05

He knows our limitations, and He is so committed

00:54:08

to your change and growth that He says,

00:54:10

"I'll never leave you and I will never forsake you."

00:54:15

If we want to receive that, then we don't have

00:54:18

to sweat the messy middle because we know

00:54:20

that God is with us.

00:54:22

Proverbs 21:31 says this:

00:54:28

God wants to bring victory into your life.

00:54:31

If you'll embrace the spiritual practice of planning,

00:54:34

you'll experience that kind of victory.

00:54:36

As you face reality, as you strengthen relationships,

00:54:40

as you stand resiliently, and as you rejoice,

00:54:43

not at the end, but on the way to the end

00:54:46

because of God's goodness.

00:54:48

So when you came in, you got a Lego piece.

00:54:51

I want you to go ahead and take that Lego piece out.

00:54:53

I love Legos. Anybody else love Legos?

00:54:56

Legos are so awesome!

00:54:57

I love that my kids still play with Legos.

00:55:02

These bricks, we're going to use these as a symbol

00:55:06

of a plan that God may be calling you to in your life.

00:55:09

So here's what I want you to do.

00:55:11

I want you to think for a moment about

00:55:13

a place in your life this year where you need

00:55:16

to practice the spiritual practice of planning.

00:55:19

Maybe this is the year where you said, you know what?

00:55:22

I need to change my financial situation.

00:55:25

I need to be more intentional about saving.

00:55:27

I need to be more intentional about being generous,

00:55:29

whatever that is.

00:55:30

Maybe this is a year where you said

00:55:32

I really need to work on a specific relationship.

00:55:36

Maybe it's a friendship,

00:55:37

maybe it's a relationship with one of your children.

00:55:39

Maybe it's a relationship with your parent

00:55:41

if you are the child. I don't know.

00:55:43

Maybe this is the year where you're like,

00:55:45

I need to learn this skill.

00:55:46

I know I've been putting it off, but I need to lean into this.

00:55:48

I want you to think about just one plan,

00:55:51

one thing in your life.

00:55:53

And if you have a Lego the size of mine,

00:55:55

you may not be able to write the full word,

00:55:57

but you can use initials,

00:55:59

or you can use one letter to symbolize.

00:56:01

But if you have a full Lego,

00:56:02

maybe you're going to write a word

00:56:04

that symbolizes that plan.

00:56:10

Just write it on your Lego brick.

00:56:12

My mind is T R, which stands for Take Risks.

00:56:19

One of the things that I reflected on

00:56:21

over the last year was that it's easy for me

00:56:24

21 years into a marriage to not take as many risks

00:56:28

of vulnerably pursuing my wife's heart.

00:56:32

And God kind of elevated that for me and said,

00:56:34

this is a year where I want you to aggressively pursue

00:56:36

Maria like you did before you were married.

00:56:40

And I'll just be honest with you,

00:56:41

22 years almost into a marriage, that can be risky.

00:56:45

But I feel like God is calling me to that.

00:56:47

So this is mine. Mine is take risks.

00:56:49

And so here's what I want you to do.

00:56:50

Once you have that Lego kind of filled out.

00:56:53

Again, this is just a symbol of the plan

00:56:55

that maybe God is calling you to.

00:56:56

First thing I want you to do is I want you to put it down.

00:56:59

Maybe you're going to put it on your chair.

00:57:01

Maybe you're going to put it on your lap.

00:57:03

Maybe you're going to put on the floor.

00:57:06

Because here's what I believe.

00:57:08

I know that I come to this with

00:57:10

my own thoughts, my own ideas,

00:57:12

the way that I think this is going to play out

00:57:14

for me and Maria this year.

00:57:16

And one of the first things that I think

00:57:17

God wants us to do is lay down those plans.

00:57:21

Surrender them to Him.

00:57:25

And so just as a symbol of that,

00:57:26

as you release that plan, I want you to just think

00:57:28

about, like, God, I want to surrender

00:57:30

what I think this is going to look like.

00:57:32

I want to be open to what it is You want to do in my life.

00:57:38

Now that you've laid it down, I want you to pick it back up.

00:57:42

But I want you to pick it up

00:57:43

and put it in to open palms like this.

00:57:51

Because I believe that God wants to pour

00:57:53

into this area of your life.

00:57:58

And so, so many times I realize that my vision

00:58:01

is so small compared to what God has in mind.

00:58:05

So in this posture with your palms open,

00:58:07

I just want you to say a quick prayer to God.

00:58:09

God, I want to receive what You have for me this year.

00:58:14

In this area I want to receive, God, what you have

00:58:18

for the ways that I vulnerably pursue

00:58:20

Maria's heart this year.

00:58:25

I want to leave you with this reflection.

00:58:28

Jeremiah 29:11, as I said, is one of my favorite verses.

00:58:30

I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord,

00:58:32

plans to prosper you, not to harm you,

00:58:34

plans to give you hope and a future.

00:58:35

I have that verse written down all over my life.

00:58:38

It's in journals. It's on --

00:58:39

I just love that word.

00:58:40

But I want to share with you what God says right after that.

00:58:45

In Jeremiah 12:13, God says:

00:58:57

I want to submit to you that the first step

00:59:00

when it comes to the plans God has for your life,

00:59:03

is not the plan, it's connecting with God personally.

00:59:08

It's seeking Him and finding Him

00:59:10

and desiring Him with all your heart.

00:59:13

The thing that we need most is not to fulfill this plan.

00:59:16

We need to encounter a loving God who cares for us,

00:59:21

who wants good for us.

00:59:24

And man, if we will open ourselves up to that,

00:59:26

then we will see that He has good plans for us.

00:59:29

We will experience His provision.

00:59:31

We will experience all the ways in which God will show up

00:59:34

that are far beyond what you can imagine,

00:59:37

and it will help us to close the gap

00:59:38

from the vision God has given us

00:59:41

to the reality that He has in mind for us.

00:59:45

I want to invite you to stand wherever you are,

00:59:47

and I just want to pray over you.

00:59:48

I want to pray over your year.

00:59:50

I want to pray over the things that God is calling you to

00:59:53

as we close this time today.

00:59:55

God, I thank You so much that if I look around

00:59:59

just the room that I'm in, but if I think about

01:00:01

all the rooms where people are, including their own homes.

01:00:04

God, you have good plans for each and every person

01:00:07

under the sound of my voice.

01:00:09

God, would we seek You this year first?

01:00:13

Would we seek Your face as we sing sometimes around here

01:00:16

and not Your hand?

01:00:18

And know that as we connect with You,

01:00:21

You will give us every step we need

01:00:25

to close the gap between vision and reality.

01:00:27

God, I believe there are going to be breakthroughs

01:00:29

and things that happen in our lives this year

01:00:31

that would blow us away if we knew this day in January

01:00:36

what you're going to do in just these 12 months,

01:00:39

let alone over the entire lives that we have left.

01:00:42

God, we trust You, we thank You, and we are Yours.

01:00:45

I pray this in Jesus's name, Amen.

01:00:49

- Hey, thanks for watching.

01:00:51

Since you stuck around, I wanted to give you

01:00:53

a challenge that will bring you closer to God

01:00:54

and help you get more out of the message.

01:00:56

You know, around Crossroads,

01:00:57

we call ourselves Spiritual Outfitters,

01:00:59

and that's exactly what we want to help you

01:01:01

with this year,

01:01:02

outfitting you on your spiritual journey.

01:01:03

A great place to start is

01:01:05

in the Crossroads Anywhere app

01:01:07

where you can check out daily scripture,

01:01:09

engage in the Bible challenge,

01:01:11

connect with community, and read articles

01:01:13

that cover all sorts of topics and what God's Word

01:01:16

might be in areas like singleness, dating,

01:01:19

marriage, sports, anxiety, Taylor Swift,

01:01:22

New Year's resolutions, and so many more.

01:01:25

We also have podcast versions of these articles

01:01:27

that you can listen to on your drive.

01:01:29

You can get these articles sent directly to your inbox

01:01:32

each Monday too.

01:01:33

Check out the Crossroads app for all the details.

01:01:36

Thanks for joining and we'll see you back next week.

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