SPARK Talks 2019: Week 5

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I've been painting for years, but it wasn't until about four

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years ago while I was studying abroad in Spain that God gave me

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a vision for Hosanna revival.

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I had this idea to rebound and paint my bilingual Bible because

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it was plain black and I wanted it to be beautiful and

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personal, a reflection of the way that the words on the inside

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really made me feel.

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There God sparked in me a vision to use my artwork for something

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way beyond what I could have ever imagined, something that

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would draw other women closer to him.

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The vision was simple: use beautiful artwork to attract women to

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scripture.

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It seemed crazy at first, and it really wasn't being done

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anywhere else, but God showed me where it could go.

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The question was, was I willing to follow?

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Once I stopped wrestling and said, yes, that spark finally

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caught and everything took off from there.

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God makes cells, volcanoes, and literally puts the stars in the

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sky.

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He makes every single thing that exists.

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And I'm painting replicas of his creations.

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God, the original creator, created me in his image and sharing

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that with Him is such a gift.

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I think no matter what we're creating, whether it's food in the

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kitchen or spaces for people to feel welcomed and loved,

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knowing that our creations can really draw people to Jesus is a

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fuel to the fire.

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And that's absolutely why I create.

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I'm Katie and God is igniting life in me through helping women

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discover the true creator.

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Yeah, I love hearing from people who love what they do.

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It may not be my thing all the time, but if you're passionate

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about what you're doing, then I want to hear more about that.

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So, if we haven't met yet, my name is Justin and one of the

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things I'm passionate about is music.

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Music helps center me, it helps ground me in a moment.

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It helps me express some things that just other things can't or

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don't.

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And so around here we use music to connect to God.

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We sing songs about Him and to Him.

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And that's how we're going to start today.

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So if you're in the room with us, stand with us.

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If you're at home, turn it up.

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We're going to singing together.

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Jesus, the very whisper of your name cancels out darkness.

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Jesus, your name destroys every single thing that has tried to

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work against us to keep us down.

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Your name, Jesus, is enough.

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It's enough.

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So, God, I just pray over every person in this room, every

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person watching, God, that they would hear Your name and feel

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darkness flee.

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Got, that they would hear your name and feel the weight come off

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of their shoulders.

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God, that they would hear Your name and know that You know them.

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You know what they're going through and you will lift

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burdens just with the whisper of your name.

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So God, we praise You, we thank You.

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We love You.

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In Your precious holy name we pray. Amen.

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It was amazing worshipping with you.

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Seriously, it's an honor to do this with you all.

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So we want you to know each other.

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So why did you say hi to someone next to you?

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Maybe tell them what you did

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yesterday. And then after you do that, have a seat. I"m glad that you are here with us.

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It's no secret if you'd been around a length of time that I like

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motorcycles, but you might not know the origin of how that came

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about.

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It was the craziest, most stupid idea I thought that I'd ever

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heard up to that point.

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I was in a group meeting with a bunch of men in the mornings.

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We were meeting for a couple of years.

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Then one of the guys said, "Hey, why don't we -- Why don't we

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take our wives, fly out to Vegas, rent motorcycles and like

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hang out for four days or so with everybody?".

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And I thought that was utterly ridiculous.

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It was outside my mind of how someone should spend their time,.

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outside my mind of how someone should spend their money.

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I hadn't written a motorcycle since I was twenty two years old

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and I was married for three weeks and I sold it because we were

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low on cash.

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And I hadn't written a motorcycle since and I hadn't thought of

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riding one since.

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And my body was on overdrive, medically speaking, my adrenal

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glands were fried.

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They were open all the time worrying about budget things,

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staffing things, preaching things, all kind of stuff.

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And so play was nowhere on my mind at all.

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We decided to go because I put in my mind of, "Oh, well, this

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will be sort of ministry, so I could actually make it work

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because I'm trying to build on these guys and their marriages.

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So I'll be able to do that.".

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And what I experienced blew me away.

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I got restored, I got refreshed, and it actually opened up an

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entire new lease on life.

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Two things I've learned that make life work, purpose and play.

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If you don't have purpose, your life won't work.

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And if you don't have play, your life won't work.

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I can think of these on two axis.

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I've kind of devised this.

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I've been thrown around people and it seems to make sense.

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We have the x axis, which is purpose and the y axis which is

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play.

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These are two things that if you don't have these things, your

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life is not going to work well.

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What is purpose?

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Purpose is when you have a point for living that day, when you

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have a to do list, you have things you've got to get done.

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You've got people you've got to talk to.

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You've got something that's propelling you to get up in the day.

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It's moving your day forward.

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That's why I like it on the x axis.

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You're kind of moving.

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It's like chop, chop, chop, chop.

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What is play?

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Play is utterly unproductive.

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You're not moving.

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You're not chop chop.

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If you are moving and chop chop on a motorcycle at 80 miles an

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hour, you're moving and chop, chopping because you're not

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thinking about anything else that's going to add to your

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paycheck.

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You don't thinking about anything else that's going to increase

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your notoriety with people.

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You're not thinking about anything else that's going to justify

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that time.

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You are off and you start to get restored.

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When you see that the intersection of purpose and play, if you

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see somebody who has in the lower right corner, who has all

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purpose, they're going where they need to go.

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They're work in bookoo hours every week.

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I don't even know what bookoo hours is, but bookoo for you might

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not be bookoo for you.

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It's a matter of your own personal capacity.

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When you see somebody that's all about where they're going, what

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they're doing, and that's all they're doing, it's all they're

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about, their life eventually becomes painful, becomes painful.

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This is where I was.

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My adrenal glands were fried.

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I was breaking down physically, gaining weight, back getting

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worse and worse.

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I was having to convince myself to do things like preach, which

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I love and I know is important, but I was having to convince

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myself and try to fire myself up for it.

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There was all kinds of fraying on the homefront and all over the

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place because I was about working, building a church, doing

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stuff was important stuff and without any sense of distraction

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or play, life became incredibly painful.

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If you are all play, all being off, not really doing anything

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that is productive.

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If that's all -- That's another extreme thing.

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If you're in the upper left.

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If you're all the way up there, your life becomes pointless.

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What is the point to your life?

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This is, by the way, why these things are very clear, when you

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retire and your goal is just to not have purpose, it's to golf

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or watch Price is Right or whatever it is.

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When you do that, statistics are very clear, you die sooner

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because we all need to point to our life.

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And so we're only playing, we're only detaching, we're only

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watching TV, we're only reading novels, we're not going to have

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something, it's going to be pointless.

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If you have no play in your life and you have no purpose in your

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life, you have a pitiful life.

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It is pitiful. Nothing

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is good going on in your life at all.

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Where I want to get more of us to, it's where I am right now, I

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have been for a while.

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I want to get more and more people to, in fact, we're going to

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do a journey in this fall.

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A journey is something we haven't done for a year and a half and

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we're going to do on this fall.

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It is a -- it is a full on creative press to try to bring an

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area of spiritual growth to our lives.

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We're going to do it this fall.

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So we will shut things down around Crossroads and we have the

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best services we possibly can that coincide with groups that we

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all get in and awesome stuff we can do at home if we want.

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And it's going to be around this upper right progress,

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quadrants.

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It's going to be around this entire matrix actually having

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purpose in play.

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It's going to be getting to a place where you prosper.

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Where you prosper.

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When you have a high degree of play and when you have purpose,

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your life, there is a prosperity that comes to you.

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Now, I hate to use that word almost because unfortunately that

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word prosperity has been hijacked by the televangelists.

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And that word is only used by some pastors in relationships who

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you should give, you should give more so God prospers you.

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And to be clear, I'm a big fan of giving.

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The closer I get to Jesus, the more I want to be like Him.

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He gave His life.

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So that's a great, great message.

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But that is such a fine smidgen of what prosperity is worth.

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Thirty one hundred times in the Bible the word prosperity is

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used.

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Over thirty one hundred.

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Let me say it, over thirty one hundred times in the Bible the

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word prosperity is used.

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Here's one of the early ones.

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Deuteronomy 22:9:

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You may prosper.

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You may succeed and all you do.

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Having prosperity, it's being in a land that is lush, it's being

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in land where there is -- there's purpose.

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It's being in a land where you don't feel impinge upon and

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squashed on.

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It's like there's wide open spaces.

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You're just -- you're just -- you're just living large, enjoying

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and cruising through life.

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And this is why God talks about this word, there's all kind of

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angles to this word.

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Over thirty one hundred times.

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The Book of Jeremiah 44:17, it says:

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Man, it's an awesome thing when you have plenty of food.

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In fact, when all your needs are met and a heck of a lot of your

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wants are met.

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That is amazing.

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One more, Psalm 1:3, it says this: He -- Who is he?

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He is somebody who is being blessed by God, who is close by

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God.

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Now, there's a lot of going on here.

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We imagine or you can see this, there's a body of water here

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that's going by here.

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And you've got this tree that's growing.

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And whenever a tree is growing and its roots are going into the

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ground, it's going into ground that's right beside the water

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table and it's an incredibly moist ground.

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It's luscious, moist ground.

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Some of us really don't like that word moist, I know.

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Do you not like the word? Who

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doesn't like the word moist?

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Just raise your hand.

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I will not say moist anymore.

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So, it's this land where all the vitamins and nutrients are in

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there and the roots are growing.

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And when this happens, this tree starts blossoming, growing.

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It's a figure for what our life should be like, we should be

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planted beside God, where we're feeling His presence and where

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the our hearts going deeper and we're getting more and more

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grounded in character and in His truth.

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And while this happens, it says: Fruit comes out.

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Now, I think it's interesting that it's fruit.

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It doesn't say vegetables.

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It says fruit.

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I am pro vegans.

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I am pro vegetarianism.

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I'm not one because animals taste too good.

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They just do.

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But I am pro it because every day, I have a lot of salads and I

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just I --every time I'm like, "I think I could become a

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vegetarian. I really could."

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It's wonderful.

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But like I said that I like the taste of animals too much.

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But here is here is the thing that's interesting about this

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And people are very specific when you want to really, really be

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healthy and you want to get vegan, they're more specific saying

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it needs be a plant-based diet, plant based.

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What are they saying by that?

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Well, it's basically vegetable based, plant based.

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Fruit is God's dessert.

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Fruit is God's way to play with our taste buds.

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Fruit is God's way to give us strawberries and blackberries and

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explode.

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If all God was concerned about was the purpose, the purpose of

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you having fuel and energy to do the stuff that you need to do,

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then there wouldn't be any need for fruit because desert.

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If you really want to be healthy and you want to not eat

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animals, you need to do broccoli and spinach and all that.

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And I like all those things.

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But it's interesting, this verse says fruit.

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So when we prosper. there

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is an advance in our life.

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We feel like we're advancing.

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We feel like we're getting things done.

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We can see points on the scoreboard.

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The metrics are looking good.

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There are things that we can measure.

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And we're feeling pleasure and we're playing and our tastebuds

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are dancing just because God is good and because we are human

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beings, we aren't human doings.

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If all we're doing is that stuff, we're gonna hurt ourself.

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So my request for you is this summer, the rest of the

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summer, take care yourself.

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Don't leave vacation days on the table.

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Take care of yourself.

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Know what it is you need to accomplish every week.

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As we get closer to this fall we're going to amp this up because

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we want the best view it's gonna be called the Play and Purpose

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Journey and it's going to be really effective.

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Man, it's good to be with you, my name's Lena Schuler.

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I'm the Crossroads Anywhere Community Pastor.

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And just last week, we were out visiting our community in

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Newport Beach, California.

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One of the people in that community who's part of the watch

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party that happens there is my friend Meghan.

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And Meghan's got a pretty sweet story.

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And she actually might be the most joyful person that I know.

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So, why don't we check out what Meghan has to say.

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Hi, I'm Meghan, and I'm out here in Orange County, California.

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[ cheers and applause ]

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We gather friends from Cincinnati and friends who are locals to

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meet and do life together.

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I'm from Cincinnati originally and actually met Jesus while

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I was a college student at the University of Cincinnati through

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Crossroads.

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When I was a college student, this is a great way to invite your

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friends to church if you ever need one.

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I had some friends who said, "Come over for a girls wine night.

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We're having wine at our house in our living room.".

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Great way to bait and switch your friends into a Bible study,

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which is what I walked into in my friend's living room.

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I met Jesus there.

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I got baptized in a bar.

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It was awesome.

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And now I live in Orange County, California, and do life with

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some awesome people out here.

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Just this last weekend, I had an opportunity to talk about what

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life is like being in community when I had a friend come visit

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California and say, "How did you make so many friends after

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college? Nobody makes friends after college that easily.

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And that's super hard to do.

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What is your secret?".

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And I said, "The Crossroads Anywhere map.

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You obviously just go to church and you make friends at church.

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Like what does other -- what does any 23 year old do?

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That's super normal.

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And encouraged her to go seek that out because I have found the

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most amazing community out here and get to encourage her on

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towards her faith and getting to seek that out for herself

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because that is where joy comes from, is from friends and

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having community like this.

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When I was in college and met Jesus, it was not easy at first.

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It was super crazy to be in a world filled with people who were

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always wanting to go out.

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And I used to want to do that and I still did.

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But I didn't want to at the same time, because I really wanted

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to live the life that God had for me and walk away from some of

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those things as hard as it was.

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So when I met Jesus, I was living with my best friend at the

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time, literally sharing a room.

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And my friends, my roommates, people I was in class with would

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say things like, "Why aren't you fun anymore?

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Like what happened to you?

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Why don't you do the things you used to do?

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And I actually got to say all the time, "Well, I go to this

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awesome church, you should come with me.

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I want you to have your life changed.

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And I want you to experience the joy that I've experienced in

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that community and knowing life with God.

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So please come with me, because that's the best gift you can

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give a friend is to invite them to know the God who made them

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and who loves them.

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So at the end of college, right after graduation, I actually got

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to baptize my best friend, who I was living with at the time.

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And there is no greater joy in the entire world than getting to

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do that.

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We're on a Go Trip together and it was the coolest thing.

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And she gets to live in that same joy and we get to share

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stories of what God is doing in our life all the time now,

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which is so incredible.

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Now, in the workplace, I just recently had something happen in

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my professional life, which most people think has nothing to do

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with your church life or with God, but really it does.

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I've learned a lot about money.

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I've learned a lot about how to be a hard worker.

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I've learned a lot about how to let my -- do the things I say

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I'm going to do and how to be good on my word and really be a

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great employee because of the things I've learned in church.

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I was in my desk recently and had the funniest, coolest thing

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happen.

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I found out I was getting a tax return and I live in California.

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So, if you don't know that, that means no one gets a tax return.

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It means that you don't get a tax return.

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It's not a thing that happens.

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But because I was tithing and just giving the way that I learned

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to handle my money.

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My co-workers asked me, "Well, how the heck did you get a tax

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return? You know, what do you do?".

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And I got to talk to them about giving and why I give.

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And that's -- that was not a big deal for me.

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So recently in a staff meeting, I had a co-worker say to me,

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"You know, I've really been thinking differently about how I

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want to spend my money and how I want to be generous because of

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what you said.

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And because of what that inspired in me."

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So that was a really -- I mean, that brought me so much joy to

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be able to experience someone else taking that on for themself

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and hopefully getting to now be generous as well.

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So in all of these different stages of life, or whether it's

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someone from the past reaching out, saying, "Hey, I've noticed

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your joy on social media.

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I'm going through a really hard time and you just are full of

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joy and you have great friends.

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And that's not really common in the world we live in today.

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What's what's the secret?".

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Well, the secret is Jesus.

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The secret is you go to church and you make good friends and you

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live in community with other people and you get to do fun

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things together and you get together in homes like this with

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amazingly hospitable people.

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And you get to do that because of following Jesus.

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So in any different setting in life, in any different scenario,

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there is so much joy in sharing Jesus with friends and in

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inviting them with you to experience the life that you have

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because of your life with Jesus.

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And it's brought so much joy to my life, and it will bring so

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much joy to your life as well.

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And if you're on the Crossroads Anywhere map and are looking for

00:29:44

somewhere to go on vacation or take your group, your living

00:29:49

room full of people on a domestic go trip, come join us out

00:29:51

here in California.

00:29:52

It's amazing.

00:29:54

And this is the best place in the world to do church and do life

00:29:57

So... [ cheers and applause ]

00:30:04

I couldn't even count the number of times that I've been sitting

00:30:08

around a table or someone's living room and the conversation

00:30:11

has come up, "What am I doing with my life?

00:30:15

What's my purpose? Is

00:30:17

what I'm doing meaningful, does it matter?"

00:30:20

I can think specifically of one dinner I had, it was shortly

00:30:24

after I graduated college and my very best friends came over

00:30:28

for dinner in my apartment.

00:30:31

We were sitting around the table in the kitchen and we're just

00:30:33

talking about how life is going.

00:30:35

And most of my friends, all of my friends took 8 to 5, 8 to 6, 9

00:30:42

I don't know, corporate jobs, OK?

00:30:45

And so we're sitting around this table and I was the only one in

00:30:48

my friend group that didn't go work at a big company after

00:30:52

college.

00:30:54

And I remember sitting there and we're just talking about how

00:30:57

work's going, how life's going.

00:30:59

And one person after another around that table at some point had

00:31:06

a bit of an emotional breakdown.

00:31:09

And the conversation went a little something like this.

00:31:12

"I just don't know what I'm supposed to be doing."

00:31:17

"I don't know if I'm even passionate about this job.".

00:31:21

I don't know if I have any purpose at 10:00 a.m.

00:31:24

on a Tuesday or 4:00 p.m.

00:31:26

on a Friday."

00:31:28

And person after person had the same feelings, the same

00:31:33

experiences.

00:31:34

And I was sitting there and for the maybe the first time, I

00:31:38

wasn't the one crying around the table.

00:31:41

Usually I'm, I can be fairly emotional.

00:31:44

And I wasn't for myself in that moment, but my heart broke for

00:31:48

my friends who just were feeling so lost and purposeless and

00:31:54

like they didn't have meaning.

00:31:57

And I can honestly say I don't -- I don't feel like that right

00:32:00

I didn't feel like that then either.

00:32:01

I felt this sense of purpose and meaning.

00:32:04

And it's not because I work at a church.

00:32:08

It actually has nothing to do with the fact that I work at a

00:32:11

church.

00:32:13

And so there's this whole idea of a meaningful life.

00:32:15

Like, how do we get it?

00:32:16

Is it even possible?

00:32:17

Is it a myth?

00:32:19

Is it magic?

00:32:20

Is it math?

00:32:21

It's really simple, actually.

00:32:24

It's just going deeper into your relationship with God and

00:32:28

inviting other people into it with you.

00:32:31

It's inviting other people to experience whatever it is that

00:32:34

you're experiencing.

00:32:36

And whether that means that you believe in God this much, you're

00:32:40

not even sure yet really if He's real.

00:32:44

Or if you and God are tight and you've been in this powerful,

00:32:48

amazing relationship with God for the last 20 years.

00:32:51

Wherever you are on that spectrum, God wants to do something in

00:32:55

He is doing something in you right now.

00:32:59

And if you choose to invite other people into it and share it

00:33:03

with the people that you're around day in and day out, the

00:33:05

people that mean the most to you, your life is going to have

00:33:08

meaning, it's gonna be purposeful, it's going to matter.

00:33:12

I really, really, truly believe that.

00:33:13

And I believe that because I've experienced it.

00:33:16

And again, not because I work at a church.

00:33:20

It actually has nothing to do with my job.

00:33:23

It's all of the time and all of the opportunities outside of my

00:33:28

Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 6:00 job.

00:33:33

I am the person that loves sharing the new things that I

00:33:37

experience.

00:33:38

I love it.

00:33:39

So if I see a great movie, you're gonna hear about it.

00:33:42

If you're looking for a date night and you live in the

00:33:44

Cincinnati area, let me plan in it for you, because I want you

00:33:48

to experience the best restaurants and the best things that

00:33:52

I've experienced.

00:33:53

Shout out to Sotto, Nada, and Boca.

00:33:55

David Falk, I hope I get a gift card out of this.

00:33:58

Best restaurants you'll ever go to in Cincinnati.

00:34:01

Anyways, if I get a great deal on shoes, I'm gonna tell you when

00:34:05

you compliment my shoes, I'm gonna tell you how much they cost

00:34:07

because you better believe that they were on sale.

00:34:09

And I want you to get the good deal and I want you to get to

00:34:12

celebrate the good thing with me.

00:34:14

That's just part of who I am and how I'm wired.

00:34:17

And here's the thing with your relationship with God, I can

00:34:20

remember sitting standing in my kitchen in college, actually.

00:34:24

And one of my roommates, I wasn't really sure where she was in

00:34:27

her faith.

00:34:28

I wasn't really sure kind of what she believed at all about God.

00:34:32

And I just flat out asked her one time.

00:34:35

She was getting something out of the freezer and she said to

00:34:37

me,.

00:34:38

Well, yeah, I believe in God.

00:34:43

But it's it's just kind of between me and God.

00:34:46

It's a thing that I actually think is really personal.

00:34:50

And then she went back to the freezer and did the thing that she

00:34:52

was doing.

00:34:54

I remember thinking.

00:34:56

Between you and God.

00:34:59

Is that right?

00:35:00

Is it just between you and God?

00:35:03

And now I believe, no.

00:35:06

Whatever you're experiencing with God, whatever your

00:35:08

relationship or lack there of with Him is, it's not just

00:35:13

between you and God.

00:35:14

It's between you, God, and everybody that you meet, everybody

00:35:17

that you touch, everybody that you do life with.

00:35:20

It is not a thing between you and God.

00:35:23

It's a thing between you, God and all of your friends and your

00:35:26

family and your roommates.

00:35:27

When God's doing something in you and you're experiencing Him in

00:35:32

new and fresh ways.

00:35:34

So as a kid growing up in church, you know, there were those few

00:35:38

Bible songs, those few church songs that we all kind of learned

00:35:42

in Sunday school or Kids' Club, whatever you were a part of as

00:35:47

You know the songs like the B-I-B-L-E, yes, that's the book for

00:35:51

me. I stand alone on the word of God, the B-I-B-L-E.

00:35:56

Do you know that one?

00:35:57

If you didn't, you should learn it because it'll help you spell

00:35:59

the Bible.

00:36:00

But there were others too.

00:36:02

One of them was This Little Light of Mine.

00:36:04

Do you guys remember that one?

00:36:06

It went: This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.

00:36:11

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.

00:36:15

It goes on and on and it says, hide it under a bushel.

00:36:19

No, I'm gonna let it shine.

00:36:21

Don't let Satan it out (poof) it out.

00:36:23

I'm gonna let it shine.

00:36:25

And it goes on to just talk about how we've got this little

00:36:28

light and we should let it shine.

00:36:31

Well, that actually comes directly from the Bible.

00:36:35

We just made a kid's song out of it that's kind of cheesy, but I

00:36:39

remember it 28 years later.

00:36:42

And this is where it comes from, it comes from the book of

00:36:44

Matthew, in Chapter 5.

00:36:46

And Jesus, man, Jesus had a meaningful life.

00:36:49

Jesus had a life that mattered.

00:36:50

I mean, we're here in 2019, still referencing him, talking about

00:36:56

I'm actually modeling my life after His, trying to be like Him.

00:37:00

I'd say his life was pretty meaningful.

00:37:03

And so He gives us some, like, instruction on how to live.

00:37:08

And he's doing this to a whole crowd of people on a mountain in

00:37:10

Matthew 5.

00:37:11

And this is what he says:.

00:37:39

Jesus was living such a meaningful life that crowds of people

00:37:42

were following Him and just like sitting there listening,

00:37:46

wanting to listen to what He had to say.

00:37:47

And this is one of the things that He says to them.

00:37:50

And we hear Jesus referred to as the light of the world, but

00:37:54

right here you know what He's saying?

00:37:56

He says, "You are the light of the world."

00:37:59

You.

00:38:01

That means if Jesus is doing something in you, then you are the

00:38:05

light of the world.

00:38:06

And what He's doing in you is going to light up your house, your

00:38:10

family, all of your friends.

00:38:13

And so if God is doing something in you, you can't hide it under

00:38:16

a bushel.

00:38:17

You can't hide it under a basket.

00:38:19

It should be on a lamp stand lighting up your whole home,

00:38:22

lighting up all of your friendships, lighting up your

00:38:25

workplace.

00:38:26

And I found that when I let my light shine, when I let what

00:38:32

Jesus is doing in me out for other people to see and other

00:38:36

people to experience.

00:38:38

Oh, my gosh, the amount of meaning and purpose that is brought

00:38:43

to my life is unbelievable.

00:38:45

And so I just want to share with you some of the things that I

00:38:49

do, some of the things that I've been practicing and trying to

00:38:54

get better at to let my light shine.

00:38:56

Some of the things I've been practicing trying to get better at,

00:38:58

to invite people into experience God with me and

00:39:05

it's been giving me purpose.

00:39:06

And I hope that it might give you some purpose, too.

00:39:09

So here's the first thing.

00:39:11

I regularly choose to pray.

00:39:14

Now there's all kinds of ways we can pray, all kinds of things

00:39:17

we can pray about.

00:39:18

But specifically, I pray for my friends who I want to experience

00:39:23

God.

00:39:24

I pray for them by name.

00:39:26

I pray for them regularly in a regular rhythm.

00:39:30

And so one of the things that we started doing as little kids in

00:39:34

my house growing up was we had a paste list.

00:39:39

This was a list of names that went on our bathroom mirror that

00:39:42

every time we pulled out our toothpaste and brush our teeth

00:39:46

twice a day for 60 seconds apiece, as the dentist says, we'd

00:39:50

stand there brushing our teeth.

00:39:52

Brush our teeth.

00:39:53

And, you know, you're kind of standing there looking at yourself

00:39:54

in the mirror.

00:39:55

Maybe you're like thinking about your day.

00:39:57

And instead, what you could do is you actually could look at

00:40:00

that list of names on your bathroom mirror and for 60 seconds,

00:40:04

twice a day while you brush your teeth, you can pray for your

00:40:07

friends and your family by name who you want to experience

00:40:11

Jesus

00:40:12

I do this right now.

00:40:13

We just moved into a brand new house and I just wrote the names

00:40:16

on my mirror yesterday.

00:40:18

Here's a picture of the names.

00:40:21

Hopefully you can't actually really read them because if one of

00:40:24

you is here and watches this it might -- it's fine.

00:40:28

And so these are the names of people that I love dearly, that I

00:40:32

want to experience God the way that I'm experiencing God right

00:40:36

now.

00:40:37

You know, we can work.

00:40:38

And when we work, we work.

00:40:41

And when we pray, God works.

00:40:44

And so there is an opportunity for us to pray regularly for the

00:40:49

people that we want to experience God the way that we are

00:40:53

experiencing him.

00:40:56

I Timothy 2:1-5 says:.

00:41:17

One of these people that I did this with was Meghan.

00:41:22

Meghan, The Spark Talk that you just saw was someone who I met

00:41:25

as an eager beaver freshman wearing a lanyard walking around

00:41:30

campus.

00:41:31

And she was so far from God.

00:41:34

And she wouldn't mind me telling you that because she believes

00:41:37

that to be true and she tells everybody.

00:41:39

And I put her name on the mirror in my bedroom in college.

00:41:43

And every time I curled my hair or straighten my hair or did

00:41:47

anything to my hair, I would pray for Meghan.

00:41:51

And man, three years after that first prayer, I actually got to

00:41:56

watch Meghan receive Jesus.

00:41:58

I got to be part of that.

00:41:59

I got to baptize her.

00:42:00

And now Meghan is sharing her faith.

00:42:03

Meghan is sharing what she's experiencing with God with all

00:42:07

kinds of other people all the way across the country.

00:42:10

And it's beautiful.

00:42:12

And. oh, my is that fulfilling and does that bring meaning to my

00:42:17

life.

00:42:18

Now, here's the second thing that I do is I actually use my

00:42:25

words.

00:42:26

I talk to the people that I want to experience God and I share

00:42:31

with them what He's doing in me, what he's doing around me.

00:42:36

And I want them to know, I want them to hear my story.

00:42:39

And this doesn't mean that, like, I have this five minute deal,

00:42:43

this spiel that I tell people from start to finish tied up with

00:42:46

a bow of how God changed my life and everything's amazing.

00:42:49

No, not at all.

00:42:51

It means when someone asks me the question, "Hey, what's new?"

00:42:54

I intentionally think about what's something I could share that

00:43:00

might pique their interest in what I'm experiencing at the

00:43:04

or might pique their interest in what I'm experiencing with God.

00:43:09

And so I intentionally have to think about how am I going to use

00:43:13

my words to share with other people what God's doing?

00:43:18

One of these times -- I have a friend who a few years ago,

00:43:22

really unexpectedly lost her mom of cancer.

00:43:29

And so when I say unexpectedly, I mean, none of us expect to

00:43:32

lose a parent at 20 something, right?

00:43:36

Before we get married, before we have kids, before we hit all

00:43:39

these major milestones.

00:43:41

And so we were actually at one of the local bars together, the

00:43:47

big group of friends.

00:43:48

And it was the day that her mom had, passed away.

00:43:51

And so she came in just emotional and really not well.

00:43:57

And I debated, I was like, should I? Should

00:44:00

I say something, should I not say something? Like

00:44:03

what's helpful in this moment?

00:44:05

And I felt like, man, I've really experienced the comfort of

00:44:10

God.

00:44:11

I've experienced the peace that surpasses all understanding.

00:44:14

I've experienced hope that comes after death, maybe way, way

00:44:19

after death.

00:44:21

And I wanted that for her.

00:44:23

And I didn't want to keep that a secret.

00:44:25

I didn't -- I didn't want to just sit there and have a beer

00:44:29

with her and pretend like nothing happened.

00:44:30

And so I just asked her, I said, "Hey, you know, one of the

00:44:35

things that's been really helpful for me is just prayer.

00:44:38

Like when I talk to God, I actually feel something different.

00:44:42

And I know that this is really crappy and this is really hard.

00:44:46

I would love to just pray for you to be able to feel comfort in

00:44:51

the midst of this if you're OK with that.".

00:44:54

And of course, she's through tears like nods her head.

00:44:57

And so I get to pray for my friend who's experiencing something

00:45:00

terrible.

00:45:01

But I had to use my words.

00:45:03

I had to actually go outside of my comfort zone and say, "Hey, I

00:45:07

believe in this thing and I've experienced this with God.

00:45:11

I'd like to share it with you.".

00:45:14

Now, I don't know if her life is totally different now.

00:45:17

I don't know if she has this major deep relationship with God

00:45:20

right now.

00:45:21

But what I do know is that in that moment, I believe I did what

00:45:25

God wanted me to do.

00:45:27

I shared Him.

00:45:28

I shared what I was experiencing, what I have experienced

00:45:32

And so -- and maybe you've been healed.

00:45:35

Maybe you've experienced a miracle.

00:45:36

Maybe you're in the midst of a miracle.

00:45:38

Maybe God's brought you comfort that doesn't make sense or peace

00:45:43

that surpasses all understanding.

00:45:45

Or maybe He's pulled these puzzle pieces together in your life

00:45:48

that shouldn't have come together.

00:45:49

But they did come together.

00:45:51

And you've got friends who are experiencing something hard or

00:45:55

something new or who are longing for what you have.

00:46:00

You can use your words to share with other people what God's

00:46:04

done in you, what He's doing in you, what you've seen, felt,

00:46:08

experienced.

00:46:10

And you can share that and hopefully pique some interest for

00:46:14

your friends to want that.

00:46:16

It then says:

00:46:39

So at the time Jesus was walking around with people, He was

00:46:42

saying, "Yeah, pray for people and tell people when I'm doing

00:46:47

something.

00:46:48

Tell them, I want them to be amazed.

00:46:50

I want God to get the glory for what he's doing through prayer

00:46:56

and through the work of sharing."

00:47:00

And lastly, one of the other things that I do is I choose to

00:47:04

invite.

00:47:06

I choose to go one more step beyond just sharing and actually

00:47:10

invite people to experience God with me.

00:47:14

So this is really simple, actually.

00:47:16

Three words to remember.

00:47:18

If you're trying to figure out like, how do I invite this

00:47:20

person?

00:47:21

If you can remember: you, I, and so.

00:47:29

It's a really simple way to invite.

00:47:30

So you start with a, "Hey. You

00:47:34

right now, you just had a brand new baby.

00:47:36

How exciting.

00:47:37

Congratulations.

00:47:39

I just had a baby a year ago, and when I had my baby, I freaked

00:47:44

I was like, "I don't know how to be a parent.

00:47:47

No one trains you in how to be a parent.

00:47:49

But at Crossroads, we've got this great thing called Kids' Club

00:47:53

that I would love for you to experience with me.

00:47:56

So do you want to come with me sometime?

00:47:59

Do you live near a Crossroads site?".

00:48:00

That might be a really easy way for you to invite your friends.

00:48:04

Or maybe it's something like what happened with my friend a few

00:48:09

And you say, "Man, you are going through something really tough

00:48:14

that I hope nobody else has to go through because it's really

00:48:19

hard to lose your mom.

00:48:21

I've not experienced that.

00:48:23

I don't know what that's like, but I almost lost my mom once.

00:48:29

She had a stroke and we thought that she wasn't gonna make it.

00:48:33

And in the midst of that feeling I had to lean on God and I had

00:48:39

people that I could call to pray for me that I've met through

00:48:42

the church.

00:48:44

So would you maybe want to come and watch church with me in my

00:48:48

living room with some of my friends who experience church that

00:48:53

way and who would be great people to pray for you when you

00:48:56

experience something crappy?".

00:48:59

You, I, So; really simple.

00:49:02

And if you've got friends who are maybe entering into a brand

00:49:04

new life stage: new baby, new home, new marriage, or

00:49:08

ones who are going through crisis: divorce, loss of someone

00:49:12

they love.

00:49:15

Those people. they're

00:49:16

longing to experience comfort and peace and community, the

00:49:21

things that maybe you've experienced in the midst of the

00:49:24

church.

00:49:25

Those are great people to invite in to experience what you're

00:49:30

experiencing, whether it's through showing up to a church

00:49:33

building or watching something online or listening to a

00:49:36

podcast.

00:49:38

We've gotta pray for our friends.

00:49:39

We've got to share with them what God is doing in us.

00:49:41

And we have to invite them into something.

00:49:44

Invite them into community with us.

00:49:49

1 Corinthians 9 says:.

00:50:09

I want you to do everything to share the good news and to share

00:50:15

in its blessings.

00:50:18

God has uniquely made you with specific gifts and talents and

00:50:22

passions and desires.

00:50:24

And He's made you to have a meaningful, purposeful life that

00:50:30

matters.

00:50:31

I got to meet and get to know a family who, man, they have a

00:50:36

meaningful life right now, their life is mattering.

00:50:39

They're impacting all kinds of other families and individuals

00:50:43

who live in the Los Angeles area.

00:50:46

And they've got a pretty cool story.

00:50:48

I'd love for you to just meet them and see what God's doing in

00:50:52

their lives and in their home.

00:50:54

Let's meet the Byerlys.

00:50:58

Hi, I'm Stephanie Byerly.

00:51:01

And I'm Robert Byerly and we live in Newport Beach, California.

00:51:05

I think we started going to Crossroads before we moved to

00:51:08

Cincinnati in 2003.

00:51:09

The first journey that we were part of was the Consume Journey.

00:51:13

And I think for us, that was the first time that it's ever

00:51:16

really been explained to us that everything we own is God's.

00:51:23

And that was really impactful for Robert and I because of the

00:51:28

way it changed our thinking.

00:51:29

And we also just grew a lot.

00:51:31

We grew in community during that time.

00:51:34

So super impactful for us.

00:51:36

So we moved to California the first time in 2012.

00:51:39

I had an opportunity with my job and we came out and had the

00:51:42

choice to live in a couple different places.

00:51:45

And we landed on Orange County.

00:51:46

So we had met some families through school.

00:51:50

Stephanie had hosted a Labor Day back to school kind of hangout

00:51:54

brunch at her house.

00:51:55

Everyone shows up at 11 o'clock.

00:51:56

And people ended up just hanging out until early afternoon, 4:00

00:52:00

or 5:00.

00:52:01

It was really the first group of people that we've connected to

00:52:04

with that we really liked.

00:52:05

So Stephanie had suggested,"Hey, why don't we do a journey deal

00:52:10

together with all of you?".

00:52:11

And they're like, "What's a journey?".

00:52:12

And when we went on to explain, it was a small group deal and

00:52:15

we just created a place where people can hang out.

00:52:17

We say, bring your kids, come late, which is --

00:52:21

Always happens in California.

00:52:24

Our goal was really just to build friendship and relationships

00:52:27

with other people.

00:52:28

It wasn't to keep some kind of timely schedule.

00:52:31

And that's how it started.

00:52:32

So if it weren't for the idea of the Journey group, if it

00:52:35

weren't for the idea of inviting people into your homes, we

00:52:38

wouldn't have had invited them over and made that connection

00:52:41

with them.

00:52:43

I'm Meghan, and in part at the Crossroads Anywhere Community

00:52:46

here in Newport Beach, California.

00:52:48

So when I finished college, I accepted a job in Orange County,

00:52:52

California, after graduating from the University of Cincinnati.

00:52:56

Literally, besides my job, I had no idea where I was going to

00:52:59

live or really what life was going to look like at all.

00:53:03

I was super scared to move.

00:53:05

Then at the same time, when I got to California, I

00:53:09

roadtripped out here with two friends from Crossroads,

00:53:10

actually.

00:53:11

And when I got to California sent them on a plane home and

00:53:15

literally had nowhere to move into.

00:53:19

I found a place to live, thankfully.

00:53:20

Following that, the goal was to find community.

00:53:24

So I had put myself on the Crossroads Anywhere map.

00:53:28

I put my pin on my office, actually, because I didn't know where

00:53:30

I was going to be living yet before I moved out here.

00:53:33

And then once I moved out here, I put my pin on my home

00:53:36

location.

00:53:37

They had seen me on the map and we actually met in person at a

00:53:42

Young Life dinner.

00:53:44

They said, "Oh, we're Robert and Steph and we're from

00:53:46

Cincinnati."

00:53:48

I said, "Well, I'm from Cincinnati.

00:53:50

What are you guys doing out here?"

00:53:52

We left Cincinnati on the same day and we couldn't believe that

00:53:56

we didn't know each other in Cincinnati because we had a lot of

00:53:58

different mutual connections.

00:53:59

They invited me over for coffee.

00:54:01

They invited me over for dinner.

00:54:02

They invited me over for everything and to do every little piece

00:54:05

of life with them and with their family.

00:54:09

And we were in a mode of trying to find people that were from

00:54:13

Cincinnati or part of the Crossroads community that we're

00:54:14

living in and around Orange County.

00:54:17

So we just kind of looked, okay, who was on the map that's here?

00:54:21

I remember going online and seeing who's this Meghan Pope

00:54:24

person?

00:54:25

So I think you might have reached out or something.

00:54:27

But we just tried to get connected with her.

00:54:29

We were invited to go to this Young Life event on its their

00:54:32

annual fundraiser.

00:54:34

So a good friend of ours, a guy named Dan Chambers said, "You

00:54:36

know, I was at an event and there's a lady named Meghan that's

00:54:40

from Cincinnati, and she's younger.

00:54:43

And she went to went to a place called Crossroads or whatever.

00:54:47

"Wait a minute.

00:54:48

Is that the same person that was on the map that Dan knew?"

00:54:52

I think we instantly had the excitement for Crossroads.

00:54:57

I think that instantly connected us.

00:54:59

We want to protect her and take care of her and check in on

00:55:03

her.

00:55:04

And, yes, you know, she's like family to us really.

00:55:07

Yes.

00:55:08

The first six months that I was out here and really didn't have

00:55:10

a lot of stability yet, my car got hit.

00:55:14

Without missing a beat, Steph just tossed me her keys.

00:55:17

And I drove her car around to work for two weeks until I could

00:55:21

get my stuff straightened out.

00:55:24

The first year I was out here in California, I actually couldn't

00:55:27

go home for Thanksgiving.

00:55:29

So naturally I went to the Byerly's.

00:55:31

I kind of joke with my friends who were my peers, "Like my

00:55:34

California mom and dad.

00:55:36

I'm going to hang out my California mom and dad, or I'm house

00:55:38

sitting for my California family.".

00:55:40

"Or I'm watching the dog or walking the dog from my California

00:55:43

family while they're out of town."

00:55:44

I get the example of what it looks like to be generous with your

00:55:47

money and what it looks like to have a marriage that centered

00:55:49

on Jesus and what does look like to be really faithful to your

00:55:52

career and to your family at the same time.

00:55:55

Getting to be part of someone's family, in someone's home, in

00:55:57

someone's life, it's so natural for me to get to pick up on

00:56:00

these things and get to see these things that they do.

00:56:03

We all need community.

00:56:05

I think the longer we've been married and the longer we've had

00:56:08

kids, we've just realized that you have to lean in to other

00:56:11

When we share our wounds and our weaknesses, it's the best way

00:56:16

that people can connect with us.

00:56:18

And I think a lot of times when you don't know people very well

00:56:22

and you're in a new situation, it's really intimidating to just

00:56:27

invite strangers in your home

00:56:29

and not really know what -- how they're going to receive that.

00:56:33

But I think because we were growing along the way, we just knew

00:56:37

that it was something that was so meaningful to us.

00:56:40

Everyone should have the chance to experience what I've had,

00:56:43

I've gotten to experience, which is moving somewhere new, not

00:56:46

knowing anybody, but because of my faith immediately having

00:56:49

community and having friends.

00:56:52

What I would say to somebody if they're a part of the Crossroads

00:56:55

Community and they're watching online and they're at home or

00:56:58

they're in a coffee shop and they're by themselves.

00:57:01

I would just say be invitational and ask somebody to to watch

00:57:04

Whether it's in a coffee shop or whether it's on your, you know,

00:57:07

hanging out on the couch because people want to be invited to

00:57:11

They want to be -- They want to feel a part of a community.

00:57:14

I found community through Crossroads Anywhere and I'm so

00:57:17

thankful.

00:57:31

How encouraging is that? Man,

00:57:34

I'll tell you, if you ever get to meet that family or those

00:57:37

people in person, you're going to love them even more.

00:57:40

Well, two of the things that you heard them mention in their

00:57:43

story are things that actually you could do right now.

00:57:46

You could start thinking about doing right now.

00:57:49

The first is they mentioned a Journey.

00:57:51

This all church Journey for five weeks that the whole church

00:57:55

does together where we get into groups and we get to experience

00:57:59

church on a deeper level with other people.

00:58:02

And so that's actually coming up in the fall.

00:58:05

It's the Play and Purpose Journey.

00:58:07

You can head to Crossroads.net/journey

00:58:08

to check that out, but be thinking about whether or not you

00:58:13

might want to lead a group for the very first time, host The

00:58:17

journey in your home.

00:58:19

It could be a great way for you to get connected to community

00:58:21

wherever you are.

00:58:23

Speaking of getting connected to community, the other thing they

00:58:25

mentioned was the Connect Map.

00:58:27

And so maybe you are about to move, you've just moved.

00:58:30

Maybe you've been in southeast Indiana or South Dakota for a

00:58:35

long time, but you've not actually met other people who are

00:58:39

part of the church there.

00:58:40

If you head to Crossroads.net/connect,

00:58:43

you can put yourself on the Connect Map, you can search for

00:58:46

people who are near you, groups that are happening near you, ad

00:58:50

you can connect with other people through that tool.

00:58:52

It's pretty sweet.

00:58:54

Well, if you want your life to matter, another way that you

00:58:57

could have meaning is you could invest your money in meaningful

00:59:01

things and things that matter.

00:59:03

One of the things that my husband and I invest our money in is

00:59:06

the church, because we believe that the church is the best

00:59:10

rescue plan for all of humanity.

00:59:13

We believe that God's gonna do amazing things in the church and

00:59:17

through the church.

00:59:18

We've seen it, we've experienced it, and we want others to

00:59:21

experience it, too.

00:59:22

And so we invest our money here.

00:59:25

And so if you want to become a giver, you can do that by heading

00:59:27

to Crossroads.net/give

00:59:30

and invest in something that has purpose and meaning and might

00:59:34

just make your life matter in a whole new way.

00:59:37

Next week we start a brand new series called How to Hear from

00:59:39

God.

00:59:40

And a new series is a great opportunity for you to open up your

00:59:43

home and invite other people to watch church with you, to

00:59:46

experience church with you.

00:59:48

So maybe you want to start that next week.

00:59:50

We'll see you back for week 1 of How to Hear from God.

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