You Have Gifts. Use Them! | Taking Control Week 3

Leading, teaching, singing, painting, cooking, dancing, researching, playing, encouraging, praying, writing, creating, building, designing—no matter who you are, God has given you gifts. You are good at something, and today Alli talks about how we unleash those gifts to make the world a better place.

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    A life with God is anything but boring.
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    You were made for adventure.
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    It could be a heart pounding life of purpose.
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    Join us every weekend for 45 minutes of challenge, hope,
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    and encouragement to guide you on your spiritual adventure.
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    - Does this feel like your life right now?
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    You can't control everything,
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    but you can control more than you think.
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    Taking Control: a new Crossroads weekly streaming series.
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    Learn how to take control of what God gave you.
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    - We all have gifts, mine include tormenting my dog
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    and junior high humor.
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    My name is Brian. It's great to be with you today.
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    We're going to have Alli talk to us
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    about understanding our gifts
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    and how to leverage them and how to deploy them
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    so we can have the most impactful life possible.
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    Let's hear what she has to say.
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    - Lately, I've been thinking about all the pieces of my life
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    that sometimes seem like they're out of my control.
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    Today we're going to stop and talk about
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    the things that we actually are given to control,
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    the things that God has given us
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    the freedom in our lives to take control of.
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    My name is Alli Patterson,
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    and I'm one of the teaching pastors here at Crossroads.
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    And I want you to know today that you have gifts.
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    I don't know how you see yourself.
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    Maybe you're somebody who's had
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    one really visible outstanding gift since you were a kid
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    and everybody knows it, everybody can see it.
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    Or maybe you're somebody who just gets up every day
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    and thinks, "Oh, well, I'm kind of good
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    at a lot of different things,
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    but maybe not gifted at anything."
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    However you think of yourself, I think -- I hope today
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    you will begin to see that you have incredible gifts
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    and that you can manage them for a life that really thrives.
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    We're in a bookstore, Duttenhofer's Books as a matter of fact.
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    And I love places like this because
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    one of the things that's in me is that I love books.
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    I always have since I was a little girl.
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    I remember going to the library checkout
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    with a big stack of books to take home
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    and every single time the nice lady who checked me out
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    would say, "Now, honey, you can't take all those home,
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    that's too many."
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    And I would have to agonize over which three or four
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    I was going to have to wait until the next week to read.
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    And actually, that was a clue.
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    It was a clue to some of the things
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    that now operate in my life as true gifts.
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    I would say today I have a gift of teaching.
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    I have a gift of being able to process information
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    like at deep levels and kind of translate that
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    and communicate that back out,
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    especially when it comes to the Bible.
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    I love the words in the Bible.
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    I love words in general.
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    I've always loved words, not just in books,
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    but actually also to write words, to speak words,
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    to ask just the right question with just the right words
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    or to use words to encourage people around me.
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    I love the power of words.
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    OK, hold up.
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    - Alli and I are actually really good friends.
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    There's a lot of things that she's really good at
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    and there's a few things she's not so good at.
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    We've been friends a really long time, like 17 years, long time.
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    And over the years I've noticed some things
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    that she's not so good at.
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    Today we're going to have a little fun together
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    noticing the things that Alli's not so good at.
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    - Got it. Got it.
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    - You were so close, Al.
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    - Ladies, can you believe the weather we've been having?
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    - I know it has been so unpredictable lately.
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    - That's because the Earth is crying out in pain.
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    It's the end times.
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    - That's not how this goes.
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    - That's not how this goes.
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    - OK, so you guys, this guy, he walked into a barn.
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    Wait, a barn, a bar? Was the guy in a bar or a barn?
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    Was it a horse?
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    - That's not how this goes.
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    - I want you to get out your phone right now,
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    or maybe if you're old school, a pen and a piece of paper,
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    whatever the case might be,
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    I believe that if you begin to think about
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    the things that are in you, you are going to see gifts too.
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    We all have these things.
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    Maybe some of them are genetic things for you.
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    They're just things that have always --
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    they were like literally in your DNA when you were born,
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    your physicality, elements of natural ability that you have.
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    Maybe you discovered when you go to the gym
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    you build muscle 3 times faster than anyone else at the gym
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    or you were born with a high IQ
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    and so learning has just been easy for you your whole life.
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    Or maybe you're the kid on the playground
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    that got to walk everyone to the nurse when they got hurt
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    because you just make people feel better.
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    Maybe you're a maker
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    and you're really good with your hands.
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    That is not me, I'll tell you that much.
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    And other gifts maybe you've discovered
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    as you've lived a little, as you've had to work,
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    you've discovered capacities for things in your life.
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    Maybe you have a capacity for making money.
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    And come to think of it, your lemonade stands
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    did kind of crush it as a kid
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    and today all your business ideas work.
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    Or maybe you have a capacity for compassion
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    and mercy and understanding
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    every time you pass a homeless person on the street.
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    I think we go looking for information about ourselves.
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    We love to take all of those inventories online,
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    all the quizzes on our phone.
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    We just love to gather up information about ourselves.
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    What Disney princess are you, by the way?
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    I, I am Pocahontas.
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    Ironically, that might be the one Disney movie I've never seen.
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    But maybe you've been at work where you've had to take
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    something called a DiSC inventory and you're a high D.
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    Or you had to take the Myers Briggs like I did
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    where I found out I was an INTJ, but not a strong I,
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    but a really strong N.
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    Long after I found out all this information about myself,
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    like why I like to arrange flowers
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    or why I hate small talk,
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    I was actually no closer to taking control
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    of those things in my life, to actually managing them well
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    for a life that I loved.
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    I wish I could say that there was a quiz
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    you could take to do this,
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    that there was one thing that helped me
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    better manage all the pieces of Alli.
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    But I'll tell you what I did discover,
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    that looking for information about myself,
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    self discovery without God always comes up short.
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    What I really needed was to be connected
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    with the God who made me.
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    It wasn't until I started following Jesus
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    that I began to notice the more I'm following Jesus
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    day in and day out, the more I'm just
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    putting myself in the concerns that He has,
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    doing the things that He says to do,
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    something new began to emerge in my life,
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    a new kind of gift.
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    And this kind of gift has actually been the key
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    that I needed to successfully manage all the other things
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    that I kind of already knew about myself.
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    The Bible calls these spiritual gifts.
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    They are gifts given to us by God.
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    We don't start with these, we actually are gifted them
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    the moment that we come to faith in Jesus.
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    Spiritual gifts come from the spirit of God
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    at the moment of our faith in Christ.
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    The Holy Spirit actually comes to live in us.
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    And he's so good He brings gifts.
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    These gifts should not feel like they're out of left field.
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    There's one God that made us,
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    they should feel very consistent
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    with how you're put together from the beginning.
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    Like the gift of teaching to a girl that always loved books.
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    Or if you're the kid on the playground
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    that took everyone to the nurse,
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    maybe you have a gift of mercy or even healing.
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    Or if you're the one that makes great money,
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    maybe you have a gift of giving.
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    There's all kinds of different gifts,
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    but they're from the same God, the same Spirit.
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    Listen to how 1 Corinthians 12 talks about just this.
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    You all, when we come to follow Jesus,
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    that's when things start to unlock.
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    There is one God and He comes to live in you
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    with His one Spirit that brings all kinds of different gifts
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    and brings us to life in the Kingdom.
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    We are part of a family and we're connected to each other
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    and we're all so different.
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    But we are -- the same Spirit lives in us all
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    and when we follow Jesus we get to see our gifts clarified
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    and empowered for His purposes.
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    And all of who we are begins to make a lot more sense.
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    Do you want to unlock all of who God made you to be?
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    Do you want all the things that He has for your life?
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    It actually is possible,
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    but it's not possible through a quiz on your phone.
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    It's not an easy button, online test is going to do it.
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    It is faithfully following Jesus.
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    You have gifts and you can manage them
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    by following Him into a better life.
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    The surprising truth about our gifts is that
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    they are not actually ours, they're on loan to us from God.
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    I'm at a library, my favorite place to get things on loan.
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    The only thing about a library is that
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    you've got to bring what you take back to the owner.
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    I think we're used to thinking
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    of whatever is inside of us as ours, it's who we are
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    and we can do whatever we want with it,
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    to any end that we want.
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    But actually, God says we are the manager
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    and that our gifts are not ours, they're on loan.
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    I really learned how to think about this concept
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    of management when I managed a brand at Procter and Gamble.
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    I did it with somebody else's gifts.
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    Their gifts were the money and the resources
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    that I needed to manage the business well.
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    And my job as a manager was to take what I was given
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    by the company and to get a return for the owners,
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    To use all the tools at my disposal, but to be on their mission.
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    I took the product, the price,
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    the places where my product showed up and all the messages
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    that I could develop through the advertising,
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    but my company, end of the day,
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    expected a return for what I was given.
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    It is exactly the same between you and God with your gifts.
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    Have you ever thought about the talents, abilities, skills,
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    spiritual gifts that you possess as actually on loan?
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    Maybe you wrote something down today in the notes
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    you've been jotting down on your phone,
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    but whatever it is that you have is actually on loan from God.
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    One day God is going to be asking you,
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    "Hey, how do you use that talent that I gave you?
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    How did you use your ability to do hair, fix motorcycles?
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    What about the ability that you have to run a business,
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    to make money? Whatever came of that?
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    What did you do with it?
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    And did anyone benefit except for you?"
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    Right now God is on a mission
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    and He has given you the freedom to take control
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    of some of His resources as He has planted them
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    right inside you and He really does want them managed well.
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    1 Peter 4 is one of my favorite verses. Verse 10 says:
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    A steward is a manager.
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    We are the managers of God's resources and they are not ours.
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    I think there's some freedom in that; isn't there?
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    And there's also some responsibility,
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    responsibility to the mission of the giver of those gifts.
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    And God has a purpose, it was buried in that verse as well.
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    God's purpose is to pass out grace.
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    We are the stewards, the managers of the various kinds
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    of grace that God wants passed out into this world.
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    And your gifts are that grace in disguise.
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    God would love an unending flow of grace into this world,
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    and we should be using our gifts
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    and they should be feeling like grace.
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    I think of my husband when I think of
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    a use of gifts that comes together in the way of grace.
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    He's an attorney.
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    I know that probably surprises you
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    to think of grace when you think of attorneys,
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    but Bill has gifts of administration.
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    He has gifts of a being an amazing problem solver.
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    He's very decisive. He's very detail oriented.
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    And when I listen to his clients, they don't say,
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    "Gee, thanks for the 45 page contract, Bill."
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    No, they say things like, "Thank you for solving a problem.
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    Thank you for being my advocate."
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    This feels like grace to somebody.
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    When we put our gifts together in a way
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    that feels like grace, it frees someone,
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    it blesses someone, it relieves someone.
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    If you want to know what you do
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    that feels like grace to others,
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    that's exactly what you need to ask.
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    I want you to pick up your phone
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    or just commit to texting this later today.
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    I want you to to ask somebody today,
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    "What do I do that relieves you, that frees you,
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    that blesses you?"
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    Because that's what Grace feels like.
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    We not only can pass it out,
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    we also can stop the flow of it
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    if we don't manage well the gifts that we've been given.
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    I know this has totally been me before.
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    I will often think of something
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    that's encouraging to say to someone.
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    I told you I love words, I love books, writing words,
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    I love using them to encourage, but sometimes I get lazy
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    or maybe I just feel insecure about how that person
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    is going to receive what I say so I keep it to myself.
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    That stops the flow of grace.
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    Our mission is as a manager of the grace of God.
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    And we want to pass that grace out as much
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    and as well as we can
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    to as many people around us as will receive it.
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    How do you know if you're doing it?
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    Maybe you're already doing this.
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    The way that you know is when God starts to look really good.
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    Peter goes on to write:
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    Man, I love that.
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    Peter like almost launches into a prayer
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    at the end of those sentences because he gets excited
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    about the fact that it's about God.
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    God is the giver of the gifts inside you.
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    God is the power behind them,
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    and God's grace is the mission that we are on
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    and you are the manager.
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    The moment that we get that our gifts are there
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    for the glory of God, and not us,
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    is the moment that they begin to lead us to life.
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    - You can start to realize the potential of your gifts
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    when you realize they're not yours.
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    Everything we have is God's.
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    This is the foundation of being able to financially give.
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    Jesus talks about where your treasure is,
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    there your heart will be also.
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    I recognized that the treasures that I have
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    are actually God's treasures
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    and my heart is more about Him
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    than it is the treasures that He's blessed me with.
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    If you'd like to find out more about that
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    and more about things that could impact your life
  • 00:16:14
    and be a giver at Crossroads,
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    you can go to Crossroads.net/give.
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    Your giving fuels all kinds of big stuff,
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    like The Journey we're about to start,
  • 00:16:23
    maybe the most important thing you'll do all year.
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    Get ready. Let's get going.
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    - Is God good?
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    Is He good on day one of working from home?
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    How about day 180?
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    Is He good when school is online
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    or when your business is struggling?
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    Is He even when everything in the world
  • 00:16:43
    makes you want to scream, "Good God, what is going on?"
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    That's a fair question and actually a great prayer
  • 00:16:49
    because we believe there is a Good God with good answers.
  • 00:16:52
    Join us for The Good God Journey
  • 00:16:53
    streaming online each week for 45 minutes of music,
  • 00:16:56
    teaching, and inspiration.
  • 00:16:58
    Start your Journey at crossroads.net/journey.
  • 00:17:05
    - Well, having gifts actually means very little
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    until you put them to work.
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    Every single day, including today,
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    is a chance to take control
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    of how your gifts are being used out in the world.
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    You know, you can do inventories online
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    and quizzes on your phone.
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    You can read and study about your gifts,
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    which goodness knows I like to do.
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    But until they're actually put to work
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    with real people living real lives with real issues,
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    you will make very little impact.
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    For me, this is a place where the rubber meets the road,
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    where my gifts actually come into action.
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    When I'm gathered with other women, with other people,
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    where I can sit and listen, where I can encourage,
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    where I can teach, where I can pray.
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    But that's my environment where my gifts help.
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    What's yours?
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    I know what it feels like to think that you need a better plan.
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    You need to be something more.
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    You need to plan more.
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    You need to know more.
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    You need to have experience more
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    in order to offer your gifts to someone.
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    But you don't.
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    Today is the right day and it's time to offer your gifts.
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    Jesus actually shared a lot of gifts
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    with the men that he did life with, His disciples.
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    Ad then He sent them out.
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    He was like, "Go, go, it's time to use them."
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    And when He did, He said this to them.
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    Jesus said, "Freely, you have received, now freely give."
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    He said, "I've given you all these things,
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    now I want you to go out and give them away."
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    That's the same with you and me.
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    We've gotten all that we have,
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    even the stuff inside of us that we think of as our own,
  • 00:18:40
    we've actually gotten it for free from Him
  • 00:18:44
    and it's time to give it away.
  • 00:18:46
    When you do,
  • 00:18:47
    you actually don't know if it's going to be received.
  • 00:18:51
    It's a pretty vulnerable thing
  • 00:18:52
    to offer your gifts to somebody else.
  • 00:18:56
    It ultimately comes down to a moment
  • 00:18:58
    where you basically say, "Do you want what I have?"
  • 00:19:03
    I just got out of seminary a few months ago
  • 00:19:05
    and you would think, if anything,
  • 00:19:07
    I would be confident in offering my gifts
  • 00:19:09
    to help other people study the Bible. Right?
  • 00:19:12
    I mean, duh.
  • 00:19:13
    However, when I went to do that,
  • 00:19:16
    just maybe a month or so ago,
  • 00:19:18
    when I went to start a couple of new groups of study,
  • 00:19:21
    I still tripped over that moment of vulnerability,
  • 00:19:24
    that moment where you just have to say,
  • 00:19:27
    "I think I have something to give you. Would you like it?"
  • 00:19:33
    Romans 12 is a huge encouragement for us
  • 00:19:36
    to get out there and use our gifts. Romans 12 says:
  • 00:20:02
    Romans 12 says whatever you've got, do it anywhere, everywhere,
  • 00:20:08
    in any role or environment that you have in your life.
  • 00:20:13
    I stayed home, I wasn't working
  • 00:20:14
    for about seven years of my life when I had four babies at home.
  • 00:20:19
    And at first I was a little bit lost
  • 00:20:21
    on how to use my gifts in that setting.
  • 00:20:24
    I realized that I'd always really depended on a job
  • 00:20:26
    to be an outlet for the use of some of my gifts. A
  • 00:20:29
    nd I had to learn over during that time
  • 00:20:32
    exactly how to use my gifts in a new way in that setting.
  • 00:20:36
    And I fumbled it for quite a while.
  • 00:20:38
    I got frustrated, but now I know
  • 00:20:40
    I can use the same gifts in new ways,
  • 00:20:44
    whether I'm a mom at a school,
  • 00:20:46
    whether I'm a colleague at work, whether I'm a neighbor,
  • 00:20:50
    in any setting God wants His grace to show up
  • 00:20:53
    in different forms to all kinds of different people.
  • 00:20:57
    Guess what happens when you walk in the door with your gifts?
  • 00:21:01
    God himself suddenly has access to wherever you are.
  • 00:21:06
    When you walk in, you represent the generosity of God.
  • 00:21:10
    When you walk in, you're the wisdom of God.
  • 00:21:12
    When you walk in, you're the leadership of God,
  • 00:21:15
    or when you walk in, you're the beauty of God.
  • 00:21:18
    You just have to offer your gifts.
  • 00:21:21
    You just have to do what you've been gifted to do.
  • 00:21:25
    You know, a couple of days ago, I went to get my haircut.
  • 00:21:27
    You know, when a girl goes on camera,
  • 00:21:29
    she needs to, you know, put things together,
  • 00:21:31
    a little eyebrow wax, a little haircut. It's important.
  • 00:21:36
    I talked to Ann who's my stylist.
  • 00:21:39
    She said, what are you up to this week?
  • 00:21:40
    So I kind of told her what I was doing
  • 00:21:41
    and I told her that I was talking about using your gifts.
  • 00:21:45
    And she seemed interested.
  • 00:21:46
    And I said, "Hey, you're using yours right now. You know?"
  • 00:21:50
    She said, "What do you mean?"
  • 00:21:51
    And I said, "You have a gift, you have a gift
  • 00:21:54
    that impacts how women that sit in this chair --
  • 00:21:57
    How many are you going to see today, 10, 12?
  • 00:21:58
    Women that sit in your chair every day,
  • 00:22:01
    you impact how they see their own beauty.
  • 00:22:04
    You have the gift to influence them
  • 00:22:07
    with your grace every single day."
  • 00:22:10
    And so do you.
  • 00:22:11
    Look around you.
  • 00:22:13
    Do you have a shot at something?
  • 00:22:15
    Are there circumstances in front of you
  • 00:22:17
    that you could walk in and offer something that you have?
  • 00:22:20
    I think God puts opportunities in front of us all the time
  • 00:22:24
    and they don't have to be grand.
  • 00:22:26
    Don't fall for that lie.
  • 00:22:27
    Don't fall for the idea that what you can do for one,
  • 00:22:31
    you wish you could do for a thousand,
  • 00:22:32
    so you don't even offer it to one.
  • 00:22:35
    When I sit at a table like this,
  • 00:22:38
    I wish that 6000 women could sit with me. I really do.
  • 00:22:42
    I would love to be able to offer
  • 00:22:44
    that whatever I'm doing to 6000 people.
  • 00:22:47
    But honestly, six is good.
  • 00:22:51
    It's fine for us to take whatever we have today
  • 00:22:54
    and take one small step.
  • 00:22:56
    Guess what?
  • 00:22:57
    There's a grace of God inside you.
  • 00:23:00
    You're sitting on it and it's time to give it up.
  • 00:23:05
    - I am so thankful for the gifts
  • 00:23:08
    that God has entrusted me with, there's so many things,
  • 00:23:10
    it's hard to recount them all
  • 00:23:11
    and the only thing that's consistent with them
  • 00:23:13
    is that God has been generous to entrust them to me.
  • 00:23:17
    That causes me and others to want to worship,
  • 00:23:20
    to tell God, "I trust You because You've entrusted me
  • 00:23:24
    with things and there's so many other reasons
  • 00:23:27
    why I want to declare right now that I trust You."
  • 00:23:28
    Let's worship him together and sing that to Him.
  • 00:32:23
    Man, if you like that, there's more where that came from,
  • 00:32:26
    just go to Crossroads.net/music.
  • 00:32:29
    Well, next week we start The Journey.
  • 00:32:31
    The Journey is a multipronged multisensory approach
  • 00:32:35
    to get you and I to a whole new place spiritually.
  • 00:32:38
    Man, I hope you want more for your life.
  • 00:32:39
    I want more from my life and we need to have
  • 00:32:41
    God having a greater control of our life.
  • 00:32:43
    The one key thing, key thing for it is to get in a group,
  • 00:32:47
    you got to be with other people.
  • 00:32:49
    We want to make that as simple
  • 00:32:50
    and as easy for you as possible.
  • 00:32:52
    You can go to Crossroads.net/journey,
  • 00:32:54
    learn more about The Journey
  • 00:32:56
    and learn how to get into a group.
  • 00:32:58
    The Journey starts next week. We'll see you then.
  • 00:33:02
    - Every year, Crossroads does this thing called a Journey.
  • 00:33:06
    It's a five week adventure.
  • 00:33:07
    Everyone in the community, from kids to adults,
  • 00:33:10
    zero in and go deep on one topic.
  • 00:33:12
    This year it's the Good God Journey.
  • 00:33:15
    Let's face it, 2020 has been a struggle.
  • 00:33:18
    Even the most faithful may be asking, "Is God good?"
  • 00:33:21
    It turns out that exploring that question
  • 00:33:23
    can unlock new levels of peace,
  • 00:33:25
    belonging and potential for your life.
  • 00:33:28
    Interested? Great. Here's how you can get started.
  • 00:33:32
    Step 1: Head on over to Crossroads.net/journey
  • 00:33:35
    and initiate a group or join one.
  • 00:33:38
    If you have a group, great, you're all set.
  • 00:33:40
    If not, we'll get you connected to one.
  • 00:33:43
    Depending on who you are, meeting with a group
  • 00:33:45
    might sound exciting or terrifying,
  • 00:33:47
    but trust us, this is where real growth happens.
  • 00:33:51
    We'll even provide a group guide
  • 00:33:52
    to help steer the conversation,
  • 00:33:54
    either in person or over a video call.
  • 00:33:56
    Step 2: Download the Crossroads Anywhere app.
  • 00:34:00
    It's packed with a ton of features
  • 00:34:01
    that can help you grow spiritually,
  • 00:34:03
    including a Good God Journey Guide.
  • 00:34:06
    Each week during The Journey, simply open the guide
  • 00:34:08
    and discover something new about yourself and God.
  • 00:34:12
    Step 3: Watch the weekend message online or live at a site.
  • 00:34:16
    Part teaching, part challenge, part soul filling music,
  • 00:34:19
    plus a couple of surprises you won't want to miss.
  • 00:34:22
    It's that simple: Get in a group,
  • 00:34:24
    do individual work in the app and watch weekly.
  • 00:34:27
    Challenge yourself for five weeks,
  • 00:34:28
    it might just be the best thing you do all year.
  • 00:34:32
    Go to Crossroads.net/journey to get started.

Sep 26, 2020 • 35 mins 2 sec

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