How To Fight Well | The Adventurous Life Week 3

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There's a reason you aren't satisfied with the ordinary;

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You were made for adventure.

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A life with God doesn't have to be boring.

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It could be a pulse pumping, heart pounding life of purpose

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and we can guide you there.

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The adventure awaiting you is bigger

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and more life giving than you could ever imagine.

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Join us every weekend for 30 minutes of challenge, hope,

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and encouragement to guide you on your spiritual adventure.

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- Welcome to Crossroads Church.

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Hey, everybody, I'm Alli,

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and I'm one of the teaching pastors here at Crossroads.\

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I'm so glad you came this weekend because

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we are in a series called The Adventurists Life

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and it's all about discovering

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the full life that God has uniquely for you.

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When you're on an adventure,

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you are going to face some fights along the way.

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And today, Chuck is going to equip us

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with what we need to fight those fights well.

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You know, I was thinking about some fights I've had in my own life.

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Some I didn't even see coming

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like the one I had with a friend who got super angry with me

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that I made some comment that her wine glasses smelled like potpourri.

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For weeks I didn't even know why she was mad at me.

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I definitely didn't see that one coming.

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But seriously, I do know that we're in some real fights

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with some real pain in some of our real lives right now.

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And Chuck's going to show us how to get through those fights today.

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So let's get started.

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- Dr. Vernon Johns was a civil rights leader.

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He was an African-American pastor.

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And actually he was Martin Luther King's pastor.

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And Martin Luther King tells a story about

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going to Dr. Vernon Johns and asking for some fatherly advice,

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some pastorally advice from his mentor.

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And what Dr. Johns told him is, "Martin,

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when you see a good fight, get in it."

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I'm Chuck Mingo.

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I'm one of the teaching pastors at Crossroads.

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And we're in this series talking about the adventurous life.

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And what I want you to see today is that

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the adventurous life is about picking good fights

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and getting in them.

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We're in a boxing gym. I love boxing.

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I've been doing it for the last couple of years.

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And let me be clear, I'm not boxing other people.

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No one's hitting me in the face.

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I'm not at that point yet.

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But I love being a part of the class,

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whether it's hitting heavy bags

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or doing a boxing class with other people.

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It just -- it invigorates me.

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There's something in all of us that's wired for a fight.

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The Bible actually calls us to good fights.

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One of the places we see this is in Romans 12:21 where it says:

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You know, I'd be willing to bet that some of you,

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you've been avoiding some good fights in your life

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because you've been avoiding the pain.

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You know, there's gonna be pain.

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And I want to tell you today, I want to coach you up,

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I want to encourage you to not let pain be the thing

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that keeps you from finding good fights in your life and getting them.

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The way to get the confidence to fight the good fights

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in your life is to train.

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One of the things I had to learn

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when I first started boxing was how to wrap my hands.

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There's an art to it.

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There's also kind of a science to it.

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But it makes a big difference when you're training

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that your hands are wrapped appropriately.

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You know, I think about this a lot.

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The Bible talks about training in many places.

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One of the place is in 1 Corinthians 9:25 where it says this:

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This versus saying life is about training.

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The adventurous life is about training.

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You know, I never aspired to be a pastor.

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Actually, I ran from that calling for years.

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But as I think about the path that I was on in my life,

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it was training me to be a pastor.

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A pastor is a leader.

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And I had 10 years of experience leading in a corporate context,

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leading sales teams, leading and influencing people

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who were both above me, beside me, and below me in the org chart.

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And I learned a lot about people.

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I learned a lot about how to influence how to lead well,

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and those are skills that I use all the time in leading people.

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You know, we're talking about boxing.

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Did you realize that the average boxer trains for 4-12 months,

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training 3-5 a day, 5 days a week for a title fight?

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Guess how much time they actually spend in the ring during the fight?

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17 minutes. 17 minutes.

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All of that training. All of that work.

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All the blood, sweat and tears for 17 minutes of fighting.

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Why?

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Because training is what builds their capacity.

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Training, learning to run those combinations,

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learning how to move, how to how to duck.

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Those are the things that actually prepare them

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to do well in the actual fight.

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Training also builds their endurance.

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It's why they run, it's why they do all those things,

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because it gives them the ability to have the stamina

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to engage in the fight.

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And here's the other thing, this is the dirty little secret

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that we don't want to think about when it comes to training,

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but it's absolutely true.

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Training is how you build your pain tolerance.

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Training hurts. Training is uncomfortable.

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And that's not just true in boxing.

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It's true in every area of our life.

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How about you?

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Is there a place in your life where you're in a good fight

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or is there a place in your life

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where you need to jump into a good fight?

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Are you training? Do you have a training regimen?

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Are you thinking about the spiritual training

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that you need to be ready for that fight?

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Are you thinking about the relational training

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that you need to be ready for that fight?

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Are you thinking about the actual physical training

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that you need for where God is calling you?

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Like I said, I never aspired to be a pastor,

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but I can tell you that training has made such a difference for me.

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I always tell people one of the most important skills

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that I've learned as a pastor is the skill of listening well.

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You'd be amazed at how powerful that tool is

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when you're trying to guide someone spiritually.

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What I found is when people come to me,

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they don't necessarily need me to have all the answers.

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They need me to be able to reflect back to them where they are

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and together maybe discern what God might be saying to them.

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But here's the thing, pastoring isn't only about training,

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it's also about pain.

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And I can just tell you, even in those situations,

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I know that the pain has prepared me for what's next.

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It's prepared me for things that are even more difficult.

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I can see things that three years ago

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I couldn't have handled because of the pain.

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And now those are places in my life where I'm growing

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and able to work even in the midst of the pain.

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I've been bedside when kids are dying

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without having the right words for their parents.

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I've been walking with couples through marital reconciliation

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only to see them ultimately choose divorce.

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I've been leading publicly in the area of racial tension,

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a place where it often feels like you can't please everybody

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and you certainly can't please anybody all the time.

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But in all of those places, they've been preparing me for what's next.

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This is what the Bible says is true

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when we embrace pain in the adventurous life.

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Places like Romans 5:3-4, which says this:

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I'll just tell you,

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it's because of some of the painful situations I've been in

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that I actually have hope when things can look dire

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because I've seen God bring me through things.

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It's because of the pain that I've experienced

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that there's character formation that has happened in me

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and I'm better able to fight good fights publicly,

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personally, in relationships.

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Where are you avoiding pain?

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And might it just be that's the very place,

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walking through that pain that's going

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to produce the character, the perseverance, the endurance,

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and the hope you need to fight that good fight?

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Don't let pain be the thing that keeps you

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from fighting the fight of your life

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because God can use that pain to make you stronger

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and more fruitful in that very place.

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- Like Chuck said, we need to train for the fight.

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As a runner, I've actually learned to recognize

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the difference between pain that I should push through

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and keep going and pain that means I need to stop

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and rest or heal.

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I think too many of us actually stop

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at pain we're supposed to push through to actually get stronger.

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That kind of pain is the training for the adventure

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that God is taking us on.

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And training makes all the difference.

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To get training and encouragement every day

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download the Crossroads app today.

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I'm actually in there myself most days reading the Bible

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and journaling with our community.

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And I hope you will join me there.

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One way I actually also train regularly is by tithing.

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And believe me, sometimes giving my money feels like a fight.

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But when we give to honor God,

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we actually jump in together as a team

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to the fights that God is calling us to as a community.

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And if you want to do that or learn more, you can actually

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give at Crossroads.net/give or text CROSSROADS to 313131.

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We don't just want to be a church

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that watches videos on the weekend.

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We're a real community of people who are on the move,

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running where God is calling us.

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Here's something our Oakley site did just the other week

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that brought a lot of fun into the lives of our kids.

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- For you to become a great fighter,

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you've got to learn the difference between wounds and scars.

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I've got a lot of wounds over my life. I've accumulated them.

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Here's one. This was when I was wounded,

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falling off of a motorcycle and broke my wrist.

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That was the first time I fell off a motorcycle.

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I've also got three broken bones now healed in my foot

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from when I fell off a motorcycle again.

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That's right. Maybe I should stop riding motorcycles,

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but I've got other wounds as well.

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I remember when I was a kid, I got a wound here

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in my knuckle because my hand went up and hit a ceiling fan

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in the shard of the glass went through one side to the other.

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I've got a lot of physical wounds,

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but I've also got some woundedness as a leader.

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As a leader I've experienced the wounds of fear,

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fear of failure or fear of failing again.

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I also have the wounds of shame for things

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that I'm not proud of, ways that I've not shown up

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as a leader in the ways that I should have.

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I've got wounds of insecurity.

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I've got wounds of disappointment.

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I've got wounds of loss.

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But here's the thing, just like these scars on my body,

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those wounds have been healed.

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The places where I've invited God in, He's healed those wounds

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so I can continue to fight the good fight.

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I learned that a boxer, before a big fight takes a week off

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where they don't do any sparring.

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The reason is because they want their body to recover.

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They want their body, those wounds, to heal.

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It's fine to go into the ring with scars.

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You don't want to go into the ring with open wounds.

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But I think some of us, the thing that's keeping you

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from pursuing the good fight in your life

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is that you're nursing open wounds.

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You have not allowed those wounds to heal.

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And maybe others of us, we just try to act like

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those wounds don't exist, like they're just not there.

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But they impact every decision we make.

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They impact areas of our life

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that they shouldn't have any control over,

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but because we haven't allowed those wounds to heal,

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they mess with you, they impact your life.

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What if I told you what God wants to do with your wounds

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is actually heal them so you can flaunt your scars?

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That's right.

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God wants you to be a fighter who can fight a good fight.

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And He doesn't expect you to be perfect.

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He wants you to actually flaunt the scars because

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those scars are signs and places where God has healed you.

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We see the ultimate example of this in Jesus.

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You know, Jesus took scars, He took wounds, I should say,

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when He hung on a cross.

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It says He was nailed through His hands and His feet.

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And afterwards, Jesus beat death, He rose again.

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But not everybody believed that He won that fight.

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In fact, there's one man who followed Jesus.,

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you may have heard his name is Doubting Thomas.

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His name was Thomas.

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And he said, "Unless I see it myself, I won't believe it."

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You know what Jesus did to get Thomas to believe

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that He had won that fight?

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Jesus flaunted his scars.

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He flaunted the scars on His hands.

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He flaunted the scars on His feet because

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He wanted Thomas to know, "I have fought the good fight

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against death and because I live, Thomas, now you can live."

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Friends, Jesus wants to heal your wounds.

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He doesn't want you to walk away from them.

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He doesn't want you to ignore them.

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He wants to heal your wounds so you can flaunt your scars

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and be an example to other people that you can win this good fight.

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You can fight a fight.

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You can get knocked down, but you can get back up.

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And the scars are evidence of God's faithfulness

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and your ability to finish the fight.

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Man, that was a good fight.

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Listen, don't let the certainty of pain and wounding

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keep you out of the fight.

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You're going to get hit in life.

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The question is, will you hit back?

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1 Timothy 6:12 says this:

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God has a fight for you.

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He has good fights for you.

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And he wants you to be victorious.

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You're going to get hit,

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but let me tell you what else you're going to get,

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you're going to get a reward.

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You're going to get a reward.

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God is in the business of helping you

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win the good fights in your life.

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All the pain, all the difficulty,

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all the things that I've faced in terms of wounding

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that have become scars that now I can flaunt,

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as a pastor, I wouldn't trade that for the world.

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You know why?

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Because I get a front row seat of life change.

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I get to see God show up in people's lives like never before.

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Yes, I have seen some marriages fall apart,

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but I have seen some radical transformation

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and marriages get reformed.

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I have seen people who have not made it out of the hospital,

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but I've also seen people who've been healed.

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I get to see God at work in our world and I wouldn't trade it.

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It's a good fight and I want to be in it.

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And I want to encourage you to fight the good fights

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that God has in your life as well.

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Maybe you're in the good fight of foster care and adoption.

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It is difficult to bring a child into your family

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that is not your own, but you are changing that child's lif.

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I want to encouraging a fight that good fight.

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Maybe you're in the good fight to create good, great art.

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You're a musician or you're an artist

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and you're finding ways to reflect the beautyand the nature of God

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in the way that you do what you're created to do.

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I want to encourage you to fight that good fight.

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Maybe you're in the good fight of trying to raise good kids

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who will impact the world or maybe just get out of the house.

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But either way, I want to encourage you to fight that good fight.

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Maybe you're in the fight for racial justice

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and healing in our country.

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I want to encourage you. We need it now more than ever.

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Fight the good fight.

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Maybe you're in the fight to end modern day slavery.

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There are places around the world people are still slaves.

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You are in that fight. That's a good fight to be in.

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Maybe you're in the fight of creating a business

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that creates jobs and makes an impact.

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Whatever the fight is that God has called you to,

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you're gonna get hit, but hit back.

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Fight the good fight of faith.

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And one final encouragement for you: You don't fight alone.

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Hebrews Chapter 12 says this:

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Let me tell you for a fighter,

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this right here is a critical place. It's the corner.

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And we all know because we've seen it in movies

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and we've also seen it in fights,

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who you have in your corner matters.

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And there's one that actually matters even more.

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He's called the cut man.

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When I was a kid, my older brother,

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that's what he used to call me as a nickname,

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instead of calling me Chuck he said, "Cut man. You're my cut man."

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And what he meant was, "I love you. I trust you.

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I know you're in my corner. You mean the world to me."

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And I always remembered that.

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A cut man is critical in a boxing match.

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They're the one that helps put the stuff on your eye

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if you break into bleeding,

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they're helping to stop the bleeding

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so that they don't stop the fight.

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And here's what I want you to know:

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you have an amazing cut man.

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You have a cut man who has gone before you.

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You have a cut me who has the scars to prove

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that He can win any fight that you're facing.

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His name is Jesus and with Him in your corner, you can't lose.

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In fact, with Him in your corner, let me tell you,

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when Jesus is in your corner,

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when you know what it is to have Him as a cut man.

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I don't care what it looks like,

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this is where you will ultimately end up.

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You will end up victorious.

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You will end up a champion with a belt around your waist

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that says, "You know what? I fought the good fight.

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I finished the fight. I ran the race and I won it.

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And now I have a prize."

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Hey, listen, there's a prize for you if you don't give up the fight.

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There's a prize for you if you trust that

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Jesus is with you every step of the way.

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There's a prize for you if you're willing to prepare.

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There's a prize for you if you're willing to endure the pain.

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And the prize is eternal life.

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The prize is something you can never replace.

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So, friends, I want you in the fight.

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Take the advice of Vernon Johns, find a good fight and get in it.

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- We are at war.

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It may be hard to believe from my comfortable seat

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in our climate controlled world,

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but do not doubt it, we are at war.

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Not on battlefields for nations,

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not with weapons that you can see,

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not for power or for money,

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but for our souls, our freedom.

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Freedom from believing that our lives

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are about finding safety instead of purpose.

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We have an enemy and his weapons are lies

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and we have been lied to, deceived,

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taught to believe that comfort equals happiness,

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that bravery is the absence of fear.

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And we spend our lives chasing the American dream:

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flat screens, Disney vacations, early retirement,

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a life that looks a lot like Pinterest and Instagram.

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But we were not made for this, to be numb, sedated,

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wrapped up so tightly in self protection that we begin to suffocate,

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suffocate in the silence of our big cars, our empty houses,

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our desolate hearts.

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No, we were made to sweat, to feel,

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to run so hard and fast that our hearts burn like fire on our chest,

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made to show the pain on our strong backs

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to where we become uncomfortable enough

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to push past complacency and flip a city,

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made to dirty our hands

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and strain our muscles past the breaking point,

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to lay down our lives,

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to experience the deepest privilege,

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the sweetest pleasure of being the literal

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hands and feet of Jesus in our world,

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to rebel against the idea of a comfort zone,

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to work shoulder to shoulder with other freedom fighters

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from different races, different zip codes

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and different income brackets,

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who are running after the same future,

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to dive headlong into the impossible,

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to see the hand of a Mighty God move mountains out of our path,

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to perform miracles, to create beauty from ashes,

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to groan in our desires, to long for more,

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for more connection, for more miracles,

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to see the glory of His face,

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laid down our lives for our friends and family.

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It's not hyperbole, it's real,

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giving sacrificially of ourselves,

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of our purpose, of our time,

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of our hearts, of our money,

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it hurts, pain that we carry gratefully

00:21:37

as a reminder of the price that was paid for us

00:21:40

because He says we are worth it,

00:21:43

assigned infinite value by the one who sees

00:21:46

all our shortcomings and still calls us into greatness,

00:21:50

into a priesthood, into an army.

00:21:53

We follow a king that will not rest until

00:21:56

every son or daughter is offered

00:21:58

what we have been so freely given.

00:22:00

We are made in His image.

00:22:02

He is and won for our freedom

00:22:05

our friends, our family, our world,

00:22:08

He has the power to set the captives free.

00:22:11

He is the one who will bind up the broken hearts

00:22:15

to prepare the way for all to enter.

00:22:17

He is the Hope and Savior for all creation.

00:22:21

He is and so we are in.

00:22:30

- That is the kind of fight that I want in on.

00:22:33

And if you want in on changing the world,

00:22:34

it only happens when you hook up with a local community.

00:22:38

Stick around today to find out how.

00:22:41

But right now, let's respond to God in worship

00:22:44

by telling Him that we are ready to get in on any fight

00:22:47

He calls us to no matter where it leads.

00:31:55

- God, I thank You that you are good.

00:31:59

And I thank You for never leaving us.

00:32:01

I thank You for being with us.

00:32:02

And I thank You for being a God who shows Yourself

00:32:05

and You showed yourself to us in Jesus.

00:32:08

And so we sing to You for that, we pray to You for that,

00:32:12

and are grateful for Your goodness and Your presence with us. Amen.

00:32:19

- When I sing that song, it always reminds me of the time in my life

00:32:23

where God asked me to lay down all of my own ideas about my career.

00:32:28

And that led to a more surprising adventure with God

00:32:31

than I could ever have imagined.

00:32:34

We would love to help you train throughout the week.

00:32:36

If you want that, just text ADVENTURE20 to 313131.

00:32:42

And another way to get equipped this week is by getting a guide.

00:32:46

A guide is a real person from our community

00:32:48

who wants to help you find your next step, answer questions,

00:32:52

pray for you, challenge you, whatever you need.

00:32:54

If you want a guide, which you do, or you just want to learn more,

00:32:59

chat with us at Crossroads.net/adventure.

00:33:03

To help share this message today that you just experienced

00:33:06

with as many people as possible,

00:33:08

you can give at Crossroads.net/give or text CROSSROADS to 313131.

00:33:15

Next week I'll be here teaching on how adventures

00:33:18

mean pushing through fear that wants to stop us from moving forward.

00:33:22

For me, that meant getting on a horse,

00:33:25

and I have a very sketchy past with horses.

00:33:29

So stay tuned right now to find out how to get connected

00:33:31

with people near you who are on the same adventure.

00:33:36

- Crossroads has communities all across the country

00:33:38

and I want to help you get connected.

00:33:41

I'm Greg Aukerman and I lead an online church team

00:33:43

whose job is to do exactly that.

00:33:46

I'd love to help you find your people, get support and prayer,

00:33:49

and take your next step on your spiritual adventure.

00:33:51

Connect with us at Crossroads.net/onlinecommunity.

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