Born Wild: Saturday 5:00 PM-DO NOT USE

This could be one of the most memorable experiences you will have in your lifetime. A chance to see true transformation. See the embodiment of unbridled strength, go from surviving to thriving. Because even though we were born wild, we were designed to live free.

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    [music]
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    - Well, welcome to Crossroads, everybody.
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    How are we today? [cheers] Great.
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    Hey, how are you doing? How are you?
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    Good to see you. I've never met before.
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    Yes, this is a real horse.
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    And that was real poop
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    you saw about 45 seconds ago. Yeah.
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    You might get to throw somebody in that in a little bit.
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    Yeah.
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    Hey, I'm so glad you came to Crossroads.
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    Whatever site you're at, if you're streaming with us,
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    it's really, really good to be with you today.
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    Let me tell you a couple things of what's happening.
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    What you're going to see today is real.
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    It's not fabricated. It's not planned.
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    People know that Crossroads is a pretty big church.
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    You're able to get pretty big because
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    you understand systems and processes
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    and all that stuff that has to happen
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    for something to grow and deal with scale.
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    The downside of that is because we're a big church,
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    people assume we're not telling the truth oftentimes.
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    They assume that there's some ulterior agenda.
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    They assume that it's not really what we're saying.
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    But I'm telling you, this is the really real.
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    I've got my friend here, Todd Pierce,
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    who has never seen this horse.
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    We're doing eight different experiences over this week.
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    Every time it's a different horse.
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    That horse has never had a saddle on it.
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    A person has never been on the horse.
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    They may have been around the horses,
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    but never been on the horse.
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    And Todd didn't choose the horses,
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    has never seen the horse.
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    So my friend Todd, it's the first time
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    he's seen this horse right now.
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    Is it at he? [horse whinny]
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    Is he a he or a she? He?
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    [laughter] I can't --
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    Oh, yeah. There you go. All right.
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    Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good for you. Good for you. Okay.
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    So, a few years ago I had Todd Pierce on my podcast.
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    Somebody recommended he should do that
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    or I should have him on.
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    We had a good conversation,
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    and then about a year or so later,
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    he invited me on a hunting trip in Idaho.
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    And I said, great, I'll go.
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    So we became friends then, and he actually
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    told me what he did. I didn't really understand it.
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    That he has this magical, mystical,
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    really strange connection with horses.
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    He was a professional rodeo bareback rider
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    back in the day.
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    And he has this unique ability to connect with horses.
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    And he's basically, he doesn't like what I say this,
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    he's basically a horse whisperer.
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    He can understand horses.
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    He can get them to do what other people
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    have not been able to get them to do.
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    He can enable a horse to ride him in under an hour.
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    It's happened every time.
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    We'll see if it happens now,
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    because of the connection, he has the horse
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    and it's not his abilities with a horse.
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    It's also his understanding of the character of God.
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    And he treats the horse like God treats us.
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    He has an attitude towards the horse
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    like the attitude God has towards us.
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    And that right there is the problem
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    with many of us, because a lot of us think
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    that God has a bad attitude towards us.
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    We have a bad understanding of God.
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    We think God is just waking up
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    on the wrong side of the bed all the time
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    and just wanting to take it out on us,
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    and he's always looking for us to screw up.
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    And that's part of why many of us
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    just aren't that interested into God,
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    or aren't interested in giving Him our whole life.
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    So, every horse presents a unique person in this room.
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    Some of you may find, like that horse is me.
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    If you came another experience,
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    you might look at that horse and said,
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    that horse is me.
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    All of these horses are different
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    and many of us are going like, that's my story.
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    It's pretty cool.
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    So, why don't we welcome on stage
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    my friend Todd Pierce.
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    Well, I've been a little frustrated because
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    our previous times the horse has been, like,
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    really small and incredibly tame with like,
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    like guinea pigs, basically.
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    - He's not the one that has to ride him.
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    Right.
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    Not this guy, though. This guy is--
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    - No. He's big. - And it's interesting.
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    The last one that we did actually was a --
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    What? Females are mares? Fillies?
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    - Well, she'd be a filly because she's only two.
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    She's a mare after she's older and has a baby.
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    - Okay, so a female.
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    And I was surprised by that one because
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    she just looked nice and sweet, was coming up to me
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    and loving me and everything.
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    But then once you got in, she was like, woo.
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    - Yeah, you don't go there. - Yeah.
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    - She was -- And a lot of us are like that.
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    We look good, we seem nice, but as soon as
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    someone presses us into us a little bit,
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    it's like we're out, our claws are out.
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    So you just never know. So.
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    - Yeah. So, you want to ride this one?
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    - Maybe, I'll see how you do on it.
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    I'll do want him.
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    He looks pretty intense, though, I got to tell you.
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    - Yeah, well we'll see what he has to say about it.
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    - And one thing we should probably tell everybody,
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    and then I'll get off the stage and let you do your thing.
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    Make sure you tell one of your stories.
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    I keep telling you, tell your stories
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    because they're all so good.
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    This horse is not freaked out.
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    We have a lot of people concerned
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    about the safety of horses.
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    Todd's more concerned about the safety of horse
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    than anybody in here is.
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    He's a hyper, hyper horse lover.
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    It's not as loud in the ring as it is in our sights
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    because the speakers are coming out to you.
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    The horse is certainly in a strange environment
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    like what's going on here,
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    but the horse is not being hurt.
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    In fact, the horse is going to be helped today.
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    So, horse is fine. They're doing really well.
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    Anything else you want to tell us
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    before we're letting you do your thing?
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    - No. Thank you. - All right, man.
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    - And yeah, I just honor you for doing
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    all this work and getting me here.
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    - I'm not doing all the work.
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    I'm just watching you do the work,
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    and it's really good, so thank you.
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    - All right. Wow.
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    This is -- How many of you have never been
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    to one of these experiences?
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    That's quite a few of you.
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    I don't think I'm ever going to get used
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    to walking into a church and seeing a horse.
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    And and so I --it's kind of like,
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    I don't want to get used to it because
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    this is such a unique thing
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    and there's been so much effort put into it.
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    And it takes some really courageous people
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    that decide that if Jesus said
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    it was worth it to die
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    so that you and I could live,
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    we've got a church that's, like,
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    what will we not do in order for people
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    to understand the goodness of God?
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    And so they didn't do this
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    because they wanted to put on a show.
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    They understand the the principles that Jesus used
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    and He loved to teach through parables.
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    He loved to give physical pictures
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    of spiritual truths so that people could
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    at least consider the depth of who they are.
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    That just because you can't understand it
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    with your brain doesn't make it not real.
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    That there's things that are going to go
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    beyond your understanding, and they're going
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    to transform something inside of you.
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    And so today, if you've got enough hope
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    or enough faith to believe that in a moment,
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    that in one evening that God can actually
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    heal you and transform you,
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    just raise your hand with me.
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    I want to see how much faith we got in the room.
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    Okay. I love the honesty.
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    There's people that are like, "I don't know.
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    We'll see about that."
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    Which is super honest because I love that
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    Jesus just walked through crowds
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    and He did His thing, and He's the Son of God,
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    He's God incarnate, walking around
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    with all the power and the authority
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    over the universes, over galaxies.
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    And He just walked among people
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    and they rejected Him or they loved Him.
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    And the truth was still what He was here to reveal.
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    Oh, I don't know if y'all heard that,
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    but it was like [raspberry sound].
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    Yeah, if looks could kill.
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    So I'm going to just introduce myself to him
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    because I'm just another person to him.
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    He has no idea why he's here and.
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    Yeah, so we're going to talk for a minute
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    in ways that he understands a little bit better
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    because he doesn't understand English.
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    But He understands this. Let's go, son.
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    [music]
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    - There's a lot of conversation going on right now.
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    And he doesn't have any reason to trust me.
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    And so he's paying attention to a lot of things
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    that you guys can't perceive right now.
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    But there's this relentless pursuit of God
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    that makes it to where all of us
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    are in this building.
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    And I don't know how you got here,
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    whether you were led here or drug here
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    or driven here or something pulled you here.
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    But I hope that none of you take for granted
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    that you're sitting in this space right now
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    because if we can just embrace a moment
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    and realize the significance of it,
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    then we won't be like the fools that
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    just go through life thinking that
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    they can take things for granted
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    and have no consequence to it.
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    So I'm just negotiating with him and in a way
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    that he already knows that I'm powerful.
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    And he's got a proper understanding of that.
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    What he doesn't know yet is if I'm good.
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    The Bible says that it's the goodness of God
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    that leads people to repentance.
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    And the only way I know to display goodness to him
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    is that he's paying attention
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    to what's going on inside of me.
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    He's got senses that we don't have,
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    and he's so in tune to what's going on
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    in the in the room right now.
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    And so, if you will, I would love everybody
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    to just take a big old deep breath,
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    like from your belly all the way in.
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    Let's just say, "Holy Spirit,
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    You really are welcome here.
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    We don't understand all of Your ways,
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    but we just know that You're good
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    and we want to be transformed by You."
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    That's a good boy.
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    [music]
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    - I wish you all could feel what I feel right now.
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    It's not just his breath.
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    It's not just smelling me.
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    He's having a face to face encounter that
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    you will never see him do this with another horse.
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    He knows that there's something different
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    than what he's ever experienced.
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    And all the fear and the aggression,
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    you can feel it melting away.
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    But he's got a story
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    and he didn't just show up here.
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    He's been through some things and I see some marks
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    and I see some battle wounds, so to speak.
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    I see some fear in his eyes.
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    But it's really quickly looking like fire.
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    And he wants to know what to do with it.
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    [music]
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    - So much beauty and power and potential.
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    So much fear and anxiety and so much reason to have it.
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    And if he could tell you a stories, it would be --
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    Oh, Brian. Brian Tome is the pastor.
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    So that's why I keep saying Brian because
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    he keeps putting these thoughts in my head
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    and I'm like --
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    So when I was just a boy
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    I had some learning disabilities,
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    and there was a time I can remember
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    I was like in second grade
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    and everybody was going around the classroom
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    and reading, and it got to me.
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    And I didn't know that this was a problem,
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    but I didn't know how to read very good.
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    And so I was sounding out my words
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    and trying to read,
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    and the whole classroom laughed.
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    And I don't really remember feeling sad about it,
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    but I do remember something
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    that I decided in that moment,
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    and that was that I'm dumb. Go figure.
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    I didn't realize I'm the dumb kid in class,
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    but I'm actually the dumb kid in class.
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    And I can laugh about it now only because
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    Jesus has come in and didn't take away
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    the event in my life that helped me
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    understand something different
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    than what I had heard in that moment.
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    There's a story that's been told throughout my life,
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    and some of it hasn't been true.
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    And Jesus doesn't just come to save us
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    from going to hell.
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    He comes to make it to where we become whole people again.
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    And so whatever it is that's got in the way
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    for this horse, it's just part of his story
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    that he's made some decisions somewhere along the way,
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    apart from the fact that he's just naturally wild
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    and wants to do things on his own.
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    Outside of those instincts, he's got
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    some other reasons why he's afraid right now,
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    and there's events in his life that have happened
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    that have helped him make those decisions.
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    And so I'm going to ask him to reconsider
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    some of the things that he believed about people
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    and what he believed about authority
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    and what he believed about himself.
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    I couldn't undo what happened in that classroom,
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    but what I could do is realize that
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    it just wasn't true.
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    And it mattered to that little boy.
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    Come to find, I really can't read very good.
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    So -- But I ain't dumb, or not dumb as some think.
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    I sure do learn different than everybody else or --
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    Yeah.
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    But I want to help him with those things,
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    and I'll be patient with him because
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    I can tell that they go really deep.
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    But it's amazing what happens when
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    fear gets love to it.
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    It's not just truth, it's love.
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    And when truth and love are what it is
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    that Jesus said that He was, then it's like,
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    "Oh, I can see now what you're talking about, King Jesus.
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    And if it's that Spirit that was you were carrying,
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    that Holy Spirit is and it's the same Spirit
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    that made You raise from the dead.
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    That's pretty dang powerful.
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    And if it's that loving and kind and tender,
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    then I want to spend the rest of my life
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    just experiencing what it's like
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    to have Your presence."
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    And when he said that He'll bind up broken pieces
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    and He'll bring healing
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    and it'll make our hearts whole again.
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    Is it possible?
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    Is it possible for us to actually be healed
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    and be whole again?
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    I'll tell you, my wife and I, we're --
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    We're just -- We got our minds made up,
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    we're going to spend the rest of our lives
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    learning how to be whole together,
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    instead of just bringing our brokenness to each other
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    and feeding off of each other's brokenness.
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    It brings so much courage when her and I
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    in just honesty and sincerity towards each other
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    can just talk about our stories
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    and the ways that we've been hurt
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    and the ways that we've hurt each other.
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    I need a stepladder.
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    I don't know how to get on you without startling you.
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    So, kind of chewing right now.
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    It's kind of a sign like, it would be
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    like if I was talking to someone, they said,
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    "Okay, it's okay, we're good right now."
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    Which is really shocking that he's good with all this.
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    But it's not just happening to him,
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    it's happening in him.
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    And there's stuff that's happening in you right now.
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    It's not happening to you.
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    And your story
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    and the reason you're in this building,
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    it starts to make sense when this Prince of Peace
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    enters our story and start showing us
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    the broken pieces and He's not afraid of it.
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    You're so brave.
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    Remember this? Hmm?
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    [music]
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    [whinny]
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    - I'm purposely making myself vulnerable to him
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    only because he doesn't understand this language.
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    He doesn't know why someone that carries
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    the authority and the power that I have,
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    something that he's afraid of, would be here.
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    And I think this is why, like, the imagery
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    of what it is that Jesus did to where
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    He just put Himself in this position and He says,
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    "I'm going to let you all kill Me now,"
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    because I don't ever want you to question,
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    have any doubt how far would have Jesus gone
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    so that I could be saved.
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    I'm not sure why it takes so much convincing,
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    but somehow I was able to ignore the fact
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    that God actually loved me
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    and had a plan for my life for 21 years.
  • 00:33:10
    But once I realized that,
  • 00:33:11
    I don't know what else to do with my life
  • 00:33:14
    other than continue to stay in this place
  • 00:33:17
    of just knowing what is it like to be loved,
  • 00:33:21
    so loved that I'm not ashamed,
  • 00:33:25
    that I'm reminded of my strengths
  • 00:33:27
    and how intentional Jesus has been
  • 00:33:31
    about bringing me to this place.
  • 00:33:40
    No. Don't clap.
  • 00:33:48
    I know. You want to help me up?
  • 00:33:56
    Yeah. That's not going to help much, huh?
  • 00:34:04
    So, he's all rigid and heartbeat's going.
  • 00:34:09
    He's pretty, pretty startled.
  • 00:34:15
    Am I going to help him if I respond to him
  • 00:34:18
    with the same level of anxiety?
  • 00:34:22
    Or can he realize that, "Okay, that was super scary.
  • 00:34:25
    What just happened?" Nothing, son.
  • 00:34:30
    We're just learning, and I won't always fall off.
  • 00:34:36
    One day you're going to move really, really fast
  • 00:34:38
    and we're going to do it together.
  • 00:34:51
    It's okay. It's okay.
  • 00:34:54
    [music]
  • 00:36:53
    - He's trembling.
  • 00:37:00
    And he's giving me a hug.
  • 00:37:07
    I know I hugged him first,
  • 00:37:08
    but he's given me his face.
  • 00:37:16
    He wants to be comforted.
  • 00:37:19
    And if this is what Holy Spirit is as a comforter,
  • 00:37:26
    then let's let everything that's between us,
  • 00:37:28
    anything that's getting in the way,
  • 00:37:30
    make sure it's not in the way anymore.
  • 00:37:45
    Good boy. You're built to carry me.
  • 00:37:58
    And whenever you do that, it's going to blow your mind
  • 00:38:07
    what it is that you and I can do together.
  • 00:38:14
    If God said that we were created in His image,
  • 00:38:17
    and we choose to live our lives separated from Him.
  • 00:38:51
    Good job.
  • 00:41:01
    I remember the day that someone taught me
  • 00:41:05
    what it means to repent, because I know
  • 00:41:07
    when I gave my life to Jesus, I just --
  • 00:41:10
    I just wanted Him to fix me, like I'm broken.
  • 00:41:13
    I'm addicted to all sorts of things,
  • 00:41:17
    and I'm hurting the people that I love the most.
  • 00:41:22
    I just wanted it over.
  • 00:41:28
    And here we are 30 years later,
  • 00:41:32
    still have the same heart cry that,
  • 00:41:36
    "Papa, I want to be whole.
  • 00:41:38
    I need You now more than ever.
  • 00:41:41
    I'm so grateful for what You've done in me,
  • 00:41:43
    what You're continuing to do in me."
  • 00:41:45
    But we don't outgrow it.
  • 00:41:56
    Repentance was just given to me as a way
  • 00:42:01
    to just rethink what it is that I believe.
  • 00:42:05
    Is what I believe about myself based on
  • 00:42:07
    my experiences and what the world has told me?
  • 00:42:09
    Or is there -- Does God actually have
  • 00:42:13
    something to say about who I am?
  • 00:42:18
    And is He going to be patient enough with me
  • 00:42:21
    that while I'm in my process and figuring it out,
  • 00:42:25
    how do I even move?
  • 00:42:28
    Because He doesn't know how to move right now.
  • 00:42:30
    Because the last time he moved, he moved
  • 00:42:31
    and then he scared and moved too fast
  • 00:42:34
    and I fell off.
  • 00:42:35
    And it's like, I've got to build some confidence
  • 00:42:39
    with him that he knows how to move his feet,
  • 00:42:43
    and it's not going to --
  • 00:42:46
    He wants to stay in this place,
  • 00:42:49
    but I love him too much to let him just stay here.
  • 00:43:00
    [clicks tongue] Yeah.
  • 00:43:21
    [music]
  • 00:45:37
    - So much courage.
  • 00:45:45
    Every one of us have been given
  • 00:45:49
    a place of influence.
  • 00:45:53
    And the influence that you've been trusted with,
  • 00:45:57
    I hope you're thinking through some of those things,
  • 00:46:01
    because we're stewards of one heart,
  • 00:46:03
    and how it is that we steward our inner man,
  • 00:46:06
    the way we're stewarding ourselves is how it is
  • 00:46:09
    that we're going to steward the people around us.
  • 00:46:15
    Yeah, you may have heard the phrase
  • 00:46:18
    that hurt people hurt people.
  • 00:46:23
    It's just true.
  • 00:46:26
    But until I'm not a hurt person,
  • 00:46:28
    there are some things that I can learn
  • 00:46:30
    that I don't have to keep hurting the people
  • 00:46:32
    around me to get my way,
  • 00:46:33
    because that's not really what I want.
  • 00:46:36
    I want to preserve a connection that makes it
  • 00:46:39
    to where I continue to have access.
  • 00:47:02
    [music]
  • 00:50:08
    - Step by step,
  • 00:50:10
    and it's going to take him a little bit
  • 00:50:13
    and we're not going to get it done tonight.
  • 00:50:15
    I'm really, really grateful for the courage
  • 00:50:18
    that he showed and the willingness to say yes
  • 00:50:22
    when every part of him is screaming, no.
  • 00:50:26
    I don't want to be one of those Christians.
  • 00:50:32
    I don't know what those are like,
  • 00:50:34
    but I know what you're going to be like
  • 00:50:36
    because you're ruined now.
  • 00:50:40
    You can't ever look in the mirror the same.
  • 00:50:44
    If this is how far Papa would go to say,
  • 00:50:48
    "You are My beloved one and My favor is resting on you.
  • 00:50:52
    All I want is oneness with you."
  • 00:50:55
    We got a lifetime to learn to walk.
  • 00:51:00
    It won't take that long with this guy.
  • 00:51:06
    I would love to have some more time with him,
  • 00:51:08
    to tell you the truth.
  • 00:51:14
    One more step, huh? One more step.
  • 00:51:22
    I don't know.
  • 00:51:23
    I think you're really ready to go on a lap.
  • 00:51:33
    So, when I was in college, I went to college,
  • 00:51:37
    got on the track team as a pole vaulter.
  • 00:51:41
    And I had a really bad coach in high school,
  • 00:51:44
    so he taught me to go just high enough
  • 00:51:46
    that a college scout thought,
  • 00:51:49
    "Man, I could do something with that kid."
  • 00:51:51
    So, all he did was taught me to go higher
  • 00:51:54
    with really bad form.
  • 00:51:56
    So sometimes I'd go really high
  • 00:51:58
    and sometimes I'd go really far.
  • 00:52:02
    And the really far sucked because
  • 00:52:05
    there's only mats for so far
  • 00:52:07
    and then there's not mats anymore.
  • 00:52:11
    And so one day I went far
  • 00:52:17
    and knocked myself out
  • 00:52:19
    and broke my pelvis right down the middle.
  • 00:52:21
    And when you knock yourself out, you're not always --
  • 00:52:25
    You haven't got your wits about you.
  • 00:52:28
    So I thought, "Well, that was embarrassing."
  • 00:52:31
    So I got up and walked down to the end
  • 00:52:33
    of the runway and started taking off running.
  • 00:52:35
    And my legs weren't going the right directions.
  • 00:52:38
    And I realized that something's wrong.
  • 00:52:43
    So, when Brian was saying that the reason
  • 00:52:46
    I just fall off, now that I'm 52,
  • 00:52:50
    somehow that injuries need to be re-healed.
  • 00:52:58
    And so, from a horsemanship perspective,
  • 00:53:05
    I'm not going to claim to be any kind of horseman.
  • 00:53:09
    There's people that can teach horses to do
  • 00:53:11
    amazing things, and I'm not one of those guys.
  • 00:53:14
    So don't mistake this as horsemanship.
  • 00:53:16
    I don't recommend this at any level,
  • 00:53:19
    other than what the intended purpose is,
  • 00:53:23
    is that you can see how powerful love is
  • 00:53:26
    and what happens when you carry peace into a storm.
  • 00:53:29
    Because there was a storm raging inside of this guy,
  • 00:53:32
    and there was no way you were going to get close to him.
  • 00:53:38
    And to do this? Not in your wildest dreams.
  • 00:53:44
    He couldn't. He couldn't even imagine this.
  • 00:53:50
    And I think that this is how, like,
  • 00:53:53
    if you'll give permission to Holy Spirit to say
  • 00:53:57
    if we're going to take it this deep,
  • 00:54:00
    what does it mean for me to respond to this love
  • 00:54:02
    and this message that makes it to where
  • 00:54:04
    I don't walk out of this building
  • 00:54:05
    the same person that I came in as?
  • 00:54:11
    Jesus said it was worth it.
  • 00:54:16
    I think this guy's sufficiently demonstrated
  • 00:54:20
    that it's worth it.
  • 00:54:23
    Like, how tragic would it been had all of his fear
  • 00:54:27
    and his insecurities made it to where
  • 00:54:29
    he either became a slave because
  • 00:54:30
    someone had to beat him out of it or force him,
  • 00:54:35
    tie him up until he wasn't scared anymore.
  • 00:54:37
    That don't make no sense.
  • 00:54:42
    What if that was his fate?
  • 00:54:43
    Or maybe even just left alone?
  • 00:54:46
    Like, someone said, "He's too dangerous.
  • 00:54:48
    We're not going to do anything with that one.
  • 00:54:52
    He's dog food."
  • 00:54:55
    So, the value placed on the horse is what it is
  • 00:55:00
    that I think Papa's wanting to say over you
  • 00:55:03
    is that there is so much value on you
  • 00:55:05
    and this is what I have for you.
  • 00:55:11
    - So, Todd, we saw this horse came in.
  • 00:55:15
    I don't know a lot about horses.
  • 00:55:18
    I've watched through the years now about,
  • 00:55:20
    I don't know, about 20 of these guys.
  • 00:55:22
    This guy had as much defenses up as I've seen,
  • 00:55:25
    as I've come to understand.
  • 00:55:27
    It's really pretty remarkable that
  • 00:55:29
    you got as far with them as you did.
  • 00:55:30
    I would call that riding.
  • 00:55:31
    Would you not call him riding?
  • 00:55:33
    I call riding, he's on his back.
  • 00:55:34
    Took a few steps. They can applause you now, right?
  • 00:55:38
    - Yeah. - Yeah, let's give Todd a hand.
  • 00:55:40
    Come on. Give him a little hand. Right?
  • 00:55:42
    [applause]
  • 00:55:45
    Let's say I was a horse owner and I had that horse
  • 00:55:49
    and I brought in somebody to get to
  • 00:55:51
    as far as you got today,
  • 00:55:53
    how long would that process normally take?
  • 00:55:57
    - They would, I would say at minimum a week
  • 00:56:01
    that you'd want to spend giving this horse
  • 00:56:03
    an opportunity to think through some of this stuff,
  • 00:56:06
    and you'd work him in a round pen
  • 00:56:08
    until their fatigue was a real encourager
  • 00:56:11
    for them to do something else.
  • 00:56:14
    We didn't use that with him.
  • 00:56:17
    - Well, what I like about it, and I think
  • 00:56:19
    with the spiritual thing that I was thinking,
  • 00:56:21
    this, of all the horses, this is probably
  • 00:56:22
    the one that touched me personally the most
  • 00:56:24
    of all the ones that we've done, you know,
  • 00:56:26
    this whole week, this guy I most related to.
  • 00:56:28
    And what I really -- what got me was, you know,
  • 00:56:36
    you knew as far as you could push that horse
  • 00:56:38
    and you're like, "Okay, that's enough.
  • 00:56:40
    That's enough for today."
  • 00:56:42
    I feel like God does that with me, you know?
  • 00:56:44
    He pushes and I go, and He goes, "Okay, okay, okay."
  • 00:56:49
    Unlike those, as you mentioned,
  • 00:56:50
    those old Western movies where you've got
  • 00:56:52
    some guy who's got they got multiple ropes
  • 00:56:55
    around the horse's neck
  • 00:56:56
    and everybody's leaning back and beating him in.
  • 00:56:57
    I mean, my experience with God is not that.
  • 00:57:00
    It's it's what you just did today.
  • 00:57:02
    Like He pushes, He pushes and, "Okay, okay."
  • 00:57:06
    And why does He push, by the way?
  • 00:57:08
    He pushes because if this horse
  • 00:57:11
    let's a Todd master him,
  • 00:57:15
    this horse will be stronger and live longer.
  • 00:57:17
    One rider on a horse can run up
  • 00:57:22
    an entire wild herd of horses.
  • 00:57:26
    Because that, I learned this from Todd.
  • 00:57:28
    Because that's one person
  • 00:57:29
    who unlocks this being's potential.
  • 00:57:32
    And many of us think, you know, that's the system.
  • 00:57:35
    Like, stay away from God.
  • 00:57:36
    Just get enough of God that I have fire insurance,
  • 00:57:39
    or God's close enough that
  • 00:57:40
    if I'm really in trouble, maybe He's there.
  • 00:57:42
    But I'm not really going to --
  • 00:57:43
    I'm not going to give Him my life.
  • 00:57:45
    I'm not really going to get serious
  • 00:57:47
    and actually have Him tell me what to do
  • 00:57:50
    and actually have Him at the center of my life.
  • 00:57:52
    I'm not going to do that because we think,
  • 00:57:54
    "Oh, no, I need to be free.
  • 00:57:55
    Free as defined by I do whatever I want to do."
  • 00:57:57
    But no, you get to be free
  • 00:57:58
    when you have a master who loves you
  • 00:58:01
    and can call things out of you
  • 00:58:03
    that you can't do on your own,
  • 00:58:05
    you get stronger, you get more powerful.
  • 00:58:08
    And that's the invitation that God makes of us.
  • 00:58:12
    Anything else you want to say?
  • 00:58:15
    - One puts how many to flight,
  • 00:58:17
    and two puts 10,000 to flight.
  • 00:58:21
    I just think that that's the image I was getting
  • 00:58:24
    when you were describing
  • 00:58:25
    what it is that when we partner with God,
  • 00:58:27
    we've got way more influence than we realize.
  • 00:58:30
    And Brian has this thing.
  • 00:58:33
    It's okay if I talk about the scorpion?
  • 00:58:35
    - Yeah, yeah.
  • 00:58:38
    - In his office, before we every time
  • 00:58:41
    before we come out and and present ourselves,
  • 00:58:44
    we put our foot on top of a petrified scorpion,
  • 00:58:49
    just as a symbolic, prophetic act that
  • 00:58:51
    we've got authority over evil
  • 00:58:53
    and that no evil gets to just live in this place.
  • 00:58:57
    And so whatever it is that you're struggling with,
  • 00:59:00
    you've got authority over it in Jesus'
  • 00:59:02
    name, if you will just allow this power to come within you.
  • 00:59:05
    And so it's not just a small yes.
  • 00:59:08
    This this makes it to where the whole world
  • 00:59:10
    is waiting to see what will happen.
  • 00:59:12
    And if there's two people --
  • 00:59:13
    If there's one person that will say yes to Him,
  • 00:59:16
    and then we get together in partnership.
  • 00:59:18
    And that's why Brian's a covenant brother with me.
  • 00:59:22
    We're not just friends.
  • 00:59:24
    Where it's way deeper than that.
  • 00:59:26
    He and I have chose to lock arms
  • 00:59:27
    and fight together to where
  • 00:59:30
    we're exponentially that much more powerful.
  • 00:59:33
    And we're going to stand against
  • 00:59:35
    the enemies of light and darkness has to flee.
  • 00:59:39
    So, I just think that this is a remarkable moment
  • 00:59:42
    for everybody to really consider
  • 00:59:44
    what you're going to walk out of here with.
  • 00:59:46
    - Yeah. So here's what we're going to do.
  • 00:59:47
    We're all, all of our sites, online,
  • 00:59:49
    you can you could do this
  • 00:59:51
    as part of our digital church.
  • 00:59:52
    We're going to sing. We're going to sing as one.
  • 00:59:54
    We're going to tell God we're thankful
  • 00:59:56
    for His presence in our lives,
  • 00:59:58
    or maybe invite Him into our lives.
  • 01:00:00
    And we're just going to be cued into Him
  • 01:00:02
    that He's just -- He is better to us
  • 01:00:04
    than Todd has been to this horse.
  • 01:00:06
    We're going to sing, and then in all of our sites,
  • 01:00:08
    we've got some people want to pray for you,
  • 01:00:10
    like, your pains, your issues, your hang ups.
  • 01:00:14
    Maybe you realize, ?Man, that God
  • 01:00:17
    that I saw Todd represent, I don't know that God.
  • 01:00:19
    I know the God of religion. I know the God of fear.
  • 01:00:21
    I know the God of hatred.
  • 01:00:23
    I don't -- I don't know that God.
  • 01:00:24
    I probably need to give my life to that God."
  • 01:00:27
    These people can pray with you.
  • 01:00:29
    We have trained folks. They're ninjas.
  • 01:00:31
    They're ninjas in relation to prayer.
  • 01:00:32
    They're not weird.
  • 01:00:33
    They would love to pray for you. They would.
  • 01:00:35
    We're going to come forward at all of our sites
  • 01:00:37
    and just come on down.
  • 01:00:38
    Why not take advantage of it?
  • 01:00:40
    You came out, you did this thing today.
  • 01:00:42
    Why not do the whole thing?
  • 01:00:43
    You might actually be thankful you did,
  • 01:00:45
    just like I thank this horse.
  • 01:00:47
    You think this horse is thankful that this happened today?
  • 01:00:49
    Yes, yes. Yeah. All right.
  • 01:00:52
    Let me pray for us and then let's --
  • 01:00:54
    Why don't we all stand right now?
  • 01:00:55
    Let's also stand, every site we're in right now.
  • 01:00:57
    Let's go ahead and stand. Let's pray.
  • 01:00:59
    And then let's sing together.
  • 01:01:00
    God, You are good to give us a person like Todd
  • 01:01:04
    who helps us understand You better.
  • 01:01:07
    I thank You that You, man, You know when to push
  • 01:01:10
    and You know when to get off.
  • 01:01:12
    You know when to jump on.
  • 01:01:13
    You know when to slide back.
  • 01:01:15
    You know when to pull. You know when to push.
  • 01:01:18
    And You do it because You are
  • 01:01:19
    an amazing, loving Father.
  • 01:01:22
    Thank You for being who I am not,
  • 01:01:26
    but I need to be more like You.
  • 01:01:29
    God, when You just hear the songs of Your children,
  • 01:01:32
    Your sons, Your daughters just singing to you,
  • 01:01:35
    telling You that we appreciate You
  • 01:01:36
    and we're thankful for You. Amen.
  • 01:01:41
    We'll invite all the prayer folks to come down front.
  • 01:01:43
    If at any moment you want to come down front
  • 01:01:45
    or right after the song,
  • 01:01:47
    you can do that in all of our sites. Let's
  • 01:01:49
    Let's sing this song.
  • 01:01:55
    - Sing these words of trust,
  • 01:01:57
    opening ourselves to God.
  • 01:02:00
    [music]
  • 01:06:17
    - All right. Hey, we'd love to see you next week.
  • 01:06:19
    And, hey, if you want to give in any,
  • 01:06:23
    any way, shape or form, you can do that.
  • 01:06:24
    You can go to crossroads.net/give.
  • 01:06:27
    We don't pass bags here or plates, but you can go
  • 01:06:29
    to Crossroads.net/give if you want to.
  • 01:06:32
    And I hope to see you next week. Thank you.

May 4, 2024 1 hr 6 mins 42 sec

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