The Ripple Effect of Young Leaders-DO NOT USE

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- We are the Reidersand we lead something

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called Crossroads Anywhere together.

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Crossroads Anywhere as a community of people

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meeting all over the globe,

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some meeting in physical church buildings

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and others meeting in homes, bars,

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dorms, cafes and online.

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- Yeah, and we are so glad

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you're with us today, wherever you are.

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Crossroads is a movement of people

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all over the globe, and we want to be

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a place you can actually belong,

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not just a thing that you watch,

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no matter where you live or what you believe.

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- And you're joining us today

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in the middle of our summer series.

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We're taking a little bit of a road trip

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and celebrating what God is doing across the map

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and across our whole church.

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And one of the ways that we can celebrate

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is actually through worship,

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which is what we're going to do right now.

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- We do this every single week

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for a lot of reasons, but one of those reasons

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is because God is good and faithful

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and full of love and so many nice things.

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But when we're busy or tired

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or life is overwhelming, it can feel

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really hard to remember that, much less feel it.

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Those things feel like a distant thought

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or just an idea instead of an actual reality.

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So singing words like this help us

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not only remember, but believe it.

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I know it sounds crazy, but when we sing,

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things change, God responds.

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So wherever you are

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and however you're feeling right now,

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whatever life is thrown at you this week,

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turn up your music and let's sing together.

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- Come on, put your hands together.

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Hey, come on, sing it loud.

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Come on, sing it out.

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Voice of Jesus.

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- We know the good news.

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Come on, shout it out.

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- All those words are true.

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I got so many of my friends up here with me.

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Y'all, I want to introduce you to one of them.

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This guy right here, he's the new --

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He's the new guy.

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He's over worship and experience

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for our students here at Oakley.

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Y'all give it up for Jair. Come on.

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- What is up? What's up?

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Man, y'all ready? Are we ready?

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We're just getting started. God is so good.

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I mean, can we just give a big shout

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for our students who came by faith here right now?

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What I'm so encouraged about,

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and I just want to share this with you,

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with all of our church.

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I'm so encouraged to see the fruit

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of this church's labor in our friends up here.

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It's so good and it reminds me of the people

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in my life who paved the way for me

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to know who Jesus is.

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And so that is our job, too.

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We get to pave the way so that we --

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Let me just ask you, if you know who Jesus is,

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my students, just give a big shout for Jesus.

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[cheering] That's the fruit.

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They know who He is. We know Jesus is.

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It reminds me that Jesus tells us

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to come to Him with a child like faith.

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It says in Matthew 18:3, it says

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if you don't come with the faith of a child,

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then you have no part of being

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a part of the Kingdom of God.

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So we need to be reminded that Jesus believes in us.

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He believes in our youth.

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He believes in the old, the young, the middle aged.

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He believes in each one of us to share His Good News.

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So let's keep worshiping together. Come on y'all.

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- Sing this song. Sing this out now I lay.

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- It's only Your power, Lord.

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- Lord, I believe those words.

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Anything good, anything good that has entered my life

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has entered because of you.

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I refuse to think that there's anything

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in this world that could bring me

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true joy and true peace.

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Because this world is not the provider.

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It's not the manufacturer of those things.

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You are. You are the author. The creator.

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You are who I lift my hands and worship right here,

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right now. And I say thank you, Savior.

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Thank you for saving me.

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I'm grateful for this vulnerable space to have with You.

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Maybe there's no other point in my life

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that's this vulnerable.

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And I'm okay with that because you are worthy,

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God, you are my creator

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and I want to be soft in your presence.

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I want a soft heart for you.

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Would You give us all that right here, right now?

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That's who You are.

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It's in Jesus's name we pray. Amen.

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- This summer we're hitting the road

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and navigating a life of faith together.

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Crossroads is one church with many locations,

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and each week we'll use the map to explore

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a different place and story

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and hear the amazing things that God is doing.

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- Hey, I'm Joel.

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- And I'm Devo, and this summer we are hitting the road.

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- Where are we headed today?

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Because I honestly have no idea.

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- We are going to Mason and Florence today.

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- Mason and Florence? - Yep.

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- All right. I'm not a mathematician by any means,

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but geographically, that makes no sense at all.

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- This week the icon is a donut. - Okay.

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- And we're talking about how volunteers run this place.

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So let's go find some donuts and talk to

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some volunteers in Mason and in Florence.

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Well, we are here with two super volunteers,

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Dan and Rachel.

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How did you get involved with Crossroads?

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Tell us how it all started for you.

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- We started in Oakley in the second balcony in the dark.

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Kind of just going in, getting our coffee,

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sitting in our chair and then leaving.

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- Yeah.

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- How in the world did we get from there

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to now you are our two chosen on video people

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talking about volunteers run this place.

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- Yeah. - Yeah.

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I mean, Crossroads is a big place, right?

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And especially even Mason at that time

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wasn't huge like in Oakley, but it still was

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a lot of people we didn't know.

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So it drove home relationship building. Right?

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So and I mean, it's crazy the amount of people

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who were in that hallway and set up,

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people who are family friends still to this day

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that we hang out with. Right?

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So just building these deep connections that,

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you know, it's hard to do in a Sunday

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at the building has been my experience.

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- Over those years, what has kept you going?

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- We think it's important to think about yourself less.

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And when you serve, you're not thinking about yourself.

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And so I think that's important for our family.

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The community we built with volunteers then

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and the community we're building now,

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and our kids are building, like,

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and when they serve,

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they're building their own relationships, like,

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I think community is still the answer

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as to why we keep doing it.

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- In the spirit of volunteering,

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this would not be a volunteer gig without a donut.

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So would you guys like one? - Sure, yeah.

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- Do you have some more of that one you took earlier, too?

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- No, I threw it away. - I was gonna take a hard pass.

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- Well, we are here with

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the community pastor of Florence.

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Our Florence location, Casey Bryant.

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- What's up, Florence?

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- Let's go. And not only are we here with Casey,

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we are here with a volunteer.

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- No, voluntold. - Voluntold.

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- He'll tell you he's voluntold. - That's right.

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Because we're talking about how volunteers

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run this place, but also,

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so you're not uncomfortable because

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Casey just touched the knee of the voluntold.

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I did.

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This is also her spouse, Doug Bryant.

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How are you doing, Doug? - I'm doing well.

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- What's up, guys. Yeah.

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- Well specifically talking this week about volunteers.

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Did you just -- Were you just born

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right into the community pastor role?

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Is that how this all started,

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or what's your specific experience

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with Florence and with volunteering really?

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- Oh, great. Doug and I were volunteering here

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at Oakley and they asked us to be

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part of the launch team.

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So there's like 50 families that they asked

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who were volunteering here.

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Hey, come help us launch Florence.

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And we said, great, we're going to help you.

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We'll give you six months,

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and 12 years later here we are.

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The reason why we stayed, and I think this

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is what's so unique about Crossroads Florence,

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is because it really does feel like family.

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We had this incredible small group.

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We went to this random person's house,

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didn't know a single person, and ended up

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being with that small group for the next,

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I don't know, ten years. It was amazing.

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And a lot of those people in that small group

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also were part of the launch team,

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and we all volunteered together.

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We did life together, so when things in our life

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were at a breaking point, we turned to them.

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We turned to our friends, and they're the ones

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who helped us and guided us because

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they were there.

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And it started off as just this

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random group of eclectic people

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who you wouldn't think would be together.

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But because we were doing church together,

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life together, volunteering together,

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we just kind of clicked.

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- Doug, share a memory of something that happened

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that you remember and look back on

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and just from the beginning.

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- At the beginning when we launched,

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I was on volunteer staff,

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so I didn't have a specific volunteer role.

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Traffic was, it was crazy.

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And so I was helping with the parking team

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and trying to get people out.

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And we're a church, right?

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I can't tell you how many times

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I got flipped off in the parking lot,

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and you just, you just wave, "Hey, have a nice day.

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Have a great day." - Jesus loves you.

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- Yeah. Even as a community pastor,

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I'm still not done volunteering.

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In fact, for the first time ever,

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and I can't believe I did it. I really can't believe I did it.

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I signed up for middle school camp.

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I'm leading a group of eighth grade girls.

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- Awesome. - Yay!

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- You gotta move if you want to grow.

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That's true physically and spiritually.

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This summer, we're looking at six important moves

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you can make to experience God more fully.

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And today we're hearing from Joel

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about the next generation

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from the book of 1 Thessalonians.

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- I'm going to give you ten minutes to stop it.

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All right? Stop.

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Hey, my name is Joel.

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I am director of kids and students.

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But if I look familiar to you at all,

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it's from my acting debut.

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I have been the host, along with my friend Deborah,

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for our summer series.

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I've never set up myself like that.

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As we've talked about how to navigate a life of faith.

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Now, true story, that camper was borrowed.

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And day one they let me drive it

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with probably not my name on the insurance,

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and I nailed a curb and the side of it bounced.

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We had to stop the whole the whole shoot.

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And I'm just thrilled to still work here,

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let alone be preaching today.

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So, now today we are talking specifically

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that if we're going to navigate a life of faith,

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then that faith can't stop with our life.

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It has to be handed to the lives behind us.

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Today, we're going to talk about how God is a God of generations.

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Now, before we get into this,

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I do want to introduce myself a little bit.

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In fact, there's a Harvard study that says

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if I show you a picture of my family

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that you will like me better.

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So this is a picture of my family.

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Now, that's my wife Anna there.

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She's the taller one.

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And we've been married nine years this summer.

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And after nine years,

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our life got turned upside down

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by that little chicken nugget in the middle there.

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That's our daughter, Navy.

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And we call her Beans because she farts all the time.

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And yesterday, Beans had a used Band-Aid in her mouth.

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She's putting everything in her mouth.

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And I took that Band-Aid out,

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and I kissed her right on the mouth.

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Because I love that child.

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And it's pressing today as we talk about

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not just my faith, her faith,

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because the God of generations.

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And what does it look like to pass it on?

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So let me pray and we'll get going.

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God, today I pray over this room

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and the rooms listening.

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I know there are people from age 9 to 99

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listening to this today, God,

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and I know Your Word has always been the same

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yesterday, today and tomorrow.

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So today I pray that we not only internalize

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what You have for us, but we pass it on, God,

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and the movement that we know You've started

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is only beginning.

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We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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Now, I want to take you back 380 years.

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Behind me you'll see a boy in a house.

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Now, I won't give you the boy's name.

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And this is not a real picture.

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They did not have cameras back then,

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but this was in Woolsthorpe, England.

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And when this boy became three years old,

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his mom, he was born when she was only 19,

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became 22 years old.

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And at 22 years old, she got a proposal

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for really what would be a new life.

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It wasn't just a hand in marriage,

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it was really prosperity.

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And the 70 year old from a neighboring village

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said, "Hey, you can come live with me.

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I'll take care of you, but the boy can't come with."

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Now it's easy to judge her for her decision,

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but she agreed.

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And we don't know why she did this,

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but we know that the boy would go on

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to believe he was a reject.

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In fact, at three years old, you don't know a lot,

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but you know rejection.

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And he would go on to kind of believe

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these lies about himself, teacher after teacher

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would say that this boy said three things about himself.

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He was lazy -- or teachers would say this.

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He could not learn and he was good for nothing.

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Lazy, could not learn, and good for nothing,

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over and over, teacher after teacher,

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until a new teacher came into the town.

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We don't know a ton about the teacher,

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but we know his name was John Houston

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and we know he was a devout follower of Jesus.

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And that he would look at the generation behind him

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and he wouldn't call them things like lazy.

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He would tell them they have a future

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and to hope and to purpose,

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and that God can use them in amazing ways.

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And eventually people like this young man

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begin to believe him.

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And the days turned into months, which turned into years.

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And John Houston saw that this specific young boy

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wasn't, in fact, any of those things,

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but actually had a higher IQ than most.

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In fact, he began to not just invest in him

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academically, not just spiritually,

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but he began to invest in him financially.

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He used ties to get him into Cambridge

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and Trinity or Trinity in Cambridge,

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and he even used his small teacher salary

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to help pay for his way.

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Where he would go on to break

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almost every physic record, mathematics record

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that there was at the school.

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And today you would know this guy as Sir Isaac Newton.

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Yeah, we would be floating

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if it wasn't for this man right here.

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Because he invented the laws of gravity. Okay?

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Didn't land. I'm giving gold. All right, I am.

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This is on you at this point. All right?

00:29:09

Now, at the end of this guy's life,

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Isaac Newton on his grave, literally, in Latin,

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it says an intellect close to the divine.

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Like, this guy is so smart he's almost godlike,

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is what they're saying.

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Now, I want you to realize this is the same human

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with two different verdicts.

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One said, lazy, good for nothing, will not learn.

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One said this guy is almost godlike

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in the way that he just thinks.

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Now what's the difference in these two verdicts

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of the same life?

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I'll tell you: one man named John Houston,

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who decided that the generation behind him

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was worth something and that he would invest

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in them when no one else was.

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One spiritual parent who wasn't even investing

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in kids of his own, but the generation behind him

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that would go on to change everything.

00:29:58

And let me just tell you that

00:30:00

if we are going to see God move from generation to generation,

00:30:04

if we're going to see what we start

00:30:05

just be seeds that turn into giant oak trees,

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then we're going to need an army

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of John Houstons at this church.

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And here's the good news.

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This isn't a condemning message.

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This is a celebratory message.

00:30:19

Because if you are here at any of our locations,

00:30:21

I believe we're doing this.

00:30:23

I believe we are taking this faith

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and we are handing it to the generation behind us.

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But I also want to be clear,

00:30:30

this is not just kind of a recommendation.

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This is a biblical command all throughout the Bible.

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If you have your Bibles, you're welcome to turn there.

00:30:38

If not, I'll put it on the screen,

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but all the way back to the beginning,

00:30:42

the second book of the Bible

00:30:43

we have the book of Exodus.

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The book of Exodus God is speaking directly

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to a guy named Moses.

00:30:49

And as He speaks to this man, Moses,

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which maybe you've heard of,

00:30:53

he led the Israelites out of an exodus from Egypt.

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He made the Ten Commandments.

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He wrote the first five books of the Bible.

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This is what God says to Moses. He said,

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God also said to Moses, say to the Israelites,

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the Lord, the God of your fathers.

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So the God of the generation before you,

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the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,

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and the God of Jacob.

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Three individuals but three generations.

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He says that this is my name, that's my name,

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the God of generations, and the name

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that you shall call me from generation to generation.

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This can't stay with you. It has to be passed on.

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Moses, he was like elite.

00:31:33

He was one of the best leaders,

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and it could have stopped with him.

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But he raised up a guy named Joshua because

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he believed God was the God of generations.

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And I really could take you to the curve

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of all of the Old Testament

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and all of the New Testament, all of the old.

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I mean, we could go to 1 Samuel,

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where we see a prophet named Eli

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who hears directly from God, yet he decides

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to invest in a guy named Samuel

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that he will pass his faith to.

00:31:56

I could take you to 1 Kings,

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where maybe you've heard of a prophet named Elijah.

00:32:01

If you haven't, Elijah did more miracles

00:32:03

than anyone out there.

00:32:05

I mean, if this was modern day,

00:32:06

this was the largest church pastor there is,

00:32:09

and Elijah could have ended right there.

00:32:10

We could have built statues of Elijah.

00:32:13

Instead, Elijah raised up a guy named Elisha

00:32:16

that he handed his faith off to,

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that did twice the amount of miracles

00:32:19

that Elijah ever did.

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God is a God of generations, and if we are going

00:32:24

to make him a God of this moment,

00:32:26

in many ways it's self-satisfying.

00:32:28

But if we could not just say, "What if

00:32:30

it's not great things done in my name?

00:32:32

But what if the greatest thing I ever do

00:32:34

isn't something I do, but who I pass my faith on to?"

00:32:37

This could change it all.

00:32:39

This could change everything.

00:32:41

And like I said, I believe this is happening here.

00:32:45

Did you know right now, this weekend,

00:32:46

across locations, we will see 3500 kids

00:32:50

a part of our elementary and below ages in Kids' Club.

00:32:53

And the reason this is so impactful

00:32:58

and so incredible and the reason I would put

00:33:00

our Kids' Club up against anything,

00:33:02

is because to pull that off, this is a real number.

00:33:04

It takes 750 adults to pull that off across locations.

00:33:09

Yeah. Next weekend, well, July 22nd we will

00:33:13

head off with about 1300 farty middle schoolers

00:33:17

to our middle school camp,

00:33:18

and we'll have about 400 adults

00:33:21

who will give a week of vacation and time

00:33:23

to go and make sure those middle schoolers

00:33:25

know who the God of the generations is.

00:33:28

The same God that invested in them,

00:33:30

they want to make sure we hand it off to them.

00:33:32

And I would be remiss if I didn't talk about

00:33:35

our high school students.

00:33:36

They are sitting over here, if you hadn't noticed,

00:33:38

you probably hadn't.

00:33:40

We actually just got back from camp last week,

00:33:43

and we took nearly a thousand high school students.

00:33:46

And I want to talk about this because,

00:33:49

to my knowledge, this is one of the largest

00:33:51

high school camps in America, maybe the world.

00:33:54

And this is just from the high schoolers at our church.

00:33:57

I mean, it's amazing what God's doing,

00:33:59

but the reason that was possible was 222 adults,

00:34:02

John Huston's, who said,

00:34:04

"I'll go invest in high school students."

00:34:05

We call them C group leaders.

00:34:07

We call them rec leaders who came

00:34:09

and stood beside this generation to make sure

00:34:11

the faith didn't stop with them,

00:34:13

but was passed on to the generation behind them.

00:34:17

Now, am I saying we should do this

00:34:20

because they deserve it? - Yes!

00:34:22

- That was a high schooler right there.

00:34:28

This is not what you're going to expect

00:34:30

from your kids and students director,

00:34:32

but I'm not even saying there's anything special

00:34:35

about this specific generation.

00:34:37

In fact, at times if you have a kid

00:34:39

or a student age in your household,

00:34:41

they can act like, gosh, what's the word?

00:34:43

Idiots. Yeah, yeah.

00:34:46

I'm just saying you are.

00:34:47

I'm saying you can act like it at times.

00:34:49

Like so why would - why, like,

00:34:53

their frontal lobe isn't fully formed until 25.

00:34:56

Like, why would we?

00:34:57

Because it's not about the generation.

00:34:59

It's the God of generations.

00:35:01

In fact, I want to even just illustrate this.

00:35:02

I'll say one word and you'll go like, "Yeah,

00:35:04

I don't understand whatever's going on

00:35:06

in this generation."

00:35:07

Here's the one word. You ready?

00:35:09

Snapchat.

00:35:12

I don't know if you've heard of this app.

00:35:13

It is the second most popular social media app,

00:35:16

only to YouTube.

00:35:17

And this generation, they take it

00:35:19

and they snap pictures of the floor

00:35:20

and walls and ceiling, and they send it

00:35:22

to their friends and they snap them back.

00:35:24

And Snapchat makes millions

00:35:26

and nobody knows what's happening. All right?

00:35:28

Now, I talked to a high schooler because

00:35:30

I get to work with them.

00:35:31

I talked with one and they gave me the inside source.

00:35:34

So I'm here to equip some parents today. All right.

00:35:37

I'm here to give you the unwritten rules

00:35:39

of Snapchat that nobody's ever said out loud.

00:35:42

Well, I did one time to the high schoolers,

00:35:44

but that you are going to find out

00:35:45

what in the world is happening and why this generation

00:35:47

we don't even know what's going on.

00:35:49

All right, here's the rules. Are you ready?

00:35:50

If you find your student snapping pictures

00:35:52

of the walls or ceiling or the floor to a friend,

00:35:55

you're fine. Okay.

00:35:56

This would be like they're passing

00:35:58

an acquaintance in the hall.

00:35:59

Hey, hey. Good to see you.

00:36:00

Now, if you look back in the rearview mirror

00:36:02

and your students taking a picture of, like,

00:36:04

the top of their head, and you're like,

00:36:06

"What in the world are they?"

00:36:07

You know, it's still good. Take a breath. All right?

00:36:09

This is like it's a buddy

00:36:10

that they're sitting next to in class. Okay?

00:36:13

Now, if you find your kid or student

00:36:16

snapping pictures of their full face,

00:36:19

top of the head to bottom of the chin,

00:36:23

you need to start saving for a wedding

00:36:25

because your student is flirting. All right?

00:36:27

I just need you to know that, it's the unwritten rules.

00:36:30

Now, this isn't just true in the current generation.

00:36:32

This has always been the case.

00:36:33

I've told them this story before,

00:36:34

but I actually met my wife on Snapchat,

00:36:38

as much as I make fun of it.

00:36:42

And it gets worse than that because, again,

00:36:44

my frontal lobe wasn't formed yet

00:36:46

when I asked her to be my girlfriend,

00:36:48

I actually stood right next to her

00:36:50

and snapped a picture of myself,

00:36:52

and she was like, with the flash.

00:36:54

She's like, "Did you take a picture of yourself?"

00:36:56

I was like no.

00:36:58

She's like, "Yes, you did."

00:36:59

And I was like, "Check your snap."

00:37:02

Full face, but actually it's most of it.

00:37:10

This is the real picture

00:37:11

that my wife screenshotted,

00:37:12

not when I asked her to be my girlfriend,

00:37:14

when I was --

00:37:16

She said yes and we side hugged. Anyway.

00:37:19

Now I'm not just going to out myself

00:37:21

and this generation. This has always been true.

00:37:23

Behind me will just be generational trends

00:37:25

that you'll be like, "I don't know

00:37:27

what I was thinking."

00:37:29

Like, I just want to be clear,

00:37:30

we're not saying this next generation

00:37:32

has it figured out.

00:37:33

We're not saying that the words they use we understand.

00:37:37

We're not saying anything.

00:37:38

We're saying the God behind this generation

00:37:42

can use them to change the world.

00:37:45

And this is a big definer.

00:37:46

And so I'm a visual person

00:37:47

and so I have a visual analogy next to me.

00:37:49

All right. This right here is a garden hose.

00:37:51

All right. Anyone seen one of these before.

00:37:53

Great. You guys, two hands. Cool.

00:37:55

All right. Weird crowd.

00:37:57

This right here, if I was --

00:37:59

If it was not connected to a source,

00:38:01

would anything come out? No.

00:38:03

Now, if it was connected to a source,

00:38:05

what would happen? Water would come out.

00:38:09

Okay, as we see now.

00:38:11

Sorry, I can't control this thing.

00:38:13

Now, this right here would represent anyone,

00:38:16

not just a high school or anyone. Okay?

00:38:18

It is an empty container.

00:38:20

And this is the gospel.

00:38:22

We usually try to fill this container

00:38:24

with whatever we want.

00:38:25

This could be success.

00:38:27

As a student this could be academics.

00:38:29

As an adult, this could be money,

00:38:30

fame, relationships.

00:38:32

And we have an opportunity which is said

00:38:34

in Galatians to be crucified with Christ.

00:38:37

If you're kind of brand new to church,

00:38:39

we believe Jesus is God around here

00:38:40

and that He gave his life for us.

00:38:42

And then the Bible is clear as day tells us that

00:38:44

we must decrease, so He must increase.

00:38:47

In Galatians says, For I've been crucified with Christ.

00:38:49

It's not I who live, but Christ who lives within me.

00:38:51

And so one of the opportunities to literally,

00:38:54

whoa, let the Holy Spirit of God fill our life.

00:38:57

This is glass too.

00:38:59

Now, eventually, if you've kind of seen this happen,

00:39:03

like, you'll start feeling God in your life,

00:39:05

filling you up, and eventually it starts overflowing.

00:39:07

And if you start letting Him,

00:39:08

it starts impacting the people around you.

00:39:10

And literally when people look at you,

00:39:11

they're, like, I don't know how they have this love.

00:39:14

It's not you. It's Christ filling you,

00:39:17

overflowing in you.

00:39:18

Now, I will get back to that story,

00:39:21

but this is not anything new.

00:39:22

All throughout the Bible, when we read

00:39:24

these stories of God passing faith

00:39:27

from generation to generation

00:39:28

and young people changing the world,

00:39:30

this is not the young person,

00:39:32

this is not even the older person.

00:39:34

This is the God behind them.

00:39:35

So today I want to take you to one of my favorite examples.

00:39:39

It is a young, probably middle school aged,

00:39:41

maybe freshman aged girl.

00:39:43

And you guys have probably heard of this person,

00:39:45

but you probably did not know their age.

00:39:47

Today we're going to talk about the person of Mary.

00:39:50

Now, maybe you grew up in Catholicism,

00:39:52

I don't know, and you've heard that name

00:39:54

and you've heard about her, but you didn't know

00:39:56

when the Angel Gabriel came and spoke to her

00:39:59

she was probably 13 or 14 years old.

00:40:02

Best scenario, on that day,

00:40:04

you would get married at 15 years old.

00:40:06

And so we know for a fact that she was a young person.

00:40:09

Yet God used to change the world.

00:40:11

Now, does anyone know, I should just test the crowd here,

00:40:13

that when the Angel Gabriel in Luke 1,

00:40:15

it's where will be the rest of the time,

00:40:16

came to speak to her

00:40:18

what language it would have been in?

00:40:20

It would have been in Mary's native tongue

00:40:22

is the hint. - [indiscernible]

00:40:25

- You knew that? Wow. Aramaic.

00:40:27

Yeah, yeah. That's right. Wow, sharp crew over here.

00:40:31

So, in retrospect, knowing that this today

00:40:35

would look like if they were to speak to

00:40:36

a native tongue I found on the internet

00:40:38

the New Testament for Gen Z. All right.

00:40:43

I'm going to warn you, the author says Broseph Smith,

00:40:46

so I don't know the credibility behind it.

00:40:47

But I will say I would never, this is real.

00:40:50

I believe the Word of God is inspired and active.

00:40:52

I really would never mock the Word of God.

00:40:54

So I haven't read this whole thing,

00:40:56

but this Luke 1 translation is actually

00:40:59

a pretty dang good interpretation

00:41:01

of what the angel Gabriel would have said to Mary

00:41:03

in a native tongue of a middle schooler

00:41:05

or a high schooler today.

00:41:07

So you want hear Luke 1 in the Gen Z version,

00:41:09

and then we'll go to my New International Version?

00:41:11

Is that cool with you guys?

00:41:12

All right. We'll throw it on the screen.

00:41:14

I'm gonna get rocking. Here we go.

00:42:12

This is the story. It really is. Respectfully.

00:42:16

Now, I do want to say that word respectfully.

00:42:18

If anyone from this side of the room

00:42:20

ever looks at you and says the word respectfully,

00:42:24

if anyone from the generation behind you

00:42:25

looks at you and says the word respectfully,

00:42:29

it's happened to that person over there,

00:42:30

the words that are going to come out of their mouth

00:42:33

are going to be anything but respectful. Okay?

00:42:35

They took this from us. Ours was no offense.

00:42:38

You could just get out of jail free card.

00:42:40

But if they say respectfully, get ready,

00:42:41

you're about to be verbally assaulted. Okay.

00:42:43

Respectfully. Said the Angel Gabriel.

00:43:08

Some of y'all took offense to that. Yeah.

00:43:16

Yeah. That's good.

00:43:21

Now, if you have whatever translation you have,

00:43:24

don't buy your kid that. Okay.

00:43:28

You can pick back up in the story in Luke 1,

00:43:33

where we see the angel speaking to Mary,

00:43:35

because this is a perfect example

00:43:37

of God using young people.

00:43:38

I love what actually Mary says in Luke 1:34.

00:43:41

She says this: How will this be? Right?

00:43:45

I'm 13 years old. I haven't done anything.

00:43:50

I haven't come from anywhere.

00:43:52

You want me to do what? How will this be?

00:43:56

The angel Gabriel's response was,

00:43:59

The Holy Spirit will come on you,

00:44:01

and the power of the Most High

00:44:02

will literally overshadow you.

00:44:04

It will transform you.

00:44:05

It's not Mary that we'll see.

00:44:07

It is something bigger than you, stronger than you.

00:44:09

And through this power, Mary,

00:44:12

you can change the world.

00:44:14

It's the God of generation that was behind Mary.

00:44:18

Now, let me just tell you,

00:44:20

this is where this all takes a turn.

00:44:23

Because I get to just brag on where I'm seeing this.

00:44:27

I get to tell you some stories of where I see

00:44:30

this next generation who maybe uses

00:44:33

weird social media apps

00:44:34

and maybe uses words we don't understand

00:44:35

and maybe dresses in a way that I don't.

00:44:37

God is literally overflowing in them in ways

00:44:40

that's impacting schools and cities and churches

00:44:42

and literally at the front of this stage,

00:44:44

changing auditoriums.

00:44:45

And we are seeing it change the world.

00:44:48

Now, I put on my Instagram story.

00:44:51

I said, is there any stories or movements

00:44:53

of just God that's happening?

00:44:55

And I got, I'm not -- I'm not over exaggerating,

00:44:57

hundreds of responses.

00:44:58

And I said, "Well, I don't have enough time."

00:45:02

And so I'm going to give you just a few today

00:45:04

of what I'm seeing God do

00:45:06

and just individuals in this generation.

00:45:10

This first one, I can't share their name

00:45:12

due to the scenario, but he's been emancipated.

00:45:16

So he no longer lives with his parents.

00:45:18

His parents have left.

00:45:19

They live in an entirely different state.

00:45:21

And so for the sake of this story,

00:45:22

because I do have his story in writing,

00:45:24

we'll call him Shaun.

00:45:25

So all you know about him is that his name is not Shaun.

00:45:28

Okay? Now, Shaun writes this. Okay?

00:45:32

So no longer lives with his parents.

00:45:34

He's going from different living room

00:45:35

to different living room.

00:45:37

He goes to camp with us. This is what he writes.

00:45:39

So when I first came to our high school

00:45:41

student ministry at Crossroads,

00:45:43

I had very little expectations of it.

00:45:45

I didn't really know what I wanted,

00:45:47

but I did know what I desired from God

00:45:49

and it was love and a relationship

00:45:52

that I hadn't gotten from my own family.

00:45:56

Let me tell you, it not only found me, it overruled me.

00:46:02

Every single lie that I had ever told myself,

00:46:05

I begin to dismantle.

00:46:07

I eventually got to go to our Crossroads camp.

00:46:10

I got to experience worship that

00:46:11

made me look to God different.

00:46:13

I had a C group, which is what we call

00:46:15

our groups of communities and leaders

00:46:17

that's investing in them.

00:46:18

I had a C group that made it safe to be real and honest.

00:46:21

The messages from the speakers

00:46:22

changed the way I talk and walk.

00:46:24

I formed friendships with people

00:46:25

that I would have never met

00:46:27

if I hadn't gotten involved in this community.

00:46:29

I came into camp alone.

00:46:31

I left surrounded by love and support

00:46:33

from friends and more importantly, from God.

00:46:35

I want everyone else to experience

00:46:37

this student ministry and God like I did,

00:46:39

because I know it could also change their life.

00:46:42

Yeah, now.

00:46:47

I was messaging with Shawn and I said,

00:46:48

"Shawn, this is an amazing story.

00:46:50

I'm going to share it. I will not share your name.

00:46:52

And is there just anything else you want to share?"

00:46:54

And I did not even prompt him to say this,

00:46:56

but here's what Shawn said.

00:46:57

He said, "Oh, yeah, literally. Oh yeah.

00:47:00

One part I wanted to add is

00:47:01

how I couldn't afford to go to camp.

00:47:05

And someone anonymously sponsored me.

00:47:11

And my impact and my experience at camp

00:47:13

couldn't have happened without the generosity

00:47:16

and support of somebody else."

00:47:24

One of you.

00:47:27

There was an anonymous John Houston who said,

00:47:30

"I believe enough to give 400 bucks to get Shawn to camp."

00:47:35

Shawn will never know who this person is,

00:47:37

but somebody passed their faith to the generation behind him,

00:47:39

and it's changing everything.

00:47:41

I'll give you one more.

00:47:42

Preston, will you come up here?

00:47:44

Yeah. Come up on stage. Yeah.

00:47:47

I was going to just show this picture.

00:47:49

I'll still show it because it's a pretty sick picture.

00:47:51

Let's just show this picture right here.

00:47:53

- This is scary. - No. You're great.

00:47:54

You're going to kill it. Oh, isn't that sweet right there?

00:47:57

- That's not the one I sent you.

00:47:58

- He said that's not the one I sent you.

00:48:00

This one's better. No.

00:48:02

Now, Preston, what location are you from?

00:48:05

- East side. - East side. Okay.

00:48:06

Now you know on microphone I'm not going

00:48:08

to make you tell the whole story,

00:48:10

but here's what I want you to know.

00:48:11

Preston, and then I'll let you go

00:48:13

and I'll finish the story for you.

00:48:14

How were you first invited to Crossroads?

00:48:16

- Through a friend. - Through a friend.

00:48:18

So and you were at work? - Coworker, actually, yeah.

00:48:20

- Coworker named Andrew.

00:48:21

So give it up for Preston.

00:48:22

We'll finish his story, but I want you to know that.

00:48:25

This started somewhere else.

00:48:27

Someone already invested in another student

00:48:29

that invited Preston to student ministry.

00:48:31

And just so you know, I'm getting fact checked here.

00:48:33

All right? This is not made up stuff.

00:48:35

Preston came to our student ministry on our East Side,

00:48:38

and he gave his life to Christ, and it changed --

00:48:40

This was this year? This is this year.

00:48:42

Now, Preston decided he wanted to go to camp with us,

00:48:45

and he goes to camp.

00:48:47

And already Preston is deciding that,

00:48:48

"I don't want this to just be me.

00:48:50

I want to invest in the generation behind me."

00:48:51

And so the person God put on his heart

00:48:53

was his sister, Gabby.

00:48:55

Here's a picture of Preston and Gabby on the screen.

00:48:58

And he decided, "Man, I want to see

00:49:00

Gabby have what I have."

00:49:02

Now at camp we used this analogy and we talked about

00:49:06

what would it look like for Christ to be our life.

00:49:08

And we gave a response tonight two and we said,

00:49:10

"Would anybody in here want to just give

00:49:11

their life for the first time to Jesus

00:49:14

for the very first time to say,

00:49:15

"Hey, it's no longer I who live,

00:49:17

but Christ who lives within me?"

00:49:18

We had an arena of students

00:49:20

and the very first person to stand up

00:49:21

was Preston's sister, Gabby.

00:49:24

Now, at the end of the week, actually,

00:49:29

here's a picture of both Preston

00:49:31

and Gabby's C group leader getting

00:49:34

to baptize her at camp.

00:49:36

I mean, it is just unbelievable

00:49:38

what God is doing through you.

00:49:40

I'm proud of you. Chris is proud of you.

00:49:42

This room is proud of you.

00:49:43

And this is just one of hundreds of stories.

00:49:46

At high school camp alone,

00:49:47

we saw 127 students get baptized.

00:49:49

I mean, again, this isn't -- This can't be us.

00:49:55

This can't be this generation.

00:49:57

This is what God is doing

00:49:58

in and through this generation.

00:50:02

But what's wild enough is here's what we talked about.

00:50:05

We talked that not only do we have

00:50:07

an opportunity for God to use us,

00:50:09

if we actually go to 1 Thessalonians,

00:50:13

there's a guy named Paul who actually says

00:50:16

something bigger than this.

00:50:17

He says, not only can you be consumed by God,

00:50:19

you can actually do something that you can quench God.

00:50:22

1 Thessalonians he says do not quench the Spirit.

00:50:24

I like this analogy because how many of you,

00:50:26

when you guys were, you know, in summertime

00:50:28

and you were drinking out of a hose,

00:50:30

who agrees hose water just tastes

00:50:31

a little bit better, right? Just a little bit better.

00:50:33

None of the high schoolers raised their hand.

00:50:35

I'm telling you, it would solve a lot of stuff.

00:50:37

Now, if it was going too hard, you would just do what?

00:50:41

Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:50:42

So I'll use this word for quench.

00:50:44

You would just simply like stop it.

00:50:46

Now, that word quench I used to think

00:50:48

it meant to add water.

00:50:49

Oh, man. Brian's going to kill me with all this water.

00:50:52

But I want to be clear, to quench means

00:50:55

to quench your thirst. It means to stop, okay?

00:50:58

To stop your thirst.

00:50:59

So Paul is saying, "Hey, God can use you,

00:51:01

or you literally have the option to just quench Him."

00:51:03

And I even like this analogy of it

00:51:05

still like dripping out, because how often do we do this?

00:51:07

Like, God, you're working in me

00:51:09

and I'm really liking it.

00:51:10

And okay, all right,

00:51:11

now people are starting to know this.

00:51:13

And now actually I'm having to choose between,

00:51:16

you know, going out or staying in

00:51:18

or I'm actually having to choose about

00:51:20

how I act at work or the way I talk,

00:51:23

or so I'm just going to quench.

00:51:26

Now at camp, we saw hundreds of students say,

00:51:28

"No, no, no, I'm going to untangle."

00:51:30

I love that visual.

00:51:31

"I'm going to untangle what I've been quenching,

00:51:34

where I've been quenching God,

00:51:35

and I'm going to see something big.

00:51:37

I'm going to see an outpour.

00:51:38

I'm going to see an overflow.

00:51:39

I'm going to see something bigger.

00:51:41

And if I can actually stop quenching

00:51:42

is where I can start to see God start working."

00:51:44

But today I want to do something new

00:51:46

to this analogy that I've never done.

00:51:49

And I want this first step to simply

00:51:51

just represent, whoa, represent

00:51:54

if I was quenching and pausing here

00:51:56

from the younger generation, what would it look like

00:51:59

to further down the line, someone before us,

00:52:02

an older generation, a parent generation

00:52:03

to either set free or to quench?

00:52:07

And so I need someone older than me.

00:52:09

I need someone very old, a volunteer, possibly.

00:52:11

I do see our community pastor here, Greg,

00:52:14

who just had a birthday.

00:52:16

- Get up there, Greg.

00:52:18

- Greg, how -- Greg, how old did you just turn?

00:52:24

- None of your business.

00:52:28

I turned 40, and I'm like --

00:52:31

- 40?! Get this guy a stool.

00:52:33

- We're, like, seven years apart.

00:52:35

You're not that much younger.

00:52:36

- It looks different, you know? So. Okay.

00:52:38

Now, Greg, here's what I want you to do.

00:52:41

I want you to represent the much older generation, okay.

00:52:47

All right. So go ahead and just quench that. All right.

00:52:50

Yeah yeah. There we go. It's perfect.

00:52:52

Now do you need help?

00:52:55

- Got it. - You're good. All right. Great.

00:52:57

Now again I'm turning this on.

00:53:00

And here's what I think is a cool visual.

00:53:02

So at camp we see this happen often.

00:53:08

Students untangle and say, "God, I'm ready for You

00:53:10

to use me in whatever ways You want.

00:53:12

And I'm going to untangle

00:53:13

and I'm going to do big things

00:53:15

and it's going to look different and amazing."

00:53:19

But they come back to a church of older people

00:53:22

that's already quenched them.

00:53:25

Keep that there, Greg. Keep that there.

00:53:26

Because I'm just starting to preach right now.

00:53:32

Now, I like this because eventually,

00:53:35

Mary, as the Gen Z translation said,

00:53:38

the Angel Gabriel left her on read.

00:53:42

But look at what it says right here.

00:53:43

Mary in 1:38 says, "I'm the Lord's servant,

00:53:47

so may your word be fulfilled in me."

00:53:49

Do whatever you want in me.

00:53:51

And then it says, the angel left her.

00:53:54

The church camp ended. The goosebumps stopped.

00:53:59

And I think this is such an opportunity

00:54:01

for us to realize at these moments

00:54:04

where this generation is saying, "I'm all in."

00:54:06

I mean, you all know the wave at a game,

00:54:09

it always starts in the student section, right?

00:54:11

And then we as a church, we can either say,

00:54:13

"All right, that's dumb.

00:54:14

And I'm going to stop and quench that,"

00:54:16

or Greg, go ahead and just untangle.

00:54:18

What would it look like as a church

00:54:20

to just set free this generation

00:54:22

to move in ways we can't even imagine?

00:54:24

Give it up for my really old friend Greg.

00:54:32

Now, again, I'm so grateful

00:54:35

for a church that's doing this.

00:54:37

I'm so grateful for a church that wants to see

00:54:39

young people set fire.

00:54:40

I'm so grateful for a church that

00:54:41

when people come forward,

00:54:42

we don't get mad or annoyed.

00:54:44

We celebrate and clap.

00:54:46

I'm so grateful for a church that invested money

00:54:48

in seeing this generation win and thrive.

00:54:50

And I need you to know,

00:54:51

high schoolers that are in the room,

00:54:52

middle schoolers, you're not the future church.

00:54:54

You're the current church.

00:54:55

You're moving. You're inviting friends.

00:54:57

You're seeing an overflowing and outpour.

00:54:59

And we won't quench it. We won't stop it.

00:55:02

In fact, we want to lean in.

00:55:05

And this is where you all come in.

00:55:08

Because, Mary, in this story, if you know it,

00:55:11

that she eventually leaves and it says this

00:55:12

right here in the very next verse,

00:55:14

she goes with haste into the hill country.

00:55:16

She's alone, going, an angel just said

00:55:18

that literally God is going to be within me

00:55:21

and everything is going to change,

00:55:23

and I don't know what's going to happen.

00:55:24

And it says she entered the house of Zechariah

00:55:26

and was greeted by a woman named Elizabeth.

00:55:29

Now, if you've heard the story of Elizabeth,

00:55:31

she's older, but God blesses her

00:55:34

with a child in her old age.

00:55:36

And Elizabeth leans into Mary.

00:55:38

She exclaimed with a loud cry,

00:55:40

"Blessed are you among women."

00:55:43

And I wonder what would have happened

00:55:45

in the story of Mary

00:55:47

if there wouldn't have been an Elizabeth.

00:55:49

I wonder what would have happened

00:55:50

in the story of Isaac Newton.

00:55:51

If there wouldn't have been a John Houston?

00:55:54

And I wonder what wouldn't happen around here

00:55:57

if there was an individuals willing to step up

00:55:59

and say, "I don't want this to just be

00:56:00

a God of my time, I want to see

00:56:02

a God of generations do far more

00:56:03

in the generation behind me

00:56:05

than they ever did in my life."

00:56:07

And so here's the question for you

00:56:10

when it comes to this biblical command,

00:56:13

a God of generations passing your faith

00:56:15

to the generation behind you,

00:56:17

are you investing in them or are you quenching?

00:56:23

Because I truly don't believe there's a middle ground.

00:56:26

I know we have some P&Gers in the room.

00:56:28

And one of you made an ad a while ago

00:56:30

about Crest White strips.

00:56:32

You made me feel insecure about my teeth.

00:56:34

And you said in the ad, you're either whitening

00:56:37

or you're yellowing.

00:56:40

I picture this the exact same way.

00:56:41

There's no middle ground.

00:56:42

You're either going backwards or forwards,

00:56:44

you're investing or you're quenching.

00:56:46

There's no, like, "I'm cool with it. They're fine."

00:56:48

No, no, you're investing or you're quenching.

00:56:51

And I also want to be clear.

00:56:52

This is not a call for you to serve

00:56:53

in our kids or student ministry.

00:56:55

That's not what this is.

00:56:56

This is for you to find young people

00:56:58

in your closest vicinity and invest in them

00:57:00

and pour into them and be a John Houston

00:57:03

and an Elizabeth that they didn't have

00:57:04

anywhere else, because the church

00:57:06

could fill the gap to set them forward

00:57:07

and move them in the future, right,

00:57:09

to see God do more than we could ever imagine.

00:57:11

Now, you might be thinking,

00:57:13

"Well, where do I start, Joel?"

00:57:15

And here's my challenge: the closest place to you.

00:57:19

Some of you, this is your actual kids.

00:57:22

Some of you, you've been raising them,

00:57:25

but you haven't been investing in them.

00:57:28

Some of you, you're a teacher,

00:57:30

and it's people within your vicinities.

00:57:32

Others of you, you run businesses

00:57:34

and you have interns and young people

00:57:35

that have been bringing you coffee.

00:57:38

And it's time, instead of you just using them,

00:57:40

you utilize them and you invest in them.

00:57:44

I love that we're about to end with a song here

00:57:46

because we actually do something around here

00:57:48

called Worship U, where we invest in musicians.

00:57:51

This very stage here, you will literally be led

00:57:54

by high schoolers in worship. Why?

00:57:57

Because they're ready.

00:57:58

I don't know, they're pretty dang good.

00:57:59

But more importantly, because

00:58:01

there was older musicians and worship leaders

00:58:03

that said, "I'm going to invest

00:58:04

in the generation behind me."

00:58:07

I'll tell you my one.

00:58:08

I lead Student ministries and Kids' ministries,

00:58:12

but I have one that I really care about.

00:58:16

This is I told you already, my four month old Navy.

00:58:19

There was literal times that I was preparing

00:58:21

for this message where I'd said to my wife,

00:58:24

"Will you take Navy? Like, will you?"

00:58:27

Conviction hit me, like, I can't just talk about this.

00:58:33

I don't need Navy necessarily to stand on stages.

00:58:36

Maybe it will, but I need to make sure

00:58:38

I pass my faith on to her, or else I end

00:58:40

and it's Elijah, I end and it's Eli

00:58:44

and there was never a faith behind me

00:58:46

that could go and do far more than I could ever do.

00:58:49

And so here's what we're going to do.

00:58:50

We're going to close by singing this song

00:58:52

that says Make Room.

00:58:53

And specifically it says make room

00:58:55

so that you can do whatever you want to

00:58:57

so that you can overflow. And guess what?

00:58:59

Students are going to come to the front of the stage,

00:59:01

and you either have a choice.

00:59:03

You can be annoyed by them, you can join them,

00:59:07

you can pray over them, you can invest in them.

00:59:11

And then I want you to internalize a couple things.

00:59:14

One, is there an area where I'm quenching the Spirit?

00:59:16

Is there an area where I need to untangle and make room?

00:59:19

And two, once I do that, who is someone behind me

00:59:23

that I can begin to invest in instead of quench

00:59:26

so that we can see what God started here,

00:59:30

continue and the wave move

00:59:32

from generation to generation.

00:59:35

God, I pray today over this room.

00:59:37

God, I'm so grateful for the people

00:59:39

that have went before me and already said

00:59:42

this church will not keep this momentarily.

00:59:44

We will pass this on to the generation behind us.

00:59:47

God, I thank You so much for how You've invested in me,

00:59:50

how you gave Your Son Jesus to die for me.

00:59:52

But let me not just internalize that, God,

00:59:54

but let me pass this on to the generation behind me.

00:59:57

Pray this all in the name of Jesus. Amen.

01:04:35

- Hey, thanks for joining us today.

01:04:37

I hope you know this isn't just content to watch

01:04:39

and move on with your life by yourself.

01:04:41

We want you to grow and fully become

01:04:43

who God made you to be.

01:04:45

And at Crossroads, we believe there are

01:04:46

seven core proven practices

01:04:48

that are simple ways to help you do that.

01:04:50

- Yeah, the first is around receiving weekly teaching.

01:04:52

Hey, congrats. You did it.

01:04:54

You just -- you're doing it right now.

01:04:55

The other six are connecting with God daily,

01:04:58

serving others, joining community,

01:04:59

getting baptized, sharing your story,

01:05:01

and living generously.

01:05:02

- Now I know that one can kind of make you cringe.

01:05:05

So if that's you, we get it. No worries.

01:05:07

- We've been there.

01:05:08

- But we believe generosity not only allows

01:05:11

for the impact in the world around us,

01:05:12

but it also leads to personal growth for us.

01:05:15

Like, it's for us too.

01:05:16

It's an act of trust that shows God

01:05:19

we believe in Him when He says He will provide,

01:05:21

and that we don't have to fight so hard

01:05:23

to take care of ourselves, because we do trust

01:05:25

that even if we give Him 10% of our income,

01:05:27

He's going to take care of us.

01:05:28

- Yeah, we know that church and money

01:05:30

can be a weird topic, and the idea of

01:05:32

trusting God with your money is scary.

01:05:34

And I think that's kind of the point.

01:05:36

Like, it's taking a risk and saying,

01:05:38

"God, I think you're going to support me

01:05:41

when I take this step," and I think

01:05:43

you'll see God show up in really cool ways.

01:05:45

- I know it's intimidating to jump into

01:05:47

this thing called a tithe, which is 10% of your income,

01:05:49

if you've heard that word,

01:05:50

especially if you haven't given to a church before.

01:05:52

But it is one of those things

01:05:54

that's hard to believe until you just try it.

01:05:57

There is a new level of relationship with God

01:05:59

when we trust Him with our money.

01:06:01

So wherever your comfort level with giving,

01:06:03

or not giving is right now no judgment,

01:06:06

try stretching yourself.

01:06:07

Take a risk and see if God doesn't show up

01:06:09

for you when you do.

01:06:10

- And hey, before we go next weekend,

01:06:13

next weekend is our Anywhere Weekend.

01:06:15

We're bringing people from all over the globe

01:06:17

who are a part of our community online

01:06:18

and in countries and all over the map

01:06:21

to Cincinnati for a weekend.

01:06:22

And we are so excited to see our Anywhere family

01:06:25

gather together in one place.

01:06:27

And it's a beautiful reminder that

01:06:29

the church isn't limited to any one location

01:06:31

or any one building by any means.

01:06:33

It's going to be so refreshing to

01:06:35

just come together, laugh together, eat together,

01:06:37

and hear how God is moving in lives

01:06:39

and in communities all over the globe.

01:06:41

- And for all of you who are able to make it,

01:06:43

we cannot wait to see you.

01:06:44

It's going to be the best,

01:06:45

but if you can't make it, we totally understand

01:06:48

and we'd still love for you to join us

01:06:49

in something we call the Anywhere Home.

01:06:51

It is an app for everyone who doesn't live

01:06:53

near a Crossroads site to still connect,

01:06:55

and you can do that anytime and you'll be able

01:06:57

to watch Anywhere Weekend stuff from there.

01:06:59

So whoever you are, we hope to see you

01:07:02

one of those two ways, and otherwise,

01:07:03

we'll see you back here next week.

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