Cynicism is the Enemy of Faith | How to Combat the Voice of Negativity

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- Hey, I'm Jen. Welcome to Crossroads.

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- Hey. And I'm Arturo. We're so glad you're joining us.

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You know, in the past month, we've had over 2000 students,

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high school and middle schoolers go to Student Camp.

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And this weekend, our middle schoolers just got back.

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- They just got back. Yes, it is the best weekend of the summer.

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Students come back

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after a weekend of just clearing the noise

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and being with their friends.

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And I'll tell you, you're about to see what

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the best week of the summer looks like right now.

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- I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood.

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I'm as good as new. Oh, hallelujah.

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I've been washed in the water. Washed in the blood.

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All because of you. Oh, Hallelujah.

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Let's go.

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[music continues]

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- Man, hey, if we haven't me, my name is Chris.

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I lead our students around here,

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and I just got back from middle school camp.

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And I want to tell you about my favorite moment

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from camp this last week.

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I had this sixth grade girl.

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She comes up to me and she says, "Hey, Chris,

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I got something I gotta tell you." I'm like, "What's up?"

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She goes, and she yells at the top of her lungs,

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"I gave my life to Jesus. I gave my life to Jesus."

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I gotta tell you, we had student after student

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who experienced life change at camp this week.

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Students who walked in feeling isolated,

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left with community, maybe for the first time.

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Students experience freedom from addiction, anxiety.

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God is doing a good thing in this generation.

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And today, this morning,

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we all get to experience a taste of camp

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because we're baptizing students in this room.

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And I just want to frame up this moment for us

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and read us a scripture from the book of Matthew.

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This is Jesus talking right here. He says:

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What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep

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and one of them has gone astray,

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does he not leave the 99 on the mountains

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and go in search of the one that went astray?

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And if you find it truly, I say to you,

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he rejoices over more than over the 99 that never went astray.

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I gotta tell you guys, all of heaven is rejoicing

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from these students who are making a decision

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to go from death to life.

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And if only one student got baptized,

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there would be a party in heaven.

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And so I need us to celebrate this morning.

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I need us to scream at the top of our lungs

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and celebrate this special and holy moment that's happening.

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And so I need a favor.

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Whenever we baptize a student,

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when they come out of the water, we need to shout.

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We need to celebrate.

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And we need to rejoice from this moment right here.

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Can we do that? All right.

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And as we baptize, we're going to be singing

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one of our favorite camp songs.

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So why don't we stand up and celebrate

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these students getting baptized.

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I'm gonna teach you this song.

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- God, thank You

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for all that You have done in this room today.

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God, You are changing lives and I love it.

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I love that we get to witness this

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because it's truly a miracle that You would step in,

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that You would call us closer to You

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and that You didn't -- You didn't put a stop on that

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and You didn't put parameters that,

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oh, you have to be an adult to say yes to Me.

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No. You said, don't let the children stay away.

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Bring the children to Me. God, so thank You.

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Thank You for all you're doing right now.

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Would You continue to change lives today.

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

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Come on, let's celebrate what the Lord is doing.

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God is so good.

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Hey, before you grab a seat,

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why don't you turn to somebody around you,

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give them a high five. Tell them hey, it's good to see you.

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Introduce yourself. We're one big family. You can have a seat.

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- You're stronger than you think

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and God loves you more than you thought when you came in here.

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And there is territory He wants you to take.

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- Not only are we seeing amazing life change at Student Camp,

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but we're seeing God move in powerful ways

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at our base camp through all of our camps.

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- Yeah. That's right, and sometimes

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the thing God does is completely unexpected.

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Like this guy named Philip. Okay?

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He signed up to lead a group at Man Camp. All right.

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And he had all his friends sign up, but one by one,

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those friends just started backing out and suddenly --

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- Been there. We've all been there, right?

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- And suddenly you're with a group of strangers.

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Well, Philip, it was gonna be awkward,

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but he prayed this very simple prayer.

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- All right.

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God help these men become more than

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people sharing in a group at a campsite.

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Make us a brotherhood.

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And after camp, Jen, one weekend in the woods,

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deep friendships were formed from scratch,

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and those men to this day are still

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intentionally building Christ centered community.

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- That's awesome, because we weren't meant to do life alone.

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And you aren't meant to do life alone.

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I've been to Woman Camp so many times

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I don't even remember anymore.

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And every time I leave with a spiritual breakthrough,

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with deeper friendships.

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Partly because I get encouragement too from women

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who have been where I am in life.

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So camps is there's something for everyone.

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- Yeah. And this fall we have three camps.

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We have Family Camp,

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we have Women Camp, and we have Man Camp.

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We've tried to make it so easy for you to sign up

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and to find out more info,

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so just text the word "more" to 301301.

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- Yes, this is something brand new this weekend

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that we're doing is you can text the word "more" to 301301

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and we're going to just send you a link to

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all the things that we're talking about today,

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which makes it really easy for you just to click one link

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and be where you need to be.

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- Okay. Movies. Who likes movies? Jen?

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- Everybody.

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- Have you seen the Odyssey yet, though?

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- Of course, I haven't seen the Odyssey. I have kids.

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Isn't that like a three hour Greek mythology movie?

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No, but I have seen Season Two of Ransom Canyon.

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That's on Netflix. And no, not that.

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- Movies.

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- Talk about movies, specifically summer movie night.

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Because I know that we are all trying to get family together

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to go see a movie on a big screen. And guess what?

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August, what is it? 7th. across all of our Crossroads sites,

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we've got that big screen and all the free things

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for you to make that happen.

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- Yes, it's a great opportunity to invite friends

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and other people to our church for a movie night.

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Now, because of copyrights, we can't actually tell you

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the name of the movie, but it's a 90s comedy

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where there's a lost of baseball, there's a big dog,

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it's a legendary summer.

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We're going to have free popcorn, candy,

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all the things here at Crossroads.

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If you want to learn more, you can text "moreM to 301301.

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But you know, or maybe S'more. Do you want some S'more?

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Right. That's another clue for you.

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- Yeah.

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- So text "more" and we'll give you more information.

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And hopefully it won't be as cheesy as we are right now.

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- No, no, no. But hey, camps, movie nights,

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even us talking to you through the screen,

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it's because of people who give.

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So thank you for those who give.

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And if you want to find out more about how to give

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Crossroads.net/give.

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- Yep. And now we are where we are in the Bible.

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- An origin story is the part nobody talks about,

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the part before confidence and success,

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before anyone knows your name.

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It's false starts, wrong turns, and total failure.

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It's the beginning.

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Every person you admire has one.

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The Bible may just be the greatest origin story ever told.

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It's a book about how God meets people at the beginning.

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In the beginning, God creates.

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In the beginning, humanity is formed from dust.

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In the beginning there is possibility,

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purpose, and relationship.

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Then things fall apart.

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But God rebuilds and enlists humanity

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in the work of restoration.

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The Bible is full of people who eventually

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become known for things like faith and courage,

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wisdom and sacrifice.

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We call them heroes of the faith,

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but none of them started there.

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The story God tells is about Him meeting ordinary people

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in ordinary places and inviting them

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into something extraordinary.

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Today's origin story is about Abraham and Sarah,

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whose lifetime of obedient next steps changed history forever.

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- Well, welcome to Crossroads. I'm Hannah Driskill

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and thrilled to be with you in this series

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talking about these heroes of the faith

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and their origin stories.

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But before we go there, I really think it's important

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that I clue you in to a little bit of who I am.

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And part of that is that I'm not a person

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who actually likes trends or stays in the trend line,

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if you will, but I did find a trend that I really do love.

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It's a TikTok trend, and before I tell you what it is,

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I actually need some buy in.

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I need to know, are you going to help me out?

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Okay, okay. Thank you.

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I know that you didn't respond to that down in Lexington.

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So, Lexington, are you going to help me out? Yes. Okay.

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I can't tell you because it requires participation.

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But trust me, it's not a big ask. It's really simple.

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This thing is called laugh therapy. Anybody heard of it?

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Laugh therapy is basically

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where you're going to pretend to laugh,

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and we'll find that in pretending to laugh,

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we actually trick our brain into real laughter.

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So remember that you promised and you wrote it down

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and everything is recorded.

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So you said you were going to help me.

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So I remember you said that.

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You are going to help me here.

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All you have to do, you're just going to repeat after me.

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Here we go. Ha. - Ha.

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- Okay, that was good. Okay. Ha ha!

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Now try a ha ha ha!

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Okay. That worked. Okay.

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Let's do a different. He, he, he! Y'all look silly.

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Okay. Let's do. [laughs]

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Okay. That actually worked.

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And if it didn't work for you, this will work for sure.

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Look at that baby. [babies laughing]

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- Okay, now, if you didn't laugh,

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there is prayer down front.

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We want to pray for you. Something is not right.

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It's so good to laugh. It feels good.

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Great author William James says we do not laugh

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because we are happy, we are happy because we laugh.

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And laughter is incredibly important to our story today

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because in it we are going to see that God uses it

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and redeems it. So let me pray for us.

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God, in the name of Jesus, so grateful

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that you've chosen me to be here to speak to

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the people who belong to you.

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God, I ask that my words would be clear and helpful,

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and that You will speak so clearly and directly

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to everyone in this room, no matter where they came,

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no matter what they believe, that you would speak clearly

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and directly. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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- Amen.

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- Well, we've been learning about the Hall of Faith.

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And the Hall of Faith comes to us from the book of Hebrews,

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and Hebrews 11 tells us that these are people

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who are sort of like heroes to us.

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And Chuck and Kyle did a fantastic job.

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They set up this idea that faith is something that kind of

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zigzags between doubt and belief and movement,

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and that faith requires you moving your hands and your feet.

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And today we're going to take a look at

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what I think is the biggest enemy of our faith.

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See, no matter where you are, you and I, I'm going to bet,

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are suffering from this very thing.

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And this thing has the potential not just to

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affect our faith a little bit, but to all together ruin it.

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And that is cynicism.

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See, in the Bible, God uses all sorts of people.

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He uses ordinary people,

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but He doesn't just use ordinary people.

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He also uses people who we might consider bad.

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He uses murderers, liars, cheaters,

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people with a checkered past.

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He uses people who have a pride problem,

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people who have a fear problem,

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people who can't hold their tongue

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and have to lash out at people.

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He uses all those people.

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And today we're going to see that He uses a cynic.

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In the book of Hebrews 11, it says:

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By faith, Sarah, even Sarah herself,

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when she was unable to have children,

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received power to conceive offspring,

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even though she was past the age,

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since she considered that

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the one who had promised was faithful.

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Now, why does the Bible need to say even Sarah?

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Because I can sort of hear you now.

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You're like, "Hannah, you just listed like the big dogs of sin.

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Like murder, cheaters, liars.

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What is Sarah doing as a cynic kind of in this --

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In this realm?"

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But let me remind you what cynicism is.

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According to Psychology Today, psychologically,

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cynicism often serves as a defense mechanism

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to protect individuals from hurt,

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betrayal, or disappointment.

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People who have experienced repeated failures

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may develop a cynical outlook as a way to manage expectations,

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believing that by always expecting the worst,

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they may never be caught off guard.

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Now this idea of cynicism runs really deep, right?

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I see it in my own life.

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Most mornings I don't wake up like, "Oh, praise the Lord.

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I just know that my husband and I,

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we're going to agree on everything today, I feel it.

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I just can feel that my two year old, no tantrums.

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It's going to be a no tantrum day."

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No. I wake up with the opposite.

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I'm ready to to fight, ready to have some tantrums.

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I wake up with that cynical mindset.

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I see it in the life of the people that I mentor.

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It's much easier for them to walk around and distrust,

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not trusting really anybody.

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It's much easier for them to say things like,

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"I probably won't get that job,"

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or "I don't think I'm going to get into that school,"

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even before they try.

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And if you're in this space and if you're experiencing

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this service and you're going, "I don't know, Hannah,

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I don't think that I fall in this bucket."

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Okay, let me get on your street real quick.

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If you've ever found yourself saying something

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a little bit like or thinking something a little bit like,

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"Man, I just know that Chipotle chips,

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they're not going to hit today. I can feel it.

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They're not going to be crunchy.

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They're not going to have

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the lime salt factor that I'm looking for."

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If you're in the boat of the conspiracy theorists,

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the people who are like, did the lettuce

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really come from Taco Bell, or are they trying to distract us?"

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You know, you might be in a little cynicism

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if you find yourself saying, "The Bengals will never win.

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I just know it."

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If you feel a little bit heartbroken

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because the Lakers are never going to win again,

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LeBron is gone bye bye. Right?

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You feel a little bit sad.

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But it's also deeper than that, right?

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It's saying things to yourself like, "My boss sucks

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and this job will never get better.

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My parents, they're never going to change.

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I probably will never have a good relationship

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with my kid again.

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My marriage is pretty much doomed.

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I'll never get that fulfilling job that I want,

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so why even try?"

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The AI generation is actually coming up in such a way

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that they are learning cynicism as a means of survival,

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because they have to constantly question

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what's real, what's fake?

00:26:48

Can I trust this person talking because are they just saying

00:26:51

something that they heard from somewhere else?

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See, in an era where it's normalized to distrust.

00:26:58

Popular to expect disappointment,

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and downright offensive to be optimistic,

00:27:05

we are in a posture where it comes to a head of

00:27:09

will we be cynical because that cynicism will ultimately

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not just cause a little bit of a rift in our faith,

00:27:16

but it can lead to destruction.

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But it's kind of nice to know that cynicism

00:27:22

didn't just come up, like, for us,

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we're not just the only type of people who are cynical.

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We see cynicism all the way back in the Bible with Sarah.

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The Bible shows Sarah as this character

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who has sort of distrust.

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Now in the Hall of Faith it mentions a ton of people,

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and most of them, most of the women are mentioned in that,

00:27:43

and many others bucket. That's what it says at the end.

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But Sarah is called out by name.

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And we see Sarah kind of qualify to be in the Hall of Faith

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much later in life than many of the other people.

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Sarah, when we think about our heroes,

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sometimes we think of them coming

00:27:59

to their heroism early in life, right?

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The modern day heroes like Spider-Man, he's a teenager.

00:28:05

But Sarah, when she qualifies for the Hall of Faith,

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she is not 20, gone are her 30 flirty and thriving years.

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Gone are the 40s. Gone are the 50s.

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We meet Sarah when she is 65, and we meet her as Sarai.

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And she comes on the scene as Sarai.

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So when I say Sarai today, I'm talking about Sarah.

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They're the same people. We'll get to that in just a second.

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She comes on the scene with a guy named Abram,

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better known as Abraham.

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And they come on the scene

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because God starts talking to Abraham

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and he starts to respond. Here's how it goes.

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Genesis 12:1 says: Now the Lord said to Abram,

00:28:45

go from your country and your kindred

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and your father's house to land that I will show you.

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And I will make you a great nation,

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and I will bless you and make your name great,

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so that you will be a blessing.

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Drop down to verse four.

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So Abram went as the Lord told him.

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And five says: And Abram took Sarai.

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Boom! That's where we meet her.

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And we meet her kind of in this context with her husband

00:29:11

going on this momentous journey.

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But before the journey, the Bible actually mentions her

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just a chapter earlier, and it's really easy

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to miss this part because it mentions her in a moment

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where it's just listing a whole bunch of lineages.

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And those parts of the Bible

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read much like a processed food label.

00:29:29

It's long, very boring,

00:29:30

and you can't pronounce none of the names.

00:29:32

Like, what is riboflavin? I don't know.

00:29:36

But Sarah comes on the scene and this is what it says

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at the very end of that lineage. It says, in 11:30:

00:29:42

Now Sarai was barren and she had no child.

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Now, this is the very first mention,

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and it's a little anecdote that's put in the lineage.

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Normally the lineage is just a name and the death and the --

00:29:57

And how old the person was.

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But it chose to list that Sarah was barren and without child.

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Now, I think this is kind of bogus of the writer,

00:30:05

if you ask me, because they really could have put

00:30:07

anything they wanted to put about Sarah.

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They could have said she was beautiful.

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She was a good wife and faithful to her husband.

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She was someone who spoke her mind.

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But no, they chose to put this little anecdote,

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and this anecdote would follow Sarah

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throughout the entire time that she is mentioned in the Bible

00:30:26

and throughout history.

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And it's also the anecdote that would make it

00:30:31

almost impossible to believe that God would promise

00:30:34

this barren woman a child, but He does.

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So here's the AI summary version of sort of what happened.

00:30:44

God called Sarai's husband out to a place that they don't know,

00:30:47

right? Genesis 12.

00:30:48

And then on several occasions, he seems to be promising

00:30:51

some offspring in children. That's Genesis 12:13 and 15.

00:30:55

And he does this when Abram is 75, and when Sarah is 65.

00:31:00

And the first time He talks to them, that's how old they are.

00:31:03

But then several times later, He keeps saying this over and over.

00:31:06

And I don't have time to get into the full story,

00:31:08

but just know there's smoke and sand and stars and it's awesome.

00:31:12

Go read it for yourself. It only takes 10 to 15 pages,

00:31:16

but God is trying to scream at Abram, "Yo,

00:31:20

you are going to have a baby!"

00:31:25

This tiny little story in the Bible

00:31:27

that's only really 10 to 15 pages of your Bible,

00:31:30

packed so much punch that we see it

00:31:32

throughout the story of the entire Bible.

00:31:37

And God is screaming at them saying,

00:31:39

"You will have a child."

00:31:43

Now Abraham and Sarai, they married,

00:31:45

so I guess they talk a little bit. You know?

00:31:48

You would think, you would think that Abram

00:31:50

probably told his wife like, "Hey, yo, check it out.

00:31:52

This God, His name is Yahweh.

00:31:54

He just came to talk to me

00:31:55

and He said we're going to have a baby."

00:31:57

This would have been when Sarah was 65.

00:31:58

And Sarah was probably like, "Okay,

00:32:00

you sound a little bit crazy"

00:32:02

But the very first time that Sarai hears it for herself,

00:32:04

she's actually 89, in Genesis 18 and says:

00:32:09

The Lord says, "I will surely return to you

00:32:12

about this time next year.

00:32:13

And Sarah, your wife shall have a son."

00:32:15

And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.

00:32:18

Now Sarah and Sarai were old and advanced in years,

00:32:22

and the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.

00:32:25

So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I am worn out,

00:32:30

and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?"

00:32:34

Y'all, I love this part of the Bible

00:32:36

because God ain't even talking to her.

00:32:39

My girl is eavesdropping and she just gets the key, key, key.

00:32:42

And she like, "who, me? I'm not getting ready to have no baby.

00:32:46

I have already been through my cramps.

00:32:48

That's over. I'm done with that."

00:32:49

Sarah is basically saying, "You mean to tell me,

00:32:52

ho ho ho ho ho ho. You mean to tell me

00:32:55

that my flow ain't flowing.

00:32:57

Ain't nothing been going on for a long time.

00:32:59

I don't have a period. Period.

00:33:01

How am I going to have a baby? This sounds crazy."

00:33:07

And so naturally, when somebody tells you something

00:33:10

that sounds impossible or insane,

00:33:13

laughter really is kind of a natural response, right?

00:33:17

Because Sarah had already been through the shame

00:33:20

and the repeated disappointment of not having a child.

00:33:25

So it's sort of understandable that she would laugh.

00:33:29

See, her laugh is so important because last week

00:33:32

we talked about how if faith is evidence based on confidence,

00:33:37

to this point, Sarah's evidence was a bunch of dead babies.

00:33:41

Sarah's evidence was repeated disappointment by God.

00:33:44

So when she laughs, it's actually from a deeper place.

00:33:49

She's laughing from a deep place of not just discomfort,

00:33:53

but disappointment.

00:33:55

Sarah's laugh is more of a kissing of the lips,

00:33:58

like a you're right, it's more of a nah bro.

00:34:02

It's more of a I don't see it like that.

00:34:04

I wasn't born yesterday.

00:34:07

Sarah's laugh is cynical.

00:34:10

And Sarah's laugh is so deep and full of cynicism

00:34:15

that herein lies the message that we need to take home today,

00:34:19

which is that cynicism is the enemy of our faith.

00:34:24

It's funny because we're trained to believe that

00:34:27

doubt is the enemy of our faith.

00:34:29

But doubt actually leaves you way more open

00:34:32

than cynicism ever could.

00:34:34

And we see that God responds differently to doubt

00:34:38

than He does to cynicism.

00:34:40

Because hearing laughter, when when God said

00:34:42

that impossible thing, that was not the first time

00:34:45

that He heard laughter.

00:34:46

See, Abraham actually laughed as well.

00:34:49

In Genesis 17:15 it says: And God said to Abraham,

00:34:52

"As for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai,

00:34:56

but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her,

00:35:00

and moreover, I will give you a son by her.

00:35:03

I will bless her, and she shall become nations;

00:35:06

kings of people shall come from her."

00:35:09

And then Abraham fell on his face and laughed.

00:35:13

Two: Said to himself, "Shall a child be born

00:35:16

to a man who is a hundred years old?

00:35:18

Shall Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child."

00:35:22

Dropped down to 19: But God said, "No, Sarah, your wife

00:35:27

shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac."

00:35:31

Now when God responds to Abraham, it's more like a,

00:35:34

"There, there, buddy, don't freak out.

00:35:36

I promise you this. I promise I'm going to come through.

00:35:38

This is the promise. Don't forget the promise."

00:35:40

But listen to how he responds to Sarah. Genesis 18:13 says:

00:35:44

The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say,

00:35:49

'Shall I indeed bear a child now that I am old?'

00:35:51

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

00:35:55

At the appointed time I will return to you

00:35:58

about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son."

00:36:02

But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh,"

00:36:04

for she was afraid.

00:36:05

And he said, "No, but you did laugh."

00:36:09

Now let's see the difference here.

00:36:10

Doubt is again kind of funny

00:36:12

because it actually leaves us open

00:36:14

and we learn that we can zigzag from doubt to faith at times.

00:36:18

And when we do that, God doesn't respond to Abraham harshly.

00:36:21

He sort of just coaxes him

00:36:23

and says, 'It's okay, buddy, I got you."

00:36:25

I can imagine him stroking his back and saying,

00:36:28

"I will do what I said I'll do.

00:36:30

Here's the promise. Don't forget the promise."

00:36:32

But cynicism runs deeper than that.

00:36:36

Sarah's response, and it holds the context of

00:36:39

that will never happen.

00:36:43

And Sarah's response is from a deeper place, right?

00:36:47

It's from a deep disappointment.

00:36:48

And we know this because she uses the words worn out.

00:36:53

And that direct translation from Hebrew is more like wax old.

00:36:58

And to wax old what we're talking about there is a garment

00:37:01

Sarah is saying, "I'm used up already.

00:37:05

My plight in life is that I'm done.

00:37:07

I can't be used at all.

00:37:09

I'm good for nothing at this point.

00:37:11

And then you mean to tell me something crazy?

00:37:13

You want to get my hopes up? No. I'm good."

00:37:17

She says, "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired."

00:37:20

And the way that God responds to her is not with a coaxing,

00:37:24

but with an affirmation of His character.

00:37:28

He tells her who He is. He says,

00:37:31

"Is there anything impossible for me?"

00:37:35

But Sarah's not concerned with His character.

00:37:37

See, Sarah's only concerned with what she can see

00:37:40

because cynicism wants to dictate our reality,

00:37:43

but faith calls us to a different reality.

00:37:46

Hebrews 11:1 says:

00:37:47

Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for,

00:37:51

the proof of what is not seen.

00:37:53

For by this our ancestors were approved.

00:37:55

Last week when we talked about that faith

00:37:59

being based on confidence, evidence based on confidence.

00:38:03

Well, the people in the Hall of Faith who say

00:38:05

they have this great faith, what was their evidence?

00:38:09

Because we know for a fact that a lot of them

00:38:11

didn't see the promises that God promised them.

00:38:13

Many of them died before they even saw,

00:38:16

but they still hoped and believed.

00:38:18

So what was their evidence?

00:38:20

Well, their evidence was the character

00:38:21

and the steady nature of God.

00:38:25

Their evidence was that they simply believed God

00:38:28

for who He said He was and what He said He would do,

00:38:32

not what they could see.

00:38:35

The problem with cynicism is that it causes quick amnesia.

00:38:38

It makes it really difficult to recall anything good

00:38:41

that has happened, anything wonderful, anything affirming.

00:38:45

And it makes it really easy to recall all the negativity.

00:38:49

You can just pull up the last time you were disappointed.

00:38:51

You know, the last time

00:38:52

somebody didn't do what you asked them to do,

00:38:54

you just knew that when you came home,

00:38:56

the dishes were not going to be washed,

00:38:57

even though you asked for it.

00:38:59

It's easy to recall the negative stuff.

00:39:03

And the problem with cynicism is that because of that amnesia,

00:39:07

it doesn't just stay a little dark spot in our hearts

00:39:10

just waiting to be addressed.

00:39:12

It doesn't stay in its spot.

00:39:14

No. It blossoms and it grows, and it takes over

00:39:17

to the point where you and I are no longer

00:39:19

just in a little moment of doubt.

00:39:21

But we find ourselves in total, total disbelief,

00:39:27

in total unbelief of who God is and what He says that He can do.

00:39:31

See, when cynicism is done,

00:39:34

it will leave us in the ruin of unbelief,

00:39:37

and it blossoms until we no longer smile.

00:39:40

It affects us physically.

00:39:41

It makes it really hard to actually laugh.

00:39:44

That idea of living a light,

00:39:46

abundant life that Jesus promises,

00:39:48

that seems super far away because

00:39:50

cynicism doesn't let you even touch that.

00:39:53

But how do we get there, right?

00:39:55

Like, let's be real.

00:39:56

None of us woke up on a single day and decided,

00:39:59

oh, I think I'll have some cynical Toast Crunch today

00:40:01

and that's how our lives work.

00:40:03

No, that's not how it works.

00:40:05

You likely got to this spot

00:40:06

because of repeated disappointment,

00:40:09

repeated failures, repeated requests and needs

00:40:12

that never got met.

00:40:15

And see, you and I, we respond.

00:40:18

We respond to this cynicism in a couple of ways.

00:40:21

There's two types of people watching with us

00:40:23

and sitting in this space.

00:40:25

The first one is cold.

00:40:28

This is the person for whom we check off church,

00:40:30

just like a little box, because it's the right thing to do.

00:40:33

But if we're really honest, we are cold

00:40:35

and we haven't felt the warmth and the love

00:40:37

of the Holy Spirit or of Jesus in a really long time.

00:40:41

We're functioning with literal just walking dead mentality

00:40:45

in that we don't really believe, we're just cold.

00:40:49

And then the second group of us, this is the group

00:40:52

for which it sounds really similar to cold,

00:40:54

but is different.

00:40:55

This group is calloused.

00:40:58

This is the group that's become a professional

00:41:00

at spiritual bypassing, if you will.

00:41:02

We say things like, "Oh, praise the Lord,"

00:41:05

but we really ain't praising.

00:41:07

Oh, we say things like, "Oh God is so good,"

00:41:10

but we can't remember the last time we actually believed that

00:41:13

because the last time He failed us,

00:41:14

we didn't process that hurt with Him,

00:41:16

we just swept it under a rug and said,

00:41:18

"I guess that must not have been God's will."

00:41:21

See, spiritual bypassing has got a bunch of us cynics

00:41:24

pretending to be Christians.

00:41:26

And that's dangerous because cynicism really is leading us

00:41:30

to a path of total unbelief.

00:41:34

And the problem with us being in either of those categories

00:41:37

is that it makes us come to sort of a rule in our head

00:41:40

about who God is.

00:41:42

It gives us a a fake certainty, if you will.

00:41:45

A great author, Anne Lamott, said, "The opposite of faith

00:41:49

is not doubt, but certainty.

00:41:52

Certainty is missing the point entirely.

00:41:55

Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness,

00:41:57

the discomfort, and letting it be there

00:42:00

until some light returns.

00:42:01

See cynicism fains certainty.

00:42:05

It makes it really easy to just make up a rule in our head.

00:42:09

If I put God in this box, then He can't mess me up.

00:42:12

If I say You can answer these types of prayers,

00:42:14

but I'm not even going to pray these other types of prayers

00:42:17

because I don't know if You'll come through.

00:42:19

It just makes it easier to sort of swallow

00:42:22

and stomach this whole thing of faith,

00:42:24

instead of being in the mess with God,

00:42:26

instead of saying, "Hey, God,

00:42:27

I don't know why You didn't answer that,

00:42:29

but I'm just going to bring to You this disappointment,"

00:42:31

and allow Him to show you that even when

00:42:34

we're zigzagging all over the place,

00:42:35

His character remains constant.

00:42:39

So God responds. He responds to Sarah.

00:42:44

He says, "Is anything impossible for me?"

00:42:49

And He's saying, "That's my character,

00:42:50

that nothing is impossible."

00:42:52

Because ultimately that's what Sarah was challenging.

00:42:55

She was challenging and saying, "I'm kind of convinced

00:42:58

that You're not as good as everybody says You are."

00:43:01

She had made up a certainty rule in her brain

00:43:04

that was leading her and keeping her from believing all together.

00:43:10

And the problem is that it didn't just stop at unbelief.

00:43:14

Cynicism blossoms, like I said, and it grows.

00:43:17

It affects more than our faith.

00:43:20

Later on, Sarah goes on to do some really terrible things

00:43:25

that I don't even have time to get into.

00:43:26

But she tries to make up the promise for herself.

00:43:29

And so she has her maid servant go to her husband.

00:43:32

She forces her on him.

00:43:33

The girl doesn't even have a choice.

00:43:35

And then ultimately, she rejects her and the baby.

00:43:38

She does some terrible things.

00:43:41

See, cynicism doesn't just stop at stunting our faith.

00:43:45

It has an uncanny ability to ruin relationships

00:43:48

before they even start.

00:43:50

It leads us into places of just completely debilitating anxiety.

00:43:55

It leads us into depression and isolation

00:43:58

because you're just saying,

00:43:59

"Nobody wants to be with me anyway,

00:44:00

so I'll just be by myself before they can even reject me."

00:44:05

Cynicism blossoms.

00:44:08

When I was in high school, I was a part of this phenomena

00:44:12

at the time that was just all the rage,

00:44:14

all the kids were doing it.

00:44:16

And imagine you would sit at a computer

00:44:18

and you would type out random thoughts in your brain

00:44:20

and share them with thousands of strangers and call it a status.

00:44:23

Facebook. It was amazing.

00:44:25

And I was participating in this like everybody else.

00:44:27

I'm on Facebook and I remember that

00:44:29

I had this kind of signature, if you will, and or a hashtag.

00:44:33

And I used to just write under everything that I wrote,

00:44:36

"I believe God."

00:44:39

And I would write that that little sentence,

00:44:41

and you would know that I wrote something

00:44:42

because I would have that signature, "I believe God."

00:44:46

And it was something I said with boldness

00:44:48

and with authority and with confidence.

00:44:51

It's something that I believed.

00:44:53

And I can't tell you when I exactly chose to stop writing

00:44:58

or saying the words I believe God.

00:45:01

But I imagine that over time, maybe with some age,

00:45:05

it just became a lot easier to stop saying it.

00:45:08

Because maybe over time I had a few more disappointments,

00:45:11

I had a few more moments of bitterness

00:45:13

that I was transferring onto God,

00:45:16

and no longer could I easily say the words, I believe God

00:45:20

because maybe God had promised me something similar to Sarah

00:45:24

at an appointed time, and I didn't see the appointed time.

00:45:28

See, Sarah's laugh is actually really understandable,

00:45:30

it is I don't even stand in judgment of it.

00:45:34

I totally get it, and maybe you do too,

00:45:37

because you're in this room and you're like Sarah,

00:45:39

you're like, "God, I've asked you for kids over and over.

00:45:43

And we've tried everything and nothing has worked.

00:45:46

God, I begged you to save my children.

00:45:49

And they are still so far from you. It's not even funny.

00:45:52

God, I thought that

00:45:53

that friendship was going to last forever.

00:45:56

And then they left me.

00:45:58

Lord, I prayed. I prayed for You to heal them,

00:46:01

and you didn't heal them."

00:46:04

It makes total sense that we end up in this spot

00:46:07

because ultimately, cynicism is self-protection.

00:46:12

See, you and I, we might have a reason to be in a cynical spot.

00:46:17

We might have a reason to be exactly where we are.

00:46:20

But let me be clear today, the Bible is anti cynicism.

00:46:25

Jesus is anti cynicism.

00:46:28

All throughout Scripture we see this, that cynicism

00:46:31

is not attached to an age or to a tax bracket

00:46:34

or to a moment in life.

00:46:35

It is lurking at the surface,

00:46:37

waiting to snuff out any faith in anything.

00:46:41

And here is our anecdote right here all throughout the Bible.

00:46:44

Hebrews 12:15, just the very next chapter, says:

00:46:47

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God,

00:46:50

and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble

00:46:54

and defile many.

00:46:55

1 Corinthians 13:7: Love always trusts, love always hope.

00:47:00

Matthew 5:8:

00:47:01

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

00:47:07

Well, there's just a beauty in believing God

00:47:10

for who He says He is and what He says He can do.

00:47:15

There's a beauty in admiring the character of God

00:47:19

and recognizing that who He describes Himself as

00:47:22

all the way back in Exodus, as a God who is faithful

00:47:26

to a thousand generations, slow to anger,

00:47:29

loving with everlasting love. That's who He is.

00:47:32

He's the same God that He describes Himself as

00:47:35

in the book of Matthew when He says:

00:47:37

I am gentle and lowly, I am kind.

00:47:40

I want even little kids to come to me.

00:47:42

That's how gentle I am.

00:47:44

He is that God.

00:47:47

He has that character.

00:47:49

So this begs the question: how on earth does a cynical,

00:47:55

fearful, deceitful woman end up in the Hall of Faith?

00:48:00

How does that happen? Well it's simple.

00:48:03

She allows herself to be remade.

00:48:07

Earlier, right before God gave them the baby,

00:48:09

there's a very unique moment that happens in the Bible

00:48:13

that does not happen a lot of other places.

00:48:15

It's a name change that takes place.

00:48:18

And God changes Abraham and Sarah's name.

00:48:24

It's in the Hebrew of Abraham's name

00:48:26

is actually Abram before God changed it.

00:48:28

Now if you know Hebrew, yay for you.

00:48:30

Proud of you and everything, but for the rest of us,

00:48:32

he had to drop a little bit of a Anecdote in the name

00:48:37

so that we will remember the promise.

00:48:39

He changes the name from Abram to Abraham.

00:48:42

Now that "ha" that he drops in there is representative

00:48:45

of the Hebrew word Hamon, which means many nations.

00:48:49

And many nations matters because

00:48:51

it's just God re-upping on His promise, saying,

00:48:54

"I am going to bring many nations.

00:48:55

You will be the father of many nations."

00:48:57

And then He takes Sarah's name and he changes it from Sarai,

00:49:01

and he gives it a h on the end of Sarah,

00:49:03

which is another promise.

00:49:05

Sarai means princess.

00:49:06

And so the variation of princess means,

00:49:09

"I am going to give you royal nations

00:49:11

that will come from you."

00:49:12

But then if we take that and we put that

00:49:14

in the English translation, I think God did something there

00:49:18

that is actually unique and that He did that just for us today.

00:49:21

I'm bold enough to believe it.

00:49:23

Now Abram is spelled A-B-R-A-M,

00:49:26

and then God drops a H-A in the middle.

00:49:29

And then for Sarah, it's spelled SARAI,

00:49:33

and then God adds A-H. Do we see what God did?

00:49:37

He literally goes, ha ha ha,

00:49:39

right in the middle of their name.

00:49:43

See, he is about to redeem the laughter.

00:49:47

And Hebrews 2:11, it says: By faith Sarah herself

00:49:52

received power to conceive, even when she was past the age,

00:49:56

since she considered Him faithful who had promised.

00:50:00

What change was Sarah?

00:50:02

Nothing, except that she had this redeemed laughter

00:50:05

that allowed her heart to be soft.

00:50:07

And so she considered God as faithful.

00:50:10

She simply allowed herself to be remade into the person

00:50:13

who could believe God for who He said He would.

00:50:18

So not only does God give them a baby named Isaac,

00:50:22

which means laughter, then He has the nerve

00:50:24

to deposit laughter into their names.

00:50:27

He goes one step further to redeem the laughter.

00:50:34

In Genesis 21:6, it says: Sarah said,

00:50:36

"God has made laughter for me.

00:50:39

Everyone who hears will laugh over me."

00:50:42

And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham

00:50:46

that Sarah would nurse children?

00:50:48

Yet I have borne him a son in my old age."

00:50:53

God redeems this.

00:50:56

See, I think about that moment of me as a high schooler

00:50:59

being the type of person who would write things

00:51:02

like, I believe God.

00:51:04

And I really think that there was a youthful innocence there.

00:51:07

It's one that reminds me of Matthew 18:3:

00:51:11

Truly, I tell you, unless you turn

00:51:15

and become like little children,

00:51:16

you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

00:51:21

See, a faith increase requires faith in God's character.

00:51:26

What I'm not up here saying is believe God more.

00:51:29

Nope, that's not what I'm saying.

00:51:31

What I am saying is just like little children

00:51:34

we'll have to learn to trust Him again.

00:51:36

See my kid,

00:51:37

I don't give him every single thing that he wants,

00:51:39

and it's impossible for him to see the bigger picture.

00:51:42

But just after that tantrum, he still looks up and he trusts me.

00:51:46

See, maybe God is not going to give us everything that we want

00:51:49

in the timing that He wants, that we want to have.

00:51:53

Maybe we can't see the bigger picture,

00:51:54

but His invitation to us today is

00:51:57

to trust in the identity of His character,

00:52:01

that He is steady and faithful and steadfast.

00:52:07

And Sarah, she takes a step in believing this,

00:52:11

one that takes her from laughing a laugh of cynicism

00:52:14

into a laugh of like, "Hey, check it out.

00:52:16

Y'all not gonna believe this.

00:52:18

I am 90 with a one month old. Look what God did."

00:52:22

That's what she's doing., she is laughing with joy and amazement,

00:52:26

and it's been transformed.

00:52:30

And I think God wants to transform something in us today.

00:52:35

Not because He wants us to just forget all of the scars,

00:52:37

all the disappointment. No.

00:52:39

But because He wants us to bring it to Him with honesty,

00:52:43

and He wants to walk the road with us

00:52:45

and see us through the difficult moments,

00:52:47

saying to us, "I got you.

00:52:49

I promise you, I'm not going to let you go.

00:52:51

I know you can't understand everything right now.

00:52:53

I know you don't understand why I didn't give you

00:52:55

what you asked for, but if you trust me,

00:52:56

I will lead you to the end."

00:52:58

That's His invitation.

00:53:00

When I was praying and kind of prepping for this message,

00:53:03

what led me to this whole take on Sarah,

00:53:06

this whole message was from a moment.

00:53:10

I had this moment with God. Well, it wasn't with God.

00:53:13

I was just kind of maybe cleaning up around the house.

00:53:15

And I was humming this song, and I was singing

00:53:17

this song in my head like, He won't fail.

00:53:19

It's a popular Christian song.

00:53:21

I actually don't even really know what it's called,

00:53:23

but it's popular and it's catchy.

00:53:24

So I was singing it in my head.

00:53:26

He won't fail, he won't fail.

00:53:27

And then I, I paused. I said, "Hold on a second.

00:53:30

Hold on just one minute.

00:53:32

I feel like You have failed me.

00:53:35

I feel like there's plenty of times You didn't come through."

00:53:39

And I said, "I'm not going to sing that song again

00:53:41

until I can get really honest with God

00:53:43

and really curious with God."

00:53:46

Which, by the way, is something that He loves.

00:53:49

And so I got real honest and I got real curious and I said,

00:53:51

"God, how can I actually sing this song?

00:53:54

I don't feel right singing it dishonestly and absent mindedly

00:53:59

when I actually do think You've failed me."

00:54:03

And in the same way He responds to Sarah,

00:54:05

His response is about His character.

00:54:09

See, that song is just one that I actually want

00:54:12

us to sing together today.

00:54:14

Not as a little reprise because I know

00:54:16

y'all will be loving a reprise so y'all can get to your car

00:54:19

and get to Wendy's before it closes and everything.

00:54:21

I get that I feel you, love you, love you.

00:54:24

But today I actually want us to participate in it

00:54:27

as an act of worship, because when I paused

00:54:31

to have that little conversation with God,

00:54:34

it's a recognition that Hs character, it does not change.

00:54:40

I can sing that song with full confidence

00:54:42

because it's based on the reality that He won't fail.

00:54:48

I want us to sing together, and some of us might sing this song

00:54:51

through gritted teeth, through tears in our eyes.

00:54:55

Some of us are going to sing this song as a repentance

00:54:58

because we've been kind of in a cynical spot.

00:55:01

And if we're honest, we really haven't believed

00:55:02

in the power of God for a long time.

00:55:06

Some of us are going to sing this song as shouts of joy,

00:55:09

because we remember that God has actually transformed

00:55:12

and given us a laughter of joy.

00:55:15

I want to speak this promise over you because this song says,

00:55:18

when the waves come, when the storms come,

00:55:22

you can find yourself anchored to Jesus.

00:55:26

Now, if you don't have any storms, congratulations.

00:55:28

They're on the way, because that's just how life is, baby.

00:55:32

But you can stay full, confident

00:55:34

knowing that God is who He says that He is.

00:55:38

Here's a promise to hang on to, Luke 6:21:

00:55:42

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled.

00:55:46

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

00:55:51

Let's sing together.

00:55:59

- Let's stand together.

00:59:15

- Maybe you're like me and sometimes the cynicism

00:59:18

can run so deep that I need to get my body involved

00:59:21

with the truth that I'm singing.

00:59:23

So maybe you need to raise your hands

00:59:25

or extend them out as we call out to Him.

01:01:50

- Hey, so maybe you've become cold, calloused,

01:01:52

or in a messy place where you need faith.

01:01:55

Guess what? Me too.

01:01:56

And we hope that you are able to take a step towards God today,

01:02:01

that your heart was softened and your faith strengthened.

01:02:04

And if you took a big step towards Jesus

01:02:07

or you just want someone to pray with,

01:02:09

we actually have that available for you all the time.

01:02:12

Just text "more" to 301301 for that link to prayer.

01:02:16

- Yeah, maybe Hannah's message today poked you

01:02:19

in an area of your life that you've been cynical,

01:02:22

and it kept coming to mind as she was teaching.

01:02:25

This is an opportunity for you to speak that thing out loud,

01:02:28

or text that thing out loud and receive prayer.

01:02:31

It's not going to be an AI chatbot.

01:02:32

It's actually one of our friends like Donna or Jamie,

01:02:35

and, um, it'll be great and not weird.

01:02:37

And you should take advantage of this

01:02:39

and let them send you a text prayer back.

01:02:41

Another spiritual opportunity is baptism.

01:02:44

If you do live near a site and you saw baptisms today

01:02:47

with middle schoolers, August 2nd, which is next weekend,

01:02:50

we have baptisms happening for anyone.

01:02:52

You can text 301301, text "more" again

01:02:54

and we'll get you more information on that.

01:02:56

And then of course, if you're a part of our Anywhere community

01:02:59

and you want to get baptized no matter where you are,

01:03:01

we want to help make that happen too.

01:03:02

Follow that same link and we will connect with you.

01:03:06

- Hey, we've got something really exciting

01:03:08

coming up for our Anywhere family

01:03:10

and I want you all to know about it.

01:03:11

It's called Anywhere Weekend and it is happening

01:03:14

August 28-30 in Sandusky, Ohio.

01:03:18

So maybe you are newer to Crossroads

01:03:20

and you don't know what Anywhere is.

01:03:22

- What is Crossroads Anywhere?

01:03:23

- Well, I'm glad you asked, Jen.

01:03:24

Anywhere is our community of people who live a little bit,

01:03:27

or maybe a lot of bit further away from a Crossroads site.

01:03:30

So maybe that's you.

01:03:31

And if you're watching from Northern Ohio

01:03:33

or Indiana or Michigan,

01:03:35

this Anywhere Weekend is exactly for you.

01:03:38

- Yes, it's a great chance to spend time

01:03:40

with people in our Crossroads community.

01:03:42

It's going to be a ton of fun. I will be there.

01:03:44

And it's just, it's exciting because we're getting

01:03:47

a lot of people who are already registered

01:03:50

and who are saying, "Hey, I actually live,

01:03:51

I live in that city, or I live 20 minutes

01:03:53

or an hour and a half from there. Can I invite my friend?"

01:03:56

Yes, you can. - Yes.

01:03:57

- Learn more about it. Text "more" to 301301.

01:03:59

We'll have links for how you can sign up and learn more.

01:04:02

You do not want to miss it. It's going to be phenomenal.

01:04:04

- Yeah, don't miss it, guys.

01:04:05

And hey, thanks for spending part of your weekend with us.

01:04:07

We'll see you in the next one.

01:04:09

- See ya.

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