Living Your Best Life | The Book Of Psalms Week 6 | Anywhere Service

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- [singing] I'm living my best life

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Wake up with the sunrise

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- How many people do you know would say that

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they're living their best life, really?

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And what about you?

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I'm going to show you how to live your best life

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through an ancient way of living

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that you can rediscover today.

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- Where are we in the Bible?

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Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?

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The Bible begins in the Old Testament,

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written around 3500 years ago.

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The first five books of the Old Testament:

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Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy

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are known as the Pentateuch, or books of the law.

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The next 12 books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth,

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1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings,

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1 Chronicle, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.

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Whew. That's a lot.

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These are known as the historical books.

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This brings us to the books of the Bible

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known as the Wisdom Literature.

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It starts with Job and then into

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a collection of 150 poems known as the Psalms.

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- How many people do you know would say

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that they're living their best life, really?

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And what about you?

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Today, I'm going to show you how to live your best life

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through an ancient way of living

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that you can rediscover today.

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My name is Andy Reider.

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I'm the online church community pastor and a musician.

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And we're in the Book of Psalms, which is perfect,

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because they're just songs, songs of feeling,

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songs of all kinds of emotions.

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But most importantly, they are theology set to melody.

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This is a song that I just I love because

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I think it encapsulates this idea

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of living your best life,

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not just being stuff that belongs on Instagram,

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but being the beautiful every day

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that make up yours in my life.

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I'll play it for you.

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It goes a little something like this.

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[singing] I'm living my best life.

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I wake up with the sunrise.

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It does not look a thing like I thought that it would

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I've been counting my blessings.

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I sleep with my best friend.

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The best that it has been in a long time.

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I'm living my best life.

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Oh, I'm living my best life. Yeah, yeah.

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I'm living my bestlife. [end music]

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That's what I want for you. That's what I want for me.

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How we can adopt practical, tangible, spiritual rhythms

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that will let us live our best lives,

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lives of fruitfulness, lives of purpose,

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and the lives that the Psalms describe.

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It seems like most of us are a bit of a mess right now.

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And I don't just mean those people.

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I mean me, you, and most everyone we meet

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from your barista to your manager to your mom.

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Aren't Christians supposed to, like, be different here?

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Aren't we supposed to have an advantage?

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Aren't we supposed to be full of things

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like grace and patience and resiliency?

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Well, I hate to break it to you,

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but often times that's not the case,

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as we've all experienced followers of Jesus

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who were jerks.

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And I think I know part of why.

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Or let me say if you're a Christian

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who feels like your faith

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isn't living up to the promises of Jesus,

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I think I might be able to help with that.

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Now, I'm a pastor.

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I have lots of conversations with people,

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and it seems like more and more people

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are feeling like a life of thriving or flourishing

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is a pipe dream.

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There's a song that's been going through my head

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nonstop lately, it's that one that just talks about

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what it would look like to live my best life.

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Now, I know the language is dated,

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but I think the desire is as fresh as ever.

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I want a life that reaps the blessings

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of being in lock step with God.

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We all want to prosper.

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We all want to live blessed, whatever that means.

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But too few of us know how to get there.

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I believe that the answer is actually found

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in an ancient way of living

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that's being rediscovered today.

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And good news, a thriving and flourishing life

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of vibrancy is not a pipe dream.

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You can have this kind of life, and I believe

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that Psalm I will show us a bit of how to get it.

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Now, spoiler, you're going to have to learn to stay on beat.

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Now, believe it or not, I think the solution

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won't be found in the latest book, fad diet,

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or even in just going to church.

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I think it can be found in an ancient way of living.

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Let me illustrate with a story

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from my high school band program.

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Now, as you can see, I'm pretty cool.

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I'm pretty cool. I come from a family of musicians.

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When I was in high school as a freshman,

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I was even cooler.

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But while I always played music,

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I always wanted to write songs.

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I always wanted to write songs.

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Now in high school, there was this kid,

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he played trumpet and he wrote songs nonstop.

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I'm going to be real with you, they weren't good.

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Like, really, they always had this weird,

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like, '80s pop/show tune vibe that

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at the time wasn't cool at all.

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But he'd sit in the practice room night after night,

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hour after hour, just hammering out these oddball songs

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that no one ever wanted to listen to.

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I silently judged him in the way

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that only a high schooler can do and kind of like,

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Oh, bless his heart kind of way.

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And I graduated high school, forgot that he existed.

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The next time I heard that kid's name,

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he was playing at the Grammys.

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Yeah, he was the front man for the band Walk the Moon.

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Just absolutely killing it.

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In that moment, I learned that

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there's something powerful that happens when

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someone creates a rhythm towards their desired goal.

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But the opposite is always true.

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I've seen people's dreams and hopes die on the vine

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because as bad as they wanted something,

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they didn't have the rhythm to back it up.

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I feel like I see something similar happen

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in people's desire to follow Jesus.

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I have experienced this.

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After two decades of following Jesus,

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I feel like I've been confronted with this place

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where why is what I see and read about in the Bible

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not in line with what I'm experiencing?

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This Psalm, this articulation of who God is

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and who He wants us to be, I think, gives us

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a beautiful and amazing picture into

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how we can live that thriving, vibrant, full life

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that we all want.

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Let me read to you from Psalm 1.

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Now catch this part.

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Now, a 25 minute talk from me

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or anybody else other than Jesus

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isn't going to fix your whole life.

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But my hope for today is that you have

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a greater sense of how living in sync

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with the rhythms that God created you for

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can help you live your best life.

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Did you notice that at the start of this passage

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it describes three different postures.

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It says, "Blessed is the one who does not walk

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in step with the wicked

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or stand in the way that sinners take

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or sit in the company of mockers."

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If there's a wrong way to walk, stand and sit,

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then there must be a right way. Right?

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How we walk, stand and sit can relate

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to different spiritual rhythms that our lives need

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to include if we want to thrive.

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Now, let me say it again.

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I'm not speaking about this as an expert

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or a guru or somebody with it all figured out.

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I'm a co-traveler on this journey.

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I am a fellow experimenter trying to work out

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what it means to follow God

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in a world as crazy as 2022, right now.

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I want us to look at our lived experience

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and what the Bible promises

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and see how much they are in alignment,

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how much joy we feel, how much life, peace, patience.

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Is prayer moving the needle in yours in my life?

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I want that for you and for me.

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Now, while I'm down the road a little bit in this,

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I've had a couple of years

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to lean into these disciplines and experience

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some of the vibrancy that they can offer.

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I want to share a little bit

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about how you can start that journey now.

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The first thing you've got to do, it's simple,

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you just have to walk.

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Walk. Walk isn't a sprint. It's a consistent pace.

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It's a thing that we do that moves us

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consistently over time to where we want to go.

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Christianity is so often sold

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like a six minute AB workout.

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Like, let me let me explain.

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I want a six pack. I really do.

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I just don't want it bad enough to work as hard

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as it would take for me to get one.

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Going to the gym for a week straight for like 9 hours

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and eating nothing but, you know,

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dry chicken breasts and protein shakes.

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I don't want to do that.

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I don't want to do that for more than a couple of days.

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I and so many others want the life of Jesus,

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that peace, purpose, vibrancy, passion,

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all those things, but we want it

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without adopting the lifestyle of Jesus.

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If we want the life of Jesus, all those good things,

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we have to have those rhythms.

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We have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus.

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A flourishing, spiritual life of any kind

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isn't built in fits and starts.

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It's not a lot of activity

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and then we forget about it for a year.

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It's cultivated over time with faithfulness.

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Like my songwriting rock star former classmate skills,

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character and capacity are grown over time.

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In case I'm not being clear enough,

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I want a friend of mine who knows a lot about rhythm

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as a professional studio musician, an amazing drummer,

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let's have Josh Suhrkamp explain.

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[drumming]

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- When I started drumming,

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that was really cool to me to play and I loved it.

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But when I started playing with other people,

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that wasn't really what they needed or wanted.

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It was something more like this.

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[drumming]

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Consistency and rhythm,

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that's what people need in a band.

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And that's really the difference between

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me as a young drummer and me as an older drummer.

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As a young drummer, I just wanted to hit everything

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and play really fast.

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But as an older drummer, I realized that my job

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is to create consistency, something easy to follow.

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- Does anyone resonate with that first drummer,

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with that flurry of activity,

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of doing it all at the start,

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but not being able to follow through

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and have consistency over time?

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Man, if you tried to learn Spanish 19 times like I have,

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if you've wanted a six pack but not gotten it,

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whatever it is for you, I think we can all identify

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the places where we just didn't walk it out long enough.

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There's a scripture that I love from 1 John,

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it says it this way:

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If you're not experiencing

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the level of flourishing that you want,

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don't just turn on another podcast

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or another show or whatever.

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Instead, adopt a spiritual rhythm.

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Here's a few to get you started.

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Read your Bible.

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They're going to sound obvious.

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This is not rocket science.

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Read your Bible, pray.

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You can do both of those in the Crossroads App,

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and I'd love for you to join us there.

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There's great stuff that happens when we pray

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and when we are in God's word daily together.

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But there's others, like fasting,

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like silence, solitude, generosity.

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If you want the life of Jesus,

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adopt the life style of Jesus

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by being an active participant

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in your own spiritual growth, as in walk it out daily,

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when it's fun and even when it's not.

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Now, a note on religion.

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Some of you are going to hear what I'm saying,

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be like, "Oh, you just gave me a checklist

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of all the things I've got to do."

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No, no, no, no, no. Don't hear that at all.

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Empty religious obligation doesn't impress Jesus at all.

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But me being lazy and calling my lack of follow through

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authentic doesn't really either.

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And it doesn't help me.

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Spiritual disciplines aren't religious

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unless we allow them to become that.

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Think of it maybe in a more helpful way

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as spiritual strength building.

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Let me put it this way: I love my kids.

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They're adorable, they're wonderful.

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And sometimes being a dad feels like this photo.

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It's great. It's all beautiful.

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You're all wearing semi matching outfits,

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but it's not always like that.

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Other times, being a dad feels like this photo.

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Do I love my kid even when

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I'm covered in puke in the Kroger Food Court?

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Yes, yes, I do.

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But me being authentic to my feelings

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while covered in puke is less important

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than me being authentic to my identity as my son's dad.

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Be authentic to your identity

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as a follower and child of God,

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not your energy level at every given moment.

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That's what it looks like for us

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to walk out our faith with consistency.

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- Hey, what's going on, everybody? I'm Hannah.

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- And I'm Andy.

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- Andy, they already know who you are.

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You're up there preaching like right now.

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- I know, I'm just, I'm getting used to all the stuff.

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- That's all right. It's all good. It's all good.

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We'll let it slide this one time.

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- All right. Well, hey,

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if anyone hopes you're enjoying this message, it's me.

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But we're taking this break to say,

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if you're interested in giving to Crossroads, you can go

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to Crossroads.net/give to do just that.

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- All right, Andy, take us home, brother.

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- Let's do it.

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- Let's get back to the message right now.

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- Our second spiritual rhythm or posture

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deals with how we stand, and not just how we stand,

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but who we stand with.

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Now, back in 1753, Benjamin Franklin

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wrote to a friend about a strange phenomenon

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that was taking place in the American West.

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While kidnaping was unfortunately commonplace

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on both sides, white prisoners that were rescued

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from Native American tribes

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were seizing the first chance they could

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to flee back into the wilderness

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and rejoin their captors. It's crazy.

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Simultaneously, there wasn't and hasn't been

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a single report of Native warriors

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migrating in the opposite direction

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and choosing to stay with Europeans.

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Benjamin Franklin was trying to make sense of this

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and he called out something really important.

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He said the white runaways must have become

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disgusted with our manner of life despite

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being shown all imaginable tenderness on their return.

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The story is from a fantastic book

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that I would highly recommend

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called Tribe by Sebastian Junger.

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He posits that there's something about

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our modern culture that has so alienated people

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as to make them desperate for community

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and willing to risk just about anything to get it.

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I believe this to be a spiritual reality.

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That's why it's the second of our postures

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if we want to thrive.

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Who do you stand with?

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Do you have people around you?

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Do you have real community?

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The people you spend time with are the best predictor

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of everything from future income

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to the health of your marriage.

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Stand with people who are giving you life

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and are pointing you towards

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more of what you want in your life.

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Now, this isn't advocacy for home schooling,

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but it is to say be choiceful, be intentional

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about who you spend your time with.

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Be good to everybody.

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Be friends with as many different kinds

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of people as possible, but don't link your life

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to people who aren't going to the same place

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and in the same direction that you are.

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Hebrews 10:24-25 says it this way:

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You can meditate on God's word all day,

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you can know a ton about the Bible,

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but you can never experience

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the fullness of God's intent for you

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because you're standing with the wrong people.

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Which brings us to our third posture,

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our third spiritual rhythm.

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If we want the kind of life that Psalm 1 describes,

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you know what it is?

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It's sit. It sit.

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What does it look like for you to sit in your life?

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Well, just to pause, to rest, to take a minute.

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Now, let me ask you a questionL

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Would you show up at work three beers deep?

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I -- don't answer that. I don't know.

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I'll say scientists have shown that

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losing even 2 hours of sleep is similar

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in the way that it affects your cognitive abilities

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as having three beers.

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Seriously, look it up. It's crazy.

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Now, while most of us wouldn't show up

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to work three beers deep, many of us

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wouldn't think about missing out on

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a few Stranger Things worth of episodes

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of sleep at night.

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Why don't we value rest like we should,

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especially when most of us would describe ourselves

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as over busy, overtired and stressed?

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Quick history lesson for you.

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Following the French Revolution,

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the Enlightenment thinkers and revolutionaries

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decreed that the first year of the revolution

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is year one, and they made the week

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from that point ten days long, ten days long.

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So they had one day off out of every ten,

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not supposedly one out of every seven like we have.

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This calendar lasted for more than a decade

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until Napoleon came back.

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And you know what happened?

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Suicide rates and depression went through the roof

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because they messed with the rhythm.

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They changed up the rhythm, the beat, and got less rest,

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less opportune to be refilled recharged.

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The Soviet Union tried something similar more recently

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even in the '70s and '80s to increase production.

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It ended up doing the opposite in devastating ways.

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Something breaks in us when we stop resting.

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But honestly,

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like how much of us live that way voluntarily?

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Let me put it to you another way.

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All of life works in seasons,

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or at least life works best in seasons.

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And when we try to cut corners, man, bad things happen.

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Think of the way crops grow.

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The ground's dormant in the winter,

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sprouts in the spring,

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and is fruitful in the summer and fall.

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Think of how your body functions.

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Sometimes it needs food, at other times

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it needs to use those calories to solve problems

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or exert strength.

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Other times you're active,

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and at other times we're created

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to need roughly a third of our time sleeping.

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When we neglect rest and sleep, as most of us do,

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it's linked to all kinds of illness,

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disease and disorder.

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Life was meant to have a sense of rhythm,

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a cadence and a sense of beauty and order.

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Tell you what, let me put it in drum speak again.

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I want Josh Seurkamp to show us what it's like,

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what a groove sounds like,

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what a rhythm sounds like when we leave space

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and when we play the rests.

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- So this this rest that Andy is talking about

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in music looks like this.

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And the rest is just the space

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between the notes you play.

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And every great drummer, every great musician knows

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that the rest is just as important

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as the note that you play.

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[drumming]

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- If you're tired, play the rests.

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If you're stressed, play the rests.

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Experiment with things that refill you.

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Experiment with not having to produce and work

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and contribute all the time.

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What would it look like for you to recharge

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and unplug for 24 hours?

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This thing that we call the Sabbath

00:21:20

that Scripture describes,

00:21:21

it's one of the Ten Commandments.

00:21:23

Ten Commandments seem to go in order

00:21:24

from most important to least important.

00:21:26

And this one's above don't kill people.

00:21:27

I'm just saying it's worth a shot. Try it out.

00:21:31

It should be the best day of your week.

00:21:33

What are all the things that refill you?

00:21:34

Go for a hike or a walk, read a book,

00:21:36

watch a movie, get a coffee,

00:21:38

spend time with some friends, spend time with Jesus.

00:21:43

Man, I know what it is to be frustrated, to feel lost,

00:21:47

confused at why your life just isn't working.

00:21:50

If you felt these these ways,

00:21:52

if you felt behind or stuck or anything similar,

00:21:55

I hope that what you're hearing

00:21:56

is that you're not broken.

00:21:59

I hope you're encouraged to hear that

00:22:00

there are simple, repeatable rhythms and patterns

00:22:03

that you can lean into, that you can get in sync with

00:22:07

that will allow you to uncover

00:22:09

more of what God designed you for.

00:22:13

As Psalm 1 says, you need to know that God is for you.

00:22:16

He wants you to be that person that's like

00:22:17

a tree planted by streams of water

00:22:20

that yields its fruit in season,

00:22:21

whose leaf does not wither,

00:22:23

and whatever they do prospers.

00:22:24

That's God's heart for you.

00:22:27

But I heard the saying once recently

00:22:29

that without Him we can't, but without us He won't.

00:22:33

Now that's not in the Bible,

00:22:35

but it's felt generally true

00:22:37

most of the time in my life.

00:22:38

God really does have great things in store for me

00:22:41

and for you, but He's waiting, hoping,

00:22:43

and inviting you into a partnership with Him

00:22:46

to see those hopes, those dreams,

00:22:48

those desires of your heart come to reality.

00:22:52

Now, a life of vibrancy isn't about doing 700 things.

00:22:58

If what you heard from me over the last few minutes

00:23:00

is just a to do list or a checklist, man, I'm so sorry.

00:23:04

That's not my heart for you. That's not my desire.

00:23:07

What it is about is to just pick,

00:23:10

pick an intentional, healthy rhythm

00:23:13

and experiment with it.

00:23:14

Pick one of the things that we talked about,

00:23:16

whether it's prayer, Bible reading, Sabbath,

00:23:19

fasting, generosity, regular community, try something.

00:23:23

My goal isn't to prescribe behaviors,

00:23:26

it's to invite you into the beautiful rhythm

00:23:28

of a life in sync with God.

00:23:31

As the band plays this song

00:23:33

pulled straight out of Psalm 1,

00:23:35

consider what your rhythm could be.

00:23:37

Is there one that jumped out to you?

00:23:39

Is there one that just kind of

00:23:40

hung on your imagination, you thought,

00:23:42

"Oh, that's what that could look like for me."

00:23:44

Man, consider introducing that

00:23:47

into your rhythm this week.

00:23:49

And I'd love for you to shoot me an email.

00:23:52

This is my real email.

00:23:53

It's not a bot, it's not a team of people.

00:23:55

It's my personal email.

00:23:56

And if there's anything I can do to help,

00:23:58

whether by offering coaching or just by letting you know

00:24:01

that I'm in your corner and praying for you,

00:24:03

that's what I want to do.

00:24:06

Experiment with one rhythm this week,

00:24:09

one rhythm that will allow you to experience

00:24:10

more of the vibrant, thriving life

00:24:13

that God has for you this week.

00:25:34

- Hey, if that message taught you anything,

00:25:36

if it made you more curious,

00:25:37

if you want to know more about us, we love to meet you.

00:25:40

Going over to Crossroads.net right now

00:25:42

to create a profile.

00:25:43

- Hey, we've got podcast shows, articles and episodes

00:25:45

just like this that are catered to you

00:25:47

and what you're looking for. - That's all we got for today.

00:25:49

We'll see you next time on Crossroads.

00:25:52

- So I'm Steve. This is my wife Liz.

00:25:54

And we have been coming to Crossroads for 12 years or so

00:25:58

and we have been going to

00:26:00

the West Side location since it opened.

00:26:03

Our giving didn't start until we moved to Cincinnati.

00:26:07

And one day we just we both just kind of decided,

00:26:10

like, hey, like, if we're going to do this.

00:26:13

- This is something we need to do.

00:26:14

- Let's do this. - Yeah.

00:26:15

- Let's jump off the cliff and we went from giving 0%

00:26:20

to giving 10% of our gross income.

00:26:23

- So not too long after that,

00:26:25

we'd made the decision to adopt our boys.

00:26:28

And we were working with an agency and went

00:26:30

through their checklist of things that needed costs.

00:26:34

And we went, "Oh boy, this is going to be a big one."

00:26:37

But the one thing that we decided

00:26:39

that we would still do was tithe.

00:26:42

But in the end, we had all of our fees paid for,

00:26:45

we had quite possibly the least amount

00:26:47

of difficulties or hindrances

00:26:49

or roadblocks getting through the adoption.

00:26:52

- After adopting two boys

00:26:53

and going through the trials of that,

00:26:55

we both clearly heard from God

00:26:58

that we were supposed to become foster parents.

00:27:00

I remember sitting at work distinctly

00:27:03

looking at the numbers, looking at the finances,

00:27:05

and realizing that there is there's no way

00:27:08

that we can have two working parents

00:27:11

and still meet all the needs of foster care.

00:27:13

And I kept my prayer simple just, "Okay, God,

00:27:15

like this isn't going to work.

00:27:17

I need you to figure it out."

00:27:18

And then within the next six months,

00:27:20

she had gotten her pay doubled.

00:27:22

So then I quit my job

00:27:24

and became a stay at home parent for ten years.

00:27:26

God's a crazy God, like, he's going to ask us

00:27:29

to do things that are unexpected,

00:27:32

that are out of your comfort zone.

00:27:34

- If you're giving, I think that

00:27:35

one of the biggest things that I've learned

00:27:37

is that when God knocks, you answer the door.

00:27:40

It's trust. It's stepping out of the boat.

00:27:42

- God has provided my family through giving,

00:27:47

it's hard to summarize it, because it's everywhere.

00:27:52

When we said, let's do 10%, I can only imagine

00:27:55

that it was jumping out of an airplane.

00:27:58

But unlike when you jump out of an airplane, like,

00:28:00

you physically can see your parachute.

00:28:02

But when you go from 0 to 10,

00:28:04

you're jumping out of that airplane

00:28:06

and your parachute is God

00:28:08

and you're hoping it opens up and catches you.

00:28:11

- The one characteristic of God

00:28:13

that I've seen through giving is obedience

00:28:17

and how to be obedient.

00:28:19

Getting that 20/20 hindsight view of my life,

00:28:22

I wouldn't change it. The blessings have rippled.

00:28:29

- Listen to me, don't be the last link in your chain.

00:28:32

Today we're talking about legacy,

00:28:35

and we could use a family tree,

00:28:37

but chains are just a lot cooler

00:28:38

and we like to have fun over here.

00:28:39

But also generations, it's linear.

00:28:42

One to the next, to the next, to the next.

00:28:44

And this is exactly what a chain is.

00:28:46

And I'm afraid just possibly your family legacy

00:28:50

is going to end with you instead of go beyond you.

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