The Final Answer for Loneliness | Finding the Belonging You Were Made For

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- Hey, everybody, welcome to Crossroads Anywhere.

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Hey, you made it. You're here and we're so glad you are.

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My name is Arturo.

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- And my name is Jordan.

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We're really excited that you're here today.

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I get to lead the young adults around here.

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And honestly, summer might be my favorite time of the year.

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- You know what, Jordan, same.

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There's something about summer that just makes

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people more open to adventure

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and they're suddenly all available.

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- That's exactly right. And we're seeing that happen

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all over our young adults community,

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Collective Nights are happening this summer,

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pickleball on Thursdays.

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Summer just creates these moments

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where people find their people,

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they ask big questions about faith,

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and they realize they don't have to do life alone.

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- Yeah. And so whether you're 22 or 62,

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I think we all need that reminder,

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there's always room to grow and connect.

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Let's go ahead and get up and get started

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with some worship. We're so glad you're here.

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- Yeah. You know, I hope when we sing these songs

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that you ask yourself three questions:

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What are we singing?

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Why are we singing it?

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And do I believe what I'm singing?

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Like, do we actually believe, or are we actually

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saying that we want God to break our bones

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like Bo Jackson used to do a baseball bat?

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If you've never seen that, you should YouTube it.

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All right? Well, on one hand I would say yes,

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sure, He's God.

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I believe He knows exactly what's best and what's needed.

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But really what I'm saying is this:

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God, break the parts of me that try to make me think

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I'm self made and self sustaining.

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I'm not self made and I'm not self sustaining.

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Break the parts of me, the need for control.

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Break my need for financial security.

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Break my need to know what tomorrow looks like.

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Break my need for approval, or sounding smart,

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or looking wise or looking cool.

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Break all those parts of me.

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Burn the throne of the me monster

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that still tries to crawl on top of

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the throne of my life each and every day,

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even after walking with Jesus for 30 years.

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Can I get an amen? You know?

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John the Baptist said it perfectly like this.

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He said: Jesus must increase and I must decrease.

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Jesus must increase and I must decrease.

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But why? Well, because humility is in right now

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and I just want to look super spiritual.

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No, no, no. It's because I know what it feels like

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to get to the end of the day after striving

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and striving and feel like, oh my gosh,

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it's just going to start tomorrow.

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Rinse and repeat and the rat race never ends.

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I know what it's like to get to the end of the day

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and feel exhausted and full of anxiety, and you do too.

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If you walked in here heavy burden,

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if you walked in here with anxiety,

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if you walked in here on empty, then great,

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you're in the right place because Jesus said

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He's made perfect in our weakness.

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So sometimes when we sing songs,

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we raise our hands to sing those and declare it.

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So do this with me, raise your hands

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if you're self-reliant or selfish,

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or prone to self-reliance or prone to selfishness.

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Raise them high. Yeah, the hands that are not up

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are just the new folks because they don't know

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if you can actually be honest in here, or be yourself.

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You can be, raise 'em up, keep 'em up, keep 'em up.

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Raise 'em up high. Look around you now, use your eyes.

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We're all in the right place and this song is for all of us.

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So let's sing it like that. Goes like this.

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- I heard it said right out here, thank you, Jesus.

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Thank you, Jesus.

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I was never meant to carry the load

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I try to carry on my shoulders.

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Jesus, You are the strength in my weakness.

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You are the peace that surpasses all understanding

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on a crazy day trying to raise four kids

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in the middle of the summer,

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that's just plain exhausting at times.

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So strength in my weakness,

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the joy that cuts through all the chaos.

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I was only meant to carry Your name.

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I was only meant to walk with You.

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Thank You for holding me up.

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Thank You for sustaining me.

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Thank You for making me for You,

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to walk at Your pace, carrying Your name everywhere I can.

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I bless You and praise You, father. Amen. Amen.

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And I don't know about you, but it is good for my soul

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to sing songs like that and words like that,

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to look to my right and left and know I'm not alone

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with people wearing different shoes,

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but more similar shoes than I could ever imagine.

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You know what I mean? So thanks for being here.

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Glad you're here this weekend.

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Why don't you turn to somebody you're next to say,

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hey, glad to be here with you.

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If you're online, we're glad you're here with us, too.

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We can have a seat together.

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- You know, if that song did anything,

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it reminded us that there is nobody like Jesus.

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He is faithful in every season

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and He never stops showing up for His people.

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And that same Jesus is already at work this weekend

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because high school camp kicked off

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with hundreds of students and volunteers

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from across Crossroads gathering

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at Bowling Green State University,

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expecting God to move in powerful ways.

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- Yeah. And before we do anything else,

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let's pray for them together.

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Let's pray for safety, for meaningful friendships,

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incredible leaders, and most importantly,

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life changing encounters with Jesus.

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So God, we thank You for every student

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and leader at high school camp right now.

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We pray for protection, for connection,

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and for moments where students experience

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Your love in ways they will never forget.

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So give the leaders wisdom and energy

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to build friendships that last

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and to meet every person exactly where they are.

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We ask for changed lives and hearts

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that follow You long after camp ends.

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In Jesus's name. Amen.

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- Amen. And hey, if you've got a middle school student,

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there is still time to sign up for middle school camp

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happening July 20th through July 24th.

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Camp is one of those experiences that students

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will just remember for the rest of their lives.

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And I know that because

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I remember my middle school camp experience.

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So, man, if you're interested in sending your campers,

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send them to camp. - That's right.

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Whether your summer includes camp, travel,

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or just a packed schedule,

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we don't want it to pull us away from God

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or from each other.

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And so if you're new here, you may not know that

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we actually have our very own Crossroads Anywhere app.

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It makes it easy to stay connected wherever you are.

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You can watch weekly teaching,

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you can pray for people,

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even receive prayer yourself, you can listen to podcasts

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and stay connected to everything

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that's happening in our community.

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- Yeah, it's such an easy way to stay connected

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and easily access your church wherever you are.

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And if you're a young adult from the ages of 18-29,

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another way to get connected to other young adults

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is coming up actually in a couple of weeks, right, Jordan?

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- That's right, Arturo.

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We have our next Collective Night happening

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Thursday, July 9th at Crossroads Uptown.

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Picture hundreds of young adults

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from around the city of Cincinnati coming together

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for teaching, worship and great connection.

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We hope to see you there.

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- Well, look, there is a lot of great stuff

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happening in our church right now,

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and for many of us, giving is one of the ways

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we practice trusting God and actually get

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to participate in what He's doing through Crossroads.

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So if you're interested in joining or giving,

00:22:55

just want to learn more about it,

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you can do that at Crossroads.net/give.

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Or give directly in the Crossroads Anywhere app.

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- Yeah. As we continue in the Jesus Exhibit,

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we're going to hear from our lead pastor, Kyle Ranson,

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as he unpacks one of most Jesus's surprising statements.

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- Where are we in the Bible?

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We're in the New Testament,

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in the Gospel according to John.

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This is a first hand biography of Jesus

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by one of his closest friends.

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In it, John records seven iconic I am statements

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that Jesus made, seven metaphors,

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seven self-portraits of the living God.

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This week Jesus says I am the door of the sheep.

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Here's how it goes in the book of John, chapter ten.

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So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly,

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I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

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All who came before me are thieves and robbers,

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but the sheep did not listen to them.

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I am the door.

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If anyone enters by me, he will be saved

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and will go in and out and find pasture.

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The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy.

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I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

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- Well, good morning everybody.

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My name is Christian Pulisic.

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I'm part of the men's national team.

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It's a real honor to be here.

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I'm just kidding. I'm Kyle if we never met.

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Uh, this is just a jersey.

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Some of you were fooled a little bit.

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We're talking about this idea of

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the seven self portraits of the Son of God,

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these images that Jesus Himself created

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to tell us about who He is.

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And like you just heard in that video,

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today we're talking about the door.

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Now, this is actually from John 10,

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and John 10 packages two I am statements together:

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I am the door, and I am the Good Shepherd.

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Now, you've probably heard more about the Good Shepherd

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because it's kind of like more warm and cuddly.

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You know, you imagine Jesus as the shepherd

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and you're a little sheep, and He picks you up

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and puts you on your little head, just so precious.

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You know, there's Precious Moments figurines made of it.

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Remember Precious Moments figurines

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like this little shepherd.

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If you went to the Christian bookstore in the 90s

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or early 2000, like 90% of the store

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was these figurines, basically.

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Now, this is the door Precious Moments figurine right here.

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I looked it up. That's a mouse in a dress.

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And that's not in the Bible.

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So we're kind of -- we're kind of spitballing here

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in the Precious Moments Factory.

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And the reason is because doors don't elicit

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natural, warm, fuzzy feelings from us.

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It's not like the Good Shepherd.

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And that's because when most of us think about a door,

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we don't imagine being let in,

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we imagine being left out on the outside.

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It sort of reminds us that the world has two groups in it,

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basically, there's the insiders and there's the outsiders.

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And for all of us, we feel like an outsider.

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That's kind of what Jesus taps into with this story.

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Now that's a problem because you and I

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are actually hardwired to belong.

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That's not a religious case.

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Certainly the Bible says that,

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but that's actually what science is showing.

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There is some research done recently at MIT

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where the researchers found out that your brain

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responds to the craving for food

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and the craving for belonging in the same exact way.

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Both are a necessity.

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There's actually more research done that showed that

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the same pain center that lights up

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when you feel physical pain in your brain

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is the same pain center that lights up

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when you lack belonging in your life.

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In other words, your body doesn't recognize

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the difference between pain, food, and belonging.

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All these things are necessities for life.

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You have to have it.

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That's why Jesus is claim of being the door

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may be, while on the surface,

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not the one that you elicit

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the emotional, warm, fuzzy feelings for,

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it may be the one that's most personal

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and powerful for you.

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It's a message in which Jesus says

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He came for outsiders, you and I.

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There's this incredible gospel claim

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in this gospel promise that you were born to belong.

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But there's also this really strict warning.

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Jesus says He is the only door

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that actually leads in, to the life that you want.

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And today we're going to take steps into that door.

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That's my hope and my prayer anyway.

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And so before we go any further,

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let's invite God to be part of this conversation.

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Father, I'm asking that You would speak today,

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that You would open our ears to hear,

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that You'd open our eyes to see You as the door,

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and You'd give us the faith and the belief to walk through it.

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Amen. Amen.

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Now, this is my World Cup jersey.

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This is actually my Father's Day present,

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And dads, I hope you got what you wanted for Father's Day.

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I got what I wanted for Father's Day,

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but mostly because I basically ordered it for myself.

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And so that's my pro tip.

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I got some other gifts.

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Gracie got me this hat, my daughter:

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Awesome like my daughter.

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So if you're worried about her self-esteem,

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don't worry. She's fine. She's fine.

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She might have a little bit too much actually is the problem.

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Now, I wanted this jersey because I love the World Cup,

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and I wanted to be in on the fan club of the World Cup.

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You can actually, by the way,

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there's an official US soccer fan club,

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The American Outlaws. You can join it for $30.

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Actually, you get a free t-shirt.

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You can be in on the club.

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Every nation has these fan clubs.

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Now the coolest one, sorry, America,

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is not ours, it's just not.

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The coolest one I think is Norway.

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Have you seen these guys?

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They row in unison.

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Listen to this.

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Like, how do they -- How do you know how to do that?

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And some of you like, you know, the most amazing part

00:28:44

of this is this is the most amount of white people

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I've ever seen on beat before.

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I didn't -- I didn't know that was --

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I didn't either, frankly, I'm shocked too.

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I didn't know, I didn't know that was a thing.

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It's amazing.

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See, if you're in on the Norway club,

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you know when to go, rah.

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And if you're out, you don't.

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You're either in or you're out.

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This is actually how we define ourselves,

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based on the circles that we're in

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and the circles that we're out.

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And it was the same thing back in Jesus's day.

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Same thing when He said the words

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that we're going to look at today,

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four primary verses that we're going to return

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to again and again, you heard in that video,

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but I want to go through them again.

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John 10:7. Jesus said again to them,

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remember that, them, "Truly, truly, I say to you,

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I am the door of the sheep.

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but the sheep did not listen to them.

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I am the door.

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00:29:47


00:29:51

The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy.

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I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

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Now Dorje also translates as gate

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and so you'll see it both ways

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depending on the English translation that you look at,

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you might see door, you might see gate.

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Same exact thing.

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But to understand this story, we actually

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have to go back to the first few words.

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It says: So Jesus said to them.

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Well, who is the them in this story?

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Well the them is not His disciples.

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You might guess that.

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It's not a crowd of eager listeners.

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That's not who He's talking to.

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And you might assume because He talked about sheep

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and pastures and all those things,

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maybe He's out like on a farm somewhere

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talking to people in rural area.

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No, actually, He's in the middle of a city

00:30:37

when He's saying these words. Who were the them?

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Well, to answer that question, we actually

00:30:41

have to go one chapter backwards into John chapter nine.

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John is one of those books that's narrative.

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It's about stories.

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And many times a story actually starts in a chapter

00:30:51

or even two chapters before,

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and the same story carries through.

00:30:54

And we can look at these chapter and verse markers

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and you have this false impression

00:30:59

that these are separate stories. No.

00:31:01

Chapter and verse markers were added in much later

00:31:03

just to help you and I find the same place in the Bible.

00:31:05

But this is actually one story beginning in John 9.

00:31:09

And if you go to John 9, it changes the entire scene,

00:31:13

every word that Jesus says that we just read

00:31:16

out of John 10.

00:31:17

And if you want to understand John 9,

00:31:18

you've actually got to start in John 8.

00:31:20

If you want to understand John 8,

00:31:22

you've got to start in John 7.

00:31:24

Oh my gosh, you guys are geniuses.

00:31:25

We're actually going to go to 7.

00:31:26

We're gonna start in 8 because that's too far.

00:31:28

So let's start in John chapter 8.

00:31:30

Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you,

00:31:34

before Abraham was, I am."

00:31:38

So they picked up stones to throw at Him.

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This is the moment that Jesus does the thing

00:31:42

we've been talking about in this series says I am.

00:31:44

That is using the name of God.

00:31:47

He's saying I am God.

00:31:49

And when He does that, the crowd He's talking to

00:31:52

pick up stones to throw at Him.

00:31:55

Well, who were those people?

00:31:56

These are the Pharisees.

00:31:58

These are the insiders of insiders in the God Club.

00:32:02

These are the officers.

00:32:03

This is the president, vice president,

00:32:05

treasurer, secretary of the God Club.

00:32:07

The most insider people.

00:32:08

And they take up stones to throw at Him

00:32:10

because they think He's committing blasphemy.

00:32:13

They're like, "You're not God."

00:32:15

What happens next? Next sentence.

00:32:16

But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

00:32:21

Next sentence, John 9:1:

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As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.

00:32:29

You glue those two sentences together,

00:32:31

He leaves the temple, He went out of the temple

00:32:34

and as he passed by, He sees this man.

00:32:36

Well, if you pay attention to context clues like this,

00:32:38

you can actually learn a lot about the Bible.

00:32:40

He's leaving the temple. What does that mean?

00:32:42

He's exiting one of the four gates.

00:32:45

We know from later context in the story

00:32:46

it was the southern steps of the temple.

00:32:49

He exits the southern steps, which, by the way,

00:32:51

are still there today.

00:32:53

This is a picture of the southern steps,

00:32:54

what they look like right now.

00:32:56

There's a door at the top of there.

00:32:58

And so we know that the man was somewhere

00:33:00

at the top of those steps in the doorway,

00:33:03

not through the doorway, but in the doorway.

00:33:09

Jesus walks past him, and he sees him.

00:33:11

Now the temple had these four exterior doors to get in,

00:33:14

but once you got inside those doors,

00:33:16

there were actually layers and layers and layers

00:33:18

of more doors.

00:33:20

And each door represented another group

00:33:22

that was excluded from being an insider

00:33:25

on the other side of the door.

00:33:27

And so most people could go through the outer doors

00:33:29

and they could get into the inside.

00:33:31

But then there was another set of doors,

00:33:33

and the only people who could go through

00:33:35

those doors were the Jews.

00:33:36

The Gentiles, non-Jewish people were excluded,

00:33:39

left on the outside.

00:33:40

But once you got through that door, there was another door.

00:33:43

And the only people who go through that door were men.

00:33:45

Everybody else was excluded.

00:33:47

And the only people who go through the next door,

00:33:49

past that door were the priests.

00:33:50

And there's another door beyond that,

00:33:52

where only the high priest could go through,

00:33:54

and only once a year.

00:33:55

See, the temple was like this onion.

00:33:57

It was like this layers of these rings

00:34:00

that only certain people who had access,

00:34:03

who had pedigree, who had whatever the right resume,

00:34:05

the right background, the right anything

00:34:07

could get through the next door.

00:34:10

This man that Jesus meets, the blind man,

00:34:13

is in the outermost door. Why?

00:34:15

Because he was considered blemished

00:34:18

and not allowed inside.

00:34:20

If you go back to Leviticus 21, there's a verse

00:34:21

that talks about the blind being not allowed

00:34:23

into certain parts of the temple.

00:34:25

But by the time that this guy was alive,

00:34:28

the Pharisees actually added more on top of that law.

00:34:32

They are written, you can actually be found

00:34:33

in the Dead Sea Scrolls, as a matter of fact.

00:34:35

These new regulations that made it so that

00:34:38

this guy could not go through the door,

00:34:40

he was allowed to stay there and beg, but that was it.

00:34:44

And for us, that might seem like, man,

00:34:47

how could you do that to somebody?

00:34:49

But back then we got to understand

00:34:51

this was just accepted.

00:34:53

In fact, the disciples show that this was accepted.

00:34:56

They commit this thing

00:34:57

that might feel like a faux pas to us.

00:34:59

But this is what they say.

00:35:00

It says His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned,

00:35:04

this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

00:35:07

The baseline assumption at this moment was that

00:35:10

this man's exclusion, this man's label as an outsider,

00:35:14

this man who was forced to live in the doorway

00:35:16

but not go through it,

00:35:17

that was completely, 100% justified.

00:35:20

Disciples assume either he messed up

00:35:22

or his parents messed up. Which one is it?

00:35:24

And the crazy part is that Jesus responds

00:35:26

and He says neither one.

00:35:29

And then He does the most wild thing,

00:35:30

He bends down to the ground, He scoops up some dust,

00:35:34

He spits in it, rubs it together, makes mud,

00:35:38

puts the mud on the guy's eyes and says,

00:35:41

"Go wash it off in the pool of Siloam."

00:35:44

Now the pool of Siloam was a mile away.

00:35:47

The blind guy has to make it down those steps,

00:35:48

through the crowd, a mile to the pool.

00:35:54

And he does. He gets to the pool.

00:35:57

He kneels down. He scoops up water.

00:35:59

He rubs his eyes. He washes all the mud out.

00:36:01

And then he blinks and he opens his eyes

00:36:04

and the craziest things happen,

00:36:05

for the first time in his life he can see.

00:36:10

He was born blind.

00:36:12

He's lived decades and he can see.

00:36:15

Imagine being this man.

00:36:18

Where would you go if you could suddenly see?

00:36:21

He has heard his mother's voice.

00:36:22

He's never seen her face.

00:36:24

Would you run home to see mom?

00:36:26

Would you run home to see dad?

00:36:29

Would you run to the ocean?

00:36:30

Maybe you've heard the crashing waves,

00:36:32

but you've never seen the expanse

00:36:34

and the vastness of the waters themselves.

00:36:36

You've just heard the sound. Would you go see the ocean?

00:36:39

Would you climb on top of the tallest mountain

00:36:41

to see your first ever sunset?

00:36:42

Where would you go? What would you see?

00:36:46

What's fascinating is this man

00:36:47

didn't do any of those things.

00:36:50

Well, what did he do?

00:36:51

John 9:7: So he went and washed and came back seeing.

00:36:59

The first thing the man born blind does

00:37:02

when he can see is go back to the door. Why?

00:37:09

Because the man thinks for the first time in his life,

00:37:11

he's finally going to get access.

00:37:13

He's going to move from an outsider to an insider.

00:37:17

Now he can see. Now he's allowed inside the door.

00:37:21

But when he gets there, these Pharisees,

00:37:23

these religious excluders, they don't welcome him in.

00:37:27

They're like, "Oh, awesome. You can see.

00:37:28

Welcome on in. Hey, let me, let me get the door for you.

00:37:32

Here you go. Get in." That doesn't happen.

00:37:34

Instead, they ask him questions.

00:37:35

They're like, how could this happen? Who did this to you?

00:37:38

They start putting the pieces together

00:37:39

and then they zero in on this detail of the law

00:37:42

called the Sabbath.

00:37:44

And you're not supposed to work on the Sabbath.

00:37:46

And they go, "Well, if Jesus healed you on the Sabbath,

00:37:49

I mean, healing is work technically.

00:37:51

And so that's not okay.

00:37:53

And you, you walked a mile to the pool.

00:37:55

I mean, that's also work. That's not okay.

00:37:59

And so in fact, you are no longer allowed in the door,"

00:38:03

and they cast him out.

00:38:08

It's hard for us to understand in modern circles

00:38:10

what this means, cast him out.

00:38:12

It is an official declaration over his life

00:38:15

that now excludes him, now locks every single door in his face.

00:38:21

He's immediately, religiously excluded.

00:38:23

Not only can he not be in the door anymore,

00:38:25

now he can't go into the synagogue,

00:38:27

the local congregation, not allowed there.

00:38:30

And because he's cast out,

00:38:31

now he's lost his entire economic status, gone,

00:38:34

economic doors locked.

00:38:36

No one's going to hire him. No one's going to pay him.

00:38:38

No one's going to give him money as a beggar anymore.

00:38:40

Completely gone.

00:38:41

And the social door was locked in his face,

00:38:44

even his closest relationships.

00:38:46

If you read the story, the Pharisees,

00:38:47

they go find his parents and they're like,

00:38:49

"You explain this to us. What happened here?"

00:38:51

And his parents throw up their hands

00:38:54

out of fear of being excluded themselves.

00:38:57

And they go, "We don't know. He's an adult. Ask him."

00:38:59

Like, good job, Mom and Dad. Thank you.

00:39:01

What awesome parents.

00:39:04

He is completely, 100% locked out

00:39:08

of everything that matters in his life.

00:39:13

Have you ever had a moment

00:39:15

of feeling like you finally arrived?

00:39:19

Like you finally did the thing,

00:39:20

accomplished the thing, got the thing

00:39:22

that's going to unlock the door to you,

00:39:24

whatever the door is that you want to get in.

00:39:26

And you go, "I'm finally going to arrive,"

00:39:29

only to go through the door and discover

00:39:31

there's another one and it's still shut to you?

00:39:34

Like you ever got a promotion to that level

00:39:37

that you wanted to get to, you worked at it for years

00:39:39

and you finally get the promotion

00:39:41

and you get in that door. And what do you discover?

00:39:43

There's another door.

00:39:45

And inside of that room, that's where

00:39:47

the real decisions are made and you're not allowed in.

00:39:51

Maybe you're in college and you join the club,

00:39:53

you finally get membership,

00:39:54

you're accepted into the thing.

00:39:55

And what you discover is inside of that door,

00:39:58

there are cliques, and you're not in them.

00:40:01

You go to the mom's group, you meet some friends,

00:40:03

and it's really awesome.

00:40:04

What you discover inside the moms group

00:40:06

is there's like this unofficial group of moms

00:40:08

who really matter, who really decide things,

00:40:10

who really set the tone and the pace

00:40:11

and the culture and all those things.

00:40:13

And you're not included.

00:40:16

It doesn't even matter what level of life you reach,

00:40:18

the C-suite, you finally make the C-suite,

00:40:21

and you discover that being the boss

00:40:24

is maybe the most isolated, excluded position

00:40:27

in the entire company because you don't --

00:40:29

You know who doesn't get invited to the lunch table

00:40:32

where friendships and alliances are actually formed?

00:40:36

The boss.

00:40:39

See, the dirty secret of life is that none of us,

00:40:43

no matter who you are and what you accomplish,

00:40:45

what it says on your resume, your office door, anything,

00:40:47

none of us ever feel like we make it all the way in.

00:40:55

Why?

00:40:57

One of the greatest thinkers of the last hundred years,

00:41:00

I don't think just Christian thinkers,

00:41:02

I just think thinkers, period, is C.S. Lewis.

00:41:05

He lived back in England and was kind of at his height

00:41:08

in the 1930s, '40s, '50s, did lots of writing,

00:41:11

lots of lots of speaking.

00:41:12

And he had this concept he called the Inner Ring.

00:41:16

He said, the Inner Ring is the unofficial group

00:41:20

inside of every other group, every church,

00:41:22

every neighborhood, every business,

00:41:23

every club has an Inner Ring.

00:41:26

And Lewis said the phenomenon in the Inner Ring

00:41:28

works like this: you get in

00:41:30

and you discover the Inner Ring exists.

00:41:32

And if you can somehow get into that Inner Ring,

00:41:34

what you discover is is another Inner Ring

00:41:36

inside of that one. It's like the temple.

00:41:38

You want the life. You want to get close.

00:41:40

But you discover after every door you get through,

00:41:42

there's yet another one in the way,

00:41:44

and therefore you never feel like you make it all the way in.

00:41:51

Now, Lewis said the danger is not

00:41:52

the existence of the ring itself.

00:41:54

The ring is neutral. Fact of life.

00:41:56

This is. It doesn't matter if you like it,

00:41:57

if you don't like it. This is how stuff works.

00:41:59

You know it's how it works. You can't change that.

00:42:01

He said the real danger is what you and I will do

00:42:06

in order to gain access.

00:42:08

At a fundamental level, we know that every door

00:42:10

we want to get through whatever, whatever it is,

00:42:12

there is a price to pay to get inside.

00:42:16

And at some moment the craving for belonging

00:42:19

is so hardwired into us that

00:42:21

if we don't feel like we belong,

00:42:22

we're willing to pay the price, whatever it costs.

00:42:25

Costs us our integrity. We'll blur the lines a little bit.

00:42:30

Costs us turning a blind eye to something we know is wrong.

00:42:34

We'll just kind of look the other way.

00:42:36

And Lewis says over time, these micro compromises

00:42:39

change who we are.

00:42:41

In a speech called The Inner Ring, he said:

00:42:43

Of all passions the passion for the Inner Ring

00:42:48

is most skillful in making a man

00:42:50

who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things.

00:42:56

See this hunger that all of us have for belonging,

00:42:58

it can be the most destructive craving in our life.

00:43:01

More destructive than the craving for money,

00:43:05

more destructive than the craving for power,

00:43:07

more destructive than the craving for sex.

00:43:09

Because we have to have to have to have this one filled.

00:43:14

Nothing else in life creates competition, corruption,

00:43:18

and compromise more efficiently and more effectively

00:43:22

than this craving for belonging.

00:43:25

And so for this blind man,

00:43:27

the moment where he goes back to the door

00:43:29

that he desperately wants to get inside

00:43:31

and is turned away, this is the most vulnerable moment

00:43:34

of the man's entire life.

00:43:37

More vulnerable than the decades he spent unable to see.

00:43:40

Why? Because in this moment,

00:43:43

think of what he was tempted to do.

00:43:45

Think of what might have happened in his life.

00:43:47

He would have had one of two reactions,

00:43:49

the same reactions that we have when we feel excluded.

00:43:51

Some of us, when we feel excluded, we're like,

00:43:53

"You know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna bust that door down."

00:43:55

We have this fight response.

00:43:56

"I'm going to go to the door and I'm going to knock.

00:43:59

I'm going to bang on.

00:44:00

I'm going to make my body the way it's supposed to be,

00:44:02

make my bank account the way it's supposed to be,

00:44:04

make my look the way it's supposed to be.

00:44:05

And then I'm going to get inside of that door."

00:44:07

We have this fight response.

00:44:09

And then others of us, oftentimes

00:44:11

because we've fought the fight and it didn't work,

00:44:15

our response is to withdraw more and more and more over time.

00:44:21

We just kind of give up.

00:44:24

We stop trying to be the vibrant, connected,

00:44:27

impactful person that God designed us to be.

00:44:30

We just kind of quit and we end up isolated.

00:44:35

This is many men. Many men fall into this trap.

00:44:38

We give up. You ask us who our best friends are.

00:44:41

And we're like, "Uh, my neighbor Tim,

00:44:43

I forget his last name. Um, and then, uh,

00:44:48

Johnny's dad on my kid's kids baseball team.

00:44:50

Don't know his name either, but he's one of my best friends."

00:44:52

You know, like your best friend? What?

00:44:55

It's because we withdraw.

00:44:57

We've decided to give up on this thing called belonging.

00:44:59

Now, no matter which place you find yourself in,

00:45:02

whether you're the fighter still

00:45:03

or whether you're the person who's withdrawn

00:45:05

and found yourself isolated, both of those responses

00:45:08

are motivated by the same fear,

00:45:10

the fear that I will never belong.

00:45:14

And when Jesus comes, He says I'm the door,

00:45:16

He's coming against that fear,

00:45:21

the one that's driving you nuts,

00:45:23

the one that wants to corrupt your life,

00:45:25

the one that wants you to believe a lie

00:45:28

and to steal life from you.

00:45:32

Now, amazingly, we'll never know

00:45:34

what the blind man's response was,

00:45:35

whether it was fight or whether it was withdrawal.

00:45:37

Because in this most vulnerable moment of his life,

00:45:41

Jesus, God Himself performs an unexpected miracle,

00:45:48

one that I would actually argue is more powerful,

00:45:50

more profound than Him healing the man's blindness.

00:45:53

Because in this moment where the man is cast out,

00:45:56

God Himself goes to find him.

00:46:00

This is how the story picks up in John 9:36.

00:46:03

Jesus heard that they had cast him out,

00:46:07

and having found him he said,

00:46:11

"Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

00:46:13

He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"

00:46:17

Jesus said to him, "You have seen Him,

00:46:19

and it is He who is speaking to you."

00:46:22

He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped Him.

00:46:27

He worshiped Him.

00:46:28

Now what's incredible is that after

00:46:30

the man was healed of blindness, the Pharisees come

00:46:32

and they're like, "What do you think about Jesus?

00:46:34

Who is He? "And the guy's like, "I don't know.

00:46:36

I mean, all I know is I could not see.

00:46:39

And then I can see.

00:46:41

And so maybe He's a prophet. I'm not really sure."

00:46:43

Gives this kind of safe answer.

00:46:46

But after the door Himself, after God Himself

00:46:49

goes and finds him when he's been cast out,

00:46:51

that's the moment, that's the miracle

00:46:53

that has more power in this man's life

00:46:55

and unlocks him to see for the first time this is God.

00:46:58

Because the kind of God I want

00:46:59

is not the God who sits at the door and turns people away,

00:47:03

the God who grades report cards

00:47:04

and sends you back down the stairs.

00:47:05

The kind of guy that I want is the kind of guy who says,

00:47:08

"If you just come to me, I'll let you in.

00:47:10

In fact, even when you get cast out,

00:47:13

even when you're far away, I am the door who moves to you."

00:47:17

See, this is the most beautiful part of the portrait.

00:47:20

Jesus is the only door who moves,

00:47:24

who goes to find you when you've been locked out.

00:47:28

[applause]

00:47:33

You know He'll find you when you're far away.

00:47:37

He'll find you when you're withdrawn.

00:47:40

He'll find you when you've given up.

00:47:43

He'll find you in the bar.

00:47:45

He'll find you in the wrong bed.

00:47:48

He'll find you when you're putting together

00:47:49

that tax return that doesn't match tax reality.

00:47:51

He'll find you when everybody else has given up on you

00:47:54

and turned you away.

00:47:55

He will come and He will find you and say,

00:47:57

"Why don't you come in with me?" He'll find you.

00:48:02

He'll find you when you're the only guy in Norway

00:48:05

doesn't know how to roll on beat.

00:48:06

He'll find you. Doesn't matter.

00:48:09

Everybody else looks at you weird.

00:48:10

He's like, "No, no, I am, I am for you. I'm for you."

00:48:17

He goes and finds the man, and then,

00:48:20

then we can understand John 10, then.

00:48:23

It says: Jesus again said to them, the Pharisees,

00:48:29

He turns to them.

00:48:30

He puts a finger out in their faces

00:48:32

and in an angry voice He says, "Truly, truly,

00:48:36

I say to you, I am the door.

00:48:38

I am the door of the sheep.

00:48:40


00:48:43

but the sheep didn't listen to them. I am the door."

00:48:47

He says, "You're the thieves and you're the robbers.

00:48:49

You're stealing life from people

00:48:50

because you're keeping them away from God.

00:48:52

You're inventing these systems of religious exclusion

00:48:55

in which certain good people get in,

00:48:56

and everybody else, all the bad people get out."

00:48:59

He says that's not the heart of God.

00:49:00

He's mad at them.

00:49:02

Later on, when he says the thief comes

00:49:04

only to steal, kill and destroy,

00:49:05

He's not talking about Satan.

00:49:07

He's talking about these people,

00:49:09

this group of Pharisees who have kept people

00:49:12

on the outside, who steal, kill and destroy by excluding.

00:49:18

This isn't the only time Jesus has this conversation with them.

00:49:21

Matthew 23, you go in there, man, it is a read.

00:49:25

Jesus does the seven woes to the Pharisees.

00:49:28

Bad to be a Pharisee.

00:49:29

He's like seven problems I have with you guys.

00:49:32

Woe to you. One of them is this one. Matthew 23:13.

00:49:36

He says, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,

00:49:39

you hypocrites!

00:49:41

You shut the door of the Kingdom of heaven in people's faces.

00:49:46

You yourselves do not enter,

00:49:48

nor will you let those enter who are trying to."

00:49:51

The Greek word for shut is to completely bar and lock.

00:49:54

It's 100% exclusion and Jesus hates it.

00:49:58

He hates all systems of religious exclusion.

00:50:01

Completely hates it.

00:50:03

And I know the bummer is that many churches can feel this way.

00:50:06

Many churches have been this way.

00:50:08

Maybe you've encountered them before in your life.

00:50:10

Places where if you don't measure up,

00:50:11

if you've done the wrong things,

00:50:13

you don't vote the right the right way,

00:50:14

you don't talk the right way, you're not welcome in.

00:50:17

Jesus goes, "No, that's not my Kingdom.

00:50:19

That's just slamming the door in people's faces."

00:50:23

It's why we work very, very hard at Crossroads

00:50:27

to be a place where you can truly belong before you believe.

00:50:30

It's a real place for real people.

00:50:32

We say all these things and we mean all these things.

00:50:34

We mean it.

00:50:40

I've been going around to our sites,

00:50:42

spending a lot of time with our site staff

00:50:44

and our site volunteers, and just experiencing

00:50:46

Crossroads through their eyes,

00:50:48

and it's been so incredibly encouraging.

00:50:50

I just want you to know if you're at a site today

00:50:52

or if you're watching online,

00:50:53

this is true of the Anywhere team.

00:50:55

Our teams exist at sites, our Anywhere team exists

00:50:58

in order to help you belong. That's it.

00:51:01

This church is a spiritual family and no one,

00:51:03

no one, no one is excluded.

00:51:05

If you've come and you want to be part of it,

00:51:06

you might be overwhelmed, like, this is so big.

00:51:08

How could I ever belong? Easy.

00:51:10

Go to the welcome center. Find someone in a lanyard.

00:51:12

They will help you.

00:51:14

Nothing breaks our hearts more than to hear stories

00:51:17

of people who come and they struggle to connect.

00:51:20

We want to help you. We want to help you.

00:51:22

In fact, your site team is full of people

00:51:24

who could be making more money in a corporate job,

00:51:26

have taken a pay cut. Why?

00:51:27

Because they exist to help you belong.

00:51:31

That's the point.

00:51:32

The point of a church is to help people belong,

00:51:35

create that sense.

00:51:37

Jesus hates ungodly exclusion, hates it, hates it, hates it.

00:51:42

But we have to deal with something.

00:51:45

You know that Jesus is also, at the same time,

00:51:48

radically exclusive.

00:51:51

Notice He says I am the door.

00:51:54

Not I am a door, many options come through me,

00:51:57

or you know, any other door that

00:51:59

you kind of like the shape and color of.

00:52:01

It's not what He says. He says, I am the door.

00:52:05

The only one that truly leads in.

00:52:09

John 10:9: I am the door.

00:52:12


00:52:16


00:52:20

See, He's exclusive, but there's a promise

00:52:22

on the other side of it of being included

00:52:24

and having access to the things you want most.

00:52:27

In our modern world, we're trained to respond

00:52:30

to the word exclusive negatively and inclusive positively.

00:52:35

And that can cause problems because on the surface,

00:52:37

some things present as inclusive and they're not,

00:52:39

and some things present as exclusive,

00:52:41

and they're actually not.

00:52:43

Many of us have seen groups all over the place

00:52:46

in our culture, groups that present as inclusive,

00:52:48

but we know our experience shows us

00:52:50

when we get inside the groups, if we step out of line,

00:52:53

you start talking the wrong way,

00:52:54

start thinking the wrong way, start voting the wrong way,

00:52:56

start dressing the wrong way, you are excluded.

00:52:59

It's like we include you until you're not exactly like us,

00:53:02

then you're exclusive. You're excluded from us.

00:53:06

Jesus is the opposite.

00:53:07

He's like, "Look, I'm the only way in.

00:53:09

It's just me. I'm not saying that's a bum you out.

00:53:12

I'm not saying that to be unkind to you.

00:53:13

I'm saying that to give you clarity.

00:53:15

Stop looking everywhere else. I'm the way in.

00:53:17

But when you come to me, there's no, like, resume check.

00:53:22

There's no pedigree check. There's no behavior check.

00:53:26

It's just come to to me. And when you do,"

00:53:29

He says, "I will give you two things exclusively:

00:53:32

safety and salvation, freedom and fulfillment."

00:53:36

Jesus said, you will be saved.

00:53:38

See, He's the only door that offers salvation and safety.

00:53:41

That's why you crave belonging in part

00:53:44

because you want that sense of safety.

00:53:47

One of the problems that we have in our modern world

00:53:49

imagining this scene of the sheep and the gates

00:53:52

and the whole, the whole whole situation,

00:53:53

the shepherd, the whole thing is that we imagine farms.

00:53:56

You know, you're in Lexington, you imagine a horse farm.

00:53:59

You're up in Columbus, Dayton,

00:54:01

you're around Cincinnati area, you probably imagine

00:54:03

like other kinds of farms, maybe a pig farm,

00:54:06

I don't know, in Porkopolis, Cincinnati.

00:54:08

You've got neat fences, barns with doors on them.

00:54:13

And we think that that's shepherding.

00:54:15

No, that's farming, farmers farming, shepherds shepherding.

00:54:19

Still to this day, if you go to the Middle East,

00:54:21

what you'll find is not fences and structures.

00:54:23

You'll find herds of sheep and goats

00:54:26

off in the wilderness and a shepherd with them.

00:54:29

And at night with that shepherd does is he takes them

00:54:31

to a natural enclosure. Caves work amazing.

00:54:34

And that becomes the sheep pen for the night.

00:54:37

One of the greatest Old Testament scholars of all time,

00:54:42

George Adam Smith.

00:54:43

He was in the Middle East and he saw this play out.

00:54:46

And there's a book called The Good Shepherd.

00:54:49

In it, the author tells this story.

00:54:52

He says: The man showed him the fold

00:54:54

into which the sheep were led at night.

00:54:56

It consisted of four walls, with a way in.

00:55:00

Sir George said to him, "That is where they go at night?'

00:55:03

"Yes," said the shepherd, "and when they are in there

00:55:07

they are perfectly safe."

00:55:09

"But there's no door," said Sir George.

00:55:13

"I am the door," said the shepherd.

00:55:16

He was not a Christian man,

00:55:18

he was not speaking the language of the New Testament.

00:55:20

He was speaking from the Arab Shepherd's standpoint.

00:55:24

Sir George looked at him and said,

00:55:26

"What do you mean by the door?"

00:55:29

Said the Shepherd, "When the light has gone,

00:55:33

and all the sheep are inside, I lie in the open space,

00:55:38

and no sheep ever goes out but across my body,

00:55:42

and no wolf comes in unless he crosses my body;

00:55:45

I am the door."

00:55:49

This is Jesus.

00:55:50

When He says, "I am the door of the sheep," He's saying,

00:55:53

"I lay across the entrance.

00:55:55

I am safety. I am security.

00:55:57

I will protect you.

00:55:59

No one will steal your sense of belonging.

00:56:00

No one will steal your place at the table.

00:56:02

No one can harm you. They have to cross me."

00:56:06

But here's the kicker.

00:56:07

The point isn't to live your life inside the sheep pen.

00:56:13

It's not. Right now, if you're at a site,

00:56:15

you're in a sheep pen. This is a sheep pen.

00:56:17

Welcome. Hope you get food.

00:56:18

Hope you get water. Hope you get shelter.

00:56:20

Hope you get recharged.

00:56:21

The point is not to live inside.

00:56:23

The point is to go out.

00:56:26

See what happens when you have your sense,

00:56:27

your craving for belonging satisfied by Jesus

00:56:31

is that you're supposed to then, as a satisfied,

00:56:33

no more craving person,

00:56:35

go create belonging for other people.

00:56:36

You're supposed to be the outsider

00:56:38

who became an insider and goes back out.

00:56:41

That's the point of church.

00:56:43

That's why we do Go Day.

00:56:45

That's why we do Go Trips.

00:56:47

That's why so many people give and serve here,

00:56:49

to help create this place, this family

00:56:51

that anybody can belong to.

00:56:54

Jesus actually says that's where you'll find pasture.

00:56:58

John 10:10 says: The thief comes only to steal,

00:57:00

kill and destroy.

00:57:01

I have come that they may have life

00:57:04

and have it abundantly.

00:57:07

That pasture kind of a life.

00:57:08

It's where you find freedom and fulfillment.

00:57:10

Jesus says I'm the only door that actually leads

00:57:13

to freedom and fulfillment.

00:57:14

And when you start creating belonging for other people,

00:57:17

when you go back out, that's when you'll be fulfilled.

00:57:21

Listen, my life changed in my early 20s.

00:57:24

I struggled to feel like I belong.

00:57:25

I've told these stories before.

00:57:26

I moved a lot as a kid, and so it was hard to feel

00:57:28

like I was ever really in because every group

00:57:30

that I would join, I'd find the Inner Ring.

00:57:33

I'd go, ah, dang, now I got to get into that.

00:57:35

And then, oh no, there's another one.

00:57:37

It just, it just wore on me.

00:57:39

But everything flipped when I finally believed

00:57:41

that Jesus was the door, that I was finally welcome

00:57:44

into the family of God, I had a place at the table

00:57:46

no matter what I did and no judgment,

00:57:49

all those things, it completely changed.

00:57:50

And I started making my life

00:57:52

about creating belonging for other people.

00:57:54

I'm telling you, it's the most satisfying life

00:57:56

you can possibly live. It is, it is.

00:58:00

Pasture isn't found huddled up in the pen.

00:58:02

It's found going out to reach other people.

00:58:07

Now the door, the door does have a key.

00:58:09

It's the last thing we need to talk about.

00:58:11

The door has a key.

00:58:13

See, there's one door and there's one way in.

00:58:18

You don't get in by listing your accomplishments.

00:58:21

You don't get in because your grandma

00:58:23

was such an incredible Christian woman.

00:58:26

There's no pedigree check.

00:58:28

You only get in one way: you have to humble yourself.

00:58:33

It's the only way.

00:58:35

One of the most famous stories involving Jesus

00:58:37

is the story of the rich young ruler.

00:58:38

It comes from Mark 10.

00:58:39

This guy walks up to Jesus.

00:58:40

He's got all the money in the world

00:58:42

and money opens doors, right?

00:58:44

So every door has opened to this guy.

00:58:45

He just he pays the price and he gets into the club.

00:58:48

He's part of that exclusive group.

00:58:50

He can pay, he can pay the price.

00:58:51

And he gets to Jesus and he says, "Hey,

00:58:52

there's one last door I can't figure out how to get in

00:58:55

called eternal life, the Kingdom of heaven.

00:58:59

How do I get into that door?"

00:59:02

This is Jesus's response, Mark 10:21:

00:59:05

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him,

00:59:08

and said to him, "You lack one thing:

00:59:12

go, sell all that you have and give to the poor,

00:59:15

and you will have treasure in heaven;

00:59:17

and come, follow me."

00:59:20

He says, you're missing something.

00:59:22

He tells him to give away all of his stuff.

00:59:23

Like, why would Jesus do that?

00:59:25

You know, is Jesus out of money?

00:59:26

Like really kind of He's like, man,

00:59:28

we need more bread, we need more wine.

00:59:30

And I, you know, kind of --

00:59:31

No, He made bread, made wine. This wasn't a cash grab.

00:59:34

He says, :You're lacking something.

00:59:36

And the reason you lack it is because

00:59:38

of what you're holding in your hand.

00:59:39

All the money, all your accomplishments,

00:59:41

and you got to empty all that stuff."

00:59:43

Jesus is trying to free the man

00:59:45

of trying to pay his way in and earn his way in.

00:59:48

He's trying to empty his hand so that

00:59:49

he would have the one thing he lacks: humility.

00:59:54

See, all of us: rich, poor, young, old, all of us.

00:59:57

Jesus says the only way in

00:59:58

is to walk up to the door like a child,

01:00:01

nothing in your hands, nothing to offer.

01:00:04

Matthew 18:3 Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you,

01:00:07

unless you turn and become like children,

01:00:11

you will never enter door, enter the Kingdom of heaven.

01:00:16

Whoever humbles himself like this child

01:00:19

is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven."

01:00:21

Isn't it interesting that the God who came to us

01:00:25

as a child demands we come to Him the same way?

01:00:30

To this day you can go to Bethlehem,

01:00:32

you can visit the Church of the Nativity,

01:00:34

which is the place where Jesus was most likely born.

01:00:37

If you go there, there's actually a hole in the ground

01:00:39

marking the spot where the manger was.

01:00:41

Doesn't look like it looked back then,

01:00:43

but you can put your hand in this hole

01:00:46

and feel the stone where the manger would have laid.

01:00:49

And this is one of those sites that we can say,

01:00:51

"This is 99.9% certainty, where the manger actually was."

01:00:58

The historical record on this goes way, way bac,

01:01:00

k the year 135 A.D., the Roman Emperor Hadrian

01:01:03

had a temple to Adonis built over this site

01:01:05

because people had been worshiping at this site

01:01:07

since Jesus was was crucified.

01:01:09

They went back and they went, this is where it happened.

01:01:11

And they started worshiping him right then and right there.

01:01:14

And so we can say, this is where it happened.

01:01:17

Now, interestingly, when you go to the Church of the Nativity,

01:01:21

there's only one door in,

01:01:24

and it's this one on the outside.

01:01:26

It's this tiny little child sized door.

01:01:31

The only way for an adult to enter

01:01:33

is to bow in humility and walk through.

01:01:35

It's called the door of humility.

01:01:40

See, if you walk up to Jesus, if you make it to the door,

01:01:42

He's not interested in you reading off your resume,

01:01:44

He's not interested in trying to earn your way in.

01:01:46

He says the only way in the door, the only key,

01:01:49

is will you humble yourself? Will you humble yourself?

01:01:54

Will you recognize there's a price to pay

01:01:56

and you can never pay it?

01:01:58

But he did. He's the door.

01:02:00

He says, "I already paid your ticket.

01:02:03

I already got your cover charge.

01:02:04

It's taken care of. It's paid for."

01:02:06

Will you come to Him like a child?

01:02:08

Will you humble yourself? Will you humble yourself?

01:02:13

We're going to do a moment right now.

01:02:14

You know, Jesus says the the goal that He has for us

01:02:17

is that we would conform to His image.

01:02:20

And that includes this image, the image of the door.

01:02:23

So I want you to close your eyes wherever you are,

01:02:25

close your eyes right now.

01:02:27

And I want you to imagine a door.

01:02:31

Now the question is, which side of the door

01:02:35

are you picturing yourself on?

01:02:37

Are you on the inside or are you on the outside?

01:02:42

I want you to assume the image in your mind

01:02:44

is from God and it means something.

01:02:48

If you're on the outside,

01:02:51

I want you to stop and consider why.

01:02:58

Is it because even after years and years

01:03:01

of believing in Jesus, something in you

01:03:03

still feels like you don't measure up?

01:03:07

It's because you think He's going to do a resume check,

01:03:09

and He knows that you say you've prayed for people,

01:03:11

but you know,

01:03:12

you haven't actually really prayed for people.

01:03:14

What is it?

01:03:17

If it's that, just just tell Him how you feel.

01:03:22

His response to you, by the way,

01:03:23

is going to be, "You know there's no price.

01:03:26

Come on in the door."

01:03:29

Tell Him you want to walk in.

01:03:31

Maybe you're in a place in your life

01:03:33

where you've you've never believed in Him,

01:03:34

you've struggled because God has seemed like

01:03:37

those Pharisees, these excluders, these judgers.

01:03:43

But you've seen a different picture today.

01:03:46

If that's you, you can say what the blind man said.

01:03:48

You can just say, "I believe."

01:03:50

Just make that your simple prayer to God right now.

01:03:58

Now, if you've imagined the door

01:03:59

and you imagine yourself on the inside,

01:04:03

ask God if there's anybody on the outside

01:04:07

He wants you to go to to create belonging for them.

01:04:12

Ask Him to put a picture of them in your mind right now.

01:04:18

Maybe it's a neighbor, coworker,

01:04:23

family member you lost contact with

01:04:27

and commit to Him right now that you'll go out,

01:04:31

that you want to conform to Him, His image,

01:04:33

that you want to be the door that moves,

01:04:36

that goes to them.

01:04:39

Let me pray for you.

01:04:40

God, thank You so much for these images

01:04:43

that explain who You are that we can see.

01:04:47

We can see You, God.

01:04:48

Help us to all walk through the door.

01:04:50

Help us to find 100% of our need for belonging in You.

01:04:55

And Lord, send us out.

01:04:56

May we be the church who goes out,

01:04:59

who creates places of belonging

01:05:01

for the most outsiders of outsiders, people like us.

01:05:04

Lord, thank You for doing that work for us.

01:05:07

We love You. Amen. Amen.

01:05:10

- Hey, if today's message reminded you

01:05:12

that following Jesus

01:05:13

isn't something you're meant to do alone,

01:05:16

I've got good news and an invitation

01:05:18

for all of our Anywhere friends. Yes, that is you.

01:05:21

If you don't have a Crossroads building nearby,

01:05:23

or Anywhere is simply your home church,

01:05:27

this week is for you. Tell em, Jordan.

01:05:29

- That's right. So from August 28-30,

01:05:32

we're taking Anywhere on the road

01:05:34

to the Sandusky, Ohio area.

01:05:36

It's a chance to turn the names and the faces

01:05:38

you see on the screen into real friendships

01:05:41

with great conversations, shared meals,

01:05:43

plenty of laughter, and we've kept it really simple.

01:05:46

So once you get to Sandusky,

01:05:47

we'll take care of the rest.

01:05:49

That's lodging, meals, worship, sessions,

01:05:52

all the activities.

01:05:53

Just register ahead of time so that we can plan for you.

01:05:56

- That's right. So registration closes August 21st.

01:05:59

And if getting there feels like a stretch for any reason,

01:06:03

reach out, we'd love to see you there.

01:06:05

Register today at crossroads.net/anywhere101.

01:06:10

Hey, thanks for spending part of your weekend with us.

01:06:12

Have a great week and these doors will be open

01:06:15

for you next weekend.

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