The Endurance to Last | Unbreakable Week 3

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Welcome to episode three of Unbreakable.

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Why are we in the dessert and will we ever get out?

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Let's start at the beginning.

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Hello and welcome to Crossroads,

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which comes to you today from one of

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the harshest and most unforgiving environment

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on all of planet Earth, the desert.

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Blazing sun and scorching heat by day,

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bitter cold and frigid temperatures at night,

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biting wind pretty much all the time.

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So why am I here? What's in this box?

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We're here in the desert

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because I know you are in the desert.

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Good news, we don't have to stay here.

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In fact, at Crossroads, we exist to guide you

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out of the personal desert you find yourself in

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To the adventurous life that God has made you for.

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I hiked all the way from Ohio.

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Do you want to know why you're here?

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Yes, I would love to know why.

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Each week, our teachers will deliver

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a powerful message using the book of Exodus.

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- We're in a dessert.

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- Wandering in the dessert. - Follow the map I've given

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them and complete surprise challenges along the way.

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- So we're not just preaching, we're actually doing things.

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So what's this?

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Today, can Brian remember just one of The Ten Commandments?

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Will Alli give us the endurance to last?

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And will Chuck ever get out of the desert?

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Let's find out right now.

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You are on one of three journeys with God

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right this very minute, and today I'm going

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to help you figure out which one of those you're on

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and tell you how to make it out.

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Because all three of these journeys

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pass through the desert

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and some of us are not going to make it.

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We're going to get hot, tired, discouraged.

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We're going to give up somewhere along the way.

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And I don't want that to be you.

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I want you to make it out.

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And they're also the journeys that God took

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the nation of Israel on when they came out

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of slavery from the nation of Egypt.

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We read about their history in the Book of Exodus.

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This is a story about a huge extended family

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that got rescued out of slavery.

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And they probably thought, like you and I would,

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that the point of escaping slavery would be

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to go live free in a better place.

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And, yeah, God wanted them to have that, too.

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But He actually had some other things in mind.

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Some things that took them on a 40 year detour

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through the desert and, man, I hope today

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helps you get out a little quicker than they did.

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(record scratch)

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Oh, hey. - Ok, Alli, time to open it up.

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Have I told you how much I don't like surprises?

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- Yeah, yeah. - I've mentioned that?

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- You're going to love it, I promise. - Okay.

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- Go ahead. - All right, let's see what's in here.

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I don't like surprises.

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OK, this is a story from someone watching right now.

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They're in a desert in their life

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and your job is to teach your message to them

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and help them get out of the desert.

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2020 began a real desert in my life.

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My career that I was so passionate about

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and my job disappeared overnight due to COVID

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and it isn't coming back anytime soon.

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My boyfriend and I were talking about marriage

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until he broke up with me out of the blue.

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My entire life was taken away

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and I honestly don't want to live anymore.

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Everything feels hopeless and empty.

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Can you help me find a new purpose

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in the middle of a pandemic

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and to heal my broken heart now? From Elizabeth.

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Elizabeth, I have such good news for you today.

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You want to take this?

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I have such good news for you today.

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One of these journeys

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is exactly the journey that you are on.

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I feel your desert. I really do.

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And journey number three is just for you.

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I can't wait to tell you what that's about.

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And we're not going to start there,

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so you're going to have to wait

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for just a couple of minutes because

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your journey is journey number three.

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But the first journey that Israel

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took through the desert was actually

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called a journey of trust.

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And maybe, maybe someone else watching

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is on that journey today.

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This journey I call a journey of trust,

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because it's really fundamentally about going

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from my way of doing life to God's way.

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This is a journey from doing life

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according to my plans, on my timing, in my way

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to shifting to God's plans and God's timing

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and God's way.

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At the beginning of a journey like this,

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the journey of trust, we're frankly

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really not sure if we can trust God.

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We don't know Him too well,

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maybe not even sure He's actually there,

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or maybe just not sure if He is there

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that He's really very good.

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If you're on this journey, maybe you've heard

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people say things about God,

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but I would ask you today,

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do you believe those things for yourself?

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Israel needed to go on this journey.

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Right when they came out of Egypt,

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they left Egypt like in dramatic fashion.

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If you have been following the story,

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then you might remember that when they left Egypt,

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they left to plague's and the Red Sea parted,

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and victory over Pharaoh

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and all of his chariots and soldiers.

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And they're this ragtag people

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that escapes in dramatic fashion.

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But the first thing that happens

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when they come out of Egypt

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is they appear to make a wrong turn.

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So go with me here, God actually seems

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to lead them further away from the land

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that they have been promised.

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There was this land called Canaan

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that had been promised to their ancestors.

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And you can see here on the map

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when they leave Egypt, what they do is

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they come down and they cross the Red Sea to get out,

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but they don't move right across to Canaan.

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Instead, God actually takes them further away.

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He takes them on what looks like the wrong direction.

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They actually look like things are going worse for a time.

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Israel had no idea that God was

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not just interested in getting them as quickly

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and comfortably to their new destination as possible,

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because they were on a journey of trust.

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Out of college, I went to work

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at a company called Procter & Gamble.

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I was there about six years and I left,

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I actually left specifically

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to come to work at Crossroads.

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I felt like God was pushing me

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in a new direction in my life.

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And just like Israel, the prospect

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of escaping where I'd been and going somewhere new,

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like somewhere that felt freer to me seemed exciting.

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It even seemed like maybe I was getting closer

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to the life that God had for me,

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even if it felt scary to leave what I'd been doing.

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But what I didn't know, I had no idea,

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is that God didn't want me to reach my new destination.

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Less than two years

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after I started working at Crossroads,

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I felt a similar push from God.

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I felt a similar leading to leave,

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to leave the place that I thought He had led me

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and to go home and not work at all for an entire season.

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But I thought, like, seriously, how could this be?

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I thought I followed you here, God,

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I thought you were doing something.

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- Whao, whoa, wait. Okay.

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You keep talking about God leading you

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and you following Him.

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We did in Exodus and there's like burning bushes

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and pillars of fire and clouds.

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Was it like that? Is that what you mean?

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Was there a burning bush inside your house?

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Like, how did you know this is where God was taking?

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No, I mean, when I say that God was leading me,

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what I mean is that in spending time with God

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when I pray, I have friends that I connect with

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who might pray for me.

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I read the Bible.

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I just ask God honest questions sometimes

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and I wait for an answer.

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- Ok, no burning bushes?

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- That can come of all different ways.

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Yeah, no burning bushes,

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no voices from heaven in my life.

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- And that still God leading us?

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- Absolutely.

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- Ok, great. That was helpful. Thank you.

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Keep going. Sorry. Keep going.

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- So I think that I followed God to this new place

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only now it looks like I'm getting further away.

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How can this make any sense at all? This can't.

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But I was sure, I was really sure

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that I was supposed to leave the place

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that I thought I had just come to.

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This was the term that took me into my desert.

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My journey of trust began the day that

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God started leading me somewhere

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that wasn't what I expected,

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that in some ways looks like I was going to

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end up worse off and further away from

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what I thought I was going to go do.

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Israel felt this way.

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Just three days into the desert,

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just three days they traveled into the desert

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and they couldn't find any water.

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When they came to a place called Marah,

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they couldn't even drink the water there

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because it was bitter.

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So the people grumbled against Moses.

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That's what Exodus 15 says. It says:

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This was three days in after their miraculous rescue.

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Why in the world where God lead them

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to the very edge of basic survival?

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I mean, the human body,

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especially under these conditions,

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can only survive about three days without water.

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But God has an agenda.

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And His agenda went way beyond their quick arrival

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into a new comfy home.

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He wanted to force to the surface

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the real questions that they had about Him

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and the real questions that you and I

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have to deal with, too, is He really there?

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And if He is, will He be able to take care of me

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and will He?

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God wants us to confront these questions,

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not to deny them.

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He knows that you doubt Him

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when you're confused or unsatisfied

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or he's doing something you didn't expect.

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Listen, I stayed home for seven years without a job,

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and for about six of them,

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I was completely in the dark about

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whatever might take me back

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to the place I thought He was going to lead me.

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We can't live off of somebody else's experiences with God.

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He wants you to have your own.

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The journey of trust is the time that

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you go find out the answer to those questions,

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because the answer, spoiler, is yes, God is there

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and you can trust Him and He is kind enough

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to take the time to prove Himself to you,

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over and over if necessary.

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In the Book of Exodus,

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Israel had to repeat this journey several times,

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like water and food and lead.

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Will God actually be there to take care of my needs?

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Exodus 17 says that during this period of time,

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Israel moved from place to place

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just as the Lord commanded.

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It was almost like God was telling them,

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"Pick up. Now, go here," because

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the only way out of this desert is to follow.

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During the early weeks, just after their rescue,

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it was almost like God was having them practice,

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"Get up, move. Hear Me, follow. See me, go."

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In doing that, He surfaced their real questions.

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They didn't trust Him and they needed to see it.

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They needed the answer to can they really trust God

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and the only way to do that is to actually follow.

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I would tell you today, if you are praying,

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like I told Kyle, if you're praying,

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if you're seeking God, if you're asking questions,

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if you're getting counsel from other people

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in your life that are trying to follow God

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and you still think He's leading you

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to a place you didn't expect,

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a place that looks further away,

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you know what I would say?

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Follow Him there.

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A sure way to stay in the desert

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is to never actually follow.

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If you want to stay in the desert,

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you'll do it your way on your timing

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and you'll get there when you want to,

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instead of following the God who can lead you out.

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And He will lead you out

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and you can trust Him to do it,

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but only if you follow where He leads.

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The end of the journey of trust

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is not when we get to our new destination,

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not even close.

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The end of this journey is when we can

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confidently agree that God is the way,

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when we stop resisting where He's leading

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because we don't like it or we're confused.

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And instead we agree that His plans,

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His timing, His ways are better than our own.

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God is the way.

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- All right. - Challenge number three.

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- Challenge number three.

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I hope I get to use my telescope on this one.

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- I would love to use the sextant.

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I would love to know how to use the sextant, I mean.

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- I know, it's pretty intense.

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- Let me take this off. - Take off your cute backpack.

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- Yes. Yes. All right. We've got to open this up.

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It certainly wasn't -- we weren't helped with that at all.

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No, no. - We did it on our own.

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All right. All right. Let's see.

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We've got set in stone, week three challenge.

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In the Book of Exodus The Ten Commandments

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were smashed by Moses when he was enraged

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by the sight of the children of Israel

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worshiping a golden calf in Exodus 32:19.

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So he had to rewrite them, with God's help.

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You will have to carve just one commandment

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into stone using the tools provided.

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- Oh, my goodness. - Wow. All right.

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Let's see what we got here.

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Got some stones.

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- I don't know who set this up. - Wow.

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- I've done a good bit of construction. - Yeah.

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I've never actually carved something in stone. I don't--

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- I would imagine it's not the easiest --

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Oh. And there's different sizes. OK, so yeah.

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You need like intricacies to be able

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to do different letters.

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- All right. I mean this has something sharp on it.

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This is -- this is more like a set that you use.

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- OK, maybe. - How's it going, guys?

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- Well... - I don't see any carving there yet.

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- You're real like, you know, construct-y kind of guy,

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table building kind of guy.

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You ever carved anything?

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- Have you verified this can actually happen?

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Yeah, absolutely. Moses did it. You guys can do it.

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- Yeah. But here's the thing -- (crosstalk)

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- Moses didn't have a price tag on the back side either.

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This is not the exact kind of stone.

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-These are nice rocks. We got you guys the best.

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- All right. - OK? - Yes.

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We got you. Why don't you take a seat over here.

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- All right. All right. Well. - Why don't you sit down.

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Now, the thing that the instruction card

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didn't exactly tell you is that this is a contest.

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And if you want to know what you're going to get,

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right there, you guys ever see one of those before?

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Want to smell that? Smell it?

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- Oh. - Smell good? - Woo, smells great.

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- That right there is a world famous In-N-Out Burger.

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- That's what I thought. - With fries.

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Winner gets one of these.

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- In my mouth and out my butt. That's --

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So pick your -- (crosstalk)

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- I don't know if gotten to me, not you.

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- That was more detail than we needed, probably.

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Go ahead and think of your favorite commandment

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and start carving.

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While you do that, I'm going to sit right here.

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- I do wonder, before we start, if this is a race,

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I'm not sure you might be better off

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with that actual hammer. - Yeah.

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- I mean, this is like -- - Lightweight. You're right.

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This is like Kyle would use.

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- How about we check back in with Alli

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and see if she's off to a better start?

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The first journey was a journey of trust,

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but that wasn't the only thing that

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God wanted to do in the life of His people.

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Some weeks later, they found themselves

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further in the desert and Israel arrived

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at the place where their next journey

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was waiting for them.

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And this one was a journey called obedience.

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Life was not amazing for Israel

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right about now in the desert.

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And maybe it's not amazing for you right now either.

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Sometimes things in our life aren't very fruitful

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and we can't really figure out why that is.

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Or maybe you know why.

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Maybe you know that there's ways

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that you're staying distant from God

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or you've got some crap in your life

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that shouldn't be there, and yet it is.

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When we don't see any fruit in our life

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or when we stiff arm God and keep Him at a distance,

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it usually indicates that this desert is our desert

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and we need to go on a journey of obedience.

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If what we want is a thriving life that's fully alive,

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then this is a journey waiting for us.

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Israel had been free from Egypt

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for about three months when God led them

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to a very specific spot in the desert called Mount Sinai.

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And here is where they kind of set up camp.

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The truth be told, the people

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were kind of afraid of God right now.

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They were relieved when Moses, their leader,

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went up alone to God on the mountain.

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And Moses was all, "OK, God, we're here. What now?"

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And God told him, "Y'all are going to go

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on a journey of obedience."

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In Exodus 19, listen to God's words:

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The journey of obedience is when God takes you

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from freedom to a thriving life of faithfulness.

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God is not satisfied with you just being free.

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He actually wants you to experience

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the fruitful life of faithfulness.

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God sent Israel free from Egypt by His grace,

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not because of anything they did.

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He didn't have to do it.

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He used His power to set them free because he wanted to.

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And now that they were free, He gave them a choice:

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Will you be faithful?

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If you are faithful, you can walk through life

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with all the advantages of being mine fully,

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who I made you, fully living

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the kind of life that I made you for.

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God use the language, "My treasured possession."

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The term that's in the text here,

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it actually means the personal wealth of a king.

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He wanted Israel to be His possession,

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but if they were,

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then how they lived became very personal to God.

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And if you are His, then how you live

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is very personal to Him too.

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God communicated to Moses up on that mountain

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the core of the code of law, the stuff that

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He wanted Israel to live by and obey.

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And today we call these the Ten Commandments.

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Even when he communicated these commandments,

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He again reminded Israel,

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"I am the God who freed you from slavery."

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It was as if He was saying at every opportunity,

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"If I did that, then I only want what's best for you."

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Friends, today God would say to you,

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"I am the Lord, your God who brought you

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out of slavery through My Son Jesus on the Cross.

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That was your rescue.

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That is the extent of My love.

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So now the same question: Will you obey Me?"

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The journey of obedience is not a matter of being freed,

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of beings saved or of someday going to heaven.

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The journey of obedience is about living life

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fully the way that God intended.

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This journey is a matter of getting to the point

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where we actually believe that

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God has the truth about how life works best.

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I remember when my husband and I decided that

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actually we did want to follow Jesus together

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and in our marriage.

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And the very first journey of obedience

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that we went on was with our money.

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We had two salaries at the time

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and we gave a little bit, you know,

00:19:34

whenever we showed up at church

00:19:35

or whenever it made us feel good,

00:19:37

until we started to understand that actually

00:19:41

God would like us to be obedient with our money.

00:19:44

He asks for the first 10%, and as a matter of fact,

00:19:46

He says that's His money and that we can't keep it.

00:19:51

We'd never really fully embrace that before

00:19:54

and we frankly weren't sure we were on board.

00:19:57

I was like, "Really, God, the first thing? Why?

00:19:59

Why my money? Why first?"

00:20:01

And I'll tell you why I think so now.

00:20:04

You and I are going to go on

00:20:05

a lot of obedience journeys,

00:20:07

and I believe the ones that God comes after

00:20:09

first in our lives are the ones that

00:20:11

are most likely to get in our way

00:20:15

of living uniquely as His treasured possession.

00:20:19

Whatever is going to get in your way,

00:20:20

whatever is going to stop you from experiencing

00:20:23

what it feels like to be His kid.

00:20:24

And in our culture, I'm going to tell you

00:20:26

what's going to top the list of an awful lot of people.

00:20:28

It's going to be money.

00:20:29

It's going to be sex.

00:20:31

It's going to be status.

00:20:33

Obedience to God's ways,

00:20:35

especially on that kind of stuff,

00:20:37

it comes against the mind set of our culture,

00:20:39

the culture that says,

00:20:41

"I'm free so I can just do whatever I want."

00:20:43

And make no mistake,

00:20:44

that is exactly what our culture is telling you:

00:20:47

You are the creator of your life.

00:20:48

You are the one that gets your own blessing.

00:20:50

You are the one who gets to do whatever you want

00:20:53

because everything is fine because you're free.

00:20:56

The journey of obedience is a recognition that

00:21:00

it is God who made you, it is God who set you free,

00:21:03

it is God who knows how your life is supposed to work best.

00:21:07

If you are in a desert where

00:21:09

your life just isn't producing a lot of fruit

00:21:11

or, you know, you know deep down

00:21:14

you're giving God the stiff arm on some things

00:21:16

that you think He might just put a demand on you about,

00:21:22

I'm telling you God takes how we live personally.

00:21:24

It's time to go on this journey.

00:21:26

Despite your fear of being deprived or being weird

00:21:29

or being left out or left behind,

00:21:31

the very way to make it through this desert

00:21:34

is to obey Him.

00:21:38

Or don't and just circle around the same crap,

00:21:41

as dull as you were last year,

00:21:43

as fruitless as your life's been,

00:21:44

you will only come out of this desert

00:21:47

when you begin to agree with God

00:21:49

about what He says about how life works best.

00:21:53

You know you're at the end of a journey of obedience

00:21:55

when you can honestly say out loud,

00:21:57

"OK, OK, God, You are the truth."

00:22:07

- You know, one of the primary ways to endure is generosity.

00:22:10

Now, I know that sounds backwards.

00:22:11

What culture says is that the way you endure

00:22:14

is to hold on, you hoard, you just collect resources

00:22:17

and you hold them on, that's how you make it through.

00:22:20

But God says something opposite.

00:22:22

God says the way you endure is to trust and follow Him,

00:22:27

including with your finances.

00:22:29

I know that can sound self-serving

00:22:30

for a church to say that. Totally get it.

00:22:32

We designed a way for you to follow God risk free.

00:22:36

It's called a 90 day tithe test.

00:22:37

If you go to Crossroads.net/give,

00:22:39

you can sign up.

00:22:40

Here's how it works: You give for 90 days

00:22:42

and if at the end of that

00:22:43

you don't feel God's blessing on your life,

00:22:46

He's not helping you endure,

00:22:48

we'll give you all your money back.

00:22:50

Hundreds and hundreds of people have done this

00:22:52

and experience God's blessing.

00:22:53

You can do that today.

00:22:56

Let's check back in with Brian and Chuck

00:22:58

to see if they've made any progress.

00:23:01

- Are we going to do old ancient version

00:23:03

or modern version like Thou Shalt Not Lie

00:23:07

is a lot more than don't lie,

00:23:08

which basically says the same thing.

00:23:10

- Yeah, as long as we have an agreement on which one.

00:23:12

- Hey, guys, we are timing you. So you just of --

00:23:14

- I think don't lie. - All right.

00:23:16

- I mean I could do it in Hebrew,

00:23:17

but I know you haven't been to seminary the way I have.

00:23:19

- I haven't been to seminary, so...

00:23:21

All right. Ready? Here we go. - I'm ready.

00:23:25

Wait, are we scratching or are we engraving?

00:23:27

Because I could get this done really quick.

00:23:31

- Let me check. That counts.

00:23:33

I like what you're doing, I like what you're doing.

00:23:37

Whew, is it hot out here or is it me? Woo!

00:23:40

- Be quiet, Kyle. Be quiet.

00:23:42

- I am doing the work of the Lord.

00:23:44

Safety glasses, I just had one go in my eye.

00:23:47

- Before I have to change one that don't cut it,

00:23:49

how legible does this have to be?

00:23:52

- I have to be able to read it.

00:23:54

- Okay. - So we shouldn't have told you

00:23:56

what we were doing here.

00:23:57

- I never said you couldn't pay me off, bribe me.

00:23:59

Just keep that in mind.

00:24:00

- I got it. - I wanted to finish first.

00:24:03

- Check with -- I don't even know what that says.

00:24:05

- You don't know what that says?

00:24:06

- I can't even read it, can't even read it.

00:24:08

- That's ridiculous. Yes, you can see.

00:24:10

- You know what? I'm going to have mercy on you guys.

00:24:12

(crosstalk)

00:24:14

- You're actually lying right now.

00:24:15

It says do not lie. You're lying right now.

00:24:17

- Mercy on you, there's there's an ice cold one for you.

00:24:20

There you go, Chuck.

00:24:21

- How is it mercy to give me. How is it --

00:24:24

Nonalcoholic. My friend, Kyle.

00:24:26

- Alcohol dehydrate you, it's the dessert.

00:24:28

-My friend knows me well. Thank you very much.

00:24:30

(crosstalk)

00:24:31

- But you're not anti-alcohol, you're anti the taste of beer.

00:24:34

- Yeah, and I've never had this, so I'm assuming

00:24:36

this might not solve the problem is what you're saying.

00:24:39

- O-Doul's, huh?

00:24:41

- Take it back.

00:24:44

- I'd rather drink beer.

00:24:46

- Yeah, it's it's hop flavored water is what this is.

00:24:50

- It's not very good.

00:24:53

- Well, yeah, here's to not breaking the commandments.

00:24:56

- There we go right there.

00:24:58

Cheers. - Salute. - Cheers. Salute.

00:25:00

While they hopefully have

00:25:02

the endurance to last through this challenge,

00:25:04

let's check back in with Alli.

00:25:09

- Well, there's a third journey

00:25:11

and this journey is Elizabeth's journey.

00:25:14

I read this letter from Elizabeth earlier

00:25:17

and she said something that really got me.

00:25:20

She said her entire life was taken away

00:25:24

and she wasn't sure she wanted to live anymore.

00:25:27

And it made me really sad because,

00:25:34

gosh, your life is endlessly valuable.

00:25:36

And I know that God has so many things

00:25:39

that He wants to do in it.

00:25:41

And the reason I thought of

00:25:42

this particular journey for you is because

00:25:45

the last journey is a journey of relationship.

00:25:50

Elizabeth, before I tell you

00:25:51

why I think this is your journey,

00:25:52

I also want you to know I'm putting this in my pocket

00:25:55

and I'm going to take it home with me.

00:25:57

And every single day this next week,

00:25:59

I'm going to be praying for you with your own words

00:26:01

about how you feel about your own life,

00:26:03

because I think this is a really common feeling.

00:26:07

We go into seasons and I hear this so often,

00:26:11

this kind of desert that you're in,

00:26:12

it feels like a loss of direction.

00:26:14

It feels like a complete lack of focus in your life

00:26:18

where you literally are wandering,

00:26:20

not sure where to go or what to do next.

00:26:22

And it just reminded me of Elizabeth's situation

00:26:25

because all of a sudden some major things

00:26:28

fell out from under her in one fell swoop.

00:26:31

I think any sense of wandering like that

00:26:35

actually is your invitation from God

00:26:38

to start on the third desert journey,

00:26:41

the journey of relationship.

00:26:43

It's on this journey that God wants to move

00:26:46

to the center of your life, to the center of your day,

00:26:51

to the center of your job,

00:26:52

to the center of your parenting, your decision making,

00:26:55

whatever, God wants to be in the center.

00:27:00

Instead of asking God to come in

00:27:02

and dip around the edges of our life and bless it.

00:27:05

This journey is about God becoming

00:27:08

the core relationship in your life,

00:27:11

the thing that gives everything else direction around it.

00:27:16

When the Israelites first entered the desert,

00:27:18

they didn't have any direction,

00:27:20

no plans, no maps, no compass.

00:27:22

God simply traveled in front of them as a cloud by day

00:27:26

and as a pillar of fire by night.

00:27:28

The only thing that gave them any sense of orientation

00:27:31

was staying in sight of God Himself.

00:27:34

That relationship was the only thing

00:27:37

that was giving them direction.

00:27:39

It wasn't just while they traveled

00:27:41

that God wanted this for Israel.

00:27:43

His plan was to be their center, their direction

00:27:47

all the time, to take them from a group of wanderers

00:27:50

to a nation of worshipers who woke up every day

00:27:54

and knew exactly who they were

00:27:56

and exactly what they were doing.

00:27:59

And God wanted to do it in a very unusual way.

00:28:04

He did it by telling them to build a tabernacle.

00:28:08

Okay, so a tabernacle is basically a big tent.

00:28:13

It's a big tent where Israel would come to worship God.

00:28:16

It was also where His presence

00:28:18

was said to be found among his people.

00:28:21

It was like His house, for lack of a better term.

00:28:23

In the Book of Exodus, the description

00:28:25

of the tabernacle is actually pretty mind numbing.

00:28:28

Sorry, God, but it's pretty tedious

00:28:30

to read through the chapters that describe it.

00:28:32

I want to share one important detail, though, just one,

00:28:35

because it's so what God wants to do for you and I.

00:28:40

See the placement of the tabernacle

00:28:42

inside the entire camp of Israel was this:

00:28:47

It was right in the center.

00:28:51

God described where He wanted it built.

00:28:53

He described every single detail about it.

00:28:56

But the position of the tabernacle

00:28:58

in the middle of all the people

00:29:00

was right smack in the center.

00:29:03

And that was no accident.

00:29:04

The center is where ancient tribal kings

00:29:07

actually always had their tents.

00:29:10

See, God was sending Israel a message.

00:29:12

He was telling them something by the placement of this tent.

00:29:16

God was telling Israel, "You have a king.

00:29:18

I'm right here with you. I will not go anywhere.

00:29:22

Every time you wake up in the morning,

00:29:24

you're going to see Me here

00:29:26

and know that My presence is with you.

00:29:29

You will never wake up and wonder,

00:29:32

'Who am I? What am I doing here?'"

00:29:35

God wanted to remind them that He was

00:29:37

the core relationship of their life.

00:29:40

He wanted everything about who they were

00:29:42

as a people and as a nation

00:29:44

to completely revolve around Him.

00:29:48

So God gave Israel all these instructions

00:29:51

and they built this huge tent called a tabernacle.

00:29:54

And when they were finished setting it up, it says:

00:30:11

The tabernacle is a message in and of itself,

00:30:15

It's a message from God to His people saying,

00:30:18

"I'm right here, I'm in your business all the time,

00:30:22

and when I'm here, you stay here.

00:30:24

And when I move, you move."

00:30:27

The tabernacle was the center of life

00:30:30

in the nation of Israel, the very presence of God.

00:30:33

He was their focus, their direction, their everything.

00:30:38

And what the people did at the Tabernacle

00:30:41

actually guaranteed that this relationship

00:30:43

could keep going all the time.

00:30:45

See, the people brought sacrifices

00:30:47

to the Tabernacle to deal with their sin.

00:30:52

Sin, put the most simple way I can think of it,

00:30:55

is anything that interrupts relationship with God.

00:30:59

So God not only put Himself in the center

00:31:01

of His people in relationship with them,

00:31:04

but then He made a way that that relationship

00:31:07

would never be interrupted,

00:31:08

that no sin would ever separate them.

00:31:11

And every day Israel would wake up

00:31:13

and they would offer sacrifices

00:31:15

so that their relationship with God could be ongoing.

00:31:19

And the way that happens for us today

00:31:21

is not through a tabernacle and an animal sacrifice.

00:31:25

It is through Jesus.

00:31:27

The writer of the Book of Hebrews

00:31:29

in the New Testament actually explained that

00:31:31

Jesus came with a new agreement, a new covenant,

00:31:36

not with the blood of animals, but with His own blood.

00:31:42

He was both the priest who could connect us

00:31:45

in relationship to God,

00:31:46

and He was the sacrifice in the tabernacle in Heaven,

00:31:51

so that once and for all our sin

00:31:54

would never separate us from God

00:31:56

and we could stay connected all the time.

00:31:59

Guys, this is huge for our life today.

00:32:01

It means instead of wandering through life,

00:32:05

get up, go to work, pay bills, stop at the store,

00:32:08

take care of the kids,

00:32:09

wondering what the heck we're doing.

00:32:11

It means that we get to have a relationship

00:32:14

at the core where we wake up every day

00:32:16

and there is direction and purpose

00:32:19

and life in our worship, in our service to Him.

00:32:23

That means, Elizabeth, you and anyone else

00:32:25

who feels like your direction has been lost,

00:32:28

like your purpose is gone.

00:32:30

It is not gone.

00:32:32

It is with Him and in Him every single day.

00:32:36

You were made to worship Him.

00:32:38

You were made to serve Him

00:32:39

and everything about your life

00:32:42

is in that relationship at the core.

00:32:46

The way to a fresh direction in your life

00:32:50

is putting Jesus in the center,

00:32:53

remembering that He is the King

00:32:55

in the center of your camp, your life.

00:32:58

If you are in this desert right now,

00:33:00

you're going to know that you're coming

00:33:02

to the end of this journey when you stop asking God

00:33:05

for a purpose that puts you in the center

00:33:08

and instead you put Jesus there instead.

00:33:11

This journey will have changed you

00:33:15

when you start waking up asking God

00:33:18

what is He doing today?

00:33:20

And agreeing, "God, You are my whole life."

00:33:27

Now, all of you are going to, and me,

00:33:31

and everyone else I know are going to have

00:33:34

the opportunity to go on all of these desert journeys.

00:33:38

And they all kind of lead us to the same basic truth:

00:33:40

if you're going to make it out of the desert,

00:33:42

it's only going to be with the help of God.

00:33:45

It's with Him that we're satisfied, led, provided for.

00:33:49

It's only with Him and His Son Jesus

00:33:52

that we will overcome the desert.

00:33:54

Exodus was the story of how God tried to bring

00:33:57

Israel through the desert to a place of

00:34:01

trust, obedience and relationship with Him.

00:34:03

And He's trying to do the same thing with us.

00:34:06

The story of Exodus is your story, and it's my story.

00:34:10

The story of the Book of Exodus is that you were

00:34:13

born into slavery, you were born into bondage,

00:34:18

to sin, and you're facing certain death.

00:34:21

But if you will take shelter under the blood of a lamb,

00:34:26

then God will lead you out into freedom

00:34:30

by His power and by His grace.

00:34:32

And once you're free, once you're alive in Christ,

00:34:36

He's going to ask you, "Will you be faithful?

00:34:39

Will you walk through life in obedience to My Word?

00:34:42

Will you become then more and more like Me?"

00:34:45

Living life as he designed it here on Earth.

00:34:48

And when you're here, it's not always going to go great.

00:34:52

You're going to wander and you're going to sin,

00:34:54

and so am I, and we'll all be in it together.

00:34:57

But we have a priest named Jesus

00:34:59

in a heavenly tabernacle who sacrificed Himself

00:35:04

to connect us to God in a relationship that one day

00:35:08

is going to take us all the way

00:35:10

to the land that we were promised.

00:35:13

OK, so big reveal: Jesus is the end

00:35:19

to all three of these journeys through the desert.

00:35:23

He actually says in the Book of John,

00:35:26

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

00:35:32

Jesus says He's the end.

00:35:34

So if you're on a journey of trust, He's the Way.

00:35:37

If you're on a journey of obedience, He's the truth.

00:35:40

If you're on a journey of making Him

00:35:42

the core relationship, you need to know today,

00:35:47

He is the life that you are looking for.

00:35:49

Without Jesus, I already know what's going to happen.

00:35:53

I know because it's what happened to Israel

00:35:55

and I know it because it's what's happened to me

00:35:57

when I haven't followed Him through the desert.

00:36:00

What happened is that most of them died there.

00:36:04

It's not exactly an uplifting end.

00:36:06

Most of Israel died in the desert.

00:36:08

There were a few who made it,

00:36:09

and the few who made it out, they did so because

00:36:13

they actually built a living faith

00:36:15

in the God who rescued them.

00:36:17

They trusted Him. They followed Him.

00:36:19

They obeyed Him when no one else would.

00:36:22

The desert, guys, the desert is a dangerous place.

00:36:25

It's a place where you can lose heart,

00:36:27

you can get overwhelmed,

00:36:28

you can lose focus, you can lack faithfulness.

00:36:31

Trust me, because Jesus is the Way,

00:36:34

Jesus is the Truth, and Jesus is the Life

00:36:37

that gets you out of the desert.

00:36:39

If you think that this is true,

00:36:42

if you even think it might be true,

00:36:44

then what I want you to do right now

00:36:46

is I want you to try to say some words out loud to Jesus.

00:36:50

I want you to worship Him.

00:36:52

I want you to worship Him as the Way.

00:36:53

I want you to worship Him as the Truth.

00:36:56

I want you to worship Him as the Life.

00:36:58

Let's tell Him that together right now.

00:40:45

- You are not unbreakable.

00:40:47

You will not make it to the end,

00:40:48

but with Him, oh, man, will you ever.

00:40:52

With Him you are unbreakable because He is unbreakable.

00:40:56

You might be hungry, tired, thirsty,

00:40:58

dirty, homeless, afraid,

00:41:00

whatever is going on in your desert,

00:41:03

you can get out and you can start today.

00:41:05

Don't give up. He is your way out.

00:41:08

He is your journey to the end,

00:41:10

your Way, your Truth, your Life.

00:41:12

The life that can overcome the death of the desert.

00:41:21

- Now, let's see if Brian and Chuck can complete

00:41:23

their challenge and get us out of the desert.

00:41:25

Looks like you guys are just about done.

00:41:27

- Yes, we are.

00:41:28

- Perfect timing, here comes Alli. This is awesome.

00:41:31

- Hey, guys, what's going on? - Hey.

00:41:34

- Hey, Alli Cat. - What is happening here?

00:41:35

- Finishing up the challenge here.

00:41:37

- Doing the work of the Lord.

00:41:38

-Carving The Ten Commandments on tablets of stone.

00:41:43

- How come you guys have beer?

00:41:45

Was that part of the challenge?

00:41:46

- That's an excellent question. You know what? Just for you.

00:41:49

- Oh, look at -- Wow.

00:41:51

- Is that a real beer you're giving her?

00:41:53

- I happen to have just one of those for you.

00:41:55

- How'd it go?

00:41:56

- You know, I think it went well. Yeah.

00:41:59

I cried. I yelled at people. It was great.

00:42:02

- You did all the things. - Just a normal day.

00:42:04

- The endurance of life.

00:42:07

Hey, Alli, now - - Cry a little, yell a little.

00:42:10

- This is a contest and I think you should be the judge.

00:42:14

The contest was they have to carve

00:42:16

one of the Ten Commandments,

00:42:18

any one that they picked into stone.

00:42:21

Whoever wins, i.e., carves the best,

00:42:25

gets this delicious In-N-Out Burger.

00:42:28

So, I'm going to let you look at their work and reward it.

00:42:33

- You've got to look, look.

00:42:36

- Or whatever else you want to do with it.

00:42:38

I guess that's fine too.

00:42:40

- There might not be anything left.

00:42:42

- All right, so.

00:42:43

- Um-hmm, so love God, do not lie.

00:42:50

- You have love God on there?

00:42:51

- I do now. - Oh!

00:42:54

- Except that wasn't part of the Ten Commandments,

00:42:56

so you just added to the law.

00:42:59

- All right. All right. Do not lie.

00:43:03

Well, I mean, duh, Chuck wins, he's got two.

00:43:07

- Oh, come on. You're lying right now.

00:43:10

You're lying right now? Why does he win?

00:43:12

- He's got love God. The first and greatest command.

00:43:15

- No other Gods before Me.

00:43:17

The first and greatest commandment. You win the burger.

00:43:20

Hey, you know what? It also says --

00:43:23

Well, it doesn't say in The Ten Commandments.

00:43:25

- It says you can be generous. - It does not say share.

00:43:28

- But you can. But you can, so please.

00:43:30

Please have some, have some.

00:43:31

So generous.

00:43:32

- How could I talk about loving God if I'm not --

00:43:34

Love your neighbor as yourself.

00:43:35

- Let me have a first bite?

00:43:36

- Absolutely, you can have the first--

00:43:38

I'll let you the first bite of the burger.

00:43:39

- All right. - So good.

00:43:40

- I've actually never had an In-N-Out Burger.

00:43:42

- You want some too?

00:43:43

- No, it's not very COVID friendly.

00:43:44

- This is your first IN-N-Out Burger?

00:43:46

- I'm not sure about the sharing.

00:43:47

- Absolutely is. You're right, we shouldn't do that.

00:43:49

- Yeah. - Oh.

00:43:50

- I just touched all over it too, so that means you can't.

00:43:54

- It's Brian's now. - Thank you very much.

00:43:57

We're in the dessert. (crosstalk)

00:43:59

- He's licking things again. (crosstalk)

00:44:02

- One of the things we're learning about Brian

00:44:04

is Brian likes to lick things. That's a problem.

00:44:08

(crosstalk)

00:44:11

- What does that mean?

00:44:12

- Ice cream. You're licking the burger,

00:44:15

like you just lick things.

00:44:18

- Just eat things, man. Take bites like a normal person.

00:44:21

- Yeah. - I tell you what,

00:44:22

that went in and it's going to come out too.

00:44:27

- Okay, I think we're done here.

00:44:28

Listen, you guys were amazing sports

00:44:30

through this entire thing.

00:44:31

And not just an amazing sports, but honestly amazing guides.

00:44:34

You gave us the strength to stand,

00:44:36

the courage to move, and the endurance to last.

00:44:38

It was incredible, at Crossroads we know that.

00:44:41

We've actually designed our church so that

00:44:43

you don't have to do life alone.

00:44:46

In fact, if you need help in any way right now,

00:44:48

reach out to us.

00:44:49

Honestly, go to the website, click the chat button.

00:44:52

Someone's waiting there to talk with you.

00:44:54

Or if you want to talk to me directly,

00:44:55

you can do that, just send me an email.

00:44:58

This is my actual email address.

00:45:00

I'll do my best to get back to you within 24 hours.

00:45:04

What we did in this series,

00:45:05

we actually do every single week and every weekend,

00:45:08

we release a brand new episode designed to

00:45:10

inspire you, equip you, encourage you,

00:45:13

and getyou the light that God made you for.

00:45:15

We'll have more just like this next week.

00:45:19

All right. That's that's pretty much it I think, right?

00:45:21

- All right.

00:45:22

- Let's head home. - Let's go. - Let's go.

00:45:24

Which way? - Where?

00:45:25

- So I didn't bring a car, but I see a road that way.

00:45:28

We can probably hitch a ride. - A road? - A road.

00:45:30

- You're going to want to pack up those fries.

00:45:32

We might need them for the journey.

00:45:33

Let's head out. Come on.

00:45:34

- No, I'll leave those for the critters.

00:45:36

- I'm taking my carved tablet as a souvenir.

00:45:38

- Exactly.

00:45:47

- Say hello to your cousin. Here's my little cousin.

00:45:52

- Don't let your experience end here.

00:45:54

For more of Alli, Chuck, Brian, and even me,

00:45:57

follow us on social

00:45:58

and don't miss next week on Crossroads,

00:46:00

we get free from the things that are holding us back.

00:46:07

- Regardless of your financial situation,

00:46:09

stress over money affects everyone, everyone.

00:46:14

Whether you feel hopeless trying to make ends meet

00:46:18

or you can't seem to justify where it all went

00:46:21

or you're swimming in cash,

00:46:22

but feel unsure what to do with it

00:46:26

or your money's not buying you

00:46:27

the freedom you hoped it would.

00:46:30

It's stressful, but what if it doesn't have to be?

00:46:34

What if your faith could grow

00:46:35

alongside your financial confidence?

00:46:38

Freed Up is a teaching series

00:46:40

paired with a personalized app experience

00:46:43

that gives you the tools, ideas, and encouragement

00:46:45

you need to thrive financially and grow spiritually.

00:46:49

Join us in exploring what God has to say about money

00:46:52

and experience new heights of financial freedom.

00:46:55

Join us for Freed Up.

	The Endurance To Last 🏃‍♀️	1:29
	The Journey Of Trust	4:05
	Written In Stone	12:32
	Journey Of Obedience	15:24
	The Journey Of Relationship	25:45
	UNBREAKABLE	37:03

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