You’re Carrying the Wrong Weight

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[music: Count Me In]

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- Hey. Qué pasa? Mi gente. My name is Arturo.

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Welcome to Crossroads.

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I am so glad you are joining us today online.

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It's such a special day.

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And if you're new to Crossroads,

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you should probably know we're across --

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We're a church that meets everywhere.

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I mean, literally everywhere.

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We've got people that are gathering

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at the site that I'm in,

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and many sites like the one I'm in today,

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and we've got smaller communities that meet

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all over the globe.

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So like, shout out Indy, Batesville, Orlando, Bolivia.

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And we call all of you Crossroads Anywhere

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because you are anywhere and everywhere all the time.

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And today is such a special day, guys,

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because we have live from Sandusky, Ohio,

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Jen, Andy and the whole Crossroads Anywhere team

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wrapping up what we have called Anywhere Weekend.

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Jen, Andy, are you there?

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Can you let the people know you are live

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and alive in Sandusky right now?

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- Yes. What's up Arturo?

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Hey, man, great to be with you guys.

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Thanks so much for tuning in.

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We got a great weekend for you.

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And man, I just love that this is a reminder,

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like, a reminder for all of us that we are

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a community of people who are running after God

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all over the world.

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Like, we know church doesn't fit into one day of the week,

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and it definitely doesn't fit into one building

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or one spot on the map.

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We are all over the place, running after God,

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trying to figure out, hey, what does he have for us?

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What does he have, want to do in us

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and through us and with us?

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- Yeah, we're about to have a watch party

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here in Sandusky with, uh, 70, 80 people in this room

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that come from, they just drove a distance to get here.

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So these are people who don't live

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near a Crossroads sites that call Crossroads Anywhere

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their home and their site.

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And I find it fascinating because I grew up in Cincinnati,

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I grew up Catholic.

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And so the concept of like a church online

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and all these things and belonging.

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So I love asking people the questions like,

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why do you stream versus like attending a local church?

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We've had our share. We've had two main things.

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The first answer has been community,

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is online community that they have found

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some of their best, closest friends now through Crossroads.

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- Yeah. We're talking with a guy named Zach

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and he was saying like, uh, he met some guys

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in an online group two years ago,

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and now he still meets them weekly.

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They're some of his closest friends.

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Yeah, he's right behind us. That's Zach.

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- Hi, Zach. -Yeah. It's great.

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And the second thing is mission is that

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people have said I have some people attend

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other local churches where they live

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and Crossroads and they're like,

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it's the mission of Crossroads that I can get behind.

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I see, like, even where I'm giving my money,

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I see that outreach that Crossroads is doing,

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and it speaks to me in a way that another church doesn't.

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So it's just really cool to see what's happening

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and all the friendships.

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- And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't low key jealous

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that you guys are there and I'm here,

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but this is the next best thing.

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So I'm so glad that we're able to tune in live.

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We're going to be doing that throughout

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the course of, you know, today's teaching.

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And I think we're about to get started

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in a little bit with worship.

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But before we get to that, is there anything else

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that happened just this whole weekend?

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My understanding is you guys have been there,

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not just today, but a couple days.

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Anything else that you guys got to experience

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with the crew of like 70 or 80 people?

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- Yes, for sure. Well, first we're, like,

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on a like a beach here and it's beautiful.

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- It's wonderful. - Super fun.

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Arturo, I have someone for you to meet.

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Not at the moment, but her name is Gracie.

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She came here this weekend. She's lives in Indy.

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But she didn't even -- She's fully speaks Spanish,

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fully fluent, and has a Spanish --

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Her whole family speaks Spanish

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and she didn't even know we had Crossroads en Espanol.

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- What?

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- So we're going to connect her to you. I know.

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- Come On.

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- Tell the people what that is because, I know,

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so we can get her family connected to Crossroads

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through Crossroads en Espanol.

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- And in a language they can understand.

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- All over the map in multiple languages.

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- Yes, I love it. - Go ahead.

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- No, I love it. I mean, what else do you have, man?

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- Yeah. Well, if you're like, hey, I live near Sandusky.

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I could have driven there.

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How come I didn't know about this?

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We probably don't have your information,

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so you can actually text the word "more" to 301301.

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Because we want to know who you are.

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And if we do another event like this near where you live,

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we want to be able to email you, text you, or call you.

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So we need to know where you live.

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We need your phone number or your email.

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Text "more," we'll send you a link.

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And then within that link, you can go to

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Connect Card and fill out your information.

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So we can let you know if we're going to be near you.

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- Yeah. It's not a spam list.

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It's so we can actually get to know you guys,

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get to connect with you, and maybe get to do

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an event like this in your hometown.

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- I love it.

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- Just like, you guys, we gotta worship.

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- Yes.

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- We're so excited.

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- We're gonna worship where you are. It's gonna be great.

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- Good to see you, Jireh.

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So you guys are going to get started with worship.

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We'll see you in a bit.

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We're going to get started with worship here.

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So if you don't know what worship is,

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it's prayer set to music.

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Whether I'm having a good day or a horrible day,

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I love that worship lets me just take the focus

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and attention away from me and what I've got going on,

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and points to God and who he is always.

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So the encouragement is, man,

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if you don't sing along what you can,

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you don't have to, at least listen to these songs

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and read the words.

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And my hope is that on the other side

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of this time together in worship,

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that you would know and be reminded of

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a God who really loves you. Let's get started.

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- Because so many of us have experienced God's goodness,

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so you might move a little bit. Let's sing this.

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- Man, it's good to celebrate like that, right?

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Like, I don't know if you've experienced God's goodness

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or if you're even aware of it, but for many of us,

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we've seen him to be good.

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We believe he's actually good

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and actually who he says he is.

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So we celebrate like that.

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So if you've seen God's goodness,

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you can celebrate right now. Yeah.

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We believe he is who he says he is.

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We take him at his word.

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So when Jesus says these words,

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we take him to be what he says:

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Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,

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and I will give you rest.

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Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

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for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

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and you will find rest for your souls.

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For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

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Anybody want that? Come on.

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I've been for the last two weeks,

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waking up in the morning and letting that be

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the first thing I read.

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And can I just tell you I don't always feel it,

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because the first thing I think of

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when I read those words are my responsibilities,

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not the rest He offers me,

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but the load I have to carry.

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I'll give you the two of the biggest:

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I'm a husband and I'm a dad.

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I'm a dad to four amazing kids.

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They're 13, 12, 11 and 9. You know?

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And I don't know if you know,

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but back to school just happened,

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and my calendar looks like a confetti bomb

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just went off in it.

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Like I got colors that I've never seen on there

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and places to be and things to do, my responsibilities.

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And so I show up every morning,

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I read those words from Jesus and I say,

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"I believe you are who you say you are.

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I'll take you at your word

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that you've given me these callings in life,

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so therefore you will be my sustainer, my provider.

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You won't let my gas tank run on empty.

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You will be all that I need today

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for the things you've called me to."

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So these next two prayers are prayers of surrender to that,

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to accept his freedom and his rest.

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- Now would you hear these words that we're singing

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as a prayer of our hearts, that we're reaching out for you.

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And we're asking God, would you help us

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to understand what it looks like to build a life

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that's standing on you, on your truth,

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not on our own ideas of life, because those things fade away.

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Some of the ideas we have God

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are silly in comparison to what you have for us.

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Some of the ways we see our life is small

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in comparison to what you are offering us.

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So God will we turn our hearts to you.

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Would we use a song like this in a moment like this

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to get our hearts and our bodies in line with what you want?

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I believe that's where we'll find

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all of the things we're looking for in this life,

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the joy that we search for,

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the peace that doesn't make sense

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in the middle of situations that are tough

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and that are hard.

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God, you are good and you are there with us.

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You have a plan for us.

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So would we trust in you a little bit more today.

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It's in the name of Jesus we pray and we sing

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and we say Amen. - Amen.

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- It's so good to sing and worship in this room together.

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And if you're watching online, we're so glad you're here.

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Hey, we cannot do life alone.

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You might find somebody to do life with today.

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You might be around somebody you don't know.

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So why don't you turn to 1 or 2 people,

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give them a high five. Tell em your name.

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Don't be shy. You can have a seat.

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- Before this group, I was disconnected.

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- I was kind of lost and alone.

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- I was new in town and I was pretty lonely.

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- We felt like little fish in a big pond.

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We didn't know anybody. We didn't have a community.

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- I was basically navigating life on my own with my family.

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- [speaking Spanish]

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- I would say today our lives are filled

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with people that we can actually trust.

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- I am a lot more confident

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and a lot more involved than I was before.

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- I have been a great role model for my kids.

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- Now I have a group of women who help me

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with things that I never knew I would deal with.

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- My group is a family.

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- I feel seen, welcomed, and cared for.

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- I keep coming back to fathers

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because I'm genuinely a better man

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when fathers is in session.

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- Hey, that tagline life is better together

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is something we say a lot because we mean it a lot.

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And Jesus was really serious about community.

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So the reality, hard for some of us, is that

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we can't really grow in our relationship

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and deepening understanding of God

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without people around us.

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Isn't that right, Jen? I mean it's true.

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- Yes, it's so true.

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Hey, we are in Sandusky with a ton of our friends

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who live within driving distance.

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- Yeah. Can we say hey to Sandusky friends?

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- What's up?

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- Hey, Sandusky. Hi.

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- Having a watch party right now,

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which is where we stream the weekend together.

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We have a lot of people in our community

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that meet in a group for watch parties.

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It's one way to meet in a group

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as a part of Crossroads Anywhere.

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There's a couple other ways to do that too.

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- Yeah, lots of different ways to connect.

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The important thing is

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that you're finding your people, right?

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I was actually just chatting with a guy, Zach,

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who's right over there. Hey, Zach.

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- Hey, Zach.

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- Zach was talking about how he met some of his people,

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like, two years ago in an online group.

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And they're still connecting every Wednesday night.

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And the reality is, we know that church

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is bigger than just what happens on Sunday morning

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or what happens in one building,

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or what happens on a screen.

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Like, it has to get into the rest of your life,

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where you've got relationships, you've got friendships,

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and we want to help make that happen for you.

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- Yeah, that's been the best part of being here,

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Arturo, is seeing the organic

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and real relationships in this room.

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- It's just fun.

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- They talk and they meet online all the time in groups

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or in person in their cities.

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- Yeah, exactly. Yes.

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So like guys, whatever it looks like,

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please, this next season, don't do it alone.

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We've got groups starting up September 14th.

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So if you want to find out more about the groups

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that are available this season, how to get involved,

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please go to crossroads.net/groups.

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- Yep. - That's right.

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And we talk about like Crossroads is happening

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here in Sandusky, but we actually have

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two other events that are right around the corner

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where Crossroads live is happening.

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Crossroads live happening in Cleveland and in Louisville.

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And it's not just going to be kind of what we're doing here.

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It's actually like the full Crossroads experience,

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live worship, we got teaching, we full band,

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we got Chuck Mingo.

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It's going to be an amazing, amazing time.

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- We all love Chuck Mingo.

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He's going to be in those cities.

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I'm going to be there, which is cool.

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But why are we going to these cities?

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Because we believe God may be calling us to other cities.

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Because if you have been impacted by Crossroads

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and your relationship with Jesus has grown

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through community here, we believe

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people in other cities also need that.

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So these are opportunities for you.

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If you know people in those cities,

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invite them on those dates.

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If you can join them too, awesome.

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But if not, there's going to be people like me.

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I would love to meet and host your friends

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or your family there where they can experience Crossroads

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and live worship and just a language that they understand.

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So I'm super excited about that.

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- It is so exciting.

00:27:03

Like all the places we've mentioned Sandusky,

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Cleveland, Louisville, these are my people.

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Where I come from, man,

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if you're my people, you're my people.

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Those of you that know, know. Right?

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And when I think about the people

00:27:13

that are part of this community,

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it goes well beyond the places we've mentioned.

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We've got people tuning in.

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We've got my people streaming

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through the Pando app in prisons.

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We've got people en Espanol, in a language

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they can understand and I can understand.

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Entonces para toda mi gente. Como somos.

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And then we have people all around the world,

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literally beyond state, country lines that are our people.

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And we get to rejoice with them

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and burden with them in whatever they're going through,

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wherever they are. Isn't that right, Andy?

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- Yeah. That's right.

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Actually, I just got a text this morning

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from a buddy named Brian who is in Nepal

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and connected to the churches and the community there

00:27:51

and is actually really intricately a part of

00:27:54

what's going on with the disaster relief there.

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If you've heard about what's going on in Nepal and Tibet,

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man, I want you to know, hey,

00:28:00

Crossroads didn't budget for this, didn't plan for it.

00:28:02

We've got $15,000 going.

00:28:03

It's going to take care of 400 people,

00:28:05

make sure they have what they need,

00:28:06

and that people that we're connected to,

00:28:08

churches that we work with,

00:28:10

community boots on the ground helping there.

00:28:12

And that happens because people are generous and faithful.

00:28:14

And if that's you, hey, we just want to say thank you.

00:28:17

If you've got questions about money in church

00:28:19

and that's a, hey, we can help that,

00:28:21

go to Crossroads.net/give.

00:28:22

If you want to join those team of faithful givers,

00:28:24

or if you just want to know, hey,

00:28:26

what is Crossroads believe about money

00:28:27

and what do they make decisions around?

00:28:29

All of that at Crossroads.net/give.

00:28:30

- You also can text the word "more" to 301301,

00:28:34

and you can get links to groups and the live events

00:28:36

and giving and everything we've talked about today.

00:28:38

- That's right. Yeah. We'd love to connect with you,

00:28:40

not just have you watch a thing,

00:28:42

but be a part of a community.

00:28:43

That's what we're here for.

00:28:44

We'd love to help make that happen in any way we can.

00:28:47

- Yeah. So, hey, you know, Anywhere Weekend isn't over yet.

00:28:51

Is there anything you guys are doing before,

00:28:53

you know, you wrap it up and some of you come home

00:28:55

and some of you, that's a drive down the road,

00:28:57

maybe an hour or so away.

00:28:59

You guys are coming all the way back down.

00:29:00

Anything else you guys doing?

00:29:02

Maybe a couple more hugs. Anything else in Sandusky?

00:29:04

- So many hugs.

00:29:06

- There are definitely more hugs.

00:29:07

We're having a great time.

00:29:08

But we're specifically looking at is actually

00:29:10

something that Brian is going to get into in just a moment.

00:29:12

But specifically, what does God have for you?

00:29:15

What's the calling, the yoke, the mission,

00:29:17

the purpose that God has meant to put on your life?

00:29:20

What does that look like for you

00:29:21

and how do you actually take a step into it?

00:29:23

That's what we've been diving into all weekend

00:29:25

in a deeper way, and that's what we're going

00:29:27

to get into with our senior pastor,

00:29:28

who is back from a bit of a leave.

00:29:30

You may have gotten an email,

00:29:32

but we are so excited to have him back.

00:29:34

Arturo, back to you, brother.

00:29:35

- Well, no, let's jump right into

00:29:37

this teaching with Brian Tome.

00:29:42

- Roll the dice, another decision,

00:29:44

another responsibility, another space to move.

00:29:47

We keep chasing the next thing,

00:29:48

hoping we'll finally arrive.

00:29:50

But Jesus offers something different.

00:29:52

He doesn't promise to take away the hard stuff in life,

00:29:54

but he does show us a different way to play the game.

00:29:57

In Matthew 11, Jesus says: Ccome to me,

00:30:00

all who labor and are heavy laden,

00:30:01


00:30:03

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,

00:30:05

for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

00:30:08


00:30:10


00:30:27

- Good morning, Crossroads it's great to be with you.

00:30:30

If you're new to Crossroads, in the last several months.

00:30:33

Let me introduce myself.

00:30:34

My name is Brian Tome.

00:30:36

I am 60 years old.

00:30:40

I've got three kids who are all married.

00:30:41

I've got seven grandkids.

00:30:43

I was the very first staff person at Crossroads.

00:30:46

I guess you would call me the, uh, the founder.

00:30:49

Uh, for fun, I, uh, I hunt, I restore old vehicles,

00:30:54

and I ride motorcycles. That's me.

00:30:57

Great to be with you today.

00:30:58

I hope we have some fun today.

00:30:59

So let's pray before, uh, before we get into it.

00:31:01

God, thank you for your, uh,

00:31:04

just your patience with us, your kindness.

00:31:06

And I'm praying that you would meet us in a unique way.

00:31:10

God, just notice everyone's here.

00:31:12

We could have been a bunch of different places

00:31:13

on a beautiful day, but we're here

00:31:15

because we want something we wouldn't get elsewhere.

00:31:17

We want something of you. So would you do that?

00:31:19

Would you help me to deliver on what you want

00:31:21

to have happen inside these people's lives?

00:31:24

I pray these things according to the character

00:31:26

and identity of Jesus. Amen.

00:31:30

Man, I tell you what, uh, I am old school.

00:31:33

I am, I am old school.

00:31:35

Uh, Hannah Driskill said,

00:31:37

"Well, you're going to wear your book bag?"

00:31:38

This is not a book bag. It isn't a book bag.

00:31:41

I am old school. This is not a book bag.

00:31:43

Speaking of old school, back in my day

00:31:46

when I went to school, elementary school,

00:31:49

summer break was June 1st to August 31st.

00:31:53

Like a full solid three months.

00:31:56

It was amazing, as God intended, right?

00:32:00

And, uh, poor teachers, man.

00:32:01

You're not just having that same time off.

00:32:03

I don't know how you're getting it done,

00:32:05

but it was an intense thing.

00:32:07

And it's because in our culture at that time,

00:32:09

I think what happened, from what I understand,

00:32:12

when that got set in American culture,

00:32:13

that long, long time, it was when America

00:32:15

was in a very agrarian culture,

00:32:18

when people had farms, they had milks to --

00:32:21

Cows to milk and such like that.

00:32:23

And, and those parents needed their kids

00:32:27

as free labor for all summer to work the land.

00:32:30

Well, we're not an agrarian culture anymore,

00:32:32

probably, I doubt there's more than a handful

00:32:36

or anybody in here who has more than an acre of land

00:32:39

or milks cows or plants food for your sustenance.

00:32:43

That's just not a thing.

00:32:44

So many of the metaphors in the Bible

00:32:47

we don't have a natural understanding of

00:32:49

because it was an agrarian culture.

00:32:52

This is the way it was with Jesus

00:32:54

in this classic, classic passage,

00:32:56

which we've already read it today,

00:32:58

but why not, let's read it again.

00:33:00

We're reading it multiple weeks because we see this

00:33:02

as a key need that all of us have in our lives.

00:33:05

The book of Matthew, chapter 11, verse 28.

00:33:11

Forgot where Matthew is. There it is.

00:33:13

All right, here it goes.

00:33:16

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,

00:33:21


00:33:24

Just right now, doesn't sound good?

00:33:25

I will give you rest. I just want to go [exhales].

00:33:28

Let's all do it on the count of three.

00:33:30

One. Two. Three. [exhales] Yeah, yeah. So good.

00:33:34

I will give you rest.

00:33:36

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,

00:33:39

for I am gentle and humble in heart and lowly in heart,

00:33:43


00:33:47


00:33:52

Because we don't have a lot of farmers in here,

00:33:54

it's not just affecting our educational vacation,

00:33:59

but it's also affecting our ability

00:34:00

to understand passages like this.

00:34:02

A yoke? What is an egg yolk have to do with it?

00:34:04

It's got a small egg yolk?

00:34:05

No, a yolk was this device

00:34:08

that would go over livestock's necks,

00:34:11

that would assist them in plowing the land

00:34:14

or bringing in the harvest. It was the yoke.

00:34:16

And Jesus is saying everybody has a yoke on them.

00:34:20

Everybody has something on them.

00:34:22

And he's saying, you probably have a yoke on you,

00:34:25

which is a way of living your life,

00:34:28

a level of burdens and expectations

00:34:29

that are put on you,

00:34:30

a level of rules and laws you have to follow

00:34:34

that's crushing you.

00:34:35

That's what religion does.

00:34:37

And that's what all the religious leaders of his day did

00:34:39

and still do today.

00:34:42

To get religious or to get God often means to get rules,

00:34:45

to get morality, to get more instructions,

00:34:48

to get you orders.

00:34:49

And it's not just in the Christian realm

00:34:51

or the Muslim realm, the Hindu realm,

00:34:52

it's in the atheist realm, which is also its own religion,

00:34:54

and tells you the values you have to have

00:34:56

and things you need to do with your recyclables

00:34:58

and what you have to do with this.

00:34:59

And it's like, keep layering on.

00:35:01

Jesus says, hey, this is the way it is with us.

00:35:03

But take my yoke upon you, meaning,

00:35:05

the thing that I have for you that's customized for you,

00:35:09

that's the key for a yoke.

00:35:12

The yoke is supposed to be customized to the animal.

00:35:17

I have a hunting backpack on right now.

00:35:21

By the way, I just want to say this,

00:35:23

just so you're not confused over the next two weeks.

00:35:25

So excited to be back here today.

00:35:26

And I'm leaving again for two weekends. So sorry.

00:35:29

Let me tell you why, just so you're not like,

00:35:30

"Why is he away for two weekends, something else?"

00:35:33

No, nothing's going on.

00:35:34

Here's what's been happening.

00:35:35

Years ago, I'm a hunter and I booked a hunt with a guide,

00:35:39

which I generally don't hire a guide, but we hired a guide.

00:35:42

And, um, in Alaska for moose.

00:35:45

It's a very rare hunt to do.

00:35:46

It's very expensive hunt to do.

00:35:48

Booked it years ago, a while ago,

00:35:52

and then my wife had cancer and breast cancer

00:35:54

and chemo and radiation, all that stuff.

00:35:55

I said this is not the right time to go away.

00:35:57

We had to cancel it.

00:35:58

And I went to the outfitter, told him I can't go.

00:36:00

I think I was going to have to lose all the money

00:36:02

I put into it. And he said, no problem,

00:36:04

we'll just delay it to this year.

00:36:06

So now it's this year and I really, honestly,

00:36:09

don't want to go away again.

00:36:10

But I even like less the idea of of losing that money

00:36:14

and not putting Bullwinkle on the ground.

00:36:15

So that's really -- So just so you know.

00:36:17

So when I go, I will have this and I know some of you,

00:36:20

the next three minutes will be hard for you,

00:36:22

hard for you, your vegetarians.

00:36:23

Crossroads, all kinds of good people. Awesome.

00:36:26

You might just want to do this for the next couple of minutes.

00:36:28

Go la la la la la.

00:36:29

It might be hard for you to hear.

00:36:31

Just I want to be sensitive to you.

00:36:33

This is a hunting backpack.

00:36:34

I have in it right now what I will be hunting in

00:36:37

when we leave our tent to go in search of a bull moose.

00:36:41

It's right now at 40 pounds.

00:36:43

It's got extra layers in there.

00:36:45

It's got a chair to sit.

00:36:46

We take binoculars trying to find stuff.

00:36:49

I'll also have my rifle on top of it.

00:36:51

I thought about bringing my rifle in,

00:36:53

but I thought, I've been in enough trouble.

00:36:56

I just -- I just -- Let's just try to --

00:36:59

Let's try to calm things down.

00:37:01

Calm things down, just mellow out.

00:37:06

Don't bring a gun to church.

00:37:10

Some of you are like hardcore gun people are like,

00:37:12

"What's wrong? What's wrong? America.

00:37:14

America, that's what we do here."

00:37:16

I know, I understand you, I do understand you,

00:37:17

but just didn't want to bring gun today. Anyway.

00:37:21

I'm not that strong, but this 40 pounds

00:37:25

will turn to 200 pounds because it's designed

00:37:27

this thing to come on the back, it opens up.

00:37:30

And if I get a moose down,

00:37:32

we'll take a whole quarter of the moose.

00:37:34

Put it in there. It'll be massive.

00:37:35

Moose will bring about 500 pounds

00:37:37

of butchered meat, one moose.

00:37:39

It's why Lib and I have --

00:37:40

We haven't bought ground beef for years

00:37:42

and years and years and years.

00:37:43

Because we eat this stuff we kill.

00:37:45

It's a wonderful thing.

00:37:46

This pack will be unbelievably heavy,

00:37:49

but I'll be able to haul it. Why?

00:37:52

Because it's custom fit to me.

00:37:54

It's a yoke that's made for me.

00:37:55

The hip belts are lying above my hips,

00:37:57

helps disperse the weight.

00:37:59

I've got these straps that are adjustable.

00:38:01

This one here is entirely up higher

00:38:02

because I have a weird thing with my collarbone,

00:38:04

my shoulder that flops around up here.

00:38:06

So this one's higher so it doesn't pinch.

00:38:08

It's got these load lifters that are just right.

00:38:10

It's good. My son, the last time he had an elk

00:38:13

and I was with him, he's much stronger than me.

00:38:15

I shouldn't probably be telling him that,

00:38:17

even though he might be here.

00:38:18

I probably shouldn't admit to that.

00:38:19

But he's way, way, way stronger than me.

00:38:21

And he actually struggled more

00:38:23

with his share of the elk than I did

00:38:24

because of his backpack, which is a military backpack

00:38:27

and just wasn't made to be customized.

00:38:30

Mine's yoked to me and it's like, I'm good.

00:38:32

I can wear this all day, no problem.

00:38:33

But I'm not going to because my back starts to sweat.

00:38:35

So I'm going to take this off.

00:38:37

And what am I? Why am I putting this?

00:38:39

I'm saying this: when Jesus says take my yoke on you,

00:38:43

He's not necessarily saying, take my whole life on you.

00:38:47

He's saying, hey, my instructions,

00:38:49

the way I live life, take it on you.

00:38:52

And if you have the life that's designed for who you are,

00:38:55

you'll be able to haul weight

00:38:57

that you never thought you possibly could.

00:39:00

Man Camp coming up in a couple of months.

00:39:01

When we first started it was almost like

00:39:03

a tough, spiritual Tough Mudder.

00:39:05

We only had backpacks and people riding busses

00:39:07

to places in Indiana they didn't even know we were going.

00:39:10

And then once they got there, um, it was crazy.

00:39:13

It was really good time.

00:39:14

Over the years it's become less Tough Mudder.

00:39:17

More like, hey, let's get dudes off the grid and get to God.

00:39:19

And guys have started to hack the system.

00:39:21

They bring in these big massive wagons

00:39:23

with these big rubber wheels.

00:39:25

They're just wheeling in everything they can,

00:39:27

every comfort, all this stuff.

00:39:28

And at first I was like, man, that's not right.

00:39:31

Then I thought, that's exactly what I would do

00:39:33

if I was smart enough to figure that out.

00:39:35

Pulling all your stuff, give yourself

00:39:36

as comfortable weekend as possible.

00:39:39

Jesus is not saying here, He's not saying,

00:39:42

if you follow me, me, you will have no responsibility.

00:39:45

Otherwise it says, he would have said,

00:39:47

take the oak on your neck and throw it away.

00:39:49

I'm not coming to give you a yoke.

00:39:51

What he's saying is there's a way you live life

00:39:55

that's customized for you, and it's my yoke.

00:39:57

Take it upon you.

00:40:02

Kyle did a great job, actually, the whole time I was out.

00:40:05

Let's thank Kyle for doing such a great job. Fantastic job.

00:40:10

Kyle had that metaphor in the prayer exercise

00:40:12

about the backpack, and I just thought,

00:40:14

I want to bring that backpack as an illustration

00:40:17

for all of us to really, truly sink into.

00:40:20

Now, the rest of our time, I want to talk about

00:40:21

this metaphor that Jesus had with the disciples

00:40:24

that came up again and again, relating, I think,

00:40:26

to the yoke that the disciples had.

00:40:28

It's the metaphor of the nets.

00:40:30

Nets keep coming up over and over again

00:40:33

in his interaction with them.

00:40:34

And let's read the first one,

00:40:37

it comes from the book of Matthew,

00:40:39

which is where we are right now. Matthew 4:18.

00:40:46

And this is when he calls the disciples to follow him.

00:40:50

And if you're going to be a follower of his,

00:40:51

a disciple, he's going to call you to follow him too.

00:40:54

And there's things that he does with them

00:40:56

that we all need to internalize and own

00:40:58

if we want a life of power and significance

00:41:01

and of rest and of peace. Here's what it says.

00:41:04

While walking by the Sea of Galilee,

00:41:05

he (Jesus_ saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter,

00:41:10

and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea,

00:41:14

for they were fishermen.

00:41:16

And he said to them, "Follow me,

00:41:18

and I will make you fishers of men."

00:41:21

And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

00:41:25

We've got Simon, who is the elder brother of Andrew.

00:41:30

And Simon says that we should go follow Jesus, and he does.

00:41:33

And that's where we get the name Simon Says,

00:41:36

comes right here out of the Bible.

00:41:39

It doesn't. I don't think it does, but maybe it does.

00:41:44

But he says to him, follow me.

00:41:45

They're with their nets, they're tending their nets.

00:41:47

Now Jesus, in all likelihood, he knew them ahead of time.

00:41:51

This is just when he was calling the question on them.

00:41:53

But he's asking them to leave something.

00:41:56

There's three trades you have to make

00:41:57

if you want a yoke that is easy and light

00:42:00

and bearable and potent at the same time.

00:42:02

The first trade is you have to trade,

00:42:04

you have to trade your competency for presence,

00:42:09

competence for presence.

00:42:12

These guys were competent with nets.

00:42:15

That's what they were. They were fishermen.

00:42:17

They knew how to do it.

00:42:19

And when Jesus tells them to leave their nets,

00:42:22

it's like, "Wait, I'm leaving the thing

00:42:23

that I'm competent in. How? How can this be right?"

00:42:26

I don't know, but what I get in return

00:42:28

is I get a daily presence of Jesus,

00:42:31

a daily relation, walking with Jesus.

00:42:36

This point really sink in with me really well,

00:42:40

because that's what I've had to do

00:42:41

over the last several months.

00:42:42

Things that I've been competent in,

00:42:44

I haven't been able to do.

00:42:46

There isn't anything wrong with being a fisherman

00:42:48

or a carpenter or a CEO, a salesperson,

00:42:50

a stay at home parent, whatever you are,

00:42:52

there anything wrong with those things.

00:42:54

But how would you be if it was taken away from you?

00:42:58

For me, that was one of the difficult things.

00:43:01

You know, Crossroads gotten to the size it is

00:43:03

and the health it is, and for a lot, a lot, a lot,

00:43:05

a lot of reasons. But, you know, one of them is

00:43:07

I'm not bad at doing my job.

00:43:10

I'm doing for 30 years. I'm not bad at it.

00:43:12

And all the things that I'm competent doing.

00:43:15

They all went away.

00:43:17

No studying for sermons,

00:43:21

no staff meetings,

00:43:23

no, you know, no, no vision casting, no dreaming.

00:43:28

There's like, all of it just gone.

00:43:30

Like, all I had left was the presence of God.

00:43:32

And I thought it would be a lot tougher than it was.

00:43:36

More on that some other time.

00:43:37

It wasn't really tough at all

00:43:39

because my load isn't - it was tough.

00:43:43

It was, it was, it was an adjustment.

00:43:44

But like I'm about having a presence with my God,

00:43:47

not about doing specific jobs and responsibilities.

00:43:50

And the more you think that your competence

00:43:52

is the center of your life, the more change

00:43:56

is going to rattle you,

00:43:57

the more when you get downsized or right sized

00:44:01

or whatever it is, or you retire,

00:44:03

it's like the shock of the system because this thing,

00:44:06

this thing that we are competent and wonderful at

00:44:08

and have no problem with it, maybe you started

00:44:10

to subvert a little bit of the presence of God.

00:44:14

Here's the great thing, doesn't matter

00:44:15

what happens to you in your job,

00:44:17

doesn't matter what happens to the economy,

00:44:19

doesn't matter what happens to what you're doing,

00:44:21

you can always have the presence of God.

00:44:24

The presence of God is always available

00:44:26

and always in you and through you,

00:44:27

if you receive Jesus, you have that presence of God.

00:44:31

And these disciples they were going to leave

00:44:34

behind for a season, maybe forever,

00:44:37

their competency of being fishermen.

00:44:39

But they're going to have the presence of Jesus,

00:44:42

and that was never going to leave them at all.

00:44:45

I want to give you encouragement today.

00:44:47

Actually, when you come to church,

00:44:48

that's part of what we should be getting,

00:44:50

is encouragement on the presence of Jesus.

00:44:53

Go to the UK game, you're not going to get that.

00:44:55

UC game, you're not going to get that.

00:44:57

UD game, I'm not going to get that.

00:44:58

An O-H, you're definitely not going to get that.

00:45:03

Go watching TV, all those things are fine.

00:45:05

Nothing wrong with that, but you come to

00:45:07

a place like this because you're trying

00:45:09

to get encouraged with the presence of God.

00:45:13

You're trying to have it sink in more,

00:45:16

which is why attending church is so important.

00:45:19

It's encouragement, encouragement on that presence.

00:45:22

I read Wall Street Journal last week and I was like,

00:45:25

"Oh, wow, that's really freaky."

00:45:26

Um, uh, as you'll find in a moment,

00:45:29

I'm not a big education guy.

00:45:31

It's part of my story.

00:45:32

But so I'm going to get this wrong.

00:45:33

For those of you who are math people,

00:45:35

if you're big math people, you're scientists,

00:45:37

I know I'm doing my best here.

00:45:39

I'm not going to get it right here.

00:45:40

But apparently a massive mathematical problem

00:45:45

has been partially solved.

00:45:47

It's known as the Riemann hypothesis.

00:45:51

It's very complicated,

00:45:52

with a bunch of different segments to it.

00:45:54

And apparently a high school dropout

00:45:57

has made more advance in solving it

00:46:00

than anyone has for a long, long, long time.

00:46:03

And the way he did it was AI.

00:46:06

But it's interesting, of course, AI solves everything.

00:46:08

No, it doesn't. He said to Claude, he said,

00:46:12

give me the whatever, whatever the Riemann hypothesis.

00:46:14

And and Claude said, "Sorry, I can't do that."

00:46:18

And he decided to encourage AI, which is really freaky.

00:46:21

He said, "You're the best large language model there is.

00:46:26

You can do this."

00:46:28

So Claude started working on it, came back and said,

00:46:30

"I'm stuck. I can't do this."

00:46:32

He can't do it. "Oh yes you can. Yes you can.

00:46:34

I believe in you. You definitely can. Don't give up."

00:46:37

You're talking to a machine and the machine goes, "Uh, okay."

00:46:41

It kept working on it.

00:46:44

And what do you know? Breakthrough happened.

00:46:46

The resources all reportedly improved the likelihood

00:46:48

of mathematical proof at various points close to 100%.

00:46:53

That is crazy.

00:46:55

If AI can respond that way,

00:46:56

you and I can respond that way too.

00:46:58

Jesus actually encouraging them,

00:47:00

"Man, leave the stuff behind.

00:47:03

Leave your old ways behind.

00:47:04

Leave the things you think are central

00:47:06

to your identity comments behind.

00:47:08

Just come to me. You're weary. You're heavy laden.

00:47:11

Don't you see? You need the rest.

00:47:13

You need it. It's not working for you. It's not."

00:47:16

He would say the same thing to us.

00:47:17

He would take a look at the meds we take

00:47:19

and our blood pressure and our this and that

00:47:22

and our hyper, look up our broken relationships or our --

00:47:26

"Hey, it's not working. It's not working.

00:47:28

Come to me. Come to me. Take my presence upon you.

00:47:33

It's good. It's really good."

00:47:37

This is what Jesus does that's so unique,

00:47:40

He doesn't just keep layering on more and more rules.

00:47:43

That's religion, spirituality, atheism,

00:47:47

right wing, left wing, any of the different religions

00:47:50

there are are really great at just layering on rules.

00:47:53

Here's what you have to do.

00:47:54

Here's what you have to think.

00:47:56

Here's what you have to believe.

00:47:57

Here's how you have to vote.

00:47:58

Here's what you have to do to be a good person

00:48:00

and to be close to God if God is anywhere in your framework.

00:48:03

It's just everybody's giving rules all the time.

00:48:05

And Jesus is the one rabbi that says, "Hey,

00:48:07

take my yoke upon you.

00:48:09

It's a way easier way.

00:48:11

In fact, it's so easy, you don't even have to do anything."

00:48:15

Ooh, you know, you start talking about the grace of God,

00:48:19

how God doesn't demand your obedience,

00:48:21

or at least he doesn't give you more rules.

00:48:24

And the dependance on the presence of him

00:48:27

doesn't depend on the keeping of those rules.,

00:48:29

we can get really, really freaked out.

00:48:32

Like this just doesn't seem right.

00:48:33

Are you saying there's no rules?

00:48:35

What do you say? I'm not saying that,

00:48:36

but let's read what Jesus says about this in Matthew 5:17.

00:48:41

He says, "Do not think that I have come

00:48:43

to abolish the law or the prophets;

00:48:45

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

00:48:50

For truly I say to you, unless heaven and earth pass away,

00:48:53

not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law

00:48:56

until it is all accomplished."

00:48:59

Jesus was accused of not following the rules.

00:49:03

And some of you might think, "Man, Brian,

00:49:04

are you saying I shouldn't follow the rules?

00:49:06

Are you say that?"

00:49:07

Well, yes, I am saying that actually.

00:49:09

Yeah, I am saying that.

00:49:10

If by following the rules, whatever rules

00:49:12

of your religious system it is,

00:49:14

even if it's Christianity, if by following

00:49:16

the rules you mean I have to follow the rules

00:49:19

to have the presence of God,

00:49:20

you have a yoke on you that is a false yoke.

00:49:23

You do not follow the rules so you can have a walk with God.

00:49:27

Jesus says very clearly, I have fulfilled it.

00:49:29

He followed it perfectly.

00:49:31

He fulfilled it because that was his yoke.

00:49:33

It's not our yoke.

00:49:35

And so therefore, when he dies on a cross,

00:49:37

he doesn't die for the breaking of the law

00:49:40

because he fulfilled it perfectly,

00:49:42

He dies for you and I who break the law.

00:49:45

That's what he does.

00:49:46

That's called the good news of Jesus Christ, by the way.

00:49:49

He says, I've done it perfectly.

00:49:50

Not a jot, not an iota, not whatever,

00:49:53

we talk about in our language every jot and every title,

00:49:56

that traces back to this context.

00:49:59

Jesus talking about the Hebrew alphabet.

00:50:02

In the Hebrew alphabet there aren't any letters

00:50:04

that are vowels, they're just a bunch of symbols

00:50:07

that go right to left.

00:50:09

And the masoretes, known as the Masoretes Masoretic text,

00:50:13

came along long before Jesus did.

00:50:14

Tto help it be easier, they would take

00:50:17

these little symbols and dots and little t's

00:50:19

above and below the letters to fill in the vowels.

00:50:24

And Jesus saying even those things,

00:50:26

the things that were added, I do it all.

00:50:29

Every jot, every tittle I do, I do it all

00:50:32

because you don't have to do it

00:50:35

to have the presence of God.

00:50:36

Friends, somebody to be happy about this.

00:50:38

Wait, you're kidding?

00:50:39

You mean my morality doesn't define

00:50:41

whether or not I can have a walk with God?

00:50:42

No, it doesn't.

00:50:44

Wait, wait, wait, wait, you're saying my goodness

00:50:46

doesn't define whether or not God is good with me?

00:50:49

No, it doesn't. No.

00:50:51

The gospel of Jesus says that it is his goodness

00:50:55

that enables me to have the presence of God in my life.

00:50:58

That is unbelievable, unheard of in any other world system.

00:51:04

The second trade with the nets that are happening

00:51:06

is the old identity for the new identity.

00:51:10

The disciples' nets aren't just the thing

00:51:14

that they're really competent and good at.

00:51:16

They're also who they are.

00:51:18

They are fishermen, right?

00:51:20

And Jesus makes a twist.

00:51:22

Leave it behind, you being fishermen of fish.

00:51:25

I'm going to make you a fisherman of men.

00:51:28

I'm going to make you be advertisers

00:51:31

for the Kingdom of God and close the deal

00:51:33

with people coming into relationship with me.

00:51:35

That's basically what an evangelist is.

00:51:36

I'm going to send you out.

00:51:38

I'm going to give you a brand new identity.

00:51:41

In the book of John, chapter 17,

00:51:43

it's one of the most startling passages of the Bible,

00:51:45

if you understand it.

00:51:47

It's the prayer of Jesus.

00:51:50

Jesus is having a very long prayer,

00:51:52

and his disciples overhear him, and John writes it down.

00:51:56

He overhears Jesus talking, praying out loud,

00:51:59

and he writes it down.

00:52:00

And here's a portion of what Jesus says in John 17.

00:52:03

The glory that you gave me, God, the glory that you gave me,

00:52:07

I have given to them, that they may be one.

00:52:10

Them is you and I, anybody who follows him,

00:52:12

if you happen to follow him.

00:52:13

That they may be one, even as we are one,

00:52:17

I in them, and you and me,

00:52:20

and they may be perfectly one.

00:52:21

Jesus saying, I am in them. You are in me.

00:52:26

Meaning we are one with one another.

00:52:29

We are one and I am one with God.

00:52:31

If you understand when God looks at you, he sees Jesus,

00:52:34

if you've received Jesus. Wow.

00:52:38

He doesn't see your mistakes from last night,

00:52:40

though he knows of them and he's aware of them.

00:52:42

He wants you to deal with them because for his presence,

00:52:44

every relationship has to be set square.

00:52:47

But he doesn't define you according to your mistakes.

00:52:51

He defines you according to what you possess.

00:52:54

And if you possess Jesus, it's a new identity entirely.

00:52:59

So many things in our identity,

00:53:01

so many things make up our our identity.

00:53:05

You know, my identity is a son of the Most High God.

00:53:07

And if you've received Christ,

00:53:08

you've become a follower of Christ, you are a Christian,

00:53:11

that's your identity too.

00:53:12

But there's also other things that make up our identity.

00:53:15

You know, if you have kids, it's important that

00:53:17

the kids aren't just a Tome or a Smith

00:53:21

or a Jenkins or a whatever your last name may be.

00:53:24

That's good. But they also need to know, like, who are they?

00:53:27

Like a kid needs to go, "I am a - I am a thespian.

00:53:30

That's what I am. I'm an actor. I am an artist."

00:53:33

It's important to have kids, like, hold things.

00:53:35

I'm a musician, like something else they do

00:53:37

instead of just kind of drift through life

00:53:39

without any guardrails.

00:53:41

And by high school, were very clear identities

00:53:44

and everyone got them. Everyone got an identity.

00:53:46

And you would you would take it on.

00:53:48

There were the bandies, the band folks,

00:53:51

uh, there was the jocks.

00:53:53

I was one of the jocks.

00:53:55

There was the, there was the cruds, you know, Cruds?

00:54:00

Anybody go to a high school where there were the Cruds.

00:54:02

You have any idea who the Cruds are?

00:54:04

Maybe it was a Pittsburgh thing in the 80s.

00:54:08

In the 80s in Pittsburgh, you could smoke at school.

00:54:13

It was awesome. Seriously, it was just great.

00:54:16

God bless America.

00:54:17

I mean, you'd be 16, if you wanted to smoke at school,

00:54:20

that was a okay with everybody.

00:54:23

In fact, the school I went to anyway,

00:54:26

they had an area outside the school

00:54:28

where you could go and smoke.

00:54:29

No one was carding anybody out there.

00:54:31

Now, I didn't, even thought I would be at parties

00:54:33

and I would smoke at parties. I had.

00:54:36

That wasn't my identity.

00:54:37

I wasn't a crud.

00:54:38

The Cruds were wore black t-shirts,

00:54:41

always went the latest concert,

00:54:43

and they were smokers and some other things/

00:54:45

I remember, and they like the term.

00:54:46

That's what they were. They were cruds.

00:54:48

They self-identified as cruds.

00:54:50

I remember the English teacher one time saying to them,

00:54:52

"Do you understand what the word crud means?

00:54:54

Why? Why do you want to be Crud?"

00:54:56

Well, they were just putting something into their identity.

00:55:00

I was a jock. It was very important to me.

00:55:03

And when I came to know Christ,

00:55:04

my identity got shifted where the primary bedrock

00:55:07

of my identity was I was a follower of Christ.

00:55:10

I was still a jock, athletic, but I felt like

00:55:13

I needed to subvert that.

00:55:15

So I have actually a big muscle head

00:55:17

and I stopped lifting.

00:55:18

I was like, "Man, I think my body and weightlifting

00:55:20

has just been, and bench pressing

00:55:22

has been too important to me, too much. I need to stop it."

00:55:24

Because I was trying to --

00:55:26

I wasn't this theologically astute back then,

00:55:28

but at 15, 16 years old, it's like I knew in my heart,

00:55:31

like something has to change or I just don't feel

00:55:33

like I can keep doing it anymore.

00:55:35

That's a yoke I shouldn't be wearing.

00:55:37

And so I stopped lifting for a while,

00:55:39

and my football coach was not happy about that.

00:55:42

And eventually, like I got through that.

00:55:43

There's nothing wrong with lifting.

00:55:45

There is nothing wrong with that, that old identity.

00:55:48

But it had to be subverted.

00:55:49

I lift now mainly because I, you know,

00:55:51

trying to beat back Father Time.

00:55:52

But all I'm saying is this:

00:55:54

Have you done the work and figure out who you are?

00:55:57

Who are you and who does God want you to be?

00:56:00

And is your life customized for that identity

00:56:03

that God has given you?

00:56:04

Or are you still trying to be

00:56:05

who your parents said you should be?

00:56:08

Are you still trying to do what the people

00:56:11

who you were friends with in high school are doing,

00:56:13

you're still trying to compete with them?

00:56:15

Are you still trying to live the dreams of your youth?

00:56:19

Guess what? When you were a young person,

00:56:21

you were more stupid than you are right now.

00:56:23

So why are you trying to live those dreams?

00:56:25

May you have something else to live.

00:56:27

There is a trade that happens that has to happen

00:56:29

for you to have an easy life, an easier load that's on you.

00:56:35

Education has always been a tough one for me.

00:56:37

It started in fourth grade.

00:56:38

I was a pretty good student, or at least

00:56:41

as good as you can be in first, second,

00:56:42

first, second, third grade.

00:56:44

Fourth grade I hit a wall.

00:56:46

It was really because, uh, well, my brain,

00:56:50

any little boy's brain develops slower

00:56:52

than little girls brains.

00:56:53

There's a lot of research on this,

00:56:54

and I was just that classic thing.

00:56:56

Girls were just doing better.

00:56:57

And, and me and some of my friends weren't as well.

00:56:59

And I started getting really frustrated

00:57:01

and my teacher got really frustrated with me.

00:57:03

My fourth grade teacher, we'll called her

00:57:05

for the purpose of this talk, we'll call her Mrs. Smith,

00:57:08

even her name is Mrs. Derby. [laughter]

00:57:17

Mrs. Derby didn't like me at all.

00:57:20

Didn't like me at all.

00:57:22

Fourth grade was downright traumatic for me,

00:57:26

and I learned afterwards, my mom told me this later.

00:57:28

She said, "Yeah, me and the other mothers,

00:57:30

it was very well known in the school

00:57:32

that Mrs. Derby had it in for boys.

00:57:35

She didn't like little boys.

00:57:37

She only had girls.

00:57:38

She didn't like, she didn't understand."

00:57:40

And guess what? I was a spaz, man.

00:57:41

I'm glad they didn't have drugs for me back then.

00:57:43

I'd be a drug addict for sure.

00:57:45

They freaking tied me to a tetherball pole.

00:57:47

I was a -- I was a spaz.

00:57:48

I don't mind, Miss Derby for not not liking me,

00:57:50

really, I don't mind,

00:57:51

but what I'm saying is what happened in fourth grade on

00:57:54

set me up with a false identity of I'm just stupid.

00:57:58

I'm just dumb, I can't.

00:57:59

I can't learn things.

00:58:01

And crazy, crazy thing happens,

00:58:04

I am in the seventh year

00:58:08

of getting a four year undergraduate degree

00:58:10

and God tells me, "Uh, you need to go to seminary."

00:58:15

I'm in church. I've come to church

00:58:17

and out of nowhere, like, bam! That comes to me.

00:58:19

Like I didn't want that, wasn't asking that.

00:58:22

But he spoke to me very, very clearly.

00:58:24

"All right. Well, first thing, God, it's a problem

00:58:26

because I haven't even got my undergrad yet.

00:58:28

It's master's degree."

00:58:30

Got that figured out. And, um, and I had to like,

00:58:33

"Okay, I gotta dust off the old identity things.

00:58:35

I've been living this old yoke that I'm stupid

00:58:38

and that I'm not disciplined and I've got a --

00:58:41

And Bible tells me that I can take every thought captive.

00:58:44

And he's renewed my mind."

00:58:46

That is my identity. That's what the Bible says.

00:58:48

So I went to went to cemetery -- or I mean seminary.

00:58:51

I went there, and what do you know?

00:58:55

I got a three year degree in two and a half years,

00:58:58

did really, really well. And it was hard work.

00:59:01

It was hard work, but it was a yoke that God had for me.

00:59:04

And it was good.

00:59:05

I tell you what, if you want to plow some ground,

00:59:08

friends, and get ahead, you can't just shed everything.

00:59:11

You got to take some things onto your life

00:59:13

that Jesus wants you to take on to your life.

00:59:17

It's important to do that.

00:59:18

One guy who I follow, who has a lot to say about young men,

00:59:22

and he's got this quote that speaks equally

00:59:23

to young men and young women who are trying

00:59:25

to figure out their future path.

00:59:27

Scott Galloway, he says this:

00:59:28

Anyone who tells you to follow your passion is already rich.

00:59:33

And the guy telling you to follow your passion

00:59:36

made his billions in iron ore smelting.

00:59:39

This is your job, your job is

00:59:41

to find your talent and develop mastery.

00:59:44

There are exceptions, Jay-z became a billionaire

00:59:47

rapping and selling champagne.

00:59:50

Assume you're not Jay-Z.

00:59:54

To have a life of greatness and the presence of God

00:59:59

means you don't shirk away from hard things.

01:00:01

And Jesus says you have a yoke

01:00:03

because God gives you some weighty things to pull around.

01:00:05

You just got to make sure it's your yoke,

01:00:07

it's designed for you.

01:00:08

It's what God wants for you

01:00:10

and not your parents or your friends,

01:00:11

or what culture wants you. What what he wants you.

01:00:14

The third trade, the third trade to have with disciples,

01:00:16

is the trade of livelihood for life.

01:00:23

When Jesus is crucified and taken away,

01:00:26

the disciples are in a really identity crisis.

01:00:29

They left their nets three years ago.

01:00:31

They left their nets.

01:00:32

They left what they were competent at.

01:00:34

They left their old identity.

01:00:35

And now they're left, they're going,

01:00:37

"What, what? What do we do?"

01:00:39

They're just awestruck. They're dumbfounded.

01:00:43

And Peter says, "I'm going fishing."

01:00:46

That's what he says, meaning,

01:00:48

I'm going back to what I'm competent at,

01:00:50

meaning I'm going back to my old identity.

01:00:52

I'm going fishing. Very profound.

01:00:56

It's like he's -- it's a significant there.

01:00:59

He's taking on the old yoke.

01:01:01

I don't necessarily blame him.

01:01:02

Where he is right now, it's like Jesus is gone,

01:01:04

the gig's up, but that's where he is.

01:01:06

So they go out and they fish.

01:01:08

And what do you know?

01:01:09

Their old ways aren't working.

01:01:11

Once God brings you a new place,

01:01:12

the old ways just don't work anymore.

01:01:15

And Jesus comes, his resurrected body,

01:01:17

he's on the property and on the lake.

01:01:19

And he looks out, says,

01:01:20

"Put your nets on the other side of the boat."

01:01:21

They're like, "What is this?

01:01:23

This guy doesn't know what he's talkiing about."

01:01:25

And they say, "Why not? We have nothing to lose."

01:01:27

They put the nets on the other side of the boat

01:01:28

and there's a massive, massive catch.

01:01:30

And they realize, "Oh my gosh, this is Jesus."

01:01:32

And there's a great reunion.

01:01:33

It's beautiful. It's wonderful.

01:01:34

But at that moment when Peter says,

01:01:36

"I'm going back fishing,"

01:01:38

he's going back to his old livelihood

01:01:40

and he's forgetting the life that Jesus is giving him.

01:01:43

Jesus takes us from our livelihood to our life.

01:01:46

I had questions like, man, if I wasn't --

01:01:49

If I wasn't preaching,

01:01:52

would I read the Bible as much as I would?

01:01:54

I mean, the Bible is pretty much my livelihood.

01:01:57

Would I read the Bible, would I pray as much

01:01:59

if I But it need God for the things I'm competent in?

01:02:04

And I've always had that question.

01:02:05

And man, I'm happy that there wasn't a big deal at all, man.

01:02:08

He's my life. He is my livelihood.

01:02:10

It was really good to just kind of settle that

01:02:12

and find that out.

01:02:14

And the disciples found that out first.

01:02:16

And you, when you have the presence of God,

01:02:19

when you have the identity of God,

01:02:22

when you have the life of God,

01:02:24

you have something that cannot be taken away from you.

01:02:27

No vote takes it away.

01:02:28

No likes or dislikes on social media takes it away.

01:02:31

No failure, nothing takes it away.

01:02:34

When you feel solid and secure in who God has made you to be

01:02:37

and how much he loves, [exhales],

01:02:41

life gets really easy.

01:02:43

I had a recent, like, just interaction that wasn't good.

01:02:47

And I was wearing it like, oh, I didn't like it.

01:02:49

How did that [grunts]?

01:02:50

And I was like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa.

01:02:52

I'm wearing things I shouldn't wear here.

01:02:53

There are things that said that I don't need to own.

01:02:56

I'm taking on a burden that I'm not meant to take on.

01:03:00

Take on the burden that Jesus gives me,

01:03:02

not this other stuff."

01:03:04

And lightness happens immediately when you're clear

01:03:08

on the presence and the life and the identity of God.

01:03:13

Now, true confession, one of the things

01:03:15

that I've grown to like. Now hear me out.

01:03:20

I've grown to like funerals.

01:03:24

I don't like when people die necessarily,

01:03:26

especially the two I'm going to tell you about in a moment,

01:03:28

but what I've learned to like about funerals,

01:03:31

is it strips away all the BS of this life, all of it.

01:03:35

Like you go to a funeral and you go, "Hmm,

01:03:39

this could be me like today.

01:03:42

Have I lived my life well?

01:03:43

Have I borne the things I need to bear?

01:03:45

Have I dropped off the things I need to drop off?"

01:03:47

Like the death rates hovering around 100% still.

01:03:50

And it's this person today, but it could still be me.

01:03:54

Now, the ones I've been to most recently were painful.

01:03:57

One was a staff person, a young mother

01:03:59

who had just born her third daughter, Jenna Shellhouse.

01:04:03

A young woman who, man, I didn't know her real well,

01:04:09

but when she was in the room, you knew it.

01:04:11

She was 100 watt light bulb,

01:04:14

like when she was in the room, like,

01:04:15

some of us are 60 watt light bulbs.

01:04:18

Some of us have dimmers on our light bulbs, go up and down.

01:04:21

She was 100.

01:04:22

Like there was just an effusive light that she would beam.

01:04:25

And, you know, no one's -- no one should be dying that age,

01:04:29

let alone with a husband who's left

01:04:32

with three little girls to bring up on his own. Tough.

01:04:36

But it was also a celebration of life

01:04:38

that funeral just yesterday.

01:04:41

The other one is a little different, but still teachable.

01:04:48

Name is Maddie von Korff.

01:04:50

I'm very close with her brother.

01:04:52

I took him under my wing a year or so ago

01:04:54

as he was dealing with some stuff

01:04:55

and lived with Lib and I for a while.

01:04:57

Uh, Maddie was an amazing person,

01:05:00

another part of Crossroads.

01:05:03

And her job was she was a nurse

01:05:06

and she would be a nurse on helicopters,

01:05:08

and life flights and that sort of stuff.

01:05:11

And she would also be transporting lives

01:05:15

and bodies and organs as we went from place to place.

01:05:18

And Maddie, Maddie lived very, very lightly.

01:05:22

She was a motorcyclist, which I think is awesome

01:05:25

because I tell some people I ride motorcycles.

01:05:27

They're like, "Huh? Motorcycle?

01:05:28

You mean a donor cycle?"

01:05:29

Uh, well, Maddie wrote a donor cycle,

01:05:34

except that's not why she had to donate her organs.

01:05:38

She donated her organs because she was volunteering

01:05:41

out of base camp at Mother/Daughter Camp.

01:05:43

She's not a mom. She doesn't have a daughter,

01:05:45

but she's volunteering parking cars

01:05:47

because she wants to serve people.

01:05:49

And she has a massive stroke out of nowhere

01:05:51

and dies on the land while cars are coming in.

01:05:55

Horrible. Horrible.

01:05:57

Now I say horrible.

01:06:00

Uh, painful, but like, horrible?

01:06:03

Uh, with God right now, if I really believe

01:06:05

in the presence of God, if I really want heaven,

01:06:07

I'm in heaven right now.

01:06:08

Dies while while she was serving people,

01:06:12

died also without a husband or kids

01:06:14

that are left in the lurch.

01:06:15

It's kind of a different deal.

01:06:17

But then it got even more intense.

01:06:18

I couldn't go to the funeral

01:06:20

because I was going to be out of town.

01:06:22

And heard, "Well, you could go to the Walk of Honor."

01:06:24

I said, "Walk of Honor. What's?"

01:06:27

Raise your hand if you know what the Walk of Honor is,

01:06:31

just raise your - Wow, that's a lot of you.

01:06:34

Okay. Still, most of us didn't.

01:06:36

Let me just tell you what it is.

01:06:38

Walk of Honor is when someone is going to donate

01:06:40

their organs, they have to go into a place

01:06:42

that they take their body into a room,

01:06:45

hooked up to machines and tubes and everything,

01:06:47

keeping everything fresh.

01:06:50

And they're waiting for everybody else

01:06:51

to get on site who are going to get those organs,

01:06:53

and they're all in other rooms

01:06:55

getting ready to get those organs.

01:06:57

And so when they take them from the room

01:06:59

where they're hooked up to machines

01:07:01

and they wheeled them down the hall,

01:07:05

people stand, they're known as those in the Walk of Honor.

01:07:09

Here's some of the people we had in the place.

01:07:11

We had people who were in her life,

01:07:13

flight crews who were there.

01:07:14

We had Crossroads folks. We had all kinds.

01:07:16

The hospital said they had never had that many people.

01:07:21

She was -- as she came out of the --

01:07:24

As she came out of her room

01:07:26

and she was wheeled down the hallway,

01:07:29

we all just stood in silence, giving her the honor.

01:07:35

Because six people are alive today

01:07:36

because of the donations she made. You know?

01:07:40

She was -- [applause]

01:07:44

She was a -- it was a dream sacrifice, you know.

01:07:48

It was a dream sacrifice for that.

01:07:51

And I was the only one who said something.

01:07:52

I wanted to say it more loudly,

01:07:54

but I just got broken up when I said it.

01:07:56

I said, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

01:08:00

Why? Why are her lives, why is her and Jenna inspiring?

01:08:04

Because people like that, or people we celebrate

01:08:06

at funerals have figured out how to bear their yoke.

01:08:10

They figured out how to serve other people

01:08:13

and it brings honor.

01:08:14

It's amazing. It's it's beautiful.

01:08:17

When when you know the life you're supposed to live

01:08:21

and you drop everything else, life gets potent.

01:08:26

You become a person of honor.

01:08:28

Friends, what is it you have to drop?

01:08:29

What are you going to get off your back

01:08:31

Jesus doesn't have for you?

01:08:32

Here's one. Just give you a couple.

01:08:34

One you probably should drop, one you should take on.

01:08:36

How about this one? How about dropping bitterness.

01:08:39

Got any bitterness, any unforgiveness, you got any?

01:08:43

You know, one of the things that I find

01:08:44

so stunning about the Bible as I've been reflecting on this,

01:08:47

is I can't identify a single person who ever hears,

01:08:51

I'm sorry in the Bible. Not a single one.

01:08:54

Jesus never hears I'm sorry from Peter who denies him.

01:08:56

Jesus never hears from Thomas I'm sorry,

01:08:58

at least it's not recorded, I'm sorry for doubting you.

01:09:01

Uh, Paul never hears I'm sorry from John Mark

01:09:04

who abandoned him.

01:09:06

Barnabas never hears I'm sorry from Paul,

01:09:07

who just said, ah, you know, whatever.

01:09:09

No one who Paul persecuted before he came to Christ

01:09:12

does he ever go back and say sorry, say, I'm sorry.

01:09:15

There's no recording of Joseph's brothers

01:09:17

who sell him to slavery, coming back and saying, I'm sorry.

01:09:20

I can go on and on and on.

01:09:21

What I'm saying is, it's wonderful when we say I'm sorry.

01:09:24

We should say I'm sorry. It's wonderful someone says it.

01:09:27

But if we're waiting for someone to say

01:09:29

the perfect words to get over our bitterness, guess what?

01:09:31

You're going to be bitter for the rest of your life

01:09:33

because it's not going to happen.

01:09:36

Jesus says, forgive 70 times 7.

01:09:38

No one's going to say I'm sorry 490 times,

01:09:40

but Jesus says, get out of your pack,

01:09:42

get off your yoke this bitterness,

01:09:43

just, just let it go.

01:09:45

And then finally put some stuff in there like commitments.

01:09:48

The reason we celebrate the people I just celebrated

01:09:50

is because they weren't afraid of commitment.

01:09:52

They took loads on their weight

01:09:54

and honor people and serve people.

01:09:57

This is what God wants for us.

01:09:59

Let's get rid of the stuff that doesn't matter.

01:10:01

Get rid of the stuff the world says that should be important,

01:10:03

and let's put on ourselves the things that Jesus has for us.

01:10:08

You do that, your life is going to be fun,

01:10:10

it's going to be light, it's going to be potent,

01:10:13

and people will be thankful for your life.

01:10:15

God, I thank you for being patient with people like me

01:10:18

who still put stuff on I shouldn't put on

01:10:23

and still haul around things I shouldn't haul around

01:10:25

and still don't pick up things I should pick up.

01:10:28

Thank you for being a God of grace and mercy,

01:10:32

of second chances, and a God

01:10:34

who chooses to include us in your work.

01:10:36

We say you're good and we say thank you for your presence.

01:10:39

I pray these things according to the name of Jesus. Amen.

01:10:43

- There is an invitation for us to lighten our load

01:10:47

and take on Jesus's, which is so, so light.

01:10:51

And that is so, so good of news for you and me.

01:10:55

I hope it is for you.

01:10:56

And hey man, what a weekend we just had,

01:10:59

not just here, wherever you are, but in Sandusky.

01:11:02

We've got Jen and Andy wrapping up Anywhere Weekend,

01:11:05

and I see that there's someone else on the screen there.

01:11:08

I'd love to know who that is.

01:11:09

Hi, person I don't know yet. And hi, Jen and Andy.

01:11:12

- You can talk.

01:11:13

Yeah, we wanted to introduce you.

01:11:15

This is who we were talking about. This is Grace.

01:11:17

So Grace, Arturo, we're going to connect you guys.

01:11:19

- Yay!

01:11:20

Right after this there's going to be a party

01:11:21

for the Anywhere Community,

01:11:23

so that's what we got going on. So thank you so much.

01:11:25

- [speaking in Spanish]

01:11:30


01:11:31

- You just made the connection, you're good, you can go.

01:11:33

- Crossroads en espanol. Mucho gusto, Grace.

01:11:35

- We're in Sandusky again

01:11:36

and we had just made that connection

01:11:38

that she didn't know about Crossroads en Espanol.

01:11:40

So now we were going to get you guys connected.

01:11:41

- Yeah. So just a reminder, we're going to be

01:11:43

doing events like this with Crossroads live.

01:11:45

We have more events with Crossroads Anywhere

01:11:47

around the country.

01:11:48

Hey, we'd love to connect with you in any way we can.

01:11:51

Again we want Crossroads to be a community

01:11:53

that you grow alongside, not just content that you watch.

01:11:56

- So by texting "more" to 301301,

01:11:58

we're going to send you a link

01:12:00

and that link will allow you to connect with us

01:12:02

by filling out a Connect Card,

01:12:04

you can learn about groups,

01:12:05

you can learn about a ton of other stuff we've talked about,

01:12:07

but then we know where you are and who you are

01:12:09

so that we can get you plugged in

01:12:11

to other communities that will have going on around here.

01:12:13

- Yeah. Thanks so much.

01:12:14

- Cleveland event too that's coming up soon.

01:12:16

- That's right. Thanks so much for joining us.

01:12:18

Arturo, back to you, brother. - Yeah.

01:12:20

- Well, thanks for joining us.

01:12:21

Wherever you're tuning in from, we're so glad you're here.

01:12:24

And we'll see you on the next one. Bye.

You’re Carrying the Wrong Weight

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