God Makes a Way | When There is No Way

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[music: That's Who My God Is]

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- Psalm 105 says this:

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Give praise to the Lord, proclaim His name.

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Make known among the nations what He's done.

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Sing to Him, sing praise to Him,

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tell of all His wonderful acts.

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Glory in His holy name.

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Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

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Look to the Lord and His strength.

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Seek His face always.

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Now there's over 200 places in the Bible

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where God reminds us, He says, "I need you to remember.

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I need you to remember the things that I've done."

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I think we kind of intuitively know why that is, right?

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Because we can be so quick to forget

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the ways that God has been good,

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and just think about the things on our to do list,

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or the things that we need,

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or the things that we wish we had.

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But there are moments, moments where

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we can remind our own hearts, our own minds,

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our own souls that God has been good to us,

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that God has good things in store for us.

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So this moment right here, whether you're watching

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on a screen or here in the room with me,

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this isn't just a moment in a service.

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This is an opportunity for you

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to meet with the God of the universe.

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This is a moment for you to remember the ways

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that God has been good and to respond.

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So if you would, why don't you stand up with me

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and let's sing as we remember

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the ways God has been good to us.

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- Hey. Welcome in, welcome in.

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If we never met my name is Justin.

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And I want you to know all these songs,

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every song we sing is simply this,

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it's a response to who God is and what He's done.

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And that doesn't mean that you and I

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have the same exact response.

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I don't assume that about you, but I can tell you,

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because of the goodness of God that I've seen

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throughout my life, all of these words I'm saying,

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"I've seen You be good.

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And so I'll give you these words."

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This one's a dangerous prayer.

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It's not an easy prayer to say,

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but I found life on the other side of this prayer,

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and I aim to pray it every day.

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- We worship you right now in this moment,

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we remember who You are, who You've been.

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And if we've never experienced You

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in a special way before, God would today be the first?

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Would today be a time that we leave

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and we see You in a new way, in a true way?

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A God that's holy, that's different from us,

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but who's with us at the same time.

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It's who you are. God, thank You.

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We don't deserve your presence,

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but you give it to us freely because of Your love.

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God, for that we're grateful.

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You're amazing and we love You and we sing to You.

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Would You help us?

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Would You help us to lay our lives down for You

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and teach us what that means?

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We need you, Lord.

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

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Come on. It's so good to sing together, ain't it?

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Come on.

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Maybe you're singing next to somebody you don't know.

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Give 'em a high five.

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Turn to somebody around you, tell 'em your name

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if you don't know 'em, and you can have a seat.

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- Man, that is so good.

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You guys sound incredible.

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So good to be with you guys.

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Hey, my name is Andy Ryder.

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I'm Community Pastor of Crossroads Anywhere,

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which is the part of our church

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that doesn't meet in a building like this, right?

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All over the globe.

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But whenever I'm here,

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it's great to be at our Oakley campus.

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So good to be with you guys.

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Now, there's been some controversy this week

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that I just need to settle.

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I'm curious what kind of caliber people

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we have in the room and online.

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And here's my one question poll for you.

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Raise your hand if you have had

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something pumpkin spiced this week already.

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Yes, there's my people, there's my people.

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I hear them, I hear the boos and the murmuring I get it.

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But it is fall, right?

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There's like there's a chill in the air.,

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things are cooling off a little bit.

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This is also the time of the year where, like,

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the craziness and chaos of summer sort of subsides

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and new rhythms, new routines begin to settle in.

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Now, as you consider what your fall looks like,

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I just have something that I really, really believe

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should be like near the top of the list

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of your priorities, and that is community.

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Like, the reality is none of us are at our best

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when we're alone, right? It's just true.

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I had a buddy who did an ultramarathon.

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Yes, there are people that are crazy.

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We'll pray for them who do ultramarathons.

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It's insane, but he had a crew of people.

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I got to help him.

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We were filling water bottles.

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We were slinging gear.

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We were even running parts of the race with him.

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But the reality is, he went to a new place

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when he ran a whole bunch and worked really hard,

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but also when he had people around him to support him.

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We all need our crew, right?

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We all need people around us to support us,

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to encourage us and to push us to go to a new place.

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And that is groups.

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People are increasingly lonely.

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We want to help you find your community.

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Maybe you're new to the city,

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you're a young professional.

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I don't know what your situation is.

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Hey, check out Young Adults.

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We have incredible young adults groups here at Crossroads.

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We want you to check out and be a part of.

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Maybe, I don't know, maybe you're newly married

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or part of a couple and you've just realized,

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like, college drinking buddies

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does not make great couple friends, right?

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We've all been there.

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Hey, maybe the thing for you is finding some couples

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that you can grow alongside.

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I don't know what your life stage is,

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what your situation is, but you will be at your best

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when you're growing alongside other people.

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And whether you're in person or online,

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we've got incredible options for you.

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You can check them all out at Crossroads.net/groups.

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Now, I've been around Crossroads for like 15 years now.

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I started as a volunteer

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and I've been on staff for a while, but honestly,

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I still struggle to keep up with all the amazing things

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that are going on around this place.

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So I've got a little hack for you. This is a pro tip.

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If you want to sort of make sure you get caught up

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with what's most important around Crossroads,

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we can text you, it's once a week, it's short

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and it saves you an email. It's incredible.

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You can do that for our Oakley community here

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by just texting "Oakley" to 301301

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or for our Anywhere family, hey,

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just text "Anywhere" to 301301

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and we'll send you one quick text

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so that you can keep up with the most important things

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that are happening around this place.

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Now, as I said, there's lots of stuff going on around here,

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but it all exists, not just so you have

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something to watch or something to learn from.

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It all exists to help push people towards God,

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to help encourage them in their growth,

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and so they don't feel stuck,

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and so they can experience all the fullness of life

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and love that God has for them.

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And all that stuff happens because people are generous

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and faithful, and they've just gotten in the habit

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of saying, "God, as hard as it is,

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I trust You with my money more than I trust myself."

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And if you want to join the team of faithful givers

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who makes this place possible,

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you can do so at crossroads.net/give.

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Or if you've got questions around

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what does this place believe about money,

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you can also check that out at crossroads.net/give.

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Now, so many of the folks that I talk to

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or interact interact with, they just

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in some way, shape or form they feel stuck.

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Like, they just don't see the way forward,

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might be in their marriage, in their family,

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in their health, in their career,

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in their emotional health and their journey with God.

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I don't know what it is, but there's likely a place

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where you feel stuck and where even a way forward

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might seem scary, daunting, or impossible.

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The reality is that we follow a God

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who is in the process of making the way for us.

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It's not something He just did

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way back in the pages of the Bible.

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It's something that He's still doing today

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for you and for me.

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That's what we're going to do.

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We're going to continue our series Epic Wonders

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hearing from Chuck about how God parts the Red Sea

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to make the impossible possible.

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- Well, hello, kids.

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I'm Chuck, and I'd like to tell you a story.

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But, like you heard, I do have a special friend with me.

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So I want to introduce you to my friend Mo.

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Everybody say hi, Mo. - Hi, Mo.

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- Yes. - Hello, everyone.

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- So, Mo, I'm so glad you're here with us.

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You know, we're talking about the crossing of the Red Sea.

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You were there. You were there.

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I wonder how are you feeling after that experience?

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- Well, to be honest, my feet feel like

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they lost a battle with the 40 year old wilderness.

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- Oh, yeah, yeah, because that's a long time.

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- That's right.

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And these sandals do not have any arch support.

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- I get that. By the way,

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how do you think I'm doing with my ventriloquism?

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- Not very good. - Yeah, I agree with that, too.

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But, you know, you were there.

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So what do you remember about the story

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that we're going to tell today

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about the crossing of the Red Sea?

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What would you like to tell the kids?

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Yeah. Yes. Be honest. Tell us the truth.

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- Okay. Well, I certainly remember God parting the sea

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and us walking on dry land, which was amazing.

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- Yeah, I bet it was. I bet it was.

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Uh, what else do you remember?

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Yes. You can be honest with us.

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-Well, I remember the Egyptians needing swim lessons,

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because I remember the bloated bodies

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I saw in the water afterwards.

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- Oh, oh, oh, okay. No, no, no.

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We will stop there. We're stopping.

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Hey, let's thank Mo for sharing

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a bit of the story with us today.

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We're going to stop it there.

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Appreciate you being with us, Mo.

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[screams]

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- You know, maybe like me, you heard these Bible stories

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we're looking at in this series through puppets

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or any felt board people in the house.

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I had, like, felt board.

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That was my experience of these,

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which can make us think about these stories

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as kind of childish, fantastical,

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when really they were way more epic than that.

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They probably looked closer to something like this.

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- Pretty epic.

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So today we're looking at a story

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that shows up in the second book of the Bible,

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the Book of Exodus.

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And it's a story that reminds us that

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God is a way making God,

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even when it seems there is no way.

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Let's pray as we get started.

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God, I'm asking that You would help us

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to experience this story today.

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Not just hear it, but experience it,

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and that as we experience it, we would experience You.

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Because the same way that You worked in this story

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is the way that You work in our lives.

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I pray that we would receive that today,

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and I pray that as we do, it would strengthen,

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encourage and comfort us for the lives we live right now.

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And I ask that as that happens, we're just shaped

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more in the character and the hope that comes from You,

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Jesus, in whose name I pray, Amen.

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So the story of Exodus is this epic

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kind of milestone moment in the Bible

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that keeps getting referred to over and over again

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all throughout the Bible.

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One preacher put put it like this

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about this particular story. He said:

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There's probably no text in all the Bible

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that is a better text to look at

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if you want to understand this old word "salvation".

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The crossing of the Red Sea is looked at by the whole Bible.

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Every part tends to look back

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and see it as a paradigm of salvation.

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By salvation that means what Jesus did for us on the Cross.

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As a paradigm of how God helps us escape from

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things that are enslaving and killing us.

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So just to give you the beats of this story,

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Exodus opens with God's people crying out to God

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because for 400 years they have been living in slavery,

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brutal slavery in the nation of Egypt.

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After 400 years, God responds to the cries of His people.

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He raises up a leader called Moses.

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And through these series of plagues,

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Moses has a message for Pharaoh: let my people go.

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Eventually, Pharaoh relents and lets the people of Israel go.

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And they go from 400 years of slavery

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to the beginning of a 40 year journey to freedom,

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a 40 year journey wandering through the wilderness.

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And this pillar of cloud was with them

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every day of those 40 years.

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Kyle talked about this a couple of weeks ago,

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that this pillar of cloud

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was the presence of God with his people.

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It gave them shade in the wilderness, in the desert,

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and maybe a level of moisture as well.

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And then at night, God would walk with them

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as a pillar of fire, which would give

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light in the dark wilderness and warmth,

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because it can get colder at night.

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And yet God's presence doesn't mean the absence of problems.

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Can I get an amen, somebody, on that?

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And so they were about to experience a big problem

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because over time, maybe not too long of a time,

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Pharaoh decides he's made a mistake.

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He's like, "Why did I let free labor leave?

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We need to go get those 2 million people back,

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and we need to pursue them and make them slaves again."

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And so we enter this story today

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where the Israelites are trapped.

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They have an impassable sea in front of them,

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and behind them they have an army pursuing them.

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I would imagine if you were in their situation,

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you might have looked to the person to the left

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or the right and said, "There is no way."

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And I just wonder, have you ever been there in your life?

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You go to the doctor and they tell you

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it's a condition you're going to have to manage

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for the rest of your life.

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And you say there is no way.

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Maybe there's a stack of bills that's far higher

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than the income you have to pay them,

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and you don't know how you're going to make ends meet.

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And you're shaking your head at the table

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and saying there is no way.

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Maybe you're in a marriage and that marriage

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has been stuck on the same fight on repeat.

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And as you're having that same fight again,

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you're saying this isn't going to work out.

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There is no way.

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You have a child who has wandered away from God.

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And as you look at the trajectory of their life,

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you don't see any signs that

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they're turning back anytime soon.

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And you weep and you say to yourself there is no way.

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You're so anxious that the anxiety literally hits you

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before your feet hit the floor in the morning,

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and you don't know how you're going to

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make it through another day.

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You look and say there is no way.

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There's a job you counted on that disappeared,

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and you don't know what that means for your family.

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And you say to yourself there is no way.

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God gave you a dream. You believe it.

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And yet that dream is dead and buried right now.

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And you're looking at that situation

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and you're saying there is no way.

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I would imagine all of us have something right now

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that we're facing that feels insurmountable,

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something that we can't get over,

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something we can't get around,

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something that the only way is to go through it.

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And it's really important in those moments

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that we remember this about God.

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Fleming Rutledge was the first female Episcopal priest,

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and she, I'm borrowing my title for today's message

00:30:38

from something she said,

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borrowing in the African American church tradition,

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because she reminds us that

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our God makes a way out of no way.

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Our God makes a way out of no way.

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One of the beautiful things that God is doing

00:30:52

at Crossroads is there are more and more people

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in our communities, all over our communities

00:30:56

who speak Spanish.

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And so one of the things that I do,

00:30:58

that's right, you can clap for that, you can clap for that.

00:31:01

It's awesome who God is bringing.

00:31:03

And so when I talk in my main points,

00:31:05

I say them in English and then I say them in bad Spanish,

00:31:08

but it's hopefully the heart behind it.

00:31:10

So [speaking Spanish], God makes a way out of no way.

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And that's where we pick up the story today.

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So Exodus 14, Israelites are trapped.

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There's an impassable sea in front of them,

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and there's an army pursuing behind them.

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And Exodus 14:10 says:

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When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel

00:31:31

lifted up their eyes, and behold,

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the Egyptians were marching after them,

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and they feared greatly.

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They feared greatly.

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And they probably said to each other,

00:31:40

"There is no way out. There is no way."

00:31:44

And I wonder if you've been there.

00:31:47

I wonder if you faced something that seems

00:31:48

so impossible, so impassable, and yet

00:31:51

there's something pursuing you as well

00:31:53

and you've said to yourself there is no way.

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These no way moments, I believe,

00:31:57

God brings to our lives to remind us of three things.

00:32:00

The first is this: No way moments expose our limits.

00:32:06

They expose our limits. [speaking Spanish].

00:32:10

I have a question for you.

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Does anybody have, what's it called?

00:32:13

Does anybody in here have this thing called a past?

00:32:18

Yeah. Anybody made a decision or 2 or 10

00:32:22

in their lives that they deeply regret now?

00:32:25

Anybody said some words that even as the words

00:32:27

were coming out of your mouth, you were like,

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"Oh, I wish I could bring these words back

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because this is not going to be helpful."

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And you have words that you wish you didn't say?

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Anybody in here live through something difficult,

00:32:38

hard, not of your own doing

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that continues to negatively impact your life?

00:32:43

We all have a past, and one of the things

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that I love about this story is that

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God raises up a leader to lead His people

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in this moment called Moses.

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And Moses has a past.

00:32:55

Moses has past trauma in his life.

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One of the things we know about Moses, we know

00:32:59

because he said it when God was calling him to this work.

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He said, "Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent,

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either in the past

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or since you have spoken to your servant,

00:33:08

but I am slow of speech and of tongue."

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We don't know why Moses had this speech impediment.

00:33:14

We don't know what his speech impediment was.

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But we do know this, childhood trauma can cause kids

00:33:19

to have these kinds of developmental challenges.

00:33:22

And what we know is Moses had a traumatic childhood.

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I've been doing some work over the past several years

00:33:29

on my own childhood trauma.

00:33:30

And as I work with a therapist, one of the things

00:33:32

a friend of mine said that's been super helpful

00:33:34

is he said, "Chuck, when you get hysterical, go historical."

00:33:39

Meaning, that anger that just above and beyond

00:33:43

out of control, you can't control it

00:33:44

and you don't even know why it's coming out that hot,

00:33:46

you know that fear that everybody looks at you

00:33:49

and says, "This is an irrational fear,"

00:33:51

but for you, it's as real as breathing.

00:33:54

When that happens in your life,

00:33:55

the things where we tend to be hysterical

00:33:58

probably have something to do with our history.

00:34:01

They have something to do with the trauma

00:34:03

that we all are impacted in this life with.

00:34:06

And Moses had past trauma. Moses also had past sins.

00:34:11

See, Moses had an identity crisis almost from his birth,

00:34:14

and certainly as he was growing up,

00:34:16

because Moses was born a Hebrew, an Israelite.

00:34:20

And yet part of the trauma was

00:34:22

at the time when Moses was born,

00:34:23

they were killing all the firstborn males.

00:34:25

Moses somehow escapes, God's grace,

00:34:28

and actually winds up being raised

00:34:30

in Egyptian elite royalty.

00:34:33

And so Moses had this identity crisis of,

00:34:35

"Who do I identify with?

00:34:36

Do I identify with this royal elite lifestyle that I've lived,

00:34:40

or do I identify with the people of my birth?"

00:34:43

And one of the moments when this came to bear

00:34:45

is when Moses saw an Egyptian slave master

00:34:48

beating one of his Hebrew Israelite brothers.

00:34:53

And in that moment it says that Moses did this.

00:34:56

This is Exodus 2:12.

00:34:57

He looked this way and that, and seeing no one,

00:34:59

he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

00:35:04

Let me translate this for you.

00:35:06

Moses killed a guy and buried the body.

00:35:11

Moses had a past.

00:35:13

And here's a more scandalous thing,

00:35:15

God knew about Moses's past trauma.

00:35:18

He knew about Moses's murderous past.

00:35:21

And yet God chose to use him anyway.

00:35:25

And I don't know about you, but that's good news for me,

00:35:28

because I have a past.

00:35:29

I've got a past trauma. I've got past sins.

00:35:32

And I'm so glad.

00:35:33

If you're here today and you think this is the reason

00:35:35

why God doesn't want to have anything to do with you.

00:35:38

Can I just encourage you?

00:35:39

God knows about your past and loves you anyway.

00:35:41

God knows about your past and can use you anyway.

00:35:44

God knows about your past and is calling to you anyway.

00:35:49

It's beautiful and good news for all of us.

00:35:51

Moses had a past, but now Moses

00:35:53

and the Israelites have a big problem.

00:35:55

I mean a big problem.

00:35:58

It would help to put this in context

00:36:00

if we could kind of project a map on this floor.

00:36:03

I think we can, but I need your help.

00:36:05

I want everybody to say map. - Map.

00:36:08

- All right, now we're going to get a map here.

00:36:09

Yes, I know what you're thinking.

00:36:13

I know what you're thinking. Dora the explorer, right?

00:36:16

I'm the map. I'm the map. I'm the map.

00:36:18

I'm the map. I'm the map. Yes, yes.

00:36:22

All right, so here's where we are in the world.

00:36:24

Here's Africa, there's Asia, here's Egypt, North Africa.

00:36:28

And here's the big problem that Israel has.

00:36:31

They have this thing called the Red Sea.

00:36:33

I want to give you some context for just how big this is.

00:36:36

So let's zoom in on the Red Sea

00:36:38

so we can get some context here.

00:36:41

This sea was massive, 1400 miles long.

00:36:45

It was 174 miles wide and it was 1600 feet deep.

00:36:50

Friends, there is no way 2 million people

00:36:54

are crossing the Red Sea. There is no way.

00:36:57

Here's what we think.

00:36:58

We know from just the demographics

00:37:00

of the geographics of the place,

00:37:02

they probably crossed near the,

00:37:04

it's called the Gulf of Aqaba or the Gulf of Suez.

00:37:07

And even there it's 11 miles across and 150 feet deep.

00:37:14

There's still no way they're crossing this.

00:37:16

Let me put this in context.

00:37:17

This is the state of Rhode Island.

00:37:21

So literally, they would have been walking

00:37:24

the distance, the width of the state of Rhode Island

00:37:27

to get on the other side of the Red Sea.

00:37:30

There is no way that's happening.

00:37:35

2 million people, it's estimated, would have taken --

00:37:38

I'm sorry, it would have taken four hours

00:37:39

for them to even do it if they could.

00:37:42

And this wasn't like a shallow sea.

00:37:44

This was a deep sea. There is no way. There is no way.

00:37:47

And so the story says this:

00:37:48

When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel

00:37:50

lifted up their eyes, and behold,

00:37:52

the Egyptians were marching after them,

00:37:54

and they feared greatly.

00:37:55

And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.

00:37:57

They said to Moses, "Is it because

00:37:59

there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us

00:38:02

away to die in the wilderness?

00:38:03

What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?

00:38:08

Is not this what we said to you in Egypt:

00:38:11

"Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians"?

00:38:14

For it would have been better for us to serve

00:38:17

the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."

00:38:20

And I don't know if you're like me,

00:38:22

but when I come to these points in the Bible

00:38:24

where the Israelites are complaining,

00:38:26

I get real judgy because I say to myself,

00:38:31

"That's so stupid. What do you mean?

00:38:33

How is it better to be a slave than to actually

00:38:36

be on a journey of freedom that God has for you?"

00:38:38

And when I really get judgy, I stop

00:38:42

and I ask myself this:

00:38:43

don't I say that to God all the time?

00:38:46

Don't I have moments in my life where my history

00:38:49

or my actions say, "You know what? I'd rather stay in Egypt"?

00:38:53

I was thinking about this when I was young

00:38:55

and kind of making my mark after college,

00:38:57

kind of the 18 to 24 window, young adult window

00:39:00

where you make so many key decisions.

00:39:02

And let me tell you, I might have looked good

00:39:04

on the outside, but I was in Egypt on the inside.

00:39:07

I was in the Egypt of performance,

00:39:10

where my worth and value was really

00:39:12

what others thought about me

00:39:13

more than what God said about me.

00:39:15

I lived in the Egypt of compulsive sexual behaviors,

00:39:18

thinking that the next sexual conquest

00:39:20

was going to give me the ultimate affirmation

00:39:21

that I was seeking and had not received.

00:39:23

Like, I was in the Egypt of that.

00:39:25

I was in the Egypt of my own arrogance

00:39:28

and my own ignorance, thinking I knew more than I really did.

00:39:32

And every time I made those choices,

00:39:34

I was saying, "You know what? Egypt is better."

00:39:36

Maybe you're in that phase of your life, 18-24

00:39:39

and you can relate. You can relate.

00:39:40

I mean, think about it.

00:39:42

You're going to make some of the most important decisions

00:39:44

of your life in that window.

00:39:45

This is where you will go to college,

00:39:47

perhaps choose a vocation or a career.

00:39:49

It doesn't mean you can't change it,

00:39:50

but it's going to be

00:39:51

a significant investment of your time.

00:39:53

Some of you are going to meet and maybe even marry

00:39:55

the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with.

00:39:58

And that's why I'm so glad that we have an 1824 ministry

00:40:02

that says you don't have to journey on that path alone.

00:40:04

It's a beautiful thing.

00:40:06

If you were here last week, you heard the good news

00:40:08

that in January Crossroads Uptown, right by UC's campus,

00:40:12

is going to reopen as a site of Crossroads.

00:40:14

I'm super excited about that.

00:40:16

Super excited about our very own Brody Schrader,

00:40:18

who's going to be leading that campus.

00:40:20

That's in January, but you don't have to wait until January.

00:40:23

If you are 18-24, September 4th, mark your calendar

00:40:26

is 1824 ministry's launch down at that same building,

00:40:30

the George by UC and you need to be there.

00:40:32

You can go to Crossroads.net/1824

00:40:35

and you should jump in for that.

00:40:37

You do not have to do this journey alone.

00:40:39

But so instead of now being judgy of the Israelites,

00:40:42

I empathize with them because I realize

00:40:44

I do the same thing.

00:40:47

I do it out of my own brokenness.

00:40:49

They did it out of their own brokenness.

00:40:51

I love what one preacher says about brokenness, though.

00:40:53

He says:

00:40:54

Brokenness is God's requirement for maximum usefulness.

00:40:59

Not a hindrance, not a limiter,

00:41:01

but our brokenness is a requirement

00:41:04

for maximum usefulness by God.

00:41:07

The writer, Paul, in the Bible says this.

00:41:09

These words are from God to him and to us.

00:41:11

My grace is sufficient for you,

00:41:13

for my power is made perfect in your weakness.

00:41:17

I know we hate to be weak.

00:41:18

I hate to be weak. I hate to fail.

00:41:21

I hate to make a mistake.

00:41:22

I hate to confront the limitations of my own life.

00:41:25

And yet these no way moments that we face

00:41:27

are meant to remind us of our limitations

00:41:30

so that they can also reveal God's power.

00:41:35

[speaking Spanish]

00:41:38

See, I want to give you a little bit of inside baseball

00:41:41

on what's happening in this story.

00:41:42

God is actually teasing Pharaoh.

00:41:46

He's actually setting up Pharaoh.

00:41:49

See, Pharaoh was worshiped as a god,

00:41:51

even though he was a human being.

00:41:53

And God, the only one true God is saying, "You know what?

00:41:56

I am going to do something that both

00:41:58

builds the faith of my people,

00:42:00

while at the same time makes a mockery

00:42:02

of Pharaoh and his so-called power."

00:42:04

We skip some verses because they have

00:42:06

lots of these names like Pi Hahiroth

00:42:08

and Migdol and all these cities.

00:42:10

Here's what you need to know.

00:42:11

God was actually ordering the nation of Israel

00:42:14

to walk in the wilderness in such a way

00:42:17

that it would appear to Pharaoh that they were confused

00:42:20

and didn't really know how to get out of the wilderness.

00:42:22

And I think it was because of this that Pharaoh

00:42:24

was like, "You know what? These stupid people,

00:42:26

we need to enslave them again. Let's go and get them."

00:42:29

But God was setting Pharaoh up.

00:42:30

He says so twice in this story.

00:42:32

Look what God says in Exodus 14:4, He says:

00:42:34

I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them,

00:42:38

and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host,

00:42:42

and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.

00:42:46

And then a couple verses later, God says it again

00:42:48

in Exodus 14:17-18:

00:42:50

And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians

00:42:53

so that they will go in after them,

00:42:54

and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host,

00:42:58

his chariots, and his horsemen.

00:43:00

And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord,

00:43:03

when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh,

00:43:05

his chariots and his horsemen.

00:43:07

I put to you this way.

00:43:09

God is playing 3D chess with Pharaoh.

00:43:13

And here's the deal.

00:43:15

God is also playing 3D chess

00:43:17

with your spiritual enemy and mine, the devil.

00:43:20

See, the devil has some things that he set up in your life.

00:43:23

There's some things that he thinks are working

00:43:25

really well to continue to keep you far from God.

00:43:28

What he doesn't know is while he's playing 2D chess,

00:43:31

God is using even our brokenness and weakness

00:43:34

to create 3D chess opportunities that actually

00:43:37

don't lead us further into the camp of darkness,

00:43:39

but deliver us into the kingdom of light.

00:43:41

God is playing 3D chess

00:43:43

while your enemy is playing 2D chess.

00:43:46

God will confuse your enemy for your victory,

00:43:51

and that's what he's doing in this story.

00:43:54

And part of the reminder here is that

00:43:55

even when you feel like you're losing, you're not alone.

00:44:00

Look at what it continues to say in verse 19:

00:44:02

Then the angel of God who was going

00:44:05

before the host of Israel moved and went behind them,

00:44:08

and the pillar of cloud moved from before them

00:44:10

and stood behind them coming between

00:44:12

the host of Egypt and the host of Israel.

00:44:15

And there was the cloud and the darkness.

00:44:17

And it lit up the night

00:44:18

without one coming near the other all night.

00:44:21

So that pillar that would have been

00:44:24

right at the shore of the sea, moved from the shore,

00:44:29

and went behind the nation of Israel,

00:44:31

making a wall between them and the pursuing army.

00:44:34

This is God protecting His people.

00:44:37

And we hear this title, the Angel of the Lord used there.

00:44:44

The Angel of the Lord title shows up in other stories

00:44:46

in the Old Testament.

00:44:48

The angel of the Lord visited a woman named Hagar

00:44:50

when she thought that God had forgotten her.

00:44:51

There are other instances.

00:44:53

The angel of the Lord visited Joshua,

00:44:54

who was going to be the next leader.

00:44:56

And every time this Angel of the Lord, proper name,

00:44:58

shows up, here's what we know.

00:45:01

It is a physical manifestation of God's presence again.

00:45:05

So some say, and I think there's evidence for this,

00:45:10

that these Angel of the Lord visitations

00:45:12

were literally Jesus taking a physical form

00:45:16

before He was born at Christmastime.

00:45:18

I know that might blow your mind,

00:45:20

but we're talking about a God

00:45:21

who can make a way out of no way.

00:45:24

At minimum, we know that these were

00:45:25

physical manifestations of the Father, if not the Son.

00:45:28

It was it was something.

00:45:29

God was present in these moments and in these situations.

00:45:34

God is present, but the problem is also present.

00:45:39

And again, the Israelites are trapped

00:45:41

and the sea has not yet parted.

00:45:42

And I want to say this.

00:45:44

We're talking today about God's power.

00:45:46

And I know that in a room this size,

00:45:47

people who are watching in other locations,

00:45:49

that there are some of us who feel like,

00:45:51

"You know what? My Red Sea has parted yet.

00:45:53

And you're in the middle of something difficult,

00:45:55

you're in the middle of something hard,

00:45:56

and you're not sure if God's going to come through.

00:45:58

There are others of us who may be here

00:46:00

and we're grieving something we would say, "You know what?

00:46:02

The sea never parted on that one for me."

00:46:05

And so I just want to say, if that's where you are,

00:46:08

I see you and I want you to know God sees you, too.

00:46:13

The nation of Israel did not know that

00:46:15

God was going to move in the way that He would.

00:46:18

And so in Exodus 14:13-14,

00:46:20

Moses says words of encouragement

00:46:22

that I hope will be words of encouragement to you.

00:46:24

Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm,

00:46:27

and see the salvation of the Lord,

00:46:29

which He will work for you today."

00:46:31

May not be in the way that we thought,

00:46:33

may not be in the way that we prayed, but He will work for us.

00:46:36

"For the Egyptians whom you see today,

00:46:38

you shall never see again.

00:46:40

The Lord will fight for you,

00:46:42

and you have only to be silent."

00:46:45

God says, "Stand still and watch,

00:46:49

because I'm about to do something for you."

00:46:51

I was talking to my kids about this,

00:46:53

and my kids hate it when I try to use their lingo.

00:46:55

They hate it, like, it's -- which makes me

00:46:57

want to do it more, right, as a dad?

00:46:58

It's like I was, so I was I was talking about

00:47:00

this part of the message.

00:47:01

I said, "Man, you know what, guys?

00:47:02

Like, the people are freaking out.

00:47:04

But God is the calmest person in the room.

00:47:06

And while the people are crying out, "Why are we here?"

00:47:09

God is saying, "Hey, let me cook, bro. Let me cook."

00:47:14

They hated that when I said that,

00:47:16

so of course I had to use that one.

00:47:17

They really hated this one.

00:47:18

I said, "Guys, it's like this. It's like this.

00:47:20

You know what? Like everybody's freaking out.

00:47:22

God's not freaking out because our God

00:47:24

has hold my beer aura in this situation."

00:47:27

They really hated that one.

00:47:28

They really hated that one. Right?

00:47:30

But it's true. It's true.

00:47:31

I know you think what you're going through is impossible.

00:47:34

I know you think that there is nothing

00:47:36

that can happen that can change your situation.

00:47:39

I just need you to know that God is not freaking out.

00:47:42

I need you to know that God's got hold my beer aura

00:47:46

for whatever you're facing.

00:47:47

I need you to know that when it seems like

00:47:49

He's not working, God says, "Let me cook.

00:47:52

Let me cook and bring you freedom.

00:47:54

Let me cook and bring you healing.

00:47:56

Let me cook and bring redemption."

00:47:58

Because He's a God that makes a way out of no way.

00:48:02

That's the God we serve. That's the God we serve.

00:48:10

And God's about to show His power.

00:48:13

He's about to show His power.

00:48:14

This is the moment. This is the moment.

00:48:16

And let me be clear, there is no rock in the text.

00:48:19

There's no rock that says that Moses stood on.

00:48:22

But as I thought about this moment, I said,

00:48:23

you know, what would make that even cooler

00:48:25

is if I stood on a rock.

00:48:27

So I'm gonna stand on the rock.

00:48:28

I'm just going to stand on the rock.

00:48:30

That's what I'm gonna do.

00:48:31

Here's what happens next in the story.

00:48:33

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,

00:48:36

and the Lord drove the sea back

00:48:38

by a strong east wind all night,

00:48:41

and made the sea dry land.

00:48:43

And the waters were divided,

00:48:44

and the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea

00:48:47

on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them

00:48:50

on their right hand and on their left.

00:48:54

Because our God makes a way where there is no way.

00:49:01

God does this.

00:49:06

And it's so hard for us to grasp just how powerful this was.

00:49:12

It's really hard for us to grasp that.

00:49:13

So I'm so thankful that other preachers have preached on this.

00:49:16

And one of them did the math. They did the science.

00:49:19

And so here's what I want you to know.

00:49:21

150ft long, I'm sorry, 150ft deep, 11 miles wide.

00:49:26

The amount of force that it would take to part this water

00:49:30

and have it stand for four hours

00:49:32

the way that God did for His people,

00:49:34

is the same amount of force it would take

00:49:37

to lift 1200 aircraft carriers

00:49:40

and hold them in the air for four hours.

00:49:43

Each of those aircraft carriers weighing 220 million pounds.

00:49:48

God, by His breath alone, had enough force

00:49:52

and enough power to lift 1200 aircraft carriers

00:49:56

off the ground for four hours straight,

00:49:59

so that every one of the 2 million people that were His

00:50:02

could walk on dry land and continue their path to freedom.

00:50:06

I don't know what you're facing,

00:50:07

but if God is able to lift the kind of power

00:50:11

that He did in this situation, He can bring

00:50:14

that kind of power to bear for what you and I are facing,

00:50:18

Because He's the God that makes a way where there is no way.

00:50:21

And when He does, it's the third reminder,

00:50:24

No way moments grow our faith and God's fame.

00:50:29

[speaking Spanish]

00:50:34

Remember how Moses said to the nation of Israel

00:50:37

before this moment, before the party?

00:50:39

He says, "These Egyptians who are chasing you,

00:50:42

you will never see them again."

00:50:45

Well, this is what happens next, verse 26 says:

00:50:49

Then the Lord said to Moses,

00:50:50

"Stretch out your hand again over the sea,

00:50:52

that the water may come back upon the Egyptians,

00:50:55

and upon their chariots and upon their horsemen."

00:50:58

So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,

00:51:00

and the sea returned to its normal course

00:51:02

when the morning appeared.

00:51:04

And as the Egyptians fled into it,

00:51:05

the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.

00:51:08

The waters returned and covered

00:51:10

the chariots and the horsemen

00:51:11

of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea.

00:51:15

Not one of them remained.

00:51:17

But the people of Israel walked on dry ground

00:51:19

through the sea, the waters being a wall to them

00:51:21

on their right hand and on their left.

00:51:24

And then God says this in verse 31, it says this:

00:51:28

Israel saw the great power

00:51:30

that the Lord used against the Egyptians.

00:51:32

Again, God's fame was increased.

00:51:34

And so the people feared the Lord,

00:51:36

and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.

00:51:42

I've come to believe that it is impossible,

00:51:45

is not realistic to think that

00:51:47

you're going to live a life of following Jesus

00:51:49

that doesn't come with lots of there is no way moments.

00:51:53

I just don't think that that's normal life.

00:51:55

We're all going to face these moments.

00:51:57

But when we do, God is trying to show us

00:51:59

something about His character.

00:52:01

He's trying to show us something about His power.

00:52:03

He's trying to show us something about Himself

00:52:05

and about us, if we're in relationship with Him.

00:52:08

I was thinking about the no way moments

00:52:10

that have happened in my life.

00:52:11

And I'll just share a couple of them because

00:52:13

I've learned things about God through all of them.

00:52:15

One of them happened 17, 18 years ago

00:52:19

when my wife and I were pregnant with our first child.

00:52:22

And at 20 weeks she was put on bed rest,

00:52:25

high risk pregnancy.

00:52:26

And I remember going to Christ Hospital in Cincinnati,

00:52:28

and we had gotten admitted

00:52:30

and we were going to be there for a while.

00:52:32

And I remember the doctors just being honest with us

00:52:34

and saying, "Hey, if this does not go well,

00:52:36

this pregnancy is not going to make it to term."

00:52:38

And I remember my wife and I looking at each other

00:52:40

and just saying, like, "We need we need God to move."

00:52:43

And let me say this, let me say this,

00:52:45

before that moment, we had experienced a miscarriage.

00:52:50

And after that moment, in a different pregnancy,

00:52:54

we had another miscarriage.

00:52:56

So I'm not saying that the story always ends this way.

00:53:00

I'm just saying God made a way where there was no way.

00:53:04

And now, 17 years later, that baby is my son Nathan.

00:53:08

He's 17 years old.

00:53:10

He's driving. He's living his life.

00:53:13

And you know, I'm the dad that has a kid

00:53:15

about to go to college that's crying all the time

00:53:17

all of a sudden, you know?

00:53:18

Like that's me. He's only a junior.

00:53:19

But, like, God moved in that situation.

00:53:21

I'll give you another one, give you another one.

00:53:23

How is it that a kid from Philly

00:53:24

who ran from ministry, didn't want to be a pastor,

00:53:26

my whole family was like, "You're going to be a pastor?"

00:53:29

I'm like, "No, I'm not. Pastors don't make any money.

00:53:31

I don't want to be a pastor." I ran from it. I ran from it.

00:53:33

How is it that the kid that

00:53:34

was trying to run from ministry in high school

00:53:36

gets invited to an assembly where he hears about

00:53:38

an organization called Inroads that created

00:53:40

an opportunity for him to get an internship

00:53:42

with a company called Procter and Gamble

00:53:44

that would bring him to Cincinnati

00:53:45

at the same time that a church was launching

00:53:47

called Crossroads meeting in a school.

00:53:49

And now all of a sudden, the kid that ran from Ministry

00:53:51

is in Cincinnati and part of

00:53:53

an amazing movement of God called Crossroads.

00:53:55

How does that happen?

00:53:56

Our God makes a way where there is no way.

00:54:01

I didn't log on to Indeed, I didn't go to Bible college.

00:54:03

I don't have any of that pedigree.

00:54:05

God called me to this and He found a way to get me here.

00:54:08

Here's here's another one. Here's another one.

00:54:10

I remember making good money, but so much in debt

00:54:14

that I was doing paycheck advances

00:54:16

and just struggling with debt.

00:54:18

And I'm telling you, only God brought Maria and I

00:54:21

to a different place, in a healthy place financially,

00:54:24

because He's the God who makes a way

00:54:26

where there is no way.

00:54:28

This is just what God does over and over again.

00:54:30

He's done it in every generation.

00:54:33

I came across a story in preparing for this week

00:54:35

that was another example of how God parts the Red Sea.

00:54:38

This is a story from the Civil Rights movement,

00:54:40

and this is from a book that Andrew Young,

00:54:42

one of the civil rights heroes, wrote, called

00:54:44

An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement

00:54:46

and the Transformation of America.

00:54:48

Listen to this real story. This happened.

00:54:50

He says: Easter Sunday dawned

00:54:52

with Martin Luther King in jail.

00:54:55

We planned to march from New Pilgrim Baptist Church

00:54:57

to the city jail for the afternoon of Easter Sunday.

00:55:00

By the time church ended, some 5000 people had gathered,

00:55:03

dressed in their best Sunday clothes.

00:55:05

The marchers set out in a festive mood.

00:55:07

Suddenly, they saw police, fire engines

00:55:11

and firemen with hoses in front of them

00:55:13

blocking their path.

00:55:14

Bull Connor bellowed, "Turn this group around!"

00:55:17

5000 people stopped and waited

00:55:19

for instructions from their leaders.

00:55:21

I can't say we knew what to do.

00:55:23

I asked the people to get down on their knees

00:55:25

and offer a prayer.

00:55:27

Suddenly, Reverend Charles Billups jumped up

00:55:29

and hollered, "The Lord is with this movement.

00:55:31

Off your knees! We're going on."

00:55:34

Stunned at first, Bull Connor yelled, "Stop 'em! Stop 'em!"

00:55:37

But none of the police moved a muscle.

00:55:39

Even the police dogs that had been growling

00:55:42

and straining at their leashes were now perfectly calm.

00:55:45

I saw one fireman, tears in his eyes,

00:55:47

just let the hose drop at his feet.

00:55:49

Our people march right between the red fire trucks

00:55:52

singing I Want Jesus to Walk with Me.

00:55:55

Bull Connor's policemen had refused to arrest us,

00:55:58

his firemen had refused to hose us,

00:56:00

and his dogs had refused to bite us.

00:56:02

It was quite a moment to witness.

00:56:05

I'll never forget one old woman who became ecstatic

00:56:07

when she marched through the barricades.

00:56:09

She shouted, "Great God Almighty,

00:56:11

done parted the Red Sea one more time."

00:56:14

Praise God, praise God! [applause]

00:56:19

Because he's the God that makes a way where there is no way.

00:56:22

And I still believe God is calling the church

00:56:24

to walk through the racial division

00:56:27

and walk through the polarization

00:56:29

and to represent something different for our world.

00:56:31

I still believe that. I still believe that.

00:56:34

That's why I'm excited that we're launching

00:56:35

a group and our group season.

00:56:37

It's going to be happening in multiple locations.

00:56:39

And if it's not physically at your location,

00:56:40

you can join it online.

00:56:41

It's called How To Heal Our Racial Divide.

00:56:44

It's based on a book by a pastor in South Carolina,

00:56:46

a friend of mine, Dr. Derwin Gray,

00:56:49

and it's a powerful opportunity for us

00:56:51

to step into Jesus's heart for this

00:56:53

and how we live this out as a church.

00:56:55

Because I don't know if you noticed,

00:56:57

but God's doing something in Crossroads.

00:56:59

God's doing something at Crossroads.

00:57:00

Look around you.

00:57:01

At every site, God is bringing people

00:57:03

from different languages and tribes and nations

00:57:06

and tongues to our church. Why?

00:57:08

Because that's the church Jesus bled for.

00:57:10

That's the church Jesus died for.

00:57:12

And in Revelations, that's the church

00:57:14

that will stand before Jesus washed clean.

00:57:18

And so this is an opportunity for us to lean in

00:57:20

and get His heart for that, because I think

00:57:22

as we go 10X and go to different cities,

00:57:24

this is part of what God wants us to bring with us.

00:57:26

So I want to encourage you to join the group.

00:57:28

I want to encourage you to jump into

00:57:29

How To Heal Our Racial Divide.

00:57:31

It's a tool for us to lean in and learn together.

00:57:33

We've got the QR code there.

00:57:34

We'd love for you to be a part of this.

00:57:36

Thinking about just over and over again

00:57:39

in the life of Crossroads, God has parted the Red Sea.

00:57:43

Again, I could tell so many stories.

00:57:44

I'm just gonna give you a couple.

00:57:45

One of the stories is this.

00:57:47

I'm right now in Oakley. We are in Oakley.

00:57:50

And this used to be an HQ,

00:57:52

kind of like a Home Depot kind of thing.

00:57:54

And, you know, now, several years ago,

00:57:57

how is it that a scrappy startup church

00:58:00

in Hyde Park at the time was able to secure

00:58:03

this prime real estate?

00:58:05

Because look around us, like,

00:58:06

there's all kinds of retail around us.

00:58:09

How was it? God, literally, you may not know this story.

00:58:12

God literally blinded and confused

00:58:14

high money investors that wanted this building.

00:58:17

Literally the week after we got it,

00:58:19

there were people calling us, offering us

00:58:21

four and five times more than we paid for it

00:58:23

because they said, "I thought my partner

00:58:24

was going to be in Manhattan for that bidding.

00:58:26

We got our schedules crossed."

00:58:27

Or "I missed my flight and I wasn't able to bid on that.

00:58:30

We really want that building.

00:58:31

Can we buy it from you?"

00:58:32

How is it that we got this building?

00:58:34

It's because we serve the God who makes a way

00:58:36

where there is no way. [applause]

00:58:41

And now, all of these years later think about

00:58:42

the thousands of lives that have been impacted,

00:58:45

not just in these walls,

00:58:46

but the more than tens of thousands of lives

00:58:48

have been impacted by what you guys do

00:58:50

when you leave outside these walls

00:58:53

because God wanted that.

00:58:54

How is it that a young woman, Anjali,

00:58:57

was trafficked from Nepal, moved to India,

00:59:01

forced to to go to India

00:59:03

where she was in forced prostitution.

00:59:05

Probably had many nights where she didn't think

00:59:07

that God saw her, knew her, or was coming for her.

00:59:11

And yet God had raised up an organization

00:59:13

called International Justice Mission

00:59:14

that was willing to beat down these doors

00:59:16

and rescue girls out of brothels.

00:59:17

And He was also putting in the heart of Brian

00:59:19

and other leaders at Crossroads the desire to say,

00:59:21

"Hey, when they come out of that situation,

00:59:23

they need quality aftercare to help them

00:59:25

with their past, with their past trauma.

00:59:27

How can we be a part of that?"

00:59:29

And so Anjali is one of the girls

00:59:30

that we got to serve in that way.

00:59:32

And now all of these years later, that young girl

00:59:35

is now a young woman, a young mom

00:59:37

who is leading a school in the very city

00:59:39

where she was trafficked, educating girls in that city

00:59:42

who haven't been educated in decades. [applause]

00:59:46

Because our God makes a way where there is no way.

00:59:50

I could tell you more stories.

00:59:52

I could tell you many more moments,

00:59:53

but I would ask you just to look at your own life.

00:59:57

What did it take for you to be where you are today?

01:00:00

What had to be true?

01:00:03

What have you been rescued from?

01:00:05

What have you been saved from?

01:00:08

You know, a couple weeks ago, 600 of you got baptized.

01:00:11

Your lives are different. Your lives are changed.

01:00:14

Why? Because there's a God who pursued you,

01:00:16

who makes a way where there is no way.

01:00:19

So I'm going to give you two ways to respond to this,

01:00:22

this moment, this story, as we live in this truth

01:00:26

that God still does this work.

01:00:27

Exodus 19 comes several, sometime later,

01:00:31

after the rescue of the Red Sea.

01:00:32

And God says this to His people. He says:

01:00:34

You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians,

01:00:37

and how I bore you on eagles' wings

01:00:39

and brought you to Myself.

01:00:41

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice

01:00:43

and keep my covenant, you shall be

01:00:45

my treasured possession among all peoples,

01:00:48

for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to Me

01:00:50

a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

01:00:54

Let me tell you why God rescued the nation of Israel,

01:00:57

why He chose a special relationship with them,

01:00:59

because He wanted them to be a walking billboard

01:01:01

to the rest of the world that God loved them the same way.

01:01:06

That's why God did that.

01:01:07

And God is continuing to do that

01:01:09

through this thing called the church

01:01:12

that we get to be a part of

01:01:14

as we come into relationship with Jesus.

01:01:16

You and I are meant to be walking billboards

01:01:19

of God's goodness, of God's faithfulness,

01:01:21

walking reminders to those around us

01:01:24

that God can make a way where there is no way.

01:01:27

So I took that scripture, Exodus 19:4,

01:01:30

I want to read the Crossroads version of that to you.

01:01:33

I believe God says to you, to me:

01:01:35

Crossroads you've seen what I have done,

01:01:37

how I carried you on wings like an eagle

01:01:39

and brought you close to me.

01:01:41

Now, if you will listen to my voice and keep my covenant,

01:01:44

you, together with my church around the world,

01:01:47

will be my treasured possession among all peoples,

01:01:49

for the whole earth is mine.

01:01:51

And you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

01:01:56

Two ways I want you to think about responding to today.

01:01:59

Number one, maybe you're at a point

01:02:01

where your Red Sea has not parted.

01:02:04

And if you're there, I want to just encourage you

01:02:07

still to trust God, to trust God,

01:02:10

to believe your story isn't over if your story isn't good.

01:02:14

To believe that the same power that God put on display

01:02:17

for the nation of Israel is the same power

01:02:19

He wants to put on display in your life.

01:02:20

To believe that God loves you. He sees you.

01:02:23

He knows your challenges and your pain.

01:02:25

And maybe for you, that step of trust

01:02:27

might look like something simple yet powerful.

01:02:29

You can do right at the end of this service.

01:02:31

Which is right down here, there are going to be

01:02:33

people who would love to pray for you.

01:02:35

And maybe for you the act of trust is to say,

01:02:36

"God, I don't know what You're doing in my life,

01:02:39

but I'm going to go and get prayer."

01:02:41

You know, for others of us, we continue to trust God,

01:02:44

but it's time to tell the story.

01:02:47

It's time to tell someone about how God has rescued you.

01:02:50

You don't know how your story might encourage someone else.

01:02:54

You don't know how what God has done in your life

01:02:57

might speak specifically to someone's struggle.

01:02:59

Maybe there are people in your life

01:03:00

you've not told them about

01:03:01

the things you used to struggle with,

01:03:04

but by telling them about how God rescued you,

01:03:06

it might give them the encouragement

01:03:08

that God can rescue them too.

01:03:10

Trust in God. Tell the story.

01:03:13

As I was thinking about this message,

01:03:15

this song just kept coming to mind.

01:03:16

And so I want to invite you to stand.

01:03:18

We're going to finish by singing this song a bit.

01:03:21

The song is called Way Maker.

01:03:23

And the lyrics of the song say

01:03:24

that God is a way maker, miracle worker,

01:03:27

He's a promise keeper, a light in the darkness,

01:03:30

that that's our God and that's who He is.

01:03:32

And I just feel like, for us,

01:03:33

whether we're in the place of our Red Sea not parting,

01:03:36

or if we're remembering today the stories

01:03:39

of how God worked in our lives, it's powerful

01:03:41

for all of us to remember that God is a Way Maker.

01:03:44

So, God, I'm praying that as we sing this song,

01:03:46

You would even spark memories that we've forgotten about,

01:03:48

ways that You've shown up in our lives

01:03:50

that we weren't even thinking about.

01:03:52

And help this song for all of us to be a way

01:03:54

to just orient ourselves back to trust

01:03:57

and back to thankfulness that You are a God

01:03:59

who makes a way out of no way. In Jesus's name, Amen.

01:10:00

- Yes. You know, sometimes you need a tool,

01:10:04

you need something to fall back on when doubt creeps in.

01:10:09

I just want to offer this song to you this week as a tool.

01:10:12

Maybe you're going to hit a point this week

01:10:14

where the stress or the frustration

01:10:16

or the fear comes back, and in that moment,

01:10:18

maybe you just need to borrow those words,

01:10:20

even when I can't see it, God, You're working.

01:10:23

Even when I can't feel it, You're working.

01:10:26

You never stop. You never stop working.

01:10:29

Maybe this is a week where you just need to remember

01:10:31

that God keeps His promises.

01:10:33

Let the song be a tool to you because

01:10:35

we serve a God who makes a way where there is no way.

01:10:38

Like I said, if you want to come up for prayer,

01:10:40

there'll be people up here that would love to pray for you.

01:10:42

Otherwise, walk in faith this week

01:10:45

and may God make a way in your life.

01:10:46

God bless you guys.

01:10:51

- I love the reminder that God makes a way

01:10:53

where there is no way, and that God's always working,

01:10:57

always working in your life and in mine.

01:10:59

He never gives up on us.

01:11:01

He's always is inviting us to experience

01:11:03

more of His goodness, more of His freedom.

01:11:05

And that can be true no matter how good

01:11:08

or how difficult things are right now.

01:11:10

We'd love to encourage you in that,

01:11:11

we'd actually love to even pray for you, process with you.

01:11:14

You can reach out to us in the chat on the website,

01:11:16

or just send us an email at anywhere@crossroads.net.

01:11:19

We'll do anything we can to encourage you

01:11:21

and help you feel unstuck moving towards God.

01:11:25

Thank you so much for joining us.

01:11:26

We'll see you next week on Crossroads.

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