How to Hear God | Week 3: Submission

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How's it going, Crossroads Anywhere?

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My name is Malcolm.

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I'm the community pastor here at our Florence, Kentucky

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We're actually in the building right now about to start

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And there's other locations like this and groups meeting all

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around the country.

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You've can go to Crossroads.net/locations

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to find one near you.

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Right now we're about to get service start or we're about to

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actually have a time to worship.

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So I'd love it if everyone would stand, turn up the volume, and

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let's sing these songs together.

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This is my story of being broken and lost and encountering a

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And if it's yours, sing along like this.

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God, we thank you for the way that you brought us to you, that

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you bring us to you.

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God, we're here because we want to experience hearing from you.

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Maybe we didn't say it with our words, but we said it with our

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steps into this place, with our clicks to watch this on our

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phone or on our computer.

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In silent ways we're saying,

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God, speak. We need to hear you speak, that's why we're here. It's in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

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Man, you guys, it's just great worshiping with

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you, it really is.

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And you know, we do this every day at 8:30 on Facebook.

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Did you know that?

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A few of you did. Yeah.

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My people.

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Hey, if you want to join us, we'd love to have you join us at

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8:30 in the morning.

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Just go to Oakley's Facebook page and there's a bunch of people

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hanging out there and I'll see you there leading worship in the

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morning time.

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Another way this big place feels small is when you introduce

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yourself to somebody.

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So, say hi to somebody that you don't know yet and then have a

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quick seat.

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All right.

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One thing you may not know is that hundreds of students from all

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of our Crossroads sites went to summer camp this weekend and

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had -- not this weekend, this summer.

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It's just one big weekend called the summer for my kids.

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They went to camp and they had an amazing time.

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Would you like to see it?

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Here you go.

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>> I think camp was a great way to connect with others and God.

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>> It definitely has something special here because I know, but

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it definitely changed my life for the better and I would highly

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recommend it to anyone.

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>> It's just a good experience. There's like

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everything to help you push through all your problems and then

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just like have fun.

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>> It's open to everyone, which means there's diverse people,

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there's diverse friend groups.

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And just interacting with so many different kinds of people

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means you get better connection than I think you'd find

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anywhere else.

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>> When I heard no phone I was scared.

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But when I came here.

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[music]

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Man, wasn't that incredible.

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I love student camps.

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Hi, my name is Malcolm, if we haven't met, I'm the Florence

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community pastor.

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We're actually in the building right now.

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And if you thought that was amazing, it's because it was.

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I actually got a chance to go to camps this year.

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And I walked in and saw an environment for students and it was

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designed specifically for them.

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And I got to watch over 40 students raise their hand and say, "I

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want to follow Jesus.

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I want to start doing that for the rest of my life.".

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And it was incredible.

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And students aren't the only group of people that have an

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environment like that designed specifically for them.

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We actually have adult camps.

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And this fall we have Man Camp, Couples Camp and College Camp.

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And ladies, don't worry, we have Woman Camp coming this spring.

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Camps are all about just getting out of your comfort zone,

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detaching from the every day grind.

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And when we do that, we typically realize that we get connected

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into community and we grow spiritually.

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And if that's interesting to you and you want more information

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about that, you go to Crossroads.net/camps

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and all the info is there.

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What do I need to bring?

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How much does it cost?

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All of that is there right for you, you can sign up on the spot.

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Like I said, we're in the Florence building right now.

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And if you live in Florence or if you live somewhere close in

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Northern Kentucky and you haven't physically made it to the

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building in person on a weekend, you've got to get here.

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It's just good to, like I said, be connected into community.

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We have found that people want to be known and they want to know

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others.

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And I'm assuming that that is your case, too.

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And if you want to rub elbows with a few people, enjoy some free

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Wi-Fi, some hot coffee, come in the building and enjoy a

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weekend experience.

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I would love to meet you.

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I would love to hear your story.

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And I got a little gift like this cup.

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There's gonna be some good stuff inside the cup as well.

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But I would love to meet you and hear your story.

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Camps are happening this fall.

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What else is happening this fall is our all church Journey.

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It's a time when we take about five weeks to hone in on a

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specific topic.

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And this year, we're talking about play and purpose.

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Our senior pastor, Brian Tome, that said that when you want a

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life of prosperity, you need both play and purpose.

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And that's what we're focusing on.

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There's three components of a Journey.

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The first one is the weekend message.

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You'll want to make sure that you're watching that.

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The second is some individual work that you'll take the concepts

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from the weekend message and just apply them and kind of work

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through those things.

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And the third is that you're going to process those same

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concepts in a group setting and we're looking for people to

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lead those groups.

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It's not rocket science.

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You don't have to be an expert on the Bible.

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But we would love for you to lead a Journey group.

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And if you want more information on what that looks

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like, you can go to Crossroads.net/journey,

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read about it and sign up to lead a group.

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Right now, we're going to have an opportunity to be generous as

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a community.

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And for me, I give because when I give, I'm just practicing

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being obedient.

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I'm putting myself beneath God and saying, "God, I want to put

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you first.".

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And we do that, one easy way around here, you can go to

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Crossroads.net/give and give that way.

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And while we do that, we're gonna take a look at a story from

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someone in our community about how they're hearing from God.

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Check it out.

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>> I'm Lori and God speaks to me through community.

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So the first time I think I ever really heard God speak to me

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was when I was working full time.

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I loved my job.

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I love my career.

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I started to see that I was not spending as much time with my

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kids and focusing on my family as I wished I would.

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I had this dream one weekend and all night long I just kept

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hearing kind of just like a song that you cannot get out of

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your head.

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And it was just like everything you do, do it for your family

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So I just woke up the next day and I was like, "David, I think

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we need to talk.".

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That just kind of launched in this whole conversation that ended

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me sort of in a new path away from the corporate journey that I

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had been on.

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After I had been kind of at home raising kids for a couple of

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years, I was walking down the street and I looked at a shop.

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It was like time stopped and I saw a picture of what this place

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I saw a picture of a community coffee shop.

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And after I talked to my husband about it, we decided that we

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should take it to our group.

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We should ask them if they could take this to God on our behalf.

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Everyone sort of had these private moments that they had, but

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then we got back together in a group and we shared all of it.

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It was encouraging to hear that God had spoken so similarly

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between different people enough so that we felt a good amount

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of confidence that this is something that we were being called

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to.

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So we opened it with lots of help from lots of people.

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And it was really fun.

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And we had some really, really great times and great moments in

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Last year, I just started to feel like maybe it was time for the

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torch to be passed.

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And I thought, huh, this is interesting.

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Maybe I ought to, you know, continue to pray about this or talk

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to my husband about this.

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So I did.

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What he prayed was that we would just get a real really clear

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sign over the next couple days about just a next step.

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In the morning, one of my regular customers came in and he said,

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"OK, this is really weird, but I had this dream last night.

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And in my dream, you guys were selling this coffee shop."

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And I was like, wow, that's really weird.

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Then Friday, another person in our community came forward and

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said that they had had another dream that we were going to be

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selling the coffee shop.

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I'm feeling like this is time to pass it on to someone who will

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take care of it.

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In January, I think we wrote sort of a letter to the community

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and we just said that we were thinking about looking for the

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next right owners.

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And very quickly the perfect family came along.

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Definitely could not have done any of this without community.

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From building the space to how to sell a business, community has

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been such a huge part.

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I hope they know that.

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Sorry.

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This whole process has just been one gigantic hug from God.

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>> I love it.

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It's amazing.

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By the way, just on behalf of sleep deprived parents everywhere

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who struggled to get out of bed in the morning and have to deal

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with their kids yet again,

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if you ever feel like God is telling you to open a coffee shop,

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he absolutely is.

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We need your coffee.

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Also, this may be prophetic, I think God's telling somebody in

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this room to start a coffee delivery service.

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That's what I think.

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I will leave my window open and you can just put it on my

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That will be magical.

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Maybe God's saying it to you, I don't know.

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Hey, my name is Kyle, if you've never met before.

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I'm part of the staff here, been on staff about 14 years, part

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of our leadership team.

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And I get to talk to you today.

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And I want you to know right up front, I have an agenda, a very

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unapologetic agenda.

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And my agenda is this: I hope to motivate you to do a Journey

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group today.

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And the reason I do is because joining a Journey group has

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changed my life.

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Completely changed my life.

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About 15 years ago I did a Journey group.

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It was called the Life Journey.

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Any Life Journey veterans out there?

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A long time ago and I met two guys, I met Greg and Jason who are

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still in my life to this day.

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I would consider them something called a wise counselor in my

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Eight years ago, I met two more guys who have stuck with me.

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Guys named Matt and Walker in the Strong Challenging.

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Anybody do the Strong Challenge out there?

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Strong challenge, great journey.

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And so I hope to convince you to experience what I have

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experienced, to find people who can change your life.

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These guys haven't just changed my life, they've helped me Hear

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from God, that's the series that we're in, by the way, How to

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Hear God.

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It's a radical series.

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It's a controversial series.

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I don't know if you're feeling that yet, but I would propose to

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you, there's nothing more controversial we could possibly say

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to you than this claim that we're making in this series, which

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is no matter who you are, you can hear God.

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Now, it's controversial, it's radical on a couple of different

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fronts.

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One, compared to other world religions.

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If you've done any research on world religions, you'll know that

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this notion that all religions are the same does not hold up at

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all.

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Just look at hearing from God and you'll see that Gods and the

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God figures in different religions are wildly different on this

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In fact, almost all of them don't talk to anybody, not even a

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person.

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And the ones that do only talk to either people who lived a very

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long time ago and no longer talk, or only talk to the special

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people, which is very convenient for those people, isn't it?

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It's also controversial inside the church world because when it

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comes to the church world, you see, we interpret this

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verse, this verse that Chuck laid out in Week One, Jeremiah

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33:3 to the extreme.

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It says:

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That's God speaking.

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Call to me and I will answer you.

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And see here at Crossroads, we don't think this was a promise

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made a long time ago to people way back when or only to the

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special people.

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We think this is a promise made to all of us and that makes us

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very different.

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And I hope that that's wildly exciting and encouraging to you.

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That what we're talking about today, How to Hear God.

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And specifically what I'm going to do today I'm going to poke

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you in the chest.

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I'm just gonna do this, just (sound effect).

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If it starts to feel that way, good, that's what I'm going for.

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Because I'm going to go after what I think is a lie that sits at

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the very center of what it means to be an American.

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And I believe that lie may be holding you back from clearly

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hearing God's direction for your life.

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Before we talk about that or go any further, let's pray.

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God, I just ask for you to say what You want to say.

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And I ask for all of us to clearly hear You.

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I don't want my words to be heard.

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I want Your words to be heard.

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So please do that.

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Please talk to us.

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Please instruct us and we'll listen.

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Amen.

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Well, today is about how to hear God's direction for your life.

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How do you hear God's direction for your life?

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And by direction, I don't mean small things, little things.

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And I don't mean things like encouragements.

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You know, God can talk to you and give you an encouragement or

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He can give you a little instruction.

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I mean direction, like big direction, decisions that can

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determine the course of your life.

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How do you hear God on those?

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Things like, do you go to college or not go to college?

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And which major do you pick once you get to college?

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And if you don't like the major, do you switch majors?

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And should you date that girl?

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Should you date that guy?

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What about marrying them?

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Should you move into the apartment?

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Should you take the job?

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Should you quit the job?

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Should you move?

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Should you stay?

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Should you not retire?

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Should you drink beer before liquor or vice versa?

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I can't remember the riddle.

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It's been a long time since college.

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Big decisions, you know.

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How do you make them?

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How do you hear God on those things in your life?

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And maybe, just maybe you're making one of those right now.

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Maybe you're in that spot.

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I made a decision, a major decision a while ago, actually.

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But it's time for me to tell you about it.

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And that is that I decided a while ago to leave my job at

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Crossroads.

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And I would love to walk you through why, because what's most

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important to me is I want you to see and understand that in

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making this decision, I did my very best to hear from God.

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And in fact, I'll walk you through it.

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But I would say based on what I could see, based on what I could

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hear, I made a great decision, made a great decision.

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For context, when I just made this decision, I'd been in my job

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for seven straight years.

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Same job.

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Same job.

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And I liked my job, but it was monotonous.

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It was like the same thing just over and over and over and over

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and over again.

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It was monotony, I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere.

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I had heard from God years before through some people who would

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say these sorts of things to me and that God had other plans

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That in my early thirties I'd be part of leading a church.

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And when this -- I made this decision, I wasn't -- that wasn't

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And it wasn't on the horizon for me.

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And I also heard things like one day I would be teaching like on

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a stage, and that wasn't happening.

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And then this word came to me.

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It was -- I say God said it, but -- and this series, we're not

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talking about an audible voice from heaven that

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goes, (character voice) "Thou shalt do," you know, whatever?

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No, it's not that, it's like a thought that kind of plops in

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your head and it feels like it came from somewhere else.

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And I had one of those and it was this phrase, "I'm taking you

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to green pastures," which means like prosperity and freshness

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and newness, certainly not monotony.

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And right about the time that I heard that this unexpected job

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offer came my way.

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And I'm telling you, it felt like green pastures.

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I'll take you through my pro/con list that I kind of wrote

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together as I was making this decision so you'll see, because I

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really want you to see I think I made the best decision based

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on what I could hear.

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God say green pastures.

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I saw green pastures everywhere.

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First, it was a great job.

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A really great job.

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Director of Marketing for a half billion dollar company.

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And my very first project would be rebranding the entire

00:27:38

company, which I was so excited about.

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That's like my sweet spot, messaging and how you craft a message

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to connect to an audience and look, tone, feel, and experience

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and all of these things that are core to me, core to how God

00:27:47

wired me.

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I felt like this is green pastures.

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That would be so much fun to work on, it would be amazing.

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Second, I could literally see green pastures from the office,

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literally.

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When I went there, they showed me where my office would

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be and it's like floor to ceiling glass and I could look out

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and I could see the Ohio River and beyond the green pastures

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and rolling hills of Kentucky.

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Oh, beautiful.

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If you've ever seen my desk at Crossroads, I have not seen the

00:28:10

sun in 12 years.

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My wife's like, "Did you see the rain today?".

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I'm like, "No, I had no idea." It could have hailed, you

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know, like little fire from heaven.

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I wouldn't -- I would've miss it.

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I have no idea.

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Oh, and the last thing, this is important, the job offer was for

00:28:26

triple my income.

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Triple.

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Green pastures, indeed.

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Right?

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And it wasn't -- the money wasn't about buying nicer stuff.

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See, the money for me meant I could do important things, like I

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could send my kids to college.

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Like maybe it wasn't just green pastures for me, but maybe this

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would have a ripple effect in my family because at that time I

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had no idea how that was going to happen.

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Right?

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Green pastures.

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And someday I could think about not needing an income.

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Some day I could think about actually retiring.

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I could do things like travel

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God's hardwired a love of travel and new experience in me,

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that's green pastures for me.

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I saw green pastures everywhere.

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And so I went for it.

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Now the con list.

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We've got to talk with con list too, I suppose.

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The con list was leaving a job I love.

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And more specifically, leaving people that I love

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here, co-workers that I love, people that I love, and in the

00:29:14

comfort of all of that.

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But I quickly realized something that, see, when you leave a job

00:29:19

at a church, you don't leave the people because you don't leave

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Right?

00:29:23

This is great.

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I can keep these relationships in my life.

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This is wonderful.

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And by the way, I noticed this other thing that at Crossroads we

00:29:32

have this habit of hiring people who've had corporate

00:29:34

leadership experience into jobs at Crossroads.

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So I figured, you know what?

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I can leave, have new fresh experiences, make a lot of money and

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come back someday anyway.

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Perfect.

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Right decision, right?

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Based on everything I could see, based everything I could hear,

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I made the right decision.

00:29:55

What about you?

00:29:56

Let's talk about you.

00:29:57

Enough about me, what about you?

00:29:59

How do you make those decisions, do you have a pro/con list?

00:30:03

Do you seek out good advice from people?

00:30:05

"What do you think about this?

00:30:06

You know, what about this?".

00:30:08

Do you do that?

00:30:09

I don't know your exact steps and how they order, but I know how

00:30:11

the end.

00:30:13

They end in the same way that mine end probably, you make the

00:30:17

decision.

00:30:19

You do, because this is America and in America we are

00:30:23

independent.

00:30:24

We are the land of the free and the home of we make our own

00:30:27

decisions, aren't we?

00:30:30

It's the core of what it means to be an American is

00:30:32

And listen, caveat, I am pro freedom.

00:30:36

I am pro justice.

00:30:37

I am pro democracy.

00:30:39

I'm grateful for those things.

00:30:41

I'm grateful for the men and the women who have given up their

00:30:43

lives so I can enjoy those things.

00:30:45

I am, I love them.

00:30:46

But I want you to see this: independence -- independence is a

00:30:51

bias that we all have.

00:30:55

And it doesn't just bias us and color our view on some things.

00:31:02

It's a bias on everything, including how we see God, including

00:31:07

how we view hearing God.

00:31:10

It's a bias of independence.

00:31:12

And the thing is, God seems very much less interested in

00:31:18

independent living than you and I are.

00:31:22

If anything, he wants the opposite, it seems like.

00:31:26

So, listen, while it's true, I'm telling you this today, you can

00:31:31

no matter who you are, good news, you can hear God's direction

00:31:37

for your life.

00:31:38

But you can't do it alone.

00:31:43

You can't.

00:31:44

You can't do it alone.

00:31:45

Now, this flies in the face of culture as well

00:31:48

Culture when it comes to decisions about direction, culture has

00:31:51

one piece of advice, it's three words, it's awesome, right?

00:31:54

Follow your... heart. Follow

00:31:59

your heart.

00:32:00

It's every Disney movie, it's Moana, follow your heart to the

00:32:03

sea, Moana?

00:32:05

It's a good movie, by the way. I like that movie.

00:32:07

Follow your heart.

00:32:09

There's a problem with that, your heart and my heart is a big

00:32:16

freaking liar.

00:32:18

Do you know that? It's

00:32:20

a liar?

00:32:22

Sixteen chapters before the book of Jeremiah says, "Call to me

00:32:27

and I will answer you."

00:32:29

Jeremiah writes this about our hearts.

00:32:33

It says:.

00:32:40

This is your heart.

00:32:42

See, your heart is a liar because your heart sees what it wants

00:32:45

to see and hears what it wants to hear.

00:32:48

That's it.

00:32:50

If it wants to see green pastures, it'll see it everywhere.

00:32:53

We were on vacation, my family and I just got back like a week

00:32:56

ago.

00:32:57

We were on a two week vacation at the beach.

00:32:59

It was amazing.

00:33:00

We were on this little island and about a week into vacation.

00:33:03

So I don't know, day seven, day eight, it's low tide and we're

00:33:06

wading in the water with our kids.

00:33:08

And we start to step on sand dollars.

00:33:11

Has this ever happened to you? It's super fun.

00:33:13

You kind of -- you can use your feet, or if the water is shallow

00:33:15

enough you can feel with your hands.

00:33:17

And what you're trying to do is you feel for something hard and

00:33:19

then you just reach down into the water and you pick the thing

00:33:22

up and you hope it doesn't have claws or teeth.

00:33:24

That's going to how you find sand dollars.

00:33:26

And if you're envisioning the white circle kind of bone, white

00:33:31

smooth circle, that's a that's a dead, murdered, scalped sand

00:33:35

dollar.

00:33:37

That's not what live sand dollars look like.

00:33:38

They come out of the water kind of green and brown and slimy

00:33:42

with all these little hairs on them like (sound effect) just

00:33:46

kind of looking at you weird, you know?

00:33:49

They don't have eyes, I don't know why I said that, they can't

00:33:51

look at you.

00:33:52

I hope they don't have eyes. I have to apologize

00:33:54

to lots of them if they do, because we killed a lot of them.

00:33:56

Our kids want to keep them and so we decide, okay, you can keep

00:33:59

like 10, right?

00:34:00

So they pick up these sand dollars, they put them in a bucket

00:34:03

and we decide we're gonna go home and bleach them and whatever.

00:34:06

So we put the bucket in the minivan.

00:34:07

We drive back to the place where we're staying.

00:34:10

And somewhere on the ride, and I'm -- probably this is like I'm

00:34:12

speculating at this point, because I don't know.

00:34:15

Because here's what I think happens, one of the sand dollars

00:34:18

said to the other sand dollars, he's like, "Guys, this is not

00:34:21

how it ends for me.

00:34:23

I do not die in this bucket.

00:34:25

I'm getting out here.".

00:34:27

And he makes a break for it, you know, climbs up the side of the

00:34:29

bucket and then falls down.

00:34:31

Unfortunately, he falls into a deep crevice of my minivan where

00:34:34

he will never be discovered to this day.

00:34:37

Fact.

00:34:38

The next morning I go open the van, the door of the minivan, and

00:34:41

it's like -- it's like just death himself has slept in my van,

00:34:46

you know?

00:34:47

[laughter]

00:34:48

It's this real (sound effect) burnt hair and dead fish.

00:34:51

(sound effect)

00:34:52

It was like (sound effect).

00:34:55

Who wants to go to the beach?

00:34:56

You know, it was awful.

00:34:58

I couldn't find it.

00:34:59

Literally still haven't found it.

00:35:01

And I'm mad, I'm gag driving to the beach.

00:35:03

(sound effect) We almost crashed again.

00:35:06

And at some point I make this conclusion, I decide the problem

00:35:10

is not the sand dollar we can't find.

00:35:14

The problems is this stupid van.

00:35:15

I hate this van.

00:35:16

I'm so sick of mini vans.

00:35:17

It's like destroyed, disgusting, a hundred and whatever thousand

00:35:20

miles.

00:35:21

And I'm sick of this van.

00:35:22

The problem is this van.

00:35:23

I need something different.

00:35:24

And then I look up across the way, there it is.

00:35:29

Big, shining, beautiful, the skies, partly angels sing.

00:35:33

It's a Nissan Armada.

00:35:36

I took this photo of it so you can enjoy the moment with me.

00:35:40

This is exactly what I look like.

00:35:42

It's glorious.

00:35:43

It's not a minivan.

00:35:45

It's got three rows of seats, big, powerful, you know, just like

00:35:49

me. [laughter]

00:35:52

Except the three -- I don't have a third row seat, though.

00:35:55

Like I need this thing.

00:35:56

I need it.

00:35:57

And from that moment on, I saw Nissan Armadas everywhere on this

00:36:02

island.

00:36:04

Now, I don't think Nissan suddenly shipped in a hundred Armadas

00:36:08

right?

00:36:09

I didn't see any the first week.

00:36:10

And that's all I saw the second week.

00:36:13

This is your heart, your heart will see what it wants to see.

00:36:19

You want an Armada?

00:36:20

You'll see them everywhere.

00:36:21

I'm going to curse you, look for Jeep Wranglers.

00:36:23

You'll see them everywhere, stupid Jeep Wrangler drivers.

00:36:27

Not that I'm jealous, but whatever.

00:36:29

This is how your heart works.

00:36:32

Follow your heart is the worst advice you could possibly take.

00:36:35

But it's the advice being thrown at you every second of every

00:36:38

day from nearly every source of media you consume.

00:36:41

Follow your heart.

00:36:43

You know what happens when you follow your heart?

00:36:45

I'll tell you what I've seen.

00:36:47

I've seen people follow their heart right into addiction.

00:36:50

I've seen people follow their heart right in the divorce.

00:36:53

I've seen people follow their heart right into debt.

00:36:55

That's what I've seen, because the heart is deceptive.

00:37:00

Deceptive above all things.

00:37:04

So how do you hear God's voice?

00:37:06

How would you ever hear God's direction if your heart is

00:37:09

untrustworthy?

00:37:11

How would you do it?

00:37:13

Well, there's one way.

00:37:15

In the Bible, there is one way, one source of God's direction.

00:37:23

Do you know what the one source of God's direction is?

00:37:26

It's Brian Tome,

00:37:28

Just kidding. [laughter].

00:37:31

It's Chuck Mingo.

00:37:34

No, the one source is wise counsellors.

00:37:40

Wise counselors in the Bible, something sacred.

00:37:44

Now a wise counselor, the quickest definition I could give you

00:37:48

is a wise counselor is not just anybody.

00:37:50

This isn't just any friend.

00:37:53

Because we're not talking about good advice.

00:37:55

We're talking about God's direction.

00:37:57

Different, very different.

00:38:00

And so to be a wise counselor, someone must meet two criteria.

00:38:03

One, they must know and love God, that's most important.

00:38:09

Two, they ideally know and love you.

00:38:14

That's a wise counselor, they know and love God and they know

00:38:17

And the benefits of them are enormous.

00:38:20

Google wise counselors Bible and you'll find dozens and dozens

00:38:24

of verses.

00:38:25

Here's one of them I'll read to ya.

00:38:27

This comes out of the Book of Proverbs.

00:38:29

Proverbs 11:14:

00:38:42

Wise counselors are who gives God's direction.

00:38:47

Period. That's it.

00:38:49

That's the only source.

00:38:51

If you want to hear God's direction for your life, you're gonna

00:38:55

need some wise counselors and you're gonna need to do what they

00:38:58

say

00:38:59

You're going to have to throw off the American independence that

00:39:02

says God surely if He had direction for my life, He would tell

00:39:05

it to me.

00:39:06

I would hear it.

00:39:08

Would He?

00:39:10

What do you think is the most important direction God has ever

00:39:13

given somebody?

00:39:15

What do you think it is?

00:39:16

In the history of the world, what's the most important time God

00:39:19

ever gave someone direction?

00:39:22

You could probably make a case for a few different people.

00:39:25

I'll tell you mine, I'll tell you mine in my case.

00:39:28

I think the person is Paul, like the apostle Paul, St.

00:39:33

I think it's Paul.

00:39:34

And by the way, Jesus should be excluded from this contest.

00:39:38

He is God, that feels like cheating to me.

00:39:40

I'm sorry.

00:39:41

Jesus. Just a rule I made up.

00:39:43

Paul, I'm going to go with Paul.

00:39:46

And I'll prove this point to you by this.

00:39:48

Raise your hand if you can hear my voice and you're not Jewish.

00:39:53

Ok, great.

00:39:54

Just about everybody.

00:39:55

What do you know?

00:39:57

Well, the only reason you're here and listening is because of

00:40:01

Paul. Really.

00:40:02

I don't mean that -- that's not hyperbole, really.

00:40:05

Paul is the one guy God said, "Hey, your mission is to take the

00:40:10

gospel of Jesus, the message of Jesus to people who aren't

00:40:13

And that's what Paul did.

00:40:15

Critical. It's changed the course of world history.

00:40:19

Critical moment of someone clearly hearing God's direction for

00:40:23

their life, if you ask me.

00:40:24

Maybe the most important ever.

00:40:28

Something to know about Paul.

00:40:30

Paul knew how to hear God's voice like on his own.

00:40:33

He was pretty good at it.

00:40:34

He wrote most of the New Testament.

00:40:35

In one of those books he even talks about how close him and God,

00:40:38

where he's kind of bragging about it.

00:40:39

And he's like, "Yeah, this one time I was caught up to the third

00:40:42

level of heaven.

00:40:43

So, you know?"

00:40:45

What's the third level of heaven? I

00:40:47

have no idea.

00:40:48

I've never been there, neither have you or anybody else.

00:40:50

Just Paul.

00:40:51

And so if God wants, God could just talk to Paul and Paul'd be

00:40:55

like, "Yeah, what's up, God?

00:40:57

Hey, I thought we can meet, Paul, maybe like on the second level

00:41:00

I have some direction for you.".

00:41:01

"Cool. I'll meet you there.".

00:41:02

You know, go like that.

00:41:04

But that's not how God chooses to direct Paul's life at all.

00:41:09

At all.

00:41:10

We're gonna dive into Paul's story here for the next few

00:41:12

I want you to hang with me through his story, because I want you

00:41:16

to see every moment of significant direction in Paul's life and

00:41:20

how God chose to talk to him.

00:41:22

Because maybe, just maybe, it's how he'll talk to you, too.

00:41:25

The story starts on the road to Damascus, and at this point,

00:41:30

Paul's name is Saul, so you're not confused when we read the

00:41:33

His name is Saul.

00:41:34

That's his Jewish name.

00:41:35

Paul is his non-Jewish name, that's how that works out.

00:41:39

So, Saul is on the road to Damascus because at this point he

00:41:42

thinks God's direction is to kill Christians.

00:41:45

That's how he's helping God, so he's going to Damascus to kill

00:41:47

some Christians.

00:41:48

Bright light shines out of heaven and knocks him to the ground.

00:41:52

It's Jesus and He starts talking to him and he says this:

00:42:26

Two very important things to note here.

00:42:29

One, Jesus does not give Paul the direction for his life.

00:42:33

He says, go to the city and somebody tell him the

00:42:36

direction for his life.

00:42:37

Did you catch that?

00:42:39

Get there and then you'll be told what to do.

00:42:41

Two, Jesus takes away his eyesight so that Paul can't even get

00:42:46

to the city without the help of other people.

00:42:48

And like that, in a moment, the only way Paul can hear God's

00:42:53

direction for his life is with the help of other people.

00:42:58

He gets to Damascus and God's prepared this guy named Ananais to

00:43:02

know something about Paul, who he is, who he's to become.

00:43:06

And he gives Ananais the direction for Paul's life.

00:43:10

He says "This is my guy who not only will preach to the Jews,

00:43:14

but is going to get to take my message to all of the non-Jews,

00:43:18

he'll appear in front of kings and rulers, and he'll suffer for

00:43:23

my sake, for my name's sake.

00:43:24

He's my chosen vessel.".

00:43:26

He says this to Ananais.

00:43:27

Ananais says it to Saul.

00:43:30

There is no record anywhere in Scripture of God ever saying it

00:43:34

to Saul, just an Ananais.

00:43:37

And in this moment, see, Paul makes this amazing, amazing,

00:43:43

humble move and he says, "If wise counsel says it, if Ananais

00:43:48

says it, it's not good advice, it's God's direction."

00:43:53

and he immediately acts on it.

00:43:55

Act 9:20 is where the story picks up.

00:44:02

He took Ananais's words as God's direction.

00:44:06

From there, people tried to kill Paul, they're mad

00:44:09

at him and they try to stone him and it goes really bad.

00:44:11

And so then more direction comes for Paul's life, and it comes

00:44:14

in the form of more wise counselors, the disciples, like

00:44:17

Jesus' disciples get Paul.

00:44:19

And they're like, "Hey, man, this isn't going so well.

00:44:22

And so we think God's direction for you is actually to go back

00:44:24

home to Tarsus."

00:44:26

Imagine a burrito in your head, that's Turkey, the country of

00:44:30

Turkey. In the middle of the burrito at the bottom is Tarsus,

00:44:34

kind of near the Mediterranean Sea.

00:44:35

So he sails up from where he is in Jerusalem up to

00:44:39

Tarsus and they just kind of exile him almost.

00:44:43

But Paul again takes it as God's direction, because he just gets

00:44:45

on a boat and goes.

00:44:47

And I had the privilege of spending time with one of the world's

00:44:50

leading experts on Paul last summer.

00:44:53

And he brought this time of Paul's life to light in a way that

00:44:57

I'd never understood it before.

00:44:58

First of all, he said Paul was there in Tarsus for eight years.

00:45:03

Eight years and he wasn't preaching, he wasn't teaching, he

00:45:07

wasn't being a chosen vessel.

00:45:08

He wasn't fulfilling the promise that God had spoken even

00:45:11

through Ananais to him, he was just doing nothing.

00:45:16

It's monotony day after day after day after day in Tarsus.

00:45:23

And more than that this guy said, you know, Paul likely would

00:45:27

have been married, likely would have had kids.

00:45:29

When he showed up as a Christian, his family would have shunned

00:45:31

him, he would have been an outcast, unable to see them.

00:45:34

And so he would have been not allowed to live in the city.

00:45:37

He would have been cast out into the hills where he most likely

00:45:40

lived alone in a cave.

00:45:44

Alone in a cave for eight years.

00:45:49

What I find most remarkable is that he never left.

00:45:53

He didn't decide, "Surely I heard God wrong or this can't be

00:45:56

right and so I'm gonna go.".

00:45:58

Can you imagine how emotionally and physically grueling eight

00:46:02

years in the cave would be?

00:46:04

And I think: why? This

00:46:05

can't be God's direction or part of his plan, this makes no

00:46:08

sense.

00:46:09

What a waste of time.

00:46:11

It makes no sense.

00:46:13

Most challenging to me, I think about what I would do.

00:46:16

So I want you to think about what what would you do?

00:46:19

Would you be so confident that was God's direction, not just

00:46:22

good advice, that you would, you'd stay in the cave?

00:46:24

Would you stay or would you leave?

00:46:28

You know what I would do, I would leave.

00:46:30

I already told you that.

00:46:32

I decided to quit my job.

00:46:33

I decided to leave when the monotony set in for me,

00:46:36

it can't be God's direction.

00:46:38

it's not green pastures, I'm out here.

00:46:40

What would you do?

00:46:41

Would you stay or would you leave?

00:46:42

Well, miraculously for Paul, he stayed.

00:46:45

And eight years in more direction comes, again in the form of a

00:46:49

person, a wise counselor shows up, this time Paul's friend

00:46:52

Barnabas.

00:46:53

And Barnabas shows up and Barnabas says, "Paul, it's time to

00:46:55

come back.

00:46:56

Get in the boat with me. We

00:46:58

think it's time to come back, we think God's saying to come

00:47:00

We're going to go to the city of Antioch.".

00:47:02

They sailed down on a boat to Antioch.

00:47:04

They spend a year there.

00:47:06

And after a year, the church leaders there, they're praying and

00:47:10

they're worshipping and more direction comes through them to

00:47:14

Paul.

00:47:16

We pick up the story here and Acts 13.

00:47:25

That's the reach the non-Jewish people part.

00:47:33

What happens next?

00:47:35

Well, I'll tell you what doesn't happen

00:47:36

next, Paul doesn't go, "Guys, super interesting, but I'm going

00:47:40

to need God to confirm it inside my heart. You

00:47:44

It doesn't say that, "It's super interesting.

00:47:47

I'm going to need a sign.".

00:47:48

It doesn't say that.

00:47:50

It doesn't say, "super interesting, but I'm not sure it matches

00:47:53

my Instagram number, you know?

00:47:55

I'm more like, I'm kind of a seven and this feels like a job for

00:47:59

a two, so..."

00:48:02

No, he just goes, immediately, he goes.

00:48:07

And that would be the last major direction of Paul's life.

00:48:09

He gets small instructions, this city versus that city, that

00:48:12

kind of thing.

00:48:13

But holistically, this is the last major direction that God

00:48:16

gives him for his life because for the next several decades,

00:48:19

roaming around the known earth spreading the Good News of

00:48:23

Jesus.

00:48:24

And can I tell you, it was hard for him.

00:48:27

He was shipwrecked.

00:48:28

He was whipped.

00:48:29

He was jailed.

00:48:31

He spent nights out alone, sleeping outside.

00:48:35

He was in danger.

00:48:36

It was he was emotionally and physically just grueling, you

00:48:41

know.

00:48:43

I wonder like how do you endure that?

00:48:45

How do you endure decades of that direction for his life?

00:48:48

How would he ever do that?

00:48:49

You'd have to be like trained, like super intentionally trained

00:48:52

and prepared for this moment.

00:48:53

Something, I don't know, something super extreme, something like

00:48:57

living in a cave for eight years.

00:49:03

Paul endures, he fulfills God's direction for his life and the

00:49:06

world is changed because of it.

00:49:10

The world is utterly changed because of it, all because he

00:49:14

decided it's not good advice, it's God's direction when it

00:49:18

comes from my wise counselors.

00:49:20

And he went for it.

00:49:21

He went for it.

00:49:23

Listen, here's the thing.

00:49:26

If the most important moment in human history of God giving his

00:49:32

direction was given by God to others to Paul, it'll be the same

00:49:37

in your life.

00:49:38

It won't be any different.

00:49:40

It'll come the same way.

00:49:41

If you want to hear God clearly on the direction for your

00:49:44

life, it will only come through wise counsel.

00:49:47

You can hear it, you just can't do it alone. It will only

00:49:50

come through wise counsel.

00:49:51

I wonder who are your wise counselors?

00:49:56

Do you have them?

00:49:58

Thankfully, in my life, I do.

00:50:00

It's one of the biggest blessings, maybe the biggest in my life.

00:50:02

I have a great collection of wise counselors: I have my parents,

00:50:05

I have my wife, I have the friends who I mentioned

00:50:08

earlier, guys like Matt and Greg and Jason and Walker, who I

00:50:13

met in these things called Crossroads Journey Groups.

00:50:17

I have our senior pastor, Brian.

00:50:21

You know, when I quit my job, I did everything I could to hear

00:50:25

God and then I quit.

00:50:26

And I was most nervous about telling Brian.

00:50:28

And I went to his office to tell him, I was hoping he wasn't

00:50:30

there, but he was, I was like, "Crap.

00:50:32

This sucks, gotta tell him, you know.".

00:50:35

And so I tell him, he's very gracious, he's bummed, he's very

00:50:37

gracious.

00:50:38

He asked me a few questions and then he actually even just prays

00:50:40

a blessing that I'd be successful where I was going and have

00:50:43

God's favor and all kinds of cool things.

00:50:45

He left to go to the gym.

00:50:46

I left to go to my desk, started doing e-mails.

00:50:48

I was like, the hard part is over.

00:50:50

Whoo, smooth sailing, green pastures here I come.

00:50:54

You know?

00:50:56

And 15 minutes later, he showed up at my desk in his workout

00:51:01

clothes.

00:51:02

And he said, "Hey.

00:51:05

I went to the gym and I think God talked to me and I'm back

00:51:10

because I think I have some things from him you need to hear."

00:51:13

He said, "Listen, I think you are a pastor and you are a leader.

00:51:18

I think you are called to ministry and I think it is a mistake

00:51:21

for you to go.

00:51:22

I think you should stay."

00:51:24

And when he said that I was relieved.

00:51:25

No, of course not.

00:51:28

It's like crap, I already made a decision. Ugh.

00:51:34

I wanted so badly to be like, "Thank you so much.

00:51:36

That's so kind.

00:51:38

Oh man, I'm gonna miss you too, bud. You

00:51:40

Thankfully, I didn't.

00:51:43

I respected him enough and I had enough humility to reconsider.

00:51:48

So I went home about 1:00 in the afternoon and I tried talking

00:51:52

to God first.

00:51:53

"God, what do you want me to do?

00:51:54

And he gave me no direction.

00:51:57

I just kept thinking about these people in my life and that

00:52:00

maybe I should talk to them.

00:52:02

So I talked to my wife and I heard her for the very first time.

00:52:06

I stopped just seeing green pastures painted over all of her

00:52:08

words and instead I heard her.

00:52:11

She said, "Honey, you'd like this job for like a year and

00:52:15

then you'd be bored out of your mind.

00:52:18

And I don't care about the money, I like our stupid minivan and

00:52:21

our small house, it's fine.

00:52:23

God, I'll take care of us.

00:52:24

He always has."

00:52:27

I talked to my friends, those guys I met in Crossroads Journey

00:52:30

Groups who said the same thing.

00:52:32

"Oh, man, we think -- we think you're made for this.

00:52:34

We don't understand why you would leave.

00:52:37

You'er a pastor, you're a leader, you're a teacher for the

00:52:39

church. What are you doing?"

00:52:42

I heard them the very first time.

00:52:45

And so the next day I came into work and I un-quit.

00:52:50

I said -- [applause]

00:52:52

Yeah. That was eight years ago, by the way.

00:53:00

I left that part out.

00:53:02

It was eight years ago.

00:53:05

A few years after that, the guy who had offered me that job,

00:53:07

who's actually a part of Crossroads, I saw him.

00:53:09

I was pumping gas at a Kroger and I ran into him.

00:53:12

And he goes, "Oh, man, hey, listen, I just want you to know,

00:53:15

right after you said no and you chose to stay at Crossroads, we

00:53:18

got a new CEO who came in and he like changed everything.

00:53:21

We wouldn't have even gotten to do the stuff we had talked

00:53:23

about.

00:53:24

You really heard God right on that one."

00:53:27

[applause]

00:53:34

No, I didn't.

00:53:36

No, I didn't.

00:53:37

I didn't hear God right.

00:53:38

I heard him wrong.

00:53:39

We heard him right and I chose to take it as God's direction,

00:53:44

not just good advice.

00:53:45

And I'm so thankful I have because can tell you about the last

00:53:49

Can I tell you about how I've gotten to baptize both of my

00:53:52

boys with those friends from Crossroads Journey Groups at my

00:53:55

side?

00:53:56

Can I tell you that right now I'm working on a project to help

00:53:59

rebrand Crossroads?

00:54:00

Can I tell you right now that I've gotten to travel all over the

00:54:03

world to help unlock the story of God and share how he is

00:54:06

changing the world through our community?

00:54:08

Can I tell you how I've gotten to teach hundreds of thousands of

00:54:11

people the message of Jesus in a language they can understand?

00:54:13

Can I tell you that I've got to help lead a church in my early

00:54:16

30s.

00:54:17

Can I tell you I've got to teach?

00:54:19

It's unbelievable.

00:54:20

[cheers and applause]

00:54:25

Now, listen, some of you have wise counsellors.

00:54:30

Some of you have wise counsellors.

00:54:32

I's time to listen to them.

00:54:35

You already know what to do, do it. Do

00:54:39

it.

00:54:40

God, can you direct my life?

00:54:41

He's like, "I did.

00:54:42

I am.

00:54:44

They're telling you, do it."

00:54:48

You need wise counselors and I get that, I'm going to give you

00:54:52

all the same advice.

00:54:53

Ready? This is the closing advice.

00:54:54

If you want to hear God's direction for your

00:54:56

life, I'm going to tell you what I tell all the millennials

00:54:59

because I'm the godfather of millennials and they all come to

00:55:01

me for advice.

00:55:04

How do I hear God's direction?

00:55:06

And they want like a magic formula.

00:55:08

I'm like, climb up here on my knee, lad.

00:55:11

I will tell you of technologies, you know, not of, things like

00:55:14

VCRs and cassette tapes, wonders. [laughter]

00:55:19

Here's what I tell them: you want to hear God's direction for

00:55:21

your life?

00:55:22

Three things, write these down.

00:55:24

Step one, find three people who know and love God and know and

00:55:29

love you

00:55:30

Two, ask them what to do.

00:55:32

Three. Do it.

00:55:34

Bye-bye.

00:55:37

It's that easy.

00:55:39

You aren't -- you're merely taking good advice in that

00:55:41

situation, you're getting a direction of God, you are hearing

00:55:44

God.

00:55:45

What if this thing that is actually sacred we have profaned and

00:55:49

made it common?

00:55:51

I don't think God would like that very much.

00:55:54

But we can all hear from Him, we can.

00:55:56

Now, if you're in a spot where you like, "That sounds great.

00:55:58

Awesome. Good, cool.

00:56:00

I don't have any wise counsellors.".

00:56:02

Great news. Oh, my gosh.

00:56:04

Great news.

00:56:05

You can find them here.

00:56:06

Your wise counselors are here, I promise.

00:56:09

I found them here.

00:56:10

You can find them here.

00:56:11

One of the things that bums me out the most is when I hear

00:56:13

people who come to Crossroads and say, "This place is so big, I

00:56:16

can never meet anybody."

00:56:19

I don't mean to insult you, but that's stupid.

00:56:22

Come on.

00:56:24

Do you ever walk into Target and go, "Oh, my gosh, this place is

00:56:27

so big.

00:56:28

They definitely don't have what I need"?

00:56:31

No, of course they have what you need.

00:56:34

It's target.

00:56:36

Your people are here.

00:56:38

They are here and the very best thing you can do to find them

00:56:42

is to join a Crossroads Journey group.

00:56:44

It's the very best thing.

00:56:46

You'll meet some people and look, maybe will work this way for

00:56:48

Maybe the six or eight people will all become your best friends

00:56:51

for life immediately.

00:56:55

It happened for me.

00:56:56

I would set your sights more on this.

00:56:58

Make your goal to connect with one to two of them, find one to

00:57:01

two who could become over time wise counselors for you.

00:57:04

And stick with them, like don't drop out of the group week three

00:57:07

of the Journey.

00:57:08

Don't just flake on the whole thing.

00:57:09

Don't stop after week 4.

00:57:11

Do the whole experience.

00:57:12

And when you find these people, stick with them even after the

00:57:15

Journey.

00:57:16

And when you do, you will begin to hear God's direction more

00:57:21

clearly than you ever have before.

00:57:25

And I think He's got good plans for you and He'll take you

00:57:27

there.

00:57:28

And I've got some instructions for you in just a second, but

00:57:30

before that, I'm going to pray for us.

00:57:34

God, I thank you that you turned me around, that you corrected

00:57:39

me, that you caused me to see your voice through other people,

00:57:44

that you caused me to value them so highly that they could

00:57:48

carry Your words for me.

00:57:50

I ask for all of us that we hear Your direction for our lives,

00:57:53

that we take what people are saying, that You would make it

00:57:57

clear what You're saying through them.

00:57:59

And if we don't have those people, God, I'm asking you to give

00:58:02

them to us.

00:58:03

Amen.

00:58:04

Okay.

00:58:07

Take out your phone.

00:58:08

I know you've got your phone probably on your knee because

00:58:10

you're in that like get to the car stance, you know?

00:58:13

Jut get out your phone and go to open up, you know, Safari or

00:58:17

Chrome or whatever your web browser is real quick.

00:58:19

This will only take a second.

00:58:20

We're almost done, I promise.

00:58:22

And type in Crossroads.net/journey.

00:58:28

Crossroads.net/journey.

00:58:33

Ok. Are you there?

00:58:37

When you get there, you're gonna find three buttons.

00:58:40

And I want you to click a button before you turn off this

00:58:42

video, before you stand up out of your seat, click one of these

00:58:44

buttons.

00:58:46

Either sign up to lead a Journey group.

00:58:48

If you have 1% interest, if there's 1% of you that's like maybe

00:58:52

I should lead a Journey Group, I'll be wise counselor for

00:58:55

you, that's God.

00:58:56

Do it. I'm

00:58:57

serious. Do it.

00:58:59

Don't wonder.

00:59:00

Should I, should I not? Do it.

00:59:05

If that's not the 1%, click this button: Notify me when Journey

00:59:08

Group sign ups begin.

00:59:10

And what will happen is you'll get a text I think in a week or

00:59:12

so with easy to follow instructions of how to pick a group for

00:59:16

the Journey.

00:59:17

Or if you want to do either those, we have this convenient third

00:59:20

button, "I have no desire to grow spiritually," you click that

00:59:23

button and we'll see you or not later.

00:59:28

Thanks for sticking with us today.

00:59:29

Next week is the conclusion of this series.

00:59:31

Brian will be back.

00:59:32

Make sure you don't miss it.

00:59:34

Have a great week.

00:59:35

Bye.

00:59:37

>> I mean, I hope you enjoyed service.

00:59:39

Thanks for joining us this weekend.

00:59:41

If you need prayer around anything or if you have a question

00:59:44

about Crossroads, you can go to Crossroads.net, click

00:59:47

the chat button.

00:59:48

We'll see you next week for the last week of How to Hear God.

00:59:51

Thanks.

	Worship	1:20
	Community Life	14:07
	Message	20:32

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