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Do We Still Need The Church?

1 hr 16 mins 51 sec
00:00:00
01:14:47
Are All Religions Basically the Same?
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  3. Legit

Are All Religions Basically the Same?

Christianity. Buddhism. Islam. Hinduism. They all seem to say the same thing, right? Be nice, don’t kill, don’t steal your neighbor’s Wi-Fi, you know the drill. But what if these aren’t just different paths up the same mountain?

What if one of them flips the mountain upside down?

In this message, Brian Tome unpacks why Christianity isn’t just another rulebook to reach God—it’s a radical invitation into relationship. One filled with grace, transformation, and the presence of the living God. And once you understand the difference, there’s no chance you stay the same.

  • 00:00:02
    - Hey, welcome to Crossroads.
  • 00:00:03
    I'm Emily, and I'm so glad you're here with us
  • 00:00:06
    in our last week of our series called Legit.
  • 00:00:08
    These past couple weeks, we have taken a deep dive
  • 00:00:10
    into understanding why Jesus in the Bible
  • 00:00:13
    is not just inspiring, but it's actually a trustworthy
  • 00:00:16
    and legit source of truth that you can build your life on.
  • 00:00:20
    It's been awesome so far and I can't wait for more this week.
  • 00:00:23
    - Yeah, hey, maybe you're new, but I want to tell you
  • 00:00:25
    just a couple of things about Crossroads
  • 00:00:27
    so you can get to know us as a church.
  • 00:00:28
    We are not the kind of church who just says stuff.
  • 00:00:31
    We're the kind of church that does stuff.
  • 00:00:32
    And that was on full display just this past week,
  • 00:00:35
    as thousands and thousands of community members
  • 00:00:37
    across the map, across the globe took on service projects
  • 00:00:41
    to make an impact in their city,
  • 00:00:43
    their hometown and their neighborhood.
  • 00:00:45
    And if you did that, hey, well done.
  • 00:00:47
    It was beautiful to see
  • 00:00:49
    and made a huge impact right where you are.
  • 00:00:51
    - So cool, and speaking of global,
  • 00:00:53
    we have people that meet in buildings
  • 00:00:55
    across our campuses like this one,
  • 00:00:57
    but also people that meet in Anywhere communities,
  • 00:01:00
    online or in real life, and they span across the globe.
  • 00:01:04
    - Yeah. That's right.
  • 00:01:06
    I want to give you a heads up about
  • 00:01:07
    what you can expect from our time together today.
  • 00:01:09
    First, we're going to spend some time in worship,
  • 00:01:11
    that's just using music to connect ourselves to God.
  • 00:01:14
    And second, Emily and I are going to be back
  • 00:01:16
    to give you some updates on things that are happening
  • 00:01:18
    in the life of the church that we want you to know about.
  • 00:01:20
    And then, third, our senior pastor, Brian Tome
  • 00:01:22
    is going to be up to talk to us about how Christianity
  • 00:01:25
    is different from every other belief system
  • 00:01:28
    or religion on the planet, and what that means for you and me.
  • 00:01:32
    - Yeah, and you could be watching anything
  • 00:01:33
    on the internet right now, but you're watching this right now.
  • 00:01:36
    So no matter what you believe about Christianity,
  • 00:01:38
    about the Bible, or about God, I believe that
  • 00:01:41
    there's something specifically for you today.
  • 00:01:44
    So get ready, lean in, and let's start with some worship.
  • 00:01:49
    - Come on.
  • 00:01:55
    God's word is a gift to us.
  • 00:01:57
    It's something that we can stand on
  • 00:01:58
    and something we can put our all to,
  • 00:02:00
    that we can take Him at His Word.
  • 00:02:03
    It's in these words right here, Your Word is a lamp.
  • 00:17:27
    - Thank you, Lord.
  • 00:17:30
    Would that song be a charge for us
  • 00:17:37
    to say yes to the more that You have for us,
  • 00:17:40
    the adventure that You want to take us on.
  • 00:17:43
    That's what we're singing about.
  • 00:17:46
    And I know there's folks in this room, Lord,
  • 00:17:49
    who haven't experienced that.
  • 00:17:51
    And they're waiting to hear something from You
  • 00:17:53
    or to feel something from You.
  • 00:17:57
    Would this be a foundation for all of us
  • 00:17:59
    that You are calling us out of darkness.
  • 00:18:02
    You are calling us out of the ways of the world
  • 00:18:05
    into Your light, into the light of Jesus,
  • 00:18:10
    who died for all of our sins and rose again
  • 00:18:13
    so that we can have life and connection with You, Father.
  • 00:18:17
    That's the truth. That's the more You have for us.
  • 00:18:21
    So when we step into that boldly,
  • 00:18:24
    will we take our fear into that place
  • 00:18:28
    because fear can't hold us back anymore.
  • 00:18:32
    It has no place because your power is stronger.
  • 00:18:36
    What you have for us is better.
  • 00:18:39
    So we say yes to You today
  • 00:18:41
    because You're good, You're faithful.
  • 00:18:45
    It's in Jesus's name that we pray. Amen. Amen.
  • 00:18:49
    Come on.
  • 00:18:54
    God wants more for us. He does.
  • 00:18:56
    In our personal life.
  • 00:18:57
    He wants more for us in our spiritual life.
  • 00:19:00
    He wants more for us in our financial life.
  • 00:19:03
    He wants us not to be bound by money
  • 00:19:05
    and what that looks like and how that might bring anxiety.
  • 00:19:07
    He don't want that from us. He wants freedom.
  • 00:19:09
    And so part of that freedom is giving to Him.
  • 00:19:13
    That's why we tithe. That's why I tithe.
  • 00:19:15
    It's just 10%.
  • 00:19:16
    And I do that every month as a sign of God that,
  • 00:19:18
    hey, I'm going to choose trust even in my money.
  • 00:19:22
    You can do that with me at Crossroads.net/give.
  • 00:19:26
    Hey, we're one big family in this room and online.
  • 00:19:28
    Hey, why don't you find three people
  • 00:19:30
    and give 'em a high five. Give 'em a handshake.
  • 00:19:34
    Tell 'em your name if you don't know 'em.
  • 00:19:36
    Hey, if you're online and nobody's with you,
  • 00:19:38
    text a friend, tell 'em you're thinking about 'em.
  • 00:19:41
    You can have a seat.
  • 00:19:47
    - Emily, I noticed a lot of church merch here.
  • 00:19:50
    You have a lot going on there.
  • 00:19:52
    - I am not ashamed to admit it,
  • 00:19:53
    because it is Crossroads Student Camp season.
  • 00:19:56
    So I had to represent.
  • 00:19:58
    - Yes. Now, we were just talking before we started filming.
  • 00:20:01
    And you happened to share the story
  • 00:20:03
    of why you first came to Crossroads Student Camp.
  • 00:20:06
    - Yeah, well, if I'm really honest, I came to camp
  • 00:20:10
    as a freshman in high school
  • 00:20:11
    because all the cool kids were going.
  • 00:20:13
    I had big time FOMO and, you know,
  • 00:20:16
    they were on the in, I was on the out.
  • 00:20:18
    If you're a high school or middle school student,
  • 00:20:20
    maybe you know what I'm talking about.
  • 00:20:22
    But regardless, I signed up.
  • 00:20:24
    I left with more friends than I went into it with.
  • 00:20:28
    I experienced prayers being answered for the first time
  • 00:20:31
    and I was baptized.
  • 00:20:33
    So truly my life has not looked the same ever since
  • 00:20:36
    and I don't regret it.
  • 00:20:38
    - The big question is, did you make friends with the cool kids?
  • 00:20:41
    - Yeah, it's hard to tell.
  • 00:20:42
    I think I'm cool. I think I'm cool.
  • 00:20:44
    But someone else might disagree, I don't know.
  • 00:20:46
    - No, it is so true.
  • 00:20:48
    Like, I'm much older, but my life was changed.
  • 00:20:51
    I encountered God in a fresh way
  • 00:20:53
    at a student camp decades ago, and I actually
  • 00:20:56
    heard a stat recently that said 2/3 of people
  • 00:20:58
    that follow Jesus, they make a decision to do that
  • 00:21:01
    before they turn 18. Man, it's huge.
  • 00:21:05
    This represents a huge opportunity.
  • 00:21:07
    If you are a student, man, get to camp.
  • 00:21:09
    You might not go with friends,
  • 00:21:11
    you might not know anybody who's going.
  • 00:21:12
    You will leave with good friends.
  • 00:21:14
    You will leave with a better understanding
  • 00:21:16
    of who God made you to be. It'll be awesome.
  • 00:21:18
    If you're a parent, hey, I just want to tell you,
  • 00:21:20
    you want your kids to come to this
  • 00:21:21
    and we will remove every barrier
  • 00:21:23
    that we possibly can to make it happen.
  • 00:21:25
    - Yeah. And I am so excited, honestly,
  • 00:21:28
    for what God is going to do with Anywhere students at camp.
  • 00:21:31
    This is the first time that Crossroads Anywhere students
  • 00:21:34
    are going to be represented at Student Camp this year,
  • 00:21:37
    and we are so excited.
  • 00:21:38
    We want, parents, we want your student at camp
  • 00:21:41
    so badly that we want to give you an insane discount
  • 00:21:44
    to help you get them there, over 80% off.
  • 00:21:47
    That's insane. That's unheard of.
  • 00:21:49
    It's unheard of.
  • 00:21:51
    It does not happen
  • 00:21:52
    and might be the only time that it ever happens.
  • 00:21:54
    So if you want to take advantage of that,
  • 00:21:56
    we would love you to and email anywhere@crossroads.net
  • 00:22:00
    and we'll make it happen.
  • 00:22:01
    - Yeah, God does amazing things at Student Camp,
  • 00:22:04
    amazing things that all of our camps.
  • 00:22:05
    And actually, just a few weeks ago, over 2000 couples
  • 00:22:09
    went to Base Camp and were at Couples Camp.
  • 00:22:12
    I want to give you a glimpse into what God did right now.
  • 00:22:26
    - I feel a all holiness.
  • 00:22:27
    I feel the Holy Spirit within this land,
  • 00:22:30
    just the way we communicate with each other,
  • 00:22:32
    even when we're driving in I could tell his softening.
  • 00:22:35
    I just feel like there's a lot of special things
  • 00:22:37
    always happening here.
  • 00:22:38
    - Just being in this community, this body of one,
  • 00:22:41
    all 2000 folks, it's a reminder that rediscovery of,
  • 00:22:44
    like, why we're together
  • 00:22:46
    and how God is the central part in all that.
  • 00:22:48
    I'm not a camper, so camping gets me out of my shell.
  • 00:22:51
    Sometimes you got to do something different
  • 00:22:53
    and get out of your comfort zone and to get that blessing.
  • 00:22:55
    It's life changing and it's our annual cadence.
  • 00:22:59
    If anyone's thinking about it, even 1%,
  • 00:23:02
    lean into the other 99. It'll transform your marriage.
  • 00:23:06
    I can't imagine our marriage right now without it.
  • 00:23:09
    - We had not slept in a tent until last night.
  • 00:23:11
    - Yes, that was our very first camping experience ever.
  • 00:23:14
    - It's a little hectic with the two kids and then the baby.
  • 00:23:17
    - We kind of wanted to do this whole experience
  • 00:23:19
    to find time for ourselves.
  • 00:23:20
    - At one point we looked at each other and said,
  • 00:23:22
    "What are we going to work on?"
  • 00:23:23
    - We have maybe an argument or a disagreement
  • 00:23:25
    and we don't always resolve them,
  • 00:23:27
    or we don't always have the tools to do that.
  • 00:23:28
    Having the different speakers and giving us ideas
  • 00:23:30
    and ways to have those discussions with each other
  • 00:23:33
    has really helped us just have some guidance
  • 00:23:35
    and some guidelines in our marriage too.
  • 00:23:37
    It almost feels like we've been given this responsibility
  • 00:23:40
    to grow together and to kind of spread
  • 00:23:41
    that message to other people.
  • 00:23:43
    I am not usually a camp, dirty,
  • 00:23:45
    sleep on the ground type of person, like, at all.
  • 00:23:47
    I don't know, I rank this right up there
  • 00:23:48
    with, like, going to a hotel and staying.
  • 00:23:50
    It was pretty -- It was really cool.
  • 00:23:51
    I really liked having some time away, just being outside.
  • 00:23:54
    The nature aspect is awesome.
  • 00:23:56
    - We came to our first couple's camp.
  • 00:23:57
    - Two years ago.
  • 00:23:58
    - Two years ago. We were not having a great time.
  • 00:24:00
    - Our marriage was not working out.
  • 00:24:03
    He had retired just before COVID happened
  • 00:24:06
    and then lost all direction in life.
  • 00:24:08
    We were struggling.
  • 00:24:10
    He signed us up for Couples Camp, which shocked me.
  • 00:24:12
    I just thought it was the last ditch effort.
  • 00:24:14
    I didn't have any hope that Couples Camp
  • 00:24:17
    was going to do anything.
  • 00:24:19
    - Come campfire time, another couple
  • 00:24:22
    shared a story that just really --
  • 00:24:24
    - Touched us both.
  • 00:24:25
    - Yeah. Jolted the entire group.
  • 00:24:27
    Next thing you know, all eight of us
  • 00:24:28
    are sitting around the campfire praying.
  • 00:24:30
    I came into relationship with Jesus at that moment.
  • 00:24:33
    Now we live for God.
  • 00:24:35
    - We still struggle sometimes.
  • 00:24:37
    We still struggle to communicate.
  • 00:24:38
    Life isn't perfect.
  • 00:24:40
    But we both are working for the same goal
  • 00:24:42
    for the first time.
  • 00:24:44
    This is special ground to us.
  • 00:24:56
    - I am excited about today.
  • 00:24:58
    I feel like last week and this week
  • 00:24:59
    is kind of part A, part B.
  • 00:25:01
    Last week we talked about how the church
  • 00:25:03
    has been an amazing force for change.
  • 00:25:06
    And I'll say what I said last week again today.
  • 00:25:08
    When you start talking about Christianity of the church,
  • 00:25:10
    we all admit there's some horrible things in our history.
  • 00:25:14
    Wars have been started that shouldn't have been started.
  • 00:25:16
    People have been burned at the stake
  • 00:25:17
    who should have been burned at the stake.
  • 00:25:19
    Legalism and rules that are extreme
  • 00:25:22
    and just a lot of injuries done. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
  • 00:25:25
    Said that before and I just said it again.
  • 00:25:27
    But in the midst of that, we sometimes don't know
  • 00:25:32
    or even have forgotten that the movement that Jesus started,
  • 00:25:37
    which is called Christianity, has a profound,
  • 00:25:41
    has had a profound impact on history and just maybe on you
  • 00:25:45
    or maybe today it will have an impact on you.
  • 00:25:47
    So let's pray before I go any further.
  • 00:25:49
    God, I am thankful to be a mouthpiece
  • 00:25:53
    for transcendent ideas and for historical bits and pieces
  • 00:25:59
    that may not be oftentimes talked about
  • 00:26:01
    in a setting like this.
  • 00:26:02
    But we're here, God, instead of outside on a beautiful day,
  • 00:26:05
    at least where I am in Cincinnati.
  • 00:26:06
    We're here today in a dark room
  • 00:26:08
    because we want something more of You.
  • 00:26:11
    We want to understand You more.
  • 00:26:13
    We want a little pep in our step.
  • 00:26:14
    We want a little jolt.
  • 00:26:16
    We want to tell You that You matter to us.
  • 00:26:18
    Any of those reasons are enough, Lord,
  • 00:26:20
    to just remind You, would You please do something
  • 00:26:22
    in the heart of the people who are here today?
  • 00:26:25
    And thank You for the ability to to talk about these things.
  • 00:26:28
    I pray these things according to the character
  • 00:26:30
    and identity of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
  • 00:26:34
    Christianity has been a force for good
  • 00:26:37
    in all of world history since Jesus left,
  • 00:26:40
    and it's still happening.
  • 00:26:41
    What? Yesterday we had all of our Go Days
  • 00:26:45
    all over the different cities we're in.
  • 00:26:47
    People mulching things, keep people painting things,
  • 00:26:51
    people constructing things, cutting things down.
  • 00:26:55
    I know I was out in Felicity by our Base Camp property
  • 00:26:58
    working on some camps that were out there
  • 00:27:00
    or some public parks. It was really great.
  • 00:27:01
    And then this last week, I just found really cool news
  • 00:27:04
    that those of us who want to 10X our impact would love to know.
  • 00:27:08
    You realize that this last week we have taken the next step.
  • 00:27:11
    We've inked a deal and we are going to be reaching
  • 00:27:14
    810,000 inmates in 10 states -- excuse me --
  • 00:27:19
    In 36 states, a thousand prisons.
  • 00:27:22
    Come on now. Come on now. [cheers & applause]
  • 00:27:29
    810,000. There's a platform that we're going to use
  • 00:27:31
    that we are tweaking, and we are getting the code
  • 00:27:33
    to get all the stuff on there that those inmates will like.
  • 00:27:36
    This is great and here's the thing.
  • 00:27:38
    These kind of things are in the history of Christianity
  • 00:27:41
    as I'll end our time today, Jesus said to go, go.
  • 00:27:45
    And we want to continue to go, all of His people do.
  • 00:27:48
    I am not, I'll say this,
  • 00:27:50
    I am not an expert on world religions.
  • 00:27:52
    I am not an expert on Hinduism, on Judaism, on Islam.
  • 00:27:57
    I'm not an expert on those or others.
  • 00:27:59
    I would call myself an expert on Christianity.
  • 00:28:02
    And I want to respect all religions
  • 00:28:06
    and voice what all experts in all religions would say,
  • 00:28:12
    and that is, my religion is not the same as the others.
  • 00:28:16
    There is this nice saying that we have of,
  • 00:28:20
    "Well, aren't all religions basically the same?"
  • 00:28:23
    Well, they're all the same in that there are
  • 00:28:25
    some moral absolutes that all religions have in common.
  • 00:28:29
    You know, you shouldn't kill somebody in cold blood.
  • 00:28:32
    You shouldn't covet stuff.
  • 00:28:34
    You shouldn't have an adulterous affair.
  • 00:28:36
    So yeah, there's sort of a similar moral code
  • 00:28:39
    between many of the world's major religions.
  • 00:28:43
    But when you look under the hood further, no, not at all.
  • 00:28:46
    Stephen Prothero, who is an expert on other religions,
  • 00:28:49
    he says this, he's not a Christian,
  • 00:28:51
    but I like what he says:
  • 00:29:24
    I started thinking as I'm preparing
  • 00:29:26
    and praying over this talk,
  • 00:29:28
    like, what are the things that I know are unique
  • 00:29:30
    to Jesus and unique to His movement,
  • 00:29:33
    which is what we know as Christianity.
  • 00:29:36
    And as I was writing these down, I said,
  • 00:29:37
    "Oh, there's five of them.
  • 00:29:38
    There's five of them that I can just identify
  • 00:29:40
    right now off the top of my head, looking at world history."
  • 00:29:43
    And then I thought, "Well, what story
  • 00:29:46
    should I talk about in the Bible to highlight this?
  • 00:29:48
    And I'm like, duh, duh."
  • 00:29:50
    There's a story in the Bible, which is, I believe,
  • 00:29:53
    the longest personal interaction recorded in the Bible
  • 00:29:56
    is Jesus interacting with a woman at a well.
  • 00:30:00
    And it takes up a long, long, long time
  • 00:30:03
    because it goes in real, real depth.
  • 00:30:05
    And fascinating enough, in this story,
  • 00:30:08
    unbeknownst of my outline, all five of these things
  • 00:30:13
    are seen inside this story.
  • 00:30:14
    So let's go ahead and read it.
  • 00:30:15
    If you haven't seen it, it's the book of John 4,
  • 00:30:18
    and I'm going to read it and we're going to talk about it.
  • 00:30:21
    Here we go, verse six:
  • 00:30:55
    To get the most out of the rest of this,
  • 00:30:58
    you have to understand the cultural implications
  • 00:31:01
    of what was happening here.
  • 00:31:02
    Things were taking place that don't Happen anywhere.
  • 00:31:06
    First is Jesus is speaking face to face,
  • 00:31:10
    one on one with a woman.
  • 00:31:13
    In the ancient culture, this is taboo.
  • 00:31:17
    This is just not good.
  • 00:31:20
    Because what we see here with Jesus
  • 00:31:23
    is he breaks cultural norms.
  • 00:31:24
    And wherever Jesus goes, wherever His followers go,
  • 00:31:28
    women's rights are elevated.
  • 00:31:30
    The status of women is elevated.
  • 00:31:32
    There's the elevation of women.
  • 00:31:33
    This is not the case with other religions.
  • 00:31:36
    I have a friend who's stationed over in Saudi Arabia
  • 00:31:39
    some time ago, like, "Yeah, I just saw my first stoning.
  • 00:31:41
    They brought a woman out.
  • 00:31:42
    They throw a ceremonial rock at her
  • 00:31:44
    and then bring up a dump truck and just dump it on,
  • 00:31:47
    rocks, is dead. Gone."
  • 00:31:49
    Women are not valued in many countries and cultures.
  • 00:31:53
    Always in the midst of
  • 00:31:55
    all the bruises that Christianity has done.
  • 00:31:58
    I'm not saying that every church treats women right,
  • 00:32:01
    but I'm saying if you look at the course of history
  • 00:32:03
    because of this story and others like it,
  • 00:32:05
    Jesus elevates the status of women.
  • 00:32:07
    I've been to a number of Go Trips that we've done
  • 00:32:11
    as Crossroads, been around the world, different places.
  • 00:32:15
    And there's a smell to poverty, the smell of poverty.
  • 00:32:19
    I don't know if you know what I'm talking about,
  • 00:32:21
    but whenever you're in a developing country
  • 00:32:23
    where there's abject poverty, there's a smell.
  • 00:32:27
    It's the same everywhere.
  • 00:32:28
    It isn't just the body odor because people aren't bathing.
  • 00:32:30
    They don't have running water inside their houses
  • 00:32:32
    as often as you and I might.
  • 00:32:34
    But it's also they don't have any utilities
  • 00:32:36
    like natural gas so they're cooking over a fire.
  • 00:32:39
    And they've stripped the landscape of all the wood.
  • 00:32:44
    So all that's left is green stuff.
  • 00:32:46
    And they're trying to burn that to get their fire going.
  • 00:32:49
    And it puts off a really horrible smoke
  • 00:32:51
    and you can smell it everywhere.
  • 00:32:52
    It's the smell of poverty.
  • 00:32:53
    One of the other things that's relevant
  • 00:32:55
    in all these cultures you go to is they all have a well.
  • 00:32:58
    And in the well, everyone goes to the well in the morning.
  • 00:33:02
    You go in the morning because you want to get your water
  • 00:33:04
    to brush, your teeth to wash up.
  • 00:33:06
    It's also cooler in the morning.
  • 00:33:08
    So you want to get that heavy job of carrying water
  • 00:33:10
    done in the morning.
  • 00:33:11
    So when this verse says that Jesus went there
  • 00:33:13
    the sixth hour of the day, which they would count
  • 00:33:15
    the hour of the day starting at 6 a.m.
  • 00:33:17
    He's saying, Jesus meets this woman at noontime.
  • 00:33:22
    That's a clue, because noontime is a time
  • 00:33:26
    nobody would be going to the well,
  • 00:33:27
    because that's the hottest time to carry your water.
  • 00:33:30
    The day's half over.
  • 00:33:31
    Why is she going there at noontime?
  • 00:33:33
    She's going noontime because she is shunned in her culture.
  • 00:33:36
    She's going a noontime because she has some embarrassment.
  • 00:33:39
    She doesn't fit in. That's why she's going there.
  • 00:33:42
    This is really cool.
  • 00:33:43
    Just the fact that Jesus is with her
  • 00:33:45
    and the elevating of women is taking place
  • 00:33:48
    is also a sign that there is grace and forgiveness.
  • 00:33:53
    He has this conversation with her about water.
  • 00:33:58
    But the fact that he's having this conversation,
  • 00:34:00
    don't lose the fact that it's based on the fact
  • 00:34:03
    that He's giving her grace, that He is encountering her
  • 00:34:07
    when she hasn't had a man in public
  • 00:34:10
    honor her like this, like, ever.
  • 00:34:12
    So they're talking about water.
  • 00:34:14
    Some of you are really going to love this
  • 00:34:15
    because some of you are like, you're into water, right?
  • 00:34:18
    Like some of you are in the water cult. You know?
  • 00:34:22
    You just like you carry around a gallon of water.
  • 00:34:25
    You realize that you look like a dork.
  • 00:34:29
    You know, you're carrying around your gallon of water.
  • 00:34:32
    You look like a dork.
  • 00:34:34
    You're not cool. You're a dork.
  • 00:34:36
    Now, I am an equal opportunity offender, just so you know.
  • 00:34:39
    What goes around, comes around. It's funny.
  • 00:34:41
    Those of you who are carrying a gallon of water,
  • 00:34:43
    you really don't care because you're so buff,
  • 00:34:45
    you're happy to know everybody that knows you.
  • 00:34:47
    A guy came up to me after the last service,
  • 00:34:48
    has gallon of water. Like, yeah, okay.
  • 00:34:53
    I do think the cult of water has gone too far.
  • 00:34:55
    I mean, I've got other things to do with my life
  • 00:34:57
    than drink a gallon of water a day.
  • 00:34:59
    Plus, how do you do anything all day?
  • 00:35:00
    Aren't you just peeing all day?
  • 00:35:02
    I don't understand, I don't understand these things work.
  • 00:35:06
    But Jesus is interacting with this woman
  • 00:35:08
    and the subject of water comes up.
  • 00:35:11
    And here's what happens.
  • 00:35:28
    She says, "What are you talking about living water?
  • 00:35:30
    What are you? You don't have anything to draw with."
  • 00:35:32
    And at some point here, I think she starts to understand
  • 00:35:35
    He's talking metaphorically and she starts to shift.
  • 00:36:08
    He says, "Look, we can keep this on a water level
  • 00:36:11
    and just talk water and the need to hydrate."
  • 00:36:13
    But he said, "There's a spiritual lesson here for you,
  • 00:36:17
    and that I want to give you something
  • 00:36:19
    that quenches your soul,
  • 00:36:20
    in the same way that water will quench your thirst
  • 00:36:23
    and hydrate you, I can be a source
  • 00:36:25
    that quenches your inner longings
  • 00:36:27
    and spiritually hydrates you."
  • 00:36:29
    And that is what grace is.
  • 00:36:30
    Grace is something you and I don't deserve.
  • 00:36:32
    It's forgiveness that you and I don't deserve.
  • 00:36:35
    And when you get grace, you get forgiveness,
  • 00:36:37
    it's like a deep swallow of cool, refreshing water.
  • 00:36:41
    That's who Jesus is, what He does.
  • 00:36:43
    Next week I got a friend of mine
  • 00:36:45
    coming to Crossroads, Matt Chandler.
  • 00:36:47
    He is speaking at The George on Wednesday night,
  • 00:36:50
    and then he's doing our services this weekend.
  • 00:36:52
    And I told Matt, I said, "Matt, whatever you do,
  • 00:36:54
    tell the story of the rose
  • 00:36:56
    because people are going to love it."
  • 00:36:58
    "You think?" "Yeah. It's hot."
  • 00:36:59
    "That was an old song."
  • 00:37:00
    "I know, I know, but it's awesome."
  • 00:37:02
    It's one of the greatest stories of grace and forgiveness,
  • 00:37:04
    and I don't think that we can hear it enough.
  • 00:37:06
    We'll be talking about that next week.
  • 00:37:08
    But grace and forgiveness is everything.
  • 00:37:10
    Jesus is giving this woman grace and forgiveness
  • 00:37:12
    as we're going to see in just a moment.
  • 00:37:14
    One of the things that all the world religion, all --
  • 00:37:17
    Many of the world religions share is
  • 00:37:18
    they do share various stories.
  • 00:37:20
    They share stories about, say, a great flood that's there.
  • 00:37:24
    Some of them have a story about a prodigal,
  • 00:37:28
    a son that goes away from his dad and then returns.
  • 00:37:31
    In the Bible, it's called the Prodigal Son,
  • 00:37:33
    or we know it as the Prodigal Son.
  • 00:37:35
    In Buddhism, it's also mentioned there a form of the story.
  • 00:37:39
    It's in the Lotus Sutra, chapter four.
  • 00:37:41
    Let me read you a section that comes from
  • 00:37:45
    the Buddhist version of the story,
  • 00:37:46
    and then the section that comes from
  • 00:37:48
    Jesus's version of the story.
  • 00:37:50
    See if you can see the differences.
  • 00:37:51
    So the son is destitute and devastated financially
  • 00:37:56
    and decides to come back to his dad,
  • 00:37:57
    who has asked for his money from.
  • 00:38:00
    And now he just wants to work there
  • 00:38:01
    so he has something to eat.
  • 00:38:02
    And here's what it says in the Buddhist version.
  • 00:38:21
    So he is earning his keep.
  • 00:38:23
    He is rectifying his wrongs.
  • 00:38:25
    He's just trying to even the scales
  • 00:38:28
    from the horrible stuff he's done.
  • 00:38:30
    Now contrast that to Jesus, Jesus's story,
  • 00:38:34
    who, when the son is coming back
  • 00:38:37
    destitute about ready to beg for a job as a servant.
  • 00:38:41
    The the dad sees and runs to him.
  • 00:38:43
    And here's what he says:
  • 00:38:45
    And the son said to his father, "Father,
  • 00:38:46
    I have sinned against heaven, and before you.
  • 00:38:48
    I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.
  • 00:38:50
    But the father said to his servants, "Quickly,
  • 00:38:53
    bring the best robe, put it on him,
  • 00:38:54
    put a ring in his hand and shoes on his feet,
  • 00:38:57
    and bring the fattened calf and kill it,
  • 00:38:58
    and let us eat and celebrate.
  • 00:39:01
    For this my son was dead and is alive.
  • 00:39:03
    He was lost and is found."
  • 00:39:05
    And they began to celebrate.
  • 00:39:08
    There's no, "Well, now you got to sweep out the stalls
  • 00:39:12
    and just shovel crap and just make your way up."
  • 00:39:15
    No, no. Wrap a new identity on you.
  • 00:39:18
    Take a robe around you.
  • 00:39:19
    Put new shoes on your feet,
  • 00:39:20
    elevate you, get you out of the dirt.
  • 00:39:22
    Put my finger, my ring on you,
  • 00:39:25
    which is my symbol of wealth.
  • 00:39:27
    You can use that to stamp my seal of approval into wax
  • 00:39:31
    so you have all my wealth at your disposal.
  • 00:39:34
    That's grace, that's forgiveness.
  • 00:39:37
    And it's only, only in Christianity. Only.
  • 00:39:41
    Now, that may be surprise you,
  • 00:39:44
    that's just because you hear the rumors
  • 00:39:45
    that they're all religions are the same, and we're not.
  • 00:39:48
    Right now forgiveness and grace may be in some religion
  • 00:39:51
    that was created after Christianity,
  • 00:39:54
    but Jesus had a corner of that market.
  • 00:39:58
    You see how this work operates in Hindu culture.
  • 00:40:00
    We have so many things that we say in our culture
  • 00:40:02
    that we don't understand the religious roots of it
  • 00:40:04
    and actually what the religion teaches, such as karma.
  • 00:40:07
    You know, somebody doesn't get the right parking spot.
  • 00:40:10
    What do we say? Karma's a bitch.
  • 00:40:12
    You know, somebody didn't get the parking.
  • 00:40:16
    Karma isn't you didn't get your right parking space.
  • 00:40:19
    Karma is a cosmic level justice system
  • 00:40:23
    that god is working out in Hinduism.
  • 00:40:26
    So when you are doing something wrong,
  • 00:40:30
    you don't get grace and forgiveness from the gods.
  • 00:40:32
    You don't get that.
  • 00:40:33
    You get the opportunity to work it off.
  • 00:40:35
    And if you don't get it worked off in this life, you die.
  • 00:40:38
    And that's why reincarnation is important.
  • 00:40:39
    You get reincarnated so you can keep working off your debt
  • 00:40:43
    and working off your problem.
  • 00:40:45
    And so if you do really good in this next life,
  • 00:40:48
    maybe you come back as some really amazing person.
  • 00:40:51
    If you don't do well, you know you come back next life
  • 00:40:54
    as a politician, you know, or as a rat or something like that.
  • 00:40:58
    God bless the politicians that are in here.
  • 00:41:00
    Thank you very much.
  • 00:41:01
    You know, we're just joking with you.
  • 00:41:03
    Equal opportunity offender, unless you're drinking water,
  • 00:41:06
    if you're drinking a lot of water, then we're really upset.
  • 00:41:12
    Where was I at? I digressed, I digressed.
  • 00:41:16
    Ring, ring, ring. Yeah.
  • 00:41:18
    So then you work your way up.
  • 00:41:20
    Work your way to get the brass ring.
  • 00:41:22
    It's about you.
  • 00:41:23
    It's not about god giving you grace.
  • 00:41:24
    It's not about forgiving. It's about you.
  • 00:41:26
    It's your own efforts, everything that's around you.
  • 00:41:28
    This is why my Mother Teresa went into Calcutta, India,
  • 00:41:33
    she was radical and revolutionary and not liked.
  • 00:41:38
    Mother Teresa, in my personal opinion,
  • 00:41:40
    is the greatest human being who's been alive
  • 00:41:42
    since I've been alive.
  • 00:41:43
    The most sacrificial, selfless human being.
  • 00:41:45
    She's been really amazing.
  • 00:41:48
    We forget, or you may not know, when she went to India,
  • 00:41:50
    India didn't want her and she had a level of persecution
  • 00:41:53
    when she first went in.
  • 00:41:54
    The reason was she started serving people
  • 00:41:57
    who were dealing with their karma.
  • 00:41:59
    These people who were destitute
  • 00:42:02
    and had paralysis issues and were in poverty.
  • 00:42:06
    The religion said, "Hey, these people are working off
  • 00:42:09
    the bad deeds from the previous life."
  • 00:42:11
    Which is why there wasn't any Hindu homeless shelters
  • 00:42:14
    or whatever, just it wasn't part of
  • 00:42:16
    their religion worldview at all.
  • 00:42:17
    So when she comes in with a thing of grace and forgiveness,
  • 00:42:22
    it is radical.
  • 00:42:23
    They didn't understand it at all.
  • 00:42:26
    When I went to her little convent house,
  • 00:42:29
    I went up to her room. They said no pictures.
  • 00:42:31
    I interpreted that to mean that
  • 00:42:33
    no 35 millimeter big cameras.
  • 00:42:39
    I had my little phone camera,
  • 00:42:41
    which back in those days wasn't --
  • 00:42:43
    I was there many years ago, wasn't all that popular.
  • 00:42:46
    So I assumed maybe the sisters
  • 00:42:48
    didn't know that's what I was doing.
  • 00:42:49
    But I grabbed this little shot of her wardrobe,
  • 00:42:51
    of her closet.
  • 00:42:52
    This is what she used to do
  • 00:42:53
    every morning to pump herself up.
  • 00:42:55
    This was her spiritual mentor,
  • 00:42:56
    and she had her quote under it,
  • 00:42:58
    which was this: my vocation is love.
  • 00:43:02
    Where do you get this my vocation is love?
  • 00:43:04
    You get it from Christianity.
  • 00:43:06
    You get it from the Bible that says God is love.
  • 00:43:10
    That's a unique thing to the scriptures.
  • 00:43:13
    It's a unique thing to Jesus.
  • 00:43:16
    Well, we see here as He interacted with this woman
  • 00:43:19
    is a relational interaction.
  • 00:43:21
    She doesn't know it, but when He talks about
  • 00:43:24
    this water springing forth, He's basically talking about
  • 00:43:28
    the coming of the Holy Spirit,
  • 00:43:29
    that He's going to mention more and more
  • 00:43:31
    as his ministry goes on.
  • 00:43:33
    He says, "When I go away, it's to your benefit
  • 00:43:35
    because the helper will come to you."
  • 00:43:37
    The helper, the advocate.
  • 00:43:39
    He will fill you. The Holy Spirit will fill us.
  • 00:43:44
    This is very unique.
  • 00:43:46
    Many religions would say we're all divine.
  • 00:43:49
    The Christianity doesn't say that we're all divine.
  • 00:43:51
    We're all human, but some of us possess divinity
  • 00:43:54
    because we possess the Holy Spirit.
  • 00:43:57
    We have a relationship with the Holy Spirit.
  • 00:43:59
    And this relationship is modeled
  • 00:44:01
    as Jesus is interacting with people, including this woman.
  • 00:44:04
    Let's keep going. Check this out.
  • 00:44:28
    Hmm. What's going on here?
  • 00:44:32
    I want to make sure we don't miss the point here.
  • 00:44:35
    He is having a relational interaction with the woman.
  • 00:44:38
    The third difference is relational presence
  • 00:44:41
    versus religious observance.
  • 00:44:44
    All religions have their observance.
  • 00:44:46
    Buddhism has their observance,
  • 00:44:48
    and Hinduism and Christianity does.
  • 00:44:50
    In fact, truth be told, some of us in here
  • 00:44:53
    treat Christianity the same way Buddhists do their religion.
  • 00:44:56
    You're just kind of practicing your religion.
  • 00:44:58
    You may, if you come to church, if you tithe,
  • 00:45:01
    if you volunteer, all good things.
  • 00:45:03
    But if you're doing those things to earn your way to God,
  • 00:45:08
    you're a functioning Buddhist.
  • 00:45:10
    You're a functioning Hindu.
  • 00:45:12
    If you're doing those things to improve yourself,
  • 00:45:15
    follow the religious rules so that God will be happy with you,
  • 00:45:20
    you are way outside of relationship with Jesus.
  • 00:45:23
    Way, way, way, way.
  • 00:45:24
    You don't come to Jesus with your rules.
  • 00:45:27
    You come to Jesus in a relationship.
  • 00:45:29
    You come to Him by your grace.
  • 00:45:30
    Now there are rules in Christianity,
  • 00:45:32
    but the rules are there for those of us
  • 00:45:34
    who are in relationship with Him
  • 00:45:35
    just to show Him how much we love Him
  • 00:45:37
    and we want to honor Him by obeying Him.
  • 00:45:40
    But we don't obey Him to get Him to love us.
  • 00:45:43
    We don't obey Him to get Him to like us.
  • 00:45:45
    We don't obey Him in order to get to heaven.
  • 00:45:48
    Jesus is how we get to heaven.
  • 00:45:50
    His grace, His forgiveness is how we get to heaven.
  • 00:45:53
    And the very fact that God would come to this earth
  • 00:45:56
    is radical and revolutionary.
  • 00:45:58
    In Greek mythology, the gods don't want to taint the world.
  • 00:46:02
    They don't want taint themselves by coming to the world.
  • 00:46:04
    It's, "Ew, ew, ew. Ugly humans, ugly flesh,
  • 00:46:07
    ugly existence down there.
  • 00:46:09
    We can't have any part of that."
  • 00:46:11
    When the gods do come in other religions,
  • 00:46:14
    very frequently they come to make war,
  • 00:46:16
    come to just devastate.
  • 00:46:19
    If you go in Kolkata, there's a place you can go
  • 00:46:21
    where one of the gods in Hinduism visited apparently,
  • 00:46:27
    the goddess Kali, who's the goddess of war
  • 00:46:30
    and retribution and justice.
  • 00:46:33
    And they believed in this one place that there's a stone
  • 00:46:35
    that they say is Kali's toe.
  • 00:46:38
    Kali is a bloodthirsty god who devours people's blood,
  • 00:46:43
    and she wears around her, around her neck
  • 00:46:47
    the skulls of all her foes.
  • 00:46:50
    And I look at that, and you can look at that and say,
  • 00:46:52
    "Do you see anything about Jesus there?
  • 00:46:55
    Do you see anything in the Scriptures there?"
  • 00:46:59
    What Hindus are saying may be right. It may be right.
  • 00:47:03
    I want to be appropriately honoring
  • 00:47:05
    to everyone in their belief systems.
  • 00:47:07
    I just want to say you're not honoring Hindus
  • 00:47:10
    or Christians or Jews or anyone to say
  • 00:47:13
    your religion is exactly the same.
  • 00:47:15
    It's not. There's massive differences.
  • 00:47:19
    Jesus is relational.
  • 00:47:22
    He's relating with this woman right now.
  • 00:47:26
    And relationship and religion is entirely different.
  • 00:47:30
    When I was at the peak of my religiosity,
  • 00:47:33
    it would have been when I was about halfway through seminary.
  • 00:47:35
    When you're in seminary, you're learning things
  • 00:47:37
    that people don't know.
  • 00:47:39
    You're, you know, studying things that are
  • 00:47:41
    a bit intense or outside the mainstream.
  • 00:47:44
    And so you start to feel a little prideful.
  • 00:47:46
    Like, I'm getting this secret knowledge here.
  • 00:47:48
    I understand the Greek and the Hebrew word
  • 00:47:50
    and what it means versus somebody else.
  • 00:47:52
    I understand this supralapsarianism
  • 00:47:54
    and infralapsarianism and how --
  • 00:47:56
    You can start to get high on yourself
  • 00:47:57
    as an immature seminary student.
  • 00:47:59
    So in seminary, when I read this,
  • 00:48:02
    as I was being very religious at that point,
  • 00:48:04
    here's how I thought this conversation went.
  • 00:48:08
    Let's do it. It goes like this.
  • 00:48:09
    I already read to you once.
  • 00:48:10
    I tried to read it as deadpan as possible.
  • 00:48:13
    Let me give you two other extremes.
  • 00:48:15
    Here's the extreme that I heard it when I was in seminary.
  • 00:48:19
    Jesus says, "Go call your husband to come here."
  • 00:48:23
    And the woman answered Him, "I have no husband."
  • 00:48:25
    Jesus said to her, "You're right in saying,
  • 00:48:27
    'I have no husband, ' for you've had five husbands
  • 00:48:30
    and the one you're married to now
  • 00:48:32
    you're not even married to him."
  • 00:48:34
    That's how I heard Jesus saying that.
  • 00:48:36
    It's like Jesus, "Aha! Gotcha."
  • 00:48:37
    He sticks the knife in and He turns the handle.
  • 00:48:41
    Because of my religiosity that's the way I heard it.
  • 00:48:43
    But when I look at this story now in full context,
  • 00:48:46
    it doesn't make sense. He didn't say it that way at all.
  • 00:48:48
    I think He said it this way.
  • 00:48:50
    "Now bring your husband." She said, "I have no husband."
  • 00:48:53
    "I know, I know. You've had five husbands,
  • 00:48:58
    and the one you have right now isn't your husband."
  • 00:49:03
    That's a that's a relational way
  • 00:49:05
    that the Jesus I know in the Bible talked,
  • 00:49:09
    that the God I know talks.
  • 00:49:11
    When I was --
  • 00:49:12
    And this is, by the way, why Jesus comes to earth.
  • 00:49:15
    Jesus comes to earth, He says,
  • 00:49:16
    "When you've seen Me, you've seen the Father.
  • 00:49:19
    Jesus comes to earth and takes on flesh.
  • 00:49:21
    God comes here TO take on flesh so that we can
  • 00:49:24
    understand God so that we can have relationship.
  • 00:49:26
    You can't have relationship with somebody you don't understand.
  • 00:49:29
    That's why he comes.
  • 00:49:30
    He says, "When you've seen Me, you've seen the Father."
  • 00:49:33
    I'm just quoting Jesus.
  • 00:49:35
    "I and the Father are one."
  • 00:49:36
    He comes to me and I go, "Oh, that's what God's like."
  • 00:49:39
    I always struggled, I can't go in the depths of this story.
  • 00:49:41
    I've done it before. I'm not going to do it right now.
  • 00:49:43
    Just to make this point,
  • 00:49:44
    in case you don't know, I'm adopted.
  • 00:49:46
    And so when I was in my family growing up,
  • 00:49:49
    I would look at my mom and dad.
  • 00:49:50
    My dad, for the context of this story,
  • 00:49:53
    and I wasn't like him.
  • 00:49:55
    We didn't look alike, we didn't act alike,
  • 00:49:57
    didn't have same interests.
  • 00:49:59
    And as I grew up, I thought, "You know,
  • 00:50:01
    one of the things that's missing from my identity
  • 00:50:04
    is if I only knew my birth father,
  • 00:50:06
    somebody who had my DNA, I bet,
  • 00:50:08
    I bet I would unlock an understanding of myself,
  • 00:50:11
    and I would go to a whole new level
  • 00:50:13
    in terms of my personal development."
  • 00:50:14
    And what do you know, a few years ago,
  • 00:50:17
    through a change and twist of circumstances,
  • 00:50:19
    I got to meet him.
  • 00:50:21
    And we went out and, uh,
  • 00:50:23
    it was not what I had expected or not what I hoped.
  • 00:50:26
    A good guy, a nice guy, but not at all like me.
  • 00:50:30
    On his third marriage, divorced previous women
  • 00:50:33
    because they went into menopause.
  • 00:50:35
    And he said, "I just couldn't handle that crap."
  • 00:50:37
    He didn't say crap.
  • 00:50:38
    Divorce people over a normal biological thing.
  • 00:50:41
    I got two half sisters, his daughters, two of them.
  • 00:50:46
    He said, quote unquote, "They live back East somewhere.
  • 00:50:48
    I don't know where they live."
  • 00:50:49
    So he's estranged from them.
  • 00:50:50
    They're ticked off at him over divorcing their mother.
  • 00:50:54
    And as we were talking, looking at stuff,
  • 00:50:56
    I left there, and I had this massive crisis of identity.
  • 00:51:03
    I thought, "Who -- who am I? Who?
  • 00:51:07
    I'm not like my dad.
  • 00:51:09
    And I thought I would understand myself
  • 00:51:12
    by looking at somebody who has my DNA,
  • 00:51:14
    and I'm not like him. Who am I?"
  • 00:51:16
    And for about 24 hours I was wrestling with God.
  • 00:51:18
    It was like, really, it was tough, really difficult.
  • 00:51:22
    And as I was praying and talking with God,
  • 00:51:24
    I sensed God say to me how He speaks to me,
  • 00:51:27
    and to you if you hear from Him, from the Holy Spirit
  • 00:51:30
    who dwells inside of people who receive Him.
  • 00:51:32
    So I'll get these nudges, these inklings, these promptings.
  • 00:51:37
    And I heard Him say, I sensed Him say,
  • 00:51:39
    it came out of nowhere.
  • 00:51:40
    Like, whenever I hear something
  • 00:51:42
    that I wouldn't originate on my own,
  • 00:51:44
    I go, "Okay, that's probably God."
  • 00:51:47
    He says, I'm going, "Who am I?"
  • 00:51:49
    I was praying, I said, "God, who? Who am I, who am I?"
  • 00:51:52
    He said, "I'll tell you who you are.
  • 00:51:55
    You're My son, that's who you are. You're My son." [applause]
  • 00:52:02
    And He said, "And I like you, and you're funny."
  • 00:52:06
    That's what he said. [laughter]
  • 00:52:11
    Just telling you what He said. Take it up with God.
  • 00:52:14
    So I said, "He understands my sense of humor.
  • 00:52:17
    He does. He understands."
  • 00:52:20
    He doesn't understand
  • 00:52:21
    you drinking a gallon of water a day,
  • 00:52:22
    but He understands, He understands me."
  • 00:52:27
    And he understands you too.
  • 00:52:29
    He understands your sense of humor
  • 00:52:31
    because He's made you and you're His daughter, you're His son.
  • 00:52:34
    He understands you.
  • 00:52:36
    And when you can be in a place
  • 00:52:38
    where you're sensing from God
  • 00:52:40
    and you're operating in relationship with Him,
  • 00:52:42
    oh my goodness, the grace and the forgiveness
  • 00:52:45
    and the power, the relational intensity, it is beautiful.
  • 00:52:49
    I'm on a strange run of people I've prayed
  • 00:52:53
    for who have -- who God said yes to and they've gotten healings.
  • 00:52:57
    I just got another one last week.
  • 00:52:59
    Like someone, "You remember praying for me about my wrist?"
  • 00:53:01
    "Uh, no. Not really." "You prayed for my wrist,
  • 00:53:03
    and it's better. It's done."
  • 00:53:05
    Like, there's a number that have happened.
  • 00:53:07
    And I've been wondering, like, what is that?
  • 00:53:08
    Why is that? Why is it?
  • 00:53:10
    Why is it increasing in frequency?
  • 00:53:12
    Not always for sure.
  • 00:53:14
    It doesn't happen a lot, it's called a miracle.
  • 00:53:16
    But there's more, more in the last few years
  • 00:53:18
    than I ever thought would take place.
  • 00:53:20
    And the best I can understand, I'm understanding it
  • 00:53:23
    because I've been in a been in a relationship
  • 00:53:25
    with the Holy Spirit longer,
  • 00:53:26
    and I'm understanding how He responds in prayer.
  • 00:53:31
    Like, when you pray, "God, if it's Your will, just do it."
  • 00:53:35
    That's a stupid prayer.
  • 00:53:37
    If you're going to pray, Lord, if it's Your will,
  • 00:53:39
    then just don't even pray at all.
  • 00:53:40
    If it's His will, it's going to get done at all.
  • 00:53:42
    Well, Lord, if it's Your will, take away this laryngitis.
  • 00:53:47
    No, pray, take away the laryngitis.
  • 00:53:50
    Jesus never goes up to somebody who has a problem
  • 00:53:52
    and says, "Well, I'll tell you what, I can pray for you.
  • 00:53:55
    I'll see if it's God's will.
  • 00:53:56
    We'll pray whether or not you have it or not."
  • 00:53:58
    No. Every time, every time there's a breakdown in the body,
  • 00:54:01
    Jesus knows this is not the way it's intended to be.
  • 00:54:03
    And every time He prays boldly.
  • 00:54:05
    So I'm praying more boldly now than I would have years ago.
  • 00:54:08
    I'm doing things different.
  • 00:54:09
    I'm doing this stuff because I'm becoming more spiritual.
  • 00:54:13
    It's because I'm still on a steep growth track
  • 00:54:15
    in my relationship with Christ,
  • 00:54:18
    and you can be the same thing.
  • 00:54:20
    And it's beautiful.
  • 00:54:22
    Do not treat Crossroads like your Buddhist temple.
  • 00:54:25
    That you're just going to work your religion
  • 00:54:27
    by doing the Crossroads things that you need to do.
  • 00:54:29
    You can do all those things and not know Jesus.
  • 00:54:32
    You can do all those things and not be growing vibrant with Him.
  • 00:54:41
    Fourth thing is cultural adaptation, cultural adaptation.
  • 00:54:47
    What's unique about Christianity
  • 00:54:49
    is that you don't have to adapt to a culture
  • 00:54:53
    to be in relationship with Christ.
  • 00:54:55
    Now, some churches make you do that,
  • 00:54:56
    which is why some of us have church baggage.
  • 00:54:58
    Like, you have to dress this way when you come to church.
  • 00:55:00
    You have to have these values. You have to vote this way.
  • 00:55:03
    Like, churches that are that way,
  • 00:55:04
    they're pressing you into cultural norms
  • 00:55:08
    that the history of Christianity doesn't press you into.
  • 00:55:13
    The religions of Israel has its capital city.
  • 00:55:16
    It's Jerusalem, it's Jerusalem.
  • 00:55:18
    Strange how some Christians keep trying
  • 00:55:20
    to make Jerusalem their capital city.
  • 00:55:22
    We don't have a capital city.
  • 00:55:23
    Jesus told us to go.
  • 00:55:25
    We have no central location.
  • 00:55:27
    In Islam you've got Mecca.
  • 00:55:30
    Everything's towards Mecca.
  • 00:55:31
    Bow towards Mecca however many times a day and pray.
  • 00:55:33
    Those are the center point, the capital city.
  • 00:55:35
    So therefore, those cultures, if you will,
  • 00:55:37
    whatever culture there are,
  • 00:55:38
    if you convert to those religions,
  • 00:55:40
    then you have to have that culture,
  • 00:55:42
    because that's the center point of the culture.
  • 00:55:44
    It's interesting with Christianity
  • 00:55:45
    as we went all over the world,
  • 00:55:47
    Christianity adapts to the culture
  • 00:55:49
    and invites you into relationship with God
  • 00:55:51
    while keeping your cultural roots the way you are right now.
  • 00:55:55
    This is maybe one of the biggest reasons
  • 00:55:56
    why Christianity has spread,
  • 00:55:58
    and it's still the fastest growing religion
  • 00:56:00
    in the world today.
  • 00:56:02
    Tim Keller, a great pastor theologian,
  • 00:56:04
    died a few years ago. Here's how he puts it:
  • 00:56:29
    I find that fascinating.
  • 00:56:31
    And yet Christianity does create a culture.
  • 00:56:34
    It's a culture of Jesus.
  • 00:56:35
    It's a culture of love, of forgiveness,
  • 00:56:37
    a culture of standards.
  • 00:56:38
    Yes, a culture of being intense about the appropriate things.
  • 00:56:42
    And this creates, has created incredible cultures
  • 00:56:45
    all over the world.
  • 00:56:46
    That's why I'm hearing things from people.
  • 00:56:48
    I'm going, what? Why are you saying this?
  • 00:56:50
    Elon Musk has spoken recently of being a cultural Christian.
  • 00:56:53
    Doesn't want to be a Christian.
  • 00:56:54
    He wants to be a cultural Christian.
  • 00:56:57
    What does that mean?
  • 00:56:59
    Richard Dawkins himself has called himself
  • 00:57:01
    the leading antagonist of Christians,
  • 00:57:04
    leading atheists of our times,
  • 00:57:06
    calling himself a cultural Christian.
  • 00:57:09
    What do they mean by this?
  • 00:57:10
    What they mean is, when we look across the whole world
  • 00:57:13
    and we look at what cultures are the ones
  • 00:57:15
    that I would want to live in, where there's grace,
  • 00:57:18
    where there's forgiveness, where there's beauty,
  • 00:57:20
    where there's creativity, where there's freedom.
  • 00:57:22
    Those are Christian cultures.
  • 00:57:24
    And so what they're saying is, "No,
  • 00:57:26
    not going to believe the Bible. Can't believe the Bible.
  • 00:57:28
    I'm not going to do it.
  • 00:57:29
    But the culture that's created out of that, we want that."
  • 00:57:34
    It's interesting, it's what happens
  • 00:57:36
    when you come into a relational being's orb
  • 00:57:39
    and you want to be more like Him,
  • 00:57:41
    the things around you hopefully start to be created
  • 00:57:44
    that actually look more like Him.
  • 00:57:47
    Jesus didn't come to be an inspiration for moralism.
  • 00:57:51
    He came to have a relationship with you.
  • 00:57:54
    But out of that, really cool things happen.
  • 00:57:57
    Fifth and final one I'll talk about is the bias to action.
  • 00:58:02
    The thing about Jesus and His followers,
  • 00:58:04
    you see Jesus is constantly pushing, right?
  • 00:58:06
    He's pushing on this woman.
  • 00:58:08
    He's pushing to be there in the day talking to a woman.
  • 00:58:11
    In fact, His disciples show up and they're like,
  • 00:58:13
    "What are you doing talking to a woman?"
  • 00:58:14
    is what they say, I can't read you the whole story.
  • 00:58:16
    Read it yourself. It's really amazing.
  • 00:58:18
    Who is this? Who's the one?
  • 00:58:19
    There's parts I just have to cut out for you.
  • 00:58:21
    "What are you doing talking with this woman?"
  • 00:58:24
    They're even pushing on Him.
  • 00:58:25
    "You're breaking the social norms here."
  • 00:58:28
    It's because He has a bias to action.
  • 00:58:30
    He just pushes and His teachings push us.
  • 00:58:33
    One of the common things that that all religions do have.
  • 00:58:36
    I told you before, there are some common things.
  • 00:58:39
    There are some teachings that are very common.
  • 00:58:41
    Some would call these the Golden Rule teachings.
  • 00:58:44
    The Golden Rule Jesus says
  • 00:58:46
    do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
  • 00:58:48
    Let me read you those those teachings
  • 00:58:50
    in the other major religions.
  • 00:58:51
    Buddhism, the Golden Rule reads this way:
  • 00:58:54
    hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.
  • 00:58:58
    Hinduism: one should never do to another
  • 00:59:01
    which one regards as injurious to one's own self.
  • 00:59:06
    Confucianism: do not do to others
  • 00:59:08
    what you do not want done to yourself.
  • 00:59:12
    And Islam: none of you truly believes
  • 00:59:13
    until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.
  • 00:59:17
    In this context, your brother is your brother
  • 00:59:19
    in the faith of Islam.
  • 00:59:22
    Where Jesus says, love your neighbor,
  • 00:59:24
    no matter what they believe, as yourself.
  • 00:59:26
    Where Jesus says also pray for those who persecute you.
  • 00:59:29
    Identify with them.
  • 00:59:30
    Now what are these things?
  • 00:59:32
    These things are all very similar and on the surface,
  • 00:59:34
    similar to the Golden Rule, except for one thing,
  • 00:59:37
    they're all passive.
  • 00:59:38
    Like, don't hurt somebody in a way
  • 00:59:39
    that you don't want them to hurt you.
  • 00:59:41
    Well Jesus says go. He says go.
  • 00:59:43
    He says, do unto others as you would have them do to you.
  • 00:59:46
    So bless people.
  • 00:59:47
    Bless people the way you want them to bless you.
  • 00:59:49
    Do good things for people the way you want them to do for you.
  • 00:59:51
    Tell people good information
  • 00:59:53
    that you want someone to tell you.
  • 00:59:54
    Be on the assertive end of bringing good news and hope
  • 00:59:59
    and peace and love and generosity to the whole world
  • 01:00:02
    and everyone around you.
  • 01:00:04
    Do to others as you'd have them do to you.
  • 01:00:09
    This is what He does. It's what His followers do.
  • 01:00:11
    We don't hold ourselves up and just have rules
  • 01:00:14
    and obey the rules and have some spiritual systems
  • 01:00:17
    to make ourselves look spiritual
  • 01:00:18
    and have clothing to make us look spiritual,
  • 01:00:21
    have whatever it is. No, no, no, no, no.
  • 01:00:23
    We're meant to go.
  • 01:00:24
    We're meant to have a bias to action.
  • 01:00:25
    We're meant to talk to people
  • 01:00:27
    who other people don't want to talk to.
  • 01:00:28
    We're meant to give the time.
  • 01:00:29
    Give time to people other people aren't giving time to.
  • 01:00:32
    We're meant to give grace and forgiveness.
  • 01:00:35
    This is our heritage, really, it's our history.
  • 01:00:38
    And some of us forget that.
  • 01:00:40
    And there's been some horrible examples of this
  • 01:00:42
    in the history of Christianity.
  • 01:00:44
    But when we're at our best,
  • 01:00:46
    when we're honoring the call that the Master gave us,
  • 01:00:51
    this is who we are. This is what we do.
  • 01:00:54
    A friend of mine
  • 01:00:56
    had one of these bias to action stories recently.
  • 01:00:58
    I was really moved by it, and I asked him
  • 01:01:00
    if he would give his story and both of them did.
  • 01:01:05
    Here it is.
  • 01:01:07
    - I always believed in God and I went to church.
  • 01:01:10
    I was going through all the actions that,
  • 01:01:13
    you know, a lot of people do.
  • 01:01:15
    In our personal home life, our marriage
  • 01:01:18
    just started to really just suffer.
  • 01:01:20
    We were having a lot of different issues.
  • 01:01:22
    My marriage was at the point where it was going to end.
  • 01:01:25
    Words cannot even describe
  • 01:01:28
    how you feel like a failure
  • 01:01:32
    and a disappointment to your, you know, your family,
  • 01:01:38
    your friends and, um,
  • 01:01:41
    you almost want to just kind of go into a hole.
  • 01:01:45
    It was the most empty feeling I've ever had in my entire life.
  • 01:01:50
    Why is God doing this to us
  • 01:01:51
    and why is He doing this to me?
  • 01:01:54
    My husband, Ben, joined a Bible study
  • 01:01:57
    and he would meet with them weekly.
  • 01:01:59
    And he would constantly talk about all the men.
  • 01:02:02
    And in particular, he spoke very highly
  • 01:02:04
    of a gentleman by the name of Chuck.
  • 01:02:06
    - So I do a Wednesday night men's Bible study.
  • 01:02:09
    Right? Whatever. You know, we talk about life.
  • 01:02:11
    And we're having open and honest sharing
  • 01:02:14
    kind of about where we are in our marriage.
  • 01:02:16
    And Ben was not in a good spot in his marriage.
  • 01:02:19
    And so there was a lot of gravitational pull
  • 01:02:22
    to discuss those things and be, you know,
  • 01:02:26
    real and candid about what was happening in their marriages.
  • 01:02:30
    - I found myself getting angry with him.
  • 01:02:33
    I'm thinking you're going to these Bible studies,
  • 01:02:35
    but here our marriage is falling apart
  • 01:02:37
    and you're coming home, and I'm here and things aren't better.
  • 01:02:41
    God's supposed to be helping us.
  • 01:02:44
    - So, my dear friend John got cancer.
  • 01:02:52
    We had a prayer service for John,
  • 01:02:53
    and we did it at Crossroads.
  • 01:02:55
    - He came home and he said John was diagnosed with cancer.
  • 01:02:59
    And I said, you know, "Gosh, I'm sorry to hear that."
  • 01:03:02
    And he said, "Well, they're going to have
  • 01:03:03
    a prayer service at Crossroads.
  • 01:03:06
    I'm going to go to this.
  • 01:03:07
    And, um, I want to really go up there
  • 01:03:09
    and show my support for John and, you know,
  • 01:03:11
    with the Bible study guys."
  • 01:03:13
    He looks at me and he says, "Well, aren't you going to go?"
  • 01:03:17
    I'm thinking, "Seriously? We're barely speaking,
  • 01:03:20
    and I don't even really know this person. Why would I go?"
  • 01:03:24
    Selfishly, in the back of my mind, I thought to myself,
  • 01:03:27
    "Well, actually, I'd like to meet this Chuck guy."
  • 01:03:30
    - So there's a lot of people, actually,
  • 01:03:32
    that came to pray for John.
  • 01:03:33
    And Ben's wife Christy comes.
  • 01:03:36
    - And the first person that I meet is Chuck.
  • 01:03:40
    And I'll be honest, he wasn't who I thought he was going to be
  • 01:03:44
    because I went in with this aura, like, you know,
  • 01:03:48
    all right, let's see who this guy is
  • 01:03:49
    that's preaching the Bible, but my marriage
  • 01:03:51
    is continually, continuously falling apart.
  • 01:03:54
    I just needed something.
  • 01:03:56
    And that's where I got to the point where
  • 01:03:58
    I'm going to call this complete stranger
  • 01:04:00
    that I don't even know, Chuck,
  • 01:04:01
    and I'm going to hope for the best.
  • 01:04:03
    - The next day, Christy texted me, she's like,
  • 01:04:06
    "Man, my, --ur marriage is, like, not good."
  • 01:04:10
    And she said, "Can you come and talk to Ben and I?"
  • 01:04:14
    - He goes, "My wife and I will be over
  • 01:04:15
    at your house tonight at seven."
  • 01:04:17
    He goes, "Is that okay?"
  • 01:04:18
    And it took me by surprise, and I said,
  • 01:04:21
    "You're going to come to my house?"
  • 01:04:22
    And he said, "Yeah." He goes, "This can't wait."
  • 01:04:24
    He's like, "You're really in some serious trouble."
  • 01:04:28
    - My wife asks Christy a really good question.
  • 01:04:31
    She's like, you know, like, "What's your story?"
  • 01:04:33
    Christy said something like, you know,
  • 01:04:34
    "I'm a cradle Catholic," was the word she used.
  • 01:04:38
    And I think both my wife and I were looking for
  • 01:04:41
    where she had a moment and where she saw Jesus
  • 01:04:44
    and experienced Jesus, and something changed, right?
  • 01:04:47
    And that didn't show up.
  • 01:04:49
    And then we did the rest of the night, right?
  • 01:04:51
    And just tried to give them some simple things
  • 01:04:53
    that they could work on in their marriage, and we left.
  • 01:04:55
    We didn't get to the end of their road.
  • 01:04:57
    And I said to my wife, I was like,
  • 01:04:58
    "Man, I did a crappy job, right?
  • 01:05:00
    I didn't, I didn't go, 'Christy, you have a problem.
  • 01:05:04
    There's a God of the universe that wants to fix you.'"
  • 01:05:10
    And I'm like, not good.
  • 01:05:15
    There was a really ripe opportunity with Christy,
  • 01:05:18
    and it was apparent to me that her marriage
  • 01:05:20
    wasn't going to be successful.
  • 01:05:22
    Like, I knew in my heart,
  • 01:05:23
    because my marriage wouldn't be successful.
  • 01:05:26
    My life is hard, but I can do it because
  • 01:05:30
    I have a relationship with the creator of the universe.
  • 01:05:33
    And I felt bad that I was like, I didn't give Christy that.
  • 01:05:37
    I didn't do more and I needed to do more,
  • 01:05:39
    whatever that looked like.
  • 01:05:40
    - April had sent me a text and she said,
  • 01:05:43
    "Would you meet Chuck and I for coffee?"
  • 01:05:45
    I said sure.
  • 01:05:47
    I remember I walked in and they had their Bibles with them.
  • 01:05:52
    I'm thinking, "Okay, well, they're well armed
  • 01:05:54
    and now they're going to start reciting scripture to me.
  • 01:05:57
    And they're going to be preaching to me
  • 01:06:00
    and telling me everything that isn't right in my life."
  • 01:06:03
    That wasn't at all how our meeting went.
  • 01:06:06
    - I said, "Christy you know, last night
  • 01:06:07
    when I was talking to you about your faith journey
  • 01:06:10
    and trying to build into your and, you know,
  • 01:06:12
    help you and Ben get your marriage sorted out."
  • 01:06:15
    And I told her, I said, "I felt like I just told you a story,
  • 01:06:19
    and I want to tell you the good news of Jesus.
  • 01:06:24
    I don't know how to do life without Jesus,
  • 01:06:27
    personally I don't know how to do it.
  • 01:06:29
    And so the advice that I'm going to give you
  • 01:06:31
    is born out of that, like, it's foundational to how I roll."
  • 01:06:36
    - He said, "Have you received the Holy Spirit?"
  • 01:06:40
    And I thought, "Well, yeah, I was confirmed.
  • 01:06:44
    I received the Holy Spirit when I was in eighth grade."
  • 01:06:47
    And he goes, "Well, how do you know?"
  • 01:06:50
    I couldn't give him a definitive answer at that point.
  • 01:06:54
    - So then I tell her, I'm like, "Christy,
  • 01:06:56
    the creator of the universe wants to personally
  • 01:06:59
    have a relationship with you."
  • 01:07:02
    And I say, "There's a simple way for you
  • 01:07:05
    to have your whole life changed.
  • 01:07:09
    And it's recognizing that you have a problem
  • 01:07:12
    and that Jesus is the solution."
  • 01:07:14
    And then I said to her, I said, "Do you want to pray
  • 01:07:16
    with me and my wife right now,
  • 01:07:18
    and your life can be changed forever."
  • 01:07:23
    She's like, "Yeah."
  • 01:07:25
    And I'm like, "Really? Like right now?"
  • 01:07:29
    - I finally was like, "He's there.
  • 01:07:33
    I'm ready. I want to know You."
  • 01:07:35
    - So, yeah, man, right over there we prayed and we cried.
  • 01:07:39
    There's a freshness in her.
  • 01:07:41
    There's like a weight was lifted off of her.
  • 01:07:44
    And Ben's on that journey, and now they're on it together.
  • 01:07:47
    - The way that I feel, I could have nothing,
  • 01:07:50
    but now I know that if I have Him,
  • 01:07:53
    I mean, I have everything.
  • 01:07:56
    It's -- I just can't even tell you
  • 01:07:58
    how good of a feeling it is to go
  • 01:08:01
    from being at the very bottom
  • 01:08:03
    to now feeling totally blessed and totally humbled.
  • 01:08:10
    So it was really important that
  • 01:08:12
    we had Chuck baptize both of us.
  • 01:08:15
    And that was just because, honestly,
  • 01:08:18
    he was there at our very lowest point,
  • 01:08:23
    and he was there when I had my moment
  • 01:08:26
    where I knew that the Holy Spirit was with me.
  • 01:08:29
    Sitting in this coffee shop, I finally realized
  • 01:08:34
    He's there. He's with me.
  • 01:08:37
    My husband and I, we did it together,
  • 01:08:40
    and it was important for us to do it together
  • 01:08:43
    because it symbolizes a new beginning.
  • 01:08:47
    It was really important for us to have our family there,
  • 01:08:50
    kids there, because you have to remember
  • 01:08:54
    they were living through so much of our marriage failing
  • 01:08:59
    and seeing us struggle, that we really wanted them
  • 01:09:02
    to see this is -- Things are changing.
  • 01:09:07
    This is different. Jesus is with us.
  • 01:09:09
    We are going to have a new life.
  • 01:09:11
    This is a new beginning. It's a fresh start for us.
  • 01:09:15
    We knew things were going to be different,
  • 01:09:17
    and they are different because
  • 01:09:19
    we had let Him into both of our lives.
  • 01:09:22
    - It's amazing to think about
  • 01:09:25
    the creator of the universe will use a guy like me
  • 01:09:31
    to affect His desire and will in the earth
  • 01:09:36
    and to really, like, make a difference.
  • 01:09:38
    And it's like so awesome.
  • 01:09:43
    - What does that mean for you to have someone say to you,
  • 01:09:45
    "I want more for you. I want you to know Jesus."
  • 01:09:50
    - It's crazy because he is a disciple almost.
  • 01:09:56
    It's -- he is going out like a disciple did
  • 01:10:01
    many, many years ago and he's spreading the good word,
  • 01:10:04
    but he's doing it in modern day time now.
  • 01:10:07
    The one thing with him was he didn't judge.
  • 01:10:12
    He listened. He loved.
  • 01:10:14
    He wanted to just help.
  • 01:10:16
    But he wanted me to know that Jesus was there
  • 01:10:21
    and that God was there.
  • 01:10:22
    And that's where his message came from.
  • 01:10:26
    It came from his heart.
  • 01:10:28
    - She was like, "The fact that I wouldn't have been here
  • 01:10:32
    if John had not got cancer.
  • 01:10:35
    Like, I don't want John to get cancer,
  • 01:10:37
    but I wouldn't be here if John didn't get cancer."
  • 01:10:40
    And I said to Christy something like, "Christy,
  • 01:10:43
    John, if he were here, he'd get cancer for you."
  • 01:10:55
    So I see the sovereignty of God
  • 01:10:58
    and the lengths that He would go to
  • 01:11:01
    to kind of get somebody.
  • 01:11:02
    God's working and He uses people and He uses circumstances.
  • 01:11:07
    And it's His desire that all men
  • 01:11:09
    would come to a relationship with Him, like every person.
  • 01:11:12
    And the only people He has to tell that story
  • 01:11:16
    and to connect that stuff up are people like me.
  • 01:11:21
    The question really is, is why are we reluctant to share?
  • 01:11:24
    If Jesus has done something good in your life
  • 01:11:26
    and showed up for you, why are we scared to share it?
  • 01:11:29
    We have the truth right in a hurting world
  • 01:11:32
    and shame on us if we don't be bold. [applause]
  • 01:11:45
    - Both of them are modeling what the woman with the well did.
  • 01:11:48
    And I'll just close with this.
  • 01:11:50
    As she understands, Jesus tells her,
  • 01:11:54
    "I'm the Messiah, I'm the Christ." Tells her that.
  • 01:11:56
    And here's what happens in verse 29.
  • 01:11:59
    So the woman left her water jar.
  • 01:12:01
    See, she left her gallon of water.
  • 01:12:03
    She left her water jar and went away into town
  • 01:12:06
    and said to the people, "Come and see a man
  • 01:12:08
    who told me all that I ever did.
  • 01:12:11
    Can this be the Christ?"
  • 01:12:13
    They went out of the town and were coming to Him.
  • 01:12:15
    So she's so astounded by what she's found in Jesus
  • 01:12:18
    she leaves behind what she came there to do in the first place,
  • 01:12:22
    which was to get water.
  • 01:12:24
    And she goes, she has a bias to act.
  • 01:12:26
    She says, "I just met this guy.
  • 01:12:28
    You guys got to see Him."
  • 01:12:30
    This is why Jesus says at the end of His life,
  • 01:12:33
    "Go into all the world and make disciples,
  • 01:12:35
    baptizing them in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit."
  • 01:12:38
    Go, go. Friends, this week anything here,
  • 01:12:42
    anything here has been relevant for you, hey, go.
  • 01:12:45
    Go, have a bias to action.
  • 01:12:47
    Take the grace and forgiveness of God to people you know.
  • 01:12:50
    Take the desire to bless people in ways that Jesus would.
  • 01:12:54
    Don't just be a person who believes things
  • 01:12:57
    and has religious beliefs,
  • 01:12:59
    but be a person who loves and goes and does.
  • 01:13:03
    God, You're good to be patient with us,
  • 01:13:05
    and you're astounding that
  • 01:13:07
    You would want to have a relationship with us.
  • 01:13:09
    I can't believe -- I can't believe You do.
  • 01:13:11
    I don't know that I would want to have
  • 01:13:12
    a relationship with something that was
  • 01:13:14
    so far down the ladder from my intelligence
  • 01:13:17
    and my abilities, but yet You do. Thank You for that.
  • 01:13:20
    And we want to have a better relationship
  • 01:13:22
    with You and to be like You.
  • 01:13:23
    Help us to do that this week. In Your name, I pray. Amen.
  • 01:13:29
    - Hey, thank you so much for watching today.
  • 01:13:31
    Man, we hope that you heard how
  • 01:13:33
    Christianity wants to mobilize you
  • 01:13:35
    and see the world changed and yourself changed
  • 01:13:37
    from the inside out.
  • 01:13:38
    As we always say around here,
  • 01:13:39
    we're not just content to watch.
  • 01:13:41
    We're a community that you can belong to.
  • 01:13:43
    And there's a couple easy ways to do that.
  • 01:13:45
    The first is just to text the word "Anywhere" to 301301.
  • 01:13:49
    And then Emily, myself or somebody on our team
  • 01:13:53
    will reach out to help get you connected
  • 01:13:55
    to all that God is doing at Crossroads.
  • 01:13:57
    - Yeah, especially if you do not live
  • 01:14:00
    near our Cincinnati, Dayton, Lexington, Columbus locations,
  • 01:14:04
    this is for you, and we want you to get all the updates.
  • 01:14:07
    And if you text first for the first time,
  • 01:14:10
    we will even send you a welcome gift.
  • 01:14:12
    - Love it. Now next week we've got
  • 01:14:14
    a really, really special weekend coming up.
  • 01:14:16
    We'll have a guest speaker named Matt Chandler.
  • 01:14:18
    He's incredible and he's going to be talking about
  • 01:14:20
    something that might seem
  • 01:14:22
    a little bit off the beaten path for you,
  • 01:14:23
    but he's going to be speaking about holiness.
  • 01:14:26
    And this isn't going to be like a holier than thou type thing.
  • 01:14:29
    This is going to be real talk
  • 01:14:30
    about what your life needs
  • 01:14:32
    and what you are made to be fully alive.
  • 01:14:35
    Make sure you join us next week. We'll see you then.

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Weekend-Follow Up!

This is content that reflects on the Weekend message and how it can apply to your life. Each week, your group will discover what God might be saying to you, and how you can respond through a group discussion.

  1. What would your dream house be like?

  2. What stood out to you most from the message?

  3. What makes Christianity stand out to you personally?

  4. In what ways, if any, have you seen Jesus change your life? Where do you want change right now?

  5. How can you see yourself in the woman at the well, or relate to her? (John 4:7-30)

  6. What does it mean to you when you hear Christianity isn’t so much a religion as it is a relationship?

  7. Read Matthew 28:18-19.

    Think about someone in your life who needs a relationship with Jesus. What can help you share with that person? What can make it difficult?

  8. What’s one step you can take this week to grow in a relationship with Jesus and/or share with someone how Jesus can change their life?

  9. Let’s end our time praying together. You can say something like, “Jesus, thank you for wanting a real relationship with us. Open our eyes to see your love and forgiveness and how you have changed the world. Give us strength to share who you are and love others. Amen.”

More from the Weekend

Bonus Questions

Check these out if you’re on a roll and want to go a little deeper.

  • Why do you think that some people say all religions are basically the same?
  • Do you think making disciples is the same as sharing Jesus with someone?

That’s it for this week - see you next time!


May 18, 2025 • 1 hr 14 mins 43 sec

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