A Light in the Valley | Hearing God’s Voice When You’re in the Dark

00:00:00

- Hey. Welcome in. I'm glad you're here.

00:00:01

My name is Justin.

00:00:02

I'm not going to pretend to know you

00:00:04

or know what kind of day you've had,

00:00:06

or know what you believe or don't believe about God.

00:00:09

But here's one thing I do know.

00:00:11

I think I can safely say you're either right now

00:00:13

on a mountaintop, or you're in a valley of life right now,

00:00:17

or you're somewhere in between.

00:00:18

And here's what I believe and what we believe

00:00:20

is that God is with you wherever you are.

00:00:22

And normally we're the mountaintop church.

00:00:24

So we start up here and experience God

00:00:26

in celebration and joy.

00:00:28

Today we're a valley church.

00:00:30

Today we're talking about the valley

00:00:32

and how God meets us there.

00:00:33

God is with you wherever you are,

00:00:35

and He has something good to say to you today.

00:00:37

I'm glad you're here.

00:00:38

I'm glad you're sticking around with us.

00:02:39

- The God that that song describes

00:02:42

is the God we're talking about today,

00:02:45

the God who says, "I'll meet you on top of the mountain,

00:02:50

but I'll also be there in the valleys of your life."

00:02:54

For some of us, we feel like we're in a valley right now.

00:02:58

And from the beginning of today's experience,

00:03:00

I want to put a promise in front of you,

00:03:03

because the promise of the God of the Bible

00:03:06

is to meet us in the valley and transform it

00:03:10

from a place of pain into a door of hope.

00:03:14

One of my favorite passages in all of Scripture

00:03:17

comes from Hosea 2.

00:03:18

Hosea is a little bit of a strange story.

00:03:21

God asked this guy to marry this woman.

00:03:23

He says, "By the way, she's going to be unfaithful to you,

00:03:25

but I want you to stay faithful to her no matter what

00:03:28

as an example of what I'm like

00:03:31

when my children wander away into the dark."

00:03:35

Here's a section of the story that describes what God is like.

00:03:40

Hosea 2 it says: And she went after her lovers,

00:03:44

but me, she forgot, says the Lord.

00:03:46

Therefore, behold, I will allure her.

00:03:52

I will bring her into the wilderness

00:03:54

and speak comfort to her.

00:03:55

I will give her her vineyards from there

00:03:57

and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope.

00:04:01

Achor means trouble.

00:04:02

God says, "When my people wander away into the dark,

00:04:05

the way that I will respond is I will hunt them down,

00:04:08

I will chase them down, and I will turn

00:04:11

the valley of trouble into a door of hope."

00:04:14

Now I know there's lots of us all over

00:04:16

the spiritual map in this place,

00:04:17

and maybe that's a stretch too far

00:04:20

for you to make at this point.

00:04:22

And I'll just say that's okay. That is okay.

00:04:25

No matter who you are, no matter what you believe,

00:04:27

you are in the right place and we are so glad

00:04:30

that you're with us today.

00:04:32

As we continue our experience, would you stand on your feet?

00:04:34

We're going to sing some songs that describe who God is.

00:04:39

Let's sing together.

00:10:23

- The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

00:10:27

- He makes me lie down in green pastures.

00:10:31

- He leads me beside still waters.

00:10:34

He restores my soul.

00:10:37

- He leads me in paths of righteousness

00:10:39

for His Name's sake.

00:10:42

- Even though I walk through the valley

00:10:44

of the shadow of death,

00:10:45

I will fear no evil, for You are with me.

00:10:48

- Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

00:10:53

- You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

00:10:57

- You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows.

00:11:02

- Surely goodness and mercy

00:11:04

shall follow me all the days of my life.

00:11:08

- And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

00:16:19

- Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for all You've done,

00:16:24

for how You've been faithful to us,

00:16:26

how You've been so good.

00:16:30

I'm so, so encouraged by this truth today

00:16:33

that there's nothing, there's nothing in this world

00:16:37

that I could ever want that You can't provide for me

00:16:40

because You are a good provider.

00:16:43

You are my Savior, my Father, and I thank You.

00:16:47

I'm so thankful for who You are in my life.

00:16:49

I'm so thankful for how You've shown up for me

00:16:53

every year I can look back and say,

00:16:56

"The Lord has been good.

00:16:58

The Lord has been faithful."

00:16:59

Even though things haven't gone the way

00:17:01

I've wanted them to go all the time,

00:17:04

I can still look back and say, "God, You are true.

00:17:08

So thank you."

00:17:10

And for that, God we'll continue to sing to You,

00:17:13

forever, as long as You let us.

00:17:16

You're worthy. You're worthy of praise.

00:17:19

We sing all together. Amen. Amen.

00:17:22

Come on. So good to sing together, y'all.

00:17:26

This is beautiful.

00:17:27

Hey, why don't you find somebody around you

00:17:29

and give 'em a high five, tell 'emit's good to see 'em.

00:17:32

Then you can have a seat.

00:17:39

- Hey, everyone, welcome to Crossroads.

00:17:40

My name is Arturo and I'm here in Ohio

00:17:42

where earlier this week it started snowing,

00:17:45

which could only mean one thing,

00:17:46

it's the most wonderful time of the year.

00:17:51

Yes, I love this time of year because

00:17:53

not only do we have the Thanksgiving season,

00:17:55

we also have the Christmas season right behind it.

00:17:57

And this Thanksgiving, this past weekend,

00:18:00

we just gathered so many boxes to feed 100,000 people.

00:18:05

Not just here in Cincinnati, Lexington, Dayton,

00:18:07

and Columbus, but everywhere, everywhere,

00:18:10

Oregon, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina,

00:18:13

Texas, California. Man, all of you were part of that.

00:18:16

And we just want to say thank you.

00:18:18

Thank you for caring so much about your city,

00:18:20

your community and their needs.

00:18:22

It's just incredible that we get to do this every year.

00:18:25

And it's an awesome time. It's an awesome time.

00:18:27

And as a unique gift to you and your family,

00:18:31

we do this thing around here before Thanksgiving

00:18:34

and we call it Thanksgiving Eve.

00:18:36

We've done it for a couple of years here at Crossroads.

00:18:38

And this year, November 26th at 7 p.m.,

00:18:41

whether you can stream it online

00:18:43

or come near, come to a site.

00:18:46

We've got an awesome service on Thanksgiving Eve for you

00:18:49

to just pause and remember the reason of the season: Gratitude.

00:18:54

So if you need that reminder, mark it on your calendars:

00:18:57

November 26th, 7 p.m. be there online or at a site.

00:19:01

And then Christmas, Christmastime.

00:19:04

We've got a Christmas Gift Drive where every year

00:19:07

we try to gather so many gifts for so many kids

00:19:10

around our communities and in prison.

00:19:13

So we've got a partner, The Four-Seven Prison Ministr

00:19:17

that is hoping to gather 4000 gifts for kids

00:19:21

with parents or parent in incarceration,

00:19:24

and we're hoping to gather those gifts

00:19:26

and just make Christmas possible for them this year.

00:19:30

So here's how you can get involved with that.

00:19:32

It's super, super easy.

00:19:33

Okay, you can go to crossroads.net/CGD.

00:19:39

If you're near a site, you can grab one of these ornaments.

00:19:43

Scan the QR code. It's going to take you here.

00:19:45

You're going to scroll down here where it says Shop on Amazon.

00:19:49

You're going to give that a click.

00:19:51

It's going to redirect you.

00:19:52

And that's where you can buy a gift or two.

00:19:54

That's going to be sent to a warehouse.

00:19:55

And we're going to take care of the rest.

00:19:57

So pretty simple.

00:20:00

Hoping that all gifts are purchased by November 24th.

00:20:02

So again, crossroads.net/CGD, November 24th,

00:20:06

get your gifts in and enough of me yapping about it,

00:20:09

let me just show you what that impact looks like.

00:20:16

- Every Christmas, our community comes together

00:20:18

to make a difference through the Christmas Gift Drive

00:20:22

to show families they're not forgotten,

00:20:24

to remind people that God sees them.

00:20:28

You buy a gift for a child who might not get one otherwise

00:20:32

because their parents are either not around

00:20:34

or in a difficult situation, like prison.

00:20:37

But it's not about toys or wrapping paper,

00:20:39

it's about hope showing up in unexpected places,

00:20:43

in living rooms, in shelters, even in prison cells.

00:20:48

Because when we give, we see Jesus at work.

00:20:52

When we give, we see the world through His eyes,

00:20:56

His love moves through us, through prisons across America,

00:21:00

and through the communities and cities we call home.

00:21:03

Be a part of what God is doing this Christmas,

00:21:11

bring hope to families who need it most.

00:21:18

- Yeah. Christmas Gift Drive.

00:21:22

Is it crazy to anyone else that it's already Christmastime?

00:21:26

Like, how are we here already?

00:21:28

How is the year already ending?

00:21:29

It's crazy to me.

00:21:31

We've got a great experience planned for you

00:21:33

for the rest of our time.

00:21:34

But before we jump into the message proper,

00:21:36

I want to take a minute just to talk about year end giving.

00:21:38

At Crossroads, like all churches, all non-profits,

00:21:42

the end of the year is very, very, very important to us.

00:21:46

We have a philosophy with money, which is that

00:21:48

it's given to be put to use, not given to be saved.

00:21:52

And so we track every dollar very obsessively here.

00:21:55

We want to make sure that we're not just

00:21:57

a good investment, but we're the very best investment

00:21:59

you could ever make for your money.

00:22:01

So we track numbers and results

00:22:04

and want to make sure that that's happening.

00:22:06

Two numbers that mean a lot to me personally

00:22:10

as we come up on the end of the year.

00:22:12

One of them is this number right here, 1833.

00:22:17

That is not a new TV show.

00:22:20

That is the number of people who've been baptized

00:22:23

at Crossroads so far this year. [applause]

00:22:30

You know what's crazier?

00:22:31

That number is going up this weekend.

00:22:33

We're doing baptisms this weekend in student ministry,

00:22:35

so next time you see that number, it'll be even higher.

00:22:38

Crazy to see what God's doing.

00:22:40

The next number is this one: 1597.

00:22:44

That's the number of prisoners who,

00:22:46

for the very first time, have said yes to Jesus

00:22:50

through our prison ministry this year. [applause]

00:22:55

Amazing to see that happen.

00:22:56

Now that work didn't even exist a year ago.

00:23:00

A year ago we started what was called the 10X Push.

00:23:03

In fact, if you're a 10X committer, did you know that

00:23:06

this weekend is the one year anniversary

00:23:08

of making your commitment?

00:23:09

One year has gone by and what God has already done

00:23:13

in a year has vastly exceeded any of our expectations.

00:23:16

And we're only getting started.

00:23:19

Now if you did make a 10X Push commitment,

00:23:22

I want to push on you for just a minute.

00:23:24

And by the way, if you're newer here,

00:23:25

if you want to make a year end gift,

00:23:27

I hope you understand that if you do,

00:23:29

that money will be put to great use.

00:23:31

It will make a difference.

00:23:32

It will immediately be put

00:23:33

to make a difference in somebody's life.

00:23:35

But if you're part of the 10X Push,

00:23:37

I want to talk to you.

00:23:38

Sarah and I, for the 10X Push, we made

00:23:40

the largest financial commitment of our entire lives

00:23:43

outside of our mortgage.

00:23:45

And we did that because a year ago we felt like

00:23:48

we heard the voice of a shepherd telling us

00:23:52

and inviting us into something new with Him.

00:23:56

And since, can I tell you that we've heard another voice

00:24:01

that said, 'You know, that's crazy.

00:24:04

You know, it's not that smart to give away all your money.

00:24:07

You know, you might need that for, you know,

00:24:09

there's this thing called the AI bubble,

00:24:11

and you don't know what that even means.

00:24:12

But when bubbles pop in the economy, it's bad.

00:24:16

And so maybe you should hold on to it."

00:24:17

I know we've heard -- We've heard that voice.

00:24:19

Despite that, this past week we sent in

00:24:21

the largest check we've ever sent into anywhere

00:24:23

for anything in our entire lives towards that commitment

00:24:26

because we want to make sure that our yes is yes.

00:24:28

We want to make sure that we're listening

00:24:30

to the voice of our good Shepherd,

00:24:32

not the voice that whispers in the darkness

00:24:34

and wants to take us on a different path.

00:24:38

Now, if you're in a similar spot, and I know you are,

00:24:41

if you made a commitment, I know you are.

00:24:43

I want to encourage you.

00:24:44

Do not let the one year anniversary

00:24:46

of making your commitment go by without honoring

00:24:49

what you said to God, without taking a step forward

00:24:52

in faith in that commitment.

00:24:53

For you that might mean just get started.

00:24:56

That might mean catch up to pace.

00:24:57

That might mean get ahead of pace.

00:25:00

But follow the voice of your Shepherd.

00:25:03

What we're going to talk about today is that

00:25:05

you and I our entire lives we'll hear two voices.

00:25:09

One is the voice of the good Shepherd,

00:25:12

and the other is a voice that wants to take us down

00:25:16

in the darkness, in the valley.

00:25:19

That's what we're talking about today.

00:25:20

Before we go any further, let's pray.

00:25:22

God, thank You so much for the truth of Your Word.

00:25:24

I'm asking that today You would walk in like a light,

00:25:27

God, that You would expose lies

00:25:29

that have been stuck to us for a long time,

00:25:31

and that You would erase them

00:25:33

and replace them with Your truth.

00:25:36

Do this for us, God. Amen. Amen.

00:25:40

Well, today is the second part

00:25:41

of a series we're in called Terrain,

00:25:43

talking about the the language that God uses

00:25:46

to coach us through life.

00:25:48

Things like mountains and rivers

00:25:50

and valleys and deserts.

00:25:52

That's how God talks to us.

00:25:53

And we started last week with this verse.

00:25:55

We'll start with it again. John 14:6:

00:25:58

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.

00:26:03

No one comes to the Father except through Me."

00:26:07

See, there will be many voices in your life

00:26:09

that will tell you what to do when you encounter

00:26:11

a desert, a dry place in your life.

00:26:12

There are many voices in your life

00:26:14

that will tell you what you should do

00:26:16

when you reach a mountain, an obstacle you can't get around.

00:26:18

There are many voices that will tell you

00:26:20

what you should do when you find yourself in the dark.

00:26:23

But Jesus says He is the only way that leads to life.

00:26:30

Now, today, we're going to focus on

00:26:31

the second bit of what He said in that verse.

00:26:34

He didn't just say He's the way, He said,

00:26:36

"I am the way and the truth and the life."

00:26:42

When in your life do you most need the truth?

00:26:46

Well, I would argue you most need the truth in the valley.

00:26:49

Last week we talked about mountains and the challenge

00:26:52

with mountains is taking the hard step.

00:26:55

Today is valleys and the challenge with valleys

00:26:57

is listening to the right voice.

00:27:00

The main scripture we're going to look at today

00:27:02

is the one that we've already heard read over us

00:27:05

earlier in worship and sung about,

00:27:07

that song I Shall Not Want, all based on Psalm 23.

00:27:11

Maybe the most famous psalm in the entire Bible.

00:27:15

It has three stanzas and reads like this.

00:27:18

It says: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

00:27:21

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

00:27:24

He leads me beside still waters.

00:27:27

He restores my soul.

00:27:30

He leads me in paths of righteousness

00:27:32

for His Name's sake.

00:27:34

Even though I walk through

00:27:35

the valley of the shadow of death,

00:27:37

I will fear no evil, for You are with me.

00:27:40

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

00:27:44

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

00:27:47

You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows.

00:27:50

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

00:27:53

all the days of my life and I shall dwell

00:27:56

in the house of the Lord forever.

00:27:59

This psalm is so famous because it's jam packed

00:28:02

full of incredible promises, like that

00:28:05

the God of the universe who made everything,

00:28:07

planets and galaxies and all of that,

00:28:09

that He cares about little old you.

00:28:12

Like a shepherd who cares for his sheep, incredible.

00:28:16

And the promise like that shepherd prepared a table

00:28:19

before you in the presence of your enemies.

00:28:23

But what's startling about this Psalm is not the promises.

00:28:27

Though the promises are incredible.

00:28:29

The startling part is where the promises take place.

00:28:33

The setting for the entire psalm is

00:28:35

the valley of the shadow of death.

00:28:39

An ominous setting indeed.

00:28:41

Now, at Crossroads we don't steer away from

00:28:43

the hard topics and the difficult things to talk about.

00:28:45

And so we're going to go right there from the beginning today.

00:28:48

This is probably more controversial than politics

00:28:50

or anything else I could talk about right now,

00:28:52

which is when exactly is it okay to put up your Christmas tree?

00:29:00

What say you? I know you have an opinion.

00:29:02

I know you hold it very tightly.

00:29:05

In the Ranson house this year

00:29:06

we set a new record for earliest up.

00:29:08

It was November 7th we put the tree up. I know.

00:29:13

Some of you are clapping and some of you are judging me.

00:29:20

Heard a rumor that Chuck Mingo put his tree up even earlier.

00:29:22

So, did I just start that rumor?

00:29:25

Yes, I did just start that rumor.

00:29:26

But maybe you can send your judgmental emails

00:29:28

to him instead of me. That'd be pretty amazing.

00:29:31

Now, why did I put my tree up?

00:29:33

I put my tree up because I decided

00:29:35

I wanted to walk down the stairs in the morning

00:29:37

and sip my coffee and stare at the beautiful lights.

00:29:41

You know, no one ever had to tell you

00:29:43

that Christmas lights were beautiful.

00:29:44

No one ever had to say, "Hey, this is pretty."

00:29:46

And you're like, "Oh, it is?"

00:29:48

No one had to explain that. Why?

00:29:50

Because there's something hardwired into us as humans

00:29:54

that recognizes the light as joyful, as peaceful.

00:29:58

There's something in it.

00:29:59

Well, it's not a coincidence that

00:30:01

light is actually the beginning of

00:30:03

the most famous Christmas prophecy of them all.

00:30:08

The prophecy that talked about the coming Messiah,

00:30:10

talked about Jesus hundreds and hundreds

00:30:12

and hundreds of years before He came.

00:30:14

It starts like this, Isaiah 9:

00:30:17

The people walking in darkness have seen a light,

00:30:20

a great light.

00:30:23

On those living in the land of deep darkness,

00:30:26

a light has dawned.

00:30:27

And then it goes on to the part you might recognize,

00:30:29

For to us a child is born and a Son is given,

00:30:31

and the government on His shoulders,

00:30:33

and He will be called wonderful counselor, all that stuff.

00:30:35

It begins with the idea that the Messiah

00:30:37

will be a light, to who?

00:30:41

To the people living in the land of deep darkness.

00:30:45

Well, the word for the land of deep darkness

00:30:47

is the same that's translated in Psalm 23

00:30:50

as the valley of the shadow of death.

00:30:53

It's the Hebrew word sol maveth.

00:30:55

And what it basically means is the death shadow.

00:30:59

See, according to God, the name of the planet

00:31:01

you and I find ourselves on right now, it's not Earth.

00:31:04

It's the land of the death shadow.

00:31:07

Every single one of us lives in

00:31:11

the valley of the shadow of death every single day.

00:31:17

Every one of us was born into it.

00:31:19

All of our kids were born into it.

00:31:21

Their kids will be born into it.

00:31:22

All of us live in the valley.

00:31:24

And the Bible is not shy about this.

00:31:27

That's why Jesus never said, never said

00:31:29

that He came to be a helpful moral teacher.

00:31:32

He said He came to be what Isaiah promised,

00:31:36

the light to a world trapped in darkness.

00:31:40

In John 8 Jesus talked about Himself this way.

00:31:43

He said: I am the light of the world.

00:31:46

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,

00:31:48

but will have the light of life.

00:31:51

What does He mean the light of life

00:31:52

and not walking in darkness?

00:31:53

Does he mean He's literally gonna put, like,

00:31:55

a second sun in the sky at night? Is that what he?

00:31:57

No, no, no, no, no, no.

00:31:59

Here's the same chapter, just a few verses later,

00:32:02

John 8:31. He says: If you abide in My Word,

00:32:05

you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth,

00:32:08

and the truth will set you free.

00:32:11

See, for Jesus, light equals truth.

00:32:15

His Word and what it leads to is freedom.

00:32:19

And darkness represents lies,

00:32:22

and all they can ever lead to is bondage.

00:32:26

This is why you can't just take Jesus

00:32:28

and add Him on top of your spiritual sundae,

00:32:30

no matter how badly you want to do that.

00:32:32

This is not Graeter's, you don't walk to the counter

00:32:34

and say, "I'll have whipped cream, cherry,

00:32:36

and a little bit of Jesus on my sundae."

00:32:38

No, that's not how it works.

00:32:40

Many people have tried that with Jesus, does not work.

00:32:43

When you actually understand the claim He's making about you,

00:32:48

you will get offended because His claim about you,

00:32:51

His claim about me is that apart from Him,

00:32:54

we are only exclusively living a lie

00:32:59

every day, everywhere we go.

00:33:01

One of my favorite authors is the theologian John Mark Comer.

00:33:04

He wrote a book called Live No Lies,

00:33:07

and in it he said this.

00:33:09

When we believe the truth,

00:33:11

that is, ideas that correspond to reality,

00:33:14

we show up in reality in such a way

00:33:16

that we flourish and thrive.

00:33:18

But when we believe lies,

00:33:20

ideas that are not congruent with the reality

00:33:23

of God's wise and loving design,

00:33:25

and then tragically open our bodies to those lies

00:33:29

and let them into our muscle memories,

00:33:31

we allow an ideological cancer to infect our souls.

00:33:35

We live at odds with reality,

00:33:37

and as a result we struggle to thrive.

00:33:40

Because reality does not adjust itself to our illusions.

00:33:45

That's an unpopular idea in our world today.

00:33:48

We live in a world that says, "No, whatever you think,

00:33:50

whatever you imagine, that's that's what's true.

00:33:52

That's what you can be. That's who you are.

00:33:53

And that's how it is." No, no, that's not how it is.

00:33:58

I think the biggest crisis facing our nation today,

00:34:00

it's not political, it's not economic,

00:34:02

it's not environmental.

00:34:04

The biggest crisis facing our country today,

00:34:08

our world today is a crisis of truth.

00:34:12

Is it just me or is it harder and harder every day

00:34:14

to even know what is true?

00:34:17

With every issue,

00:34:19

with every problem, with every headline

00:34:22

there is always at least two sets of facts

00:34:26

to choose between, two separate stories

00:34:29

that want to tell us that they are the true one.

00:34:32

And what's happening is what I would call fake news fatigue.

00:34:36

We are all suffering from it.

00:34:38

And the end result of fake news fatigue is that

00:34:40

all of us are throwing our hands up and we're going,

00:34:43

"It's impossible to know the truth.

00:34:45

It's impossible to know the truth."

00:34:47

And the tragedy of that statement,

00:34:49

the tragedy of that mindset that's affecting

00:34:51

our world more and more is the truth said He has a name

00:34:56

and His name is Jesus.

00:34:58

And so what happens when the world says

00:34:59

it's impossible to know Him?

00:35:02

It's not an accident that that conclusion is happening.

00:35:05

It's not.

00:35:06

See, the problem is that there is not just

00:35:08

a good shepherd in the valley called life.

00:35:12

There's also a thief in the valley.

00:35:15

John 10 Jesus said: The thief comes only

00:35:17

to steal and kill and destroy.

00:35:19

I have come that they may have life

00:35:22

and have it abundantly.

00:35:23

I am the good shepherd.

00:35:24

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

00:35:28

See, according to Jesus, you'll hear Him in the valley.

00:35:31

You'll hear the good shepherd,

00:35:32

but you'll also hear the thief.

00:35:35

And what is it that the thief most wants to steal?

00:35:38

The thief most wants to steal your relationship to the truth.

00:35:45

Two chapters earlier in the book of John,

00:35:47

Jesus said he is a liar and the father of lies.

00:35:51

See, the father of lies is the thief of truth.

00:35:53

No one, no one, no one is immune to him.

00:35:56

Doesn't matter who you are, where you come from,

00:35:58

doesn't matter, all of us hear his whispers.

00:36:02

I am now squarely in my 40s, and one of the things

00:36:06

that was undersold to me, frankly, about getting older

00:36:10

is how awesome it is to not remember stuff.

00:36:14

I don't mean like my kids birthdays, you know?

00:36:17

I didn't know those anyway, so. But --

00:36:19

Just kidding. Um, I think, ish. Pretty close.

00:36:24

We watched a TV show about 15 years ago, Sarah and I.

00:36:26

It was called Lost. Anybody watch Lost?

00:36:29

I loved the show. I hated the end.

00:36:30

That's all I remember. I remember I hated the end.

00:36:32

I don't remember anything else.

00:36:34

Well, they just put it back on Netflix

00:36:35

and so we started watching it with our kids.

00:36:37

And I don't remember any of it. It's awesome.

00:36:39

Every episode I'm like, "Wow," you know,

00:36:41

I'm eating popcorn. "This is crazy."

00:36:43

My kids are like, "Didn't you watch this before?"

00:36:45

I'm like, "Yeah, but I'm old now.

00:36:47

I don't remember stuff." It's great.

00:36:50

If you've never seen Lost, it's basically

00:36:53

every single episode, every single scene

00:36:55

is somebody who wanders into the valley by themselves

00:36:58

and hears the whispers from the dark. Just like this.

00:37:44

- There you go. That's the entire television show Lost.

00:37:47

I just saved you, like, 400 hours of your life.

00:37:50

You don't have to watch it now.

00:37:53

I saw that scene just like that last week,

00:37:55

and I was like, "That's the perfect picture.

00:37:57

That's all of us."

00:37:58

Because you watch this show and you're like,

00:38:00

why, why, why are you whispering to the whispers?

00:38:03

Why? Why are you listening? Why are you doing that?

00:38:05

And you're like, "Oh, that's, Oh. That's us."

00:38:08

See, the darkness speaks a word

00:38:11

and we all listen to that word, even though it's a lie.

00:38:15

Do you know, in the New Testament of the Bible,

00:38:17

there are 40 warnings, only, just in New Testament,

00:38:20

40 different warnings about falling for deception

00:38:23

and about falling for lies.

00:38:25

Why would there be so many?

00:38:26

Well, it's because a lie is the most pervasive

00:38:30

and effective weapon that our enemy has.

00:38:32

The first time our enemy came to humanity,

00:38:34

if you go all the way back to the beginning of the story,

00:38:36

go back to the beginning of the Bible in the book of Genesis.

00:38:39

He did not come with a sword.

00:38:42

He did not come with chains.

00:38:44

He did not come with a rope or a bomb or a tank.

00:38:47

He came with a much, much more impactful, effective weapon.

00:38:53

He came with a lie.

00:38:56

But do you know that before he told the lie,

00:39:00

he actually started with the truth?

00:39:02

Listen to the story in Genesis 3:1, it says:

00:39:05

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast

00:39:08

of the field that the Lord God had made.

00:39:11

He said to the woman, "Did God actually say,

00:39:16

'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?'"

00:39:20

Well, that's actually a true statement,

00:39:22

because God didn't say, "You shall not eat

00:39:23

of any tree in the garden."

00:39:25

God said, "You shall not eat of one tree in the garden."

00:39:28

He said all the other trees were good.

00:39:31

And so when Eve hears this,

00:39:33

she does the Midwestern sign of agreement.

00:39:36

She says, "Yeah, no. Yeah, no, I -- you're right. Yeah. No."

00:39:39

And she -- she starts to nod her head.

00:39:44

She starts to nod her head, and this is what the enemy does.

00:39:48

In my life I've found that his lies are very effective

00:39:53

because he plays something like two truths

00:39:56

and a lie with me.

00:39:58

The best kind of truths to start with,

00:40:00

if you wanted to craft a sticky lie,

00:40:04

if you wanted a lie that would stick to you.

00:40:07

Which, by the way, these lies do stick to us.

00:40:10

See, the problem with the enemy is

00:40:12

it's not that we hear them and we wonder about them,

00:40:16

it's that they physically attach to us.

00:40:20

I have two dogs.

00:40:21

I still don't know why I have two, but I have two.

00:40:23

And dogs are supposed to pick

00:40:25

one spot of your yard and poop in it.

00:40:27

My dogs have rejected that idea.

00:40:31

My dogs spread their poop across my lawn

00:40:33

like Jackson Pollock spreading paint across a canvas.

00:40:36

It gets everywhere.

00:40:38

And what that means is, when I walk in the darkness,

00:40:40

sometimes I step in it and it sticks to me.

00:40:46

This is exactly what it's like with us.

00:40:49

We step in the lies of the enemy and they stick

00:40:52

and they stick because he starts with the truth.

00:40:57

In my life a truth is that I was very frustrating

00:41:02

in the morning to get ready for school to my parents.

00:41:05

Very frustrating.

00:41:06

I think, by the way, parents, we should get trophies

00:41:08

when we get our kids to school on time every single day.

00:41:10

Gold stars and trophies. I would like that.

00:41:12

It's very difficult.

00:41:13

As frustrating as for me though,

00:41:14

it was so much worse for them. I know it was.

00:41:16

I have memories of getting into the minivan

00:41:19

to head to school in the morning without shoes on

00:41:22

and my mom being like, "Kyle, you forgot.

00:41:24

You forgot your shoes."

00:41:26

I have a memory of heading out the door with no pants,

00:41:29

literally like, "Oh, I didn't, I didn't remember pants."

00:41:36

And no one made me feel bad about that, by the way.

00:41:39

I think that's important.

00:41:41

No one, no one ever walked up to me and said,

00:41:43

"You know, Kyle, that means you're broken."

00:41:46

My parents are very gracious.

00:41:47

They would laugh it off.

00:41:49

I don't have memories of getting in trouble for something.

00:41:51

I just remember the truth that I was absent minded,

00:41:56

and the truth that no one else in my family had that problem.

00:42:02

And because of those two truths,

00:42:04

it made it very easy for the enemy to stick a lie to me

00:42:09

that said I have a broken mind.

00:42:11

Just stepped in it nearly every day getting ready for school.

00:42:13

I thought my mind doesn't work.

00:42:15

There were long periods of my life where

00:42:16

I literally thought, "I don't think God

00:42:18

will ever be able to use me.

00:42:19

I don't think I'll ever be successful.

00:42:21

I don't think I'll ever have a house

00:42:22

or a family or anything, because my mind

00:42:24

doesn't work the way

00:42:25

that everybody else's mind seems to work."

00:42:27

It just stuck.

00:42:31

We also, in my life, we moved a lot.

00:42:34

And there was a time in eighth and ninth grade

00:42:37

where we moved three times in 13 months.

00:42:40

I was the new kid in school.

00:42:42

And if you want the enemy to have a ripe opportunity,

00:42:47

do that, do that.

00:42:51

One of the moves was from the Midwest

00:42:53

to the East Coast to Philadelphia,

00:42:54

completely different culture.

00:42:56

I didn't know the lingo. I didn't know the language.

00:42:58

I didn't know the people. And that was all true.

00:43:01

Those were all truths.

00:43:03

But what had happened is it made the lie

00:43:05

very easy to stick to me, that I was,

00:43:09

and therefore always will be an outsider.

00:43:13

And this lie, it's not a little thing

00:43:16

from being a kid that was there, and then naturally,

00:43:19

it kind of falls and fades off.

00:43:20

No, it actually sinks in deeper and deeper

00:43:22

and deeper the older you get.

00:43:25

See, time does not take away the lies.

00:43:29

In fact, if you let the lie sit there,

00:43:31

over time, it will burrow in.

00:43:33

Still to this day I have to consciously go,

00:43:35

"That's right. I'm not an outsider.

00:43:39

I need people in my life.

00:43:40

I don't need to strive to be independent and not have.

00:43:42

I need to have people around me. I'm not an outsider."

00:43:45

It takes effort.

00:43:46

I still have to remind myself to this day.

00:43:50

I wonder about you in your life.

00:43:53

What truths have the enemy started with in your life

00:43:56

and what lies have stuck to you?

00:44:00

Is it the truth that you did get rejected

00:44:04

and they did leave?

00:44:06

But is the lie that you are alone?

00:44:11

Is the truth that you grew up poor

00:44:14

and you have been successful in business?

00:44:16

Is the lie that you're only as safe as your bank account?

00:44:23

Is the truth that you were abused

00:44:26

and the people who should have protected you didn't?

00:44:31

But is the lie that you will never be safe?

00:44:36

See, all of us, all of us, all of us

00:44:38

have these places in our lives.

00:44:41

We hear these whispers in the dark.

00:44:44

And because of the whispers, we step in the lies.

00:47:21

- All lies are stuck to you.

00:47:24

Was it one of those words that you heard or you just saw?

00:47:27

Was it confused? Alone?

00:47:31

What lies from your past have stuck to you

00:47:35

for years and years, decades and decades?

00:47:38

What lies about your future are you believing?

00:47:43

Is that it's too late? Is that it's over?

00:47:50

What lies about your body? Are you believing?

00:47:54

What lies about your bank account have stuck to you?

00:47:57

What lies about where you'll find worth

00:47:59

and significance and value are stuck to you?

00:48:04

You got a Sharpie when you came in.

00:48:08

I want you to take that out.

00:48:14

And I want you to think about the word.

00:48:20

Maybe it's a newer one from your life.

00:48:23

Maybe it's something you're going through right now,

00:48:27

a struggle, challenge.

00:48:30

Maybe it's something from when you were a kid,

00:48:32

something that you haven't thought about

00:48:34

until just right now. You just remembered.

00:48:39

Whatever it is I want you to write the word

00:48:40

that represents that on the bottom of your shoe

00:48:44

with the Sharpie. Write the word down.

00:48:48

This would be a moment that's easy to sit out, by the way.

00:48:52

If you want to that's okay.

00:48:54

I'm just telling you, you're not the only person

00:48:56

in the world who doesn't have a lie stuck to them.

00:48:58

You're not. You're not.

00:49:02

And there's a God who wants something better for you.

00:49:06

But in order to get the better,

00:49:07

you have to be willing to bring the lie into the light.

00:49:14

You've got the word, write it on your shoe.

00:49:17

If you need another minute to think about it, that's okay.

00:49:20

But if you've got it, you can put your foot back down.

00:49:29

Can you feel it there?

00:49:30

Press your foot against the floor.

00:49:32

Can you kind of feel it?

00:49:34

Almost like the letters have dimension.

00:49:38

See, a lie is like a rock in our shoe

00:49:40

and it changes every single step we take.

00:49:45

The problem with lies in the Bible,

00:49:49

all the warnings about them, it's not that

00:49:51

you and I tell lies, it's that we live them.

00:49:55

And when we live a lie, we make our own way.

00:49:59

It changes how we walk.

00:50:02

So we decide that the way to significance

00:50:04

will be my bottom line.

00:50:06

A way to be happy is to have the better car.

00:50:10

The way to feel loved is to have

00:50:13

the next exciting relationship.

00:50:15

And when the excitement wears off,

00:50:17

go to the next relationship.

00:50:19

The way to feel like I'm beautiful is to modify my body,

00:50:23

or excessively work out, or to starve myself.

00:50:26

We make our own way.

00:50:30

Well, I have good news for you.

00:50:32

If you're someone like me who's ever stepped in a lie,

00:50:37

if you're someone like me who's ever made your own way,

00:50:39

I have good news.

00:50:42

See, in the valley there's a good shepherd.

00:50:45

And that good shepherd promises to be the light.

00:50:50

In fact, He says that He'll be the light

00:50:53

that will come chase you down.

00:50:57

See the gospel of Jesus is not that you and I

00:50:59

have to make our way back to Him,

00:51:01

it's that He comes after us.

00:51:05

The very last words of Psalm 23 are these:

00:51:08

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

00:51:12

all the days of my life,

00:51:14

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

00:51:17

Follow in the Hebrew is the word radaph.

00:51:20

And it doesn't mean passively follow along.

00:51:22

It doesn't mean lollygag. It's not lagging behind.

00:51:26

It's not a slow walk.

00:51:27

It's a lion hunting down its prey.

00:51:30

It's the most aggressive form of pursuit possible.

00:51:33

And the good Shepherd is says that I'm coming

00:51:35

after you with my goodness and my mercy like that.

00:51:40

The light's coming for you, if you let Him.

00:51:42

If you let Him.

00:51:44

See, when H gets to you, what He'll do is shine His light,

00:51:50

the light of His truth on the darkness of your lies.

00:51:54

Where? Well, Psalm 119:105 says:

00:51:58

Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

00:52:06

Why, oh, why would would the word be a lamp to my feet?

00:52:10

I mean I get the light to my path part.

00:52:11

That sounds helpful. The lamp to my feet. Why?

00:52:16

Because that's where the lie sticks.

00:52:20

You know, all the way back in the garden,

00:52:23

after Eve fell for the lie, God told the serpent,

00:52:26

He said, "I'm going to curse you.

00:52:28

You're going to crawl on your belly.

00:52:30

And one day, one day, the offspring of this woman

00:52:34

will step on your head. You will be crushed."

00:52:40

Romans 16:20 says: The God of peace

00:52:43

will soon crush Satan under your feet.

00:52:48

See the lies in your life that stick to you,

00:52:50

they will not fade with time.

00:52:52

They will not fade when you chase accomplishments.

00:52:55

They will not fade when you walk your own way.

00:52:57

They will only fade when you walk towards the light Himself.

00:53:10

The question is, will you?

00:53:12

Do you want to keep your lie, or do you want to --

00:53:15

Do you want to walk into the light?

00:53:17

Do you want the word that's stuck to you,

00:53:19

or do you want a better word?

00:53:22

Hebrews 12 says you can have a better word if you want.

00:53:25

It says: But you have come to Jesus,

00:53:28

the mediator of a new covenant,

00:53:30

and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word,

00:53:35

a better word than the one that's been stuck to you.

00:53:37

And the place that we hear the better word, it's the valley.

00:53:41

It's the better word. It's better for two reasons.

00:53:43

One, because God's Word is not like you and I's word.

00:53:46

When I speak it's my opinion.

00:53:49

When I speak, I might change my mind.

00:53:52

But when God speaks, it defines reality itself.

00:53:57

It's not an opinion. It's not a perspective.

00:54:00

It literally shapes reality.

00:54:03

Psalm 33 says: By the word of the Lord

00:54:05

the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth

00:54:09

all their hosts. For He spoke, and it came to be.

00:54:13

He commanded, and it stood firm.

00:54:16

When He speaks His better word over your life,

00:54:20

it defines reality.

00:54:22

When He says, you are chosen, you're chosen.

00:54:25

When He says you are forgiven, you're forgiven.

00:54:27

See, the Word is also better

00:54:29

because it's better than you can imagine.

00:54:31

Many people, even those who've come to church

00:54:33

for a long time, I find they have this lower view

00:54:36

of God's Word over their life than what's actually true.

00:54:39

He speaks a better word.

00:54:41

I don't know if you know it,

00:54:42

so I'm going to read something to you.

00:54:44

Here's a better word. John 1:12. It says:

00:54:47

Yet to all who receive Him,

00:54:49

to those who believed in His Name,

00:54:51

He gave the right to become children of God.

00:54:57

Maybe you were rejected.

00:54:59

Maybe you were abandoned.

00:55:01

Maybe your mom left, your dad left, your boyfriend left.

00:55:04

God says, No. You're not alone. You're not rejected.

00:55:08

You're my son. You're my daughter. You have a home.

00:55:11

God says He owns the cattle on a thousand hills

00:55:14

and He knows every hair on your head.

00:55:16

You have a home.

00:55:19

Here's a better word. 2 Corinthians 8:9:

00:55:22

Though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor,

00:55:28

so that by His poverty He could make you rich.

00:55:33

You're not vulnerable. You're not unsafe.

00:55:36

God says you're rich. You have an inheritance.

00:55:38

The inheritance is His Kingdom. He gives it to you.

00:55:43

A better word is Colossians 1:22:

00:55:45

But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body

00:55:48

through death to present you holy in His sight,

00:55:51

without blemish and free from accusation.

00:55:54

If you think that when God looks at you,

00:55:56

He looks at your past and your failures

00:55:58

and your frustrations and your flaws, you are wrong.

00:56:01

That's not His definition.

00:56:02

He speaks a better word over you.

00:56:03

He says you're pure and you're holy.

00:56:06

He doesn't look at you and see blemishes.

00:56:07

He looks at you and sees perfection.

00:56:11

Why? Because of the blood of His better word.

00:56:15

Better word is Romans 8:1. It says:

00:56:18

Therefore, there is now no condemnation

00:56:21

for those who are in Christ Jesus,

00:56:23

because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit

00:56:27

who gives life has set you free

00:56:30

from the law of sin and death.

00:56:32

See, you're forgiven.

00:56:33

You're not condemned, you're free.

00:56:36

Every single lie is exposed and proven powerless

00:56:40

in the light of His better word.

00:56:43

When I walked into the light,

00:56:44

I figured out I don't have a broken mind.

00:56:46

I'm not an outsider.

00:56:48

There's a place that God's table prepared for me.

00:56:50

And there's a place prepared for you.

00:56:53

The question is, will you follow the light home?

00:58:44

- Those aren't happy words.

00:58:46

Those aren't words that we thought of

00:58:48

as artists at Crossroads that try to make you feel something.

00:58:51

Those are the words of truth Himself over your life

00:58:55

when you give your life to Him.

00:58:58

That's what He says you are.

00:59:00

It's the opposite of the lie that you've had stuck to you.

00:59:04

You know the most incredible promise, I think,

00:59:07

of the entire Psalm 23 is the last one.

00:59:11

It says this, Psalm 23:

00:59:12

You prepare a table before me

00:59:14

in the presence of my enemies.

00:59:18

See, in the valley of the shadow of death

00:59:20

there's a clearing, and the light comes down,

00:59:23

and it shines on a table.

00:59:25

And the table has been made by your Father, built for you.

00:59:30

And at that table is a nameplate and it has your name on it.

00:59:34

And there's a chair waiting for you in the presence of the lies,

00:59:39

even as they're stuck to your feet.

00:59:41

And the light has a question.

00:59:42

Will you follow Him home to the table He's prepared for you?

00:59:49

You have a chance to walk to the table right now.

00:59:52

We're going to do something called communion.

00:59:55

You might have heard it called the Lord's Supper

00:59:57

or the Eucharist.

00:59:59

You might be like me and maybe you've done this thing a lot.

01:00:02

And many times, maybe for you, it's felt like

01:00:05

this inaccessible, almost hard to feel something in

01:00:09

religious ceremony. What a nice thought.

01:00:12

I'm supposed to feel something

01:00:13

and I just can't quite get there.

01:00:15

Now listen, what the table is,

01:00:17

is the table is the better word.

01:00:19

The table is the word that you can't ignore

01:00:22

because you're holding it, because you're consuming it,

01:00:25

because it's going into you and changing you.

01:00:27

The word is His blood spoken over you.

01:00:31

It's the table He prepared for you.

01:00:34

On the last night before He was crucified,

01:00:36

Jesus talked about this table with His disciples.

01:00:40

Here's the story in Luke 22.

01:00:42

And He took bread, and when He had given thanks,

01:00:45

He broke it and gave it to them, saying,

01:00:48

"This is My body which is given for you.

01:00:54

Do this in remembrance of Me."

01:00:56

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,

01:00:59

"This cup that is poured out for you

01:01:02

is the new covenant of My blood."

01:01:05

If you choose to come take communion,

01:01:07

we're going to do it different today.

01:01:09

It's not the little kits like we do a lot of times.

01:01:11

You're going to walk up to a little table set

01:01:14

and there'll be someone there

01:01:16

and they'll take a piece of the bread and they'll say,

01:01:19

"This is the body of Christ broken for you."

01:01:23

And then they'll offer you the cup to dip the bread into,

01:01:26

and they'll say, "This is the blood of Christ shed for you."

01:01:30

And that's not their opinion.

01:01:32

That is the Word of Light Himself speaking over your life.

01:01:36

And if you walk to the table,

01:01:38

if you walk to the table, the lie that's on your feet

01:01:41

will literally begin to fade away.

01:01:45

And I'm telling you, it has no shot.

01:01:47

It has no shot to stick in the power of the light of His Word.

01:01:53

Jeremiah 23:29 says: Is not my word like fire,

01:01:58

declares the Lord,

01:02:00

and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

01:02:04

You want the rock in your shoe to be gone,

01:02:06

walk to the Word Himself.

01:02:11

What power could the lies have over you in the light?

01:02:15

The answer is none. The answer is none.

01:02:17

If you're tired of being in the darkness,

01:02:19

if you want to say thank you to the light,

01:02:21

I want to invite you to the table.

01:02:23

By the way, this could be your first communion.

01:02:26

Maybe you've never done this before.

01:02:27

Maybe you've always wondered who Jesus is

01:02:29

and something clicked in you today.

01:02:31

If that's the case for you,

01:02:32

this can be your very first communion.

01:02:35

This is for people who believe that

01:02:36

Jesus is who He says He is.

01:02:38

If that's you, you can just pray this simple prayer with me.

01:02:42

Say: Jesus, I believe You are the way,

01:02:47

the truth, and the life.

01:02:51

I have believed lies. I have made my own way.

01:02:54

And I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?

01:02:57

When we pray that prayer, the blood of Christ covers you

01:03:01

and you are new. You are new.

01:03:05

The table of the Lord is open

01:03:07

for all who want to walk into the light.

01:03:10

Let me pray as we get ready.

01:03:12

God, thank You so much for the power

01:03:15

of the light of your Word of truth.

01:03:18

Would You burn away every lie I've ever believed, God?

01:03:22

Would you expose new ones

01:03:24

that haven't even come to my mind yet?

01:03:26

If there's any way in me, if there's any way in us

01:03:28

that we're believing something that's untrue,

01:03:31

would you expose it

01:03:32

and would You speak the better Word over us?

01:03:37

Thank You for the power of the light. Amen.

01:03:41

Hey, this is for you too, wherever you're watching from.

01:03:44

This is not a moment to skip past.

01:03:45

This is a moment that God has prepared for you.

01:03:48

Now, I know you might not have bread.

01:03:50

You might not have wine. That's okay.

01:03:52

In just a minute I want you to pause the video

01:03:54

and go grab something you can eat and something you can drink.

01:03:58

And it can represent the body and the blood.

01:04:01

Pause the video right now.

01:04:03

Go get that stuff and I'll see you back in just a second.

01:04:26

- This is for you.

01:04:29

Whatever thing you have to eat can represent the bread,

01:04:34

that is the body of Christ broken for you.

01:04:39

And this, whatever you have to drink

01:04:41

is the blood of Christ shed for you.

01:04:44

Let's eat it together in remembrance of Him.

01:04:58

Let me pray for you.

01:04:59

God, thank You so much for the gift of Your Word.

01:05:04

May it go with us this week.

01:05:06

May it stick with us more than the lies

01:05:09

that have stuck to us in our past.

01:05:11

May the word of Your truth, the presence of Your blood

01:05:13

that's washed us white as snow, may it go

01:05:15

everywhere we go today.

01:05:17

Every conversation, every room,

01:05:19

every situation in our lives, God, would you cover it?

01:05:22

Thank You for Your better Word. Amen.

01:05:26

Thanks for being with us.

Recent Series