What Are You Afraid Of? | The Adventurous Life Week 4

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Life with God doesn't have to be boring.

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You were made for adventure.

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It can be a pulse pumping, heart pounding life of purpose.

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Join us every weekend for 30 minutes of challenge, hope

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and encouragement to guide you on your spiritual adventure.

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- Hey, I'm Kyle, one of the teaching pastors at Crossroads.

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Welcome to Crossroads Church.

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We're in a series called The Adventurous Life,

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where we're digging into the full, adventurous life

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that God has designed for each of us.

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Now, to get that adventurous life, everyone must face and overcome fear.

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Think about this for a moment. You know this.

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Every great movie that you love, the hero, the main character

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must face and overcome a fear from classics like Harry Potter

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and Star Wars, the soon to be classics

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like Eurovision, Will Ferrell's new movie,

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you must face and overcome a fear, and your life is no different.

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Today, we're gonna hear from Alli Patterson about how to,

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with God's help, face and overcome fear. Let's get started.

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- The first time I was ever on a horse was my last semester in college.

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I had some random credit I needed to graduate on time

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and for whatever reason, horseback riding fulfilled that credit.

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So I signed up for a little adventure.

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My name is Alli Patterson,

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I'm one of the teaching pastors here at Crossroads.

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And I am still no horseback rider.

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I walked into that class on the first day and I had a vision.

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I had a vision of like a Derby style horse

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that ate an apple out of the palm of my hand

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and just my hair was flowing in the breeze as I galloped through the meadows.

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And then (record screeching) I met Holly.

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I walked into the stall and there was this huge old white, stinky horse

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and she bit me on the shoulder five minutes after I was in her stall.

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The instructor actually said to me,

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"Alli, you can't let her know that you're afraid."

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And I left thinking, I didn't even know I was going to be afraid.

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I wanted an adventure and I ran straight into fear instead.

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And today we're gonna ask ourselves

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how much do we really want an adventure for our life?

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Because if you say yes to that,

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then you are going to run smack into fear as well.

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And fear has one job.

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Fear's job is actually to keep you exactly where you are today,

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to paralyze you and keep you from moving.

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I felt this kind of fear as I watch my kids get in the car last week.

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They were driving off for a weekend at their grandparents house.

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And I felt that stab of fear,

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that need to just kind of like grab 'em and bring 'em back to me.

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And I just kept thinking, what if something happens to them

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or what if there's an accident?

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What if the grandparents are too old to drive them?

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Maybe the risk just isn't worth it.

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If we're going to live a life of adventure,

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we are going to need to learn to expect those words,

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"Maybe the risk just isn't worth it."

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Fear loves those words, but if you wanted adventurous life,

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you're going to have to hear those and decide to take a risk

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right through fear and move anyway.

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You know what? Not all fears actually are worth the risk, right?

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We're not thrill seeking.

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We're not swimming with sharks.

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We're not doing what my son calls the duck and roll.

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He's like, "Mom, Mom, mom, when we get in the driveway,

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just slow the car down and I'm going to roll out."

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And I'm like, "Not on my health insurance you're not."

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He calls that the duck and roll.

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That's not the kind of risk we're talking about today.

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Today, we want to be able to identify the risks

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that are sitting right in front of us

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that have the ability to bring us closer to God.

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And we want to push through those, even in the face of fear.

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An adventurous life always has to push through fears to keep moving forward.

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I actually picked out an adventure for my own life.

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This adventure was all planned out.

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I was going to go to Proctor and Gamble

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and I was going to learn to run a business.

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I was going to travel the world.

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And that was my chosen adventure

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and I actually got a job there out of school.

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I got a passport.

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I saw some pieces of the world I never thought I'd see.

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I had a clear path ahead of me that was very appealing into the future.

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And frankly, I thought running a business was pretty cool.

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Right about this time in my life, too, though,

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I decided to kind of reinvestigate who is this guy named Jesus?

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And I started to rediscover what it might mean to actually follow Him.

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And there were these two parts of me

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that started this tug of war on the inside.

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One part of me wanted to be tough and shrewd and say things like,

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"I'm going to go to L.A. for a shoot next week."

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And the other part of me was very uncomfortable,

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like increasingly concerned that somehow, someway

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I was in a place that I just shouldn't be.

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And I'm not talking about those moments that we all have,

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like when we come home and throw our bag down and go, "I hate my job."

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It wasn't like that.

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Actually, I think that God calls people

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to all kinds of different jobs

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in all kinds of different places all over the world.

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But me, I went to P&G, not for God.

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I went there for money, for success, for what I thought would be adventure.

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I started to have these thoughts that maybe I should leave.

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And I couldn't get rid of them.

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They just kind of plagued me and I blew them off.

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I was all, "no way. This is exactly what I worked for,

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and also leave for what? To where?"

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It turns out there's a guy in the Bible, his name's Abram,

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and he faced exactly that question.

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God comes into his life and you can read his story in Genesis 12:1:

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Wait, what? That's it, God? Just go, leave?

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You're not going to give me any more information

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on the route, the destination? Just get up and go?

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So I read his story and I thought, "Well, that's fine

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for some big guy that ended up being important in the Bible,

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but probably not me."

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Then I read through the life of Jesus

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and people would come around Him all the time

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interested in what kind of adventure He was on,

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because it's obvious He was.

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And he would just issue an invitation.

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He would say, "Come, follow me."

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God seems to have some sort of pattern

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calling us into adventures where He's the guide

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and we need to go.

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As I took the thoughts of leaving P&G a little bit more seriously,

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the waves of fear started to hit.

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You can imagine what these were.

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This is what I'd plan to do with my life.

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First wave of fear was something like, "You don't --

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you don't really hear anything from God.

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He's not really trying to give you any direction."

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And then it was kind of, "Well, what if He is?

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It's just some hard lesson He wants to teach you.

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It's gonna be bad, unpleasant, some big cosmic rug pull."

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Then a whole bunch of fears about

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what am I actually going to do with my life if I --

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if I'm not doing this, who am I?

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What am I going to do? I want meaningful work.

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And actually, what about all the money I've been making?

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Am I just gonna be some big failure?"

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Through all the wrestling, all I kept thinking

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was those words that God said to Abram,

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"Leave and go where I show you."

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And when I finally decided to do that,

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I walked into my boss's office on the last day

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and she asked me a question that haunted me on the way out the door.

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She said, "Alli, do you really know what you're doing?"

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I did not know what I was doing.

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No is the answer to that question,

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but God was calling me to an adventure,

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and I needed a push through the fear

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of leaving behind what I had planned.

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Is there something in your life that

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you know you should be doing right now?

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You just feel you should move through it,

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but you can't quite bring yourself to push through the fear

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of giving up what you'd always planned.

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Or maybe you're actually the adventurous type by nature.

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You're about to run some ultra marathon in Spain next month.

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Well, you need to deal with the question,:

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whose adventure are you on?

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Is it God's adventure for you or is it your own?

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Because God's invitation to His adventure for so many of us

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is gonna start with the words: leave and go where I show you.

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- I remember I graduated college.

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I'm sitting in my room and the Lord was like, "It's time to go to LA."

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The reality of, "I have no money."

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And I'm sitting there like, "What am I going to do?"

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So this fear of not knowing kind of set in.

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I pushed through the fear though, and I went.

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Man, like I've been trying to get a job out here.

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I was trying to chase this dream of doing music and acting and everything.

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This is all new to me. What am I doing?

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And so I started booking commercials and God showed me in a moment

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like, "Hey, I know you're afraid, but I still take care of you.

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Like, I still got you. Don't worry about it."

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It taught me that even a yes, it's okay to still be afraid.

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And I was able to to do movies

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and making more money than I ever made in my life.

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So fast forward, you know, it's like 2017 and things are good, you know.

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Got a place to live. My career's going great, still got a job.

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And the Lord was like, "You're going to leave."

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"I'm going to do what? Leave. I just just got here.

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Like, things are going good. Like, no complaints.

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Things aren't perfect, but I'm making things work.

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Now you telling me I'm about to go?

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Come on now. Jesus, like we supposed to be homies.

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We supposed to be friends, boys. Like, come on, man."

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And that fear set in again of what am I going to do when I get there?

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I come back to Cincinnati.

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That fear of like of society saying what a man is

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started setting in like I don't -- I can't provide,

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help my family the way I want to.

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Like what am I gonna do?

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You know, I'm filling out applications literally every day.

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I'm not getting a call back. I don't know why.

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What's coming next?

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And I want to know.

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I remember I got a phone call from Delta Airlines

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and it was like, "Hey, we want to bring you in for interview."

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I was like, "Yes, please, let's do it. I need the money."

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That was February of this year.

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And here we are in the middle of a pandemic

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and I'm still able to provide for myself, my family,

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my loved ones, and pay my tithe on top of that.

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It proved to me that just because I say yes

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doesn't mean everything is going to go the way I want them to go.

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Even to this day, I'm still afraid because

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I don't know what's going to happen next

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in the middle of this pandemic.

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I don't know if I'm going to have a job come September.

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But what I do know is the same God who got me through L.A.,

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got me through this job,

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and got me here right now is still with me.

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And it's okay to be afraid.

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You just can't let the fear stop you from saying yes

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and still moving.

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- You know, God at many times in my life called me to face fear

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to bring me to a new place.

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Whether it was something like facing the fear of dating

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and asking a girl out for the first time,

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or the fear of quitting my job and moving across the country

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to go work at a place called Crossroads,

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where now it's my job to help you on your adventure.

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In fact, if you want, you can text ADVENTURE20 to 313131

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and we'll send you inspiring and challenging texts

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throughout the week to help you on your adventure.

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Now, one of the adventures that God calls each of us to

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is the adventure around money.

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And there's a lot of fear in it, not fear of having money so much,

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but the fear of the money leaving our wallet that moment.

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It's one that God wants to help each of us through.

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And the way He does it is He asks us to trust Him with our money.

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Now that looks like giving 10% of your income to our local church.

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If that's something you want to do

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or something you want to know more about,

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you go to Crossroads.net/give

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or you can text CROSSROADS to 313131.

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Let's hear some stories of people's adventures in our own community.

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- I'm Melissa and I'm a nurse.

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Taking care of others is my adventure.

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- I'm Faith. I volunteer at Woman's Camp.

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Taking others to new places is my adventure.

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- I'm Jairus. I lead a small group.

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Investing in others is my adventure.

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- I'm Melissa. I'm a college student.

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Learning as my adventure.

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- I'm Kirk. I'm a foster parent.

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Supporting families in crisis is my adventure.

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- I'm Reece and I started a charity.

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Caring for the homeless is my adventure.

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- I'm Regina and I'm a newlywed.

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Building a strong marriage is my adventure.

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- I'm Calvin. I'm a business professional.

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And building a career is my adventure.

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- I'm Margo. I volunteer in Kids' Club.

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And teaching the future is my adventure.

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- I'm Thandiwe and I volunteer at Student Ministry.

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And leading teens is my adventure.

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- I'm Juanita and I lead GO Trips.

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Taking faith to all the corners of the earth is my adventure.

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- When I got pregnant with my second baby,

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I had no idea that God, me, and fear

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were about to have another confrontation.

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My husband and I started a conversation about

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whether it just might make sense practically

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based on where we both were in our work and life at that point,

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to maybe consider me staying home and taking care of

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at home what would be two pretty young babies.

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And I was game for what might work for us,

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but to be honest, this was not on my list

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of life adventures that I was looking forward to.

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It actually kind of went against some of the ways

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that I saw myself,

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probably the most important of which was independent.

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I was kind of used to having my own thing going on.

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And as we started to discuss what might be best,

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it kind of hit me that I would be more dependent than ever on Bill.

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We would sort of be putting all the eggs in the basket

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of our marriage for maybe the first time.

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And did we really want to put life together

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to intentionally and only function as a team?

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Would I be enough for him and two small babies

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and would he really come through for me?

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The truth is, I was afraid of that kind of dependence.

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I think a lot of us have been hurt

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when we've depended on the wrong person,

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we've invested in the wrong place,

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we've trusted the wrong people.

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And maybe you, like I have, have a moment in your past

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where you can look back and think,

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"I guess I can really only rely on what I can do for myself."

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When I'm up on the horse,

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dependence was actually part of my fear of doing that.

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I would be completely dependent on the behavior

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of this thing that I wasn't sure I could control.

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What if he doesn't do what I say?

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What if he kicks me in the face when I'm in the stall?

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What if he throws me to the ground?

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Or what if we take off running and I can't control him?

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The adventurous life with God is actually just like this.

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It's a life of total dependence upon a God that we can't control.

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Sometimes I know I think it feels better to opt

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for what's manageable, what I can compartmentalize,

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what I can keep my hands around.

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But I'm telling you today, your adventure

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will only be as big as you let your God be.

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And for far too many of us, our picture of God is way too small.

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As a matter of fact, I know what size it is.

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The size of adventure that most of us are living

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is about the size of what we think we can handle.

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There was a guy named Moses in the Bible

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who God came and invited into a huge adventure.

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God shows up in a Moses's life, and he says, "Guess what?

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I have a big adventure for you.

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I want you to be my guy that goes into Egypt,

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talks to Pharaoh,

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and gets him to let all of my people out of slavery,

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the entire nation.

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We're just gonna go get them out of slavery."

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And Moses, right then, he needed a bigger picture of God too.

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Listen to what he says to God in Exodus 3

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after this big invitation to this amazing adventure:

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Five little words: I will be with you.

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Moses was all, "Really, God? How's this going to work?

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Are you -- Are you sure it's me?"

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And God says, "I'll tell you what. Here's our big plan.

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Ready for the strategy? I'm going with you."

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When I first started to stay home with the kids

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I told God the same thing.

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I said, "It doesn't seem like this is going to work very well.

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Are you sure you meant me?"

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I really did think He was behind this decision.

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I actually thought He was in favor of me doing this in my life.

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And I couldn't figure out why, at least until the moment

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I heard it come out of my very own mouth.

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Do you ever do the thing where you go, "Yeah, I heard it.

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I heard it"?

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I did that the day that I grabbed Bill by the shoulders.

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And we'd been struggling to put a life together

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that we were both kind of happy and satisfied with.

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And I grabbed his shoulders and I said to him,

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"Listen to me.

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I know that I've been sending you all kinds of messages

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in big and small ways for years, that I've got this,

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that I can do it by myself.

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But the truth is, I can't. I need you."

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Bingo.

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It was the biggest thing that God did for me

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in the seven years that I stayed home with my kids.

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And just like Bill and I had to learn what it meant

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to put life together as a team, to go on an adventure

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where we could only operate dependent on one another,

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that's exactly the kind of relationship

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that God invites you and me into.

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He wants us to operate that exact same way with Him.

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So where are you holding out?

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Where are you refusing to rely on God?

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Or maybe you're refusing to rely on others.

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Whatever it -- wherever that is in your life,

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that is the place that will limit the size of your adventure.

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- How are you?

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It's nice to meet you.

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- Am I allowed to touch her?

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- You can touch her everywhere.

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- OK. Do I go in front of her, behind her?

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- You can come around right to the front.

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- Yeah.

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- Perfect. And come right around the back of the horse

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as you're touching her.

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Yep, keep touching her. There you go.

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- I'm glad you're confident.

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- Do you feel good?

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- I don't feel bad.

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- Paula says she's kind of a small horse,

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but she still seems big to me.

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I'm nervous I'm going to hurt her.

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- Oh, no, you're not. I promise you.

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Nicely done.

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- Fear always wants to tell us that we need to see

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all the pieces laid out before us of our adventure

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before we start to move.

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Man, as a planner -- Whoa, whoa, whoa, Candy.

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Let's go, walk on.

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As a planner, I would love to know

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where this horse is even going right now.

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Keep going. Let's go.

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But God just doesn't work like that.

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He doesn't lay out all the pieces of our adventure

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before we even take the first step.

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The adventurous life -- Whoa, Candy --

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actually starts to unfold as we move.

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When I'm up on this horse I remember from school

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when I took horseback riding, I remember

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I actually feel better on the horse.

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You couldn't tell it now, but I can --

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I can feel her. I can see her.

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I can talk to her in a new way.

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And I can actually gently guide her with the easiest commands.

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Unlike in the stall, where if I tried to move this horse,

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she would go absolutely nowhere.

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But up here I can ask her to stop with a little whoa

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and then I can ask her to go again.

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Let's walk on.

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She can hear me and see me as we move together.

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You know, a couple years ago --

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Let's walk a little slower, babe.

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A couple years ago, I was debating a decision in my own life.

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Whoa.

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And I didn't know which way to go because I couldn't see the end.

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I wanted the end laid out before me.

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I wanted to know which path should I walk down and why,

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and have all the pieces arranged.

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And it was really about going back to school.

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I wanted to go back because I wanted to teach

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as well as I possibly could.

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And I kind of thought, I'm going to need some help.

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I'm going to need some more education for this.

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And when I applied to seminary, I realized

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I need the recommendation of my senior pastor.

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So I made a -- I made an appointment.

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I went to see Brian.

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And we've known each other for years,

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so I just talked to him about some of my uncertainty,

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thinking I don't even know if I want to get a degree,

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and if so, which one and all of that.

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And he said, "Yes, I'm happy to write your recommendation

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if you decide you want to do it."

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And I got up to leave his office

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and he kind of called out after me.

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He said to me, "Hey, Al."

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And I turned around and he said, "Don't forget,

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it's always easier for God to steer a moving ship."

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And I walked out thinking, "Huh?

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It's always easier for God to steer a moving ship."

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Those words gave me the freedom that I needed

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to actually make a move without knowing the end.

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It didn't mean something was wrong.

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It just meant that God was only going to take me the first step

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until I moved with Him.

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Every time we see the real faith at work in the Bible,

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that's always what happens.

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God is not going to lay out the steps.

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Our adventure is going to unfold as we move.

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Let's go.

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The adventurists life is really a life of real faith.

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And faith is just the willingness to risk something real

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on God himself, on the plans of God,

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on the character of God, on the reality of God,

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on His ability to care for you, on His desire to love you.

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I want to encourage you today

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that if you don't have any history with God,

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you don't feel like you know Him,

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you don't feel like you have a relationship with Him,

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that the first move of faith is always the hardest.

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And as we move, we meet a God who not only has good plans for us,

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He has an adventure that He wants to share.

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I've met a lot of people who say they have faith,

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but have never put anything on the line with God.

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They've never actually risked a job or relationship,

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any of their money or anything.

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And that is not real faith.

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You want to know how to find the adventure that God has for you?

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I can tell you how.

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You look at the risk in front of you right now

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and push through the fear, risking something

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on the reality of a God

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who's going to go on that adventure with you.

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So what is it?

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What is the risk that you're thinking of right now,

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the one you know would lead to the first step

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on an adventure for you,

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the one you wish God would tell you more about,

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the one you'd love to have the plan all laid out for.

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And do you know? Can you see what the fear is

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that's trying to paralyze you and hold you

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exactly where you are today?

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You don't have to get it right. You really don't.

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You don't have to see the end.

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All you have to do is know that God thinks

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it's a lot easier to steer a moving ship.

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I want you to remember 2 Corinthians 5:7, maybe even memorize it.

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It says:

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That doesn't mean we check our brains at the door

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or we don't want counsel or wisdom to go with us.

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It just means that we're not afraid to take a step

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not knowing the end, because we have a God who is going with us,

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who wants a better adventure for our life

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than anything we could ask or imagine for ourselves.

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Let's go.

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- One of the best ways to tell God

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that you want to be in motion towards Him

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is to simply talk to Him.

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And you can do that through songs

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like the one we're about to sing right now.

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This is words that God said to a guy named Joshua

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thousands of years ago, but they're the same ones

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He says to you and I right now.

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He says, "Be strong, take courage.

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I'm on the adventure with you."

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Let's sing these words together right now.

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- Don't let your adventure stop here.

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If you want, remember you can text ADVENTURE20 to 313131

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to receive encouraging and challenging texts throughout the week.

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Or if you're ready for more than that, you can get a guide,

00:35:51

someone to help you on your journey, answer questions,

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help you take your next step, and even pray for you.

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If that's something you're interested, you can go to

00:35:59

Crossroads.net/adventure and chat with us.

00:36:02

Or if this message has impacted you

00:36:04

and you want to help other people experienced that,

00:36:07

you can give the support us and support this message,

00:36:09

you can go to Crossroads.net/give to do that.

00:36:13

Next week are going to continue in our series,

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The Adventurous Life.

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Brian's going to be talking to us about

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how adventurous people change the world literally

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and not just talk about it, but actually give each of us

00:36:25

an opportunity to do exactly that next week.

00:36:28

You're not going to want to miss it.

00:36:29

Lastly, you can stay tuned right now

00:36:32

to hear about how you can connect to people around you.

00:36:36

- Crossroads has communities all across the country

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and I want to help you get connected.

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I'm Greg Aukerman and I lead the online church team

00:36:43

whose job is to do exactly that.

00:36:46

I'd love to help you find your people,

00:36:47

get support and prayer

00:36:49

and take your next step on your spiritual adventure.

00:36:52

Connect with us at Crossroads.net/onlinecommunity.

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