Heme Aquí, Envíame a Mí | Por Qué Seguir a Jesús Significa Rechazar Lo Ordinario

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- Well, hey, everybody, welcome to Crossroads.

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If we've never met my name is Kyle.

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I'm our Lead Pastor here at Crossroads

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and I'm also 1 in 3 in fantasy football

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in a league with the volunteers.

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So I'm not talking about fantasy football tonight.

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Instead, I'm talking about something much more polarizing.

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It's the word called evangelism.

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If you're new to Crossroads, welcome.

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We're in a series called Go Reach Your People,

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and it's about that word.

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Now, if you're brand new, especially if you're somebody

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who's not quite sure what you believe about Jesus,

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and that word makes you maybe even squirm

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or feel a certain way.

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My hope is tonight you walk away understanding why,

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why believers in Jesus, like me,

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think this is so important, and maybe even feel honored

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that we might want to share Jesus with you.

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If you have been around for a while,

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I'm going to be very upfront with you.

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My goal today is to bother you.

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I want to upset you and agitate you.

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I want to put a little burr in your saddle.

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I want to put a rock in your shoe

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and have you walk differently when you walk out of here

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than when you walked in.

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My goal is to push you.

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And we're going to start with this verse, Isaiah 6:8.

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It says: I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

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"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"

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Then I said, "Here I am, send me."

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Now this starts with this crazy idea

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that the God who made the entire universe looks at you

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and me and ask us to go and represent Him.

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This verse may be familiar to you.

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I've actually preached on it several times

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over the last year, but tonight I want to aim it.

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Today I want to aim it at something different.

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I want to aim it at a part of your life

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that may be the most difficult place

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for you to respond the way that Isaiah responded,

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for you to respond with, "Here I am, send me."

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And that place is the place that's closest to home.

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Let's pray before we go any further.

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God, I'm asking that tonight,

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that today we would hear from You,

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that we would be pushed by You,

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that You would take us to a new place

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in saying yes to Your call to represent You in the world,

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yes to Your call to share Your gospel. Amen.

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When I was born, my mom was Catholic

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and my dad was like a nothing.

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I was number two. I was the second kid.

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And so when I came around, they were like,

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"Hey, we need a family faith system.

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We can't keep going like this."

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And so they set out to find one family faith system.

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Simple idea. My dad would become Catholic.

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And so he went to catechism class

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to learn about Catholicism.

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My mom went with him.

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At the end of the class, my dad was like,

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"Good enough. I'm Catholic."

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And my mom sat there and she was like,

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"This is what we believed, like the whole time, really?

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This makes no sense to me."

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And so my dad became Catholic. My mom became un-Catholic.

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Not successful.

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And it existed that way for four and a half years

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until my younger brother showed up, at which point

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they decided, let's try again.

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And so they went back looking for a church,

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a faith system that would fit them.

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And they ended up in this place, a tiny little church

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called Centerville Community Church.

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This place right here.

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It's a Christian and Missionary Alliance church,

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still there today.

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This is actually the first place that my parents

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heard the message of Jesus in a language they can understand.

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It's the place my mom was baptized.

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It was pivotal to their faith journey,

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therefore pivotal to my faith journey.

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And interestingly, it was led by this couple.

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This is Kenneth and Sarah Lew.

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They were the leaders of this place.

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Do we have that photo? Can we put it up, please?

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Please, oh, please.

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Well, you can just imagine what they look like.

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Well, bummer. I wanted to honor them, Sarah and Kenneth Lew.

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Now Christian Missionary Alliance Church.

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That means we had tons of missionary Sundays.

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Anybody ever go to church who had missionary Sunday?

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It was actually awesome.

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When you were like 5 or 6 years old like I was,

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boring church became not boring.

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They got out all these flags and they hung them from the rafters.

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It looked like the United Nations inside of the church.

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Crazy awesome flags.

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They literally called it the Parade of Nations.

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And these missionaries would show up

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and they would tell us about the stories

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of what they were doing and how they were reaching people

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and learning new languages and all this stuff.

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They would talk to us basically about

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the work they were doing as missionaries

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to reach those people over there.

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And this impression formed in my little 5-6 year old brain

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that started to build from there.

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And the impression was that there was basically

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two types of Christians.

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There are the missionaries

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and there are the ordinaries, two groups.

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And therefore there'd be two different answers

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to this question asked in Isaiah 6:8,

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that God says, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"

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The missionaries answer would be, "Here I am, send me,

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because my job is to evangelize."

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And the ordinaries answer would be, "There they are,

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send them, because my job is to patronize,

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literally to be a patron of, to donate to and support them

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on their goodwill mission to share the gospel.

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Not really my thing."

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Now, as a kid, I sat in this church

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and I'll tell you what, I felt called as I listened

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to these missionaries describe their life.

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I felt called to be an ordinary. Absolutely.

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Because being a missionary sounded terrible.

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I was, like, you're going to go live

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in this horrible place.

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You're going to live in the jungle.

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You're going to get malaria.

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You're going to have to poop in the woods.

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It's gonna be terrible. I was, like,

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I do not want to be a missionary.

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I would like to choose ordinary.

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And I think for most Christians,

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if you're a follower of Jesus in this room,

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you would probably say, if given these two choices

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missionary, ordinary, you also chose ordinary.

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But here's the kicker.

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If you ask Jesus, there is only one type of follower of Him,

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and it's not the ordinaries, it's the missionaries.

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It's the only possible choice.

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Now, how do I know this?

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Let's take a little pop quiz to answer it.

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I know you're like, pop quiz. We just took a survey.

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Pop quiz too? That's a little, a little much.

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No pop quiz. Hang with me.

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Let me ask you a question.

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Let me show you a picture here.

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What's this person? Firefighter.

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Good. Good job. How do you know?

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Uniform. Yes, exactly. Okay, good.

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Next picture. What's this person?

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Military. Yes. How do you know? Uniform. Awesome.

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Next picture. What's this person?

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Sad. That's right, that's right.

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And how do you know?

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Wearing a Bengals uniform. Exactly. Exactly.

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No, Bengals, we still believe in you.

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We're still rooting for you. It can still happen.

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We're hanging in there.

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Okay, let me ask you a question.

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Let's imagine you saw someone dressed like a firefighter.

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Okay. And there's a fire that breaks out.

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And when the fire breaks out,

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the person wearing the firefighter uniform

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just goes to the curb and sits down

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and then just kind of looks around.

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"I hope somebody puts out that fire."

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Would you walk past that firefighter and be like,

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"Man, you're doing a great job."

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No, of course not. Of course not.

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Well, do you know that if you believe in Jesus,

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you are also wearing a uniform?

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This is what the Bible describes as believing in Christ

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that you put on Christ. Galatians 3:27 says:

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For all of you who are baptized into Christ

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have clothed yourself with Christ.

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The imagery is literally a uniform that you put on,

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and it looks like Jesus.

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And God's goal is that every single day,

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every place you go, every person you interact with,

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you would intentionally put on the uniform of Jesus.

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Romans 13:14 says: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,

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and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

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In other words, there's a part of you, your flesh,

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that does not want to put on Jesus.

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You would like to be an ordinary.

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And sometimes it's awkward to put Him on.

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Sometimes it's strange and you're going to be looked at

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and talked about and all these things, you just --

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It'd be easier not to.

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But God says every day, in every place,

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with every person put on Christ.

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Now, I think we're confused a little bit about

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this imagery in our time because we have replica jerseys.

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I have a Bengals jersey.

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I have an FC Cincinnati jersey.

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Maybe you're in Kentucky, you have a UK jersey.

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You're in Columbus, you have Ohio State jersey.

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I don't know. We have these replica jerseys

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and we put on our replica jerseys

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and we sit in the stands and our job is to cheer, yay,

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for the real players.

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But when it comes to Jesus,

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there's no such thing as a replica jersey.

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There's just the real one.

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And so I want you to know that if you believe in Jesus,

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you've been clothed with Him, you have a uniform

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and your role is to be a missionary,

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to get off the curb and to get into the fight.

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And I'm telling you, the world needs more of us

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to start acting like this.

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And not just the world, like people far away over there,

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the world that you inhabit, your world,

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and the people who most need you to adopt this habit

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every single day are the people closest to you.

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Last week, if you missed it, Brian talked about

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why at Crossroads we don't do political stuff,

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we don't take political positions.

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That's just not our thing.

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We don't do politics at Crossroads.

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If you missed it, by the way, you should go back and watch it,

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especially if you're new or if you want to understand

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Crossroads, who we are, what we're about, good or bad.

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I don't know what you're going to decide.

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I'm just saying you should go back,

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you should give that thing a watch now.

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Jesus's disciples were always trying to get Jesus

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to take a political stand.

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They always trying to get Him to use His power

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to influence and change the government.

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It happens before He goes to the cross,

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on the way, on the road there, James and John,

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his two disciples are fighting and they're like,

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"Hey, can we be your vice president

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and your speaker of the house, basically?"

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And He's like, "That's not how it works here.

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No. In My Kingdom and my economy,

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that's not what I'm about.

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If you want to be great in My Kingdom,

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you have to serve everybody. It's upside down, guys."

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And then even on the other side of the Cross

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would you believe, after the resurrection,

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the disciples were still, still trying

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to get Him involved in the government?

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This is crazy. This is Acts 1:6, after the resurrection.

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So when they had come together,

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they (that's the disciples) asked Him,

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"Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

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Will you at this time take over the government

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from the Romans who are oppressing us and were awful?

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And and Jesus basically says,

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"No, no, that's not what I'm doing right now.

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No, no, no, no, not at all."

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And then he says these words, you may have heard them before.

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Acts 1:8: He says, "No, I'm not going to do that,

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but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit

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has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses

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in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria,

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and to the end of the earth."

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Notice, He says, "You will."

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He doesn't say an option available to you.

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Just wanted you guys to know

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one of the choices you might make is.

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No, he says you will. You will do this.

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If you follow me, if you're my disciple, you will.

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It doesn't leave it open to where they might do it.

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He follows a particular order.

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He says three places Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

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and the end of the earth.

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These circles basically form concentric circles.

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If you looked at a map of the area at the time,

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this would be centered almost like a target on Jerusalem.

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And Jerusalem is where the disciples are

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when He says this to them.

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They're literally in the middle of the city.

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Now, every target, you know has a bullseye in the middle.

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And so, quite literally, the bullseye of the mission field

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that Jesus sends His disciples to is where they already are.

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And it's the same with you and I.

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Also just like you and I, it's the place

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the disciples least wanted to go.

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It's kind of odd if you think about it.

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It's actually easier in many ways to think about

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going there to reach them

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than it is to reach my people right here.

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Disciples don't want to do this.

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We know this because just two verses

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before this story starts in Acts 1:4, it says:

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While staying with them

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He (that's Jesus) ordered them not to depart --

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Hold on. Oh. Oh.

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I had trail mix before, that was a mistake.

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Oh, man. Okay. That's fine.

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Sorry front row, that came out on you.

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That was trail mix and some protein and some sugar in there.

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It's good for you. It's fine. Relax.

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I'll start over. Acts 1:4: While staying with them

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He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem.

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He ordered them.

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Parents, do you ever have to order your kid to do something?

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Yes. Yes.

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I have to order my kids to brush their teeth,

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still, every single night.

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When I go home, I'll order them to brush.

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My son's 15. Have to order.

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Now when do you have to order your kids to do stuff?

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When they don't want to do it, that's when.

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And so in this verse, it's pretty clear, the disciples

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did not want to be His witnesses in Jerusalem.

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They wanted to leave, so Jesus has to order them to stay there.

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It's the same with us.

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See, you and I, we have a mission field.

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And the bullseye of our mission field is our Jerusalem.

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It's where we currently are.

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It's the neighborhood we're already in.

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It's the social circles we're already in.

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It's the workplace we already go to every day.

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It's the classrooms that we sit in.

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That's the bullseye of our mission field.

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Now, like I mentioned, interestingly, I think

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it's actually way more comfortable for most of us

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to think about the outer rings,

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to go further and further,

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especially the ends of the earth.

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I mean, there's some there's a little bit of,

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you know, "Oh, it's the ends of the earth.

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Maybe it's dangerous there, but it's also kind of exciting."

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And no one there knows us,

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so there's no real blowback on it at all.

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It's just kind of far, far away.

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You know, in the 10X Push that we mentioned in that survey

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that you saw 10X Push about helping people

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in all of those rings and the project

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that people were most excited about,

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we did a survey after the 10X Push.

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And we know the project that most of you

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are most excited about involved Anjali over in Nepal.

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Also, by the way, if you missed last weekend,

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Anjali was here. She does incredible work.

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If you're brand new, she does incredible work

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with rescued women out of sex slavery,

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with preventing that for children over there.

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And it's an honor, it's an honor, honor, honor

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to support her, such, such amazing, amazing work.

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Now, what's interesting, though, is in that survey,

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the thing we were most excited about

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was helping Anjali far away.

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The stuff that we were all least excited about

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was the stuff that was about reaching our friends

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and neighbors here with the message of Jesus

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in a language they can understand.

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That was all the bottom of the list.

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And again, I'll just tell you,

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if you can get excited about Anjali out there,

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but not reaching your friends here,

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you're missing the bullseye of your mission field.

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That's not a disrespect against Anjali.

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It's awesome, let's help her. Absolutely.

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But if you want to help her more,

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the way you're going to do that

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is reach more people here. Reach them here.

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Too many of us are missing the bullseye

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of our own mission field.

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Too many of us are missing it.

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Now at Crossroads,

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we are obsessed with reaching our neighbors.

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We're obsessed with reaching the cities where we are

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and each and every person.

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Jesus said love your neighbors. We take that very seriously.

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Our neighbors that are like us,

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neighbors that are different with us.

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And part of the 10X Push was starting something

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at a brand new level that we've begun as an experience,

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taking it to the next place called Crossroads en Espanol.

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And I'm so pumped to tell you, if you didn't know,

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this weekend Crossroads en Espanol is launching

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at every single site. Absolutely awesome.

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Now we have an amazing leader,

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that's only happened because an amazing leader

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and his amazing team. I love you to meet him.

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This is Victor Martinez. [cheers & applause]

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What's up, Victor? What's up, man?

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Okay, so tell us, Crossroads en Espanol

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launching at all locations this weekend.

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What does that actually mean?

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- Well, it means that we actually will have --

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Can you guys hear me? No, no, you hear me?

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- I'll stand close.

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- Mic is weak, they're killing me.

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All right. Um, okay.

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This is gonna get awkward. Let me get on this side.

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- Yeah. There we go. That's better.

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- All right. Can you guys hear me now?

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- Yes.

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- All right. Um, yeah. So Crossroads en Espanol

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will be this opportunity for people

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that speak Spanish as their main language,

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they'll be able to actually be here in the auditorium

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listening to your amazing teaching

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and the other teaching pastors,

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but also worshiping together in this room.

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- Translated live. Yes. Yeah. Amazing.

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Okay. Now, the next question I have for you

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is tell us why is this happening now?

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And kind of what does it feel like to be

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a Spanish speaker right now in our country?

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- Yeah, absolutely. - Still not on.

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- I don't know, here. Just get back close.

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This is what it feels like to be Hispanic right now.

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Um, yes, we're very tight to each other.

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- I can feel it. I can feel it.

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- You feel the heat. You can feel it.

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Um, no. But not really. Like it's actually very cool.

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The music is amazing, right.

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Your hips don't lie when when they listen to your music.

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But also food, and I love Hispanic food.

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But it's also very hard because today

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I think it's actually working now. Yeah.

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- Great. Great great, great.

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- Um, yeah, I was getting warm there.

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- It was very warm.

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- And the truth is that it's also very hard today

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looking like me, sounding like me,

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seeing messages constantly of people saying,

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"Hey, I don't like you, I don't want you. Go back home."

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This is home for us, you know?

00:18:36

And, um, the thing that I'm excited about

00:18:38

these efforts is that Crossroads is saying,

00:18:41

"Hey, we want to create a space for you to belong."

00:18:44

In fact, I would think, and I think we believe

00:18:47

that the answer to the vision is the church.

00:18:49

Jesus established the church.

00:18:51

He prayed for the church. Yes.

00:18:54

And specifically we see Jesus praying in John 17 about

00:18:58

He says, "Lord, may they be one,

00:19:00

just as You and I are one, so that the world will know

00:19:04

that you sent Me and that You loved them."

00:19:06

- That's awesome. Awesome. - Yes.

00:19:07

- Well, hey, if you're part of Crossroads,

00:19:10

or maybe you're brand new, you just have a heart

00:19:12

for this community, this work,

00:19:14

especially if you're part of the 10X givers,

00:19:17

I'd love you to just stretch out a hand

00:19:18

and pray a blessing over Victor and his team with me

00:19:21

as they get started this weekend.

00:19:22

Father, I thank You so much for the opportunity

00:19:26

to love our neighbors in new ways.

00:19:28

Thank you for Victor.

00:19:30

Thank you for his entire team who've been working so hard.

00:19:33

Thank you for every volunteer at every site.

00:19:36

We're asking, Lord, that thousands of people

00:19:39

would come to know you, hearing Your gospel

00:19:43

in a literal language they can finally understand.

00:19:47

Would You bless this man and bless the work, God. Amen.

00:19:49

- Amen. - Amen. Thanks, man.

00:19:51

Awesome. Awesome. [applause]

00:19:56

See, our mission at Crossroads is pretty simple,

00:19:58

it's basically Jesus's mission.

00:19:59

And He says His mission in different ways

00:20:01

in different parts of the Bible.

00:20:03

But here's one where it's pretty, pretty clear.

00:20:05

Luke 19:10: Jesus said, For the Son of Man

00:20:08

(that's His nickname for Himself) the Son of Man

00:20:11

came to seek and to save the lost.

00:20:15

Now, if I told you I was seeking to lose weight

00:20:20

and you said, "Oh, what are you,

00:20:21

what are you doing to do that, diet, exercise?"

00:20:24

And I said, "Nothing," you would rightly say,

00:20:28

"Well, then you're not actually seeking to lose weight.

00:20:31

You might be dreaming of losing weight.

00:20:34

You might be wishing, you might be intending to someday,

00:20:37

but you're not seeking to lose weight

00:20:39

unless you're actually doing something."

00:20:42

And if you want to follow the mission of Jesus,

00:20:44

which is what it means to be a missionary,

00:20:46

it means you're on His mission, then His mission is

00:20:50

that you would seek to save the lost,

00:20:53

that you would go out, that you would seek Him.

00:20:55

There'd be action.

00:20:56

And if you can't identify the people in your life

00:20:59

who don't know Jesus, who you're seeking after,

00:21:02

if you can't identify the places on your calendar

00:21:04

that you're praying for, the people, their names,

00:21:06

what -- if you can't identify those things,

00:21:08

then you're not on His mission. You're not.

00:21:13

And some of us, we come to church, and we think that

00:21:17

the goal of church is that we would just believe.

00:21:22

There's a great show, Ted Lasso, it was on a few years ago.

00:21:25

Awesome show. I loved it.

00:21:26

Apparently it's coming back, I heard.

00:21:28

I don't know if it's going to come back well.

00:21:29

I don't feel like we've ever successfully resurrected

00:21:32

a TV show and do a better version of itself,

00:21:34

but coming back.

00:21:35

The lasting impression of the show, I think,

00:21:38

is the iconic yellow believe sign, right?

00:21:41

You've seen the show, you know it's in the locker room

00:21:44

and it's kind of Coach Ted Lasso's mantra

00:21:46

he comes back to with his players that,

00:21:48

"Just, just believe. Just believe."

00:21:51

And I'll just say, if you're not being

00:21:54

a missionary in your life,

00:21:55

if you're not trying to reach people, it's because

00:21:57

you think this is the sign you're supposed to hit

00:22:00

when you walk out of church every week: Just believe.

00:22:03

Believe in the quiet of my own heart.

00:22:06

Believe in the rightness of my own answers.

00:22:09

Believe that one day I'll get to heaven. Just believe.

00:22:12

That's not the mantra.

00:22:14

Believing's good. That's really good. That's great.

00:22:16

But the Bible says faith without action is dead.

00:22:21

What are the actions that you're doing?

00:22:23

If you're not doing anything, if you're just believing,

00:22:25

you're not a missionary.

00:22:27

You might be a different kind of an "ary".

00:22:29

You might be a stationary, just not moving,

00:22:33

just going to sitting there on the shelf.

00:22:35

Pretty print, pretty paper.

00:22:37

You could write a note to somebody,

00:22:38

but let's not ruin it, right?

00:22:40

I mean, come on, we look good.

00:22:42

You might be contrary, not a missionary, a contrary.

00:22:48

My job with my beliefs is to judge other people

00:22:50

who don't believe like me, and put them down

00:22:51

and tell them where they're wrong. I'm a contrary.

00:22:54

No, no, that's not the job. That's not at all the job.

00:22:58

In Romans 2, actually, Paul outlines very clearly.

00:23:00

He says, you know what Jesus passes on with His mission

00:23:03

is the mission of seeking and saving the lost.

00:23:04

What He reserves for Himself is the mission of judging people.

00:23:07

That one, he's like, "That's mine. I do that part."

00:23:09

Literally Romans 2 starts with Paul saying

00:23:12

stop judging everyone.

00:23:14

And then he says, "Don't you know that

00:23:15

it's the kindness of God,

00:23:18

it's the kindness of God that leads to repentance?"

00:23:22

See your job, my job, whether we know it or not,

00:23:25

whether we opt in or not, is to be a missionary.

00:23:29

Now, I know there's another objection out there,

00:23:31

which is, "Well, that's fine,

00:23:33

but can't I just preach the gospel without words?"

00:23:36

It's actually a famous quote, maybe you've heard it.

00:23:38

Maybe you grabbed on to it.

00:23:40

It says: Preach the gospel. Use words only when necessary.

00:23:46

It sounds so great, right? I mean awesome.

00:23:49

Whoo, don't have to use words. Great.

00:23:52

Now it's supposedly it came from St. Francis of Assisi,

00:23:58

the one who started the Franciscan order.

00:24:00

The problem is, he never said it. Never. No evidence.

00:24:06

In fact, if you look at his life, he did the opposite.

00:24:10

He was known for his bold, courageous, loud preaching.

00:24:13

In fact, he preached up to five times a day,

00:24:16

used lots and lots and lots of words.

00:24:18

Now, what he did talk about was don't only use words.

00:24:23

He was very clear, you got to back up your words

00:24:25

with a life of humility and love and service and kindness.

00:24:30

Don't only use words.

00:24:32

But we latch into this idea of I don't have to use words.

00:24:35

And I think we do it for a reason.

00:24:38

I think because we're scared.

00:24:39

But the Bible says use words very, very clearly.

00:24:42

Romans 10:14 Paul writes:

00:24:45

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

00:24:50

And how are they to believe in Him of whom they've never heard?

00:24:55

And how were they to hear without someone preaching?

00:25:00

He doesn't say without somebody just silently acting out love.

00:25:03

No, no, he says, if no one says anything,

00:25:07

how are they going to know?

00:25:09

Think about your kids, if you were to just like

00:25:11

hope they know that you love them, but never use words.

00:25:16

Just every morning you make them toast.

00:25:18

You put the butter on the toast,

00:25:21

you slide it across the table and you step back.

00:25:23

Huh? Never say I love you.

00:25:28

Never tell them what you believe in them or see in them

00:25:31

or the gifts you think, they just -- no words.

00:25:33

And your marriage, would this be a good idea?

00:25:35

No. Terrible idea, terrible idea.

00:25:40

But we latch on to ideas like this because

00:25:42

we're afraid of what might happen if we use the words.

00:25:45

We're afraid that we might stir up something.

00:25:47

Because, see, over there, if we go

00:25:48

to the ends of the earth, that's awesome.

00:25:50

They can do it. We can only get the wins.

00:25:52

We can deal with none of the awkward moments.

00:25:54

Or if we go there ourselves, guess what?

00:25:56

We get to come home.

00:25:57

But if I talk about Jesus here with my neighbor,

00:25:59

they still live next door if it goes poorly.

00:26:02

If I talk about Jesus with my coworker,

00:26:04

they still sit in the cubicle next to me.

00:26:07

It's more intimidating.

00:26:09

I think what happens is that we psych ourselves out.

00:26:11

We focus on the differences and the problems that

00:26:14

the differences that we have and the obstacles

00:26:16

that might arise and we stop there and we stop there.

00:26:20

We don't have to.

00:26:22

When I was 22, I was working in a design department.

00:26:27

And the woman in the cube next to me

00:26:30

was as opposite from me as you could get.

00:26:34

She was 45, married and a lesbian.

00:26:39

I was 22, single and straight.

00:26:44

I was a Christian. She was not a Christian.

00:26:47

And I'll tell you, if there's ever a moment in my life

00:26:49

where I was like, "You know, using words would be bad.

00:26:51

I don't think this is going to go well,"

00:26:53

it would have been that.

00:26:54

But I felt this conviction from God to say,

00:26:56

"Hey, don't focus on your differences.

00:26:58

Don't focus on -- Focus on your similarities.

00:27:01

Focus on here's someone to love who doesn't know Me."

00:27:04

And it turns out her

00:27:05

and I actually shared a common language.

00:27:07

We both loved art. We both loved design.

00:27:10

We both loved interior design.

00:27:12

I was with my first ever apartment,

00:27:13

I was trying to pick out furniture.

00:27:15

She had just bought a house and was redoing it.

00:27:17

And so we found this common connection points

00:27:19

and she became a great friend of mine.

00:27:21

And I just try to love her without words.

00:27:24

I didn't try to share her the gospel

00:27:25

and just hope she got it.

00:27:27

Instead I said, "Hey,

00:27:28

this is really important part of my life,"

00:27:29

and I shared about what I was doing with my free time

00:27:31

and how I was volunteering

00:27:33

and leading a youth group at a church,

00:27:34

and why I was doing that and what Jesus meant to me.

00:27:36

And she just developed a friendship with me,

00:27:39

to the point where one day I said, "Hey,

00:27:41

I've been reading this book that's really helped me

00:27:44

understand God and kind of taken away

00:27:46

some of my preconceived misconceptions about who He is

00:27:49

and what He might think about me.

00:27:51

It's called Blue Like Jazz.

00:27:52

Would you want to read it with me?"

00:27:54

And she said yes. Crazy. She said yes.

00:27:57

And so we read this book together.

00:27:58

And I know the conversations that we had

00:28:00

and the way that that opened her eyes

00:28:02

to a God who might actually love her was amazing.

00:28:06

And I don't share that story to say

00:28:08

every time you ever go to the person

00:28:10

who you're most scared of, it's going to turn out awesome.

00:28:12

I'm not saying that.

00:28:13

I'm just saying I don't think we have to be

00:28:15

as scared as we think.

00:28:18

Because remember, the God of the universe is asking us to go.

00:28:24

So maybe, just maybe, He's got our back.

00:28:26

Maybe, just maybe, He has a plan.

00:28:28

Maybe, just maybe, He's pushed you in the place

00:28:30

to talk to that person. Yes, that person. Maybe.

00:28:34

Maybe it's not an accident that you are where you are.

00:28:37

You know, you and I are here, if you believe in Jesus,

00:28:41

we're here because someone used words with us.

00:28:46

It's an incredible power in words.

00:28:48

Proverbs 18:21 says:

00:28:50

Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

00:28:52

and those who love it will eat its fruits.

00:28:55

Literally life is in the power of your words.

00:28:59

When you share the gospel, you have no idea

00:29:02

the power that you unleash, the ripple effects

00:29:04

that it might have across generations.

00:29:07

100 years ago, there was a Chinese couple

00:29:11

living in China who felt a call

00:29:14

to be missionaries to India.

00:29:16

And so they raised support through their local church.

00:29:19

They bought tickets to India.

00:29:21

And they bought those tickets literally days

00:29:24

before the Chinese government was overthrown

00:29:27

by the communists and all travel was shut down.

00:29:29

This is August of 1927.

00:29:32

They buy the tickets.

00:29:33

They're some of the last people to leave China.

00:29:36

They go to Calcutta, India,

00:29:38

and they start sharing the gospel with people.

00:29:41

They meet this young Buddhist couple.

00:29:43

The husband in this couple was Indian.

00:29:46

The wife was from China.

00:29:48

And they share the gospel,

00:29:50

this Buddhist couple receives Jesus.

00:29:53

And years later, the son of that couple

00:29:57

and the daughter of the missionaries moved to America,

00:30:02

got married, went into ministry,

00:30:06

and ended up leading a little church in Centerville, Ohio.

00:30:11

Their names were Kenneth and Sarah Lew.

00:30:14

And that couple taught my parents

00:30:18

the message of Jesus in a language they understand.

00:30:23

I just share that story with you to say

00:30:25

you have no idea the ripple effects that you might have,

00:30:27

and that ripple is not done.

00:30:28

I might be the smallest footnote in their faith journey.

00:30:31

I have no idea what God's going to do,

00:30:33

but what I do know is that a couple was faithful

00:30:36

on the other side of the world,

00:30:37

and it's changed me and changed my life.

00:30:40

When you share the gospel, you don't know.

00:30:44

You don't know what could happen.

00:30:46

You have no idea.

00:30:48

And so my plea with you is

00:30:50

what if you started taking Jesus seriously

00:30:53

that this is your job, there's no opting out

00:30:55

and you actually showed up

00:30:57

and you put on Christ every day, in every situation,

00:30:59

with every person, you were ready to share the gospel?

00:31:02

When when you hear the call of God that says,

00:31:04

"Who will go for us?" You answer with, "Here I am, send me.

00:31:09

Here I am in the drive thru. Send me.

00:31:12

Here I am at work. Send me.

00:31:14

Here I am in my frat house. Send me.

00:31:17

Here I am in geometry class. Send me.

00:31:20

Here I am in the preschool line. Send me.

00:31:22

Here I am on the sideline of the kids soccer game. Send me."

00:31:26

What would happen?

00:31:27

Because maybe, just maybe, the reason that

00:31:29

you're on the soccer sideline isn't because

00:31:31

your kid's going to get in the Olympics.

00:31:33

They're not. It's not going to happen.

00:31:36

It's not why you're there. It's not about the soccer.

00:31:40

This is Sarah and I's attitude about about our life.

00:31:42

We look around all the different places we are,

00:31:44

and we've just decided that wherever we are,

00:31:46

we're the missionaries.

00:31:47

Not because I'm a pastor.

00:31:49

And I know you might be like, "Oh, you're a pastor.

00:31:51

It's easy for you." No, it's harder

00:31:52

because every time someone finds out I'm a pastor,

00:31:55

they start getting really weird. They do.

00:31:56

Brian talked about this last week.

00:31:58

Literally, they're like, "Oh my gosh, I cursed earlier.

00:32:01

I'm so sorry. "Like, " Okay. Uh, whatever. Great.

00:32:05

Thank you so much. Now it's weird."

00:32:07

It's not easier.

00:32:08

But we've just decided that the reason that we're on

00:32:10

the sidelines is so that we can be the missionaries.

00:32:14

That's why we're there.

00:32:16

It's not actually about the sports.

00:32:17

And what would happen if you took the same attitude?

00:32:19

You said, "Wherever I am, I'm here"?

00:32:21

And I have good news for you.

00:32:23

Do you know that you are already perfectly equipped

00:32:26

to reach the people you're already around?

00:32:29

Missionaries who go to the other side of the world,

00:32:31

they have to train for years, years to learn a language.

00:32:35

Five years to get proficient enough

00:32:36

to just be conversational.

00:32:38

They have to learn the unspoken language,

00:32:39

all the cultural cues, all their traditions.

00:32:42

They have to learn the needs of the community,

00:32:44

what it's like to be them.

00:32:45

Then they have to contextualize the gospel to them.

00:32:47

You don't have to do any of that.

00:32:50

If you're a mom in the preschool line,

00:32:51

you know what it feels like to be a busy mom

00:32:53

and tired all the time. Awesome, you speak the language.

00:32:56

If you're in the design department,

00:32:58

you already know about that.

00:32:59

Wherever you are, if you're the dad on the sideline.

00:33:01

You already speak the language.

00:33:04

And I'm telling you,

00:33:05

if you ask Him, God will give you the words.

00:33:08

He will give you the words,

00:33:10

and the fruit of it will blow you away.

00:33:15

Doesn't matter who you are, God's asking you this question:

00:33:17

Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?

00:33:20

My hope is that you answer is, "Here I am. Send me."

00:33:24

I'd actually propose you this is

00:33:27

the church's real Ted Lasso sign.

00:33:30

This is what should be on the doors

00:33:32

when we walk out of church.

00:33:33

This is what we should slap and say,

00:33:35

"God, I'm leaving the locker room

00:33:37

and I'm going into the mission field.

00:33:39

And I just want You to know that wherever I am,

00:33:42

my response to You is, 'I'm here, '

00:33:44

and therefore you can send me

00:33:45

to any of these people who don't know You."

00:33:48

I want you to close your eyes as we end our time.

00:33:51

Just close your eyes right now.

00:33:53

And if you don't yet believe in Jesus,

00:33:56

I just want you to just picture in your mind,

00:33:59

picture somebody you know who does.

00:34:03

And I want you to decide, if you're willing,

00:34:06

to ask that person this week some questions about faith.

00:34:09

Just ask them. They'd be excited to share.

00:34:11

They'd be excited to tell you about their life.

00:34:13

You don't have to agree with their answers.

00:34:15

They're not going to judge you.

00:34:16

But you've got an important question to ask,

00:34:18

which is, is Jesus who He says He is?

00:34:20

And there's incredible blessing on the other side.

00:34:23

You know what I'm going to tell you what I think.

00:34:25

Of course He is. Yes, He's the rescuer, He's the Savior.

00:34:28

The life He has for you is over and above

00:34:30

anything you could ever imagine.

00:34:32

But picture a person who knows God,

00:34:35

who professes faith and decide this week

00:34:37

to ask them some questions.

00:34:39

Now, if you're in here and you do believe in Jesus,

00:34:41

I want you to keep your eyes closed

00:34:43

and I want you to just give a little prayer to God.

00:34:45

Just ask God, say God, "Put a picture of somebody

00:34:49

or a group of somebodies

00:34:50

I'm going to interact with this week."

00:34:54

Maybe it's at your job, maybe your school,

00:34:58

maybe in your neighborhood.

00:35:00

Ask Him for a picture.

00:35:02

Now you're there and God asks you this question,

00:35:06

"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

00:35:10

And I want you to tell Him, say, "Here I am. Send me."

00:35:13

You just say that in a quiet heart.

00:35:14

You say, "Here I am. Send me."

00:35:17

Let me pray for you. God, thank You so much

00:35:20

for the call that You have of getting the privilege

00:35:24

of sharing Your Good News with people,

00:35:26

of watching lives change, of watching miracles happen.

00:35:29

God, You could have just decided to make it

00:35:31

a system where You're the superstar

00:35:33

and we're just the fans in the stands

00:35:35

who cheer for You, but you didn't.

00:35:37

Instead, you decided to work through us,

00:35:40

and it's amazing, God, when more of us say yes to you.

00:35:43

God, I'll say that myself, God, wherever I am this week,

00:35:47

whether it's a place I plan to be or not, God,

00:35:49

I want to be Your representative.

00:35:51

I want to say yes to Your call

00:35:52

to share Your gospel with the people around me. Amen.

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