Oh, Crossing Nation, it is so good to be with you.
I want to welcome those of you joining from all of our
different locations, those of you watching online and inside.
And a special welcome to those of you who are joining us for
the first time or the first time in a long time.
Our hope is that you will find and start and grow in your
intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
I also want to tell you to take advantage of the QR code on the
seat in front of you. I am so excited.
Tyler McKenzie did such an incredible job last weekend that
we asked him to come back and speak to us again today.
So would you guys please give a warm crossing welcome to Tyler
McKenzie all. Right, glad to be back real
quick wherever you're at. I want you to raise your hand
right now if when you were younger.
You played baseball or softball so.
Just by show of hands. OK, so a lot of people.
I love baseball. It is America's.
Pastime. My favorite sport.
Better than football, am I right?
OK, we got one. One man in the front.
Listen, go, Reds. We stink.
I get it. All right.
Now, here's the deal. I'm not trying to pat myself on
the back or anything, but when I played baseball.
I was. I was.
Pretty good. Really good.
So I I. Played all the way through.
College started all four years lead off batter.
Did you know that my senior year in college I actually set an NCA
record? Do you want to guess what the
record is? Just shout it out at any of the
campuses. Shout it out.
See if you can get it right. Hit by.
Pitches and I wasn't the. Pitcher.
I was the batter. In my senior year, 66 games got
hit 33 times. My dad.
Called it the Idiot Awards. So that's the sort.
Of parental reinforcement I had at home.
Now, not only did I set an NCAA. Record that year, but.
My team went to the. College World Series.
Here's my College World Series ring, and again, just wherever
you're at watching this, raise your hand right now if you have
a College World Series ring. With you at church today, I.
Didn't think so. It's OK.
You don't have to feel guilty. Just not all of us can be a
champion. I'm gonna leave that right
there. Now the reason why I bring that.
Up today is because of. What I'm about to ask next, you
all see that that can over there on the chair.
OK, again, I'm pretty good at. Baseball.
How many of you think from right here I could take this baseball
and knock that can? Off the chair.
Just by show of hands, wherever you're at, raise your hand.
All right, so many people, All right, so.
Let me see who the true believers are today though.
How many people have so much faith in me?
If they would come up here and they'd take the can you put it
in your hand, OK, and. Hold it out to the side of you.
And still believe I can knock it off.
Knock it off. OK, so that's way less people.
At least in the room that I'm in right now, it's way less.
People. So for those of you put your
hands down, oh ye of little faith shame.
Now let me take this one step. Further though.
How many of you have so much faith in me that you would be
willing to come up here, sit in that chair, and put the can on
your head? Show of hands.
All right, so 1/2. All right, Corey, come on up.
Let's do this. Let's.
Do this crossing nation. This is going to be awesome.
Give Corey a hand so. Corey, Corey is on staff here,
All right. And so, Corey, the first thing I
need you to do is I'm going to need you to sign this waiver.
Got it. Risk management was insisted on
it just in case you die, which you won't.
I practiced beforehand, I was 7 out of 10, so it's good, good
chances. So sit right there all.
Right. And get comfortable.
Yeah, put the can on your head and let's do this.
I've got this. Do you have like a specific?
Pitch. You want me to throw Fastball.
Curveball change. Slider.
I didn't have a slider. So.
OK, here we go. Are you going to keep your eyes
open? That's awkward.
All right, well, all right. Here we go.
Cross the fan count of three. One. 2.
I'm just kidding. I'm not going to do it.
I'm not going to give it to you. If you were down, you were down.
Give me, give me a hug, man. You were down, all right.
Hey, give Corey a ham this. Is a church service.
Not an execution. OK, so I'm not going to throw
the ball. All right.
Now there's a point to that. There's a point to that
illustration. Here's my point.
Who believed in me? Who believed Corey?
Believed in me. Did the people who raised their
hand at did they really have faith?
In me, no, not really, because when I asked them to come up and
put it in their hand, about 3/4 of the hands went down.
But do the people who who kept their.
Hands up when I said put it in your hand.
Do they really believe in me? Well, that's.
Sort of, but their faith. Wasn't bold enough to come up
here, sit in the chair and put the can on their head.
Corey believed in me. Now Corey, I will say there is a
fine line between stupidity and bold faith.
Go and learn the meanings of this word.
But here's what I'm after today with my message, right?
Belief belief, true belief is. When your confidence is stronger
than your fear and belief isn't being fearless.
Often times believers have some levels of fear.
Belief isn't ignoring reality, plain and simple.
Belief is when your confidence. Is just a little bit.
More stronger than your fear Now here's my argument today when it
comes to belief in God, I would contend with you that if we.
Actually believe what the Bible says about God if we actually
believe what's. In God's word about him, then,
our confidence in God should always be stronger than our
fear. And that's what we're going to
see in our next story in our Decisions in the Desert series.
Now this. Story today is a little bit
different because. This one's not exactly about
Moses. It's about.
Moses, successor Joshua and. One of his friends, Caleb, who
had incredibly bold. Faith.
You all know where we're at in the story.
They've come out of Egyptian slavery.
They've seen the Tim Plagues, they've seen the Red Sea
crossing. They've seen them.
Led by. Fire in the night, cloud by day,
manna and meat falling from the sky.
Moses's face is glowing. They've got the law off the
mountain. They have seen some Incredible.
Stuff and we find ourselves. Today, numbers 13.
They've trekked for over a year across the.
Wilderness and they're on the cusp of the promised land about
to take it. And I would suggest to you,
based on what they've seen, God. Do their confidence?
In God should be stronger than their.
Fear. But here's what you're.
Going to see in this story, you're going to see that it
wasn't. It wasn't, at least for most of
them. And So what could?
Have been about a year wandering in the wilderness and an
entrance into the promised land turned to 40.
I know what a tragedy is. Let me read to you numbers 13
and 14. These are select passages from
those two chapters, but. It'll help you grasp the story.
Numbers 13, starting in verse one, it says the Lord now said
to Moses, send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the
land I'm given to the Israelites send one leader from each of the
12 ancestral tribes. So Moses did as the Lord
commanded him. He sent out 12 men.
All tribal leaders of Israel. From their camp in the
wilderness of Paran, Joshua and Caleb.
Were two of us. Now, after exploring the land
for 40 days, the men returned to Moses, Aaron, the whole
community of Israel at Kadesh, in the wilderness of Paran.
And they? Reported to the whole community
what they had seen and showed them the.
Fruit, the broader story says. They found these.
Huge like bushels of of grapes. It was fruitful there.
They showed them the fruit they had taken from the land.
This was their report to Moses. They said we entered the.
Land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed bountiful country,
a land flowing with milk and honey.
Here is. The kind of fruit it produces,
but the. People living there are
powerful, and their towns are large and fortified.
We even saw giants there, the descendants of an act.
But Caleb? Tried to quiet the people.
As they stood before Moses. She said let's go take the land
at once. We can certainly conquer it, but
the. Other men who had explored the
land with him disagreed. We can't go up against them.
They're stronger than we are. Then the whole community began
weeping aloud, and they cried all night.
Their voices. Rose in a great course of
protest against Moses and Aaron. If only we had died in Egypt, or
even here in the wilderness, they complained.
Why is the Lord? Taking us to this country.
Only to have us. Die in battle, our wives and our
little ones will be carried off as plunder.
Wouldn't it be better for us to just?
Return to Egypt. Then they plotted among
themselves. Let's choose a new leader and go
back. Then Moses and Aaron fell face
down on the ground before the whole community of Israel, two
of the men who had explored the land there it is Joshua and
Caleb. Tore their clothing.
And they said to all. The people of Israel.
The land we travelled through and explored is a wonderful land
and if the Lord is. Pleased with us, he.
Will bring us safely into the land and give it to us.
It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey.
Do not rebel against the Lord. Don't be.
Afraid of the people? Of the land they are only.
Helpless pray to us. They have no protection.
But the Lord is with us. Don't be afraid of them.
This is the word of the Lord. Now what we see.
Here is 2 reactions we see fear. From the 10 and the rest of the
community and faith from the two, Joshua and Caleb, bold
faith. And that's who we want to be
when we are put in the pressure cooker of life and the crowd
turns against us. We want to have enough
confidence in who God is, what he promises, that our faith can
overcome our fear and I believe. This story shows us how.
Because in Caleb and Joshua we actually see what I'm calling
the two major movements of genuine belief.
The two major movements of genuine belief 1 is divine truth
and the other is death defying trust or let me say it like
this, divine truth. Which leads to.
Death defying trust and if we can master.
The first we'll have the. 2nd So let's.
Start with the 1st. Divine truth.
This is what I believe.
This is the sermon. This is what I came to say to
you all today. Carlson, Caleb and Joshua's.
Theology is what gave. Them the confidence to face down
giants and face down the crowd. It was their theology now y'all.
See that hand in the? Back go ahead, Tyler.
What's what's theology? Nerd word right?
OK. What's theology for?
Those of you don't. Know theology is just your.
Belief in the divine. It's your divine truth.
It's what you believe about God. OK, so back to the story.
First, let's see their beliefs about reality.
I don't know if you noticed. But all 12 spies.
Came back and they gave the same scouting report.
Joshua and Caleb agreed. The scouting report was twofold.
One, the land is great. It's great.
It's bountiful, flowing with milk and honey.
It is a it. Is truly a promised land.
But two the. Land is great 2.
The people are scary. They're giants, the.
Cities are well. Fortified, they look like
mighty. Warriors to us.
Now real quick sidebar, I know the idea of giants sounds kind
of like crazy to us. In the modern enlightened States
of America where anything old and regressive is stupid.
This sounds kind of crazy to us, so I just want you to know that
the Bible is not the only ancient source that confirms
there were big people in the land of Canaan.
Did you know? Next slide here.
That an Egyptian letter was discovered called the.
Papyrus Anastasi 1 And in the Papyrus Anastasi one, it's said
that in the 13th century, the 13th century, in the land of
Canaan, there were mighty warriors 7 to 9 feet tall.
That's not the only ancient source that confirms it.
Did you know that archaeology has actually found?
2. Skeletons Female skeletons from
the 12th century in Canaan. That were both. 7 feet tall.
Those are the women. OK, so were there giants in the?
Land or not I'm I'm not sure. But.
Here's the thing Joshua and Caleb did not dispute.
The fearful realities of the report, did they?
What they dispute is what the people should do about it.
They saw the same thing the other 10 did, but while the 10
say no. The two said let's go.
And the reason why is there is a major gap in their theology.
Now I've made a. Theological chart for you?
Can you put the theological chart up?
And I want to show you. How they process their theology.
Here it's the 10 and the rest of the community versus the two.
So first row. The 10 said and these are just
almost direct quotes pulled. Straight out of the scripture.
The 10 said God's leading us to our death, but the two said no.
The. Lord is pleased with us.
What's the good theology there? Well, the two believe that
Yahweh is good. They.
Trust in the goodness of God, the 10 said.
Let's choose a new leader. The two said.
No, no, do not rebel against the Lord.
What's the theology there? Will they believe that God is
trustworthy? Last example the the 10 said I
think they're stronger than us but the two said no the Lord.
Is with us, so what's the good theology there The the two
believe that. Yahweh is almighty, the goodness
of. God, the trustworthy of God.
The omnipotence of God. Do you see here?
Do you see how their theology ultimately?
Determined their response. Good theology results in bold.
Faith, let's go at. Once bad theology results in
doubt deconversion. Devastation.
Let's go back to Egypt. It's divine truth which leads to
the death defying faith. Now look, I'm a nerd y'all don't
know a bit about. Me, but I love theology.
Some of y'all ain't about that in here.
That's fine. OK, some of y'all, some of y'all
would rather, you know, binge Netflix and manage your fantasy
football team important things, but I like.
Theology. So here's what I would suggest
to you as somebody. Who loves theology in the Bible
and also. Pastors a lot of people.
I have found that about nine out of 10 times.
One of the primary. One of the.
Primary issues underneath your problem, whatever.
Your problem is that anxiety, that sadness.
That anger issue, That addiction.
That sin that you just can't seem to.
Kick. That emptiness that you.
Carry with you everywhere. 9 out of 10 * 1 of the primary issues
underneath that. Is distorted theology and if we
would just believe what we say we believe about God or trust
that his word is. True and good.
Then what? Happens is healing will
breakthrough in our life. And we'll find spiritual
resources to begin to be sanctified.
By the Holy Spirit, or in other words, good theology, is
actually. Good for you and bad theology is
bad. For you let.
Me give you an example. So psychologists will tell you.
That negative self talk is terrible.
For you, it's terrible for you. Because over time it becomes a
self fulfilling. Prophecy, for example, if you
were to tell yourself. Over and over that, you know,
I'm I'm just an unlovable person.
That's not true, by the way. Good theology says that you are.
Created in God's image. Died for by Jesus which?
Means you are. Incredibly lovable, beloved by
the God of the universe. But if you're to tell yourself.
Over and over, I'm just so unlovable.
Then what happens is over time you become an unlovable person.
You start to become defensive, insular, maybe judgmental of the
people around you. You don't bring friends in your
life because you just believe. They're going to leave you or
you don't believe they actually like you.
And if you run that negative playbook in your mind one.
Year five years. Ten years down the road, 10
years of believing that you become a person that's.
Difficult for others to love. So you see how this works like
bad theology is actually bad for you over time.
OK so let me give you like another petty church example.
Some of y'all come into church on Sundays and within the 1st 5
minutes of the service you ruin the.
Entire service for yourself because.
Immediately, you know what? You.
Say you say. I just don't like the worship
today. Maybe you don't like the the
volume, maybe you don't like the songs, maybe you don't like the
worship leader. I don't know.
I just don't like the worship today.
Now do you realize how? Idiotic.
Idiotic of a theological belief, that is.
Think about that. I just don't.
Like the worship today did never occur to.
You that I don't know. The worship isn't about you for
you. Like no, because the good
theology here is that. God and God alone.
Is worthy of our worship and He gets it all.
All the time. Every day, everybody,
everywhere. And so you bring that mindset in
here that somehow the worship environment is about being.
That bad theology it actually. Steals from you.
The opportunity to worship God. Experience the power and
intimacy and the collective effervescence of being in the In
the room with God's people on Resurrection Sunday.
It steals the meanings of the songs and the lyrics that you
could. Pray to God it.
Sometimes can steal the sermon from you because you're thinking
about. I just don't like the Today and
this bad theology ends up being really.
Really bad for you. Can I get an?
Amen from all the worship. Leaders, This is why, by the
way, false. Teaching and dispelling bad
theology is one of the main emphasis.
Of the Bible, the old. Testament is flush.
With passages about false prophets.
And the dangers they pose the New Testament.
This is one of the three main issues the New Testament church
is constantly duking out. Do you know what the three main
issues for the New Testament church was?
One was multi ethnic unity. How do we get the?
Jews and the Gentiles. To eat and worship together.
Still relevant. The second one was perseverance.
How do we remain strong and faithful as a minority in an
empire that doesn't like us very much?
Still relevant, and the last one was.
False teaching or false doctrine?
How do we? How do we main the How do we?
Protect the Orthodox faith, the true Gospel.
That was handed down to us from Jesus himself.
So. Doctrine matters.
Theology matters. Now some people in here are
like, OK theology nerd guy. Glad you're here, but chill.
This is America and in America. People get to believe.
Whatever they want to believe. Now, for what it's worth, that's
true. This is America.
You can believe whatever you want to believe in America.
But that's also another example of one of the false teachings in
that's been normalized in our culture.
That is so so so bad for you. It goes something like this.
The truth is found within you. You've heard the fad phrases.
Follow your heart, live your truth.
You do you, which by the way is. Terrible theology and terrible.
Advice Charles Taylor is a. Canadian philosopher and he
actually makes the argument that our culture, our society has
transitioned from what he calls an.
Age of authority. To an age of authenticity.
By that he means that. For like the big.
Questions of life Who am I? Who is?
God, what should I be? Doing with my life.
People used. To look to external authorities
for help and guidance from that. People used to ask their parents
or they would go to the church or they would look to.
Societal norms and traditions or maybe even look to the
government to help give them guidance in life but not so
anymore we've transitioned out of an age of.
Authority. Into the age of authenticity.
Where people are suspicious of external authorities.
And instead they look within in order to find what's.
True to their desires, to their feelings, the whole the whole
process. Is one.
Look within and discover the true you and then two.
Express that to the world. And demand that they affirm it
now for Christians. This whole idea of the truth is
within you. It's bad theology.
We actually. Believe that the truth is found
in God. We've always said that our
identity is found outside of us in Christ.
Our purpose is found outside of us in the designs.
Of our Creator, our moral. Code is found outside of us, in
our sacred texts. That are inspired by the Spirit
of God. So what do we do as?
Christians, we submit to these external authorities, we
experience inner transformation, and then we express that
transformation as resurrection life.
To the world, through worship and witness, we're an.
Outside, inside out faith. Can I just speak the truth to
like the? The teens in in the crossing
congregation teenagers 20 somethings too if you.
Buy this bad theology. And you decide that you're just
going to like go your own way and live your truth and I ain't
going to listen to God or the Bible or my Mama or, you know,
anybody or the church and and you just build your own identity
on your own overtime that. Bad theology is going to be
really, really. Bad for you.
In fact, it's going to be a heavy burden that I believe
will. Crush you.
Through your adolescence and young adulthood.
I want you to think about how. Crushing of a burden, that is.
You're 15 years old, but somehow you have to go into your heart,
which is a mess. Every human heart's a mess My
heart's a mess. Your heart's a mess, you.
Got to go into your heart during puberty.
Of all times and you got to like.
Figure out like who you. Are and what you're going to be
for like the next 70 years of your life and you have to brand
it on social media and then figure out a way.
To make your parents and your. School and your gut.
And everybody like. Get behind it.
Let's OK, I'm not trying to demean you here, but yes, I am
absolutely saying that high schoolers aren't capable of
sorting out the big questions of meaning, morality, and identity
on their own. And that's because no one is.
We all crumble underneath the weight of trying to play God.
So you know what we all need? We need a version of truth that
aligns with reality. We need a way of life that
transcends cultural trends. We need a doctrine that's wiser
than our own personal designs, teaching that's more stable than
our feelings. We need something or someone.
Outside our flawed selves. That can set us free, and here's
what Jesus says. John 831 and 30.
Two, Jesus said to the. People who believed Him in Him.
You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my.
Teachings his truth. Because then you will know the
truth and the. Truth will set you free.
Or in other words, Jesus says God's truth sets you free.
And on the flip. Side false truth.
Puts you back in chains. Let's bring this back.
To the story, that's the. Difference between the two and
the 10? The two are ready to take the
promised. Land and March into freedom, but
the 10 are ready to go back in chains, and it all boils down to
their. Theology.
Now back to the story. Maybe the most disappointing
part of numbers 13 and 14 is that a community riot takes
place. That was started by the.
Fear of the 10, did you see? The Bible tells us that.
These ten men were leaders, and yet they used their influence to
spread false views about the goodness, trustworthiness and
omnipotence of God and the lies took and the fear spread, and
the crowd turned. Sidebar here Did you know that
your willingness to trust in God is.
Actually, your declaration to the world of how trustworthy.
He is the intensity of your faith is evangelism.
How in the world are we? Supposed to expect the world to
trust. God, when we won't, how in the
world are we supposed to? Expect the people to have.
Bold faith when the leaders don't.
You see, we. See what the crowd does in the
story. The crowd gets scared, so scared
that they're ready to. Do violence to Moses.
Aaron, Joshua and Caleb. If they make them go.
To the promised land. They're about to stone them.
But here's. What I love about Joshua and
Caleb, they were fearless in the face of the.
Giants. They were fearless.
In the face. Of the crowds which leads us to
our. Second major movement in the
story, divine truth leads to death defying trust.
And do you see, do you see it in the story?
So in the story, once, once the community sort of turns, there's
this moment where Joshua and Caleb, like, tear their clothes
in agony. Beg the people to change.
Their minds, but it's clear they're unshaken by the
disbelief of the 10 and the growing unrest of the community.
Their names are actually a clue to their faith.
Do you know what their names mean?
Joshua actually means Yahweh saves.
And Joshua knew that Yahweh was going to save him from the
giants, going to save him from the crowd.
He knew. Do you know what Caleb means?
Caleb in in Hebrew derivatives it means it means both faithful
and dog, and I love that Caleb. Had that sort of dogged?
Faithfulness. When I'm coaching my kids in
Little League baseball, I always look at him and say who?
Got that dog. Like I got that dog.
Who got that dog? I got that dog.
The dog. Is the one who will.
He'll dive head first, he'll take the pitch.
He's got that tenacity where he'll do.
Anything for the team. That's the sort of.
Faith that Caleb has. In 1320, he basically.
Tells the community to shut up you.
Remember that moment? He's like shut.
I mean, the Bible doesn't say he says that, but that's that's how
that's my version. He's like, shut up.
No, let's go, take that. Let's.
Go take the land now. We can certainly conquer it.
Now I'm running out of time, so it's time for me to do my Jesus
Juke here. OK, you ready?
I want to. Suggest to you that the.
Pure and bold faith in God's goodness, trustworthiness and
omnipotence that we see and Joshua and.
Caleb is exactly what we see. And Jesus.
But better. But better because.
God comes and rescues Caleb and Joshua from the crowd, as we'll
see. But Jesus was not rescued from
the crowd. If you remember on Palm Sunday,
he rode in on a donkey and they shouted hosanna.
But then a few days later, on Good Friday, that same crowd was
shouting Crucify him. Crucify him.
Give us the the the. Revolutionary Barabbas crucify
him the. Blood of Jesus.
Can be on our hands and our children crucify him and then
they do but on the. Cross as Jesus faces.
Down the. Crowd and as Jesus faces.
Down. Death we.
Still see Death Defying faith, Luke 2346.
Says that Jesus last words were this father.
I entrust my spirit into your hands.
Father, I trust you so Jesus shows us what it looks like.
To trust the heavenly. Father, you know one.
Of the things I've always done for my kids is when they're
young, in order to engender trust with them, I'll tell him
to like jump off things to me or I'll do the whole throw your kid
in the air really happy you know you.
Probably shouldn't, but. Like, I'm not endorsing this as
a pastor of the church. I'm just saying I do this.
Throw your kid really high and catch him.
So I'll tell my kid, I'll be like, hey, you're on the couch,
jump to daddy. Or hey, you're on the edge of
the pool, jump to daddy. Hey, you're on like the fifth
step, get on the 7th step and jump to daddy.
And my oldest son was always really.
Good at he's like. You know, I'd catch him every
time. But then we have my daughter and
she wasn't as stressing. I remember one time she was like
two or three years old. She's on the third step of the
stairs. Like this is an easy one.
And I'm like Larkin jump to daddy and she's and out of
nowhere my son walks up. He's 5 at the time and he starts
preaching to her. Preaching, he says.
Larkin, jump to Daddy. Don't be scared, he catches me
every. Time jump to Daddy.
And so she did, and I dropped her.
Now I'm kidding. I caught.
Her. I caught her.
And I and I and I caught her and look, no this bring it back in
crossing fam. This is the This is the sermon.
Jesus is. Preaching to us right here.
And here's the thing. The.
Father catches Jesus because on Sunday he rose from the dead.
And he was elevated to the place of.
Highest honor given the name above every other name.
And guess what, the Heavenly Father catches Joshua and Caleb
too. Do you know how the story ends?
As they're about to stone Joshua and Caleb like a glory cloud
descends down and God pronounces punishment over the crowd.
He says instead of being one year and going into the promised
land, you're. About to get 40.
And all of you are going to perish in the.
Desert except for two 2 will lead the.
People into the promised land, you know whose whose names?
Those were Joshua and Caleb. So can I make a suggestion to
you today for some of y'all? I believe the answer to your
problem is just to actually. Believe what you say, you
already do. The reason?
Why many of us are living lives of numbing mediocrity,
paralyzing fear, or crippling anxiety is because we don't
believe. What we already?
Have in Christ one week I was struggling with this mightily
and I was in a hotel room and so I pulled out my Bible and I
started writing down all the inheritance.
All the riches, all the truth that was.
True of me and God because of my relationship in Christ and I
want to share that. With you today and if you are a
Christian, in. Christ I.
Want you to just receive this as blessing as.
Confidence. But if you're not a Christian, I
want you to hear this and know that.
Before you leave church today, you could have all this.
If you want it. Here's what you have.
You have been chosen, saved, accepted and adopted in Christ.
You have freedom, innocence, grace upon grace, redemption,
and the righteousness of God in Christ.
You have a Heavenly Father, a selfless Son, a Holy Spirit, and
an adopted forever family. In Christ you have no
condemnation, a new birth, a new life, a new clothes, new mind,
new heart, new nature and a new covenant.
In Christ you have been consecrated, liberated,
initiated, supplied, anointed, purified, sanctified and
justified. In Christ you have Lovejoy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness,
faithfulness and self-control. In Christ you have wisdom,
knowledge, courage, power, authority and a spirit, not a
fear or timidity, but of love. In Christ you have the mission
of God, the meaning of life, and the mystery of the gospel.
In Christ you have been made alive, made new, made steadfast,
made one and made grateful. In Christ the veil has been
lifted and toured. Please God, the distance has
been narrowed, the ransom has been paid, the trespasses have
been canceled, the chains have been broken, and the battle has
been won. In Christ you have been given
victory, triumph. Hope a future every spiritual.
Blessing in the heavenly realm. In Christ you have been promised
consummation, vindication, resurrection, commendation,
celebration and perfection. In Christ you have an identity.
You have a story. You have eternal worth.
You have the image of. God, you have a.
Realistic assessment of your sin, no doubt, but you also.
Have a way out? And a way up if.
You are in Christ. Oh, and that's just the
beginning. Did you know I could drain your
savings account today? Or burn your house.
Down tomorrow and the next morning you would still have all
you need in Christ. Did you know that you could quit
your job tomorrow, or lose your closest loved one, or be
entirely discluded and cancelled from proper society, and the
next day you still have all you need in Christ?
Did. You know that you could be
ripped from your home. Persecuted for your?
Faith, and while your head was on the chopping block, you could
smile, knowing that eternally, in that moment, you have.
All. That you need in Christ.
Hey, here's my question Crossing fans.
What if we believed that? What if we lived into that?
Lived as if. That was the truest identity of
us. We'd have death defying faith.
Now here's the problem though. Most of us tend to just.
Spiritualize all that away. Yeah, I'm a child of God.
Yes I am. I know how the songs.
Go, you know, great is. His faithfulness.
What we do is we tend to under identify with the things that.
God, say, is true about. Him and us and over identify
with all the worldly identities that we're given hey girl tell
me a little about yourself well hi my name is Christina
Enneagram 9 boy mom I'm in marketing here's a picture of
my. Fur baby Buster also.
You know, I lean left politically.
Also she her also it's fall orchards.
Also hashtag pink Stanley Cup I'll show hashtag.
Not my president. Also #hashtag.
Whatever. Like whatever it is you'd say
about you. Like we chuckle, we chuckle.
Because we all have our own little story, right?
But this is what we do. What if we believed a different
story, A better story? Like hi, I'm Tyler.
I used to be an orphan and a rebel, but I've been adopted
into the most powerful family on the planet Earth.
It's a royal family, so I'm a Prince and I have.
Full inheritance rights. But I'm also an ambassador,
which means. I carry the spiritual values.
Of the King with me. Everywhere.
And guess what? We're taking over the world.
We got we've got ambassadors. Planted on foreign soil.
All across the world. It's a divine conspiracy.
That will echo into eternity. What if we believe what?
Would it mean? For us to actually live.
Every moment of our life. Like we believe God's truth.
What would change is is if during during the next worship
song that we sing, we just acknowledge that.
Just out of our sight. Jesus is on the throne of the
universe and there's millions of angels singing with us.
What would change this election season if we believe that?
Jesus really is in charge. God's bending the macro arc of
human history towards His will, and the right side of history is
His side of history. What would change next Monday?
At work if you. Saw it as a mission field.
What would it? Look like for us.
Every moment if we saw our primary citizenship in Christ
rather than in anything else, Like we were like, hey, I'm more
Christian than American. Hey, I'm more Christian than
Democrat or Republican. I'm more Christian than
McKenzie. I'm more Christian than white,
black, brown, Anglo, African, Hispanic, whatever.
Like I'm just more Christian than all that.
What would change if our outlook truly was that death?
Has been defeated. What would change if we really
believed that we had? Power over sin and that I could
conquer any evil in my life today.
What would change if we lived with a sort of urgency that we
knew that any second, maybe today?
Jesus could. Slash open the sky.
Heaven could come pouring in and it would be so terrifying that
every knee would bow and tongue would confess him as Lord, but
also so majestic and magnificent.
Because there'd be no more death, sorrow.
Crying or pain like. What would change about our?
Conversations tonight, if we believed.
That truth maybe a lot. So look.
I know this all sounds intense and supernatural, but crossing
if the Christian faith is true, everything that I just.
Said is true. And hear me all you are one
decision of belief. Away from having all that.
In Christ. So don't run away from this
truth today, back into the chains of Egypt.
You were made for the Promised Land, and you don't have to wait
until heaven to begin experiencing it.
Whatever giants are trying to hold you back, I encourage you
today. Go with.
Jesus, now as we move into this time of decision, oh, crossing
family and we don't get a chance to do this all the time, but I
get an opportunity to have this moment with you at all of our
different locations. And what Tyler just said is
exactly what you needed to hear. And right now I want to talk to
those of you who've never started a relationship with
Jesus Christ. Everything he just said is true.
The question is, is it true for you?
There's a gap between what you believe and how you behave, and
that's not good. And I know you might be going,
Clayton, I know it's great for everybody else to have a
relationship with Jesus Christ, but I'm still working through
this stuff on my end. I hear you and for just a second
can I be the kid at the bottom of the steps telling you jump to
Jesus, he's caught me every single time.
And if you think that I'm the only person that's had that as
an experience, you'd be dead wrong.
In fact, crossing family across all of this region, if every
time you've jumped to Jesus he has caught you every single
time, would you put your hand up?
You don't have to take my word for it.
Take the word of the people that brought you, that are sitting
next to you. You can have your citizenship in
Christ. You can have new life in Christ
today. And if you have questions about
what that looks like or how to begin it, or you're wanting to
figure out what your next step is, what I want to encourage you
to do in just a few moments when the people at all of our
different locations start coming to the steps and praying.
I'm going to encourage you to walk over to the side of the
auditorium where a staff member would love a chance to talk to
you about how to begin an intimate, personal relationship
with Jesus Christ. To the rest of you in the room,
how we behave determines what we actually believe about God.
And if you're like me, a normal, messed up fallen person, there
is a gap and it's wider than you want it to be.
And so in an act of humility, would you spend a little bit of
time on the steps in prayer or while you're worshiping?
Or maybe find a spot in the room and spend some time begging God
to give you the strength to close the gap, not just for you,
but for the people that are looking to you to determine what
they believe about God. Heavenly Father, would you do a
work in our church right now, a work that only you can do in
ways that only you can do? It bring about a change that is
desperately needed in us, in our homes, in our workplace, and in
our communities. God, there was a time in our
lives where we believed that you could do great and magnificent
things. Bring us back to that.
God, there was a time in our lives.
Where we believe that anything was possible with you, Bring us
back to that God. Stir in US.
Awaken in US a desire to believe and trust and obey and advance.
For your Kingdom. Your name I pray.
Amen.