"Choose Your Hard: The Truth about the Grind" S4 Ep12

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Welcome to Keep It 100 podcast with Sean and Christa Smith.

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Join us in this space where we take on real issues with real insight and real inspiration.

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This podcast is for those not looking for temporary relief to change circumstance but

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revelation to forever change lives.

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Hey, welcome everybody.

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This is your boy Sean.

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Hey everyone, it's Christa here.

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Hey, we just want to welcome you guys to another episode of Keep It 100.

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We're super excited for this episode as we are talking about this theme called Choose

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Your Heart.

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But before we do that, we just need to let you know we have a healing and deliverance

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masterclass coming up July 28th and 29th in Oakland, California at Sequoia Community Church,

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4292 Keller Avenue.

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But this is going to be amazing as we are going to have some profound folks with us.

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We're going to have Joanne Moody and Jeremy Nelson.

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Joanne Moody is used phenomenally in the area of healing.

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She's associated with Randy Clark's ministry.

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She is an equipper that is literally being called upon to minister and teach and equip

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by the Christ in healing all over the globe, Brazil, Latin America, UK, all over.

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Jeremy Nelson is holding deliverance and healing crusades in Africa, Asiatic nations.

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He's used profoundly to see people get free, to minister deliverances, to expel the demonic

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and he is going to come and equip.

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So this is a masterclass.

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So you want to be there for that.

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You know, we're really passionate about people getting equipped and trained specifically

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in the area of healing and deliverance because we recognize this is something that the church

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is going to have more and more of.

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And so we really want people empowered and confident in having tools in order to know

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how to navigate situations specifically in partnering for healing and facilitating deliverance

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of people's lives.

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We want people walking in their freedom.

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And so we want you confident on how to pray someone through that.

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And so that's something we're really, really excited about.

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So grab your seat today.

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Go to Seanacrisesmith.com and register.

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There is only so many seats.

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And so we really want people to get in the room because there's something about when

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you get that hands-on practical training.

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So there's going to be seven training sessions, a Q and A, some hands-on activation, opportunity

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to pray for people and minister to people.

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So we're really excited because when we've done these masterclasses, we've had incredible

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feedback and testimonies that people's lives were not only changed, but people really felt

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empowered in that skill set to be able to move forward in it.

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Hey, Christa, too, I want to share with our listeners.

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We just was recently in the New Jersey area and a guy walked up to us before we jumped

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into this Holy Spirit Conference.

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Her name was Carly.

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She had some friends with her and then she immediately got tears in her eyes.

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She talked about how I prayed for, called her out and prayed for at actually another

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conference that was in Pennsylvania and that she had cancer.

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I remember she had a head scarf and wrap on it at that time and the cancer was pretty

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advanced.

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And I love this.

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They actually were trying to get another person to come pray for them and that person was

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in there and they go, okay, go get Sean's.

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I love it.

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I kind of was a second choice.

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Make a long story short.

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She walks in and shares the testimony just recently.

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In fact, this is the last weekend that she went back to the doctor.

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They're going inside doing the exploratory surgery stuff with the cancer and it's already

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been diagnosed, already advanced stages.

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And they said the cancer had turned on itself and this never happens in the natural.

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The disease cells were eating up the disease cells.

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So it's like what happened if you would curse cancer and command it to wither and die that

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literally she came back, no cancer in her body whatsoever, whatever the levels were.

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She knew the medical talk.

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I didn't know she starts crying.

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She's completely healed of cancer.

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And I say that because all of us probably perhaps known someone that has battled that

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disease and many of us know people that have lost that battle as we've prayed.

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And so it's so awesome to know.

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Number one, Jesus is still a healer.

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He still intends to release healing virtue in this day and age.

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And when you get a testimony like this, it is a breakthrough moment that you can latch

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on to and see breakthroughs for others.

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So let's just continually believe for healing and that God would use you and I more greatly

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as it relates to cancer in other areas because he is the healer.

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You know, it's so powerful because just seeing even her share the testimony, the journey

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you just saw, obviously the emotion that went with that, but how that's going to impact

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so many lives because so many people unfortunately are battling cancer.

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But what a victory and what a win and what a story of hope because what I love is after

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prayer and just her faith partnering with what God was already doing in her life.

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Just seeing that promise come to pass and she's going to be able to share that.

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That's a testimony that will go through her community, through her family, through the

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church and our testimonies always impact much more than us.

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And so that's why I love the power of testimonies.

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So awesome.

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All right, we ready to dive in for this conversation today?

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Let's do this.

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So y'all, we're bringing a really cool topic.

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It's a little bit different, but I'm excited to talk about it because I think it's going

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to be a paradigm shifting conversation for many people.

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I think they're going to hear this and go, okay, I like that.

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I like the shift in my paradigm that this causes me to have or challenges me to have.

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And that is this, you and I have the choice to choose our heart.

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So let me start with a quote that's from unknown.

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It's not my quote, but I found it.

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I thought it was really good.

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Marriage is hard.

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Divorce is hard.

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Choose your heart.

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It's hard.

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Being fit is hard.

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Choose your heart.

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Being debts and hard being in debt is hard.

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Being financially disciplined is hard.

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So choose your heart.

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Communications hard, not communicating is hard.

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So choose your heart.

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Life will never be easy, but we can choose our heart.

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Pick wisely.

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So I found that quote again, author unknown, but I thought it was such a powerful statement

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and it's such a truth and a reality of this.

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I was in a conversation with my best friend recently on Marco Polo.

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Any other Marco Poloers in the world here of keep it 100 tribe, but my friend and my

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friends and I, we stay in touch via Marco Polo and she was making a statement in one

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of her Marco Polo's and she's talking about, we got to choose our heart.

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And I walked away from that conversation and I was challenged because it's really true.

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When you recognize that you're actually owning and choosing, no one's forcing it upon you,

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but you're like, I'm intentionally and choosing that hard.

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It kind of shifted on how you view your heart.

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And so I think kind of like what I just said, any area that you want change in your life

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in is going to be hard, right?

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So working for someone can be hard, but being a home, you know, your own business owner,

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an entrepreneur, that's hard.

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You know, I think like we talked about being in debt, that's really hard.

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Getting out of debt really hard.

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You know, it's like parenting is hard, but not having kids is really hard, you know,

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and having that mundane life is hard, but then going after the dreams and taking a ton

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of risks to live out the call of God in your life.

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That's hard.

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So it really comes down to you get to choose what your heart looks like.

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And I don't know about you, but our hope today is that you choose the God hard.

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You don't choose the you heart.

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You choose the God hard.

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And so I want to talk to you just kind of about a little bit of a myth that I had.

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And my myth was, I think I kind of grew up thinking that when I followed Jesus, things

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were going to be a little bit easier, right?

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But I quickly discovered life is hard, you know, Sean and I joke around and Sean will

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kind of share his thoughts, but Sean and I kind of joke around like, you know, it's like,

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I have to, I have to make the choice of what kind of hard I want and the decisions we're

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making at this point in our life is really, really, really, really key.

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And so Sean, what do you feel like for you has been kind of that you've chosen that hard

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thing just so we kind of give an on ramp into our story for the listeners today?

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Well, first of all, I just like to say, I think this is going to be exciting theme.

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And I love the way you started off that quote is phenomenal.

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I think, you know, when you're a kid, at least when I was a kid, I couldn't wait to

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shed adolescence.

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And that is exactly the apropos term.

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I was trying to shed adolescence.

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I was tired of being told when to go to bed, when you had to do this, when you had to make

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your bed, when you had to.

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So I just envision this utopic thought in my head to where I'd get to this like nirvana

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place where I can set my own rules.

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The term now would be adulting.

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But you know what?

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No one tells you how hard it is to be an adult.

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And I know I got some people snapping fingers with me there with me, shot me down.

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I am.

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Because as you get through your childhood years, you don't realize those are the easiest years

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of your life, you know, you, you get to be an adult and all of a sudden reality can kick

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your booty, right?

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You got to pay bills.

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True.

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You get to live with people at work.

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All of a sudden your car broke down.

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You get unexpected bills.

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You get around people that try to be critical of you in a different way.

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And you have people that will speak against your faith.

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Even if you stand for God, they'll try to limit, limit God in you.

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They're disappointed.

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And so all of a sudden you realize that as you get older, life becomes hard.

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It doesn't become more easier.

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But I think the bottom line is it's a fallacy to think that Jesus Christ got up out of a

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tomb on the third day, went through what he went through so that we would just be playing

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harps and floating on clouds.

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Like that's just not real realistic.

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So I love this whole theme of you've got to choose your heart.

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There's going to be a hard, but you have to choose and it's part of growing up.

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It's part of living on a fallen planet, dealing with fallen people.

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But I also believe there's a genius in there of what God wants to do to grow us up.

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I think it was Paul that says when I was a child, I did childish things.

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Because I grew up, I put childish things away.

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And so it's a challenge that even in the spirit, there's a place of adulting as a spiritual

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person who has found, obviously truth in the Lord Jesus Christ, that you've got to make

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decisions and choose wisely.

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I love that phrase.

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Yeah, it really is true.

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And Sean, you nailed it.

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I mean, adulting is not easy, right?

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There is a difficulty that comes with adulting.

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There's a responsibility and a reality and it's hard.

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It's not easy, but it's worth it.

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Because I think when you find out your end result is what your goal is, you're going

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to choose that thing that gets you that end result.

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And something that got on a very personal note that we've experienced where we've really

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had to choose hard this year, but it's absolutely worth it because it's the God hard.

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The Lord led us in last September to do a prophetic masterclass.

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We weren't quite sure the fullness of what these gatherings were going to begin to look

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like locally because we had primarily been itinerant up until that point.

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And then there was such success and just so many God testimonies that happened from the

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prophetic masterclass this last September that we really felt the Lord lead us to do

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momentum in January.

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And again, just kind of walking that plank of faith with God and it was hard.

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It took time.

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It took money.

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It took resources.

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We had to put ourselves out there.

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And had we not done that though, we wouldn't have experienced all that God has for us.

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And so it was hard.

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It was sacrificial, but we knew it was God.

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So it was the God hard, right?

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So we choose that God meets us in a spectacular way, way more than we thought he was going

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to move.

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He moved.

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It was beautiful.

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And we really felt like we were supposed to begin to have these like regular gatherings

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and they haven't made this, they've been every month, but they've been pretty consistent.

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We're having a regular touch base now gathering here in the Bay and we're doing that intentionally

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here in the Bay.

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And our calendar for 2023 was already set before God moved.

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So where our year is already set on a travel level before the year begins, right?

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And so here we are in the middle of this God moment.

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We feel like God's like gather the people and we're like, we already have a full calendar,

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but we have like one weekend off a month, you know, and God's like, I felt, I really

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felt God on it.

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And so I have felt the sacrifice of it.

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I have felt the push of it, but I've also felt the God in it.

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And I have felt like it's, I'm, I'm consciously and intentionally choosing this hard because

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I want a generation to experience and move a God.

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I want a generation to experience revival here in the Bay.

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And so you have to really weigh what is the hard that you're choosing, but are you choosing

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the God hard?

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Because there is a spiritual component that is necessary that when you have the word of

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the Lord, it's worth that push.

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It's worth that hard.

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And yeah, there is a moment in times where it's sacrificial, but you recognize it and

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result is the promise of God.

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You know, it's so true because the question is, we're all going to leave this planet at

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certain point.

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The question is, are you going to leave a mark?

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If you're going to leave a mark, chances are you're not going to be able to do that from

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a sedentary spiritual position on your couch.

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You're going to have to step out.

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And you know what you were saying, Christa, just about the whole aspect of from our momentum

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conference, we didn't have a vision immediately to do momentum nights.

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So we did our big conference in January, which we're going to have one again next January

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that we're excited about, but we saw the momentum and we made a decision and it was taxing, but

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we're seeing fruit every single momentum night.

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We're seeing people get saved, get healed, get filled, baptized in Holy Ghost, people

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get radical, but you could feel the water level rise in hearts of people that are saying,

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I'm hungry for the more of God.

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And we're seeing younger people.

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I mean, we're getting the generations in terms of the bandwidth of so many age groups, but

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predominantly the younger generation are latching onto these meetings, but it's again, back to

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that thing.

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We're all going to leave, but are you going to leave a mark?

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We're all going to check out, but will you check out leaving a reference point for the

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following generation?

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I love that.

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You choose your heart.

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I love that.

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And you're so right.

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In order to leave a mark, it's not going to be easy is it?

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Right?

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I mean, no mark is left in history from an easy process and an easy choice and easy path.

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And so I think there's just the reality of when you're making that mark, which Sean pointed

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out really well, you know, I think we have to understand there is a hard in leaving your

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mark.

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I think the great biblical reference to this whole thought of choose your heart is in Matthew

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seven, 13 and 14.

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And if I could say it this way, before we even kind of talk about that passage is your

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entire life is really going to come down to this decision.

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Jesus gave us an example and gave us a metaphor.

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There's a subtext within this thought.

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And it is the question that when you answer it will set your life apart.

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It will either ring for eternity in the most positive way, or it will be a classroom to

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the next generation as to what not to do.

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Here's the passage Matthew seven, 13 and 14.

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Jesus said, enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads

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to destruction.

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And those who enter by it are many underscore that many for the gate.

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This is now speaking of the second gate.

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The gate is narrow.

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This other gate and the way is hard.

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Remember, we're talking about choose your heart that leads to life and those who find

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it a few Jesus is basically finishing this brief teaching by telling us that few find

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this road.

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I believe that few find this road.

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Why?

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I mean, let's, let's play psychologists here.

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Why do few find this road?

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And I think it's because so many people are satisfied in this life with the easy.

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They're satisfied with the no effort, low effort.

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Just give me a partition, participation trophy in the spirit for life.

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And they just get satisfied where they're at.

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And so if you never become divinely dissatisfied, you don't begin to realize you need more of

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Jesus.

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And even once you come to Jesus, you need more of Jesus.

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And they begin to think the world is kind of the cotton candy.

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It's kind of the glitter.

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It's all that stuff.

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It's not if they, it's not until they realize that the life, Kona Co found in the world

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only leads to their demise.

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Whereas the life found in Christ has victory over death and that gate is narrow.

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And so is it an easy gate to walk through?

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No, there is no easy road to walk.

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It's not easy because the narrow gate demands, and here is the hard part.

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It demands that you leave self at the entrance.

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Take up your cross, walk down the narrow road.

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You surrender everything you do, everything you say, everything you are to Jesus.

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But when you're passionate, when you've found the pearl of great price and you sell out,

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it doesn't matter the cost.

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And once you make that decision, that hard becomes the most enjoyable life you could

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ever find.

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But Jesus said, there is a broad way that's easy, broad as in wide road.

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There is a narrow road that's hard.

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Jesus is saying, choose your heart.

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One starts off easy, but ends up in the worst hard position ever.

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The other one starts off hard, but it leads to glory to heaven.

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And so it's a very interesting metaphor, but actually illustrates a powerful, profound

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truth.

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And you said it so well.

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I love what you share, the narrow road versus the wide road.

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And I think it's the believer that's really what it comes down to on the hard, because

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really everything we're doing is filtering through that place of living a life that is

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surrendered to Jesus, requiring us to surrender our flesh at times, surrender our appetites

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that are ungodly or our desires that are ungodly and becoming more Christ-like.

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There's a narrowness that happens in our life, but you nailed it right when you get a hold

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and have a clarity and understanding of your passion for Christ.

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When there's a passion because you've had an encounter, you've been marked by God.

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When you've had that moment with God that we've had, like many of our listeners have

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had, you've been marked by God.

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You're like, there's no going back.

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There's no plan B. Nothing else is going to satisfy.

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It's only Jesus done deal.

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Like passion is like sealed, signed, delivered.

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That is what makes the narrow road doable.

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That's how you're able to actually walk it.

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It's because your passion for Christ makes it possible.

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And I think that's really what's so important because in this wide road versus narrow road,

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really understanding, there's going to, that crowd that was with you in the wide road isn't

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going to make that journey to the narrow road.

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So there is a diminishing factor that happens in your life that is of God and it's not a

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bad diminishing, but there's a diminishing at times of people in your life that you were

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able to do life with at one season.

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But when that passion, when that marking, when the invitation, even the beckoning of

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the narrow road happens in your life, all of a sudden you realize, I can't actually just

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hang with them.

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I can't just go to the party and like be wall candy.

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You know, I just, I can't even associate with that stuff and not that, not from a place

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of legalism, but a place of passion.

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Like I'm so devoted to Jesus.

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And when that happens, what could look hard to the world?

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Man, you don't do that stuff anymore.

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You don't, you're not participating in that.

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You're not going to the party.

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You're not hanging out.

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That stuff actually isn't hard anymore.

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Can we just put it on the table?

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It's actually not hard when you've actually encountered and tasted genuine love because

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the counterfeit stuff has a bitter taste.

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You know, you're right.

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It's important to distinguish there's a right hard and a wrong hard from an eternal perspective.

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Exactly.

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This is what Jesus was saying.

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It's going to be hard, but there is a right heart and a wrong hard.

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And I think when you're on the right hard, just an encouragement to keep it when under

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tribe, it's important to understand this world is not our final destination.

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You don't hear too many people preaching on that right now and talking about that at length.

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This life is, this world is not our home.

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This isn't the final destination.

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All of the hoops and the brass rings to be grasped at the world puts before a generation.

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You can't take any of that stuff with you.

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It's gone.

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You're going to leave the Gucci bag behind.

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You're going to leave the Tesla behind.

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You're going to leave the six figure annual income behind.

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You're going to leave behind the wife, 2.3 kids and your French Bulldog is costing $6,000

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behind.

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You know, when I was young, my wife's laughing right now.

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When I was young in the Lord, the Lord just really breathed on me a scripture.

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It's second Corinthians 417.

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Paul says, for our light and momentary troubles are achieving in us an eternal weight of

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glory, which far outweighs them all.

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So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.

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And Paul says, this is it.

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When it comes to hard, it's about perspective.

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He calls them light and momentary troubles.

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But when you're going through, it didn't feel light and momentary.

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It feels hard and forever.

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But he goes on to say, they're achieving in you an eternal weight of glory.

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So all of us, you know, the term today, hashtag grind.

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No, we'll grind if they know that at the end of it, they'll glow.

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And that's kind of my phraseology.

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If you'll grind, they'll, they'll come a glow.

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And so what, what do you mean by hard things?

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I think, you know, one of the things I think about when you think about hard things as

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it relates to kingdom, walking with Christ and being a follower, is that you got to do

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things outside of your comfort zone.

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When Jesus saying go down the narrow path, he was basically, and it's comfortable to go

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down the wide road.

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The wide road is the path of least resistance.

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So that means you're going to do what you find easy and natural.

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But when you're asked to go down the narrow road, you're invited to come down the narrow

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road, you got to step outside your comfort zone.

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And some people fear stepping outside of their comfort zone.

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Some people fear rejection.

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They feel fear, the opinions of others.

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But you think about Moses, I love that Moses, God calls Moses Exodus 3, 11 and 4, chapter

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verse 10.

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He calls him to do one of the greatest works of all time.

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And Moses' response was, who am I to do this?

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Like a lot of times when God calls you into stuff, you start thinking of all the reasons

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why you're disqualified.

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He says, I'm not eloquent.

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I'm so a speech, all that kind of stuff.

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But then Hebrews 11, the faith, all the fame, Moses makes it.

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And I love it.

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It says, he chose the ill treatment of the children of Israel over an paraphrase in the

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plush lifestyle being born in Egyptian royalty.

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And I think talk about choosing the hard.

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This dude could have stayed with Egypt, but nobody, Charlton Heston would not play him

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in a movie had he done that.

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No one would have known.

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He would have been the dude in the Bible that failed, but instead he chose what was hard.

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He chose to identify it with people who were on the bottom end of what was popular in Egyptian

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culture.

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And as a result of that, he literally changed an entire nation.

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And obviously he was used to lead a nation of Israel out of servitude.

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It's incredible, but you got to do things outside your comfort zone.

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No, it's really true.

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And I think when we really apply this to our walk with the Lord and really as Christians,

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we understand that God's actually called us away from the easy path of least resistance.

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And that, you know, we have to understand that that easy path is actually not our call.

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It's not our destiny.

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And he's actually called us to walk a higher road.

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He's called us to walk the hard road.

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And he's called us to even do hard things.

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I think I love this.

442
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Havala wrote a book called, you know, I can do hard things.

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I think it's something of that effect.

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And I love that idea that she took that on.

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It's like, and I've even preached that before.

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Like God created us in the midst of a global pandemic.

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I saw the church cowering.

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I saw the church afraid.

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I saw the church intimidated full of fear.

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And the Lord had me begin to preach prophetically.

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Like you were created to do hard things.

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You were created to thrive in crisis.

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You have the spirit of God and you have the same spirit, the raised Christ from the dead

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in you.

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You can do the hard things.

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We have a God that makes the impossible possible.

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And so when we understand who dwells within us, we understand we can do the hard things.

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And the hard things actually shouldn't make us afraid or intimidate us.

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And even if they do, that's okay.

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We understand Jesus is in us.

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But I think that we really understand that choosing to do the hard things is going to

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strengthen our weaknesses and our current strengths are going to become even stronger.

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And I think we just keep doing things we're uncomfortable with because we recognize it

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just makes us better and it makes us more Christ-like.

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You know, it's like, you know, is it uncomfortable for you to share the gospel?

466
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Well, that's okay.

467
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Keep doing it.

468
00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:50,680
You know, is it uncomfortable to invite people over to your home and build communities or

469
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invite people out to coffee and put yourself out there to build new friendships in your

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church?

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Okay, do it anyway.

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00:22:56,760 --> 00:23:00,400
You know, are you uncomfortable praying for someone and asking someone if you can pray

473
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:04,160
for them when you see that they're sick or they're on crutches or they have a cast?

474
00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:05,160
Well, that's okay.

475
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:06,160
Do it anyway.

476
00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:09,800
It's like, if you only do what's comfortable, you'll never grow.

477
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:13,440
I have to share this story and some of you have heard this.

478
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:19,560
But when I started doing Krav Maga, I had the decision within that first month, I was

479
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:23,880
literally learning a completely different culture, verbiage techniques, all the things.

480
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:26,640
And it was really important because I remember I said, they're going, I don't really like

481
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:27,640
this.

482
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,400
And I remember God saying, Christa, when's the last time as an adult, you intentionally

483
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:33,520
chose to do something you were terrible at?

484
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:37,720
Seriously, because as an adult, we always choose to do things we're, well, we're good

485
00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:38,720
at.

486
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:39,720
We always want to be successful.

487
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:41,240
So we're always going to navigate to our strengths.

488
00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:42,640
We're already going to lean into our strengths.

489
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,760
We're always going to choose the thing that we're going to thrive at and be our best

490
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:46,760
at.

491
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:47,760
That is human nature.

492
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:52,440
But the Lord said, I want you to do this because it's a parallel picture of a spiritual

493
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:54,080
journey that I want to take you on.

494
00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:57,480
I didn't know that journey was going to be five years deep and I didn't know was going

495
00:23:57,480 --> 00:23:59,640
to lead me to my black belt.

496
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:05,680
But what was so important in that journey was all these small steps of making hard choices,

497
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:09,560
week in and week out, when I didn't feel like it, when I came home from a plane, excuse

498
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:13,800
me, when I got off the plane, came home from a ministry trip and I didn't want to go to

499
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:18,760
class or I wasn't in the mood or I had all the excuses, but I looked at my husband, he

500
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:22,200
was already packed up, he's going to class and I had the choice every single week.

501
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:23,600
If I was going to go or not.

502
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:27,760
And then here I am at the face of my black belt, which came at a really busy season this

503
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:28,760
year.

504
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:29,880
We had a packed schedule.

505
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:33,760
I didn't get a train leading up to my test as much as I'd wanted to.

506
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:38,440
I was able to do some of it and even on that some of it, I was cramming in bike, a bike

507
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:42,400
ride on my one day off when I just wanted to be home resting.

508
00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:47,160
I had in my mind fully deserved rest and it was like, but I made a commitment.

509
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:52,160
I chose what was hard and I did it because I felt like I created a goal for myself.

510
00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:54,240
My goal was to be a black belt.

511
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:59,080
And so going into that, I had to make the choice that I was going to continually choose

512
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:03,040
the hard thing and all my little hearts led to a big win.

513
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,680
And so I just want to tell the listener today that you might be in the middle of your own

514
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,440
Krav Maga process where you're not really liking it, but you feel like God's invited

515
00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:16,060
you in it, but I became strong at something I was terrible at at the beginning.

516
00:25:16,060 --> 00:25:21,080
But as an adult, I've now see myself differently because I did something I didn't think I was

517
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:22,080
going to do.

518
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:27,480
I've now become a new goal of mine to continually do things I don't think I can do.

519
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:31,520
I want to break down my own boxes of how I see myself.

520
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:36,440
That's going to continue continually require me to do things that I would view as hard,

521
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,600
but I choose hard because I want to grow as a person.

522
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,440
You know, Paul talked about, I learned to be content in plenty.

523
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:45,920
I learned to be content in less or lack.

524
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:50,120
And yet right after that, he says, I can do all things that Christ who strengthens me.

525
00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:53,880
The actual context of that verse is not like, Oh, I could be an astronaut.

526
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:54,880
I'll go to the moon.

527
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,280
I will invent, you know, AI at a whole another level.

528
00:25:58,280 --> 00:25:59,280
Yeah.

529
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:03,520
But actually the context is, is that you could be content in the toughest of circumstance

530
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:07,080
or you could be blessed in the most amazing circumstance.

531
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:08,200
I love that.

532
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:09,200
So good.

533
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:13,240
You know, and it's like, when you start thinking about hard things, what is another facet of

534
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:14,240
that?

535
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:17,400
And I think in really choosing to do hard things, you have to do things that go beyond what's

536
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:19,440
even expected or required.

537
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:23,640
And I think in a world that's always kind of looking for the bare minimum.

538
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:27,320
Remember in school, there was always a students that were like going for the extra credit

539
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:29,400
and like in the college prep classes.

540
00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:32,640
And then there was always those kids that were just like, what can I do to get a D plus

541
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:33,720
and pass?

542
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:35,600
And there's this spectrum in our society.

543
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:37,840
You can really choose your place in that.

544
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:41,000
But I think that mentality can go into every sphere of our life.

545
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,560
And I remember like even at the end of my black belt test, I know I keep using it, but

546
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:45,560
it just happened in April.

547
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:47,480
So it's like a new example in my life.

548
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:51,960
But at the end of it, I ended the black belt test doing one exercise that I had to do a

549
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:53,280
ton of burpees and pushups.

550
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:54,800
And I didn't like the way I did it.

551
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:59,200
I didn't, I didn't feel like I was able to do it in my fullest because I was in so much

552
00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:00,320
pain in my shoulders.

553
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:02,320
I was so exhausted after three days.

554
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:06,520
I just, I felt really good about my test, but that was one thing I wanted to change.

555
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:12,040
So the day after my three day black belt test, I literally got up, Sean's still sleeping.

556
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:13,040
I went downstairs.

557
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:14,920
I don't even know if you know this baby.

558
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,400
And I did a ton of burpees.

559
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,760
Just for myself, I redid them.

560
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:24,160
I didn't do the full of them, but I probably did about half of the set that was required

561
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:30,080
because I just wanted to do it right to know that I can do a proper formed burpee even

562
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:34,720
when I'm tired, even when I'm sore, even after a three day test, I got up and I went downstairs

563
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,560
that morning, not for anyone else, but for myself.

564
00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,000
And that's because I'm not going to just do what's required and I'm not even going to

565
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,600
do what's expected and I'm not even going to do what's good enough.

566
00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:45,920
I'm actually going to do more than that.

567
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:50,960
It's not for anyone else, but God and me because it's like, I want to live at a place

568
00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:55,960
where I know like I'm giving it my best and your best looks different in different seasons

569
00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:58,640
and I'm a big believer in that truth.

570
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,680
But I'm also going, you know, I woke up that day and I just wasn't happy with it and I

571
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:02,840
was like, I can't fix it.

572
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:04,360
And then I had this idea, yeah, I can.

573
00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:06,640
I can go downstairs and redo it to myself.

574
00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:09,200
No one else is going to see it, but I feel better about it.

575
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:13,120
And I think there's something that changes your mentality when you begin to go, I can

576
00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:14,120
do better.

577
00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:17,480
I'm actually going to expect better and I'm going to get out of the, this is good enough

578
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,240
mode and actually be like, no, I have more to offer.

579
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:23,920
And it sounds silly, but even when I'm in public restrooms, like I always make sure

580
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:25,760
like I throw away my stuff.

581
00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:27,400
Like, or I'm in, you know what I mean?

582
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:31,360
Like my napkins or different stuff, I'll like, you know, my tab paper towel, you know, I'll

583
00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:33,280
throw it and if I miss it, I'll go pick it up.

584
00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:38,680
It sounds simple, but I genuinely have a mentality that God created me to make things better than

585
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:39,840
how I found them.

586
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:43,320
And it sounds simple, but I just have this mentality that I clean up messes.

587
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:44,680
I put stuff away.

588
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,280
I make stuff better in the natural, but I also do it in the spirit.

589
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:53,120
And I think when you just have this parallel life that your natural matches your spiritual,

590
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:56,360
that's when you begin to have a convergence and that's when you take on the hard things,

591
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,920
but you take it on with passion and intentionality.

592
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:00,960
You know, older and that's, that's profound.

593
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:01,960
I love that analogy.

594
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:02,960
And it's so true.

595
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:07,360
I think so often if I could take what you said in academics, people just trying, what

596
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:09,280
can I do just to barely pass?

597
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:12,400
I think there are a lot of people that are looking for the bare minimum spiritually.

598
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:14,120
That's the least I could do to get to heaven.

599
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:19,120
I think the mindset that we have currently in modern North American Christianity and

600
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,040
other advanced nations, I think it's totally different.

601
00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:26,000
Like in Fox's Book of Martyrs, there's some dude that literally Nero was torturing him

602
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:31,840
and then martyred his wife, martyred his kids because they wouldn't deny Jesus and confess

603
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:34,720
Nero this wicked bloodthirsty king as the sovereign.

604
00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:35,880
So the story is in there.

605
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:41,240
One dude is about to be executed and the guy says, alas, but I have but one life to

606
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:42,360
give for my savior.

607
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:43,760
And it's like, stop, what?

608
00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:48,720
This dude has seen his wife killed because she would not deny the Lord Jesus Christ.

609
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,640
His children come on, your dad, you've seen your wife, love of your life, your children.

610
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:57,200
And now, you know, most people would have long before that been in the midst of being

611
00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:01,480
angry at God and they would have written a blog and they would do some sort of crazy

612
00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:04,520
stuff and just be blasting Christians on social media.

613
00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:09,960
This dude rises up and says alas, but I have but one life to give for my savior.

614
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:11,800
And I just think, man, you know what?

615
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,160
The grace of God isn't for the comfortable.

616
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:16,120
The grace of God is for the grind.

617
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:18,680
The grace of God is a path of growth.

618
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:21,640
You don't need grace if you're doing the bare minimum.

619
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:25,800
Grace, great grace comes upon a person that's willing to step in the great sacrifice.

620
00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:30,520
And a great example of this is Philemon, which is who was actually a contemporary of Apostle

621
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:31,520
Paul.

622
00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:35,560
Philemon, it says in the only, there's only one chapter that Paul wrote as a letter to

623
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:36,560
Philemon.

624
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:42,520
And Philemon 121, he says, having your confidence in your obedience, I write to you knowing that

625
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,400
you will do ever more than I say.

626
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,080
So here's Apostle Paul, right into this guy Philemon.

627
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:51,240
He says, I know you're going to do more than I say.

628
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:55,080
So whatever I'm telling you, Hey, this is what's required to walk with Christ.

629
00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:56,480
Man, I know you're going to do more.

630
00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:01,800
And I say that is the Christian mindset to do the hard things that whoever you're going

631
00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:04,320
to go beyond was expected or required.

632
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:06,080
I remember they told me as a baby believer.

633
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:07,400
I should share my faith.

634
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:11,840
And in week three of being saved, I stood up in front of my entire student body as a

635
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:15,000
student, University of Pacific, and I preached the gospel.

636
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,840
And I'm not even trying to break my hand, pat myself on the back over that.

637
00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:21,040
I just felt like, well, if I'm supposed to witness, I'm not just going to witness just

638
00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:24,160
to people I know, I want to witness to everybody.

639
00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:27,560
And that led down the way to where I would stand up at UC Berkeley.

640
00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:28,560
It was not easy.

641
00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:32,520
I could see there was the hardcore atheists over there on the other side.

642
00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:34,360
It was the LGBTQT.

643
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:38,240
On this side, it was just the party fraternity sorority folks over here.

644
00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,160
It was the people like, what are you doing bringing that out here?

645
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:45,760
Even religious types that was mad because I was preaching destiny and grace, calling

646
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:46,880
people to repentance.

647
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:50,560
But I wasn't angry enough as some of the religious types would want me to be.

648
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:52,400
And I just thought, wow, this is wild.

649
00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,320
And I did it without a big, huge Christian backing.

650
00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,760
I would go over there and support a guy I was mentoring that was doing a Bible study

651
00:31:58,760 --> 00:31:59,760
at the time.

652
00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:04,880
And I thought I want to let this campus know about Jesus and it was the hard, but I felt

653
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:05,960
great grace.

654
00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:09,800
And I can't tell you how many times it led to people making commitments to Christ.

655
00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:13,480
And as I would do that in front of the masses, I didn't know that years later, I would stand

656
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:18,320
in front of a thousand people on what they call Renovate Berkeley on a night.

657
00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:22,360
Jesus culture artists came and led worship at a thousand people on a weeknight as we

658
00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:24,280
saw a bunch of people get saved.

659
00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:30,200
Keylings, a girl took off a brace, a guy was a Muslim guy, literally walked forward, dropped

660
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:32,160
his subway sandwich, gave his life to Christ.

661
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:37,320
But I think to get there, you got to go beyond what's expected or required.

662
00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:42,120
And I would add to this too, Boo, is it when I think of hard things, you got to do things

663
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:45,440
against the grain of cultural narrative.

664
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,800
You can't follow the cultural norm or cultural narrative.

665
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:54,240
You know, it's like in the book of Revelations, the seventh church, Laodicea, it was a lukewarm

666
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:59,000
church because they were only halfway on fire for the Lord.

667
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,560
It suggests that they were influenced by their surroundings.

668
00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:06,160
And it's kind of like, you know, if you get coffee, you know, the way you get your ice

669
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:10,760
coffee is it's hot coffee and then they throw ice in it and it meets the temperature of the

670
00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:11,760
air around it.

671
00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:14,800
The Laodiceans had let the culture do that to them.

672
00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:20,280
And so hard thing is you got to go against the grain of cultural norm and you got to

673
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:27,040
understand that you don't want on one end to become the super judgmental, angry at everybody,

674
00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:31,600
religious person, but at the same time, you don't want to become the licentious, compromised

675
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:32,680
person on the other.

676
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:36,120
You got to do things that go against the grain of cultural norm and that's part of doing

677
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:37,120
the hard.

678
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:38,120
It's really true.

679
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,600
When you are going against the cultural norm, the world isn't going to understand, right?

680
00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:45,600
I mean, I think there's a reality where we choose to read our Bibles, we pray when we

681
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:50,080
could be watching television, when we're going to that church service, when all our friends,

682
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:52,920
they maybe used to party with, you're not going to party with them, you're going to

683
00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:56,880
church, you're, you know, you're going to your home group, you're going to your prayer

684
00:33:56,880 --> 00:34:00,360
group, you're, you're getting connected, you're building community relationships, you hang

685
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:03,440
out with all your church friends and your family and friends who may not be serving

686
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,880
God or maybe casually serving God, they're not going to understand that because they're

687
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:08,600
like, why are you with all those people all the time?

688
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:12,680
But they don't understand how life giving it is because they haven't experienced that

689
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:14,920
and it's, there's a hardness in that, right?

690
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:17,840
Cause there's, there's that element and I kind of talked about it earlier.

691
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,200
It's like where you go deeper in the things of God, the world's not going to be able to

692
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:22,200
go with you.

693
00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:27,080
And so there is that natural misunderstanding that's going to happen that will feel initially

694
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:31,560
hard, but when you walk in the God hard, there is a God grace.

695
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:37,360
You know, William Barkley is a Bible scholar and he points out many reasons as to what's

696
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:41,760
the difference between the two roads, going back to Jesus metaphor of the wide road and

697
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:46,840
the narrow and he brings up multiple differences, but I think it's important that maybe we hit

698
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:47,840
a couple.

699
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:51,440
And when I was thinking about, he talks about the narrow road is discipline.

700
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:56,920
The wide road is undisciplined and I just think nothing great is ever achieved without

701
00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:57,920
discipline.

702
00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:02,040
You know, the root word when we say we're disciples of Christ, the root word there is

703
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:05,520
discipline and I, it's just observation.

704
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:10,280
There are untold millions of people that have squandered their lives by being undisciplined

705
00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:17,000
and literally not being disciplined in terms of just devotional life, prayer life, just

706
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:21,160
disciplining your thoughts, disciplining what comes out of your mouth, disciplining who

707
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:23,280
you hang with, a lot of different things.

708
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:26,760
But the key thing is that there has to be disciplines.

709
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:32,200
And so I feel like, you know, people say, are you disciplined or they will say to me,

710
00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:35,720
Sean, you seem like a very disciplined person, disciplined, disciplined, disciplined.

711
00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:40,240
But one of the things, and we had this conversation earlier, I think you create rhythms in your

712
00:35:40,240 --> 00:35:43,640
life and those rhythms ensure that you remain disciplined.

713
00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:49,200
You know, it's really true because I see that, you know, there is a discipline that's required,

714
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:50,800
which I think is really interesting.

715
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:54,600
I think when you again kind of compare that wide road versus the narrow road, something

716
00:35:54,600 --> 00:36:00,200
else I would observe is the narrow road would be something you have to be intentional about.

717
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,120
And the wide road, I would say is aimless.

718
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:04,840
You know, you don't really have to think about it.

719
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:08,480
You have to give no thought, no intentionality if you're just going to live your life and

720
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:10,360
you're not concerned about salvation.

721
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,840
If you're just like, I'm cool if I go to hell, doesn't matter.

722
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:13,960
I don't really care.

723
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:15,880
You don't have to give any thought to it.

724
00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:20,080
You don't have to actually think about what's right or wrong, what's moral or immoral.

725
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:22,040
You don't have to think about consequences.

726
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:24,440
You don't have a conscience.

727
00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:27,040
You have no moral compass within you.

728
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:30,080
And you're not having to think about whether God approves or disapproves.

729
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:33,200
You're not thinking about like the impact of your words, your actions, your priorities.

730
00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:34,840
You're just living for you.

731
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:36,960
You're not giving it any other thought beyond that.

732
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:37,960
So there's not an intentionality.

733
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:39,520
It's very aimless, right?

734
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:43,720
You're just, you can do whatever you want to do if you're not concerned with going to

735
00:36:43,720 --> 00:36:47,840
heaven and giving your life for Jesus, being forgiven of your sin, Jesus Christ being your

736
00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:48,840
Lord and Savior.

737
00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:52,720
There's an aimlessness, but as soon as you ask Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior,

738
00:36:52,720 --> 00:36:57,600
as soon as you make that decision to follow Jesus and become a disciple of Jesus, there's

739
00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:02,800
an intentionality that is immediately required once that prayer and that decision and that

740
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:04,760
life is surrendered to Jesus.

741
00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:09,720
And that intentionality is actually what causes you to go on the narrow road, right?

742
00:37:09,720 --> 00:37:13,560
The intentionality is actually that entrance point to the narrow road.

743
00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:16,460
And the intentionality is now you have a filter.

744
00:37:16,460 --> 00:37:18,280
It's called an unseared conscience.

745
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:20,080
It's called a conviction of sin.

746
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:25,920
It's called a moral compass from the Holy Spirit where you are actually running things

747
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:26,920
through God.

748
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:30,400
You're beginning to dialogue through a prayer life, reading the word and having the word

749
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:35,240
of the Lord wash over you, filter you, refine you, heal you, transform you.

750
00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:39,800
And that whole process, whether it's reading the word of praying, worship in relationship

751
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:46,040
with Jesus, that begins to create an intentionality that shifts everything on how you live your

752
00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:50,480
life because it's really easy to go to hell, but it's an intentional life that gets to

753
00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:51,480
heaven.

754
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:52,680
You know, I'm impacted lately.

755
00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:58,000
There's been a lot of ex-Bose's and they're looking at different ministers and denominations

756
00:37:58,000 --> 00:37:59,000
or movements.

757
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:02,600
And I just think about, you know, this thought, you have to check the finished product of

758
00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:03,600
your philosophy.

759
00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:06,480
What is the finished product of your philosophy?

760
00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:10,200
Like if it's just partying, if it's just making money, it's just being popular.

761
00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:13,800
If it's just having more junk in your trunk than the next person.

762
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:18,120
I mean, if it's a married person, not really thinking through what happens if I just go

763
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:22,280
get with this person and hook up with that person and I'm not married to, how's that

764
00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:23,880
going to tear my family apart?

765
00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:25,560
What's that going to do to my destiny?

766
00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:28,840
How will my spouse, if they stay with me, how will they look at me from that point

767
00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:29,840
on?

768
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:33,760
Yeah, you can be forgiven if you genuinely repent, but you've sacrificed something.

769
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:38,080
And in that moment, I believe the devil wants to hold up your spiritual carcass before God

770
00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:40,600
and say, look God, I got another, what's the finished product?

771
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:45,280
Hey, the Bible says there's a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is destruction.

772
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:47,160
Like you have to be intentional.

773
00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:51,680
I love what you're saying with this because without that, so many people, they just get

774
00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:55,520
in the moment, live for the moment and they lose sight of eternity.

775
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:58,800
You got to be intentional and you got to understand that.

776
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:01,760
Hey, I just want to take this moment as we're going to begin to wind down and just give

777
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:06,120
you a couple of thoughts on why you choose your heart or what keeps you in the grind,

778
00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:07,120
spiritually speaking.

779
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:10,720
I would say one of the things is that you have to move from Kronos to Kairos.

780
00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:13,960
And it's kind of like what I was talking about earlier is that you can't just live for the

781
00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:15,160
moment, be in the moment.

782
00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:17,600
Yes, you want to be in the moment, but you don't live for the moment.

783
00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:21,280
You got to live for eternity and you got to understand that some moments are more valuable

784
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:22,520
than other moments.

785
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:26,360
And I think what that helps you do is you got to steward your season.

786
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:31,360
My understanding is that if the Bible often likens the Christian walk to agriculture,

787
00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:33,880
that was the common occupation of Jesus day.

788
00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:35,760
And you understand, you have to till the soil.

789
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:37,480
You have to break up the fallow ground.

790
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:41,120
There is a season where you do that and there's a season where you plant, but then down the

791
00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:43,160
road, there's a season where you read.

792
00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:47,880
And so in the world that we're in today, you got to understand in Kronos, nothing lasts

793
00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:48,880
forever.

794
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:50,040
Everything is going to come to an end.

795
00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:53,080
Every season brings a new challenge, new opportunity.

796
00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:57,840
And you might be in a different place than a month from now, but the Bible says redeem

797
00:39:57,840 --> 00:39:59,800
the time for the day is evil.

798
00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:04,720
It's another way of saying, move from Kronos to Kairos, move from just, whatever the clock

799
00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:10,800
is saying, I got to do, I do, move out of that to a Kairos to understand the unique positioning

800
00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:13,360
and strategic-ness of where you're at.

801
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:17,600
And when you recognize that, it gives you a why in your choosing your heart.

802
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:19,040
Like, whoa, this is a Kairos moment.

803
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:21,320
This is a unique window of opportunity.

804
00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:22,320
You know, what is it?

805
00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:25,960
Leonard Raymell says, the opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime

806
00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:27,160
of the opportunity.

807
00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:28,800
That's a man that understood Kairos.

808
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:32,160
So I would say kind of one of the thoughts of what keeps you in the spiritual grind or

809
00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:36,800
why you choose your heart is you understand that you're moving from Kronos, which is a

810
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:42,280
word that just describes the 24 seven clock, just what the calendar says, Greco-Roman calendar

811
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:43,320
to Kairos.

812
00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:44,720
That's a God appointed time.

813
00:40:44,720 --> 00:40:47,280
So you got to move from the Kronos to the Kairos.

814
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:48,280
I love that.

815
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:49,280
It's so good.

816
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:53,800
And you know, I would say why you choose your heart and really what keeps you in the grind.

817
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:59,280
For me, it would be that why it's the God why that keeps me going because the why is

818
00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:03,400
really essential in order to motivate you.

819
00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:07,880
It's not maybe the only motivating thing, but for me, the why is actually what helps

820
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:12,760
me stay disciplined, what helps me be intentional, what keeps me motivated.

821
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:17,360
And it actually helps me keep showing up, keep pushing through, keep praying, keep preaching,

822
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:21,200
keep prophesying, keep praying for the sick, you know, keep loving, keep shining, you know,

823
00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:25,520
really just keep worshiping, keep, you know, in my word, you know, it's like, keep leaning

824
00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:28,960
into Jesus be why, because I'm believing for revival.

825
00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:29,960
Why?

826
00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:31,880
Because I want a generation to experience the move of God.

827
00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:32,880
Why?

828
00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:35,560
Because I want our nation and the nations of the world to be different.

829
00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:36,560
Why?

830
00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:40,520
Because I know that my life is short, but I want my life to have a mark.

831
00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:44,000
And if I want my life to have a mark, then I have to understand there's a hard that I've

832
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:45,680
got to choose every single day.

833
00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:49,880
I got to keep showing up, I got to keep preaching, I got to keep prophesying and not out of my

834
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:52,560
strength, but out of the spirit of God within me.

835
00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:57,960
But every day I'm just leaning into the intentionality of who God has called me to be for this hour.

836
00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:02,760
And my hope and prayers is you're here in this podcast today that Sean and I, prayerfully,

837
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:07,240
hopefully have challenged you guys to really evaluate what's the hard you're choosing and

838
00:42:07,240 --> 00:42:08,600
is it the God hard?

839
00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:13,360
Because that to me, friends, is really why God put you on this earth is to spread the

840
00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:17,480
gospel, to release the kingdom of God and to go make disciples, right?

841
00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:19,520
And that is the why that keeps me going.

842
00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:23,920
And that's the why in which I believe God has us here on this earth.

843
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:27,880
And really to sum it all up too, I think this, when you're talking about choose your hard,

844
00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:32,600
when you choose your hard, you have to understand that your friendship base and who you fellowship

845
00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:34,120
with will play a big part.

846
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:38,080
You have to decide what kind of person you want to be in God, that you want to be all

847
00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:39,440
out, peddled with a medal.

848
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:45,320
You have to decide what attitudes you're going to have and then as I read in one blog, someone

849
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:48,240
said, you have to hold up the destination sign.

850
00:42:48,240 --> 00:42:51,000
And when people come around you, they know where you're going.

851
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:55,280
So you don't accidentally get quote unquote wide friends in a narrow walk.

852
00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:58,200
You know, the Jesus talk about there's a wide road and a narrow road.

853
00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:00,520
You can't take wide friends on a narrow path.

854
00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:05,160
And so you have to understand, make sure you're showing up for the right kind of hard, the

855
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:08,440
kind that will lead you to exactly where you want to be.

856
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:11,560
Thanks so much for tuning into the keep it 100 podcast.

857
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:15,440
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858
00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:18,360
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859
00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:21,760
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860
00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:24,040
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861
00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:27,560
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862
00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:30,560
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863
00:43:30,560 --> 00:43:32,200
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864
00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:33,240
Hey, keep it 100 tried.

865
00:43:33,240 --> 00:43:37,640
Make sure you do not miss our next episode as we're going to have some exciting guests.

866
00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:40,320
Wait to interview them and to tell you about it.

867
00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:44,600
And in the meantime, remember relief may change your circumstance, but a revelation will change

868
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:45,600
you.

869
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:51,640
We hope you enjoyed today's episode of the keep it 100 podcast with Sean and Christa Smith.

870
00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:55,920
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