We Need Each Other | Hebrews 10

for what it is most of the time. I've just like learned, like a lot of times, I'm like, oh yeah, I totally see this situation with the right perspective or whatever. And actually, I usually don't, I see it from my side. And there's always another side. There's always another side of the story or an angle or information I didn't know, or I'm jaded or heard or confused or in my feels about something that I don't see it accurately. - That's right. Yeah, we do not see reality on our own. - Yeah, right. - This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people. Just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. (upbeat music) Hey, what's going on? I'm Chuck. - I'm Chris. - I'm Jamie. - I'm Jordan. - Thanks for joining us today. So today's reading was Hebrews 10. And man, Hebrews is such a great book. It's such a great book. I love it because it really, really gets clear on the bad news. You spit all these chapters and it's talking about like,

basically the point of Hebrews is like, all the ritual, temple worship of the nation of Israel was utterly incomplete to deal with our sin problem. - Yeah. - And it was never meant to deal with it, but it was meant to point to the ultimate rescue, which is Jesus. So now we're at the point where we're kind of made that shift. Like, hey, now there's a permanent high priest. It's Jesus, right? Now there's no need for anything that goes between you and God because of the blood of Jesus. The curtain's been torn. Like it's such a beautiful thing. And this chapter is really like, but how do you live in that? How do you stay in that? And I think there's six words that kind of summarize what we read today and it's number one, draw near. It says, now we have confidence we can draw near to God. Then it talks about stirring up our faith, right? And we do that with one another and we'll talk about that. And then we have to hold fast to hope because there are gonna be things in this world that come against that hope. So, question for you guys, what has helped you draw near to God? What is that, is there something that's been really helpful for you in terms of drawing near to God? Habits, practices, ways of prayer, anything?

- I don't like the outdoors. - Okay. - I'm gonna start with a negative statement. - Okay. - I was even like, oh, I was just like one with nature. I'm like, never once in the history of my life. - That just did. - However, comma, I started running. Well, I started walking and it's led to some running as it were, and I prefer to do it outdoors. - All right. - And there's this moment, I try and get out right before sunrise and there's this hill that I crest like right at sunrise. And it's this thing where I'm just like, like jogging and I'm like, I'm sweating, but it might be tears because there's just this thing of like, I've never felt so close to God than in those moments where it's just like, his beauty's on display. It's me and maybe a few errant cars that are driving around. And I just feel like it's the closest I get to getting it if that makes sense. And so I just feel like when things have gone wrong, even like before I would say I became a runner, there have been times where I'm like, I don't know why, but I'm gonna go for a walk or I'm gonna go get out in nature. As a person who doesn't enjoy it just like on a Tuesday, I do feel like that's a place where I can draw near to God. - I love that, yeah.

What comes to mind for me is good old fashioned, getting with other followers of Jesus. You know, that can be attending a weekend worship experience that can also be gathering in a small group. This is a place that regularly, you know, and I'm with you guys and we're filming this, like we're having real conversations here. And it really encourages my faith. There are lots of things we talk about here that I wind up thinking about for the rest of the day. So I think that power of coming together is a really good one for me to draw near to God. - I probably have a little over an hour in total commute every day, and historically, I just filled that with whatever podcast or music that I possibly want to, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I, for some reason, one day, I just decided to not listen to anything. And I think I heard more from God in that time than a lot of my quiet times where I'm just like, I have a single focus and it just don't crash my car. And like I, but I'm just like allowing thoughts to flutter through my mind that like, there's no other time of my day where I just am truly disconnected from everything except for sleeping. And I, so sometimes I'll throw like an instrumental if I'm like, I need some kind of stimulation or I'm actually gonna die. But like, I, it feels like it's a one space

where I just get to quiet my minds and really not be distracted or have the opportunity to be distracted by anything else. but like it is, God has spoken to me a ton through that. It's great. Ask you a different question. Sure, yeah. It also talks about stirring up one another to loving good deeds. So who does that in your life? Who are people who stir you up to loving good deeds? Yeah, there's a few people that come to mind. I'll give a shout out to one of my friends. It's named Lindsay. We have a friend since third grade. Wow. That is a very long friendship. I mean, we've been friends for 20 years. Is that right? Yeah. It's been a long time. But I think there's something about the longevity of that friendship. Yeah. But I think that even though we don't live in close proximity to each other and haven't for half of our friendship, we stay in contact regularly. And what I really appreciate about Lindsay is that like we catch up on the small talk type stuff, but usually he keeps that pretty brief because it's like, hey, look, man, you're a busy guy. I'm a busy guy. We got families. We got all these things.

But like we want to talk about the real stuff. That's good. And I just really value that in his friendship. And I think as I've just gotten a little bit older and I have more responsibility and more things going on in my life, that's what I want. It's like I want to just talk about the real stuff. And sometimes I'm like, oh, man, we can just small talk sometimes with adult. I don't know. I don't care about any of this. I want to talk about the things that God's doing in my life. And I think he wants that as well. And we've kind of just made a commitment to each other that's like, hey, man, we can avoid all the pleasantries. And it's like, let's just get to the meat of it. Man, it's good to have a friend like that. Yeah, absolutely. It's really good to have a friend like that. Yeah. And it strikes me that revival, and that's what we're talking about this week, doesn't happen in the vacuum, right? This is about relationship. First drawing near is about drawing near to God. So you can think about that as the vertical relationship between you and God. Like that's essential. And the primary place that God wants to heal and enhance when revival happens. But then it also is horizontal, meaning that revival happens in community. It happens together. And so as you think about that, the alternative is isolation. Why is isolation the death knell for our faith? What is it about isolation that we should avoid like the plague because it is the exact opposite

of drawing near and of being stirred up? Yeah. I think in isolation, I don't actually see reality for what it is most of the time. I've just like learned, like a lot of times I'm like, oh, yeah, I totally see this situation with the right perspective or whatever. And actually I usually don't. Right. I see it from my side. Right. And there's always another side. There's always another side of the story or an angle or information I didn't know or I'm jaded or heard or confused or in my feels about something and I don't see it accurately. And I think going back to like my friend Lindsey is like, he helps me see the world and the situation or the stage or the whatever with like an actual real robust perspective. And usually can look at me and go like, hey, you're not looking at that the right way. Right. Or your man, that's a really cynical take. Let me give you the hope filled, like faith filled version of that. And this is how you should be looking at the situation and I just go, oh, you know what? Like, you're right. I need to snap out of it. Or I just never would have seen that if I wouldn't have had someone speak into that area. That's right. That's right. Yeah. We do not see reality on our own. Yeah. Right. That's really good. I think we also can only hype ourselves up so much.

Like we, I need other people to encourage me in ways that I could do myself. Like I could read the whole Bible and just say, all of this is true for me, but there's something different when a brother of mine looks me in the eye and says that same thing to me. And so I think it's crucial to have other people consistently encouraging and building out where it's like, I know this thing, but for some reason, God is designed it where another person saying it to me comes across a different way. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. I think, I think another thing for me with isolation is the voices that I like, the voices that I can hear. When I'm like really close with God, I still hear the, like the negative thoughts. But they are in isolation, they're so amplified and they're so easy to believe. And so without someone saying like, you matter or that's just a lie from somewhere else, I can start to like go down the thread of, and I can be, I can be isolated sitting here in this group with you all. Like it's not even just about like being in solitude and with those negative thoughts. And then it unravels things where I'm like, no, but that part of my life was so short up. And now I'm questioning and doubting that. So I think you get, I can get to this place where I'm like, would people miss me? Do I matter? And then if I'm questioning that, then I'm like, okay, then I start to question things about God. So I just think it creates this perfect petri dish for insidious lies to just run rampant. And then I don't know which way is up. - Yeah, yeah.

- You're saying that you could be sitting here and still be isolated. Like that's, I feel like that's such an easy thing for me to wrestle with is like, well, if I'm around people then that's like, I'm checking the box, I'm doing the community thing, but there is something about opening up the way I'm feeling about things and the stuff I'm wrestling with, that's where life happens. That's where I feel growth and encouragement is actually opening myself up, not just like, well, I'm around people all the time. Like a lot of people know what I'm doing in my life and it's, but that's different than like, do they see the inside? What's going on here? - Thank you all. Thank you. That's really, really powerful. And I think a reminder of why this is so important, why coming together is so important, why you being a part of this with this is so important. Not just for you, but for us, like it really is an opportunity for us to stir one another up and a way to draw near to God. So I just pray that blessing over you today, that you would draw near to God and that you would feel stirred up by something you heard today toward love of God

and being able to live out God wherever you are, whatever your context is, if you'd be able to be Jesus there today. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING]