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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Advent: Choose Hope

December 26, 2025 | 28:35

Allen Jackson - Advent: Choose Hope
Television is filled with dysfunction, and the world is drowning in it. Negativity has saturated people of all ages, fed by competition to the bottom on social media. What if someone new came along with a fresh operating principle? A person who has travelled the world, seen the worst of it but deals strictly with how to move forward. An honest and inspiring leader who has lived the full Christian life as a pastor and uses his wisdom to inspire others. Meet Allen Jackson.
#Christmas #Jesus #Savior #Culture #Hope #Gospel #PromisesofGod #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Advent: Choose Hope | December 26, 2025
  • ...
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Allen jackson: we began allen jackson ministries to strengthen
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  • The church.
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  • Thank you for your partnership.
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  • Together, we made an impact in this nation.
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  • But we're not done, in fact, in many ways, i believe we're
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  • Just beginning.
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  • The status quo is not adequate any longer.
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  • We can't sit in our churches and have our polite bible studies
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  • And sing our favorite choruses while we watch darkness
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  • Increasing in the world around us.
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  • We have to have the courage to tell the truth to our culture,
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  • A biblical worldview to engage current events in a way to make
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  • What we believe a part of the fabric of our schools,
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  • Our homes, our communities, our nation, and beyond.
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  • We have invitations now from war-torn countries, in israel
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  • And ukraine, to strengthen the churches there.
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  • I want to ask you to make an investment with us, in allen
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  • Jackson ministries, to make 2026 the most fruitful year we've
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  • Ever had together.
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  • God is moving in the earth, we want to keep pace.
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  • We want to take new steps to make a new impact.
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  • Your help makes that possible.
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Allen: it's the first weekend of our advent series.
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  • The general theme is "when god moves," and in this session
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  • We're going to talk about choosing hope.
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  • Hope is typically begin of the first weekend of advent, but i'm
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  • Of the opinion that god is moving in the earth.
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  • I've said it to you many times.
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  • I've said it here and wherever i have been in recent months.
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  • And the question that comes back to me now most frequently when
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  • People have an opportunity to speak to me is, they say, "well,
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  • Tell me, why do you think god is moving?
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  • What do you see?
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  • What are you seeing?"
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  • And implied in the question, whether it's stated directly or
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  • Not, is, i don't see it.
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  • Or this is what i'm seeing, tell me what you see.
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  • Why do you--why are you of the opinion that god is moving?
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  • Well, the best evidence i have recently is vanderbilt went
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  • To knoxville.
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  • [congregation laughs]
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  • [congregation claps]
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  • Now, the disheartening part of that is it's kind of like
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  • Locusts, it happens every 50 years.
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  • But when it happens, you know god was involved.
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  • So if you were offended by it, you should have a hope.
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  • It's very unusual, it's supernatural.
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  • But in all seriousness, when god is moving, i--really, i sat
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  • Down, i thought, well, what causes me to--why would i
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  • Imagine that?
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  • And there's some characteristics that come with it.
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  • The most obvious is there are outcomes that you begin to see
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  • That can't really be achieved apart from god, that there's not
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  • A way to understand them.
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  • And you should know that when you're willing to say, "god did
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  • That," somebody who's rejected god is gonna reject that
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  • Outcome, they're not going to agree with you.
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  • Then it isn't helpful to try to force somebody to agree with you
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  • That god is moving, just live with that.
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  • You can share your opinion, and if they choose not to believe
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  • It, you're unlikely to win that argument.
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  • Sometimes i think christians bring heartache on ourselves by
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  • Trying to force people to acknowledge what we believe.
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  • Belief is personal.
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  • You can invite them to believe, you can tell them
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  • What you believe.
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  • You know, people often ask me if i believe in prayer or medicine,
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  • I'm like, yes, you know.
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  • And if god intervenes and you have some supernatural
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  • Expressions of health, don't force professional healthcare
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  • Workers to acknowledge that.
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  • Sometimes they have real limits.
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  • They're filling out forms for insurance providers, and they
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  • Don't have a box that says miracle.
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  • It's not a lack of faith.
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  • They may call it spontaneous recovery, give them a hug and a
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  • High five and say, yay, god.
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  • But one of the ways to know god is moving is there's outcomes
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  • That simply can't be explained.
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  • We've lived for decades with a diminishment of our faith in the
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  • Public square.
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  • You couldn't put the prayers in schools or the ten commandments
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  • On the walls or nativity scenes in the public square, and those
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  • Things have been reversed.
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  • We have that privilege.
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  • Now, whether or not we have the will to do that is still very
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  • Much in question, but it's no longer a legal issue, that's an
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  • Amazing thing.
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  • We have elected officials in our nation, people with tremendous
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  • Influence in our nation that are willing to hold biblical values
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  • And say marriage is between a man and a woman.
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  • Christians should celebrate that.
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  • I mean, god is moving in the earth.
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  • Now the question, whether or not we have the courage to move with
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  • Him, that's a whole different discussion.
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  • We've become so passive, so intimid--so whatever, that
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  • We--we've just kind of retreated to private faith and historic
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  • Bible studies.
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  • But god is moving in the earth, and i--i'm determined to move
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  • With it.
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  • There's some other things you'll see when god begins to move.
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  • There'll be discontinuity, the future won't look like the past.
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  • There'll be like a break, there's an interruption.
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  • You know, we'll accept that kind of discontinuity with
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  • Technological advancement.
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  • You know, the cell phone has changed how we communicate.
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  • We used to be tethered by wires, not so much anymore.
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  • And it's not any longer just a communication device, it's a
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  • Little portable computer that governs much of our lives and
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  • Our directions and how we engage and interact with one another.
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  • It was a--it was a significant change in culture and
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  • Civilization, and we're still trying to chase that to catch up
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  • To know what it means for our social and
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  • Spiritual development.
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  • Well, in the same way, when god's moving, there's
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  • A discontinuity.
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  • And i think one of the failures we have as religious people is
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  • We think god will move like he did, that he's going to take us
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  • Back to some better period, some quieter, more peaceful time
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  • Before electricity or before cell phones or before something.
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  • Well, there--there's no righteous point in history, but
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  • We get a little stuck in that.
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  • My experience in scripture and my personal faith journey is
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  • That when god begins to move, he takes you to a different place.
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  • When god met moses at the burning bush, he said, "i'm
  • 00:06:06.481 --> 00:06:08.717
  • Sending you back to egypt."
  • 00:06:08.717 --> 00:06:10.252
  • But he didn't say, "i'm sending you back to the palace to eat at
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  • Pharaoh's table and play with your cousins."
  • 00:06:12.554 --> 00:06:17.292
  • In fact, moses said, "no, really, i'm good.
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  • I'm a goat herder and i'm happy."
  • 00:06:19.161 --> 00:06:22.030
  • And god said, "no, i need you to go back, but this time i need
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  • You to go find pharaoh, you know, the one you grew up with.
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  • I need you to go find him and tell him to let the slaves go.
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  • And you're gonna need some help."
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  • You know, when god recruits people, there's a discontinuity.
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  • When god begins to move in the earth, folks, we're--i don't
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  • Believe we're going backwards.
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  • Some of us lament a season that we knew, maybe when billy graham
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  • Filled stadiums with people and george beverly shea sang and
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  • Your friends that came with you will wait while you respond to
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  • The invitation.
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  • Those were good things, and i was grateful they were part of
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  • Primetime television, but i don't believe we're going back
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  • To that.
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  • I think we'll go forward to god's expressions of power in
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  • This generation, it's important.
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  • There's a third part when god moves, it's often uncomfortable.
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  • That's just the nature of the assignment.
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  • There's a break with the past.
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  • Moses was very uncomfortable with the assignment.
  • 00:07:17.352 --> 00:07:19.988
  • "i don't wanna do that," he said, and god said, "no, i need
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  • You to do that."
  • 00:07:22.390 --> 00:07:23.725
  • "but i don't wanna do that," and i mean, the back and forth until
  • 00:07:23.725 --> 00:07:27.696
  • God got mad at moses.
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  • And there were several times along the journey, after they'd
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  • Already started, where moses, "i told you i didn't want to
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  • Do this."
  • 00:07:34.870 --> 00:07:38.273
  • It's uncomfortable sometimes following.
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  • The christians, we're not always, you know, it's always
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  • Every day following the lord is joyful.
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  • No, some days are just tough.
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  • I mean, even jesus.
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  • You know, sometimes we'll act more righteous than god.
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  • It's not real, but we will act.
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  • Jesus said, "god, i don't wanna do this," in gethsemane, "i
  • 00:07:59.928 --> 00:08:04.466
  • Don't really wanna do this."
  • 00:08:04.466 --> 00:08:08.003
  • I mean, they tied him to a post and beat him beyond recognition.
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  • And his friends stepped back from him.
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  • When they saw jesus struggling through the streets of jerusalem
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  • Carrying a cross, on the way to a hill where he was gonna be
  • 00:08:18.947 --> 00:08:23.952
  • Tortured to death, there was nobody doing an intervention.
  • 00:08:23.952 --> 00:08:30.659
  • Well, i'm not suggesting we have to be martyred for our faith,
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  • But let's not understand--let's understand that when god moves,
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  • There's a notion of it--there's a portion of it that may not
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  • Be comfortable.
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  • Oftentimes, it's even difficult to imagine that god's involved.
  • 00:08:39.601 --> 00:08:43.672
  • Because what i have observed, both in scripture and real life,
  • 00:08:43.672 --> 00:08:46.508
  • Is that when god moves, the enemy moves as well.
  • 00:08:46.508 --> 00:08:50.312
  • When jesus was born in bethlehem, herod was so angered
  • 00:08:50.312 --> 00:08:54.716
  • Because he didn't know where the child was, he just killed
  • 00:08:54.716 --> 00:08:58.086
  • All the baby boys, wow, wow!
  • 00:08:58.086 --> 00:09:07.095
  • When jesus was baptized in the jordan river and god said out
  • 00:09:07.095 --> 00:09:10.231
  • Loud for the crowd to hear, "that's my son, i'm pleased with
  • 00:09:10.231 --> 00:09:13.835
  • Him," jesus goes into the wilderness to pray, to seek god.
  • 00:09:13.835 --> 00:09:17.272
  • He didn't go to the casino.
  • 00:09:17.272 --> 00:09:21.209
  • And the devil came and tempted him, the devil himself.
  • 00:09:21.209 --> 00:09:27.582
  • So when god begins to move in these remarkable ways, i--i'm
  • 00:09:27.582 --> 00:09:31.586
  • Not a fatalist, but i want you to understand, sometimes it's
  • 00:09:31.586 --> 00:09:35.857
  • Confusing, how could god be moving and there be expressions
  • 00:09:35.857 --> 00:09:39.394
  • Of evil that are that clear and that blatant?
  • 00:09:39.394 --> 00:09:43.031
  • How could oppositions to god's objectives be so visible?
  • 00:09:43.031 --> 00:09:47.369
  • And there's one last component i would give you.
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  • When god's moving, he works in and through people.
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  • I don't know, it's inexplicable.
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  • A bunch of cracked pots just like us.
  • 00:09:57.245 --> 00:10:00.181
  • Imperfect people, inconsistent people.
  • 00:10:00.181 --> 00:10:04.519
  • Have you ever gotten--ever seen god touch somebody's life and
  • 00:10:04.519 --> 00:10:06.955
  • You think, oh, not them.
  • 00:10:06.955 --> 00:10:09.457
  • Not them, lord.
  • 00:10:09.457 --> 00:10:11.893
  • Well, i don't want them to be a brother or a sister.
  • 00:10:11.893 --> 00:10:15.830
  • I was happy when they were the adversary.
  • 00:10:15.830 --> 00:10:19.567
  • Well, you know, for every time you've thought that about
  • 00:10:19.567 --> 00:10:22.203
  • Somebody else, do you know somebody's thought that
  • 00:10:22.203 --> 00:10:24.005
  • About you?
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  • Oh, come on.
  • 00:10:26.675 --> 00:10:28.109
  • We just--this is holiday season, you're gathering with friends
  • 00:10:28.109 --> 00:10:30.445
  • And family.
  • 00:10:30.445 --> 00:10:31.813
  • You all have somebody that comes to those gatherings that you
  • 00:10:31.813 --> 00:10:33.648
  • Wish wouldn't, right?
  • 00:10:33.648 --> 00:10:36.217
  • Every family, we do.
  • 00:10:36.217 --> 00:10:38.787
  • Everybody brings joy, some with their arrival and some with
  • 00:10:38.787 --> 00:10:41.256
  • Their departure.
  • 00:10:41.256 --> 00:10:44.059
  • But we should all have enough humility to recognize that for
  • 00:10:44.059 --> 00:10:46.828
  • Somebody in that gathering, we're that person.
  • 00:10:46.828 --> 00:10:48.963
  • I didn't say i felt that way about you, but somebody does.
  • 00:10:53.168 --> 00:10:57.672
  • God works through people.
  • 00:10:57.672 --> 00:11:00.141
  • He works through people.
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  • God is moving in the earth, folks,
  • 00:11:01.476 --> 00:11:03.478
  • In remarkable ways, unprecedented ways.
  • 00:11:03.478 --> 00:11:07.115
  • In ways that's going to make the future different, it will
  • 00:11:07.115 --> 00:11:09.751
  • Exceed ai.
  • 00:11:09.751 --> 00:11:11.853
  • God is moving in the earth.
  • 00:11:11.853 --> 00:11:13.221
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:11:13.988 --> 00:11:19.794
  • Allen: god is moving in the earth and at allen jackson
  • 00:11:19.794 --> 00:11:22.197
  • Ministries, we're doing everything we can to strengthen
  • 00:11:22.197 --> 00:11:25.100
  • The church in our nation and wherever god opens the door.
  • 00:11:25.100 --> 00:11:28.336
  • We don't intend to maintain the status quo or to gather in our
  • 00:11:28.336 --> 00:11:31.272
  • Churches for polite bible studies.
  • 00:11:31.272 --> 00:11:33.208
  • We're gonna engage our culture with biblical truth and give you
  • 00:11:33.208 --> 00:11:36.478
  • The tools to do so.
  • 00:11:36.478 --> 00:11:38.213
  • We want our children and grandchildren to inherit a
  • 00:11:38.213 --> 00:11:40.749
  • Church that's vibrant and vital, and to do that, we've got to
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  • Allen: i'm gonna give you some--just some practical ways
  • 00:12:22.056 --> 00:12:25.426
  • To cooperate with the lord.
  • 00:12:25.426 --> 00:12:26.761
  • It starts with guarding our hearts.
  • 00:12:26.761 --> 00:12:28.997
  • We guard everything these days.
  • 00:12:28.997 --> 00:12:30.365
  • We guard our id, we guard our digital platforms, our
  • 00:12:30.365 --> 00:12:34.135
  • Passwords, all the stuff.
  • 00:12:34.135 --> 00:12:37.505
  • We have, you know, all these multiple verification.
  • 00:12:37.505 --> 00:12:40.108
  • It's annoying, logging in, logging out.
  • 00:12:40.108 --> 00:12:43.211
  • You know, it used to be enough to know your--when you were
  • 00:12:43.211 --> 00:12:44.946
  • A kid, they taught you your name and your address.
  • 00:12:44.946 --> 00:12:46.681
  • Anybody old enough to remember that?
  • 00:12:46.681 --> 00:12:48.917
  • Oh, now they teach you more, it's hard to keep up.
  • 00:12:48.917 --> 00:12:52.153
  • But you have to guard your heart.
  • 00:12:52.153 --> 00:12:53.521
  • Proverbs 4:23, you have it, says, "above all else, guard
  • 00:12:53.521 --> 00:12:56.357
  • Your heart.
  • 00:12:56.357 --> 00:12:57.692
  • It's the wellspring of life."
  • 00:12:57.692 --> 00:12:59.060
  • Before you guard anything else, your home, your kids, your
  • 00:12:59.060 --> 00:13:01.129
  • Grandkids, your car.
  • 00:13:01.129 --> 00:13:04.032
  • How many of you locked your car this morning on church campus?
  • 00:13:04.032 --> 00:13:08.036
  • Oh, come on, four of you?
  • 00:13:08.036 --> 00:13:11.339
  • How many of you--who did not lock your car?
  • 00:13:11.339 --> 00:13:15.109
  • Wow, text me a picture of it.
  • 00:13:15.109 --> 00:13:18.947
  • We even lock our cars when we come to church, and i'm old
  • 00:13:22.283 --> 00:13:26.855
  • Enough--i used to--i never locked my car, and i left the
  • 00:13:26.855 --> 00:13:28.923
  • Keys in it most of the time.
  • 00:13:28.923 --> 00:13:31.359
  • I know that's messed up.
  • 00:13:31.359 --> 00:13:32.694
  • We don't live in that world anymore.
  • 00:13:32.694 --> 00:13:34.062
  • Guard your heart above all else, because it's the wellspring
  • 00:13:34.062 --> 00:13:39.968
  • Of life.
  • 00:13:39.968 --> 00:13:41.336
  • There's a tension in our lives.
  • 00:13:41.336 --> 00:13:42.670
  • This is advent, the first week, hope.
  • 00:13:42.670 --> 00:13:44.272
  • There's a tension between hope and fear.
  • 00:13:44.272 --> 00:13:47.375
  • To the degree that you have hope, fear diminishes.
  • 00:13:47.375 --> 00:13:49.444
  • To the degree that hope diminishes, you have more fear.
  • 00:13:49.444 --> 00:13:53.481
  • It's a biblical idea.
  • 00:13:53.481 --> 00:13:54.916
  • Look at psalm 56 and verse 3, "when i'm afraid."
  • 00:13:54.916 --> 00:13:59.087
  • Doesn't say i'm never afraid.
  • 00:13:59.087 --> 00:14:00.455
  • I mean, people said, "i'm never afraid," and i think, well, then
  • 00:14:00.455 --> 00:14:02.056
  • Either you're unaware or stupid, because there are frightening
  • 00:14:02.056 --> 00:14:05.693
  • Things in life.
  • 00:14:05.693 --> 00:14:07.695
  • And david said, "when i'm afraid, i will trust in you."
  • 00:14:07.695 --> 00:14:11.432
  • The antidote to fear isn't more courage.
  • 00:14:11.432 --> 00:14:13.368
  • You can do courageous things while you're choking down fear.
  • 00:14:13.368 --> 00:14:16.571
  • We need trust.
  • 00:14:16.571 --> 00:14:18.773
  • And we learn trust, we build trust.
  • 00:14:18.773 --> 00:14:20.942
  • "when i'm afraid, i will trust in you."
  • 00:14:20.942 --> 00:14:23.244
  • The alternative, psalm 119, "i have put my hope in your word."
  • 00:14:23.244 --> 00:14:30.084
  • Where is your hope?
  • 00:14:30.084 --> 00:14:31.419
  • What's it anchored to?
  • 00:14:31.419 --> 00:14:33.454
  • Luke 2, it's the christmas season.
  • 00:14:33.454 --> 00:14:35.490
  • It's the shepherds, they've been told about mary and joseph and
  • 00:14:38.893 --> 00:14:41.963
  • Jesus's arrival, and "they hurried off and they found mary
  • 00:14:41.963 --> 00:14:44.299
  • And joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
  • 00:14:44.299 --> 00:14:46.968
  • When they'd seen him, they spread the word concerning what
  • 00:14:46.968 --> 00:14:49.003
  • Had been told them about the child, and all who heard it were
  • 00:14:49.003 --> 00:14:52.307
  • Amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
  • 00:14:52.307 --> 00:14:54.976
  • But mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in
  • 00:14:54.976 --> 00:14:58.212
  • Her heart."
  • 00:14:58.212 --> 00:15:00.315
  • Telling you, it's a whirlwind for a teenager.
  • 00:15:00.315 --> 00:15:03.484
  • She's pregnant and god's involved.
  • 00:15:03.484 --> 00:15:05.586
  • There's been drama with joseph.
  • 00:15:05.586 --> 00:15:08.222
  • She's given birth in a barn.
  • 00:15:08.222 --> 00:15:10.725
  • There's a bunch of crazed shepherds babbling about angels.
  • 00:15:10.725 --> 00:15:15.663
  • And mary's watching all of this.
  • 00:15:15.663 --> 00:15:18.266
  • And the commentary that luke gives us is simply that she
  • 00:15:18.266 --> 00:15:20.535
  • Pondered them in her heart.
  • 00:15:20.535 --> 00:15:22.470
  • I would submit to you that what you choose to keep in your heart
  • 00:15:22.470 --> 00:15:24.605
  • Is very, very important.
  • 00:15:24.605 --> 00:15:26.607
  • It's why the proverb said, "above all else, guard
  • 00:15:26.607 --> 00:15:30.044
  • Your heart."
  • 00:15:30.044 --> 00:15:31.379
  • Mary could have been angry and resentful, her wedding plan got
  • 00:15:31.379 --> 00:15:34.782
  • All messed up.
  • 00:15:34.782 --> 00:15:38.052
  • I mean, all the showers and the parties and all the stuff, not
  • 00:15:38.052 --> 00:15:40.888
  • So fun if you're pregnant.
  • 00:15:40.888 --> 00:15:44.058
  • It was a hard story to explain.
  • 00:15:44.058 --> 00:15:46.094
  • "well, i saw an angel."
  • 00:15:46.094 --> 00:15:48.229
  • "sure you did."
  • 00:15:48.229 --> 00:15:51.599
  • When there was many things mary could have kept in her heart,
  • 00:15:51.599 --> 00:15:55.503
  • Anxiety, frustration with joseph.
  • 00:15:55.503 --> 00:15:57.372
  • "why didn't he believe me when i tell him?
  • 00:15:57.372 --> 00:15:58.773
  • Why did he have to see an angel?
  • 00:15:58.773 --> 00:16:00.141
  • He could have believed me."
  • 00:16:00.141 --> 00:16:04.178
  • A lot of things.
  • 00:16:04.178 --> 00:16:06.481
  • It chose--mary said--chose to keep something else.
  • 00:16:06.481 --> 00:16:09.283
  • So i have a question for you today, what do you keep in
  • 00:16:09.283 --> 00:16:12.153
  • Your heart?
  • 00:16:12.153 --> 00:16:14.022
  • Are you holding the promises of god?
  • 00:16:14.022 --> 00:16:18.059
  • Are you holding those things?
  • 00:16:18.059 --> 00:16:19.427
  • Are you holding bitterness?
  • 00:16:19.427 --> 00:16:21.629
  • You're holding selfishness?
  • 00:16:21.629 --> 00:16:22.964
  • What are you holding in your heart?
  • 00:16:22.964 --> 00:16:25.366
  • Well, you'll be justified in whatever you choose, that's how
  • 00:16:25.366 --> 00:16:28.136
  • We function.
  • 00:16:28.136 --> 00:16:30.038
  • But if you've chosen something that isn't going to bring god's
  • 00:16:30.038 --> 00:16:32.840
  • Best, perhaps we need to reprogram.
  • 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:38.613
  • I want to take a moment with that.
  • 00:16:38.613 --> 00:16:39.981
  • You know, someone hoping is a powerful thing.
  • 00:16:39.981 --> 00:16:44.152
  • It is truly a powerful thing.
  • 00:16:44.152 --> 00:16:47.121
  • The bible talks to us about hoping and waiting, and that's
  • 00:16:47.121 --> 00:16:50.491
  • Important because hope is related to the future.
  • 00:16:50.491 --> 00:16:54.295
  • Faith is about now.
  • 00:16:54.295 --> 00:16:56.697
  • Hope is about what we're anticipating, so when you
  • 00:16:56.697 --> 00:16:59.600
  • Cultivate hope, it means, by definition, there's going to be
  • 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:03.371
  • Some waiting involved.
  • 00:17:03.371 --> 00:17:04.705
  • I'm not a great waiter.
  • 00:17:04.705 --> 00:17:06.941
  • I mean, the microwave seems painfully slow to me.
  • 00:17:06.941 --> 00:17:11.045
  • How many of you set the microwave and stand and watch
  • 00:17:11.045 --> 00:17:12.713
  • Through the glass, right?
  • 00:17:12.713 --> 00:17:16.217
  • I mean, a keurig, instant coffee,
  • 00:17:16.217 --> 00:17:19.854
  • But it still takes a little bit.
  • 00:17:19.854 --> 00:17:22.390
  • How annoying, right?
  • 00:17:22.390 --> 00:17:25.860
  • Hoping and waiting.
  • 00:17:25.860 --> 00:17:27.195
  • Psalm 31:24, "be strong and take heart, all you who hope in
  • 00:17:27.195 --> 00:17:30.898
  • The lord."
  • 00:17:30.898 --> 00:17:32.533
  • Psalm 27, "wait for the lord; be strong and take heart, wait for
  • 00:17:32.533 --> 00:17:37.171
  • The lord."
  • 00:17:37.171 --> 00:17:38.506
  • I think it's worth noting that when you're waiting, it talks to
  • 00:17:38.506 --> 00:17:40.675
  • You about the condition of your heart.
  • 00:17:40.675 --> 00:17:43.311
  • It says, "be strong, take heart."
  • 00:17:43.311 --> 00:17:44.846
  • Take hold of your heart, because when you're waiting, it's easy
  • 00:17:44.846 --> 00:17:48.749
  • To lose your heart, to lose control of your heart and where
  • 00:17:48.749 --> 00:17:52.153
  • You had hope, you find disappointment or impatience or
  • 00:17:52.153 --> 00:17:55.790
  • Criticism or dissatisfaction or envy or a whole host of things.
  • 00:17:55.790 --> 00:18:01.262
  • And the words of proverbs come back to me, "above all else,
  • 00:18:01.262 --> 00:18:04.232
  • Guard your heart."
  • 00:18:04.232 --> 00:18:06.734
  • When i'm waiting, be strong and take heart, help one another
  • 00:18:06.734 --> 00:18:10.404
  • With this.
  • 00:18:10.404 --> 00:18:12.173
  • God is moving in the earth.
  • 00:18:12.173 --> 00:18:13.541
  • "well, i don't feel like it.
  • 00:18:13.541 --> 00:18:14.876
  • I've still got the same problems i had.
  • 00:18:14.876 --> 00:18:16.244
  • I'm tired of the preacher saying that."
  • 00:18:16.244 --> 00:18:17.612
  • I understand, impatience is not something greatly distant
  • 00:18:21.315 --> 00:18:27.321
  • From me.
  • 00:18:27.321 --> 00:18:28.890
  • Hoping and waiting are related both linguistically
  • 00:18:28.890 --> 00:18:31.292
  • And spiritually.
  • 00:18:31.292 --> 00:18:32.660
  • Hope is related to what's ahead in our future.
  • 00:18:32.660 --> 00:18:34.495
  • Faith relates to the immediate, to now.
  • 00:18:34.495 --> 00:18:36.964
  • We talk about the future, we'll say, "i hope so."
  • 00:18:36.964 --> 00:18:38.833
  • It's connected to the future.
  • 00:18:38.833 --> 00:18:40.868
  • Faith is about the present, "i believe so."
  • 00:18:40.868 --> 00:18:44.305
  • There's a difference, but they're both valuable.
  • 00:18:44.305 --> 00:18:47.241
  • Dante in the "inferno" has the oft-quoted line that's, i think,
  • 00:18:47.241 --> 00:18:50.578
  • Very appropriate.
  • 00:18:50.578 --> 00:18:51.946
  • It's the sign at the entrance to hell, "abandon all hope, ye who
  • 00:18:51.946 --> 00:18:54.782
  • Enter here."
  • 00:18:54.782 --> 00:18:58.786
  • Hell truly is a place where there is no hope.
  • 00:18:58.786 --> 00:19:03.658
  • And i'm not talking about an eternal destination.
  • 00:19:03.658 --> 00:19:06.260
  • Hope is important.
  • 00:19:06.260 --> 00:19:08.596
  • Hope holds out to us the realization that the future can
  • 00:19:08.596 --> 00:19:11.165
  • Be different.
  • 00:19:11.165 --> 00:19:14.101
  • But hope's not random.
  • 00:19:14.101 --> 00:19:16.604
  • If you're hoping for something ungodly, you need to try to
  • 00:19:16.604 --> 00:19:19.473
  • Understand what you're trusting.
  • 00:19:19.473 --> 00:19:22.176
  • One of the great challenges we have amongst us and those of us
  • 00:19:22.176 --> 00:19:25.079
  • That stand under this broad umbrella of calling ourselves
  • 00:19:25.079 --> 00:19:27.582
  • Christians, and it's a very frequently used term these days,
  • 00:19:27.582 --> 00:19:31.686
  • Is, what are we really hoping for and are we hoping for
  • 00:19:31.686 --> 00:19:34.322
  • Something that the spirit of god would bring to us?
  • 00:19:34.322 --> 00:19:36.224
  • Are we hoping for something that would require another spirit to
  • 00:19:36.224 --> 00:19:38.593
  • Be involved?
  • 00:19:38.593 --> 00:19:40.194
  • Well-placed hope.
  • 00:19:43.664 --> 00:19:45.032
  • I want you to try to imagine with me that your hope has a
  • 00:19:45.032 --> 00:19:47.134
  • Location, that there's a tangible nature that--all of us
  • 00:19:47.134 --> 00:19:50.504
  • Have placed our hope in people or who proved to be
  • 00:19:50.504 --> 00:19:53.174
  • A disappointment.
  • 00:19:53.174 --> 00:19:54.542
  • We've all done that, because people are disappointing.
  • 00:19:54.542 --> 00:19:56.844
  • There was only one perfect one amongst us and we killed him.
  • 00:19:56.844 --> 00:19:59.413
  • He put too much pressure on the rest of us.
  • 00:19:59.413 --> 00:20:03.050
  • Sometimes we put inappropriate hope in people, we expect that
  • 00:20:03.050 --> 00:20:05.419
  • They're gonna complete us or fulfill us.
  • 00:20:05.419 --> 00:20:08.055
  • No person can do that.
  • 00:20:08.055 --> 00:20:11.325
  • We placed our hope in other things, in investments that
  • 00:20:11.325 --> 00:20:13.794
  • Didn't flourish, and so we lost confidence in those formats.
  • 00:20:13.794 --> 00:20:18.466
  • I wanna ask you to think about hope as a commodity, imagine you
  • 00:20:18.466 --> 00:20:21.402
  • Could order a box of hope.
  • 00:20:21.402 --> 00:20:24.505
  • But your hope has to rest on something, it's connected
  • 00:20:24.505 --> 00:20:27.441
  • To something.
  • 00:20:27.441 --> 00:20:29.243
  • Our future, it rests on something, it's not random.
  • 00:20:29.243 --> 00:20:33.581
  • We're not just hurtling through space as disconnected molecules,
  • 00:20:33.581 --> 00:20:39.587
  • There is a designer, so our hope has to be connected
  • 00:20:39.587 --> 00:20:42.623
  • To something.
  • 00:20:42.623 --> 00:20:43.991
  • What have you put your hope in?
  • 00:20:43.991 --> 00:20:45.326
  • What secures your future?
  • 00:20:45.326 --> 00:20:48.729
  • It's an important question.
  • 00:20:48.729 --> 00:20:50.264
  • Is it your strength?
  • 00:20:50.264 --> 00:20:51.632
  • Is it your education?
  • 00:20:51.632 --> 00:20:53.000
  • Is it your intellect?
  • 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:55.036
  • Is it your hard work?
  • 00:20:55.036 --> 00:20:56.370
  • Is it your assets?
  • 00:20:56.370 --> 00:20:59.340
  • Is it your contact list?
  • 00:20:59.340 --> 00:21:03.277
  • The bible gives us some suggested locations for
  • 00:21:03.277 --> 00:21:05.813
  • Your hope.
  • 00:21:05.813 --> 00:21:07.148
  • I'm gonna just tag them real quickly.
  • 00:21:07.148 --> 00:21:08.516
  • You can reflect on them at your leisure, decide the degree to
  • 00:21:08.516 --> 00:21:12.553
  • Which you lean on these things or not.
  • 00:21:12.553 --> 00:21:16.857
  • I would submit to you that the best place for hope is those
  • 00:21:16.857 --> 00:21:19.827
  • Eternal things that god gives to us.
  • 00:21:19.827 --> 00:21:22.697
  • But psalm 119 and verse 114 says, "you are my refuge and my
  • 00:21:22.697 --> 00:21:26.300
  • Shield; i have put my hope in your word."
  • 00:21:26.300 --> 00:21:31.005
  • We read our bibles around here as a matter of habit,
  • 00:21:31.005 --> 00:21:33.507
  • Systematically, like cover to cover, from the table of
  • 00:21:33.507 --> 00:21:36.277
  • Contents to the maps.
  • 00:21:36.277 --> 00:21:38.646
  • Because in that broad expression of the character of god and how
  • 00:21:38.646 --> 00:21:41.682
  • He works in the midst of his people, i find hope.
  • 00:21:41.682 --> 00:21:45.820
  • This isn't the first generation that's wandered into the weeds.
  • 00:21:45.820 --> 00:21:48.322
  • We've been reading ezekiel, we have company in the weeds.
  • 00:21:48.322 --> 00:21:53.127
  • But god's a deliverer, a restorer, a renewer, and a
  • 00:21:53.127 --> 00:21:57.598
  • Judge, we should know that.
  • 00:21:57.598 --> 00:22:00.601
  • There's a consequence for walking away from god.
  • 00:22:00.601 --> 00:22:05.072
  • We--for so--it's been so infrequently said, and said in
  • 00:22:05.072 --> 00:22:08.075
  • Such quiet and hushed tones, that we've lost that imagination
  • 00:22:08.075 --> 00:22:11.979
  • Almost totally.
  • 00:22:11.979 --> 00:22:13.347
  • We have to read those narratives.
  • 00:22:13.347 --> 00:22:15.783
  • Put our hope in god's word.
  • 00:22:15.783 --> 00:22:17.351
  • The book of hebrews describes the word of god as a sharp,
  • 00:22:17.351 --> 00:22:19.787
  • Double-edged sword that can help us sort out our thoughts and
  • 00:22:19.787 --> 00:22:24.458
  • Our feelings.
  • 00:22:24.458 --> 00:22:27.061
  • We need that help because we can convince ourselves to cooperate
  • 00:22:27.061 --> 00:22:29.797
  • In almost any ungodly thing.
  • 00:22:29.797 --> 00:22:34.068
  • If you can't believe it about yourself, you can believe it
  • 00:22:34.068 --> 00:22:35.836
  • About somebody you know.
  • 00:22:35.836 --> 00:22:38.539
  • Psalm 33 and verse 20 says, "we wait in hope for the lord; for
  • 00:22:38.539 --> 00:22:43.110
  • He is our help and our shield.
  • 00:22:43.110 --> 00:22:44.445
  • In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name."
  • 00:22:44.445 --> 00:22:48.015
  • One of the things we can place our hope in is
  • 00:22:48.015 --> 00:22:50.084
  • In the name of the lord.
  • 00:22:50.084 --> 00:22:51.952
  • Jesus said, "in my name you can do the things i've done.
  • 00:22:51.952 --> 00:22:54.955
  • In my name you can drive out demons.
  • 00:22:54.955 --> 00:22:56.757
  • In my name you can pray for the sick."
  • 00:22:56.757 --> 00:23:00.261
  • He gave us a grant of authority.
  • 00:23:00.261 --> 00:23:03.531
  • "so when you use my name," he said, "my father in heaven will
  • 00:23:03.531 --> 00:23:08.169
  • Recognize my authority."
  • 00:23:08.169 --> 00:23:11.272
  • Now it's not like pixie dust, there's some conditions
  • 00:23:11.272 --> 00:23:13.841
  • Attached, but we've been given authority.
  • 00:23:13.841 --> 00:23:16.977
  • How much hope do you have in the name of the lord, in your life,
  • 00:23:16.977 --> 00:23:20.214
  • In your family, in determining your future?
  • 00:23:20.214 --> 00:23:25.352
  • I'm not sure that we have built the trust in those things that
  • 00:23:25.352 --> 00:23:28.556
  • We might.
  • 00:23:28.556 --> 00:23:30.925
  • It's a good season to think about that.
  • 00:23:30.925 --> 00:23:33.894
  • Psalm 147 and verse 10 said, "his pleasure is not in the
  • 00:23:33.894 --> 00:23:36.931
  • Strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man;
  • 00:23:36.931 --> 00:23:39.867
  • The lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in
  • 00:23:39.867 --> 00:23:43.103
  • His unfailing love."
  • 00:23:43.103 --> 00:23:45.339
  • What a remarkable revelation!
  • 00:23:45.339 --> 00:23:47.174
  • It's like the curtain is pulled back, it says that god delights
  • 00:23:47.174 --> 00:23:50.377
  • In those who put their hope in him.
  • 00:23:50.377 --> 00:23:54.448
  • Now, i'm not a particularly complicated person.
  • 00:23:54.448 --> 00:23:56.383
  • I grew up in a barn in tennessee, but i intend to
  • 00:23:56.383 --> 00:23:59.587
  • Engage in behaviors that god said he delights in, watch me.
  • 00:23:59.587 --> 00:24:07.094
  • If god has said there are some things that bring a delight to
  • 00:24:07.094 --> 00:24:10.130
  • Him, i'm gonna go get in that line.
  • 00:24:10.130 --> 00:24:11.932
  • Because to the best of my ability, and it's certainly not
  • 00:24:15.169 --> 00:24:17.605
  • Always perfect, but i want to be involved in things that when god
  • 00:24:17.605 --> 00:24:20.941
  • Thinks of me, causes him to be delighted.
  • 00:24:20.941 --> 00:24:24.211
  • I don't want him thinking about me making a fist.
  • 00:24:24.211 --> 00:24:28.449
  • What are you putting your hope in?
  • 00:24:28.449 --> 00:24:30.150
  • It's really an important question.
  • 00:24:30.150 --> 00:24:31.485
  • You know, for far too long, i think we've had this imagination
  • 00:24:31.485 --> 00:24:33.721
  • That god wants something from me.
  • 00:24:33.721 --> 00:24:35.089
  • He's gonna take things away from me.
  • 00:24:35.089 --> 00:24:36.423
  • He's gonna limit my life.
  • 00:24:36.423 --> 00:24:38.359
  • And so we kind of hide our dreams from god.
  • 00:24:38.359 --> 00:24:42.463
  • We hide our aspirations from god because we got a feeling he
  • 00:24:42.463 --> 00:24:45.366
  • Probably wouldn't approve of it, so we're just not gonna
  • 00:24:45.366 --> 00:24:48.235
  • Tell him.
  • 00:24:48.235 --> 00:24:49.570
  • But it doesn't diminish our hope, we're still hoping for
  • 00:24:49.570 --> 00:24:50.938
  • Things that we, if we got really candid, they're probably more
  • 00:24:50.938 --> 00:24:53.073
  • Ungodly than godly because we don't want to tell god
  • 00:24:53.073 --> 00:24:54.975
  • About them.
  • 00:24:54.975 --> 00:24:59.146
  • Well, you might think that's cute in a child, but it's not
  • 00:24:59.146 --> 00:25:03.517
  • Cute as we grow older.
  • 00:25:03.517 --> 00:25:06.887
  • And if you recognize that, begin to have an honest conversation
  • 00:25:06.887 --> 00:25:09.690
  • With the lord.
  • 00:25:09.690 --> 00:25:11.025
  • You know, i've not really been too focused on delighting you.
  • 00:25:11.025 --> 00:25:15.162
  • I've been real focused on delighting me.
  • 00:25:15.162 --> 00:25:18.732
  • Because i was really concerned that you weren't interested in
  • 00:25:18.732 --> 00:25:21.902
  • Me being delighted and so i thought i should accept
  • 00:25:21.902 --> 00:25:26.040
  • Responsibility for my own personal delight.
  • 00:25:26.040 --> 00:25:30.844
  • And so i've hidden most of my ambition from you.
  • 00:25:30.844 --> 00:25:33.647
  • Isn't that funny, that we could hide from god?
  • 00:25:33.647 --> 00:25:36.884
  • How many of you have reached the conclusion you can't hide from
  • 00:25:36.884 --> 00:25:39.486
  • Google, right?
  • 00:25:39.486 --> 00:25:43.657
  • They're listening when you don't want them to, they're watching
  • 00:25:43.657 --> 00:25:45.659
  • When you don't intend for them to.
  • 00:25:45.659 --> 00:25:47.628
  • They're tracking your behaviors.
  • 00:25:47.628 --> 00:25:50.664
  • I mean, unless you've got a black rotary dial phone, they
  • 00:25:50.664 --> 00:25:53.000
  • Are tracking your behaviors.
  • 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:56.503
  • And there's some benefits to all of that, but why is it we're so
  • 00:25:56.503 --> 00:25:59.106
  • Willing to believe that some digital world, someplace that
  • 00:25:59.106 --> 00:26:02.743
  • Lives in the cloud, can monitor everything you do, but god's
  • 00:26:02.743 --> 00:26:06.347
  • Completely unaware?
  • 00:26:06.347 --> 00:26:08.415
  • Why do we have more faith in apple than we do in god?
  • 00:26:08.415 --> 00:26:10.985
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:26:11.885 --> 00:26:19.627
  • Allen: allen jackson ministries was created to strengthen
  • 00:26:19.627 --> 00:26:22.229
  • The church.
  • 00:26:22.229 --> 00:26:23.597
  • Your partnership has made this possible.
  • 00:26:23.597 --> 00:26:25.332
  • Thank you for your faithfulness and your generosity.
  • 00:26:25.332 --> 00:26:27.968
  • But the need, it's as significant as it's ever been,
  • 00:26:27.968 --> 00:26:30.971
  • Not simply in this nation.
  • 00:26:30.971 --> 00:26:32.306
  • Now we have invitations internationally to war-torn
  • 00:26:32.306 --> 00:26:34.608
  • Countries, into israel and to ukraine, to come help strengthen
  • 00:26:34.608 --> 00:26:37.911
  • The church there, and with god's help and your help, we intend
  • 00:26:37.911 --> 00:26:40.914
  • To respond.
  • 00:26:40.914 --> 00:26:42.282
  • Folks, it's a critical time, it's not just business as usual.
  • 00:26:42.282 --> 00:26:45.519
  • We can't gather in our churches and sing our hymns and ignore
  • 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:48.255
  • What's happening in our world.
  • 00:26:48.255 --> 00:26:49.890
  • We have to take the biblical truth, the biblical worldview,
  • 00:26:49.890 --> 00:26:52.660
  • And share it with our culture clearly, with determination,
  • 00:26:52.660 --> 00:26:56.230
  • With courage.
  • 00:26:56.230 --> 00:26:57.631
  • We're creating tools to help you do that in your church, in your
  • 00:26:57.631 --> 00:27:00.534
  • Home, in your community.
  • 00:27:00.534 --> 00:27:02.302
  • Together, we're gonna make an impact in this new year like
  • 00:27:02.302 --> 00:27:04.938
  • We've never made before.
  • 00:27:04.938 --> 00:27:06.607
  • Will you make an investment in what we're doing?
  • 00:27:06.607 --> 00:27:09.176
  • Together, we're gonna join god in seeing the name of jesus
  • 00:27:09.176 --> 00:27:12.146
  • Elevated in the earth.
  • 00:27:12.146 --> 00:27:13.714
  • Will you pray?
  • 00:27:13.714 --> 00:27:15.082
  • Father, i ask for your anointing.
  • 00:27:15.082 --> 00:27:16.550
  • Give us a freedom to give and to serve like never before, in
  • 00:27:16.550 --> 00:27:20.354
  • Jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:20.354 --> 00:27:22.489
  • God bless you and thank you.
  • 00:27:22.489 --> 00:27:24.024
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:24.591 --> 00:27:24.591