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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Big Changes Ahead

July 19, 2025 | 28:35

Allen Jackson - Big Changes Ahead
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Change #Disciples #Discipleship #Calling #Purpose #Missions #Ministry #Evangelism #Jesus #Surrender #Sacrifice #Obedience #IdentityinChrist

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Big Changes Ahead | July 19, 2025
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Allen jackson: and i know you know, but we're living in
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  • A chaotic world, things are changing globally.
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  • There's wars, there's threats of war, a lot of stuff happening.
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  • But i wanna make a suggestion, don't focus on the negative,
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  • Don't get caught up in the uncertainty.
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  • That'll bring fear and anxiety and worry.
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  • It's not helpful.
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  • Let's determine to focus our attention on the lord.
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  • We've created a tool that i believe will make a difference.
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  • It's called, "awaken us."
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  • It's a 30-day plan.
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  • Each day is directed at a different topic
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  • That's a part of our current world.
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  • It gives us a verse of scripture, a little devotional
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  • Around that topic.
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  • And then a prayer for that specific thing.
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  • The idea is we're gonna give the holy spirit an invitation
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  • To awaken us to a new place of faith.
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  • You know, we need an awakening in the midst
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  • Of the people of god.
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  • And we wanna say, "well, i am awake."
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  • Well, i get that, but, you know, i was awakened yesterday.
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  • But this morning i was awakened again, and my prayer is
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  • Tomorrow i'll be awakened yet again.
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  • We need a daily awakening by the spirit of god
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  • To find his best for us in this season.
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  • And i believe this book will help you.
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  • Allen: turning the other cheek, that's difficult.
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  • Going the extra mile, that's difficult.
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  • Being a peacemaker, that's difficult.
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  • Telling the truth, ugh.
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  • So here's my suggestion, let's go do difficult.
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  • Let's go be different.
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  • Let's choose the path that's least taken.
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  • Let's go to work and decide we're gonna be
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  • Somebody different.
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  • Well, i work with a bunch of dishonest, greedy--okay.
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  • That's called the mission field.
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  • I'll tell you what's worse.
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  • Find yourself with a bunch of dishonest, greedy people, and
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  • They call themselves christians.
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  • That's a really awkward place.
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  • Then you're like, oh, what am i gonna do with this?
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  • There's a series of statements in matthew chapter 5, i wanna
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  • Take a minute with them.
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  • We won't go through all of them, but they're going to follow a
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  • Pattern of jesus introducing an idea by challenging an idea that
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  • Is prevalent to his audience, and he does it by saying, you've
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  • Heard it said, and then he tells them something that's pretty
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  • Much common knowledge, commonly agreed upon.
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  • Well, you have heard it said that jesus was a pacifist, that
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  • He wasn't political, that he got along with everybody, that he
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  • Loved everybody, that jesus loved everybody.
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  • He just did, jesus is all about love, group hug.
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  • Come on everybody in, let's hug it out.
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  • Well, god is love, but jesus was not universally loved.
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  • In fact, he was frequently rejected.
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  • We've all heard this, you've heard it said that jesus was
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  • Non-political, non-confrontational, not
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  • Disruptive, he avoided roman authority, well, kind of.
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  • I mean, he looked at the most powerful roman figure in the
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  • Land of israel, and he said, you have no authority over me unless
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  • My dad gave it to you.
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  • That is not a passive response.
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  • Or maybe you've heard that jesus was a revolutionary, and he
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  • Rebelled against all authority.
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  • Now we make him into kind of a fun revolutionary.
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  • The bible says jesus was a king, that he was sent to make a way
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  • For us to enter his kingdom, and he provided some brief glimpses
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  • Into the nature of that kingdom, primary amongst those was a
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  • Revelation of the father.
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  • And if you want to enter his kingdom, the primary requirement
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  • Is submitting to the authority of the king, the gospel.
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  • And i'm an advocate for the gospel, i've given my life to
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  • The gospel.
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  • It is disruptive, it's confrontational, and it's very
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  • Irritating to those who refuse its message.
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  • I find them to be very intolerant of it, once they
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  • Decide they're not going to accept it.
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  • In matthew 5, and verse 38, jesus is speaking, and he said,
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  • "you have heard it said, 'an eye for an eye, and a tooth for
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  • A tooth.'"
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  • It's the law of the desert, it still reigns.
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  • "but i tell you, 'don't resist an evil person.
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  • If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the
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  • Other also.
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  • And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him
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  • Have your cloak as well.
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  • If someone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
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  • Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the
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  • One who wants to borrow from you.'"
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  • Now, i heard that used this week, by the leader of one of
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  • The most prestigious divinity schools, schools of religion in
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  • Our nation.
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  • And he took that passage and he said this is evidence that
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  • Christians should never be disruptive, and he's a very
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  • Disruptive person.
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  • I know a bit of his story, he's been an advocate for some very
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  • Broad initiatives that oppose the fundamentals of the gospel,
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  • But he was using this passage against anybody who would dare
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  • To introduce a disruptive idea into the public discussion.
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  • He said, you're biblically illiterate, and he was using a
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  • Very fancy language.
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  • And the longer i listened, the more this study boiled
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  • In me, so you can blame him.
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  • I would submit to you that jesus's response in math--those
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  • Four verses is a response of strength, it's not a
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  • Passive one.
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  • You're saying if someone strikes you on the cheek, you can turn
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  • The other one.
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  • You ever played with a little child, and had him grab your
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  • Face and push it.
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  • Have you ever had that happen?
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  • Do you go looking for a ball bat?
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  • No, you kinda giggle and go try this one.
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  • You understand the power dynamic, and you understand
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  • There's no threat.
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  • Oh yeah -- here.
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  • You know who my dad is?
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  • Here, try this one again.
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  • Hey, pop.
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  • Here, you want this one.
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  • If somebody needs your tunic, let them have it.
  • 00:06:33.376 --> 00:06:37.413
  • The cattle on 1,000 hills belong to me.
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  • It's not a passive response at all.
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  • And to take that passage and to convince god's people to sit
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  • Down and shut up is an abuse of the scripture.
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  • Jesus also talked about the forceful, taking a kingdom, and
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  • That no one took his life from him.
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  • No roman soldier with a scourge, no roman that could lay 39
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  • Lashes across his back took his life.
  • 00:07:13.015 --> 00:07:15.585
  • The soldiers that stretched him out and drove spikes in him
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  • Didn't take his life.
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  • At any point in the process, he was free and easy.
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  • We may face adversity and difficult and challenges, and we
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  • May seem like we're overpowered or outmatched or under
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  • Resourced, but we are children of the king.
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  • And you're right, our iq may not be the best, and we may not have
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  • Studied at that school, and we may have come from the wrong
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  • Side of the tracks and you're right, i have an accent.
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  • But have i told you about the kingdom to which i belong?
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  • Jesus isn't done.
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  • I put them out of order, because that first passage is the one
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  • That lit the fuse on this in me, so now i'll go back and put them
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  • In their order.
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  • Verse 21, he said, "you've heard that it was said to the people
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  • Long ago, 'do not murder, and anyone who murders will be
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  • Subject to judgment.'
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  • But i tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will
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  • Be subject to judgment.
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  • Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'raca.'"
  • 00:08:19.015 --> 00:08:23.286
  • It means "worthless," the root of that word is to spit.
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  • Do you get the emotion of it?
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  • "is answerable to the sanhedrin," that's the
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  • Religion--the jewish political authority.
  • 00:08:35.464 --> 00:08:39.835
  • "but anyone who says, 'you fool!'
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  • Will be in danger of the fire of hell."
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  • Wow, the law used to say if you murdered somebody, you're in
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  • Trouble, jesus said, if you just call people a name.
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  • Jesus isn't lowering the standards of holiness, he's
  • 00:08:50.146 --> 00:08:53.849
  • Upending the status quo.
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  • Do you know how disruptive that is?
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  • Do you understand the challenge that he's pushing to
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  • The audience?
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  • Can you feel the awkwardness in the room?
  • 00:09:02.325 --> 00:09:04.060
  • Wait a minute, that's difficult.
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  • Yeah.
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  • Verse 27, "you have heard that it was said, 'don't
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  • Commit adultery.'"
  • 00:09:15.271 --> 00:09:16.639
  • Yeah, we've heard that.
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  • "but i tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has
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  • Already committed adultery with her in his heart."
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  • Woof, that's a scope change.
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  • Now he's talking about your cell phone--i mean, it used to
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  • Be about like physical transgression, and now he's
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  • Talking about the attitude of your heart.
  • 00:09:43.566 --> 00:09:44.934
  • "if your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out, throw
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  • It away.
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  • It's better for you to lose one part of your body than your
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  • Whole body be thrown into hell.
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  • And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off, throw
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  • It away.
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  • It's better for you to lose one part of your body than
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  • For your whole body to go to hell."
  • 00:10:01.417 --> 00:10:02.752
  • Now, i don't believe jesus is literally asking you to gouge
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  • Out your eye or cut off your hand, but i would submit to you
  • 00:10:05.187 --> 00:10:11.961
  • That is a very disruptive statement.
  • 00:10:11.961 --> 00:10:16.432
  • He's not just echoing the party line.
  • 00:10:16.432 --> 00:10:19.635
  • You know, people will say, well, we're not under the law anymore,
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  • We're under grace.
  • 00:10:21.604 --> 00:10:22.972
  • Now there you go, there's a picture of grace, right there.
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  • Used to be, if you committed a physical transgression, you
  • 00:10:26.108 --> 00:10:28.611
  • Were busted.
  • 00:10:28.611 --> 00:10:29.979
  • Now, jesus said, if your thoughts wander.
  • 00:10:29.979 --> 00:10:35.084
  • Again, is it possible we've been coopted by some sloppy agape,
  • 00:10:35.084 --> 00:10:39.955
  • And some cheap grace, and some easy stuff?
  • 00:10:39.955 --> 00:10:43.826
  • Could jesus require more of us, could more be expected,
  • 00:10:43.826 --> 00:10:47.730
  • Could--in order to see the power of god move in our generation,
  • 00:10:47.730 --> 00:10:50.966
  • Is it possible that we might have to recalibrate a
  • 00:10:50.966 --> 00:10:53.169
  • Little bit?
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  • Is it possible that god intended us to have to have difficult
  • 00:10:58.641 --> 00:11:02.178
  • Conversations and stand in awkward places because there's a
  • 00:11:02.178 --> 00:11:05.781
  • Spiritual battle raging in the earth, and he prepared us for
  • 00:11:05.781 --> 00:11:09.952
  • This generation to be salt and light, and to be standard
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  • Bearers, and to take our place, to be watchmen on the wall, and
  • 00:11:12.922 --> 00:11:16.726
  • Say it's enough.
  • 00:11:16.726 --> 00:11:18.794
  • Is it possible?
  • 00:11:18.794 --> 00:11:21.530
  • Well, it's going to require a new cadence from us, because
  • 00:11:21.530 --> 00:11:24.467
  • We've kind of been coached, you know, doing difficult things at
  • 00:11:24.467 --> 00:11:27.937
  • Church is when we volunteer.
  • 00:11:27.937 --> 00:11:34.744
  • Right?
  • 00:11:34.744 --> 00:11:36.846
  • I mean, that's kind of what, you know, like, i'm not one of
  • 00:11:36.846 --> 00:11:39.682
  • Those people.
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  • You know, i don't know.
  • 00:11:42.384 --> 00:11:46.555
  • He's not done.
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  • Jesus isn't lowering boundaries around holiness and purity.
  • 00:11:50.593 --> 00:11:54.597
  • He's challenging the audience to move from a place of smug
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  • Self-righteousness, and to begin to review their thoughts and
  • 00:11:58.334 --> 00:12:03.672
  • Their attitudes and their intent.
  • 00:12:03.672 --> 00:12:07.943
  • Verse 43, "you've heard it was said, 'love your neighbor and
  • 00:12:07.943 --> 00:12:11.447
  • Hate your enemy.'
  • 00:12:11.447 --> 00:12:13.649
  • But i tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who
  • 00:12:13.649 --> 00:12:19.021
  • Persecute you, that you may be sons of your father in heaven.
  • 00:12:19.021 --> 00:12:23.659
  • He causes his son to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends
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  • Rain to the righteous and the unrighteous.
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  • If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?
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  • Not even the tax collectors--" i mean, even the tax collectors,
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  • He said, act that way.
  • 00:12:36.972 --> 00:12:38.307
  • The most wicked people you can think of do that.
  • 00:12:38.307 --> 00:12:42.478
  • "and if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing
  • 00:12:42.478 --> 00:12:44.580
  • More than others?
  • 00:12:44.580 --> 00:12:46.215
  • Don't even pagans do that?
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  • Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect."
  • 00:12:47.550 --> 00:12:50.152
  • Now, if you pull that passage out of that context, you've got
  • 00:12:50.152 --> 00:12:53.155
  • License now to go be great to everybody.
  • 00:12:53.155 --> 00:12:57.827
  • You're immoral and ungodly and wicked and you're all, bless
  • 00:12:57.827 --> 00:13:01.897
  • You brother.
  • 00:13:01.897 --> 00:13:04.834
  • So you'll hear that a lot.
  • 00:13:04.834 --> 00:13:07.036
  • I'm out here loving my neighbor for jesus.
  • 00:13:07.036 --> 00:13:11.774
  • Everybody come in.
  • 00:13:11.774 --> 00:13:15.711
  • But if you go back at that passage before that, and he
  • 00:13:15.711 --> 00:13:18.214
  • Said, you know, if you've got a bad thought in your heart,
  • 00:13:18.214 --> 00:13:20.883
  • You're gonna burn.
  • 00:13:20.883 --> 00:13:23.485
  • Don't tell our neighbors that.
  • 00:13:23.485 --> 00:13:28.023
  • And we've got to reconcile that sort of things.
  • 00:13:28.023 --> 00:13:31.727
  • We have good news.
  • 00:13:31.727 --> 00:13:33.929
  • There's a god and you'll stand before him, and you'll be held
  • 00:13:33.929 --> 00:13:37.066
  • Accountable for your random thoughts.
  • 00:13:37.066 --> 00:13:42.271
  • But it's possible to be forgiven and to be made righteous, but to
  • 00:13:42.271 --> 00:13:46.709
  • Do that, you're going to have to love him more than you love your
  • 00:13:46.709 --> 00:13:50.679
  • Parents or your children.
  • 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:56.318
  • You'll have to own the principles of the kingdom before
  • 00:13:56.318 --> 00:13:59.188
  • Those things.
  • 00:13:59.188 --> 00:14:02.458
  • That's not easy.
  • 00:14:02.458 --> 00:14:05.060
  • It's easier than standing before the king of all and the judge of
  • 00:14:05.060 --> 00:14:08.330
  • All, unprepared and guilty, and having to pay the price for what
  • 00:14:08.330 --> 00:14:12.668
  • You haven't been.
  • 00:14:12.668 --> 00:14:14.570
  • There's a way out from under the guilt and the shame and the
  • 00:14:14.570 --> 00:14:17.006
  • Burden and the brokenness.
  • 00:14:17.006 --> 00:14:20.809
  • But it's not easy, let's go do some difficult things.
  • 00:14:20.809 --> 00:14:23.312
  • Peter, follow me, i'll make you a fisher of men.
  • 00:14:23.312 --> 00:14:27.917
  • We all know the phrase, he walked away from his business,
  • 00:14:27.917 --> 00:14:30.252
  • His friends, his routines, the place where he had expertise, he
  • 00:14:30.252 --> 00:14:34.023
  • Knew how to catch fish in galilee.
  • 00:14:34.023 --> 00:14:35.658
  • He had no clue about what it meant to follow this crackpot
  • 00:14:35.658 --> 00:14:38.594
  • From nazareth.
  • 00:14:38.594 --> 00:14:42.231
  • I mean, he's getting called out all the time.
  • 00:14:42.231 --> 00:14:43.899
  • Do you have really such a little faith?
  • 00:14:43.899 --> 00:14:45.634
  • Are you that dense, are you that slow and--yeah, let's go fish.
  • 00:14:45.634 --> 00:14:52.041
  • I feel that way following the lord.
  • 00:14:52.041 --> 00:14:55.210
  • We've been so desperate to invite people in.
  • 00:14:55.210 --> 00:14:57.646
  • We haven't been, well, we haven't had honest conversations
  • 00:14:57.646 --> 00:15:00.316
  • About the benefit we've received, because we've been
  • 00:15:00.316 --> 00:15:02.651
  • Pretty slack with our thoughts and our behaviors, and folks, we
  • 00:15:02.651 --> 00:15:06.622
  • Have the same struggles in our families that ungodly
  • 00:15:06.622 --> 00:15:08.857
  • People have.
  • 00:15:08.857 --> 00:15:11.327
  • We wrestle with this stuff, we have the same enemy, he has
  • 00:15:11.327 --> 00:15:13.762
  • The same plan of attack.
  • 00:15:13.762 --> 00:15:15.631
  • We're bigger targets than those people that are already
  • 00:15:15.631 --> 00:15:17.866
  • Serving him.
  • 00:15:17.866 --> 00:15:21.937
  • Allen: hey we have a tool that i think will help you
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  • Allen: we're still in matthew, jesus is still talking, i'm
  • 00:16:26.802 --> 00:16:29.338
  • Telling you, this is some dramatic stuff.
  • 00:16:29.338 --> 00:16:31.573
  • We're changing.
  • 00:16:31.573 --> 00:16:34.376
  • I'm trusting the holy spirit to begin to say to you, hey, you
  • 00:16:34.376 --> 00:16:39.048
  • Park like a pagan.
  • 00:16:39.048 --> 00:16:43.786
  • I'm kidding.
  • 00:16:43.786 --> 00:16:45.254
  • We're building parking.
  • 00:16:45.254 --> 00:16:49.124
  • "then some of the pharisees and the teachers of the laws came to
  • 00:16:49.124 --> 00:16:51.727
  • Jesus from jerusalem and they said, 'why your disciples break
  • 00:16:51.727 --> 00:16:55.064
  • The tradition of the elders?
  • 00:16:55.064 --> 00:16:57.800
  • They don't wash their hands before they eat!'"
  • 00:16:57.800 --> 00:17:02.504
  • Have you ever noticed that people who don't honor the lord
  • 00:17:02.504 --> 00:17:05.240
  • Know how you should.
  • 00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:09.044
  • I'm always intrigued with that.
  • 00:17:09.044 --> 00:17:11.847
  • "jesus replied, 'and why do you break the command of god for the
  • 00:17:11.847 --> 00:17:16.852
  • Sake of your tradition?'"
  • 00:17:16.852 --> 00:17:18.187
  • That is not a conciliatory statement.
  • 00:17:18.187 --> 00:17:22.925
  • That just isn't.
  • 00:17:22.925 --> 00:17:24.927
  • They said, your disciples are misbehaving, and he said,
  • 00:17:24.927 --> 00:17:27.529
  • You're misbehaving.
  • 00:17:27.529 --> 00:17:33.702
  • "god said, 'honor your father and mother,' and, 'anyone who
  • 00:17:33.702 --> 00:17:35.904
  • Curses his father or mother must be put to death.'"
  • 00:17:35.904 --> 00:17:37.973
  • You can see him nodding, yes, he did.
  • 00:17:37.973 --> 00:17:40.809
  • "but you say if a man says to his father or mother, 'whatever
  • 00:17:40.809 --> 00:17:45.848
  • Help you might have otherwise received from me is a gift
  • 00:17:45.848 --> 00:17:48.650
  • Devoted to god, then you don't have to honor your father
  • 00:17:48.650 --> 00:17:52.988
  • With it.
  • 00:17:52.988 --> 00:17:55.524
  • And in so doing you nullify the word of god for the sake of
  • 00:17:55.524 --> 00:17:58.127
  • Your tradition.
  • 00:17:58.127 --> 00:17:59.828
  • You hypocrites!"
  • 00:17:59.828 --> 00:18:02.064
  • Again, that is not a bridge building phrase.
  • 00:18:02.064 --> 00:18:08.103
  • "isaiah was right when he prophesied about you," now he's
  • 00:18:08.103 --> 00:18:10.672
  • Going to invoke the hebrew prophets.
  • 00:18:10.672 --> 00:18:14.176
  • "these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are
  • 00:18:14.176 --> 00:18:16.512
  • Far from me.
  • 00:18:16.512 --> 00:18:17.980
  • They worship me in vain; and their teachings are but rules
  • 00:18:17.980 --> 00:18:21.383
  • Taught by men."
  • 00:18:21.383 --> 00:18:23.318
  • Now, he says this to the group that's come from jerusalem, the
  • 00:18:23.318 --> 00:18:26.788
  • Pharisees and the teachers of the law, but he doesn't stop
  • 00:18:26.788 --> 00:18:30.058
  • With that.
  • 00:18:30.058 --> 00:18:32.461
  • Now, those words are pretty harsh.
  • 00:18:32.461 --> 00:18:33.829
  • I promise you, this is not a conversation where the warmth in
  • 00:18:33.829 --> 00:18:39.468
  • The room is emerging.
  • 00:18:39.468 --> 00:18:43.238
  • And then it says, "he called the crowd to him," turn my mic on.
  • 00:18:43.238 --> 00:18:50.312
  • I want everybody to hear this, he said, "listen and understand.
  • 00:18:50.312 --> 00:18:54.349
  • What goes into a man's mouth doesn't make him 'unclean,' what
  • 00:18:54.349 --> 00:18:58.854
  • Comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'"
  • 00:18:58.854 --> 00:19:01.957
  • That is turning their whole understanding upside down.
  • 00:19:01.957 --> 00:19:09.665
  • Their whole menu has been dictated for them.
  • 00:19:09.665 --> 00:19:11.900
  • If you go to jerusalem today, the menus are kosher.
  • 00:19:11.900 --> 00:19:16.271
  • You can't get meat in a dairy restaurant or dairy in a
  • 00:19:16.271 --> 00:19:18.740
  • Meat restaurant.
  • 00:19:18.740 --> 00:19:20.442
  • If you order a pizza and there's cheese on it, they're not going
  • 00:19:20.442 --> 00:19:22.644
  • To put meat on it.
  • 00:19:22.644 --> 00:19:24.580
  • It's not kosher and we're too millennia removed and that's in
  • 00:19:24.580 --> 00:19:29.651
  • A secular state.
  • 00:19:29.651 --> 00:19:32.054
  • Jesus is talking to a group of people.
  • 00:19:32.054 --> 00:19:33.488
  • He said, listen to me, what's on your fork does not make
  • 00:19:33.488 --> 00:19:36.925
  • You unclean.
  • 00:19:36.925 --> 00:19:39.861
  • But what comes out of your heart does.
  • 00:19:39.861 --> 00:19:43.131
  • I'm telling you that people are looking, what are you
  • 00:19:43.131 --> 00:19:45.400
  • Kidding me?
  • 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:48.604
  • And the disciples came to him.
  • 00:19:48.604 --> 00:19:53.442
  • Psst, did you know that the pharisees were offended?
  • 00:19:53.442 --> 00:20:04.119
  • Yeah.
  • 00:20:07.389 --> 00:20:10.626
  • "and he replied, 'every plant that my heavenly father has not
  • 00:20:10.626 --> 00:20:14.329
  • Planted will be pulled up by the roots.'"
  • 00:20:14.329 --> 00:20:22.337
  • They're not in my garden.
  • 00:20:22.337 --> 00:20:26.141
  • They're not in my kingdom.
  • 00:20:26.141 --> 00:20:28.510
  • The next sentence is the most sobering.
  • 00:20:28.510 --> 00:20:32.080
  • "leave them; they're blind guides."
  • 00:20:32.080 --> 00:20:38.787
  • Leave them.
  • 00:20:38.787 --> 00:20:41.023
  • Don't pray for them, don't intercede for them.
  • 00:20:41.023 --> 00:20:44.393
  • Don't continue going and win them with your perseverance.
  • 00:20:44.393 --> 00:20:49.665
  • Leave them, get away from them, separate yourself from them,
  • 00:20:49.665 --> 00:20:56.371
  • Don't tolerate that.
  • 00:20:56.371 --> 00:21:00.275
  • "if a blind man leads a blind man, you'll both fall in a pit."
  • 00:21:00.275 --> 00:21:05.480
  • Jesus is challenging again, we've seen it over and over and
  • 00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:09.251
  • Over again now, the leaders of the people.
  • 00:21:09.251 --> 00:21:12.587
  • If you'll allow me, it is a very political dialogue.
  • 00:21:12.587 --> 00:21:18.927
  • It's disruptive, it's uncomfortable.
  • 00:21:18.927 --> 00:21:22.597
  • You are breaking the command of god, he said, for the sake of
  • 00:21:22.597 --> 00:21:26.001
  • Your tradition.
  • 00:21:26.001 --> 00:21:27.436
  • And then he addresses the crowd, and he exposes the failures of
  • 00:21:27.436 --> 00:21:30.739
  • Their leaders, and he said, leave them.
  • 00:21:30.739 --> 00:21:35.377
  • It is a very confrontational activity in which jesus
  • 00:21:35.377 --> 00:21:38.847
  • Is engaged.
  • 00:21:38.847 --> 00:21:43.585
  • If you go back to the passage from isaiah, the invitation, he
  • 00:21:43.585 --> 00:21:48.390
  • Said, look, let's reason together for a minute.
  • 00:21:48.390 --> 00:21:50.459
  • You can be willing and obedient, or you can resist and rebel, and
  • 00:21:50.459 --> 00:21:55.530
  • You can choose which door you want.
  • 00:21:55.530 --> 00:21:59.468
  • Church, let's vote for willing and obedient.
  • 00:21:59.468 --> 00:22:05.240
  • Let's start to revisit that, let's start to say to the lord,
  • 00:22:05.240 --> 00:22:07.642
  • Just candidly, my opinion isn't really what's gonna carry
  • 00:22:07.642 --> 00:22:09.978
  • The day.
  • 00:22:09.978 --> 00:22:11.313
  • You start to talk to the lord.
  • 00:22:11.313 --> 00:22:12.647
  • Lord, if there's any place where i've been rebellious or
  • 00:22:12.647 --> 00:22:14.249
  • Disobedient, help me to see it.
  • 00:22:14.249 --> 00:22:18.854
  • If there's any place i'm honoring traditions more than
  • 00:22:18.854 --> 00:22:20.722
  • I'm honoring you, if there's any place i'm following along
  • 00:22:20.722 --> 00:22:23.525
  • Blindly, because it's more comfortable and more convenient
  • 00:22:23.525 --> 00:22:26.228
  • And more easy, help me to see it.
  • 00:22:26.228 --> 00:22:30.599
  • I want to honor you.
  • 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:34.102
  • I wanna eat the best of the land, i want the best that
  • 00:22:34.102 --> 00:22:37.005
  • God has.
  • 00:22:37.005 --> 00:22:39.307
  • But i'm gonna tell you the truth, it will take your best.
  • 00:22:39.307 --> 00:22:43.178
  • Now, the rewards are amazing and the benefits are incredible.
  • 00:22:43.178 --> 00:22:49.384
  • But it's a lot like other things you do that require
  • 00:22:49.384 --> 00:22:51.253
  • Self-discipline and perseverance and determination.
  • 00:22:51.253 --> 00:22:54.122
  • There are seasons in the midst of that, when the rewards
  • 00:22:54.122 --> 00:22:56.525
  • Aren't--don't seem as imminent, and they seem a little
  • 00:22:56.525 --> 00:22:58.794
  • Uncertain, and it's uncomfortable and it's
  • 00:22:58.794 --> 00:23:00.929
  • Difficult, and there's people around you not doing what
  • 00:23:00.929 --> 00:23:03.198
  • You're doing.
  • 00:23:03.198 --> 00:23:07.035
  • Right?
  • 00:23:07.035 --> 00:23:08.370
  • That sound right?
  • 00:23:08.370 --> 00:23:09.704
  • Be willing to be different.
  • 00:23:09.704 --> 00:23:11.039
  • Let's go to difficult.
  • 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:12.374
  • In an age of easy, let's go be difficult.
  • 00:23:12.374 --> 00:23:19.314
  • God has something good for you, you'll never regret it.
  • 00:23:19.314 --> 00:23:23.718
  • There may be moments where you think, what have i gotten
  • 00:23:23.718 --> 00:23:25.854
  • Myself into?
  • 00:23:25.854 --> 00:23:28.056
  • Don't you know there was days, moses--you read--if you follow
  • 00:23:28.056 --> 00:23:30.725
  • Your heroes through the bible, there's days moses would say to
  • 00:23:30.725 --> 00:23:33.462
  • God, god, i'm done with them, and god would say, oh moe.
  • 00:23:33.462 --> 00:23:40.769
  • Living bible.
  • 00:23:40.769 --> 00:23:42.737
  • And then there's days god would say to moses, step back, i'm
  • 00:23:42.737 --> 00:23:45.440
  • Done with him.
  • 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:47.042
  • And moses would say, no, your enemies will celebrate.
  • 00:23:47.042 --> 00:23:53.882
  • I wanna pray with you, may we do that?
  • 00:23:53.882 --> 00:23:57.152
  • We're gonna make a difference.
  • 00:23:57.152 --> 00:23:59.488
  • We're gonna see a generation change, by the power of god.
  • 00:23:59.488 --> 00:24:03.091
  • And he's gonna use a bunch of crackpots like us, people with
  • 00:24:03.091 --> 00:24:07.095
  • Southern accents, that eat country ham.
  • 00:24:07.095 --> 00:24:12.334
  • Come on.
  • 00:24:12.334 --> 00:24:15.170
  • Anybody in the house has never had a piece of country ham?
  • 00:24:15.170 --> 00:24:19.140
  • Oh, bless your hearts.
  • 00:24:19.140 --> 00:24:25.146
  • Why don't you stand with me?
  • 00:24:25.146 --> 00:24:32.020
  • Did you know, god is able, he can help you with that.
  • 00:24:32.020 --> 00:24:36.925
  • You'll need a local to tell you how to cook it, or you'll swear
  • 00:24:36.925 --> 00:24:41.329
  • It's leather.
  • 00:24:41.329 --> 00:24:46.334
  • Mm, father, thank you for your word.
  • 00:24:46.334 --> 00:24:49.504
  • Lord, we want to honor you.
  • 00:24:49.504 --> 00:24:52.140
  • Forgive us when we have said no, we've chosen our way and we have
  • 00:24:52.140 --> 00:24:57.646
  • Ignored the things we knew to be right or wrong.
  • 00:24:57.646 --> 00:25:01.349
  • Lord, we come tonight in humility, not to assert our
  • 00:25:01.349 --> 00:25:03.752
  • Correctness, but to cry out to you and to acknowledge that our
  • 00:25:03.752 --> 00:25:07.088
  • Need for your help.
  • 00:25:07.088 --> 00:25:08.690
  • Holy spirit, you're our teacher, you're our guide.
  • 00:25:08.690 --> 00:25:13.428
  • Give us understanding hearts and co-operative attitudes.
  • 00:25:13.428 --> 00:25:18.166
  • Our choice is to be both willing and obedient.
  • 00:25:18.166 --> 00:25:21.937
  • May we hear what you have to say, with greater clarity than
  • 00:25:21.937 --> 00:25:25.874
  • We hear the messages of the world around us.
  • 00:25:25.874 --> 00:25:28.743
  • May we love you more than we love family, or careers, or
  • 00:25:28.743 --> 00:25:36.017
  • Whatever else might be available to us.
  • 00:25:36.017 --> 00:25:40.021
  • Help us, father, to recalibrate where we need to, to give you
  • 00:25:40.021 --> 00:25:44.025
  • First place.
  • 00:25:44.025 --> 00:25:46.995
  • I pray for those tonight, standing in difficult places,
  • 00:25:46.995 --> 00:25:49.664
  • With great pressure, that they would know your strength, and
  • 00:25:49.664 --> 00:25:54.336
  • Your wisdom.
  • 00:25:54.336 --> 00:25:56.004
  • Lord, open doors where they're needed, bring help where it's
  • 00:25:56.004 --> 00:25:58.873
  • Needed, bring responses that only you can bring.
  • 00:25:58.873 --> 00:26:02.611
  • I praise you for it, lord, that we're not alone or abandoned
  • 00:26:02.611 --> 00:26:05.246
  • Or isolated.
  • 00:26:05.246 --> 00:26:06.815
  • That we're children of the king, and that you're watching over
  • 00:26:06.815 --> 00:26:09.884
  • Your people in the earth.
  • 00:26:09.884 --> 00:26:11.753
  • I praise you for it, in jesus name, amen.
  • 00:26:11.753 --> 00:26:15.890
  • Hallelujah, god bless you.
  • 00:26:15.890 --> 00:26:18.994
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:26:18.994 --> 00:26:24.032
  • Allen: you know, no matter what source of news you turn to
  • 00:26:25.300 --> 00:26:28.670
  • It's hard some days not to be overwhelmed with despair,
  • 00:26:28.670 --> 00:26:32.173
  • The deception, the conflict in the earth,
  • 00:26:32.173 --> 00:26:35.143
  • The suffering that's taking place in so many places,
  • 00:26:35.143 --> 00:26:38.413
  • The struggling church in our own nation.
  • 00:26:38.413 --> 00:26:41.282
  • But there are reasons for hope.
  • 00:26:41.282 --> 00:26:42.784
  • God is moving in the most remarkable ways
  • 00:26:42.784 --> 00:26:45.787
  • But we need to have a plan, a method, even a tool
  • 00:26:45.787 --> 00:26:48.723
  • To help us give our thoughts and our hearts focused on god.
  • 00:26:48.723 --> 00:26:52.460
  • Well, i have a suggestion, it's a little booklet
  • 00:26:52.460 --> 00:26:53.895
  • We put together, it's called "awaken us."
  • 00:26:53.895 --> 00:26:56.064
  • It's a 30-day plan.
  • 00:26:56.064 --> 00:26:57.399
  • It's built by topic each day with a scripture,
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  • A little devotional, and a prayer topically directed
  • 00:27:00.268 --> 00:27:03.505
  • To help focus our thoughts at an awakening
  • 00:27:03.505 --> 00:27:06.341
  • To god's invitations to us around that specific theme.
  • 00:27:06.341 --> 00:27:10.311
  • We're awakened every day for the challenges of that day.
  • 00:27:10.311 --> 00:27:12.881
  • Well let's ask the spirit of god to awaken us
  • 00:27:12.881 --> 00:27:15.884
  • Consistently to what he would have us doing
  • 00:27:15.884 --> 00:27:18.586
  • In this most unique season.
  • 00:27:18.586 --> 00:27:20.488
  • God is moving, i want to move with him,
  • 00:27:20.488 --> 00:27:22.691
  • And i believe you do too.
  • 00:27:22.691 --> 00:27:24.025
  • And i believe "awaken us" will be a help.
  • 00:27:24.025 --> 00:27:26.127
  • ♪♪♪
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