Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Breakthrough... Alone In The Desert (Part 1) | January 7, 2025
- ...
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- Allen jackson: we've been doing a study on breakthroughs and i
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- Want to continue that series another session or two.
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- The title for this session is "alone in the desert," and it's
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- Really a companion piece with the previous session.
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- We looked at zechariah and elizabeth and the breakthrough
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- God brought to their lives, and i want to continue it in this
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- Session really with the outcome of that.
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- I think there's a hopeful message there, but for just a
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- Moment, i've been encouraging you for quite a while now to
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- Embrace this little paradigm of watch and listen and think
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- And act.
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- Not just to live your life, but to pay--do it
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- With attentiveness.
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- There's some things that will be essential.
- 00:00:43.826 --> 00:00:45.227
- Jesus warned us as we approached the end of the age that
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- Deception would increase dramatically, and there's some
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- Things you can do to limit your vulnerability to being deceived.
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- One is read your bible on a regular basis.
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- That there's just not a replacement for that, folks.
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- If you're not doing it, you've almost surrendered completely.
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- Read your bible on a regular-- but you can join us in our
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- Reading plan, we'd be delighted.
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- If you don't want to do that, you can pick one.
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- But 10 or 15 minutes a day, you can read through your whole
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- Bible in the course of a year.
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- It's a worthwhile investment of time.
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- It will change you.
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- And if you've read it once, twice will be better.
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- If you've read it 10 times, the 11th will be better.
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- Okay, the second thing is community.
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- You need like-minded people that you spend some time with.
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- I hate to--it's hard to admit your parents were right when you
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- Were a kid.
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- But your friends really do have an enormous impact on your life.
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- You need a community of people who have a faith in god.
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- They will help you a great deal.
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- And the third thing is this little paradigm, you've gotta
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- Watch and listen.
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- You actually have to pay attention a bit.
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- There's a temptation to want to kind of cocoon, go into a cave,
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- And, you know, it's just distressing.
- 00:01:53.262 --> 00:01:54.663
- You don't know who to believe or what to believe, but you have to
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- Pay a little bit of attention.
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- Then you have to think a little bit, i know.
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- And then be willing to act.
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- You can't just be an observer or a professional critic.
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- We're not olympic judges, we're in the arena.
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- And there's a big difference.
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- I think if you'll do those things, it'll help you avoid
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- Deception and fulfill god's purposes for your lives, and
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- Ultimately that's the target.
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- We are witnesses to a season of tremendous change, unparalleled
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- Change in my lifetime, and i don't mean because of
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- This election.
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- I really think it started in a dramatic way with covid.
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- God began to shake the earth.
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- There have been multiple tremors since then.
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- October the 7th, the attack by hamas on israel and the boiling
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- Antisemitism in our own nation.
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- Very unexpected things.
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- God is shaking the earth and i trust that at the end of it,
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- We'll be in a place that he has led us to.
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- So it isn't frightening, it's kind of exciting to me, but it's
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- A great contest between the values of the kingdom of god and
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- The values of this present age.
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- You're gonna have to decide.
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- You can't stay in the middle much longer.
- 00:02:58.493 --> 00:03:01.430
- Tragically in the church we have capitulated for so long.
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- We've been silent for so long.
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- We've been timid for so long that now it feels almost
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- Inappropriate to express our support for a
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- Judeo-christian worldview.
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- Should we say that?
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- Are we allowed to say that?
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- Is it--what if i offend someone?
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- Look, the truth is helpful.
- 00:03:19.514 --> 00:03:23.819
- Imagine going to a doctor that doesn't want to give you the
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- Real diagnosis because it might make you feel blue.
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- We call that malpractice.
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- In the christian world we call it apostasy.
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- If you won't align with the truth because you don't know if
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- It'll be received well, that's not just a personal choice or
- 00:03:41.169 --> 00:03:45.140
- Kindness or mercy, it is a false gospel, it's false faith.
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- And we don't want to be there and we've lived dangerously
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- Close to that.
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- It's not inappropriate to agree with god's word.
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- In fact, it's necessary, it's helpful even if it puts you at
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- Odds with some rather revered places like harvard or yale or
- 00:04:04.760 --> 00:04:11.967
- The purveyors of conventional wisdom.
- 00:04:11.967 --> 00:04:15.270
- We live in a world where the truth really isn't so--you
- 00:04:15.270 --> 00:04:17.506
- Don't have to be very clever any longer, it's just a little bit
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- Of awareness.
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- I mean, lately we see the reports and pictures and videos
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- Of swarms of drones hanging above us.
- 00:04:23.845 --> 00:04:28.383
- Well, government officials say, "nothing there.
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- It's just a small airplane."
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- Oh, thank you.
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- Or they'll tell us that biological sex is confusing.
- 00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:41.863
- No, it really isn't.
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- Not really, it's not that tough.
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- I grew up on a farm.
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- It isn't confusing.
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- I'm not suggesting there aren't people that don't struggle with
- 00:04:53.408 --> 00:04:56.011
- Confusion, but if you're confused about something that's
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- That fundamental, that's not a good place, that's not something
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- To be celebrated.
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- And we certainly wouldn't want to abandon our children to be
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- Mutilated by people that think that kind of confusion
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- Is helpful.
- 00:05:07.656 --> 00:05:10.359
- So this idea of breakthroughs, this notion of when god
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- Intervenes in our lives, we are a culture in need of
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- Breakthroughs from the kingdom of god.
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- We've drifted a long way into places that are confusing and
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- Where the truth isn't celebrated and integrity is no longer held
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- In high esteem.
- 00:05:30.312 --> 00:05:32.414
- No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, you could
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- Say amen to that.
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- That's just the reality.
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- And the change for that isn't coming from an election, the
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- Change for that will come from the heart of god's
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- People, breakthroughs.
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- When god intervenes in our lives, most of us--one of the
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- Reasons i decided to do this series is i engaged with the
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- Community of faith here sufficiently enough to know that
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- There are hundreds of us that are in a desperate place.
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- We need a breakthrough from god.
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- Physically, emotionally, in our family systems, in our
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- Businesses, in many, many ways.
- 00:06:03.245 --> 00:06:05.013
- There's only a god solution can result in an outcome that will
- 00:06:05.013 --> 00:06:08.016
- Be satisfactory, otherwise we're just treading water, holding
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- Our space.
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- We need a breakthrough.
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- And god gratefully does intervene in our lives.
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- But we have had a little bit, i believe, of a misunderstanding
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- And preachers like myself have contributed to this.
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- We like to tell the miracle stories.
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- We like to talk about the victories that took place and
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- That's not inappropriate, but it's inappropriate unless we
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- Tell the larger story.
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- And the breakthroughs that god presents to us are not just
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- Victory stories, there's a backstory that go with them.
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- I started with a verse of scripture in your notes.
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- There's hope, it's isaiah 40 in verse 3.
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- It says, "a voice of one calling:
- 00:06:48.223 --> 00:06:50.625
- 'in the desert, prepare the way for the lord;
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- Make straight in the wilderness a highway for our god.'"
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- That verse from isaiah 40 is quoted in matthew, mark, luke,
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- And john.
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- There are very few things recorded in all four of
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- The gospels.
- 00:07:03.405 --> 00:07:04.739
- That verse is.
- 00:07:04.739 --> 00:07:06.074
- And each time it's presented, it's presented in conjunction
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- With john the baptist and his life message.
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- He was a voice of one calling in the wilderness.
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- See, i don't really wanna be a voice of one.
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- I wanna be a voice of a big choir, right?
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- It's fun to find 12,000 people that are all saying, "jesus is
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- Lord," and slip in with them and go, "yes."
- 00:07:29.865 --> 00:07:33.735
- It's not so much fun to be in a group of 12,000 people that are
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- Not in favor of that and you're standing there going, "jesus
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- Is lord."
- 00:07:39.474 --> 00:07:43.245
- John was willing to be a voice of one calling in
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- The wilderness.
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- I wanna look at that.
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- He's a breakthrough, he's the one who was to prepare the way
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- For jesus in his life and his ministry and all he did.
- 00:07:51.553 --> 00:07:54.623
- See, when i imagine a breakthrough, apart from doing
- 00:07:54.623 --> 00:07:57.526
- Any study of--what i want, i just--what i want out of a
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- Breakthrough is i want a resolution to my problem.
- 00:08:00.161 --> 00:08:03.265
- I got a bad diagnosis, i want it to go away.
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- I want the doctor to say, "i blew it."
- 00:08:05.667 --> 00:08:09.070
- If there's a relational struggle, you want it to be
- 00:08:09.070 --> 00:08:10.805
- Resolved, you want everybody to be at peace, whatever you--the
- 00:08:10.805 --> 00:08:13.708
- Breakthrough, you just want the problem to evaporate and the
- 00:08:13.708 --> 00:08:16.811
- Goodness of god to make it all a big happy point.
- 00:08:16.811 --> 00:08:21.216
- Nothing wrong with that imagination, it's just not
- 00:08:21.216 --> 00:08:24.085
- Particularly biblical.
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- Breakthroughs result in transformation.
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- They change your perspective.
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- They leave you with insight and understandings different than
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- You had before the intervention of god so you don't just return
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- To your old shape.
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- You walk in a new way, you interact in a new way.
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- Breakthroughs change everything.
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- Are you ready for that?
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- Those of us that need a breakthrough, are you ready for
- 00:08:50.845 --> 00:08:53.214
- A different cadence in your life?
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- Are you ready for a rearrangement of authority?
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- Are you ready for a transformation of priorities?
- 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:01.056
- Or do you just want god to do what you want him to do so you
- 00:09:01.056 --> 00:09:03.224
- Can keep doing what you wanna do?
- 00:09:03.224 --> 00:09:05.694
- If i get really honest, that, yeah that's really what i want.
- 00:09:05.694 --> 00:09:11.900
- But truthfully, god loves us too much.
- 00:09:11.900 --> 00:09:15.170
- Like my bible says that if god loves you, he will
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- Discipline you.
- 00:09:17.439 --> 00:09:20.075
- I don't want to grow up in the lord.
- 00:09:20.075 --> 00:09:23.178
- I mean, i've learned to, i've learned to value that, but i
- 00:09:23.178 --> 00:09:25.580
- Mean if you just left me to myself, the truth is not--i'd
- 00:09:25.580 --> 00:09:28.383
- Really like just to have my way.
- 00:09:28.383 --> 00:09:32.253
- I remember as a kid, you know, we'd come to these
- 00:09:32.253 --> 00:09:34.356
- Life junctures.
- 00:09:34.356 --> 00:09:36.358
- And my parents would have these very misshapen ideas.
- 00:09:36.358 --> 00:09:42.797
- That at some point in our growth and development and maturing
- 00:09:42.797 --> 00:09:46.935
- That my brothers and i should accept responsibilities.
- 00:09:46.935 --> 00:09:52.140
- And we were like, "no, really, we're good, irresponsible works
- 00:09:52.140 --> 00:09:54.709
- For us.
- 00:09:54.709 --> 00:09:56.811
- We don't need a job, don't want to clean a stall."
- 00:09:56.811 --> 00:09:59.814
- It'll be good for you.
- 00:09:59.814 --> 00:10:01.149
- "no, i tried it.
- 00:10:01.149 --> 00:10:02.517
- I got dirty, it smells awful.
- 00:10:02.517 --> 00:10:03.918
- Horses are mean, they spew and spit, and they look kind of
- 00:10:03.918 --> 00:10:06.655
- Threatening to me.
- 00:10:06.655 --> 00:10:07.989
- I'm really good.
- 00:10:07.989 --> 00:10:09.324
- Television works for me and air conditioning."
- 00:10:09.324 --> 00:10:11.393
- And time after time as i walked through that maturing, they
- 00:10:11.393 --> 00:10:15.563
- Would come to these places and say, "oh, this will be good
- 00:10:15.563 --> 00:10:17.532
- For you."
- 00:10:17.532 --> 00:10:18.900
- I'm like, "nah."
- 00:10:18.900 --> 00:10:20.468
- It never felt good for me in the moment.
- 00:10:20.468 --> 00:10:23.304
- Yeah, maybe looking back on it, now that i'm into my thirties, i
- 00:10:23.304 --> 00:10:26.574
- Can see there was some benefit to those things.
- 00:10:26.574 --> 00:10:31.880
- Don't mock.
- 00:10:31.880 --> 00:10:35.650
- Well, i feel the same way with the lord.
- 00:10:35.650 --> 00:10:38.319
- You know, you're born again.
- 00:10:38.319 --> 00:10:39.654
- You're an infant, you're a new creation in christ.
- 00:10:39.654 --> 00:10:43.758
- It's a wonderful thing.
- 00:10:43.758 --> 00:10:45.126
- It's an amazing thing.
- 00:10:45.126 --> 00:10:46.461
- It's worth whatever effort, whatever--it
- 00:10:46.461 --> 00:10:49.698
- Changes everything.
- 00:10:49.698 --> 00:10:53.101
- But the general tendency at that point is to go, "you know, i'm
- 00:10:53.101 --> 00:10:55.403
- Good now.
- 00:10:55.403 --> 00:10:56.738
- I got my ticket punched.
- 00:10:56.738 --> 00:10:58.106
- I'm in.
- 00:10:58.106 --> 00:10:59.441
- I've learned the secret handshake."
- 00:10:59.441 --> 00:11:02.177
- And god says, "now i'm gonna help you to grow up."
- 00:11:02.177 --> 00:11:04.045
- And i'm going, "no, not really, i'm good, thank you.
- 00:11:04.045 --> 00:11:06.181
- Feed me, change me, burp me, protect me, provide for me,
- 00:11:06.181 --> 00:11:11.586
- Watch over me, care for me.
- 00:11:11.586 --> 00:11:15.290
- Except that i don't want you watching so i can do what
- 00:11:15.290 --> 00:11:17.425
- Me wants."
- 00:11:17.425 --> 00:11:19.494
- And god said, "no, i love you.
- 00:11:19.494 --> 00:11:21.129
- I'm gonna help you grow up."
- 00:11:21.129 --> 00:11:23.998
- That's really the question on the table today.
- 00:11:23.998 --> 00:11:26.000
- Are you--to what extent are you willing to grow in the lord?
- 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.772
- I'm gonna suggest that it has an impact not only for you, but for
- 00:11:30.772 --> 00:11:34.275
- The generations who follow you.
- 00:11:34.275 --> 00:11:36.911
- In fact, if we start with zechariah and elizabeth and i
- 00:11:36.911 --> 00:11:39.514
- Have--this couple who were childless, and they're past the
- 00:11:39.514 --> 00:11:43.017
- Age where they're gonna bear children, it's just not
- 00:11:43.017 --> 00:11:45.320
- Reasonable anymore, nobody has the expectation.
- 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:48.289
- They had those prayers, but they had them a long time ago and
- 00:11:48.289 --> 00:11:52.127
- Then the announcement comes.
- 00:11:52.127 --> 00:11:53.495
- Gabriel the archangel shows up and says, "you're gonna have a
- 00:11:53.495 --> 00:11:55.864
- Child and you're gonna name him john."
- 00:11:55.864 --> 00:11:57.365
- And they're like, "what are you talking about?"
- 00:11:57.365 --> 00:11:59.934
- I mean, zechariah has enough questions that he gets struck
- 00:11:59.934 --> 00:12:02.403
- Mute for nine months.
- 00:12:02.403 --> 00:12:05.340
- Teach you to talk back.
- 00:12:05.340 --> 00:12:07.008
- Aren't you glad we all don't get struck mute when we question
- 00:12:07.008 --> 00:12:09.144
- The lord?
- 00:12:09.144 --> 00:12:11.579
- And, you know, pastor will be signing the message
- 00:12:11.579 --> 00:12:13.481
- This morning.
- 00:12:13.481 --> 00:12:15.784
- And john's born.
- 00:12:19.187 --> 00:12:21.055
- And zechariah and elizabeth really step out of the scene
- 00:12:21.055 --> 00:12:24.392
- Completely after their time in the temple and, taking john,
- 00:12:24.392 --> 00:12:32.367
- They step out of the story, but john steps onto the stage.
- 00:12:32.367 --> 00:12:37.005
- And that's where i want to start.
- 00:12:37.005 --> 00:12:38.773
- It's in luke chapter 3. it's right in the middle of this
- 00:12:38.773 --> 00:12:41.910
- Christmas narrative.
- 00:12:41.910 --> 00:12:44.746
- Zechariah and elizabeth and john the baptist are very much a part
- 00:12:44.746 --> 00:12:47.615
- Of the christmas story.
- 00:12:47.615 --> 00:12:48.983
- During the high priesthood of annas and caiaphas, the word of
- 00:12:48.983 --> 00:12:51.386
- God came to john, the son of zechariah, in the desert.
- 00:12:51.386 --> 00:12:56.324
- Nobody knew why they were calling him john.
- 00:12:56.324 --> 00:12:58.092
- Because god said to.
- 00:12:58.092 --> 00:13:00.595
- That was the message they got in the temple, when gabriel came to
- 00:13:00.595 --> 00:13:03.798
- Zechariah said, "you name him john."
- 00:13:03.798 --> 00:13:05.366
- "no, no, no," all the people said when it was time to name
- 00:13:05.366 --> 00:13:07.669
- Him, they said "he'll be zechariah.
- 00:13:07.669 --> 00:13:09.103
- It's the family--there's nobody named john in your family."
- 00:13:09.103 --> 00:13:14.142
- And elizabeth and zechariah together said, "no, this is a
- 00:13:14.142 --> 00:13:17.011
- New thing.
- 00:13:17.011 --> 00:13:18.513
- This is a breakthrough.
- 00:13:18.513 --> 00:13:20.181
- His name's john."
- 00:13:20.181 --> 00:13:22.083
- So john, the son of zechariah, in the desert, "he went into all
- 00:13:22.083 --> 00:13:25.153
- The country around the jordan, preaching the baptism of
- 00:13:25.153 --> 00:13:27.422
- Repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
- 00:13:27.422 --> 00:13:29.757
- As it is written in the book of the words of isaiah the prophet:
- 00:13:29.757 --> 00:13:32.694
- 'a voice of one calling in the desert.
- 00:13:32.694 --> 00:13:35.330
- Prepare the way for the lord, make straight paths for him.
- 00:13:35.330 --> 00:13:37.832
- Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill
- 00:13:37.832 --> 00:13:40.101
- Made low.
- 00:13:40.101 --> 00:13:41.436
- The crooked road shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.
- 00:13:41.436 --> 00:13:43.838
- And all mankind will see god's salvation.'"
- 00:13:43.838 --> 00:13:46.040
- Gee, that's not a big assignment.
- 00:13:46.040 --> 00:13:48.910
- Go prepare the way for the messiah so that all of humankind
- 00:13:48.910 --> 00:13:53.781
- Can see the way to salvation.
- 00:13:53.781 --> 00:13:56.885
- And "john said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by
- 00:13:56.885 --> 00:13:59.921
- Him, 'you bunch of snakes.
- 00:13:59.921 --> 00:14:02.624
- Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?'"
- 00:14:02.624 --> 00:14:05.994
- Just as a beginning point, i think a simple observation--
- 00:14:05.994 --> 00:14:08.229
- We've been trying to stack some ideas, some breakthrough hacks,
- 00:14:08.229 --> 00:14:12.033
- If you will.
- 00:14:12.033 --> 00:14:13.368
- In this case, the breakthrough begins in the desert.
- 00:14:13.368 --> 00:14:16.838
- John is a voice crying in the desert.
- 00:14:16.838 --> 00:14:18.539
- He's not a voice crying in the temple, he's not in jerusalem.
- 00:14:18.539 --> 00:14:21.776
- Isaiah was a prophet of the court, he was comfortable in
- 00:14:21.776 --> 00:14:24.445
- The palace.
- 00:14:24.445 --> 00:14:26.447
- Jeremiah spoke to heads of state and the leaders of nations.
- 00:14:26.447 --> 00:14:30.351
- John is a voice in the desert, a voice crying in the wilderness,
- 00:14:30.351 --> 00:14:34.522
- A voice of one crying in the wilderness.
- 00:14:34.522 --> 00:14:38.393
- Wearing clothes made of camel's hair and eating locusts, not
- 00:14:38.393 --> 00:14:41.296
- Bugs, it's a fruit that grows on a tree.
- 00:14:41.296 --> 00:14:44.666
- I know you're disappointed.
- 00:14:44.666 --> 00:14:50.338
- Female announcer: if you look,
- 00:14:54.008 --> 00:14:55.343
- You'll find good news everywhere.
- 00:14:55.343 --> 00:14:57.512
- Female: our baby was born healthy and strong.
- 00:14:57.512 --> 00:15:01.382
- Female: we have the groceries we need.
- 00:15:01.382 --> 00:15:03.952
- Male: another year cancer free.
- 00:15:03.952 --> 00:15:07.322
- Female: we bought our first house this year.
- 00:15:07.322 --> 00:15:11.259
- Female: the raise came through when i needed it most.
- 00:15:11.259 --> 00:15:14.896
- Male: i have a working car.
- 00:15:14.896 --> 00:15:18.466
- Female: my husband came home safe.
- 00:15:18.466 --> 00:15:22.403
- Announcer: philippians 4 tells us to think about "whatever is
- 00:15:22.403 --> 00:15:24.939
- True, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent,
- 00:15:24.939 --> 00:15:30.411
- And praiseworthy."
- 00:15:30.411 --> 00:15:32.080
- All of these things honor god, and when we take time to notice
- 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:35.383
- Them we welcome god's presence and experience his peace.
- 00:15:35.383 --> 00:15:38.886
- Allen: you know, the two most critical junctures of any
- 00:15:41.022 --> 00:15:43.558
- Enterprise are how we begin and how we conclude, so the
- 00:15:43.558 --> 00:15:47.395
- Beginning of a new year is a tremendous opportunity.
- 00:15:47.395 --> 00:15:50.932
- We've prepared a tool we want to share with you.
- 00:15:50.932 --> 00:15:52.734
- It's a "good news journal."
- 00:15:52.734 --> 00:15:54.602
- We wanna help you set a habit this year to do something with a
- 00:15:54.602 --> 00:15:58.639
- Bit more intention than perhaps has been our pattern in
- 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:01.609
- The past.
- 00:16:01.609 --> 00:16:02.944
- We wanna start our year with an attitude of appreciation and
- 00:16:02.944 --> 00:16:05.980
- Gratitude for the blessings of god in our lives.
- 00:16:05.980 --> 00:16:09.217
- So we've designed this journal so that you can use it as a part
- 00:16:09.217 --> 00:16:12.220
- Of your devotional.
- 00:16:12.220 --> 00:16:13.554
- It's something you could include the children, the grandchildren,
- 00:16:13.554 --> 00:16:15.623
- You could take it to work and create a "good news journal" for
- 00:16:15.623 --> 00:16:18.226
- The people you work with.
- 00:16:18.226 --> 00:16:19.827
- Wherever that may be, let's start our year out purposefully,
- 00:16:19.827 --> 00:16:23.598
- Intentionally, saying thank you to the lord for his goodness
- 00:16:23.598 --> 00:16:27.035
- To us.
- 00:16:27.035 --> 00:16:28.403
- I know there's challenges and we have places where we need god's
- 00:16:28.403 --> 00:16:30.805
- Help, but we're gonna begin with gratitude and walk into the
- 00:16:30.805 --> 00:16:34.709
- Blessings of god in this year.
- 00:16:34.709 --> 00:16:37.078
- I think you'll enjoy the journal.
- 00:16:37.078 --> 00:16:38.813
- God bless.
- 00:16:38.813 --> 00:16:40.148
- Announcer: when you keep a good news list, you'll notice how god
- 00:16:40.148 --> 00:16:42.650
- Is constantly at work all around you.
- 00:16:42.650 --> 00:16:45.520
- Our new 52 week "good news notebook" gives you a place to
- 00:16:45.520 --> 00:16:49.457
- Record your good news, prayers you saw god answer, and your
- 00:16:49.457 --> 00:16:53.061
- Current prayer requests.
- 00:16:53.061 --> 00:16:54.829
- As you look back on your lists over the weeks and months to
- 00:16:54.829 --> 00:16:57.698
- Come, you'll find a personal record of god's faithfulness
- 00:16:57.698 --> 00:17:00.635
- To you.
- 00:17:00.635 --> 00:17:01.969
- Allen: we are trusting god for a year like no other.
- 00:17:01.969 --> 00:17:03.938
- For his breakthroughs this year, i believe the "good news
- 00:17:03.938 --> 00:17:06.707
- Journal" can be a part of our journey in each of our lives.
- 00:17:06.707 --> 00:17:09.911
- Announcer: request your "good news notebook" when you donate
- 00:17:09.911 --> 00:17:11.979
- $20 or more today at allenjackson.com or by
- 00:17:11.979 --> 00:17:15.783
- Calling ...
- 00:17:15.783 --> 00:17:20.988
- Allen: breakthroughs often emerge in the desert.
- 00:17:25.026 --> 00:17:28.029
- Seems odd to us, the desert's a remote part for most of us in
- 00:17:28.029 --> 00:17:31.399
- Our nation.
- 00:17:31.399 --> 00:17:33.167
- If you live in israel or the middle east, i can tell you from
- 00:17:33.167 --> 00:17:35.369
- My jewish friends, the desert is not a place of punishment, it's
- 00:17:35.369 --> 00:17:37.905
- A place of renewal, it's a place of place of refreshing, it's a
- 00:17:37.905 --> 00:17:41.542
- Place where god meets you.
- 00:17:41.542 --> 00:17:43.344
- If they have a day off, they go into the desert.
- 00:17:43.344 --> 00:17:48.116
- And from the biblical perspective, the desert is a
- 00:17:48.116 --> 00:17:50.251
- Place of renewal.
- 00:17:50.251 --> 00:17:51.586
- I tell you that because if you're in a desert season, it
- 00:17:51.586 --> 00:17:56.557
- Doesn't feel so feel so fruitful.
- 00:17:56.557 --> 00:17:59.494
- It doesn't feel quite as opulent as you had hoped it might, if
- 00:17:59.494 --> 00:18:05.733
- It's a lean time.
- 00:18:05.733 --> 00:18:08.035
- I would submit to you that's a very--there's a very high
- 00:18:08.035 --> 00:18:13.708
- Degree of probability that that's a breakthrough season.
- 00:18:13.708 --> 00:18:17.512
- God hasn't abandoned you.
- 00:18:17.512 --> 00:18:20.181
- In the desert there's a stillness, in the desert there's
- 00:18:20.181 --> 00:18:22.583
- A quietness, in the desert it's much easier to hear.
- 00:18:22.583 --> 00:18:28.289
- I don't believe god has left you.
- 00:18:28.289 --> 00:18:31.292
- There's a component of john the baptist that i don't want us
- 00:18:31.292 --> 00:18:33.394
- To miss.
- 00:18:33.394 --> 00:18:34.962
- Jesus said he was the greatest of those born among women.
- 00:18:34.962 --> 00:18:39.734
- A very revered character.
- 00:18:39.734 --> 00:18:42.570
- But john the baptist is an impossibility without the
- 00:18:42.570 --> 00:18:44.939
- Faithfulness of zechariah and elizabeth.
- 00:18:44.939 --> 00:18:48.910
- What made john the baptist ministry possible, his life
- 00:18:48.910 --> 00:18:51.913
- Story possible, his impact possible, were the decisions
- 00:18:51.913 --> 00:18:55.183
- That were made by his parents, by zechariah and elizabeth.
- 00:18:55.183 --> 00:18:58.119
- Upright people, godly people, people who overcame
- 00:18:58.119 --> 00:19:01.055
- Disappointment, people who had to have their life plans
- 00:19:01.055 --> 00:19:04.425
- Rewritten, their life schedule didn't emerge in the way they
- 00:19:04.425 --> 00:19:07.628
- Had hoped it would.
- 00:19:07.628 --> 00:19:08.963
- While their friends were building nurseries and welcoming
- 00:19:08.963 --> 00:19:11.866
- Children, they weren't.
- 00:19:11.866 --> 00:19:15.269
- And so they prayed and they sought god and they
- 00:19:15.269 --> 00:19:18.072
- Still didn't.
- 00:19:18.072 --> 00:19:20.208
- And it became very obvious that that wasn't gonna happen, it
- 00:19:20.208 --> 00:19:22.977
- Wasn't in their future, that just wasn't a part of
- 00:19:22.977 --> 00:19:26.447
- Their journey.
- 00:19:26.447 --> 00:19:27.815
- And they managed to overcome that disappointment and not be
- 00:19:27.815 --> 00:19:30.184
- Defined by it.
- 00:19:30.184 --> 00:19:32.587
- Zechariah is still serving in the temple.
- 00:19:32.587 --> 00:19:34.522
- Elizabeth is still honoring the lord, listening to the spirit
- 00:19:34.522 --> 00:19:37.491
- Of god.
- 00:19:37.491 --> 00:19:38.826
- And then gabriel shows up and said, "hey, i got some news
- 00:19:38.826 --> 00:19:41.529
- For you.
- 00:19:41.529 --> 00:19:43.497
- You're gonna have a son."
- 00:19:43.497 --> 00:19:46.734
- Except now it's, like, disruptive.
- 00:19:46.734 --> 00:19:48.769
- Zechariah, i mean, he says in the--he says, "i am old.
- 00:19:48.769 --> 00:19:53.341
- And elizabeth?"
- 00:19:53.341 --> 00:19:57.178
- He was gracious.
- 00:19:57.178 --> 00:19:58.512
- He said, "she's well along in years."
- 00:19:58.512 --> 00:20:02.416
- Gabriel, have you seen lizzie?
- 00:20:02.416 --> 00:20:05.052
- In fact, it's a little bit of a moment, you know, gabriel's
- 00:20:09.223 --> 00:20:11.325
- Delivering this message with some rather lofty language about
- 00:20:11.325 --> 00:20:14.095
- John and zechariah says, "hang on a minute.
- 00:20:14.095 --> 00:20:19.834
- I'm old."
- 00:20:19.834 --> 00:20:22.570
- And gabriel says, "and you're gonna be quiet for nine months."
- 00:20:22.570 --> 00:20:27.675
- Again, i'm very grateful god has not responded to me that way.
- 00:20:27.675 --> 00:20:31.045
- How many times have you held up your hand to the lord?
- 00:20:31.045 --> 00:20:34.315
- Well, not me.
- 00:20:34.315 --> 00:20:35.916
- No, thank you.
- 00:20:35.916 --> 00:20:37.318
- I don't even like church.
- 00:20:37.318 --> 00:20:41.489
- So john the baptist and his ministry emerges from the
- 00:20:41.489 --> 00:20:45.593
- Faithfulness of zechariah and elizabeth, are willing to
- 00:20:45.593 --> 00:20:48.362
- Embrace their breakthrough, to reorder their lives, to be
- 00:20:48.362 --> 00:20:53.067
- Unique, to overcome disappointment.
- 00:20:53.067 --> 00:20:54.869
- If they had not made those choices, john doesn't have a
- 00:20:54.869 --> 00:20:57.772
- Story to tell.
- 00:20:57.772 --> 00:21:00.474
- There's a biblical principle here.
- 00:21:00.474 --> 00:21:02.009
- I'm taking a moment with it because it's very important and
- 00:21:02.009 --> 00:21:04.211
- It's essential, i believe, for the place that we find ourselves
- 00:21:04.211 --> 00:21:07.348
- As a people right now.
- 00:21:07.348 --> 00:21:09.283
- We need a generational story of godliness.
- 00:21:09.283 --> 00:21:13.354
- We need a generational tale of a desire for righteousness and
- 00:21:13.354 --> 00:21:18.426
- Holiness and purity.
- 00:21:18.426 --> 00:21:22.129
- We want a legacy of faith to be reestablished among us.
- 00:21:22.129 --> 00:21:27.668
- Does that sound right?
- 00:21:27.668 --> 00:21:29.970
- Why not let it begin with us and the aspirations that we have for
- 00:21:29.970 --> 00:21:33.874
- Our children and our grandchildren?
- 00:21:33.874 --> 00:21:36.477
- I know we're in church and the answer to every question is
- 00:21:36.477 --> 00:21:38.679
- Typically jesus, but in the quiet places of your life, when
- 00:21:38.679 --> 00:21:42.583
- You're not in a church building and you're not sitting in the
- 00:21:42.583 --> 00:21:45.052
- Midst of a group of people that have raised their hands to
- 00:21:45.052 --> 00:21:47.288
- Identify as christ followers, what aspirations do you truly
- 00:21:47.288 --> 00:21:51.125
- Hold for your children and your grandchildren?
- 00:21:51.125 --> 00:21:54.695
- Fame, success, wealth, none of those things are inappropriate
- 00:21:54.695 --> 00:21:57.631
- In and of themselves, but they'll be empty apart from a
- 00:21:57.631 --> 00:22:00.234
- Vibrant faith.
- 00:22:00.234 --> 00:22:03.938
- You see, we've almost been totally co-opted by a
- 00:22:03.938 --> 00:22:06.774
- Secular culture.
- 00:22:06.774 --> 00:22:08.175
- Our aspirations have become secular aspirations, our dreams
- 00:22:08.175 --> 00:22:11.011
- Secular aspirations, our priorities secular priorities.
- 00:22:11.011 --> 00:22:14.682
- And again, i'm not trying to remove us from the world, we're
- 00:22:14.682 --> 00:22:16.951
- In it, but the bible says we shouldn't be of it.
- 00:22:16.951 --> 00:22:18.953
- There's a difference.
- 00:22:18.953 --> 00:22:21.455
- We have a different allegiance, a different set of objectives.
- 00:22:21.455 --> 00:22:24.925
- It really is biblical, i can point to it.
- 00:22:24.925 --> 00:22:26.927
- In 2 timothy chapter 1 in verse 5, paul is writing.
- 00:22:26.927 --> 00:22:31.165
- Paul wrote the letter to a young man named timothy, that's why it
- 00:22:31.165 --> 00:22:33.801
- Bears his name.
- 00:22:33.801 --> 00:22:36.003
- But he's reminding him of what paul knows of his life.
- 00:22:36.003 --> 00:22:38.172
- He said, "i've been reminded of your sincere faith, which first
- 00:22:38.172 --> 00:22:41.976
- Lived in your grandmother lois and in your mother eunice and,
- 00:22:41.976 --> 00:22:44.311
- I'm persuaded, now lives in you also."
- 00:22:44.311 --> 00:22:46.313
- You're third generation, timothy, i know the stock from
- 00:22:46.313 --> 00:22:49.383
- Which you come.
- 00:22:49.383 --> 00:22:51.285
- You say, "well, pastor, i don't come from a family where there's
- 00:22:51.285 --> 00:22:54.555
- Generations of faithful people to the lord."
- 00:22:54.555 --> 00:22:57.625
- Good, let's start a new trend.
- 00:22:57.625 --> 00:23:02.530
- Pastor, my story is a little more broken.
- 00:23:02.530 --> 00:23:04.865
- Most of ours are, most of ours are.
- 00:23:04.865 --> 00:23:09.403
- That's why in the previous session we spent a great deal of
- 00:23:09.403 --> 00:23:11.539
- Time talking about a new name.
- 00:23:11.539 --> 00:23:14.241
- Establishing a new heritage, a new legacy.
- 00:23:14.241 --> 00:23:17.912
- John's life isn't gonna fit the normal pattern either.
- 00:23:17.912 --> 00:23:21.515
- I don't believe any parent has an aspiration that their child
- 00:23:21.515 --> 00:23:24.251
- Would walk the path that john walked.
- 00:23:24.251 --> 00:23:27.154
- Forget his impact.
- 00:23:27.154 --> 00:23:29.623
- I just can't--it's hard to imagine any parent raising their
- 00:23:29.623 --> 00:23:32.426
- Hand and saying, "that would be my aspiration."
- 00:23:32.426 --> 00:23:35.596
- We'll get to it in a moment, a generational legacy.
- 00:23:35.596 --> 00:23:38.699
- Look at 1 samuel chapter 1. this is hannah, she's the mother
- 00:23:38.699 --> 00:23:43.871
- Of samuel.
- 00:23:43.871 --> 00:23:45.239
- At the point we're stepping into the narrative, she is childless
- 00:23:45.239 --> 00:23:47.842
- As well.
- 00:23:47.842 --> 00:23:49.176
- "she said, 'i made a vow,' saying, 'o lord almighty, if
- 00:23:49.176 --> 00:23:51.745
- You'll only look upon your servant's misery and remember
- 00:23:51.745 --> 00:23:54.415
- Me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then i will
- 00:23:54.415 --> 00:23:58.018
- Give him to the lord for all the days of his life, no razor will
- 00:23:58.018 --> 00:24:01.922
- Ever be used on his head.'"
- 00:24:01.922 --> 00:24:04.959
- That last phrase could be a little blind to you.
- 00:24:04.959 --> 00:24:07.094
- It's a commitment within judaism.
- 00:24:07.094 --> 00:24:09.363
- There was a sect of people, they're called nazarites.
- 00:24:09.363 --> 00:24:13.133
- Not nazarenes, nazarenes are people that come from the
- 00:24:13.133 --> 00:24:15.669
- Village of nazareth.
- 00:24:15.669 --> 00:24:17.371
- It's a little community in the northern part of israel
- 00:24:17.371 --> 00:24:19.573
- In galilee.
- 00:24:19.573 --> 00:24:20.908
- Jesus was a nazarene.
- 00:24:20.908 --> 00:24:22.610
- Nazarites are a group of people who take a vow.
- 00:24:22.610 --> 00:24:28.315
- A special effort at setting themselves apart for the
- 00:24:28.315 --> 00:24:33.821
- Purposes of the lord.
- 00:24:33.821 --> 00:24:36.290
- They won't eat or drink anything that comes from the vine.
- 00:24:36.290 --> 00:24:39.927
- They won't drink wine, they won't eat a grape, they won't
- 00:24:39.927 --> 00:24:41.996
- Even eat a raisin, and they don't cut their hair.
- 00:24:41.996 --> 00:24:47.801
- Samuel, before he's born, before he's conceived, his mother said,
- 00:24:47.801 --> 00:24:53.574
- "i will rear him as a young man set apart for the purposes
- 00:24:53.574 --> 00:24:58.045
- Of god.
- 00:24:58.045 --> 00:24:59.380
- I will give him to serve the lord."
- 00:24:59.380 --> 00:25:02.116
- Two books in the bible bear the name of samuel.
- 00:25:02.116 --> 00:25:03.984
- He's one of the most--even more so in judaism than christianity.
- 00:25:03.984 --> 00:25:07.121
- He's a very, very significant character, a very pivotal figure
- 00:25:07.121 --> 00:25:12.026
- In the unfolding purposes of god.
- 00:25:12.026 --> 00:25:15.029
- The last of the judges of israel, he anoints the first
- 00:25:15.029 --> 00:25:18.566
- Kings of israel.
- 00:25:18.566 --> 00:25:22.169
- And it all begins, samuel's story begins with a prayer of
- 00:25:22.169 --> 00:25:25.439
- Hannah, his mother, a generational faith, timothy's
- 00:25:25.439 --> 00:25:29.643
- Third generation.
- 00:25:29.643 --> 00:25:31.111
- Paul said, "listen, i know your family."
- 00:25:31.111 --> 00:25:34.181
- I'll give you one more example.
- 00:25:37.851 --> 00:25:39.186
- Hebrews 11 is the hall of fame.
- 00:25:39.186 --> 00:25:42.056
- That's the listing of all these remarkable people of faith and
- 00:25:42.056 --> 00:25:44.325
- What they've accomplished.
- 00:25:44.325 --> 00:25:45.826
- Many of you know that god's identified to us in the opening
- 00:25:45.826 --> 00:25:48.462
- Chapters of the bible as the god of abraham, isaac, and jacob.
- 00:25:48.462 --> 00:25:52.566
- Imagine, you know, we read that kind of casually, like, "oh, so
- 00:25:52.566 --> 00:25:54.868
- What's the big deal?"
- 00:25:54.868 --> 00:25:56.236
- Well, just imagine he was the god of allen,
- 00:25:56.236 --> 00:25:57.571
- And fred, and frank.
- 00:25:57.571 --> 00:25:59.907
- We'd go, "wow, god borrowed us."
- 00:25:59.907 --> 00:26:05.646
- The god of abraham, isaac, and jacob.
- 00:26:05.646 --> 00:26:10.517
- Just take a half a beat and think of the implications.
- 00:26:10.517 --> 00:26:13.654
- It's hebrews 11 in verse 17, "by faith abraham, when god
- 00:26:13.654 --> 00:26:17.958
- Tested him, offered isaac as a sacrifice."
- 00:26:17.958 --> 00:26:22.796
- Abraham didn't have a son.
- 00:26:22.796 --> 00:26:25.065
- God had promised him he would make him into a mighty nation,
- 00:26:25.065 --> 00:26:28.302
- And he didn't have a son.
- 00:26:28.302 --> 00:26:29.637
- Abraham complained bitterly about it.
- 00:26:29.637 --> 00:26:31.005
- He said, "god, you made me this promise and i pushed all the
- 00:26:31.005 --> 00:26:33.040
- Chips into the middle of the table and here i am and
- 00:26:33.040 --> 00:26:35.909
- Everything i have is gonna go to a servant in my house and then
- 00:26:35.909 --> 00:26:38.278
- He finally," sarah conceives and gives birth to isaac.
- 00:26:38.278 --> 00:26:43.651
- And god said, "how about offering him to me?"
- 00:26:43.651 --> 00:26:48.355
- And really inexplicably, abraham says, "all right."
- 00:26:48.355 --> 00:26:52.126
- Allen: through the cross, you and i are given access to all
- 00:26:52.192 --> 00:26:54.995
- The blessings in christ jesus, and through the cross we're
- 00:26:54.995 --> 00:26:59.333
- Delivered from every curse, but we have to receive it.
- 00:26:59.333 --> 00:27:02.469
- We have to come to the cross with our humility and accept
- 00:27:02.469 --> 00:27:06.006
- What god has done for us.
- 00:27:06.006 --> 00:27:07.374
- Let's pray.
- 00:27:07.374 --> 00:27:08.709
- Father, i thank you that through the blood of jesus i have been
- 00:27:08.709 --> 00:27:10.911
- Delivered out of the hand of the enemy.
- 00:27:10.911 --> 00:27:12.980
- And that, in jesus's name, all the promises of god are yay and
- 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:16.283
- Amen to me.
- 00:27:16.283 --> 00:27:17.651
- I receive them, amen.
- 00:27:17.651 --> 00:27:19.019
- ♪♪♪
- 00:27:20.688 --> 00:27:29.029