Allen Jackson - Breakthrough... Immovable Barriers (Part 1)

January 2, 2025 | S25:E2

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... Immovable Barriers (Part 1) | January 2, 2025
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Allen jackson: we're walking through a series
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  • On breakthroughs.
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  • The real goal is to try to understand the components that
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  • Are present when god brings breakthroughs because i'm very
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  • Certain that in all of our lives, there are places where we
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  • Need god's help.
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  • Circumstances or places or relationships or decisions where
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  • The only acceptable outcome will involve the supernatural
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  • Engagement of god.
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  • It's not a matter of effort or thinking or knowledge
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  • Or contacts.
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  • We need god's help.
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  • It's a breakthrough and so, it's worth studying and considering
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  • Biblical patterns so that we might know how to
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  • Align ourselves.
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  • I don't believe god is against us.
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  • I believe he's for us.
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  • And i--but frequently, i believe we have to change in order for
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  • The purposes of god to emerge in our lives.
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  • So, we're on a bit of a learning curve in this season.
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  • We're gonna look at some immovable barriers tonight and
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  • How we can move them.
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  • I know that's a paradox.
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  • If they're immovable, they can't be moved, but god can.
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  • But i wanna start with our little paradigm i've been
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  • Inviting you towards and i'm gonna do it a bit more
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  • Consistently because i think it's necessary, this whole
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  • Notion that we began back in covid.
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  • It seems like at least a lifetime ago now of watch,
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  • Listen, think, and act.
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  • Sometimes it's good news, but when you see the truth presented
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  • Or the wisdom expressed, it puts in stark contrast the
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  • Foolishness that's been present.
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  • And this week, president-elect trump said, i hope you heard,
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  • That if the hostages that were taken by hamas were not released
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  • Prior to his inauguration on january 20th, i quote, "there'll
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  • Be hell to pay."
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  • I think that is a very appropriate statement.
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  • I had a couple of interviews yesterday with friends in israel
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  • And i can tell you the tone in israel changed with
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  • That statement.
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  • But it's not broadly accepted.
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  • There are people that say, you know, "it's insightful rhetoric.
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  • It's ratcheting up the tension."
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  • I'll give you my opinion. it's at least an informed one.
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  • I've lived in the middle east and i've been in and out of
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  • Israel since i was a boy and that's been--it's been at least
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  • A decade.
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  • When the first hostages were taken--when the first american
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  • Hostage was taken, i looked to the president of the united
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  • States to say, "they'll be released tomorrow or we will
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  • Come for you."
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  • Forget the israelis' response.
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  • There'll be no negotiation, there'll be no humanitarian aid.
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  • You turn loose our hostages.
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  • And that's been absent for well over a year and the suffering is
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  • Beyond imagination.
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  • So i thought it was an appropriate statement.
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  • In a season when it's necessary we will have to see what god
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  • Will do with that.
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  • Another expression that i think that surprises me, but i keep
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  • Bumping into it and i'll take just a moment with it.
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  • There's been a conversation in our community for some time now
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  • About appropriate and inappropriate books in our
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  • Children's libraries and i'm continually asked about that.
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  • And the answer that is often given to me or the reason that
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  • People say they remain silent is they don't want to support the
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  • Banning of books.
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  • And i appreciate that perspective.
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  • I think it is misplaced.
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  • There is a handful.
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  • There's 2 or 3 dozen books in the libraries that are
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  • Beyond reprehensible.
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  • I mean they're vile.
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  • They're indefensible to put them in the presence of
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  • Small children.
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  • And i don't understand the conversation to be about banning
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  • Of books at all.
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  • I understand the conversation to be around age
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  • Appropriate learning.
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  • Those books are inappropriate for children of that age.
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  • Certainly beyond parental involvement and supervision.
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  • It's nothing to do with the banning of books.
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  • It's age appropriate learning.
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  • We understand this.
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  • We don't sell cigarettes in elementary schools.
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  • You have to have parental consent if you're under 16 to
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  • Get a tattoo.
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  • And these books are awful.
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  • But i think clarify the conversation, express your
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  • Point, and then there's business that needs to be done if the
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  • People that are serving on the school board are determined to
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  • Keep those books.
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  • Once the case has been made clearly and concisely and
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  • Cogently, then i think they'd have other business to do.
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  • But i think you forfeit your right to lead long term in our
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  • Community if you want that kind of vile and--material in
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  • Our schools.
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  • But i don't think it needs to be the point that chokes every
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  • Meeting from now until.
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  • But you have to be wise enough.
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  • Don't bring lists of 400 books that aren't appropriate for
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  • The library.
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  • And bring the books that aren't your favorite or you don't like
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  • Or have some expression of witchcraft in them.
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  • You're not trying to bring a total worldview change to
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  • The library.
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  • You're saying there are some books that are so inappropriate
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  • They don't belong before small children.
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  • And we've got to be more mature.
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  • More than one person has come to me and said they will ban
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  • The bible.
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  • Okay, tell me who you are that wants to--i wanna know who that
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  • Is that thinks that's a good idea because i wanna remember.
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  • That we're bullied, we're intimidated, we're frightened,
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  • We're reluctant.
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  • I'm not--there's a lot of motivations around it, but don't
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  • Get caught up in the drama and the emotion.
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  • There's a set of those books that are
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  • Completely inappropriate.
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  • Make the presentation, stand up for it, and then let's get on
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  • With the business that we need to make the decisions.
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  • Makes sense?
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  • Watch and listen, pay attention.
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  • I'm tired of the distractions and the subterfuge and the
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  • Fear-based decisions.
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  • Make the right decision in the moment to the best of your
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  • Ability and then we'll make the next right decision when we
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  • Have to.
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  • We can do this.
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  • We get way heated up about washington dc--folks until we
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  • Can bring changes to middle tennessee where we live.
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  • We want somebody to change washington dc.
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  • We don't have the courage to change where we live.
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  • You understand that is backwards, right?
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  • Change the entire federal bureaucracy, but i don't want to
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  • Invest the time and energy to change--
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  • There's the hebrew word "mashuga."
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  • Means you're crazy.
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  • In a god honoring, jesus loving sort of way, so.
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  • All right.
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  • Keep watching and listening and thinking and engaging we're
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  • Gonna make a difference.
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  • God is moving.
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  • We're not doing everything the way it's always been done.
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  • There's change afoot and we're gonna need the wisdom of the
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  • Lord and it's not simple, it's confusing and there are
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  • Professional confusers amongst us.
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  • Tremendous manipulation, deception, lies--rampant and you
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  • Need to know the truth.
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  • You need the scripture, you need to have it in your heart.
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  • You need to know the voice of the holy spirit.
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  • And my topic is "breakthroughs."
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  • We gotta go.
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  • It's the time when god intervenes in our lives.
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  • Acts 9:3, i'm gonna continue to bring you some samples--examples
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  • Of this.
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  • The scripture is filled with these breakthrough moments.
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  • This one happens to be saul of tarsus as he neared damascus.
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  • On his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him
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  • And he fell to the ground and heard a voice say, "saul, why do
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  • You persecute me?"
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  • This is god initiated.
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  • Saul wasn't looking for jesus.
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  • He was looking for jesus's followers and he intended to put
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  • Them in prison.
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  • He had no intention of serving jesus.
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  • And jesus stepped back into time.
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  • The last time we saw jesus was in acts chapter 1 at the
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  • Ascension on the mount of olives.
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  • We have a little window when stephen is martyred and he looks
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  • To heaven and he sees the lord.
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  • When we get to acts chapter 9, jesus is on the road to damascus
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  • Doing an intervention with one saul of tarsus.
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  • "just exactly what is it you think you're doing, young man?"
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  • "well, i'm not sure, lord."
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  • I think we could all agree it was a breakthrough moment in
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  • Saul's life.
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  • We say we want breakthroughs.
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  • It's a complete career change for saul.
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  • Means he's gonna lose his friends.
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  • He's not gonna be trusted by the community of believers because
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  • He's been one of their chief prosecutors.
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  • It guarantees at least a season of isolation.
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  • I mean there's nothing easy about it.
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  • We talk about breakthroughs and we think when breakthroughs
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  • Comes it'll all be easy.
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  • It'll be like everything gets simple and everything that was
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  • Confused will become clear and opposition will melt and--.
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  • That really isn't the biblical pattern typically.
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  • There are some places where that's true.
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  • I've defined breakthroughs rather broadly.
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  • There are those points of deliverance, revelation,
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  • Insight, understanding, redirection.
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  • Those times when god's purposes and plans are initiated in and
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  • Through us, around us.
  • 00:10:49.474 --> 00:10:52.210
  • Brought to completion, revealed, advanced, welcomed, understood.
  • 00:10:52.210 --> 00:10:56.347
  • Our ideal breakthrough.
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  • I think the one that we pray for, that we imagine, that we
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  • Dream about are those points where god intervenes.
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  • He responds with a complete solution and the imagined future
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  • Is delivered whole and intact.
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  • It's like god's showing up at the burning bush in exodus 3 and
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  • Say, "i've come down to deliver my people and i'm gonna take
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  • Them to the promised land.
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  • And if you'll snap your fingers, we'll all be there."
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  • That i believe is our preferred, the ideal breakthrough, right?
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  • I don't want any process.
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  • I'm not really looking for any learning moments.
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  • I want out of pain and into peace now.
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  • I mean, if i have to wait till tomorrow.
  • 00:11:46.998 --> 00:11:50.568
  • But life is seldom ideal and the bible shows us that we are
  • 00:11:50.568 --> 00:11:55.473
  • Frequently delivered out of something, but not brought into
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  • What god has for us immediately.
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  • We're delivered from egyptian slavery, but we're not
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  • Immediately in the promised land.
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  • We've got some steps before we get there.
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  • We're delivered from our murderous rage against christ
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  • Followers, but we don't become an apostle that impacts the
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  • World the next morning.
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  • We're delivered out of something but not always brought
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  • Immediately into something.
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  • We're delivered from something, but typically--frequently our
  • 00:12:21.866 --> 00:12:25.303
  • Adversaries aren't removed.
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  • You see, i think we believe god should deliver us from the
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  • Pressure of the person, whatever, and they should be
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  • Totally humiliated, eradicated, eliminated, neutralized.
  • 00:12:31.709 --> 00:12:37.015
  • And sometimes god delivers you from those things and
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  • They flourish.
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  • And then you have to forgive because you're standing over
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  • There saying, "god bless him with the botch and the itch and
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  • The scab."
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  • Sometimes we need physical healing and god heals us, but he
  • 00:12:56.234 --> 00:13:05.376
  • Actually uses a healthcare professional.
  • 00:13:05.376 --> 00:13:09.013
  • "well, i didn't wanna go to the doctor.
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  • I don't wanna make a co-pay.
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  • I don't wanna meet my deductible.
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  • I don't wanna deal with that.
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  • I wanted god to heal me."
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  • Duly noted.
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  • If you pray then you're better.
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  • There may have many points of contribution, but i believe god
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  • Brought healing.
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  • He is our healer.
  • 00:13:31.502 --> 00:13:33.071
  • I will gladly pay the doctor's bill, but i will very
  • 00:13:33.071 --> 00:13:37.208
  • Purposefully give thanks to the lord that he restores my health.
  • 00:13:37.208 --> 00:13:43.815
  • Or sometimes god brings healing to our lives, but it doesn't
  • 00:13:43.815 --> 00:13:48.052
  • Mean that, you know, we're removed from the arena of aging.
  • 00:13:48.052 --> 00:13:51.890
  • Christians get weird.
  • 00:13:51.890 --> 00:13:55.059
  • It's like we lose our balance.
  • 00:13:55.059 --> 00:13:59.430
  • And when we talk about the supernatural and then we just
  • 00:13:59.430 --> 00:14:02.433
  • Shut down and go, "well i just don't believe in that."
  • 00:14:02.433 --> 00:14:05.236
  • Because we don't want to deal with the messiness of doing life
  • 00:14:05.236 --> 00:14:08.206
  • With people.
  • 00:14:08.206 --> 00:14:09.574
  • We've gotta have the courage to invite the supernatural power
  • 00:14:09.574 --> 00:14:12.310
  • And presence of god into the midst of our lives.
  • 00:14:12.310 --> 00:14:19.851
  • Female announcer: if you look, you'll find good
  • 00:14:23.855 --> 00:14:25.490
  • News everywhere.
  • 00:14:25.490 --> 00:14:27.358
  • Female: our baby was born healthy and strong.
  • 00:14:27.358 --> 00:14:31.229
  • Female: we have the groceries we need.
  • 00:14:31.229 --> 00:14:33.798
  • Male: another year cancer-free.
  • 00:14:33.798 --> 00:14:37.168
  • Female: we bought our first house this year.
  • 00:14:37.168 --> 00:14:41.105
  • Female: the raise came through when i needed it most.
  • 00:14:41.105 --> 00:14:44.742
  • Male: i have a working car.
  • 00:14:44.742 --> 00:14:48.346
  • Female: my husband came home safe.
  • 00:14:48.346 --> 00:14:52.216
  • Female announcer: philippians 4 tells us to, "think about
  • 00:14:52.216 --> 00:14:54.052
  • Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable,
  • 00:14:54.052 --> 00:14:59.657
  • Excellent and praiseworthy."
  • 00:14:59.657 --> 00:15:01.926
  • All of these things honor god and when we take time to notice
  • 00:15:01.926 --> 00:15:05.229
  • Them, we welcome god's presence and experience his peace.
  • 00:15:05.229 --> 00:15:09.100
  • Allen: you know, the two most critical junctures of any
  • 00:15:10.868 --> 00:15:13.404
  • Enterprise are how we begin and how we conclude.
  • 00:15:13.404 --> 00:15:16.841
  • So, the beginning of a new year is a tremendous opportunity.
  • 00:15:16.841 --> 00:15:20.778
  • We've prepared a tool we want to share with you.
  • 00:15:20.778 --> 00:15:22.580
  • It's a good news journal.
  • 00:15:22.580 --> 00:15:24.449
  • We wanna help you set a habit this year to do something with a
  • 00:15:24.449 --> 00:15:28.486
  • Bit more intention than perhaps has been our pattern in
  • 00:15:28.486 --> 00:15:31.456
  • The past.
  • 00:15:31.456 --> 00:15:32.790
  • We wanna start our year with an attitude of appreciation and
  • 00:15:32.790 --> 00:15:35.827
  • Gratitude for the blessings of god in our lives.
  • 00:15:35.827 --> 00:15:39.063
  • So, we've designed this journal so that you can use it as a part
  • 00:15:39.063 --> 00:15:42.066
  • Of your devotional.
  • 00:15:42.066 --> 00:15:43.401
  • It's something you could include the children, the grandchildren.
  • 00:15:43.401 --> 00:15:45.636
  • You could take it to work and create a good news journal for
  • 00:15:45.636 --> 00:15:48.072
  • The people you work with.
  • 00:15:48.072 --> 00:15:49.674
  • Wherever that may be, let's start our year out purposefully,
  • 00:15:49.674 --> 00:15:53.444
  • Intentionally saying, "thank you," to the lord for his
  • 00:15:53.444 --> 00:15:56.447
  • Goodness to us.
  • 00:15:56.447 --> 00:15:57.915
  • I know there's challenges and we have places where we need god's
  • 00:15:57.915 --> 00:16:00.651
  • Help, but we're gonna begin with gratitude and walk into the
  • 00:16:00.651 --> 00:16:04.555
  • Blessings of god in this year.
  • 00:16:04.555 --> 00:16:06.924
  • I think you'll enjoy the journal.
  • 00:16:06.924 --> 00:16:08.659
  • God bless.
  • 00:16:08.659 --> 00:16:09.994
  • Female announcer: when you keep a good news list, you'll notice
  • 00:16:09.994 --> 00:16:12.096
  • How god is constantly at work all around you.
  • 00:16:12.096 --> 00:16:15.366
  • Our new 52-week, good news notebook gives you a place to
  • 00:16:15.366 --> 00:16:19.303
  • Record your good news, prayers you saw god answer, and your
  • 00:16:19.303 --> 00:16:22.907
  • Current prayer requests.
  • 00:16:22.907 --> 00:16:24.675
  • As you look back on your lists over the weeks and months to
  • 00:16:24.675 --> 00:16:27.545
  • Come, you'll find a personal record of god's faithfulness
  • 00:16:27.545 --> 00:16:30.481
  • To you.
  • 00:16:30.481 --> 00:16:31.816
  • Allen: we are trusting god for a year like no other for his
  • 00:16:31.816 --> 00:16:34.218
  • Breakthroughs this year.
  • 00:16:34.218 --> 00:16:35.586
  • I believe the good news journal can be a part of our journey in
  • 00:16:35.586 --> 00:16:38.556
  • Each of our lives.
  • 00:16:38.556 --> 00:16:39.891
  • Female announcer: request your good news notebook when you
  • 00:16:39.891 --> 00:16:41.492
  • Donate $20 or more today at allenjackson.com or by
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  • Calling...
  • 00:16:45.630 --> 00:16:49.500
  • Female announcer: we are committed to helping you grow in
  • 00:16:52.503 --> 00:16:54.038
  • Your faith and have tools for your journey, no matter
  • 00:16:54.038 --> 00:16:56.274
  • Your schedule.
  • 00:16:56.274 --> 00:16:57.608
  • Get daily encouragement and insight with pastor allen's
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  • Daily devotion right in your inbox.
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  • To date with everything happening here with allen
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  • Jackson ministries.
  • 00:17:18.763 --> 00:17:20.364
  • Allen: or sometimes god presents opportunities to us.
  • 00:17:24.235 --> 00:17:26.971
  • They're clearly god opportunities.
  • 00:17:26.971 --> 00:17:29.273
  • God-initiated, circumstances line up.
  • 00:17:29.273 --> 00:17:31.342
  • There's something that presents that is most unlikely and most
  • 00:17:31.342 --> 00:17:33.911
  • Improbable, but in order to accept the opportunity, it will
  • 00:17:33.911 --> 00:17:38.182
  • Require significant investment of energy.
  • 00:17:38.182 --> 00:17:40.585
  • We call that work and often the investment of resources, we call
  • 00:17:40.585 --> 00:17:45.656
  • That spending money.
  • 00:17:45.656 --> 00:17:48.593
  • And i meet people all the time who say, well, you know, "if god
  • 00:17:48.593 --> 00:17:50.661
  • Had done that, it wouldn't have been difficult and he would have
  • 00:17:50.661 --> 00:17:53.664
  • Provided everything."
  • 00:17:53.664 --> 00:17:56.234
  • Well it's a wonderful thought.
  • 00:17:56.234 --> 00:17:57.568
  • It's just not biblical.
  • 00:17:57.568 --> 00:18:01.639
  • I mean, sometimes god will do that, but to demand that god do
  • 00:18:01.639 --> 00:18:05.776
  • That all the time would make him your benevolent uncle.
  • 00:18:05.776 --> 00:18:11.249
  • You'd just be a spoiled kid.
  • 00:18:11.249 --> 00:18:14.719
  • We've had enough of those in the media lately.
  • 00:18:14.719 --> 00:18:22.326
  • I want to look at a breakthrough.
  • 00:18:22.326 --> 00:18:24.795
  • The biblical one.
  • 00:18:24.795 --> 00:18:26.164
  • I didn't take this one from the christmas story.
  • 00:18:26.164 --> 00:18:27.498
  • We'll do several of those characters, but i thought it was
  • 00:18:27.498 --> 00:18:30.034
  • Helpful not to limit it to the holidays.
  • 00:18:30.034 --> 00:18:32.470
  • I want to look at joshua's life.
  • 00:18:32.470 --> 00:18:34.405
  • Joshua begins his life--when we find joshua initially in
  • 00:18:34.405 --> 00:18:37.441
  • Scripture, he's a slave in egypt.
  • 00:18:37.441 --> 00:18:41.279
  • He knows the sting of the whip from the egyptian taskmasters.
  • 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:46.184
  • He knows the humiliation of being a slave.
  • 00:18:46.184 --> 00:18:50.021
  • Joshua was there when moses comes in out of the desert and
  • 00:18:50.021 --> 00:18:53.824
  • Says, "you need to get ready, we're leaving."
  • 00:18:53.824 --> 00:18:56.961
  • He sees all the plagues visited on egypt.
  • 00:18:56.961 --> 00:18:59.163
  • He crosses the red sea.
  • 00:18:59.163 --> 00:19:01.432
  • He sees the egyptians drowned.
  • 00:19:01.432 --> 00:19:02.867
  • He's at marah, in exodus 15, when the bitter water is turned
  • 00:19:02.867 --> 00:19:08.206
  • To sweet.
  • 00:19:08.206 --> 00:19:10.208
  • Joshua is moses's aide de camp.
  • 00:19:10.208 --> 00:19:12.577
  • He becomes his assistant.
  • 00:19:12.577 --> 00:19:15.413
  • So, he spends decades with moses, following
  • 00:19:15.413 --> 00:19:17.782
  • Moses's leadership.
  • 00:19:17.782 --> 00:19:21.018
  • He sees moses when he's been spent so much time in the
  • 00:19:21.018 --> 00:19:23.421
  • Presence of god that he has to put a veil over his face because
  • 00:19:23.421 --> 00:19:26.524
  • There's a glow.
  • 00:19:26.524 --> 00:19:28.993
  • He knows moses when he goes up the mountain and comes back with
  • 00:19:28.993 --> 00:19:31.295
  • 10 commandments.
  • 00:19:31.295 --> 00:19:33.631
  • I mean, he's had a front row seat for one of the most
  • 00:19:33.631 --> 00:19:35.833
  • Remarkable leaders in all of the presentation of scripture.
  • 00:19:35.833 --> 00:19:40.638
  • But moses is unable to take the exodus generation into the
  • 00:19:40.638 --> 00:19:45.843
  • Promised land.
  • 00:19:45.843 --> 00:19:47.945
  • And so, at the end of moses's life, joshua is the next man up.
  • 00:19:47.945 --> 00:19:52.550
  • It's one of the more difficult job descriptions in the bible.
  • 00:19:52.550 --> 00:19:55.720
  • "i want you to do what moses couldn't do."
  • 00:19:55.720 --> 00:19:58.256
  • "oh sure."
  • 00:19:58.256 --> 00:20:01.692
  • And i want to look at a bit of that.
  • 00:20:01.692 --> 00:20:03.794
  • Deuteronomy 31:23, "the lord gave this command to joshua the
  • 00:20:03.794 --> 00:20:07.198
  • Son of nun."
  • 00:20:07.198 --> 00:20:09.734
  • You know, there's 2 people in the bible that were born without
  • 00:20:09.734 --> 00:20:14.438
  • The father.
  • 00:20:14.438 --> 00:20:16.173
  • Jesus, you know, it's christmas time.
  • 00:20:16.173 --> 00:20:17.508
  • You know the other one?
  • 00:20:17.508 --> 00:20:20.311
  • It's joshua.
  • 00:20:20.311 --> 00:20:21.646
  • He's the son of nun.
  • 00:20:21.646 --> 00:20:28.753
  • I didn't go to comedy school.
  • 00:20:28.753 --> 00:20:30.388
  • I went to seminary, okay?
  • 00:20:30.388 --> 00:20:31.922
  • So, "joshua the son of nun: 'be strong and courageous, for you
  • 00:20:31.922 --> 00:20:36.727
  • Will bring the israelites into the land i promised them on
  • 00:20:36.727 --> 00:20:38.996
  • Oath, and i myself will be with you."'
  • 00:20:38.996 --> 00:20:42.533
  • It's an interesting passage in all seriousness, the way
  • 00:20:42.533 --> 00:20:45.169
  • It's stated.
  • 00:20:45.169 --> 00:20:46.537
  • God says, "i myself will do it."
  • 00:20:46.537 --> 00:20:48.939
  • There's a--it's an emphatic way of making a point.
  • 00:20:48.939 --> 00:20:52.710
  • Someone says, you know, "did you lock the door at the house?"
  • 00:20:52.710 --> 00:20:57.081
  • "i did."
  • 00:20:57.081 --> 00:20:58.416
  • "are you sure?"
  • 00:20:58.416 --> 00:20:59.784
  • "yeah."
  • 00:20:59.784 --> 00:21:01.118
  • "are you positive?"
  • 00:21:01.118 --> 00:21:02.486
  • "i did it myself.
  • 00:21:02.486 --> 00:21:03.821
  • I didn't delegate it.
  • 00:21:03.821 --> 00:21:05.823
  • It wasn't done digitally.
  • 00:21:05.823 --> 00:21:07.291
  • I did it myself."
  • 00:21:07.291 --> 00:21:09.827
  • And the message that god gives to joshua is, "i myself will be
  • 00:21:09.827 --> 00:21:14.332
  • With you."
  • 00:21:14.332 --> 00:21:16.901
  • Now as wonderful as that is, "i would submit to you," it's not
  • 00:21:16.901 --> 00:21:19.804
  • The answer i would have preferred had i been joshua.
  • 00:21:19.804 --> 00:21:25.142
  • I would have preferred god to say, "i will do it myself."
  • 00:21:25.142 --> 00:21:32.583
  • Remember the line we've looked at it with moses quite a bit in
  • 00:21:32.583 --> 00:21:34.652
  • Exodus 3 where god said, "i've heard the cries of my people,
  • 00:21:34.652 --> 00:21:37.922
  • I've seen their suffering and i've come down to deliver them."
  • 00:21:37.922 --> 00:21:42.693
  • And up until that point, moses is like, "yes."
  • 00:21:42.693 --> 00:21:45.463
  • And then god pivots and he says, "go, now i'm sending you."
  • 00:21:45.463 --> 00:21:49.734
  • And that's when the debate breaks out.
  • 00:21:49.734 --> 00:21:52.103
  • That's when the debate breaks out for all of us.
  • 00:21:52.103 --> 00:21:54.972
  • And when god is commissioning joshua in this passage, it said
  • 00:21:54.972 --> 00:21:58.409
  • The lord gave joshua this command to be strong and
  • 00:21:58.409 --> 00:22:01.412
  • Courageous, "you will bring the israelites into the land i
  • 00:22:01.412 --> 00:22:05.015
  • Promised them, and i myself will be with you."
  • 00:22:05.015 --> 00:22:11.989
  • Well i mean, it's good news, kinda.
  • 00:22:11.989 --> 00:22:16.994
  • I mean, god is emphatically asserting joshua, "you're not
  • 00:22:16.994 --> 00:22:21.265
  • Going alone.
  • 00:22:21.265 --> 00:22:22.600
  • I will be with you."
  • 00:22:22.600 --> 00:22:24.735
  • But he's also saying to joshua, "you bring these people in."
  • 00:22:24.735 --> 00:22:31.308
  • I think it's a very poignant moment for us.
  • 00:22:31.308 --> 00:22:34.211
  • Many of us have been praying for change in moral behaviors and
  • 00:22:34.211 --> 00:22:37.882
  • Trends and attitudes in education and what's being
  • 00:22:37.882 --> 00:22:41.352
  • Taught to our children and how we're being led and how marriage
  • 00:22:41.352 --> 00:22:44.522
  • Is defined and human sexuality and all these things and we want
  • 00:22:44.522 --> 00:22:48.492
  • Somebody somewhere to do something.
  • 00:22:48.492 --> 00:22:52.530
  • And i believe god is still in the business of saying, "i'm
  • 00:22:52.530 --> 00:22:56.133
  • Sending you.
  • 00:22:56.133 --> 00:22:58.002
  • Oh no, wait a minute.
  • 00:22:58.002 --> 00:22:59.904
  • I'll be with you.
  • 00:22:59.904 --> 00:23:02.540
  • But i need you to do something."
  • 00:23:02.540 --> 00:23:05.075
  • Are you willing?
  • 00:23:05.075 --> 00:23:07.278
  • I think it's a component of breakthroughs.
  • 00:23:07.278 --> 00:23:10.581
  • Joshua chapter 1, joshua was getting his instructions again,
  • 00:23:10.581 --> 00:23:16.720
  • "be strong and courageous, because you will lead these
  • 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:18.889
  • People to inherit the land i swore to their forefathers to
  • 00:23:18.889 --> 00:23:21.492
  • Give them.
  • 00:23:21.492 --> 00:23:22.860
  • 'be strong and very courageous.
  • 00:23:22.860 --> 00:23:24.428
  • Be careful to obey all the law my servant moses gave you; don't
  • 00:23:24.428 --> 00:23:27.565
  • Turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be
  • 00:23:27.565 --> 00:23:29.800
  • Successful wherever you go.
  • 00:23:29.800 --> 00:23:31.669
  • Don't let this book of the law depart from your mouth; meditate
  • 00:23:31.669 --> 00:23:34.171
  • On it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything
  • 00:23:34.171 --> 00:23:36.841
  • Written in it.
  • 00:23:36.841 --> 00:23:38.175
  • Then you'll be prosperous and successful.
  • 00:23:38.175 --> 00:23:40.411
  • Have i not commanded you?
  • 00:23:40.411 --> 00:23:41.912
  • Be strong and courageous."'
  • 00:23:41.912 --> 00:23:44.515
  • If you're counting, that's the 3rd time in this passage.
  • 00:23:44.515 --> 00:23:48.652
  • The message is given to joshua over half a dozen times.
  • 00:23:48.652 --> 00:23:52.890
  • Be strong and courageous.
  • 00:23:52.890 --> 00:23:54.258
  • You know enough about biblical interpretation.
  • 00:23:54.258 --> 00:23:56.026
  • If god says to you, "be strong and courageous," how do
  • 00:23:56.026 --> 00:23:58.462
  • You feel?
  • 00:23:58.462 --> 00:24:01.432
  • Weak, inadequate, and frightened.
  • 00:24:01.432 --> 00:24:05.202
  • If you were filled with confidence, god wouldn't say be
  • 00:24:05.202 --> 00:24:08.339
  • Strong and courageous.
  • 00:24:08.339 --> 00:24:11.108
  • If you're filled with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy
  • 00:24:11.108 --> 00:24:15.713
  • And you're frightened, god will say, "you're gonna need to be
  • 00:24:15.713 --> 00:24:17.882
  • Strong and courageous."
  • 00:24:17.882 --> 00:24:21.585
  • "don't be terrified; don't be discouraged," "joshua, you
  • 00:24:21.585 --> 00:24:26.156
  • Look terrified.
  • 00:24:26.156 --> 00:24:29.026
  • You're a mess, son.
  • 00:24:29.026 --> 00:24:30.361
  • Are you discouraged?
  • 00:24:30.361 --> 00:24:31.729
  • Don't be discouraged."
  • 00:24:31.729 --> 00:24:33.531
  • "for the lord your god will be with you wherever you go."
  • 00:24:33.531 --> 00:24:36.834
  • He's already said it, "i myself will be with you."
  • 00:24:36.834 --> 00:24:40.538
  • It has to be restated, reasserted.
  • 00:24:40.538 --> 00:24:43.374
  • Difficult assignments are not picked up glibly.
  • 00:24:43.374 --> 00:24:49.813
  • Christians, we should work to bring better alignment to how we
  • 00:24:49.813 --> 00:24:54.785
  • Share our stories because when we walk through difficult places
  • 00:24:54.785 --> 00:24:58.956
  • And we take those first steps of cooperating with the lord, in my
  • 00:24:58.956 --> 00:25:03.260
  • Life, i haven't usually taken them with great confidence and
  • 00:25:03.260 --> 00:25:05.996
  • Glee and shouts of joy.
  • 00:25:05.996 --> 00:25:09.934
  • I've taken them rather hesitantly.
  • 00:25:09.934 --> 00:25:13.971
  • I said, "lord, i wanna follow you, but this seems like a hard
  • 00:25:13.971 --> 00:25:18.676
  • Way to go."
  • 00:25:18.676 --> 00:25:23.047
  • God makes a series of statements to joshua.
  • 00:25:23.047 --> 00:25:25.049
  • He said, "you'll lead these people."
  • 00:25:25.049 --> 00:25:27.351
  • And then he tells him there's some things he's gonna have to
  • 00:25:27.351 --> 00:25:29.320
  • Do, "you're gonna have to be strong and very courageous."
  • 00:25:29.320 --> 00:25:32.623
  • Are you ready for that?
  • 00:25:32.623 --> 00:25:34.525
  • Are you ready to have to demonstrate strength and great
  • 00:25:34.525 --> 00:25:37.561
  • Courage for the purposes of god to break forth in
  • 00:25:37.561 --> 00:25:40.064
  • Our generation?
  • 00:25:40.064 --> 00:25:42.232
  • We want other people to be courageous.
  • 00:25:42.232 --> 00:25:45.069
  • We want other people to step up.
  • 00:25:45.069 --> 00:25:48.439
  • We've been saying for a long time now.
  • 00:25:48.439 --> 00:25:49.974
  • This has to start at our kitchen tables and our holiday tables
  • 00:25:49.974 --> 00:25:53.243
  • And then with the tables where we gather with our peer groups
  • 00:25:53.243 --> 00:25:55.646
  • And our friends.
  • 00:25:55.646 --> 00:25:57.548
  • Option 2, we're willing to tell the truth in those
  • 00:25:57.548 --> 00:25:59.683
  • Expanding circles.
  • 00:25:59.683 --> 00:26:01.385
  • Why should you expect somebody else to speak the truth in a
  • 00:26:01.385 --> 00:26:03.921
  • Broader way?
  • 00:26:03.921 --> 00:26:06.190
  • If we hide from the conflict, the disruption, the awkwardness
  • 00:26:06.190 --> 00:26:09.693
  • Of telling the truth to the people that we're doing life
  • 00:26:09.693 --> 00:26:12.162
  • With, why should we imagine someone should go bear the
  • 00:26:12.162 --> 00:26:16.100
  • Weight of telling the truth in a broader way?
  • 00:26:16.100 --> 00:26:20.504
  • Be strong and courageous.
  • 00:26:20.504 --> 00:26:23.240
  • "be careful to obey all the law.
  • 00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:26.276
  • Don't let this book of the law depart from your mouth; meditate
  • 00:26:26.276 --> 00:26:29.947
  • On it day and night.
  • 00:26:29.947 --> 00:26:32.316
  • Do not be terrified."
  • 00:26:32.316 --> 00:26:34.551
  • There's a theme, do not be discouraged.
  • 00:26:34.551 --> 00:26:38.555
  • Allen: i want to take a minute to pray before we go.
  • 00:26:38.622 --> 00:26:40.824
  • Father, i thank you that you love us.
  • 00:26:40.824 --> 00:26:43.193
  • I thank you that you, that in your great mercy and compassion,
  • 00:26:43.193 --> 00:26:46.196
  • You have made a way for us to be at peace with the creator of
  • 00:26:46.196 --> 00:26:49.500
  • All things.
  • 00:26:49.500 --> 00:26:50.868
  • That you're not angry with us, that you are not resentful of
  • 00:26:50.868 --> 00:26:54.538
  • Us, that you have welcomed us into your kingdom and made peace
  • 00:26:54.538 --> 00:26:57.508
  • With us through jesus christ.
  • 00:26:57.508 --> 00:26:59.843
  • I thank you for that today.
  • 00:26:59.843 --> 00:27:01.211
  • Nothing's hidden from you, no part of our past, no thought
  • 00:27:01.211 --> 00:27:04.014
  • Within us, and yet you love us.
  • 00:27:04.014 --> 00:27:06.483
  • May that love grow in us every day and bring a boldness and a
  • 00:27:06.483 --> 00:27:09.620
  • Courage within us to face the challenges before us, in jesus
  • 00:27:09.620 --> 00:27:13.857
  • Name, amen.
  • 00:27:13.857 --> 00:27:15.292
  • God bless you.
  • 00:27:15.292 --> 00:27:16.627
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:16.627 --> 00:27:29.173