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... Looting America (Part 2) | January 1, 2025
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- Allen jackson: i wanna give you some examples of how i imagine
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- America is being looted today.
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- One, is they're looting our heritage.
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- America is the greatest experiment in self-government
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- Our world has ever seen.
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- That's the truth.
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- We are bound together not by ethnicity, race, or some
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- Tribal loyalty.
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- We've been united by a worldview, a faith in the god of
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- Abraham, isaac, and jacob.
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- That's been our story since the founding of this nation.
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- We have never been a uniquely christian nation, we have always
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- Been a very diverse nation.
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- Which means everyone doesn't believe the same thing in the
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- Same way or worship in the same way.
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- But we have agreed upon a set of values, a worldview which, oh,
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- By the way, were derived from the scripture.
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- Principles like the sanctity of human life.
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- The very young and the very old, that every life had a dignity.
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- The biblical language for it is we're the image bearers of god.
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- Statesmanship.
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- Once upon a time, that idea flourished amongst us.
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- That we would select people to lead, give them positions of
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- Authority, and imagine they would make decisions that were
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- In the good of the people.
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- The best interest of the nation, that seems bizarre in our
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- Current landscape.
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- We've been looted to the point that we have lost the
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- Imagination of good character.
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- The good of country over personal gain seems quaint.
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- Polling in the political arena has replaced
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- Principled leadership.
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- How about doing the right thing even when it's not popular?
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- [congregation applauding]
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- Allen: another expression of looting has been the intentional
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- Marginalization of a biblical worldview.
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- The removal of the christian faith from public life in the
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- Corporate setting, in academic world, in government settings.
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- We've been told consistently now for decades, our faith really
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- Wasn't appropriate in those settings.
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- Don't bring your prayers, don't bring your bible, don't
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- Bring jesus.
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- He's not appropriate here.
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- We don't want anything that could bring disruption.
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- And then we watch in all of those settings, corporate
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- Settings, government settings, academic settings, then they
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- Bring a worldview and a set of values that brings tremendous
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- Dissension and they say, "shut up!
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- And accept it."
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- Looting.
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- We find within the church tremendous apostasy and
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- Unwillingness to acknowledge the truth.
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- There's an assault from without.
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- Marxism, on the rise in this culture, in our academic
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- Institutions, in our political discussions.
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- It's a better description of our current way of life than almost
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- Anything i can imagine.
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- It requires the diminishment of faith.
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- This isn't a mystery.
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- Marxism has been on display for more than a century around the
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- Globe, and everywhere it's come and gained authority, one of the
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- First actions it takes is to almost totally eliminate
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- Expressions of faith like this.
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- We can't be silent while the looting continues.
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- Another expression of looting, i believe, is the refusal to use
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- Our american energy sources.
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- We have the most abundant energy reserves of any nation in the
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- World and yet we send billions of dollars to other nations to
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- Purchase energy while we deprive us companies and citizens of the
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- Revenue and the jobs.
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- It's looting.
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- Terrorism is another expression of looting.
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- Targeting civilians and acts of violence and war.
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- It's become so commonplace we're numb to it.
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- It's not new, folks, i'm not talking about some
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- Current administration.
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- If you think this is political, breathe, and watch and listen
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- A bit.
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- 9/11.
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- Airplanes used as weapons to target innocent civilians.
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- Terrorism has changed the way we live.
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- Some of you are old enough to remember going to the airport
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- And getting on an airplane without security.
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- Without a metal detector, or a search of your bags, or taking
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- Off your shoes, you just like walked through the gate.
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- And it was safe.
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- The terrorism is not exclusively the muslim issue, but it is
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- Predominantly fueled from the islamic community.
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- We're not allowed to say that, it isn't politically correct.
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- Trillions of dollars have been spent.
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- We're being looted.
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- The blood and the treasure spent in response to terrorist acts is
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- Almost beyond imagination.
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- We're being looted by illegal immigrants, not the individuals,
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- But the process.
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- American taxpayers shelled out last year in 2023 alone, more
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- Than $150 billion in care for illegal immigrants.
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- $150 billion spent for people that weren't invited here, that
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- Came here breaking our laws.
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- Ignoring the legal process of immigration.
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- Billions of dollars that we didn't spend on our schools or
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- Our universities.
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- We're a nation of immigrants.
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- I'm not anti-immigrant, i'm anti-illegal.
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- Sanctuary cities are looting us.
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- We've tolerated for decades this high-minded, arrogant, pompous
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- Attitude where we see some of our most celebrated cities and
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- Most arrogant leaders declare themselves sanctuaries.
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- Understand what they're saying.
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- They are not going to abide by federal laws.
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- But you'll note they demand federal resources.
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- If they wanna be a sanctuary from one, they should be a
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- Sanctuary from the other.
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- I believe our military as a social experiment, is a looting
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- Of our nation.
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- As i understand the goal of our military, it's to defend our
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- Country and defeat our enemies hard stop.
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- The military is not intended to be a social experiment, and yet
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- We find that these days totally preoccupied with nonsense
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- Like dei.
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- It's a looting of our nation of our finest young men and women,
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- They're made vulnerable.
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- We are all made vulnerable.
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- The military should not be some grand experiment in lgbtqi2,
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- Whatever the new number is.
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- And remember the principles, the looting is incremental.
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- It begins in small ways, it grows.
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- God's waiting to see if his people will cry out, if they
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- Will change, if they'll reorient themselves.
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- You see, we have wrongly imagined if we could benefit
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- From the looting if we could share in a little bit of the
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- Loot, we just wouldn't say anything.
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- If we said something, we might forfeit an opportunity, we might
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- Lose some revenue, we might face some pressure.
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- So, we've watched the looting take place and we said, "well,
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- That's not really my problem."
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- It is our problem.
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- It's not a political problem.
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- We have cowered in our churches and say, "we don't talk about
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- Current events because that's political."
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- It's cowardice.
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- We're salt and light.
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- We need to turn up the light so what's happening in the darkness
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- Won't be so shameful.
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- Our health care is being looted.
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- Doctor's focus has been turned away from caring for patients.
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- They've been required to focus on government regulations, legal
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- Threats, a whole host of things that impede them from doing what
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- They were trained to do and what the majority of them raised
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- Their hands to do, and that was to help people.
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- Government and corporate entities greedily harvest
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- Profits and healthcare providers are seen as cogs in another
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- Profit-driven enterprise.
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- It's looting.
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- Hospitalists have replaced personal physicians.
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- Protocol has triumphed over common sense.
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- And we all suffer for it.
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- The people working in the system and the people supposed to
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- Benefit from the system, it's looting.
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- Defund the police is a looting of our security.
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- Our safety is being looted by anarchists disguised as
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- Social reformers.
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- We better wake up.
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- The ultimate outcome of the looting?
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- I gave you a list.
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- It's not intended to be inclusive, but it is something
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- Of a summary statement.
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- If we don't have a change of heart, folks, i'm not talking
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- About a political change.
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- I'm grateful for elections, one of the most remarkable things
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- I've seen happened in november.
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- It wasn't about campaigns.
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- It wasn't about debates or opportunities seized or missed.
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- I saw millions and millions of americans in the heartland of
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- Our nation--fly-over country, despicable people.
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- I saw them make a sacrifice to raise their hands and say, "we
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- Don't think we're going in the right direction."
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- It--you say, "well, that's obvious."
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- No, it hasn't been obvious.
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- We didn't see it in 2022.
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- We didn't see--there have been a lot of times it wasn't there.
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- Only god could have stirred our hearts.
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- But now we, the people, have to begin to say to the lord, "we'll
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- Be different.
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- I wanna get to that next."
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- Here's the outcomes, if this looting is unchecked, i assure
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- You this is our future.
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- And understand, you think, "well, i may be in a season in
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- My life where it won't affect me greatly," and you could be right
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- On that.
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- But it will affect your children and your grandchildren.
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- If you care about them, you better do more than provide a
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- Vacation or a holiday meal.
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- You better make the spiritual changes that give them a
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- Better future.
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- If we hide from the realities that are taking place around us,
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- Our children and grandchildren will look back at us and say,
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- "it was our lascivious lives, it was our ungodly lives that
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- Brought the judgment upon them because we walked through the
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- Incremental warnings and refused to change."
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- Female announcer: if you look, you'll find good
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- News everywhere.
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- Female: our baby was born healthy and strong.
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- Female: we have the groceries we need.
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- Male: another year cancer-free.
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- Female: we bought our first house this year.
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- Female: the raise came through when i needed it most.
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- Male: i have a working car.
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- Female: my husband came home safe.
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- Female announcer: philippians 4 tells us to, "think about
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- Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable,
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- Excellent and praiseworthy."
- 00:11:34.319 --> 00:11:36.588
- All of these things honor god and when we take time to notice
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- Them, we welcome god's presence and experience his peace.
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- Allen: you know, the two most critical junctures of any
- 00:11:45.530 --> 00:11:48.066
- Enterprise are how we begin and how we conclude.
- 00:11:48.066 --> 00:11:51.503
- So, the beginning of a new year is a tremendous opportunity.
- 00:11:51.503 --> 00:11:55.440
- We've prepared a tool we want to share with you.
- 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:57.242
- It's a good news journal.
- 00:11:57.242 --> 00:11:59.110
- We wanna help you set a habit this year to do something with a
- 00:11:59.110 --> 00:12:03.148
- Bit more intention than perhaps has been our pattern in
- 00:12:03.148 --> 00:12:06.117
- The past.
- 00:12:06.117 --> 00:12:07.452
- We wanna start our year with an attitude of appreciation and
- 00:12:07.452 --> 00:12:10.488
- Gratitude for the blessings of god in our lives.
- 00:12:10.488 --> 00:12:13.725
- So, we've designed this journal so that you can use it as a part
- 00:12:13.725 --> 00:12:16.728
- Of your devotional.
- 00:12:16.728 --> 00:12:18.062
- It's something you could include the children, the grandchildren.
- 00:12:18.062 --> 00:12:20.298
- You could take it to work and create a good news journal for
- 00:12:20.298 --> 00:12:22.734
- The people you work with.
- 00:12:22.734 --> 00:12:24.335
- Wherever that may be, let's start our year out purposefully,
- 00:12:24.335 --> 00:12:28.106
- Intentionally saying, "thank you," to the lord for his
- 00:12:28.106 --> 00:12:31.109
- Goodness to us.
- 00:12:31.109 --> 00:12:32.577
- I know there's challenges and we have places where we need god's
- 00:12:32.577 --> 00:12:35.313
- Help, but we're gonna begin with gratitude and walk into the
- 00:12:35.313 --> 00:12:39.217
- Blessings of god in this year.
- 00:12:39.217 --> 00:12:41.586
- I think you'll enjoy the journal.
- 00:12:41.586 --> 00:12:43.321
- God bless.
- 00:12:43.321 --> 00:12:44.656
- Female announcer: when you keep a good news list, you'll notice
- 00:12:44.656 --> 00:12:46.758
- How god is constantly at work all around you.
- 00:12:46.758 --> 00:12:50.028
- Our new 52-week, good news notebook gives you a place to
- 00:12:50.028 --> 00:12:53.965
- Record your good news, prayers you saw god answer, and your
- 00:12:53.965 --> 00:12:57.569
- Current prayer requests.
- 00:12:57.569 --> 00:12:59.337
- As you look back on your lists over the weeks and months to
- 00:12:59.337 --> 00:13:02.207
- Come, you'll find a personal record of god's faithfulness
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- To you.
- 00:13:05.143 --> 00:13:06.477
- Allen: we are trusting god for a year like no other for his
- 00:13:06.477 --> 00:13:08.880
- Breakthroughs this year.
- 00:13:08.880 --> 00:13:10.248
- I believe the good news journal can be a part of our journey in
- 00:13:10.248 --> 00:13:13.218
- Each of our lives.
- 00:13:13.218 --> 00:13:14.552
- Female announcer: request your good news notebook when you
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- Donate $20 or more today at allenjackson.com or by
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- To date with everything happening here with allen
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- Jackson ministries.
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- Allen: honestly, i think we're at a pivot point.
- 00:13:57.762 --> 00:13:59.998
- I don't think we've got two decades to sort this out.
- 00:13:59.998 --> 00:14:04.435
- I think the babylonians are at the gate.
- 00:14:04.435 --> 00:14:08.206
- We can choose the lord with a new heart and then experience
- 00:14:08.206 --> 00:14:10.842
- Freedom or we can continue to imagine we're capable of solving
- 00:14:10.842 --> 00:14:13.578
- Our own problems and we'll face even greater expressions of
- 00:14:13.578 --> 00:14:16.781
- God's judgment.
- 00:14:16.781 --> 00:14:19.050
- I brought you two passages.
- 00:14:19.050 --> 00:14:20.385
- Isaiah 1, says, "come, let's reason together.
- 00:14:20.385 --> 00:14:22.854
- Though your sins are like scarlet, they'll be as white as
- 00:14:22.854 --> 00:14:25.223
- Snow; and though they're as red as crimson, they'll be
- 00:14:25.223 --> 00:14:27.091
- Like wool.
- 00:14:27.091 --> 00:14:28.459
- If you're willing and obedient, you'll eat the best from the
- 00:14:28.459 --> 00:14:30.461
- Land; but if you resist and rebel, you'll be devoured."
- 00:14:30.461 --> 00:14:35.400
- Isaiah issued those words.
- 00:14:35.400 --> 00:14:36.801
- They didn't happen in isaiah's lifetime.
- 00:14:36.801 --> 00:14:39.871
- He saw enemies turned around at the walls of jerusalem.
- 00:14:39.871 --> 00:14:45.410
- He was speaking to the looting of his people, the incremental
- 00:14:45.410 --> 00:14:49.047
- Decline of the people.
- 00:14:49.047 --> 00:14:52.083
- And they didn't listen.
- 00:14:52.083 --> 00:14:54.385
- Then they lost everything.
- 00:14:54.385 --> 00:14:56.821
- My concern for us is we'll think we've got enough.
- 00:14:56.821 --> 00:15:00.725
- We've stored up enough, we've saved enough, we're far enough
- 00:15:00.725 --> 00:15:05.430
- Along in our journey.
- 00:15:05.430 --> 00:15:07.732
- It's not my problem.
- 00:15:07.732 --> 00:15:10.969
- When in reality, it's those of us with enough experience to
- 00:15:10.969 --> 00:15:14.472
- Recognize the change.
- 00:15:14.472 --> 00:15:15.807
- The younger people don't even know they're being looted.
- 00:15:15.807 --> 00:15:19.110
- They don't remember the temple when it had gold shields.
- 00:15:19.110 --> 00:15:23.681
- They don't remember the public square when our faith was
- 00:15:23.681 --> 00:15:26.851
- Welcomed there.
- 00:15:26.851 --> 00:15:28.219
- They don't remember education when it was different.
- 00:15:28.219 --> 00:15:30.021
- They don't remember health care when it looked differently.
- 00:15:30.021 --> 00:15:35.293
- We have to use our voices.
- 00:15:35.293 --> 00:15:38.029
- James gives us, i believe, the solution.
- 00:15:38.029 --> 00:15:42.166
- "you adulterous people," he's--james's writing
- 00:15:42.166 --> 00:15:45.269
- To christians.
- 00:15:45.269 --> 00:15:47.438
- "you adulterous people, don't you know."
- 00:15:47.438 --> 00:15:52.110
- Anytime the bible says, "don't you know," what do you know?
- 00:15:52.110 --> 00:15:56.114
- That the author imagines they don't know.
- 00:15:56.114 --> 00:15:59.417
- "don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred
- 00:15:59.417 --> 00:16:02.820
- Toward god?
- 00:16:02.820 --> 00:16:04.489
- Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an
- 00:16:04.489 --> 00:16:06.858
- Enemy of god."
- 00:16:06.858 --> 00:16:08.259
- In the new testament, when he uses the word world, it talks
- 00:16:08.259 --> 00:16:10.661
- About the prevailing order, the systems in place.
- 00:16:10.661 --> 00:16:15.500
- He said, "to love the systems of the present age makes you an
- 00:16:15.500 --> 00:16:19.537
- Enemy of god."
- 00:16:19.537 --> 00:16:20.905
- We're called to be different, not weird because of
- 00:16:20.905 --> 00:16:22.874
- Our wardrobe.
- 00:16:22.874 --> 00:16:25.043
- Not weird because you're weird.
- 00:16:25.043 --> 00:16:28.479
- Weird because you choose godliness, biblical values.
- 00:16:28.479 --> 00:16:32.617
- Those will make you different today, they'll make you weird in
- 00:16:32.617 --> 00:16:34.786
- This world.
- 00:16:34.786 --> 00:16:38.089
- Look at verse 7, he gives us the solution.
- 00:16:38.089 --> 00:16:40.291
- "submit yourselves, then, to god."
- 00:16:40.291 --> 00:16:43.661
- That's the first step.
- 00:16:43.661 --> 00:16:45.063
- Submit yourself to god.
- 00:16:45.063 --> 00:16:46.397
- Boy, submit is not a good word.
- 00:16:46.397 --> 00:16:49.033
- One of the challenges we have--i read an article in the last
- 00:16:49.033 --> 00:16:52.403
- Couple of days where one of the most celebrated scientists in
- 00:16:52.403 --> 00:16:54.806
- The world, his solution to gender problems in sports was he
- 00:16:54.806 --> 00:16:59.077
- Said, "let's stop competing as men and women, let's measure
- 00:16:59.077 --> 00:17:01.913
- Hormone levels."
- 00:17:01.913 --> 00:17:06.484
- You know how we got in such a messed up place?
- 00:17:06.484 --> 00:17:09.654
- 'cause several decades ago the church stopped talking about
- 00:17:09.654 --> 00:17:12.290
- Biblical roles for men and women.
- 00:17:12.290 --> 00:17:15.259
- We didn't have the courage to talk about it.
- 00:17:15.259 --> 00:17:18.129
- 'cause there was words like submit, and we weren't about to
- 00:17:18.129 --> 00:17:20.264
- Say that in public.
- 00:17:20.264 --> 00:17:23.034
- Well, before you get into gender roles, you see the capitulation
- 00:17:23.034 --> 00:17:26.003
- Of the church has put us in a place now where we're in the
- 00:17:26.003 --> 00:17:28.873
- Land of the absurd.
- 00:17:28.873 --> 00:17:30.775
- We act like biological sex is confusing.
- 00:17:30.775 --> 00:17:33.277
- Folks, i grew up in a barn, it isn't confusing.
- 00:17:33.277 --> 00:17:41.352
- Submit to god.
- 00:17:41.352 --> 00:17:42.954
- Don't--not go to church, not say the sinner's prayer, not get
- 00:17:42.954 --> 00:17:46.858
- Baptized, not be polite, not limit your profanity, not don't
- 00:17:46.858 --> 00:17:53.364
- Be drunk in public.
- 00:17:53.364 --> 00:17:55.666
- Submit to god.
- 00:17:55.666 --> 00:17:58.069
- Bend your knee to god.
- 00:17:58.069 --> 00:18:01.706
- The only way we can participate in his kingdom is not attending
- 00:18:01.706 --> 00:18:06.344
- Church or embracing some heightened morality.
- 00:18:06.344 --> 00:18:09.413
- We gotta bend our knee to god.
- 00:18:09.413 --> 00:18:12.817
- And say, "i will submit to you my time, my resources,
- 00:18:12.817 --> 00:18:17.989
- My future.
- 00:18:17.989 --> 00:18:19.390
- I don't want you to help me get my way, i want your will to be
- 00:18:19.390 --> 00:18:23.961
- Done on earth as it is in heaven."
- 00:18:23.961 --> 00:18:26.731
- Oh, that sounds like a prayer we were taught.
- 00:18:26.731 --> 00:18:32.003
- James says, "submit to god."
- 00:18:32.003 --> 00:18:33.404
- Look at the next phrase.
- 00:18:33.404 --> 00:18:35.106
- He said, "resist the devil."
- 00:18:35.106 --> 00:18:38.342
- Now, that we get a little more traction.
- 00:18:38.342 --> 00:18:39.677
- I get a little more applause around that in presentations,
- 00:18:39.677 --> 00:18:43.247
- But it's nonsense to think you can resist the devil until
- 00:18:43.247 --> 00:18:46.484
- You've submitted to god.
- 00:18:46.484 --> 00:18:48.986
- The authority you have to resist the devil emerges from
- 00:18:48.986 --> 00:18:52.056
- Submitting to god.
- 00:18:52.056 --> 00:18:53.524
- But then we don't just resist the devil in our own
- 00:18:53.524 --> 00:18:55.593
- Thought life.
- 00:18:55.593 --> 00:18:56.928
- We don't just resist the devil in our own personal temptations,
- 00:18:56.928 --> 00:19:00.198
- We stand against the purposes and plans of evil in the world
- 00:19:00.198 --> 00:19:03.868
- In which we live.
- 00:19:03.868 --> 00:19:05.203
- We resist the devil.
- 00:19:05.203 --> 00:19:06.571
- We've overlooked evil long enough.
- 00:19:06.571 --> 00:19:09.574
- "well, people will label us."
- 00:19:09.574 --> 00:19:10.942
- No kidding.
- 00:19:10.942 --> 00:19:12.543
- Welcome to the team.
- 00:19:12.543 --> 00:19:16.147
- There was a government report, i think it was this week, i read
- 00:19:16.147 --> 00:19:18.549
- About it this week that was released from congress after
- 00:19:18.549 --> 00:19:20.751
- Extensive investigation.
- 00:19:20.751 --> 00:19:22.787
- They said that covid was caused by a virus that came from a lab
- 00:19:22.787 --> 00:19:25.623
- In wuhan.
- 00:19:25.623 --> 00:19:32.263
- Four years ago, when we were having church outside, we paid
- 00:19:32.263 --> 00:19:37.735
- Two people to monitor the streaming of the service because
- 00:19:37.735 --> 00:19:42.340
- If i happened to say the virus from wuhan, the live stream
- 00:19:42.340 --> 00:19:47.011
- Would explode with hate.
- 00:19:47.011 --> 00:19:53.884
- It's where the virus came from.
- 00:19:53.884 --> 00:19:55.253
- Whether it came from a lab or a wet market, it's where it
- 00:19:55.253 --> 00:19:56.988
- Came from.
- 00:19:56.988 --> 00:19:58.589
- I wasn't suggesting a nuclear strike on wuhan.
- 00:19:58.589 --> 00:20:04.729
- "resist the devil," that's the second component.
- 00:20:04.729 --> 00:20:07.832
- The third step there is equally plain spoken.
- 00:20:07.832 --> 00:20:10.968
- It's verse 8, "come near to god."
- 00:20:10.968 --> 00:20:14.272
- And then james tells us how we can do that.
- 00:20:14.272 --> 00:20:17.241
- And you know, most of us could make notes right now of the
- 00:20:17.241 --> 00:20:19.210
- People we know that need to come nearer to god.
- 00:20:19.210 --> 00:20:23.214
- What if we just eliminate that list and begin to think
- 00:20:23.214 --> 00:20:25.583
- Of ourselves?
- 00:20:25.583 --> 00:20:26.951
- "what could i do to move more near to god?"
- 00:20:26.951 --> 00:20:30.655
- James gives us some very simple things, "wash your hands."
- 00:20:30.655 --> 00:20:34.292
- If you're afraid of the virus, you'll wash your hands till
- 00:20:34.292 --> 00:20:36.294
- They chap.
- 00:20:36.294 --> 00:20:38.796
- You'll carry purell in every pocket, you'll put it in
- 00:20:38.796 --> 00:20:41.198
- Your car.
- 00:20:41.198 --> 00:20:42.833
- You'd drink it just in case you got exposed to a virus.
- 00:20:42.833 --> 00:20:47.405
- Little purell shots.
- 00:20:47.405 --> 00:20:51.075
- When we talk about being--washing our hands before
- 00:20:51.075 --> 00:20:54.111
- The lord, be, "oh, i don't need that.
- 00:20:54.111 --> 00:20:56.347
- I said the sinner's prayer 42 years ago, how could my hands
- 00:20:56.347 --> 00:20:58.949
- Be dirty?"
- 00:20:58.949 --> 00:21:00.284
- Oh, i couldn't imagine a way.
- 00:21:00.284 --> 00:21:03.354
- "purify your hearts from double-mindedness," james says.
- 00:21:03.354 --> 00:21:07.792
- Until you are single-minded in your decision making, in
- 00:21:07.792 --> 00:21:10.895
- Your priorities.
- 00:21:10.895 --> 00:21:12.463
- James says in an earlier passage, "to be double-minded is
- 00:21:12.463 --> 00:21:15.700
- To have no faith."
- 00:21:15.700 --> 00:21:19.970
- And thirdly, he says, "we could change our laughter
- 00:21:19.970 --> 00:21:22.373
- To mourning."
- 00:21:22.373 --> 00:21:24.108
- We need a sobriety, a seriousness.
- 00:21:24.108 --> 00:21:26.177
- We are watching the looting of our nation.
- 00:21:26.177 --> 00:21:30.081
- And it isn't a political failure.
- 00:21:30.081 --> 00:21:32.516
- It's not the chinese or the russians.
- 00:21:32.516 --> 00:21:35.720
- It isn't globalism, it's the capitulation of the church.
- 00:21:35.720 --> 00:21:40.958
- We need a more serious note.
- 00:21:40.958 --> 00:21:44.295
- We gotta stop fighting over where we park and where we sit.
- 00:21:44.295 --> 00:21:49.500
- And whether stick yard is appropriate for a
- 00:21:49.500 --> 00:21:51.736
- Christmas celebration.
- 00:21:51.736 --> 00:21:55.940
- You better come early tonight, it'll be so appropriate you
- 00:21:55.940 --> 00:21:58.309
- Won't get in.
- 00:21:58.309 --> 00:22:01.345
- If you come late.
- 00:22:01.345 --> 00:22:05.950
- And finally, james says, "humble yourself."
- 00:22:05.950 --> 00:22:09.387
- It's one of the most consistent invitations in scripture.
- 00:22:09.387 --> 00:22:12.823
- But there's no place where god says, "he will humble you."
- 00:22:12.823 --> 00:22:16.260
- It always says we have to choose to humble ourselves.
- 00:22:16.260 --> 00:22:18.596
- It's not saying we have no value, we have no merit, it's
- 00:22:18.596 --> 00:22:23.033
- Understanding our relationship with god.
- 00:22:23.033 --> 00:22:24.735
- There's a god and it's not us.
- 00:22:24.735 --> 00:22:27.671
- You have gifts, and abilities, and strengths, and resources,
- 00:22:27.671 --> 00:22:30.674
- And time, you have many, many wonderful things.
- 00:22:30.674 --> 00:22:33.611
- You know they're wonderful 'cause when you consider them
- 00:22:33.611 --> 00:22:35.913
- Going away, if you had no more time, if you had no more money,
- 00:22:35.913 --> 00:22:40.751
- If you had no more strength, you would understand the magnitude
- 00:22:40.751 --> 00:22:44.455
- Of the loss.
- 00:22:44.455 --> 00:22:46.690
- Those are wonderful things, but it does not qualify us as god,
- 00:22:46.690 --> 00:22:51.762
- He's different.
- 00:22:51.762 --> 00:22:53.130
- Humble ourselves.
- 00:22:53.130 --> 00:22:56.367
- If we will do those things, if we'll submit, resist, come near
- 00:22:56.367 --> 00:23:01.605
- To god, and humble ourselves, god has said he will lift us up.
- 00:23:01.605 --> 00:23:07.778
- He'll lift us above every attack.
- 00:23:07.778 --> 00:23:11.782
- He can deliver us from the brick pits of egypt.
- 00:23:11.782 --> 00:23:15.386
- He can provide food in the desert, water where there's
- 00:23:15.386 --> 00:23:18.322
- No water.
- 00:23:18.322 --> 00:23:19.690
- He'll turn back the most intimidating enemies.
- 00:23:19.690 --> 00:23:21.725
- He'll give us a different diagnosis.
- 00:23:21.725 --> 00:23:24.028
- He'll bring peace in the midst of turmoil.
- 00:23:24.028 --> 00:23:26.864
- God will lift us up.
- 00:23:26.864 --> 00:23:29.400
- But we have to choose him.
- 00:23:29.400 --> 00:23:32.102
- What if we decided, what if a group this size said, "we intend
- 00:23:32.102 --> 00:23:37.975
- Not to rest until the looting is halted?"
- 00:23:37.975 --> 00:23:44.081
- Let it start in our community.
- 00:23:44.081 --> 00:23:47.084
- Let it start with us.
- 00:23:47.084 --> 00:23:49.687
- Only god can do it, but it begins in our hearts.
- 00:23:49.687 --> 00:23:53.524
- I wanna invite you towards that prayer today.
- 00:23:53.524 --> 00:23:56.894
- We're gonna pray together.
- 00:23:56.894 --> 00:23:58.262
- Stand with me, if you will.
- 00:23:58.262 --> 00:24:07.071
- You better join hands.
- 00:24:10.608 --> 00:24:13.511
- If you don't know the person next to you, tell 'em who
- 00:24:13.511 --> 00:24:15.279
- You are.
- 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:21.519
- If they won't talk to you, turn loose of 'em.
- 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:26.457
- Rebellious prayers don't help.
- 00:24:26.457 --> 00:24:29.693
- "father, thank you for your word.
- 00:24:29.693 --> 00:24:31.962
- For its truth, and understanding, and insight.
- 00:24:31.962 --> 00:24:34.665
- I thank you that you're involved in the affairs of men and women.
- 00:24:34.665 --> 00:24:39.770
- That you're engaged in the earth today.
- 00:24:39.770 --> 00:24:41.572
- That you've not only called us out of darkness and welcomed us
- 00:24:41.572 --> 00:24:44.275
- Into your kingdom, but that you make a journey with us
- 00:24:44.275 --> 00:24:47.177
- Through time.
- 00:24:47.177 --> 00:24:49.446
- And lord, we see all around us evidence of the reality that we
- 00:24:49.446 --> 00:24:55.185
- Have been distracted.
- 00:24:55.185 --> 00:24:57.588
- Or that our hearts have been misplaced.
- 00:24:57.588 --> 00:25:00.858
- We've looked for ways that we might gain, that we might
- 00:25:00.858 --> 00:25:03.794
- Profit, that we might gain an opportunity that we could get
- 00:25:03.794 --> 00:25:07.531
- Our way, that we could get ahead.
- 00:25:07.531 --> 00:25:11.235
- And we've looked away from the things that we knew were
- 00:25:11.235 --> 00:25:13.871
- Displeasing to you, or wrong, or inappropriate.
- 00:25:13.871 --> 00:25:18.108
- We've just imagined that it wasn't our assignment or
- 00:25:18.108 --> 00:25:20.711
- Somebody else should do it.
- 00:25:20.711 --> 00:25:23.981
- Lord we come today to ask for your forgiveness.
- 00:25:23.981 --> 00:25:29.353
- We come today to submit to you.
- 00:25:29.353 --> 00:25:31.789
- To yield our hearts to you, our calendars to you, our resources
- 00:25:31.789 --> 00:25:35.292
- To you, our futures to you.
- 00:25:35.292 --> 00:25:38.829
- Lord to stand hand in hand and upright before you to say, 'as
- 00:25:38.829 --> 00:25:43.033
- You give us the wisdom and the ability that we will resist the
- 00:25:43.033 --> 00:25:46.003
- Devil in our own hearts, in our own homes, and our own
- 00:25:46.003 --> 00:25:51.141
- Community, and wherever you send us.'
- 00:25:51.141 --> 00:25:56.747
- Lord we wanna draw near to you.
- 00:25:56.747 --> 00:25:59.583
- We wanna enter your gates with thanksgiving and your courts
- 00:25:59.583 --> 00:26:01.952
- With praise.
- 00:26:01.952 --> 00:26:03.320
- We wanna be a people who dwell in the midst of your glory.
- 00:26:03.320 --> 00:26:07.825
- Holy spirit, if there are places that we need to make changes or
- 00:26:07.825 --> 00:26:12.296
- To--that we--our hands might be clean and our hearts might be
- 00:26:12.296 --> 00:26:15.499
- Pure, show us.
- 00:26:15.499 --> 00:26:18.702
- We choose to humble ourselves.
- 00:26:18.702 --> 00:26:20.871
- Not to be angry at others or demand that someone else change,
- 00:26:20.871 --> 00:26:24.775
- But to offer ourselves.
- 00:26:24.775 --> 00:26:26.110
- Lord, here we are, send us.
- 00:26:26.110 --> 00:26:29.146
- Help us.
- 00:26:29.146 --> 00:26:31.615
- And lord, in the midst of that, we ask you to do what we cannot
- 00:26:31.615 --> 00:26:34.318
- Do, bring a breakthrough.
- 00:26:34.318 --> 00:26:37.688
- May your intervention that we have seen grow.
- 00:26:37.688 --> 00:26:40.824
- May it be multiplied, maybe it could expanded.
- 00:26:40.824 --> 00:26:44.561
- May the truth once again be told.
- 00:26:44.561 --> 00:26:47.064
- May integrity once again be celebrated.
- 00:26:47.064 --> 00:26:50.467
- May moral uprightness be seen as a virtue and not a weakness.
- 00:26:50.467 --> 00:26:55.673
- We praise you for it, father, we thank you that our children can
- 00:26:55.673 --> 00:26:59.443
- Once again be taught in the truth and prepared for a future.
- 00:26:59.443 --> 00:27:04.648
- We thank you for it, today.
- 00:27:04.648 --> 00:27:06.984
- We give you glory that we will see you move in our midst.
- 00:27:06.984 --> 00:27:09.987
- Father, we praise you today that you are well able, in jesus's
- 00:27:09.987 --> 00:27:14.625
- Name, amen."
- 00:27:14.625 --> 00:27:17.294
- Hallelujah, give the lord a hand, he deserves it.
- 00:27:17.294 --> 00:27:20.297
- ♪♪♪
- 00:27:20.297 --> 00:27:29.106