Allen Jackson - Breakthrough: The Lord Is With You (Part 1)

May 21, 2026 | 27:29

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: The Lord Is With You (Part 1) | May 21, 2026
  • ...
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  • Allen jackson: you know, around the world,
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  • People are searching for truth, and together we're doing our
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  • Very best to help them find it.
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  • When you become a ministry partner with allen jackson
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  • Ministries, you're joining a growing community of believers
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  • Who are committed to strengthening the church and
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  • Sharing god's word through every available channel--
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  • Television, radio, podcast, books, bible studies,
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  • Digital resources, conferences.
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  • Your monthly partnership helps us equip believers to reach new
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  • Audiences, to take the hope of jesus to people who may never
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  • Have heard the gospel otherwise.
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  • Together, we can stand firm in our faith and make god's truth
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  • Known right here at home and around the earth, wherever
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  • God opens a door.
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  • Let's keep gathering his people and building his church until
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  • The day our king returns.
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  • You can find more about becoming a ministry partner
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  • At allenjackson.com/partner.
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  • Allen: we're working through a study
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  • On breakthroughs.
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  • And i really began this because of the--i was so aware of how
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  • Many people amongst us--and you can put me on that list--we're
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  • In places where we need breakthroughs from the lord,
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  • Those places where only god's intervention can bring about
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  • An acceptable solution.
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  • You know, there may be other ways to navigate or to
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  • Negotiate, but, without god's help and engagement and
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  • Involvement, the outcomes won't be good.
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  • And breakthroughs are not always so mystical.
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  • I think there's a great deal of information in scripture, and we
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  • Can cooperate--we can catalyze breakthroughs, or we can be
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  • Resistant to them.
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  • The fact is, i've been working for these weeks--i'm gonna
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  • Write another study on breakthroughs missed.
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  • I've become very aware of generations of people who missed
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  • Break--the most obvious, the poster generation for
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  • Breakthroughs missed, was the exodus generation.
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  • They ate manna; they drank water from a rock; they came through
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  • The red sea; they followed a pillar of cloud and a pillar
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  • Of fire.
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  • And they came to the borders of the promised land, and they
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  • Said, "it's truly a land that flows with milk and honey, but
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  • It's too difficult.
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  • We don't wanna do that."
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  • And they died in the desert.
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  • They missed a breakthrough.
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  • There's all kinds of individuals: pilate,
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  • The roman governor.
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  • Think how different his life would have been--his future
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  • Would have been--if he would have said, "i believe you really
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  • Are the messiah."
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  • You say, "well, it would have cost him something."
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  • No kidding.
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  • If you haven't processed yet the fact that it will cost you
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  • Something to follow jesus--oh, it's free, but it's not cheap.
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  • Breakthroughs missed--but that's--we're not on that one
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  • Yet; that's coming.
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  • Breakthroughs--god is in the business of intervening in
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  • The lives of human beings-- of individuals, of families,
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  • Of generations.
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  • It's a whole another subset of this study, the generational
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  • Blessings that come.
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  • If you're willing to catalyze a breakthrough, there's a high
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  • Degree of probability your children and your grandchildren
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  • And their children after them will benefit.
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  • We've been pretty casual with this stuff.
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  • So, i'm excited about it.
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  • I've been consistently inviting you back to our little paradigm
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  • Of watching and listening and thinking and acting--because
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  • We're not doing theology in a vacuum, folks; we live in
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  • The real world.
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  • We don't gather in our building and do studies about 1st century
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  • Culture and ignore 21st century culture.
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  • That's called academia; that's not a living faith.
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  • We are practitioners of the christian faith; our faith has
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  • To impact our generation.
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  • And, if you're not watching and listening and thinking and
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  • Acting based upon your faith, just exactly what is it that
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  • Causes you to think you're a christ follower?
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  • Because you're a theological theoretician?
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  • There needs to be the fruit; the biblical language around it is
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  • There is fruit in your life.
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  • There is something produced by the living vitality--the health
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  • Of your spiritual vibrancy that is evident and tangible, that
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  • Separates you from non-fruit bearing trees.
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  • And you don't have to go to washington dc.
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  • This isn't political.
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  • This isn't about republican or democrat, elephants and donkeys.
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  • I look forward to seeing the spirit of the lord poured out on
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  • Elephants and donkeys.
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  • We can just stay in our community.
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  • We've struggled mightily in our community on things as simple as
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  • Removing some really abhorrent books from our school libraries;
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  • We're just addled about it.
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  • And there's goofiness all around the equation; it's a bit conf--
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  • It isn't confusing to me, it's spiritual.
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  • There's a couple dozen books that simply don't belong in
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  • Children's libraries.
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  • They're not simply pornographic; they're vile; they're perverse.
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  • And then the christians say, "well, i've got a list of
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  • 400 books."
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  • Stop it--they're not christian libraries.
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  • You're not gonna remove every book, opinion that you don't
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  • Like in the library, but there's a couple dozen that are so vile,
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  • They don't belong there.
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  • I don't care if they came bundled in 100 million books.
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  • We know what the titles are; they need to go.
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  • You understand the debate on-- people stop me on a very regular
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  • Basis, very agitated because there are books in our little
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  • Resource center at church, and they say, you know, they don't
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  • Have the appropriate view of some aspect of theology
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  • They like.
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  • Or there's a bible in there that's a translation that they
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  • Don't particularly appreciate.
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  • And i'm like, "of all the things in the world to be upset about,
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  • You're on the warpath about a book in the next chapter."
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  • And we have trouble saying that these books in our children's
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  • Libraries don't belong, and then we create all these completely
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  • False arguments.
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  • "well, i'm not in favor of banning books."
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  • That's not true.
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  • We've seen any number of books removed from circulation because
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  • They carried racial stereotypes that we didn't want to hand down
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  • To another generation, and we very willingly said, "take those
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  • Out of the libraries."
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  • We didn't hesitate; we didn't debate them for months.
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  • We said, "no, we agree.
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  • We don't want to sow those seeds in the hearts of the children.
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  • Let's see that they don't belong in the library."
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  • It's not the banning of books; it's about
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  • Age-appropriate learning.
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  • If you're an adult, and you want to read books that are racially
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  • Stereotyped, you would certainly have that freedom.
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  • If you want to read books that are perverse, you have
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  • That freedom.
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  • But we don't want to subject our children to that.
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  • And, since i'm off topic, i'll stay here for a minute.
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  • I don't think the school boards ought to argue about it
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  • For a year.
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  • Read the books into the record; read the salient points into
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  • The record--then vote: i want that there, or i don't want
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  • That there.
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  • And, if we're aware enough, then we can decide who we want to
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  • Lead our schools.
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  • This isn't complicated; we don't need to be angry or belligerent;
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  • We just make a decision.
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  • But stop with the goofy arguments.
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  • And i hope you're paying attention.
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  • If you say, "i haven't paid attention; i haven't read the
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  • Books," then you be quiet.
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  • You shouldn't get to vote; you shouldn't have an opinion.
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  • You have to invest enough attention to pay attention,
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  • To be engaged.
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  • You see, the issue really isn't washington dc.
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  • The question is, will we stand for a biblical worldview as
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  • Christ followers in our community?
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  • The people who aren't christians, i don't expect them
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  • To stand up for that.
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  • Why would they?
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  • They have a different worldview.
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  • But, if you say you're a christ follower, it's not our choices;
  • 00:08:30.091 --> 00:08:37.198
  • We're reflecting a worldview from our lord.
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  • Watch, listen, think, and act.
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  • That's called breakthroughs.
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  • They don't happen in a vacuum; they happen when people of faith
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  • Live out their faith.
  • 00:08:49.578 --> 00:08:54.616
  • We get far more heated up about athletics.
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  • We have a whole--we have an endless stream of talk radio and
  • 00:08:59.988 --> 00:09:03.758
  • Television talking about our favorite sports teams, and we'll
  • 00:09:03.758 --> 00:09:07.762
  • Travel--and how excited we-- there's not--i'm not saying
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  • It's inappropriate.
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  • But, when the discussion comes to our kids, we won't even take
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  • The time to look at the content.
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  • That's really wrong.
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  • You say, "well, i don't have any kids there."
  • 00:09:21.610 --> 00:09:23.478
  • That's a lousy excuse.
  • 00:09:23.478 --> 00:09:25.013
  • You don't have any kids playing for the titans either.
  • 00:09:25.013 --> 00:09:30.719
  • Or most of us don't have any playing for the vol's or--
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  • Breakthroughs--when god intervenes.
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  • See, it isn't theoretical.
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  • I'm happy to unpack the scripture, but we'll find the
  • 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:49.437
  • Breakthroughs when we begin to live out the truth that we know.
  • 00:09:49.437 --> 00:09:54.876
  • We've got to stop having these biblical debates around
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  • Something that happened 1,000 years ago and ignoring what
  • 00:09:59.414 --> 00:10:02.884
  • God's called us to do today.
  • 00:10:02.884 --> 00:10:07.789
  • Allen: hey, "lessons from paul" is a 90-devotional.
  • 00:10:11.826 --> 00:10:15.030
  • Some of my favorite verses that paul wrote, bit of devotional
  • 00:10:15.030 --> 00:10:19.134
  • Time, and then some place to journal.
  • 00:10:19.134 --> 00:10:21.670
  • The goal is to be changed.
  • 00:10:21.670 --> 00:10:23.038
  • We want to be transformed by the word of god and not just
  • 00:10:23.038 --> 00:10:25.273
  • Informed by it.
  • 00:10:25.273 --> 00:10:26.941
  • Saul of tarsus, a hero of mine-- i got to know him as the apostle
  • 00:10:26.941 --> 00:10:29.611
  • Paul--an unrelenting advocate for jesus in the face of
  • 00:10:29.611 --> 00:10:33.148
  • Unyielding persecution.
  • 00:10:33.148 --> 00:10:35.283
  • Folks, that sounds like the world we live in.
  • 00:10:35.283 --> 00:10:37.285
  • "lessons from paul" will help you and i be overcomers,
  • 00:10:37.285 --> 00:10:39.954
  • Triumphant in this season in the earth.
  • 00:10:39.954 --> 00:10:42.390
  • You'll enjoy the book.
  • 00:10:42.390 --> 00:10:43.925
  • Female announcer: following jesus isn't always easy, but you
  • 00:10:43.925 --> 00:10:46.494
  • Don't have to walk through it alone.
  • 00:10:46.494 --> 00:10:48.530
  • The same power that transformed paul is available to you today.
  • 00:10:48.530 --> 00:10:53.234
  • "lessons from paul" by pastor allen is a 90-day devotional
  • 00:10:53.234 --> 00:10:56.771
  • Filled with scripture, encouragement, and journaling
  • 00:10:56.771 --> 00:10:59.908
  • Prompts and space to write, helping you apply each day's
  • 00:10:59.908 --> 00:11:03.578
  • Reading to your actual life.
  • 00:11:03.578 --> 00:11:06.047
  • Request your copy with your gift of $25 or more at
  • 00:11:06.047 --> 00:11:10.118
  • Allenjackson.com or call...
  • 00:11:10.118 --> 00:11:15.490
  • Allen: the breakthrough i wanna walk through with you in this
  • 00:11:16.725 --> 00:11:18.960
  • Session is a statement that god made to mary through the
  • 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:22.497
  • Angel gabriel.
  • 00:11:22.497 --> 00:11:23.865
  • He said, "the lord is with you."
  • 00:11:23.865 --> 00:11:25.567
  • And i want you to know the lord is with you.
  • 00:11:25.567 --> 00:11:27.302
  • God is moving in the earth in a way i'm not sure i've seen him
  • 00:11:27.302 --> 00:11:31.573
  • Move in my lifetime.
  • 00:11:31.573 --> 00:11:34.476
  • I've never seen people responding to the lord with
  • 00:11:34.476 --> 00:11:36.678
  • The kind of hunger that i see these days.
  • 00:11:36.678 --> 00:11:40.815
  • I'm surprised, oftentimes, where it presents from and the people
  • 00:11:40.815 --> 00:11:44.119
  • Who don't respond, but i've never seen the lord moving in
  • 00:11:44.119 --> 00:11:47.689
  • The way that--the change coming as rapidly, the realignment,
  • 00:11:47.689 --> 00:11:52.193
  • The expression of things.
  • 00:11:52.193 --> 00:11:53.528
  • I could--we could spend our entire time with examples of
  • 00:11:53.528 --> 00:11:56.431
  • That, but the lord is with you; you should know that; he hasn't
  • 00:11:56.431 --> 00:12:00.034
  • Left you.
  • 00:12:00.034 --> 00:12:01.402
  • His voice isn't heard small in our generation.
  • 00:12:01.402 --> 00:12:04.072
  • The wind of the spirit is stirring the earth.
  • 00:12:04.072 --> 00:12:08.476
  • I was outside this morning with my dad for a minute, and it was
  • 00:12:08.476 --> 00:12:10.612
  • Real windy, and he said, "weather's gonna change."
  • 00:12:10.612 --> 00:12:15.283
  • Well, i have that feeling spiritually.
  • 00:12:15.283 --> 00:12:16.751
  • You can feel the breeze of the spirit, folks; there's change
  • 00:12:16.751 --> 00:12:20.321
  • Coming, and i want to be on the god side of that.
  • 00:12:20.321 --> 00:12:25.760
  • Luke chapter 1, "in the sixth month, god sent the angel
  • 00:12:25.760 --> 00:12:28.163
  • Gabriel to nazareth, a town in galilee, to a virgin pledged to
  • 00:12:28.163 --> 00:12:31.432
  • Be married to a man named joseph, a descendant of david.
  • 00:12:31.432 --> 00:12:35.303
  • The virgin's name was mary."
  • 00:12:35.303 --> 00:12:36.638
  • You know this passage very well.
  • 00:12:36.638 --> 00:12:38.907
  • "the angel went to her and said, 'greetings, you were
  • 00:12:38.907 --> 00:12:40.775
  • Highly favored!
  • 00:12:40.775 --> 00:12:42.110
  • The lord is with you.'
  • 00:12:42.110 --> 00:12:43.711
  • And mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind
  • 00:12:43.711 --> 00:12:46.080
  • Of greeting this might be.
  • 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:47.448
  • And the angel said, 'don't be afraid, mary, you've found favor
  • 00:12:47.448 --> 00:12:50.618
  • With god.
  • 00:12:50.618 --> 00:12:51.986
  • You'll be with child, you'll give birth to a son,
  • 00:12:51.986 --> 00:12:53.321
  • You're to give him the name jesus.
  • 00:12:53.321 --> 00:12:55.623
  • He'll be great and be called the son of the most high.
  • 00:12:55.623 --> 00:12:59.427
  • And the lord god will give him the throne of his father david,
  • 00:12:59.427 --> 00:13:01.729
  • And he'll reign over the house of jacob forever; and his
  • 00:13:01.729 --> 00:13:04.899
  • Kingdom will never end.'
  • 00:13:04.899 --> 00:13:07.268
  • Mary had a question, 'how can this be, i'm a virgin?'
  • 00:13:07.268 --> 00:13:11.239
  • And the angel answered, 'the holy spirit will come upon you,
  • 00:13:11.239 --> 00:13:13.608
  • And the power of the most high will overshadow you.
  • 00:13:13.608 --> 00:13:16.411
  • And the holy one to be born will be called the son of god.
  • 00:13:16.411 --> 00:13:20.315
  • Even elizabeth you're very old relative is going to have
  • 00:13:20.315 --> 00:13:25.854
  • A child in her old age.'"
  • 00:13:25.854 --> 00:13:28.256
  • Even the angels call elizabeth old.
  • 00:13:28.256 --> 00:13:31.860
  • It wasn't just zachariah-- gabriel.
  • 00:13:31.860 --> 00:13:37.465
  • "'and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.
  • 00:13:37.465 --> 00:13:40.001
  • Nothing is impossible with god.'
  • 00:13:40.001 --> 00:13:42.570
  • And mary's answer, 'i'm the lord's servant.
  • 00:13:42.570 --> 00:13:44.405
  • May it be to me as you have said.'"
  • 00:13:44.405 --> 00:13:46.908
  • Is it safe to call that a breakthrough?
  • 00:13:46.908 --> 00:13:49.878
  • I think that's one of those things--that's an intervention;
  • 00:13:49.878 --> 00:13:51.913
  • Can we call that?
  • 00:13:51.913 --> 00:13:53.281
  • And that's not just mary's intervention; that's
  • 00:13:53.281 --> 00:13:55.216
  • A generational intervention.
  • 00:13:55.216 --> 00:13:56.584
  • That's one we benefit from.
  • 00:13:56.584 --> 00:13:57.919
  • That changed all of human history.
  • 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:01.122
  • See, breakthroughs aren't just about me and you and us four and
  • 00:14:01.122 --> 00:14:04.325
  • No more.
  • 00:14:04.325 --> 00:14:07.462
  • I think i would start with this; i've been trying to give you
  • 00:14:07.462 --> 00:14:09.898
  • Some breakthrough hacks--some lessons, observations, learning
  • 00:14:09.898 --> 00:14:14.469
  • Points--and, at some point, i'm going to assimilate, and we'll
  • 00:14:14.469 --> 00:14:17.071
  • Look at them in total.
  • 00:14:17.071 --> 00:14:18.840
  • But, in this one, i want to begin with preparing for
  • 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:22.010
  • A breakthrough.
  • 00:14:22.010 --> 00:14:23.344
  • Mary had to live in such a way to qualify her to be a part of
  • 00:14:23.344 --> 00:14:26.047
  • The intervention.
  • 00:14:26.047 --> 00:14:29.017
  • She hadn't led a reckless life; she hadn't led a sloppy life.
  • 00:14:29.017 --> 00:14:33.154
  • She prepared her heart and maintained boundaries.
  • 00:14:33.154 --> 00:14:36.391
  • Live to honor god; walk in the light you have.
  • 00:14:36.391 --> 00:14:39.994
  • You can't go back and undo what you've been, but you can start
  • 00:14:39.994 --> 00:14:43.031
  • Today and make a brand new future.
  • 00:14:43.031 --> 00:14:46.034
  • Live to honor god.
  • 00:14:46.034 --> 00:14:48.403
  • Stop talking about how bad you were, and start talking about
  • 00:14:48.403 --> 00:14:52.206
  • Your intent to honor the lord.
  • 00:14:52.206 --> 00:14:55.810
  • Prepare for a breakthrough.
  • 00:14:55.810 --> 00:14:59.047
  • Prepare to be a generational difference.
  • 00:14:59.047 --> 00:15:02.517
  • Live in such a way that, if god were searching the earth to look
  • 00:15:02.517 --> 00:15:05.253
  • For someone whose heart was devoted to him, you've already
  • 00:15:05.253 --> 00:15:08.489
  • Established momentum around that objective.
  • 00:15:08.489 --> 00:15:12.994
  • Be an early adapter.
  • 00:15:12.994 --> 00:15:15.997
  • Take the simple things you know--read your bible; pray; be
  • 00:15:15.997 --> 00:15:19.500
  • In community; use your voice; do the simple things that you know.
  • 00:15:19.500 --> 00:15:26.040
  • Spiritual momentum is not drastically different than
  • 00:15:26.040 --> 00:15:29.644
  • Physical well-being.
  • 00:15:29.644 --> 00:15:31.846
  • If you want to be healthier, you need to move more and eat less.
  • 00:15:31.846 --> 00:15:36.484
  • Then, if you wanna start to get really weird about it, pay
  • 00:15:36.484 --> 00:15:38.619
  • Attention to what you eat.
  • 00:15:38.619 --> 00:15:44.459
  • Or you can buy my book on the chocolate diet.
  • 00:15:44.459 --> 00:15:51.566
  • Spiritual momentum is not so mysterious.
  • 00:15:51.566 --> 00:15:54.836
  • Begin to treat it as if your future depended upon it because
  • 00:15:54.836 --> 00:15:57.805
  • It does.
  • 00:15:57.805 --> 00:16:00.708
  • And then breakthroughs, i would suggest, secondly, are
  • 00:16:00.708 --> 00:16:03.378
  • Frequently unsettling-- just disruptive.
  • 00:16:03.378 --> 00:16:09.617
  • They present a whole new direction to your life.
  • 00:16:09.617 --> 00:16:11.819
  • You see, the breakthroughs that i want, the ones i'm usually
  • 00:16:11.819 --> 00:16:14.389
  • Asking for, i don't imagine that it'd be disruptive at all.
  • 00:16:14.389 --> 00:16:17.225
  • I want god to remove the disruptions because i see
  • 00:16:17.225 --> 00:16:21.295
  • Something as a hindrance, an obstacle, an impediment,
  • 00:16:21.295 --> 00:16:24.899
  • Something unwanted that i want removed, some resource that i
  • 00:16:24.899 --> 00:16:28.236
  • Want provided.
  • 00:16:28.236 --> 00:16:29.604
  • And so i imagine that the breakthrough will give me
  • 00:16:29.604 --> 00:16:31.439
  • Momentum to get on with what i wanna do.
  • 00:16:31.439 --> 00:16:35.843
  • And my experience in life-- and, as i read my bible more
  • 00:16:35.843 --> 00:16:39.147
  • Carefully--is that these breakthroughs frequently are
  • 00:16:39.147 --> 00:16:41.883
  • Unsettling; they're disruptive.
  • 00:16:41.883 --> 00:16:46.554
  • They bring new directions.
  • 00:16:46.554 --> 00:16:49.657
  • Like, "well, that's not where i wanted to put the building."
  • 00:16:49.657 --> 00:16:54.062
  • Yeah, i know, dummy; it's taken us months to get you to
  • 00:16:54.062 --> 00:16:56.697
  • Pay attention.
  • 00:16:56.697 --> 00:16:58.066
  • [knock knock knock knock knock knock]
  • 00:16:58.066 --> 00:17:00.902
  • The angel says, "the lord is with you," and mary's really
  • 00:17:00.902 --> 00:17:03.104
  • Troubled; she's frightened.
  • 00:17:03.104 --> 00:17:06.074
  • Are you prepared for god's intervention in your life, to
  • 00:17:06.074 --> 00:17:08.976
  • Bring a little anxiety bubbling up with it?
  • 00:17:08.976 --> 00:17:13.714
  • Again, you see, i'm not even sure we're in the market for
  • 00:17:13.714 --> 00:17:16.250
  • These kind of breakthroughs.
  • 00:17:16.250 --> 00:17:18.586
  • I think the reason we don't see them more frequently is we're
  • 00:17:18.586 --> 00:17:20.988
  • Not really candidates.
  • 00:17:20.988 --> 00:17:22.824
  • We don't want god to redirect anything; we know what we want.
  • 00:17:22.824 --> 00:17:28.629
  • And we're a little bit like children; you know, we're either
  • 00:17:28.629 --> 00:17:30.698
  • Gonna get the way we want it-- did any of you have parents
  • 00:17:30.698 --> 00:17:34.335
  • That, when you were kids, you had to eat what was
  • 00:17:34.335 --> 00:17:35.870
  • On your plate?
  • 00:17:35.870 --> 00:17:37.939
  • I think parenting rules have changed; that's no
  • 00:17:37.939 --> 00:17:39.674
  • Longer enforced.
  • 00:17:39.674 --> 00:17:41.876
  • Now chicken fingers and macaroni and cheese rule.
  • 00:17:41.876 --> 00:17:45.446
  • And i'm pretty much okay with that, but i grew up in
  • 00:17:45.446 --> 00:17:48.049
  • A different generation; you had to eat what was on your plate.
  • 00:17:48.049 --> 00:17:52.787
  • And i'm not as stubborn as my brothers, but i'm--probably
  • 00:17:52.787 --> 00:17:59.460
  • More so.
  • 00:17:59.460 --> 00:18:01.229
  • And my mom used to make this five-bean salad.
  • 00:18:01.229 --> 00:18:05.900
  • Even the lord himself didn't like it; it was awful.
  • 00:18:05.900 --> 00:18:14.842
  • And i remember being in the kitchen when the--everybody's
  • 00:18:14.842 --> 00:18:17.778
  • Gone from the table, and the lights have been turned out.
  • 00:18:17.778 --> 00:18:21.048
  • And we didn't have a pet; i couldn't feed it to anybody.
  • 00:18:21.048 --> 00:18:23.317
  • And, if we'd had a pet, they wouldn't have eaten that.
  • 00:18:23.317 --> 00:18:29.290
  • That was just not a proper--i mean, i was--i thought i could
  • 00:18:29.290 --> 00:18:32.093
  • Probably sleep with my head on the table if it was, you know,
  • 00:18:32.093 --> 00:18:34.295
  • Sleeping at the table or eating that.
  • 00:18:34.295 --> 00:18:35.830
  • I was pretty much--i could make that decision.
  • 00:18:35.830 --> 00:18:41.402
  • And i find that we come to the lord that way so often with that
  • 00:18:41.402 --> 00:18:44.639
  • Stubborn, "i want you to do what i want you to do, and i'm not
  • 00:18:44.639 --> 00:18:48.342
  • Really open to a lot else."
  • 00:18:48.342 --> 00:18:52.513
  • And we'll check the boxes on kind of the big--you know, we
  • 00:18:52.513 --> 00:18:55.483
  • Can't be involved in immorality, and we shouldn't be stealing,
  • 00:18:55.483 --> 00:18:58.653
  • And we'll kind of take some big rock ideas, but, beyond that,
  • 00:18:58.653 --> 00:19:01.722
  • God pretty much needs to do what we want him to do.
  • 00:19:01.722 --> 00:19:05.760
  • And i would submit to you that the most fruitful part of our
  • 00:19:05.760 --> 00:19:09.430
  • Lives is when we cooperate with god on his purposes.
  • 00:19:09.430 --> 00:19:15.636
  • If, as a parent, your primary goal is to fulfill the ambitions
  • 00:19:15.636 --> 00:19:19.707
  • Of your child, you are failing.
  • 00:19:19.707 --> 00:19:25.513
  • Because your assignment is to shape their character so that
  • 00:19:25.513 --> 00:19:29.784
  • They can mature and fulfill god's purposes for their lives.
  • 00:19:29.784 --> 00:19:36.591
  • And they'll never do that if self-satisfaction is what
  • 00:19:36.591 --> 00:19:40.828
  • They've been totally trained in.
  • 00:19:40.828 --> 00:19:43.831
  • And i can tell you that the spirit of god loves you and me
  • 00:19:43.831 --> 00:19:46.400
  • Enough that he will arrive and say, "you are highly favored,
  • 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:50.204
  • And i'm about to mess over your whole plan."
  • 00:19:50.204 --> 00:19:56.477
  • Well, in matthew's gospel, we have the other side of this
  • 00:19:56.477 --> 00:20:00.281
  • Rather dynamic breakthrough-- it's joseph and the angel's
  • 00:20:00.281 --> 00:20:04.318
  • Message to him, "this is how the birth of jesus christ came
  • 00:20:04.318 --> 00:20:08.022
  • About: his mother mary was pledged to be married to joseph,
  • 00:20:08.022 --> 00:20:12.727
  • But before they came together, she was found to be with child
  • 00:20:12.727 --> 00:20:15.696
  • Through the holy spirit."
  • 00:20:15.696 --> 00:20:17.632
  • We read that like it makes perfect sense.
  • 00:20:17.632 --> 00:20:21.736
  • "and because joseph her husband was a righteous man and he
  • 00:20:21.736 --> 00:20:24.238
  • Didn't want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind
  • 00:20:24.238 --> 00:20:26.841
  • To divorce her quietly.
  • 00:20:26.841 --> 00:20:29.043
  • But after he'd considered this, an angel of the lord appeared to
  • 00:20:29.043 --> 00:20:31.345
  • Him in a dream and said, 'joseph son of david, don't be afraid to
  • 00:20:31.345 --> 00:20:34.148
  • Take mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her
  • 00:20:34.148 --> 00:20:36.984
  • Is from the holy spirit.
  • 00:20:36.984 --> 00:20:38.319
  • She'll give birth to a son, and you're to give him the name
  • 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:40.054
  • Jesus, because he'll save his people from their sins.'
  • 00:20:40.054 --> 00:20:44.225
  • And all this took place to fulfill what the lord had said
  • 00:20:44.225 --> 00:20:46.394
  • Through the prophet: 'the virgin will be with child and will give
  • 00:20:46.394 --> 00:20:48.496
  • Birth to a son, and they'll call him immanuel--' which means,
  • 00:20:48.496 --> 00:20:51.932
  • 'god with us.'
  • 00:20:51.932 --> 00:20:54.001
  • Joseph woke up, and he did what the angel of the lord had
  • 00:20:54.001 --> 00:20:56.037
  • Commanded him, and he took mary home as his wife.
  • 00:20:56.037 --> 00:20:59.240
  • But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.
  • 00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:02.610
  • And he gave him the name jesus."
  • 00:21:02.610 --> 00:21:06.113
  • If you'll allow me--i know it's in the bible, and it's a
  • 00:21:06.113 --> 00:21:08.683
  • Wonderful story, and we celebrate mary and joseph, and
  • 00:21:08.683 --> 00:21:11.218
  • They're in our pageants, and they're venerated because we're
  • 00:21:11.218 --> 00:21:14.522
  • Looking back on them from two millennia's perspective.
  • 00:21:14.522 --> 00:21:18.559
  • But i would submit to you, if you were involved in that, if it
  • 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:21.228
  • Was your name on the invitation that had been mailed out, or if
  • 00:21:21.228 --> 00:21:25.266
  • It was your child in the midst of that set of circumstances, i
  • 00:21:25.266 --> 00:21:30.438
  • Think the most appropriate--one of the most appropriate words i
  • 00:21:30.438 --> 00:21:33.307
  • Could find would be disappointment.
  • 00:21:33.307 --> 00:21:37.078
  • Joseph, i assure you, was disappointed in mary, or he
  • 00:21:37.078 --> 00:21:39.647
  • Would not have needed the visit from the angel.
  • 00:21:39.647 --> 00:21:44.685
  • Mary's words to him were not sufficient.
  • 00:21:44.685 --> 00:21:48.989
  • He understands the circumstance; he's very well versed in it.
  • 00:21:48.989 --> 00:21:52.326
  • He's decided he's not going forward with the commitment.
  • 00:21:52.326 --> 00:21:57.131
  • So mary's words to him were not sufficient.
  • 00:21:57.131 --> 00:22:02.103
  • The disappointment in him is more real than her assertion
  • 00:22:02.103 --> 00:22:07.908
  • That it's supernatural.
  • 00:22:07.908 --> 00:22:12.480
  • Is that fair?
  • 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:13.848
  • I've done no injustice to the text.
  • 00:22:13.848 --> 00:22:16.283
  • So, what i'm gonna suggest to you is that disappointment in my
  • 00:22:16.283 --> 00:22:19.487
  • Life, or your life--as it was in joseph's life--could be
  • 00:22:19.487 --> 00:22:25.059
  • A signpost for a breakthrough.
  • 00:22:25.059 --> 00:22:29.563
  • You know what a disappointment is?
  • 00:22:29.563 --> 00:22:30.965
  • If we break the word down, that little prefix dis, d-i-s,
  • 00:22:30.965 --> 00:22:33.768
  • Means without.
  • 00:22:33.768 --> 00:22:35.669
  • A disappointment is an appointment that shows up that
  • 00:22:35.669 --> 00:22:39.106
  • You didn't have on your calendar.
  • 00:22:39.106 --> 00:22:42.877
  • "oh, i didn't want that.
  • 00:22:42.877 --> 00:22:45.713
  • I didn't want to make time for that.
  • 00:22:45.713 --> 00:22:48.716
  • I didn't wanna have to deal with that.
  • 00:22:48.716 --> 00:22:51.819
  • I wasn't planning on this."
  • 00:22:51.819 --> 00:22:53.988
  • That's a disappointment.
  • 00:22:53.988 --> 00:22:59.193
  • Matthew puts it this way: "mary was found to be with child."
  • 00:22:59.193 --> 00:23:05.399
  • It's really disappointing if you know it's not your child.
  • 00:23:05.399 --> 00:23:11.038
  • So here's my question: are we willing to turn our faces to the
  • 00:23:11.038 --> 00:23:15.109
  • Lord and, "lord," say, "there's some disappointments in my life
  • 00:23:15.109 --> 00:23:17.611
  • This christmas season.
  • 00:23:17.611 --> 00:23:19.447
  • There's some things i'm not really just--wouldn't have been
  • 00:23:19.447 --> 00:23:22.883
  • The way i scheduled it.
  • 00:23:22.883 --> 00:23:24.251
  • It wouldn't have been the way i had planned it.
  • 00:23:24.251 --> 00:23:25.619
  • It wasn't what i had dreamt of.
  • 00:23:25.619 --> 00:23:28.823
  • But i believe you're moving, and i wanna follow you.
  • 00:23:28.823 --> 00:23:33.060
  • I don't want a pout.
  • 00:23:36.397 --> 00:23:39.433
  • I want to follow you."
  • 00:23:39.433 --> 00:23:41.902
  • See, i'm pretty certain that, in this circumstance, at least
  • 00:23:41.902 --> 00:23:44.805
  • A part of what's going through joseph is you feel pretty
  • 00:23:44.805 --> 00:23:47.074
  • Vulnerable--the community knows.
  • 00:23:47.074 --> 00:23:48.642
  • Nazareth is a town of 1500 or fewer people in the time that
  • 00:23:48.642 --> 00:23:53.647
  • They were there.
  • 00:23:53.647 --> 00:23:55.850
  • It's a small community; they all know about the intentions of
  • 00:23:55.850 --> 00:23:59.887
  • Mary and joseph, and there's not really any way to hide what's
  • 00:23:59.887 --> 00:24:03.457
  • Happening with mary.
  • 00:24:03.457 --> 00:24:04.825
  • I would submit to you it's the reason she hurried off to see
  • 00:24:04.825 --> 00:24:07.027
  • Aunt elizabeth immediately after the announcement of the angel.
  • 00:24:07.027 --> 00:24:10.731
  • It's easier to process that at a distance.
  • 00:24:10.731 --> 00:24:15.002
  • But joseph, you're pretty vulnerable; there's a sense
  • 00:24:15.002 --> 00:24:17.404
  • Of rejection.
  • 00:24:17.404 --> 00:24:20.007
  • "you're what?"
  • 00:24:20.007 --> 00:24:21.342
  • It's humiliating.
  • 00:24:21.342 --> 00:24:24.111
  • And i want to suggest that those things typically have to be
  • 00:24:24.111 --> 00:24:27.448
  • Navigated in the midst of a breakthrough.
  • 00:24:27.448 --> 00:24:31.652
  • Breakthroughs, when god intervenes, it's typically not
  • 00:24:31.652 --> 00:24:34.021
  • That all the people around you-- the secularists and everybody--
  • 00:24:34.021 --> 00:24:36.757
  • Go, "oh, that is so awesome."
  • 00:24:36.757 --> 00:24:40.828
  • That hasn't been my experience.
  • 00:24:40.828 --> 00:24:43.631
  • There's always some loud skeptics.
  • 00:24:43.631 --> 00:24:45.299
  • "why are you doing that?
  • 00:24:45.299 --> 00:24:48.769
  • How come you can do that?
  • 00:24:48.769 --> 00:24:50.104
  • I've never seen that before.
  • 00:24:50.104 --> 00:24:51.472
  • That's not the way we did it.
  • 00:24:51.472 --> 00:24:53.474
  • I don't know if i like that."
  • 00:24:53.474 --> 00:24:57.978
  • You're going--you're living through it thinking, "i'm not
  • 00:24:57.978 --> 00:25:00.214
  • Even doing it.
  • 00:25:00.214 --> 00:25:01.582
  • If god weren't helping, it's not happening."
  • 00:25:01.582 --> 00:25:06.186
  • Are you willing to say yes to a breakthrough?
  • 00:25:06.186 --> 00:25:10.824
  • What did the angel say to joseph?
  • 00:25:10.824 --> 00:25:12.693
  • "don't be afraid to take mary home as your wife."
  • 00:25:12.693 --> 00:25:15.095
  • What do you think is at the heart of the problem?
  • 00:25:15.095 --> 00:25:18.432
  • "i'm not taking her home."
  • 00:25:18.432 --> 00:25:25.406
  • The fourth observation i would give you is that breakthroughs
  • 00:25:25.406 --> 00:25:27.675
  • Are about the purposes of god.
  • 00:25:27.675 --> 00:25:31.879
  • See, we start asking typically because we know what we want.
  • 00:25:31.879 --> 00:25:35.749
  • But the real interventions of god are about the purposes of
  • 00:25:35.749 --> 00:25:40.421
  • God more than they're about what i want.
  • 00:25:40.421 --> 00:25:44.491
  • That'll be another session, but i could give you a litany of
  • 00:25:44.491 --> 00:25:50.230
  • Examples from my own life and my experience with other people,
  • 00:25:50.230 --> 00:25:52.900
  • Breakthroughs that were far more about the purposes of god.
  • 00:25:52.900 --> 00:25:58.105
  • In this particular case, the message from gabriel was, "you
  • 00:25:58.105 --> 00:26:01.008
  • Give this child the name jesus."
  • 00:26:01.008 --> 00:26:04.678
  • "well, that seals it; everybody will know he's not mine."
  • 00:26:04.678 --> 00:26:10.384
  • "well, it really isn't about you, joe.
  • 00:26:10.384 --> 00:26:13.654
  • You name him jesus."
  • 00:26:13.654 --> 00:26:16.790
  • Allen: you know, i don't believe the primary objective in reading
  • 00:26:21.028 --> 00:26:24.064
  • Our bible or even the pursuit of our faith is informational.
  • 00:26:24.064 --> 00:26:27.534
  • I like to learn, but i believe the ultimate objective
  • 00:26:27.534 --> 00:26:29.903
  • Is transformation.
  • 00:26:29.903 --> 00:26:31.772
  • We've got a tool, i think it'll help, it's called "lessons
  • 00:26:31.772 --> 00:26:34.008
  • From paul."
  • 00:26:34.008 --> 00:26:35.342
  • The apostle paul is one of my heroes.
  • 00:26:35.342 --> 00:26:37.011
  • In the face of unyielding persecution and opposition, some
  • 00:26:37.011 --> 00:26:40.581
  • Tremendous physical suffering, just awful things, multiple
  • 00:26:40.581 --> 00:26:44.618
  • Assassination attempts, he remains unflinching in his
  • 00:26:44.618 --> 00:26:48.555
  • Advocacy for jesus of nazareth.
  • 00:26:48.555 --> 00:26:50.224
  • He knows the power of god.
  • 00:26:50.224 --> 00:26:51.592
  • It says god did extraordinary miracles through paul.
  • 00:26:51.592 --> 00:26:54.762
  • Well, i wanna learn those lessons.
  • 00:26:54.762 --> 00:26:56.130
  • I wanna be transformed by them, so i can stand in this season
  • 00:26:56.130 --> 00:26:59.500
  • For the purposes of god in my life.
  • 00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:01.068
  • So, we put together this devotional, it's 90 days, some
  • 00:27:01.068 --> 00:27:03.937
  • Portions from paul that are favorites of mine, some
  • 00:27:03.937 --> 00:27:06.707
  • Journaling space, some prayers.
  • 00:27:06.707 --> 00:27:08.342
  • It'll help us be changed.
  • 00:27:08.342 --> 00:27:10.210
  • I wanna pray for you that these 90 days will be transformational
  • 00:27:10.210 --> 00:27:13.213
  • In your life.
  • 00:27:13.213 --> 00:27:14.581
  • Father, help us not just be hearers but to be doers of
  • 00:27:14.581 --> 00:27:16.817
  • Your word.
  • 00:27:16.817 --> 00:27:18.152
  • May the spirit of god bring transformation to each of us.
  • 00:27:18.152 --> 00:27:21.088
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:21.088 --> 00:27:27.194