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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Breakthrough: The Lord Is With You (Part 2)

May 22, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - Breakthrough: The Lord Is With You (Part 2)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Breakthrough #Wisdom #Challenges #WordofGod #Past #Prayer #Struggle #Journey #Victory #Faith #Stress #Glory #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Breakthrough: The Lord Is With You (Part 2) | May 22, 2026
  • ...
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  • Allen jackson: one of my heroes in the bible is saul of tarsus.
  • 00:00:01.950 --> 00:00:04.853
  • He becomes the apostle paul.
  • 00:00:04.987 --> 00:00:06.221
  • I know you know his story.
  • 00:00:06.355 --> 00:00:08.157
  • He's written two thirds of our new testament by title.
  • 00:00:08.290 --> 00:00:09.258
  • One of the most remarkable characters we meet in all of the
  • 00:00:12.361 --> 00:00:14.630
  • Scripture, he was a pharisee with a remarkable education,
  • 00:00:14.630 --> 00:00:17.833
  • Brilliant mind, and he hated jesus and jesus followers until
  • 00:00:17.833 --> 00:00:22.571
  • He met jesus one day.
  • 00:00:22.571 --> 00:00:23.939
  • He's on the road to damascus, and jesus interrupts his life,
  • 00:00:23.939 --> 00:00:27.509
  • And he becomes the apostle paul, one of the most powerful voices
  • 00:00:27.509 --> 00:00:31.380
  • For jesus that history has ever known.
  • 00:00:31.380 --> 00:00:34.216
  • We put together a 90-day devotional.
  • 00:00:34.216 --> 00:00:36.151
  • It's "lessons from paul."
  • 00:00:36.151 --> 00:00:38.020
  • I'm still learning from paul, and
  • 00:00:38.020 --> 00:00:39.521
  • I just wanted to share it with you.
  • 00:00:39.521 --> 00:00:40.856
  • There's a little--there's a scripture verse, there's a bit
  • 00:00:40.856 --> 00:00:42.925
  • Of a devotional, there's a place for some journaling.
  • 00:00:42.925 --> 00:00:45.394
  • It's really intended to provide some direction so that you and i
  • 00:00:45.394 --> 00:00:48.163
  • Become overcomers, overcomers of our past, overcomers of the
  • 00:00:48.163 --> 00:00:51.834
  • Opposition in the present.
  • 00:00:51.834 --> 00:00:53.635
  • Doesn't matter what the adversary is.
  • 00:00:53.635 --> 00:00:55.170
  • The power of god that delivered paul, he'll deliver you and me.
  • 00:00:55.170 --> 00:00:58.674
  • I believe you'll enjoy "lessons from paul."
  • 00:00:58.674 --> 00:01:04.246
  • Allen: if you'll allow me-- i know it's in the bible
  • 00:01:08.350 --> 00:01:10.552
  • And it's a wonderful story and we celebrate mary and
  • 00:01:10.552 --> 00:01:12.688
  • Joseph and they're in our pageants
  • 00:01:12.688 --> 00:01:15.390
  • And they're venerated because we're looking back on them from
  • 00:01:15.390 --> 00:01:17.826
  • Two millennia's perspective.
  • 00:01:17.826 --> 00:01:20.729
  • But i would submit to you, if you were involved in that, if it
  • 00:01:20.729 --> 00:01:23.365
  • Was your name on the invitation that had been mailed out, or if
  • 00:01:23.365 --> 00:01:27.369
  • It was your child in the midst of that set of circumstances, i
  • 00:01:27.369 --> 00:01:32.574
  • Think the most appropriate--one of the most appropriate words i
  • 00:01:32.574 --> 00:01:35.444
  • Could find would be disappointment.
  • 00:01:35.444 --> 00:01:39.281
  • Joseph, i assure you, was disappointed in mary, or he
  • 00:01:39.281 --> 00:01:41.850
  • Would not have needed the visit from the angel.
  • 00:01:41.850 --> 00:01:46.889
  • Mary's words to him were not sufficient.
  • 00:01:46.889 --> 00:01:51.193
  • He understands the circumstance, he's very well versed in it.
  • 00:01:51.193 --> 00:01:54.530
  • He's decided he's not going forward with the commitment.
  • 00:01:54.530 --> 00:01:59.368
  • So mary's words to him were not sufficient.
  • 00:01:59.368 --> 00:02:04.306
  • The disappointment in him is more real than her assertion
  • 00:02:04.306 --> 00:02:10.078
  • That it's supernatural.
  • 00:02:10.078 --> 00:02:14.650
  • Is that fair?
  • 00:02:14.650 --> 00:02:15.984
  • I've done no injustice to the text.
  • 00:02:15.984 --> 00:02:18.453
  • So what i'm going to suggest to you is that disappointment in
  • 00:02:18.453 --> 00:02:21.356
  • My life or your life, as it was in joseph's life, could be a
  • 00:02:21.356 --> 00:02:27.196
  • Signpost for a breakthrough.
  • 00:02:27.196 --> 00:02:31.733
  • You know what a disappointment is?
  • 00:02:31.733 --> 00:02:33.135
  • If we break the word down, that little prefix "dis" d-i-s
  • 00:02:33.135 --> 00:02:35.938
  • Means "without."
  • 00:02:35.938 --> 00:02:37.806
  • A "disappointment" is an appointment that shows up that
  • 00:02:37.806 --> 00:02:41.343
  • You didn't have on your calendar.
  • 00:02:41.343 --> 00:02:45.080
  • "oh, i didn't want that.
  • 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:47.916
  • I didn't want to make time for that.
  • 00:02:47.916 --> 00:02:50.919
  • I didn't wanna have to deal with that.
  • 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:54.022
  • I wasn't planning on this."
  • 00:02:54.022 --> 00:02:56.225
  • That's a disappointment.
  • 00:02:56.225 --> 00:03:01.363
  • Matthew puts it this way, "mary was found to be with child."
  • 00:03:01.363 --> 00:03:07.569
  • It's really disappointing, if you know it's not your child.
  • 00:03:07.569 --> 00:03:13.208
  • So here's my question: are we willing to turn our faces to the
  • 00:03:13.208 --> 00:03:17.312
  • Lord and, "lord, they say there's some disappointments in
  • 00:03:17.312 --> 00:03:19.214
  • My life, this christmas season.
  • 00:03:19.214 --> 00:03:21.583
  • There's some things i'm not really just--wouldn't have been
  • 00:03:21.583 --> 00:03:25.053
  • The way i scheduled it.
  • 00:03:25.053 --> 00:03:26.388
  • It wouldn't have been the way i had planned it.
  • 00:03:26.388 --> 00:03:27.756
  • It wasn't what i had dreamt of, but i believe you're moving and
  • 00:03:27.756 --> 00:03:34.296
  • I wanna follow you.
  • 00:03:34.296 --> 00:03:38.600
  • I don't want a--
  • 00:03:38.600 --> 00:03:41.637
  • I want to follow you."
  • 00:03:41.637 --> 00:03:44.106
  • See, i'm pretty certain that in this circumstance, at least a
  • 00:03:44.106 --> 00:03:47.009
  • Part of what's going through joseph is if you feel pretty
  • 00:03:47.009 --> 00:03:49.278
  • Vulnerable, the community knows.
  • 00:03:49.278 --> 00:03:50.846
  • Nazareth is a town of 1500 or fewer people in the time that
  • 00:03:50.846 --> 00:03:55.851
  • They were there.
  • 00:03:55.851 --> 00:03:58.053
  • It's a small community.
  • 00:03:58.053 --> 00:04:00.055
  • They all know about the intentions of mary and joseph,
  • 00:04:00.055 --> 00:04:03.392
  • And there's not really any way to hide
  • 00:04:03.392 --> 00:04:05.327
  • What's happening with mary.
  • 00:04:05.327 --> 00:04:06.662
  • I would submit to you it's the reason she hurried off to see
  • 00:04:06.662 --> 00:04:09.197
  • Aunt elizabeth, immediately
  • 00:04:09.197 --> 00:04:11.566
  • After the announcement of the angel.
  • 00:04:11.566 --> 00:04:12.901
  • It's easier to process that at a distance.
  • 00:04:12.901 --> 00:04:17.205
  • But joseph, you're pretty vulnerable.
  • 00:04:17.205 --> 00:04:19.141
  • There's a sense of rejection.
  • 00:04:19.141 --> 00:04:22.244
  • "you're what?"
  • 00:04:22.244 --> 00:04:23.612
  • It's humiliating.
  • 00:04:23.612 --> 00:04:26.315
  • And i want to suggest that those things typically have to be
  • 00:04:26.315 --> 00:04:29.618
  • Navigated in the midst of a breakthrough.
  • 00:04:29.618 --> 00:04:33.822
  • Breakthrough is when god intervenes, it's typically not
  • 00:04:33.822 --> 00:04:36.124
  • That all the people around you, the seculars and everybody go,
  • 00:04:36.124 --> 00:04:39.328
  • "oh, that is so awesome."
  • 00:04:39.328 --> 00:04:43.031
  • That hasn't been my experience.
  • 00:04:43.031 --> 00:04:45.934
  • There's always some loud skeptics.
  • 00:04:45.934 --> 00:04:47.536
  • "well, why are you doing that?
  • 00:04:47.536 --> 00:04:51.006
  • How come you could do that?
  • 00:04:51.006 --> 00:04:52.341
  • I've never seen that before, that's not the way we did it.
  • 00:04:52.341 --> 00:04:55.744
  • Don't know if i like that!"
  • 00:04:55.744 --> 00:05:00.816
  • You're living through it thinking, "i'm
  • 00:05:00.816 --> 00:05:02.150
  • Not even doing it!
  • 00:05:02.150 --> 00:05:03.485
  • If god weren't helping, it's not happening."
  • 00:05:03.485 --> 00:05:08.290
  • Are you willing to say yes to a breakthrough?
  • 00:05:08.290 --> 00:05:12.994
  • What did the angels say to joseph?
  • 00:05:12.994 --> 00:05:14.896
  • "don't be afraid to take mary home as your wife."
  • 00:05:14.896 --> 00:05:17.299
  • What do you think is at the heart of the problem?
  • 00:05:17.299 --> 00:05:20.702
  • "i'm not taking her home."
  • 00:05:20.702 --> 00:05:27.509
  • The fourth observation i would give you is the breakthroughs
  • 00:05:27.509 --> 00:05:29.845
  • Are about the purposes of god.
  • 00:05:29.845 --> 00:05:34.082
  • See, we start asking typically because we know what we want.
  • 00:05:34.082 --> 00:05:37.919
  • But the real interventions, the real interventions of god are
  • 00:05:37.919 --> 00:05:41.590
  • About the purposes of god more than they're about what i want.
  • 00:05:41.590 --> 00:05:46.695
  • That'll be another session, but i could give you a litany of
  • 00:05:46.695 --> 00:05:52.434
  • Examples from my own life and my experience with other people.
  • 00:05:52.434 --> 00:05:55.137
  • Breakthroughs that were far more about the purposes of god.
  • 00:05:55.137 --> 00:06:00.342
  • In this particular case, the message from gabriel was, "you
  • 00:06:00.342 --> 00:06:03.211
  • Give this child the name jesus."
  • 00:06:03.211 --> 00:06:06.815
  • "well, that seals it.
  • 00:06:06.815 --> 00:06:09.518
  • Everybody will know he's not mine!"
  • 00:06:09.518 --> 00:06:14.756
  • "well it really isn't about you, joe.
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  • You name him jesus.
  • 00:06:17.993 --> 00:06:25.066
  • Ask mary about uncle zachariah, what he said since i talked to
  • 00:06:25.066 --> 00:06:27.969
  • Him last."
  • 00:06:27.969 --> 00:06:34.543
  • That's a pretty startling thing.
  • 00:06:34.543 --> 00:06:38.046
  • This isn't about you.
  • 00:06:38.046 --> 00:06:40.482
  • "well, you've got a role to play, we need your strength, we
  • 00:06:40.482 --> 00:06:43.118
  • Need you to participate, we need you to step up.
  • 00:06:43.118 --> 00:06:48.356
  • But if you think this is just about you, you're
  • 00:06:48.356 --> 00:06:50.559
  • Not understanding."
  • 00:06:50.559 --> 00:06:51.993
  • You see, the narrowest possible imagination of a breakthrough
  • 00:06:51.993 --> 00:06:55.664
  • Is, "it's just for me, this is what i want.
  • 00:06:55.664 --> 00:06:58.867
  • It's what i wanna do and the way i want it to happen and
  • 00:06:58.867 --> 00:07:01.870
  • This was the scenario i imagined and this is how i
  • 00:07:01.870 --> 00:07:04.072
  • Wanna be treated and this is how i wanna be perceived."
  • 00:07:04.072 --> 00:07:11.813
  • I don't find most of the breakthroughs are about that.
  • 00:07:11.813 --> 00:07:14.382
  • I think when saul of tarsus had his breakthrough on the road to
  • 00:07:14.382 --> 00:07:18.186
  • Damascus, he lost almost all of his friends.
  • 00:07:18.186 --> 00:07:22.190
  • And those who are going to be his new friends are too afraid
  • 00:07:22.190 --> 00:07:24.192
  • To talk to him.
  • 00:07:24.192 --> 00:07:27.229
  • He is very isolated, lots of rejection cascading over him, in
  • 00:07:27.229 --> 00:07:31.233
  • The midst of god's breakthrough in his life.
  • 00:07:31.233 --> 00:07:38.006
  • I think maybe the most startling to me in this is that joseph
  • 00:07:38.006 --> 00:07:41.776
  • Said yes.
  • 00:07:41.776 --> 00:07:44.446
  • Joseph said yes.
  • 00:07:44.446 --> 00:07:46.982
  • Joseph said yes!
  • 00:07:46.982 --> 00:07:53.455
  • I read that and i think, "wow.
  • 00:07:53.455 --> 00:07:56.625
  • I just--well, i'm gonna need, like, quadruple confirmation."
  • 00:07:56.625 --> 00:08:05.100
  • I think it's also safe to say that breakthroughs initiate
  • 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:07.335
  • A journey.
  • 00:08:07.335 --> 00:08:10.171
  • That frequently, with the biblical narratives and in our
  • 00:08:10.171 --> 00:08:13.008
  • Own experiences, frequently you cannot see or imagine
  • 00:08:13.008 --> 00:08:16.077
  • The outcome.
  • 00:08:16.077 --> 00:08:18.613
  • I'm pretty certain that at the point that joseph and mary had
  • 00:08:18.613 --> 00:08:21.216
  • That angelic visit that they didn't understand all that was
  • 00:08:21.216 --> 00:08:25.353
  • In front of them.
  • 00:08:25.353 --> 00:08:27.923
  • I assure you the expectation from messiah in the first
  • 00:08:27.923 --> 00:08:30.892
  • Century at that point in time was not of someone who's going
  • 00:08:30.892 --> 00:08:33.895
  • To be crucified by romans.
  • 00:08:33.895 --> 00:08:36.598
  • It was a political leader, a military leader, a deliverer,
  • 00:08:36.598 --> 00:08:40.535
  • More from the book of judges, more of a character like gideon
  • 00:08:40.535 --> 00:08:43.238
  • Or samson or king david.
  • 00:08:43.238 --> 00:08:46.374
  • Somebody who's gonna change the narrative of authority and the
  • 00:08:46.374 --> 00:08:49.878
  • Expression of power.
  • 00:08:49.878 --> 00:08:52.147
  • And then there'll be a liberty that comes to our people.
  • 00:08:52.147 --> 00:08:54.783
  • And so if you're going to be engaged in the emergence of
  • 00:08:54.783 --> 00:08:58.320
  • Messiah, this is like a parade.
  • 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:03.792
  • That was the idea.
  • 00:09:03.792 --> 00:09:05.160
  • It was so ingrained, it's what resulted--it really
  • 00:09:05.160 --> 00:09:07.696
  • Contributed mightily to the crucifixion of jesus.
  • 00:09:07.696 --> 00:09:10.966
  • So when mary and joseph as teenagers here, you're gonna be
  • 00:09:10.966 --> 00:09:13.735
  • In on this drama.
  • 00:09:13.735 --> 00:09:15.537
  • "wow, we'll get seats in the palace."
  • 00:09:15.537 --> 00:09:23.878
  • They couldn't see the end of it.
  • 00:09:23.878 --> 00:09:25.246
  • Are you willing to say yes to the lord when you understand you
  • 00:09:25.246 --> 00:09:29.985
  • Can't see the end of it.
  • 00:09:29.985 --> 00:09:33.154
  • You know the old analogy: you land on a desert island, and if
  • 00:09:33.154 --> 00:09:35.824
  • You want to display your commitment to your new location,
  • 00:09:35.824 --> 00:09:39.728
  • You burned the boats.
  • 00:09:39.728 --> 00:09:42.597
  • And you've eliminated any possibility of escape.
  • 00:09:42.597 --> 00:09:46.635
  • I want to ask you to consider, in the serving of the lord, have
  • 00:09:46.635 --> 00:09:50.005
  • You ever come to the point where you're willing to burn
  • 00:09:50.005 --> 00:09:51.840
  • The boats?
  • 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:54.509
  • Or do you keep your escape hatches open, just in case this
  • 00:09:54.509 --> 00:09:59.347
  • God thing didn't work out the way i thought it would.
  • 00:09:59.347 --> 00:10:02.817
  • You've ever pushed the chips into the middle of the table and
  • 00:10:02.817 --> 00:10:05.220
  • Say, "listen, i'm all in with this."
  • 00:10:05.220 --> 00:10:09.057
  • 'cause i'm pretty certain that's what mary and joseph were doing.
  • 00:10:09.057 --> 00:10:12.427
  • And they couldn't see the outcome.
  • 00:10:12.427 --> 00:10:15.130
  • You see some little glimpses of it.
  • 00:10:15.130 --> 00:10:16.831
  • It's when jesus is 12 and they they lose him, and they find him
  • 00:10:16.831 --> 00:10:21.169
  • After several days and he's in the temple, having discussions
  • 00:10:21.169 --> 00:10:23.805
  • With the scholars, and they're completely confused by that.
  • 00:10:23.805 --> 00:10:27.308
  • They weren't prepared for that or there's a different--there's
  • 00:10:27.308 --> 00:10:29.911
  • A bit of a scene change when mary's at the wedding and cana,
  • 00:10:29.911 --> 00:10:32.180
  • And they're out of wine, and she says to the servants, "just do
  • 00:10:32.180 --> 00:10:34.549
  • Whatever he tells you.
  • 00:10:34.549 --> 00:10:38.286
  • Just whatever he tells you to do, listen to him."
  • 00:10:38.286 --> 00:10:44.392
  • Or at the cross, mary's standing at the foot of the cross.
  • 00:10:44.392 --> 00:10:48.630
  • I cannot imagine.
  • 00:10:48.630 --> 00:10:50.065
  • I don't have a broad enough emotional spectrum to paint a
  • 00:10:50.065 --> 00:10:54.536
  • Picture for you of that.
  • 00:10:54.536 --> 00:10:55.870
  • I can't imagine.
  • 00:10:55.870 --> 00:10:59.541
  • Seeing jesus beaten in the way he's been beaten and watching
  • 00:10:59.541 --> 00:11:02.477
  • Him being tortured in public, and through the haze of the
  • 00:11:02.477 --> 00:11:06.147
  • Pain, jesus looks down at mary, and john, and says, "behold
  • 00:11:06.147 --> 00:11:12.387
  • Your son."
  • 00:11:12.387 --> 00:11:15.523
  • And to john, "behold your mother."
  • 00:11:15.523 --> 00:11:20.095
  • I promise you, when gabriel came to visit mary as a teenage
  • 00:11:20.095 --> 00:11:24.699
  • Girl in nazareth, she didn't see that.
  • 00:11:24.699 --> 00:11:34.442
  • See, i think we abort breakthroughs.
  • 00:11:34.442 --> 00:11:38.279
  • I think we hit stop.
  • 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:41.816
  • There--you know, you get that little thing that's scrolling,
  • 00:11:41.816 --> 00:11:44.919
  • Does that annoy you as much as it annoys me?
  • 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:47.756
  • I think that little thing mocks me.
  • 00:11:47.756 --> 00:11:50.925
  • It's like you've done something wrong and there's no outcome.
  • 00:11:50.925 --> 00:11:55.096
  • You think, "well, i'll be patient for another 60 seconds,"
  • 00:11:55.096 --> 00:11:57.365
  • And it keeps scrolling.
  • 00:11:57.365 --> 00:11:59.701
  • When i call somebody smart and they'll say, "well, have
  • 00:11:59.701 --> 00:12:01.636
  • You rebooted?"
  • 00:12:01.636 --> 00:12:04.305
  • I got a boot for you, come over here.
  • 00:12:04.305 --> 00:12:09.544
  • Well, i'm pretty certain that, in my life, i've hit abort on
  • 00:12:09.544 --> 00:12:14.516
  • Some breakthroughs that god would have put in front of me
  • 00:12:14.516 --> 00:12:19.354
  • Because i didn't want to wait or i couldn't see an outcome,
  • 00:12:19.354 --> 00:12:22.423
  • And i wanted more instant gratification.
  • 00:12:22.423 --> 00:12:26.661
  • Breakthroughs initiate a journey, but you typically can't
  • 00:12:26.661 --> 00:12:29.230
  • See the outcome.
  • 00:12:29.230 --> 00:12:32.734
  • Allen: hey, "lessons from paul" is a 90-devotional.
  • 00:12:36.771 --> 00:12:39.974
  • Some of my favorite verses that paul wrote, bit of devotional
  • 00:12:39.974 --> 00:12:44.078
  • Time, and then some place to journal.
  • 00:12:44.078 --> 00:12:46.614
  • The goal is to be changed.
  • 00:12:46.614 --> 00:12:47.982
  • We want to be transformed by the word of god and not just
  • 00:12:47.982 --> 00:12:50.218
  • Informed by it.
  • 00:12:50.218 --> 00:12:51.886
  • Saul of tarsus, a hero of mine-- i got to know him as the apostle
  • 00:12:51.886 --> 00:12:54.556
  • Paul--an unrelenting advocate for jesus in the face of
  • 00:12:54.556 --> 00:12:58.092
  • Unyielding persecution.
  • 00:12:58.092 --> 00:13:00.228
  • Folks, that sounds like the world we live in.
  • 00:13:00.228 --> 00:13:02.230
  • "lessons from paul" will help you and i be overcomers,
  • 00:13:02.230 --> 00:13:04.899
  • Triumphant in this season in the earth.
  • 00:13:04.899 --> 00:13:07.335
  • You'll enjoy the book.
  • 00:13:07.335 --> 00:13:08.870
  • Female announcer: following jesus isn't always easy, but you
  • 00:13:08.870 --> 00:13:11.439
  • Don't have to walk through it alone.
  • 00:13:11.439 --> 00:13:13.474
  • The same power that transformed paul is available to you today.
  • 00:13:13.474 --> 00:13:18.179
  • "lessons from paul" by pastor allen is a 90-day devotional
  • 00:13:18.179 --> 00:13:21.716
  • Filled with scripture, encouragement, and journaling
  • 00:13:21.716 --> 00:13:24.853
  • Prompts and space to write, helping you apply each day's
  • 00:13:24.853 --> 00:13:28.523
  • Reading to your actual life.
  • 00:13:28.523 --> 00:13:30.992
  • Request your copy with your gift of $25 or more at
  • 00:13:30.992 --> 00:13:35.063
  • Allenjackson.com or call...
  • 00:13:35.063 --> 00:13:40.435
  • Allen: i gotta wrap it up, so let's do this quickly.
  • 00:13:41.603 --> 00:13:44.339
  • Breakthroughs are the fulfillment of god's promises.
  • 00:13:44.339 --> 00:13:47.675
  • I want to say it again, it's really important: breakthroughs
  • 00:13:47.675 --> 00:13:49.811
  • Of the fulfillment of god's promises.
  • 00:13:49.811 --> 00:13:52.814
  • I could develop that with quite a bit of complexity from
  • 00:13:52.814 --> 00:13:56.184
  • Scripture, but i'll give you one passage.
  • 00:13:56.184 --> 00:13:57.719
  • 2 peter 1.
  • 00:13:57.719 --> 00:13:59.487
  • This is the fisherman that jesus recruited.
  • 00:13:59.487 --> 00:14:01.422
  • He said, "he's given us his very great and precious promises, so
  • 00:14:01.422 --> 00:14:04.959
  • That through them you may participate in the divine nature
  • 00:14:04.959 --> 00:14:07.395
  • And escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
  • 00:14:07.395 --> 00:14:11.199
  • How do we escape evil and the corruption it brings in
  • 00:14:11.199 --> 00:14:14.068
  • Our world?
  • 00:14:14.068 --> 00:14:15.470
  • He told you: through the promises of god.
  • 00:14:15.470 --> 00:14:20.475
  • You see, the exodus generation were given a promised land, a
  • 00:14:20.475 --> 00:14:24.212
  • Space on terra firma that belonged to them and their
  • 00:14:24.212 --> 00:14:26.881
  • Children and the generations who came after them forever.
  • 00:14:26.881 --> 00:14:29.918
  • It's printed in the book, and it still frustrates the nations of
  • 00:14:29.918 --> 00:14:32.954
  • The earth.
  • 00:14:32.954 --> 00:14:35.490
  • Well, god didn't give to you and me a piece of ground.
  • 00:14:35.490 --> 00:14:38.860
  • He didn't give us a promised land, but our existence and our
  • 00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:43.031
  • Journey through time is the land of god's promises.
  • 00:14:43.031 --> 00:14:48.903
  • Which means you'll have to take some time and energy to get to
  • 00:14:48.903 --> 00:14:51.739
  • Know the promises of god.
  • 00:14:51.739 --> 00:14:54.876
  • In order to stand against the evil in our community, you got
  • 00:14:54.876 --> 00:14:56.945
  • To read some books that you probably shouldn't read.
  • 00:14:56.945 --> 00:15:00.048
  • 'cause once you read it, you go, "oh, i don't need to be there."
  • 00:15:00.048 --> 00:15:03.751
  • And if you're gonna--if you're going to live in the fulfillment
  • 00:15:03.751 --> 00:15:06.020
  • Of the promises of god, you'll have to spend some time
  • 00:15:06.020 --> 00:15:08.523
  • Searching them, coming to understand them.
  • 00:15:08.523 --> 00:15:11.859
  • They're god's provision for your life.
  • 00:15:11.859 --> 00:15:14.329
  • God's provision for you and me is in his promises.
  • 00:15:14.329 --> 00:15:17.065
  • "i wish i knew what god would do."
  • 00:15:17.065 --> 00:15:18.399
  • He's told you!
  • 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:20.668
  • He's told you.
  • 00:15:20.668 --> 00:15:22.003
  • He said, "i'll never leave you or forsake you."
  • 00:15:22.003 --> 00:15:23.371
  • "well, i feel like he's abandoned me."
  • 00:15:23.371 --> 00:15:24.739
  • Well, your feeling's not accurate.
  • 00:15:24.739 --> 00:15:28.743
  • "well, you can't tell me how i feel."
  • 00:15:28.743 --> 00:15:30.111
  • No, i can't, i can just tell you it's not fully accurate.
  • 00:15:30.111 --> 00:15:33.614
  • "it's real, i can't help how i feel."
  • 00:15:33.614 --> 00:15:37.151
  • I know, but you can just decide which feeling to believe, which
  • 00:15:37.151 --> 00:15:40.788
  • Feeling to act on.
  • 00:15:40.788 --> 00:15:43.891
  • There have been times i didn't feel like preaching.
  • 00:15:43.891 --> 00:15:52.300
  • I just put on the screen, didn't feel like it today.
  • 00:15:52.300 --> 00:15:56.637
  • "yeah, well, that's not a very mature response."
  • 00:15:56.637 --> 00:16:00.975
  • You're right!
  • 00:16:00.975 --> 00:16:03.044
  • And we have incubated some very immature responses to life.
  • 00:16:03.044 --> 00:16:11.119
  • God's provision is in his promises.
  • 00:16:11.119 --> 00:16:13.654
  • Look at luke 7, i can give you some support from jesus's life.
  • 00:16:13.654 --> 00:16:17.759
  • He's talking about john the baptist, and he says, "this is
  • 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:20.061
  • The one about whom it was written.
  • 00:16:20.061 --> 00:16:21.429
  • I'll send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way
  • 00:16:21.429 --> 00:16:24.132
  • Before you.
  • 00:16:24.132 --> 00:16:25.566
  • I tell you, among those born among women, there's no one
  • 00:16:25.566 --> 00:16:27.802
  • Greater than john; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of
  • 00:16:27.802 --> 00:16:29.937
  • God is greater than he."
  • 00:16:29.937 --> 00:16:31.873
  • I'll give you the shorthand on that, 'cause our our time is
  • 00:16:31.873 --> 00:16:34.409
  • Slipping past.
  • 00:16:34.409 --> 00:16:35.810
  • Jesus understood the circumstances surrounding him,
  • 00:16:35.810 --> 00:16:38.880
  • His life, to be the fulfillment of scripture.
  • 00:16:38.880 --> 00:16:43.751
  • I want to say it again, very clearly, i can give you
  • 00:16:43.751 --> 00:16:46.587
  • Multiple passages.
  • 00:16:46.587 --> 00:16:48.256
  • Jesus understood the circumstances surrounding his
  • 00:16:48.256 --> 00:16:51.426
  • Life to be the fulfillment of god's promises.
  • 00:16:51.426 --> 00:16:56.431
  • We should do no less. we should do no less.
  • 00:16:56.431 --> 00:17:03.471
  • Then, finally, it it's the ending that matters.
  • 00:17:07.408 --> 00:17:09.577
  • Breakthroughs are understood in their conclusion, in their
  • 00:17:09.577 --> 00:17:12.313
  • Outworking, not on their finality because they lead to
  • 00:17:12.313 --> 00:17:15.583
  • Other things, but it's when you recognize god has intervened.
  • 00:17:15.583 --> 00:17:20.121
  • And to do that, you have to push through, you have to overcome,
  • 00:17:20.121 --> 00:17:22.857
  • You have to persevere, you have to endure.
  • 00:17:22.857 --> 00:17:25.226
  • All those words that i would rather not.
  • 00:17:25.226 --> 00:17:28.930
  • I've mentioned elizabeth and zachariah and john, their son,
  • 00:17:28.930 --> 00:17:32.366
  • In matthew 14, in verse 9, it says, "the king was distressed,
  • 00:17:32.366 --> 00:17:36.370
  • Because of his oaths and his dinner guest, he ordered that
  • 00:17:36.370 --> 00:17:39.740
  • The request to be granted and he had john beheaded in prison.
  • 00:17:39.740 --> 00:17:44.178
  • His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl,
  • 00:17:44.178 --> 00:17:46.481
  • Who carried it to her mother.
  • 00:17:46.481 --> 00:17:48.816
  • John's disciples came and took his body and buried it.
  • 00:17:48.816 --> 00:17:51.085
  • Then they went to find jesus."
  • 00:17:51.085 --> 00:17:54.422
  • Well, the passage i just read to you, immediately preceding that,
  • 00:17:54.422 --> 00:17:57.425
  • Jesus said "there wasn't anyone greater born among women
  • 00:17:57.425 --> 00:18:00.161
  • Than john."
  • 00:18:00.161 --> 00:18:03.131
  • And herod beheaded him.
  • 00:18:03.131 --> 00:18:06.667
  • Talk about a breakthrough missed.
  • 00:18:06.667 --> 00:18:10.004
  • Herod was intrigued by john, but he wasn't strong enough to stand
  • 00:18:10.004 --> 00:18:14.575
  • Up to the manipulative forces in his life and he would rather
  • 00:18:14.575 --> 00:18:17.178
  • Indulge his pleasures than stand up for what's right.
  • 00:18:17.178 --> 00:18:21.115
  • Gee, that doesn't sound like the 21st century.
  • 00:18:21.115 --> 00:18:28.556
  • And so john's mission was finished.
  • 00:18:28.556 --> 00:18:34.162
  • I don't believe he did something wrong.
  • 00:18:34.162 --> 00:18:37.365
  • 1 corinthians 9 says, "do you not know that in a race all the
  • 00:18:37.365 --> 00:18:40.201
  • Runners run, only one gets the prize.
  • 00:18:40.201 --> 00:18:42.603
  • Run in such a way as to get the prize."
  • 00:18:42.603 --> 00:18:45.039
  • You see, breakthroughs are about us setting apart.
  • 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:49.744
  • Oftentimes from family, from contemporaries, from
  • 00:18:49.744 --> 00:18:52.380
  • Conventional wisdom.
  • 00:18:52.380 --> 00:18:54.282
  • Breakthroughs are about aligning with god.
  • 00:18:54.282 --> 00:18:57.418
  • The messages are often challenging.
  • 00:18:57.418 --> 00:19:01.189
  • God's called you out of the world, not to be indistinct, not
  • 00:19:01.189 --> 00:19:06.360
  • To be so well camouflaged they didn't know you were
  • 00:19:06.360 --> 00:19:08.796
  • A christian.
  • 00:19:08.796 --> 00:19:15.169
  • I've told you, there were seasons in my life i was way
  • 00:19:15.169 --> 00:19:17.638
  • Too undercover.
  • 00:19:17.638 --> 00:19:20.141
  • I grew up in this community, they were very shocked when i
  • 00:19:20.141 --> 00:19:22.743
  • Showed up as a pastor.
  • 00:19:22.743 --> 00:19:25.980
  • I mean, we laugh about it, and i tell it with a bit of a smirk,
  • 00:19:25.980 --> 00:19:29.550
  • But i'm not really proud of it.
  • 00:19:29.550 --> 00:19:33.487
  • I went to the public schools here,
  • 00:19:33.487 --> 00:19:36.390
  • Played on their basketball teams.
  • 00:19:36.390 --> 00:19:39.060
  • That was back when it was about the only option.
  • 00:19:39.060 --> 00:19:41.162
  • We used to actually pray before ball games.
  • 00:19:41.162 --> 00:19:43.664
  • I know that sounds quaint, but we did.
  • 00:19:43.664 --> 00:19:46.567
  • The last game i played at riverdale, they looked at me and
  • 00:19:46.567 --> 00:19:51.205
  • Said, "you pray."
  • 00:19:51.205 --> 00:19:53.407
  • I had never prayed before a game, or at least not in
  • 00:19:53.407 --> 00:19:56.010
  • That year.
  • 00:19:56.010 --> 00:19:58.112
  • And i got done with the prayer and a guy that i'd played ball
  • 00:19:58.112 --> 00:20:00.181
  • With a long time, several years, he looked at me, he said, "dang,
  • 00:20:00.181 --> 00:20:03.517
  • Jackson, i didn't know you knew how to pray."
  • 00:20:03.517 --> 00:20:09.357
  • That's not a compliment.
  • 00:20:09.357 --> 00:20:12.260
  • He knew i'd fight.
  • 00:20:12.260 --> 00:20:16.931
  • He knew i was stubborn.
  • 00:20:16.931 --> 00:20:20.401
  • He knew i'd run till i throw up.
  • 00:20:20.401 --> 00:20:26.874
  • But he didn't have any idea i knew how to pray.
  • 00:20:26.874 --> 00:20:33.314
  • You see, breakthroughs are about a willingness to align yourself
  • 00:20:33.314 --> 00:20:37.251
  • With god.
  • 00:20:37.251 --> 00:20:39.453
  • And we've been coached for a while now, i think, in some
  • 00:20:39.453 --> 00:20:42.356
  • Wrong directions.
  • 00:20:42.356 --> 00:20:48.896
  • Disappointment is not the final evaluation.
  • 00:20:48.896 --> 00:20:51.999
  • God can bring some great victories through
  • 00:20:51.999 --> 00:20:53.434
  • Disappointing circumstances.
  • 00:20:53.434 --> 00:20:55.836
  • Run to get the prize.
  • 00:20:55.836 --> 00:20:57.538
  • At the starting line, we all look good.
  • 00:20:57.538 --> 00:21:00.374
  • New shoes, hair's in place, plenty of oxygen.
  • 00:21:00.374 --> 00:21:07.214
  • At the end of the contest, i'm a mess.
  • 00:21:07.214 --> 00:21:10.851
  • There's usually blood and i can't breathe and my
  • 00:21:10.851 --> 00:21:12.920
  • Shirt's untucked.
  • 00:21:12.920 --> 00:21:15.156
  • My hair is plastered in my head.
  • 00:21:15.156 --> 00:21:16.757
  • I can watch you move, and i sweat.
  • 00:21:16.757 --> 00:21:19.727
  • So if i'm moving, it's just embarrassing.
  • 00:21:19.727 --> 00:21:23.764
  • "run in such a way as to get the prize."
  • 00:21:23.764 --> 00:21:27.835
  • We've treated our faith like it's a photo op.
  • 00:21:27.835 --> 00:21:30.538
  • We want every hair in place.
  • 00:21:30.538 --> 00:21:33.074
  • We want to tell our stories as if we couldn't imagine stress
  • 00:21:33.074 --> 00:21:36.577
  • Or strain.
  • 00:21:36.577 --> 00:21:39.347
  • Discomfort.
  • 00:21:39.347 --> 00:21:41.482
  • "no, i met jesus and every day he's just been filled with
  • 00:21:41.482 --> 00:21:44.018
  • Greater glory than the day before."
  • 00:21:44.018 --> 00:21:48.089
  • I'd hear those stories and go, "well, i haven't met him yet."
  • 00:21:48.089 --> 00:21:56.197
  • I mean, you know the stories, daniel got to go to the lions'
  • 00:21:56.197 --> 00:21:58.666
  • Den, shadrach, meshach, and abednego got to go to a really
  • 00:21:58.666 --> 00:22:01.268
  • Hot furnace, moses had to go talk to pharaoh over and
  • 00:22:01.268 --> 00:22:05.873
  • Over again.
  • 00:22:05.873 --> 00:22:08.976
  • Jesus had to go to the cross.
  • 00:22:08.976 --> 00:22:13.414
  • I mean, it's a long list.
  • 00:22:13.414 --> 00:22:15.182
  • Breakthroughs, and i'll close with this.
  • 00:22:15.182 --> 00:22:16.784
  • Breakthroughs present opportunities for us into
  • 00:22:16.784 --> 00:22:19.854
  • God's purposes.
  • 00:22:19.854 --> 00:22:22.623
  • More than they satisfy our own temporal, or
  • 00:22:22.623 --> 00:22:26.794
  • Temporary, circumstances.
  • 00:22:26.794 --> 00:22:30.131
  • You see, real breakthroughs do more than just satisfy my wants.
  • 00:22:30.131 --> 00:22:35.336
  • They may do that, but they present opportunities to be
  • 00:22:35.336 --> 00:22:39.240
  • Engaged in the purposes of god, and there's no greater
  • 00:22:39.240 --> 00:22:41.809
  • Breakthrough for your life!
  • 00:22:41.809 --> 00:22:44.879
  • You'd rather be engaged in the purposes of god than win the
  • 00:22:44.879 --> 00:22:47.448
  • Lottery, i promise.
  • 00:22:47.448 --> 00:22:54.388
  • Breakthroughs, breakthroughs, breakthroughs.
  • 00:22:54.388 --> 00:22:59.026
  • Let's be like joseph, "yes!"
  • 00:22:59.026 --> 00:23:01.495
  • He said yes!
  • 00:23:01.495 --> 00:23:05.399
  • Mary said it, and it was still somewhat theoretical.
  • 00:23:05.399 --> 00:23:08.335
  • I'm not saying it was easier, she's gonna get stretch marks.
  • 00:23:08.335 --> 00:23:12.473
  • She's got to go find joseph.
  • 00:23:12.473 --> 00:23:15.342
  • She's got an answer.
  • 00:23:15.342 --> 00:23:22.550
  • And then joseph's got his own side of it.
  • 00:23:22.550 --> 00:23:24.518
  • Mary said, "may it be unto me."
  • 00:23:24.518 --> 00:23:26.687
  • And joseph said, "yeah, i'm in too."
  • 00:23:26.687 --> 00:23:30.257
  • We can't do less, folks.
  • 00:23:30.257 --> 00:23:35.129
  • Again, i believe in being the new birth
  • 00:23:35.129 --> 00:23:37.498
  • And conversion, but stop.
  • 00:23:37.498 --> 00:23:41.969
  • These are the covenant people of god, living in the promised
  • 00:23:41.969 --> 00:23:44.872
  • Land, celebrating at the temple.
  • 00:23:44.872 --> 00:23:47.408
  • They've got all the credentials, but god puts something in front
  • 00:23:47.408 --> 00:23:50.478
  • Of them that takes every ounce of courage they have.
  • 00:23:50.478 --> 00:23:54.982
  • Let's decide to be those people.
  • 00:23:54.982 --> 00:23:57.751
  • Breakthroughs, breakthroughs.
  • 00:23:57.751 --> 00:24:02.756
  • Stand with me, we're gonna say yes to the lord.
  • 00:24:02.756 --> 00:24:09.697
  • Don't miss--i believe god heals and delivers and
  • 00:24:13.734 --> 00:24:16.837
  • Restores and renews and provides.
  • 00:24:16.837 --> 00:24:19.273
  • I believe he opens up the windows of heaven and pours
  • 00:24:19.273 --> 00:24:21.108
  • Blessings out on his people.
  • 00:24:21.108 --> 00:24:23.978
  • I believe god toppled goliath, and enabled gideon to overcome
  • 00:24:23.978 --> 00:24:27.882
  • The midianites, and he caused the lions to not be hungry and
  • 00:24:27.882 --> 00:24:32.887
  • The furnace to not be so hot.
  • 00:24:32.887 --> 00:24:35.589
  • And he caused murderous paul--saul to become the
  • 00:24:35.589 --> 00:24:38.292
  • Apostle paul,
  • 00:24:38.292 --> 00:24:40.694
  • Bigmouth peter to become the anchor in the church.
  • 00:24:40.694 --> 00:24:45.666
  • I mean, god changes circumstances and times.
  • 00:24:45.666 --> 00:24:48.369
  • I mean, it's amazing what he will do.
  • 00:24:48.369 --> 00:24:55.209
  • Lord, thank you for your word, for its truth and power
  • 00:24:55.209 --> 00:24:57.845
  • And authority.
  • 00:24:57.845 --> 00:24:59.213
  • Thank you that you've called us to the 21st century, to be men
  • 00:24:59.213 --> 00:25:02.583
  • And women of faith, to take our place in your
  • 00:25:02.583 --> 00:25:05.019
  • Unfolding purposes.
  • 00:25:05.019 --> 00:25:07.254
  • Thank you for a christmas season when we can celebrate the
  • 00:25:07.254 --> 00:25:10.491
  • Faithfulness of those who have preceded us, those men and women
  • 00:25:10.491 --> 00:25:14.428
  • Who said yes to you and allowed your purposes to break
  • 00:25:14.428 --> 00:25:17.031
  • Forth and change generations.
  • 00:25:17.031 --> 00:25:20.834
  • And lord, in humility tonight, we wanna say thank you.
  • 00:25:20.834 --> 00:25:23.270
  • Thank you that, through the blood of jesus, we have been
  • 00:25:23.270 --> 00:25:25.272
  • Delivered out of the hand of the enemy.
  • 00:25:25.272 --> 00:25:27.942
  • Thank you that, through the blood of jesus, our sins have
  • 00:25:27.942 --> 00:25:30.077
  • Been forgiven,
  • 00:25:30.077 --> 00:25:31.412
  • That we've been justified and sanctified and called according
  • 00:25:31.412 --> 00:25:34.381
  • To your purposes.
  • 00:25:34.381 --> 00:25:35.749
  • And now, lord, we want to say yes to you.
  • 00:25:35.749 --> 00:25:39.253
  • We want to say yes to you.
  • 00:25:39.253 --> 00:25:42.089
  • Forgive us where we've been stubborn or unconcerned or
  • 00:25:42.089 --> 00:25:45.326
  • Unwilling to prepare.
  • 00:25:45.326 --> 00:25:47.361
  • Lord, we choose a new path tonight.
  • 00:25:47.361 --> 00:25:51.065
  • We want to be men and women who follow you, who cooperate with
  • 00:25:51.065 --> 00:25:54.902
  • Your spirit, who yield to your direction.
  • 00:25:54.902 --> 00:25:59.707
  • Give us discerning hearts.
  • 00:25:59.707 --> 00:26:02.343
  • Give us understanding and insight.
  • 00:26:02.343 --> 00:26:05.379
  • May the fear of god grow within us.
  • 00:26:05.379 --> 00:26:09.216
  • We thank you for what you're doing
  • 00:26:09.216 --> 00:26:11.852
  • And we want to say yes to you,
  • 00:26:11.852 --> 00:26:14.221
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:26:14.221 --> 00:26:18.125
  • God bless you.
  • 00:26:18.125 --> 00:26:22.429
  • Allen: 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.
  • 00:26:30.337 --> 00:26:32.406
  • When you become a ministry partner with allen jackson
  • 00:26:32.406 --> 00:26:34.675
  • Ministries, you're joining a growing community of believers
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  • Who are committed to strengthening the church and
  • 00:26:38.012 --> 00:26:40.814
  • Sharing god's word through every available channel--
  • 00:26:40.814 --> 00:26:44.084
  • Television, radio, podcast, books, bible studies,
  • 00:26:44.084 --> 00:26:47.488
  • Digital resources, conferences.
  • 00:26:47.488 --> 00:26:50.357
  • Your monthly partnership helps us equip believers to reach new
  • 00:26:50.357 --> 00:26:53.527
  • Audiences, to take the hope of jesus to people who may never
  • 00:26:53.527 --> 00:26:57.431
  • Have heard the gospel otherwise.
  • 00:26:57.431 --> 00:26:59.533
  • Together, we can stand firm in our faith and make god's truth
  • 00:26:59.533 --> 00:27:03.470
  • Known right here at home and around the earth, wherever
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  • God opens a door.
  • 00:27:06.607 --> 00:27:08.008
  • Let's keep gathering his people and building his church until
  • 00:27:08.008 --> 00:27:11.311
  • The day our king returns.
  • 00:27:11.311 --> 00:27:13.547
  • You can find more about becoming a ministry partner
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  • At allenjackson.com/partner.
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