Allen Jackson - The Challenge of Belief

April 2, 2026 | 27:29

Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

#Challenges #Belief #Jesus #Disciples #SecondComing #ReturnofChrist #WalkwithGod #Obedience #Persecution #Truth #Submission #Surrender #Authority #Death #Resurrection #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - The Challenge of Belief | April 2, 2026

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Allen jackson: you know, around the world people are searching
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For truth and together we're doing our very best to help them
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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, digital
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Resources, conferences.
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Your monthly partnership helps us equip believers to reach new
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Audiences and 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 god
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Opens the 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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♪♪♪
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Allen: the topic for the message is "the challenge
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Of belief."
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You know, we live in an age where they tell us we're in a
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Post-christian culture that it's no longer chic to be a christ
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Follower, that we've moved beyond the time when christian
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Values influenced our world.
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I think those making those pronouncements are a little too
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Anxious to push god from the stage of human history.
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I think they discount the authority of the kingdom of god.
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They overlooked the reality of the one that we call lord.
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But i want to take a few minutes and invite you to a posture of
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Belief beyond any that you've ever had before.
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And i want to invite you beyond just a belief that's personal.
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Just about your own individual destiny, but into a belief that
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Would change the direction of a family or a community or a whole
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Family system.
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God is in the life transformation business.
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And i'm gonna walk with you.
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If you'll just follow me, we're gonna go to matthew's gospel and
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Walk with jesus as he's preparing his disciples for
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His suffering.
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He's going to begin to tell them weeks and weeks ahead of time.
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Before they ever get to jerusalem, he's going to tell
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Them what's coming.
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In fact, in your notes, i put up multiple sections from the
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Gospel of matthew.
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There's 4 there, where jesus is delivering the same message.
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I'm not gonna belabor the point, but i didn't want us to miss the
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Frequency with which jesus and the intentionality with which he
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Said to his disciples, what was going to happen when he made
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This last trip to jerusalem.
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They've been to jerusalem with him many times, and there's been
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Some tension.
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They've had to go somewhat covertly.
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They would slip in late.
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If it was a season where there was a big crowd and they
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Would--they had to be careful.
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But this last time when they're going to jerusalem, they're
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Going with pomp and circumstance, they're going with
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A triumphal entry, they're going with the great attention.
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And jesus begins to tell his disciples what's gonna happen.
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Look at matthew 16:21.
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"from that time on jesus began to explain to his disciples that
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He must go to jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands
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Of the elders, the chief priest, and the teachers of the law.
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And that he must be killed and on the third day be raised
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To life."
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That's a pretty plain message.
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It's not ambiguous.
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There's nothing about it that is confusing.
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He said, "i'm going to suffer many things when we get to
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Jerusalem at the hands of the religious authorities.
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And ultimately they'll kill me.
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And i'll be raised to life again."
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It's a startling message.
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This is the first time he said it that directly in matthew's
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Gospel, and peter, when he hears it, he takes jesus aside and he
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Begins to rebuke him and he said, "never, lord!
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This should never happen to you."
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And jesus turned to peter and said, "get behind me, satan!
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You're a stumbling block to me.
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You don't have in mind the things of god, but the things
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Of men."
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You know, peter is an all-in disciple.
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He's left his business, he's reordered his life, he's
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Following jesus, and jesus looks at him three years into this.
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He's not a beginner any longer.
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He's walked on the water.
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And jesus said to him, "you don't have in mind the things
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Of god."
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You know, it's possible for you and me to be way engaged in
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Church life and religious life and still not have the things of
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God in our mind.
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But jesus is trying to tell his best friends, his closest
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Associates, what's coming.
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Matthew 17, the very next chapter, "when they came
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Together in galilee, he said to them, 'the son of man is going
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To be betrayed into the hands of men.
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They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised
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To life.'
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And the disciples were filled with grief."
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They heard him because they had an emotional response.
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They heard his message and their response was one of grief.
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So it isn't that it's gone over their head.
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They're responding to him, not only intellectually, they're
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Responding to him emotionally.
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That'll be more important in just a moment.
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In matthew 20, jesus was going up to jerusalem.
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"he took the twelve disciples aside and he said to them,
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'we're going up to jerusalem, and the son of man will betrayed
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To the chief priest and the teachers of the law.
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They'll condemn him to death and we'll turn him over to the
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Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified.
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On the third day he'll be raised to life.'"
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This is the third time jesus has told them the very same message.
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Is this a slow group?
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Well, i mean, if you read the whole gospel, you might think
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So, but it's an unsettling message.
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It's really an unimaginable message.
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It's repeated again in matthew 26.
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They're in jerusalem now.
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It's the evening of the last supper.
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"when evening came, jesus was reclining at the table with
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The twelve.
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And while they were eating, he said, 'i tell you the
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Truth, one of you will betray me.'
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And they were sad and they began to ask him, 'surely not i.'
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And jesus said, 'no, it's the one who dips your bread into the
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Bowl with me.'"
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This is just matthew's gospel.
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This isn't an overview of the four gospels.
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So there's no conflicting reports.
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It's not multiple reports of the same scenario.
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In this single gospel, multiple times, jesus has most plainly
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Told his disciples what awaited them on this last visit
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To jerusalem.
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His closest friends were clearly told, prepared, warned in
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Matthew's gospel alone, at least four times, and i assure you
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There were multiple times beyond that.
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As matthew is recording the gospel, i believe he repeats
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That message because it left such an impact upon them that
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Jesus told them repeatedly over and over and over again of his
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Passion that awaited them when they arrived in jerusalem.
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The startling part is the disciples don't seem to be able
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To hold the idea.
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If you allow me to give a bit of a diagnostic opinion from a
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Couple of 1,000 years removed, it seems to me that they are
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Spiritually hearing impaired.
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They hear the words, they can process the information, they
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Even have emotional responses, but they're very limited in
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Their ability to hear and to understand.
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And these are the best of the best.
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This is peter and james and john.
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He's gonna entrust john with the book of revelation.
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He's gonna entrust peter with the leadership in the church in
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Jerusalem in those early months and years after his ascension
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Back to heaven.
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They're his hand chosen selected recruits.
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These aren't some disinterested, this isn't the angry mob or the
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Belligerent religious leaders, these are his best friends, and
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They're having a great deal of trouble processing what he's
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Saying to them.
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So i have a question for you.
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Do you think there's any possibility that you and i might
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Have trouble processing the plain presentation of scripture?
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It seems to me there's a high degree of probability that if
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Peter, james, and john in person with jesus had trouble
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Processing what he was saying to them about what was ahead, that
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You and i should be careful because it'll be easy to
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Discount what we're told in scripture.
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I didn't put it in your notes, but i pulled together a very
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Quick summary of some things that we've been told about this
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Season, information that's given to us.
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Jesus said very clearly he would return to the earth as a
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Conquering king and a judge of all.
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He's coming back, folks.
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He is coming back.
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Just as certainly as he was born in a stable in bethlehem, jesus
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Of nazareth is returning to planet earth.
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In fact, he said he's coming back in the same way he left.
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He left from the mount of olives just beside the city
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Of jerusalem.
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He'll return there.
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He's coming back with a different assignment.
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He came the first time to seek and to save those which were
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Lost as the lamb of god in the most innocent of packages, born
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As a baby in a stable in bethlehem, overlooked by the
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Powerful, ignored by the religious leaders.
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The only people really that attended were the shepherds, the
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Lowest social rung on the social spectrum.
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But when he comes back the second time, it says the whole
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World will know.
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That every eye will behold him, that he's coming with the glory
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Of heaven and his powerful angels.
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He's coming as a conquering king.
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He will rule and reign on planet earth.
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That's the plain counsel of scripture.
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The second thing we're told is there's a reward for those who
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Will serve him.
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I'm not too clever, but if the king of all kings and the lord
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Of all lords says he'll reward you if you sign up, i'm in.
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Sometimes we get these, you know, "well, how?
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Do i have to?"
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No, you don't have to.
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It's a choice.
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You've got a free will, but you can.
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You've been foretold, you've been told of the opportunity
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That it will be rewarded and that nothing could diminish
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The reward.
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I would submit to you that's a worthwhile investment.
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Another thing jesus told us is that before he returns, that the
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Earth will be very similar to the days of noah and of lot.
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Now they lived in very different time periods, separated by
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Hundreds of years.
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We meet noah in the early chapters of genesis.
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Darkness, evil had proliferated in the earth to the point that
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God said he had to bring judgment, but he prepared noah
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And his family, and they built an ark.
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I know you know the story.
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You can be marginally acquainted with the bible and know the
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Story of noah.
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And he says, just as it was in the days of noah and lot.
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And then jesus lists a half a dozen activities that
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Were prevalent.
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He said people were marrying and giving in marriage, buying and
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Selling, planting and reaping.
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What's most noticeable is those aren't wicked things.
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He didn't point out the wickedness of noah's generation
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Or of lot's generation.
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He pointed out very routine human behaviors.
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But the similarity between noah and lot is that both of those
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Groups of people were totally unaware of the impending
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Intervention of god.
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Completely unprepared.
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Noah built a boat in the middle of the field, not floating on a
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Local lake.
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He's a preacher of righteousness and nobody wanted to hear
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His sermons.
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Lot was totally unprepared for the angels that arrived to lead
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Him out of the city.
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And one of the overriding characteristics in the earth
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Before the second coming of the lord will be the majority of the
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People will be unaware.
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Don't be in that group.
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Allen: yeah, i have a suggestion.
00:12:00.002 --> 00:12:01.370
Let's stop waiting for somebody else to be a better leader.
00:12:01.370 --> 00:12:03.806
Let's determine this year to lead with faith.
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I've written a book to help.
00:12:06.342 --> 00:12:07.676
It's a practical collection of tools that you and i can use the
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Influence of our lives, faith first in the marketplace, in our
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Homes, with our friends.
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Folks, it's time for us to stop waiting for somebody else to
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Step forward.
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Let's determine to lead with faith.
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We can do that, and i believe we can change our homes, our
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Neighborhoods, our churches, maybe even our nation.
00:12:25.027 --> 00:12:28.130
Female announcer: choosing to lead with faith starts with a
00:12:28.130 --> 00:12:30.366
Simple decision, to be intentional right where you are.
00:12:30.366 --> 00:12:34.003
In his new book "lead with faith," pastor allen shares
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Biblical insight and practical tools to help you live out your
00:12:37.072 --> 00:12:40.342
Faith in meaningful ways every day.
00:12:40.342 --> 00:12:43.245
This book will encourage you to stand for truth with wisdom,
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Clarity, and courage without waiting for someone else to
00:12:46.448 --> 00:12:49.418
Go first.
00:12:49.418 --> 00:12:50.786
Request lead with faith with your gift of $30 or more at
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Allenjackson.com or call ...
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Announcer: we are committed to helping you grow in your faith
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Allen: you see, the invitation to be a christ follower is an
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Invitation to a minority position, to a bit of a
00:13:33.128 --> 00:13:36.765
Different value orientation of your life, a different way to
00:13:36.765 --> 00:13:40.236
Spend your time and your energy and your effort and
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Your resources.
00:13:42.304 --> 00:13:44.006
It's not about just going along with the crowd.
00:13:44.006 --> 00:13:46.041
This easter is the 45th anniversary for
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This congregation.
00:13:48.978 --> 00:13:52.014
Easter 1980 was our first worship service as a community
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Of faith.
00:13:56.085 --> 00:13:57.453
There were 29 people there.
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And i promise you not one of those 29 imagined you.
00:13:59.455 --> 00:14:04.493
And god is moving in the earth in the most remarkable ways
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These days.
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But the invitation to yield your life to the authority of jesus
00:14:08.998 --> 00:14:12.735
Of nazareth will put you in a minority position.
00:14:12.735 --> 00:14:16.872
It's worth it.
00:14:16.872 --> 00:14:18.207
Jesus told us some things about that.
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He said there's a broad path and a wide gate that leads to
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Destruction and it'll be heavily traveled.
00:14:22.144 --> 00:14:24.947
But he said there's a narrow path and a narrow gate, and it
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Will not be heavily traveled, and that leads to life.
00:14:28.417 --> 00:14:32.655
He told us very directly, very plainly, not simply to follow
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Conventional wisdom.
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Don't fully engage in groupthink.
00:14:39.595 --> 00:14:42.965
Be willing to allow almighty god to direct your life on a path
00:14:42.965 --> 00:14:47.603
That will bring some uniqueness to you.
00:14:47.603 --> 00:14:50.439
We're going to talk more about it.
00:14:50.439 --> 00:14:51.807
There's another thing he told us.
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He said we would be hated and persecuted because of our
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Affiliation with jesus.
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Well, you know, i don't like that.
00:14:58.347 --> 00:15:00.082
If i could choose, i'd rather have applause than
00:15:00.082 --> 00:15:02.351
Rotten tomatoes.
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When you people say, "you know, i don't care what people think."
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Oh, stop it.
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We would all rather be accepted than rejected.
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But jesus said that if we identify with him, if we're
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Willing to take his name and begin to walk in obedience to
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Him, that there will be resistance and there'll even be
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Hatred and it will be frequent and widespread, that is the
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Pattern of scripture.
00:15:24.974 --> 00:15:27.676
I'm telling you up front, being a christ follower is not easy.
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It's not simple.
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I'm not talking about sitting in church on the weekend, folks.
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You can sit in church every week and have very little to do with
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Jesus of nazareth.
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I got a membership at a gym that doesn't make me a
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World-class athlete.
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Like, i can tell you how many 100 feet past the gym the donut
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Shop is.
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"there'll be persecution," jesus said.
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And then he told us very clearly that the best possible position
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You could be in when he returns to the earth is that you would
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Be doing his work.
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Be obedient to the truth that you know.
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You don't have to be a hebrew scholar or a greek scholar or
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Have read the original whatevers.
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You have to be obedient to the truth that you know.
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We've had too much sloppy christianity for too long.
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We've imagined that we can reinvent god in our own image,
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And we could look at the boundaries that god gives us and
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The ten commandments, and it's like a smorgasbord.
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We could pick one, three, and seven.
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We don't get to design our faith.
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We submit ourselves to the authority of god.
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Not allen's opinion, folks.
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I'm not the judge, and there should be some great relief
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In that.
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That we've been asked to submit ourselves to the authority of
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Jesus, and when he returns, we want to be busy about
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His business.
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Now i want to look at jesus' friends when they finally got to
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That period in jerusalem when jesus is arrested and betrayed
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And crucified.
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He's told them plainly, we've read it together.
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He couldn't have been more clear, i don't believe they
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Heard him because they've responded with some
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Significant emotion.
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John chapter 20 records for us resurrection day.
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Jesus has been arrested, he's been beaten, he's been tortured
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Completely to death.
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So disfigured, he's barely recognizable.
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And now on resurrection day, it says early on the first day of
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The week.
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It's john 20:1, "while it was still dark, mary magdalene went
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To the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from
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The entrance.
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So she came running to simon peter and the other disciples,
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The one jesus loved, and she said, 'they have taken the lord
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Out of the tomb, and we don't know where they put him.'
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So peter and the other disciples started for the tomb.
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They were both running.
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John outran peter and reached the tomb first.
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And he bent over and went in and looked."
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Did you hear it?
00:17:56.291 --> 00:17:58.560
Mary went to the tomb early on resurrection day and she said,
00:17:58.560 --> 00:18:02.464
"somebody has taken the body."
00:18:02.464 --> 00:18:06.268
Where's he at?
00:18:06.268 --> 00:18:08.504
Well, if you're reading the gospels for the first time, and
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You can read at a third grade level, you're reading along
00:18:11.173 --> 00:18:13.408
Going, he's alive.
00:18:13.408 --> 00:18:17.146
But mary can't process it.
00:18:17.146 --> 00:18:20.182
And she goes back and tells the rest of the disciples and peter
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And john don't believe her.
00:18:23.585 --> 00:18:24.920
That doesn't spark a memory in them.
00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:26.522
It doesn't trigger something.
00:18:26.522 --> 00:18:29.224
And they go running to the tomb for their own inspection, and
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They bend over and they go inside and jesus isn't there and
00:18:32.794 --> 00:18:35.764
There's this question that's percolating through the text.
00:18:35.764 --> 00:18:38.066
It's recorded in all the gospels.
00:18:38.066 --> 00:18:39.801
What have they done with him?
00:18:39.801 --> 00:18:41.170
Where have they hidden him?
00:18:41.170 --> 00:18:42.504
Tell us where you've put him.
00:18:42.504 --> 00:18:44.039
And again, if you're reading this with just marginal
00:18:44.039 --> 00:18:46.341
Comprehension, you're going, what?
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Weren't you listening?
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Same chapter, it's john 20.
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"the disciples went back to their homes, but mary stood
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Outside the tomb crying.
00:19:01.356 --> 00:19:02.724
And as she wept, she bent over to look in the tomb and she saw
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Two angels in white, seated where jesus' body had been, one
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At the head and the other at the foot.
00:19:09.431 --> 00:19:11.833
And they ask her, 'woman, why are you crying?'
00:19:11.833 --> 00:19:14.570
'they've taken my lord away,' she said, 'and i don't know
00:19:14.570 --> 00:19:17.206
Where they put him.'"
00:19:17.206 --> 00:19:18.607
What, maybe jesus recruited from the slow group, i don't know.
00:19:22.744 --> 00:19:28.183
"and at this she turned around and she saw jesus standing
00:19:28.183 --> 00:19:30.786
There, but she didn't realize that it was jesus.
00:19:30.786 --> 00:19:34.623
'woman, why are you crying?
00:19:34.623 --> 00:19:36.124
Who are you looking for?'"
00:19:36.124 --> 00:19:38.227
She thought he was the gardener.
00:19:38.227 --> 00:19:40.629
"'sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've put
00:19:40.629 --> 00:19:43.465
Him, and i will get him.'
00:19:43.465 --> 00:19:45.867
And jesus said to her, 'mary.'"
00:19:45.867 --> 00:19:48.770
Something's happening here.
00:19:52.174 --> 00:19:54.676
The disciples aren't stupid.
00:19:54.676 --> 00:19:57.512
They're not marginally interested in jesus.
00:19:57.512 --> 00:19:59.781
They've reoriented their lives completely to follow him.
00:19:59.781 --> 00:20:04.052
And he's told them in the plainest of terms precisely what
00:20:04.052 --> 00:20:08.590
They have been witnesses to.
00:20:08.590 --> 00:20:11.693
And yet in the midst of all of that, they are unable to process
00:20:11.693 --> 00:20:15.497
What they're experiencing.
00:20:15.497 --> 00:20:18.066
His words of preparation have been lost in the emotions and
00:20:18.066 --> 00:20:21.536
The challenges of the moment.
00:20:21.536 --> 00:20:23.305
The activity is so unsettling.
00:20:23.305 --> 00:20:26.508
It's addled them to the point that they can't process
00:20:26.508 --> 00:20:29.945
The facts.
00:20:29.945 --> 00:20:31.346
They can't bring alignment to what jesus, their best friend,
00:20:31.346 --> 00:20:33.915
Has told them and the experiences that they're walking
00:20:33.915 --> 00:20:37.286
Through in real time.
00:20:37.286 --> 00:20:39.855
If i can borrow a contemporary phrase, i think it's the
00:20:39.855 --> 00:20:42.257
Spiritual equivalent of shock and awe.
00:20:42.257 --> 00:20:45.594
It's left jesus' friends bewildered and inactive.
00:20:45.594 --> 00:20:52.501
I'm gonna give you some action points in a moment, but i think
00:20:52.501 --> 00:20:55.270
The parallel has some very real parallels for us.
00:20:55.270 --> 00:20:59.074
We're living in a season when the church is struggling, church
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With a capital c. not a single congregation.
00:21:03.145 --> 00:21:06.014
There's amazing churches and remarkable churches, but i did
00:21:06.014 --> 00:21:09.685
An interview recently with one of the leading statisticians on
00:21:09.685 --> 00:21:13.855
Evangelicalism in north america.
00:21:13.855 --> 00:21:16.591
And the statistics are very, very unsettling, the
00:21:16.591 --> 00:21:19.394
Diminishment of biblical worldview.
00:21:19.394 --> 00:21:21.863
The engagement in formal gatherings like this.
00:21:21.863 --> 00:21:25.000
I mean, the church is struggling, we're a bit addled.
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.237
It feels pretty biblical to me.
00:21:29.237 --> 00:21:32.607
I think current events have left us in stunned silence.
00:21:32.607 --> 00:21:36.078
The things that are being said in public, the things that we
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Are watching, they're hard to process.
00:21:38.347 --> 00:21:42.017
And we step into our churches and we read our passages from
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The scriptures and we look through the windows of our
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Churches and what's happening out there is so dramatically
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Different than what we're reading and what we've imagined,
00:21:49.858 --> 00:21:52.394
It's hard to assimilate it.
00:21:52.394 --> 00:21:57.065
I could pick almost any aspect of our culture and we could talk
00:21:57.065 --> 00:22:00.469
About it.
00:22:00.469 --> 00:22:01.803
We're being overwhelmed currently with illegal activity,
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And we've been a nation founded upon the rule of law.
00:22:05.407 --> 00:22:09.778
I mean, from our inception until today, the laws haven't always
00:22:09.778 --> 00:22:12.514
Been godly.
00:22:12.514 --> 00:22:13.882
There have been some seasons that were very ungodly, but
00:22:13.882 --> 00:22:15.684
Those principles have bound us together.
00:22:15.684 --> 00:22:18.120
And in recent years, and i don't mean the last two or three or
00:22:18.120 --> 00:22:21.456
Four, but in a broader period, they've been put in a shredder.
00:22:21.456 --> 00:22:26.495
Things that were foundational to our well-being, simple things
00:22:26.495 --> 00:22:29.698
Like the boundaries of a nation.
00:22:29.698 --> 00:22:31.600
I've had the privilege of traveling a good bit, i've got a
00:22:31.600 --> 00:22:33.735
Little blue passport.
00:22:33.735 --> 00:22:36.171
It's necessary for me to enter other countries, and it's
00:22:36.171 --> 00:22:39.007
Necessary for me to re-enter this country.
00:22:39.007 --> 00:22:42.411
I've been in times and places with people who lost
00:22:42.411 --> 00:22:44.546
Their passports.
00:22:44.546 --> 00:22:45.881
It's a problem.
00:22:45.881 --> 00:22:48.417
I've had to go stand in line at consulates to help people get
00:22:48.417 --> 00:22:52.053
Papers to come into the country.
00:22:52.053 --> 00:22:54.322
I've had to find alternative forms.
00:22:54.322 --> 00:22:56.425
It's not a simple thing.
00:22:56.425 --> 00:22:59.094
And in recent years, and it's more than a
00:22:59.094 --> 00:23:00.729
Single administration.
00:23:00.729 --> 00:23:02.631
Whichever side of the political spectrum you stand on, just take
00:23:02.631 --> 00:23:05.333
A deep breath for a moment.
00:23:05.333 --> 00:23:06.701
This isn't politics.
00:23:06.701 --> 00:23:08.036
This is the reality of the world we live in.
00:23:08.036 --> 00:23:09.905
We took our borders down.
00:23:09.905 --> 00:23:11.606
We will lose our freedoms and liberties without that.
00:23:14.676 --> 00:23:19.047
That's not an expression of hatred.
00:23:19.047 --> 00:23:22.050
Any more than locking the doors on your home or not leaving the
00:23:22.050 --> 00:23:24.953
Keys in your car is an expression of hatred.
00:23:24.953 --> 00:23:29.891
And most unsettling, it was facilitated by the people with
00:23:29.891 --> 00:23:32.894
Authority over us.
00:23:32.894 --> 00:23:35.063
And they were telling us it was our imagination.
00:23:35.063 --> 00:23:37.299
We're a nation of immigrants.
00:23:40.268 --> 00:23:42.204
We've been built upon policies of immigration from the nations
00:23:42.204 --> 00:23:45.207
Of the world.
00:23:45.207 --> 00:23:47.709
And it will inform and define our future, but we can do it in
00:23:47.709 --> 00:23:51.079
An orderly process, in a legal process.
00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:55.283
Counseling millions of people to do something illegally as a
00:23:55.283 --> 00:23:59.020
Means of joining us is a very bad precedent to establish.
00:23:59.020 --> 00:24:05.160
Another thing that's not normal that we've been watching for
00:24:05.160 --> 00:24:07.662
Some years now is censorship, the diminishment of free speech.
00:24:07.662 --> 00:24:12.567
You'll be de-platformed, you'll be shut down.
00:24:12.567 --> 00:24:16.938
If somebody disagrees with you, they can say, well, what you
00:24:16.938 --> 00:24:19.307
Said was hateful, and you don't have a right to say that.
00:24:19.307 --> 00:24:22.344
That is not what has brought strength to us as a people.
00:24:22.344 --> 00:24:27.449
It's confusing.
00:24:27.449 --> 00:24:29.117
It's disorienting.
00:24:29.117 --> 00:24:30.619
Recently, they've been uncovering hundreds of billions
00:24:34.256 --> 00:24:37.759
Of dollars, our tax dollars that have been stolen, fraudulently
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:42.130
Directed, wasted.
00:24:42.130 --> 00:24:44.533
While those in authority have been demanding more.
00:24:44.533 --> 00:24:47.936
That's unsettling.
00:24:47.936 --> 00:24:49.271
You think, oh, that can't be true.
00:24:49.271 --> 00:24:51.606
They wouldn't be paying social security benefits to hundreds of
00:24:51.606 --> 00:24:55.043
People that are more than 120 years old.
00:24:55.043 --> 00:24:58.580
They wouldn't be paying unemployment benefits to people
00:24:58.580 --> 00:25:00.849
Not born yet, nobody would do that.
00:25:00.849 --> 00:25:03.818
It's disorienting, you think, well, somebody's making that up.
00:25:03.818 --> 00:25:07.589
And then there's data.
00:25:07.589 --> 00:25:09.991
Then we get mad at the messenger.
00:25:09.991 --> 00:25:11.426
Why would you tell us that?
00:25:11.426 --> 00:25:13.795
It's uncomfortable.
00:25:13.795 --> 00:25:15.797
Our justice system has been weaponized.
00:25:15.797 --> 00:25:19.167
We've had bad seasons of justice in this nation when it
00:25:19.167 --> 00:25:21.903
Was perverted.
00:25:21.903 --> 00:25:23.238
We've worked very diligently to overcome that.
00:25:23.238 --> 00:25:26.341
We've watched something happening in recent years that's
00:25:26.341 --> 00:25:28.610
Very uncomfortable.
00:25:28.610 --> 00:25:30.645
It's not left to those arena, our churches, our denominations,
00:25:30.645 --> 00:25:33.348
Our christian schools and universities have stepped away
00:25:33.348 --> 00:25:36.284
From biblical authority.
00:25:36.284 --> 00:25:38.453
They are boldly, brazenly, frequently, determinedly
00:25:38.453 --> 00:25:42.824
Advocating for false gospels, inserting things like dei
00:25:42.824 --> 00:25:46.561
And crt.
00:25:46.561 --> 00:25:49.497
It's a disorienting.
00:25:49.497 --> 00:25:50.865
You think, wait a minute, that's the tradition i grew up in.
00:25:50.865 --> 00:25:54.669
I've got a heritage there.
00:25:54.669 --> 00:25:56.304
Just about any arena we pick up.
00:25:59.341 --> 00:26:01.009
♪♪♪
00:26:01.009 --> 00:26:08.917
Allen: i have a question.
00:26:08.984 --> 00:26:10.452
Have you ever said, "i wish my pastor would lead with more
00:26:10.452 --> 00:26:13.054
Courage or i wish my pastor would address what's happening
00:26:13.054 --> 00:26:16.024
In the world with greater boldness?"
00:26:16.024 --> 00:26:18.493
Folks, we can't change other people.
00:26:18.493 --> 00:26:19.961
The only person we can ultimately change is ourselves.
00:26:19.961 --> 00:26:22.364
I have a suggestion.
00:26:22.364 --> 00:26:23.798
What if you and i begin to lead with faith in our own arenas
00:26:23.798 --> 00:26:27.235
Of influence?
00:26:27.235 --> 00:26:28.603
Well, i've written a book to help with that.
00:26:28.603 --> 00:26:29.938
If that seems beyond you or intimidating to you, i believe
00:26:29.938 --> 00:26:32.941
This book will help.
00:26:32.941 --> 00:26:34.275
It'll give you some practical ways that you and i can begin to
00:26:34.275 --> 00:26:36.945
Lead with faith in the marketplace, in our homes, with
00:26:36.945 --> 00:26:39.914
Our friends, wherever that may be.
00:26:39.914 --> 00:26:42.350
We have help in this.
00:26:42.350 --> 00:26:43.852
The spirit of god will help us.
00:26:43.852 --> 00:26:45.587
If we have the willingness to use our influence for the
00:26:45.587 --> 00:26:47.922
Kingdom of god.
00:26:47.922 --> 00:26:49.391
You can get a copy of the book at allenjackson.com.
00:26:49.391 --> 00:26:51.726
You go get your own today, but i wanna pray.
00:26:51.726 --> 00:26:53.795
I wanna ask the spirit of god to help you and me lead with faith
00:26:53.795 --> 00:26:57.799
This year as never before.
00:26:57.799 --> 00:26:59.768
Let's pray.
00:26:59.768 --> 00:27:01.102
Heavenly father, we ask for your help.
00:27:01.102 --> 00:27:03.138
You have given us strengths and abilities and influence.
00:27:03.138 --> 00:27:05.407
May we use it for the glory of your kingdom in jesus'
00:27:05.407 --> 00:27:08.677
Name, amen.
00:27:08.677 --> 00:27:10.045
♪♪♪
00:27:10.045 --> 00:27:30.001

Allen Jackson - The Challenge of Belief

April 2, 2026 | 27:29

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