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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - A Conclusion; A Beginning (Part 2)

May 5, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - A Conclusion; A Beginning (Part 2)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#KingdomofGod #Culture #Christianity #FalseDoctrines #Church #Deception #Truth #Bible #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - A Conclusion; A Beginning (Part 2) | May 5, 2026
  • ...
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  • Allen jackson: one of my heroes in the bible is saul of tarsus.
  • 00:00:01.750 --> 00:00:04.953
  • He becomes the apostle paul.
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  • I know you know his story.
  • 00:00:06.321 --> 00:00:08.223
  • He's written two-thirds of our new testament by title,
  • 00:00:08.223 --> 00:00:12.261
  • And one of the most remarkable characters we meet
  • 00:00:12.261 --> 00:00:14.063
  • In all of the scripture.
  • 00:00:14.063 --> 00:00:15.397
  • He was a pharisee with a remarkable education,
  • 00:00:15.397 --> 00:00:17.766
  • Brilliant mind, and he hated jesus and jesus followers,
  • 00:00:17.766 --> 00:00:22.171
  • Until he met jesus one day.
  • 00:00:22.171 --> 00:00:24.073
  • He's on the road to damascus, and jesus interrupts his life,
  • 00:00:24.073 --> 00:00:27.443
  • And he becomes the apostle paul, one of the most powerful voices
  • 00:00:27.443 --> 00:00:31.346
  • For jesus that history has ever known.
  • 00:00:31.346 --> 00:00:34.283
  • We put together a 90-day devotional.
  • 00:00:34.283 --> 00:00:36.018
  • It's "lessons from paul."
  • 00:00:36.018 --> 00:00:37.986
  • I'm still learning from paul, and i just wanted to share it
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  • With you.
  • 00:00:40.255 --> 00:00:41.723
  • There's a little--there's a scripture verse, there's a bit
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  • Of a devotional.
  • 00:00:43.425 --> 00:00:45.127
  • There's a place for some journaling.
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  • It's really intended to provide some direction so that you and i
  • 00:00:46.862 --> 00:00:48.630
  • Become overcomers, overcomers of our past, overcomers of the
  • 00:00:48.630 --> 00:00:51.600
  • Opposition in the present.
  • 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:53.469
  • Doesn't matter what the adversary is, the power of god
  • 00:00:53.469 --> 00:00:55.838
  • That delivered paul, he'll deliver you and me.
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  • I believe you'll enjoy "lessons from paul."
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  • [music]
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  • Allen: see, i don't believe the church will be fully purified
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  • Until the end of the age.
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  • That shouldn't be surprising to you.
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  • Our experience right now suggests that.
  • 00:01:16.492 --> 00:01:18.861
  • We're seeing the greatest apostasy, the greatest falling
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  • Away of biblical truth inside organized christianity at any
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  • Time in my lifetime.
  • 00:01:26.635 --> 00:01:29.004
  • There have been other periods, but in my lifetime, i can speak
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  • With some authority.
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  • Churches that for decade upon decade upon decade have been
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  • Bastions of biblical authority.
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  • We may quibble over secondary and tertiary things about how
  • 00:01:39.882 --> 00:01:42.985
  • Frequently we take communion or at what age you should be
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  • Baptized or the formula for baptism, but the fundamental
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  • Principles of scripture have been largely adhered to across a
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  • Broad stretch, at least in american christendom for decade
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  • Upon decade upon decade.
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  • And in recent years, those have been cast aside.
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  • They've been so--we've redefined marriage, in
  • 00:02:02.671 --> 00:02:06.842
  • The churches.
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  • Well, god didn't.
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  • He didn't change his definitions.
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  • So, and i could give you a--you know the list.
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  • You don't need me to walk you through it, but we do have to
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  • Stop and say, "ah, that's happening.
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  • That's not church."
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  • It doesn't matter what the sign says or if the building is
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  • Ecclesiastical or the people convening use religious language
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  • Or wear clerical garb.
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  • See, what defines us as the church is our yielding to the
  • 00:02:31.466 --> 00:02:35.304
  • Authority and the lordship of jesus of nazareth.
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  • We don't have a designer faith.
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  • You know, when we worship and the musical style we worship and
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  • The translation of the bible, the things that we fight about
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  • And bicker about, they're secondary,
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  • They're tertiary things.
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  • But who jesus is, what he accomplished
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  • With his redemptive work, the authority of his word,
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  • Who sets the agenda for our lives.
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  • Who defines what's sexually moral and what's immoral?
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  • Not the government.
  • 00:03:04.433 --> 00:03:06.468
  • You know, we lived under that deception for so long, for
  • 00:03:09.104 --> 00:03:11.873
  • Decades, we said, "well, you know, abortion is the law of
  • 00:03:11.873 --> 00:03:14.243
  • The land."
  • 00:03:14.243 --> 00:03:15.611
  • Well, it didn't make it god's law.
  • 00:03:15.611 --> 00:03:18.013
  • And then the laws changed and abortion rates have continued to
  • 00:03:18.013 --> 00:03:20.582
  • Grow because we haven't had a heart change.
  • 00:03:20.582 --> 00:03:23.752
  • Well, we don't like to talk about that, but we should.
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  • So what jesus described is what we're watching unfold, these
  • 00:03:27.689 --> 00:03:31.226
  • Fields amongst us, it's going to require more discernment of us.
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  • We're gonna have to look for fruit.
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  • I mean, the question these days, i answer a lot, is, you know, my
  • 00:03:37.499 --> 00:03:40.702
  • Concern about the church being too large.
  • 00:03:40.702 --> 00:03:43.972
  • Well, i was here when there was 30 people.
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  • They had other concerns about us then.
  • 00:03:46.575 --> 00:03:48.010
  • They thought we were too crazy.
  • 00:03:48.010 --> 00:03:51.947
  • I mean, there have been questions all along the journey.
  • 00:03:51.947 --> 00:03:54.216
  • That just happens to be the question du jour.
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  • And i'm like, no, to be honest,
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  • I'm a little embarrassed.
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  • Have you noticed what's happened in middle tennessee?
  • 00:04:00.255 --> 00:04:02.090
  • Have you been on the roads lately?
  • 00:04:02.090 --> 00:04:04.393
  • I remember when traffic was something that atlanta had.
  • 00:04:04.393 --> 00:04:09.998
  • We would warn people if they were driving through atlanta,
  • 00:04:09.998 --> 00:04:12.434
  • "oh, you should time your journey.
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  • They have traffic."
  • 00:04:14.436 --> 00:04:18.540
  • Now we have traffic in eagleville.
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  • And if you don't know--if you don't live here, you don't know
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  • What i'm--oh, they--eagleville is just is barely beyond a cow
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  • Path, and now they have traffic.
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  • Our community, it hasn't just changed.
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  • There's been a total transformation into a different
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  • Kind of place.
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  • We've got to recognize what's happening around us.
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  • We're like the frog in the kettle.
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  • You can sit in a church all day long or a building where the
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  • Sign says church, it doesn't make you a christian.
  • 00:04:55.310 --> 00:04:57.045
  • It's like, you know, i may watch a little bit of the golf
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  • Tournament this afternoon.
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  • It will not make me a golfer.
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  • And you understand that.
  • 00:05:05.620 --> 00:05:07.055
  • We're gonna have to have more discernment.
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  • Jesus told us the purification of the church won't take place
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  • Until the very end of the age.
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  • Don't wait.
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  • You don't want to be one of those with weeping and gnashing
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  • Of teeth.
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  • Live the truth that you know.
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  • There are things we don't know, there are things that aren't
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  • Clear to us, there are things we don't understand, there are
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  • Things we have questions about, all of us.
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  • Live the truth you know.
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  • Stop being sloppy.
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  • Do the simple things you know: serve, live generously, don't
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  • Tolerate immorality.
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  • Don't tolerate it at your kitchen table.
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  • Don't encourage it at your holiday table.
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  • Don't cheat, don't lie.
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  • It's not complicated, folks.
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  • We're sloppy.
  • 00:06:04.780 --> 00:06:07.549
  • "well, it's the way business is done."
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  • Not yours, not mine.
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  • I'm weary with christian schools that teach ungodly principles.
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  • It makes no sense to me.
  • 00:06:18.627 --> 00:06:23.965
  • There's a third passage, revelation 22.
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  • This one is--i wouldn't expect this in my bible.
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  • Do you ever read your bible and go, "i didn't expect that"?
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  • Well, this is one of those passages.
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  • John's getting a tour of the end of the age.
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  • He's being given this vision and this awareness, and "he said to
  • 00:06:38.146 --> 00:06:40.782
  • Me, 'don't seal up the words of the prophecy of this book,
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  • Because the time is near.
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  • Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile
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  • Continue to be vile; and let him who does right continue to do
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  • Right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy.
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  • Behold, i'm coming soon!
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  • My reward is with me, and i will give to everyone according to
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  • What he has done.
  • 00:07:01.303 --> 00:07:02.671
  • I'm the alpha and the omega, the first and the last,
  • 00:07:02.671 --> 00:07:04.139
  • The beginning and the end.'"
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  • If i understand it, it doesn't feel particularly complex to me.
  • 00:07:05.640 --> 00:07:08.543
  • There's no word structure or verbs that are--what i
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  • Understand it to be saying is god is asking us to fully
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  • To commit.
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  • Make a commitment to either being filthy or righteous,
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  • But choose.
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  • Don't try to do both.
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  • It won't work.
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  • I think the one segment of our culture that's under the
  • 00:07:25.126 --> 00:07:27.696
  • Greatest stress at the moment is the middle.
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  • The fence sitters, if we use church language.
  • 00:07:31.333 --> 00:07:35.237
  • I believe the spirit of god is electrifying the fence.
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  • And that doesn't mean you're going to necessarily jump
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  • Into righteousness.
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  • You have to choose.
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  • It seems to me it's startling counsel.
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  • It's--it probably shouldn't surprise us.
  • 00:07:48.383 --> 00:07:51.386
  • Early in the book of revelation, jesus said to a church, he said
  • 00:07:51.386 --> 00:07:54.322
  • To a church at the beginning of the book, "you're lukewarm.
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  • You disgust me," living bible.
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  • "i'm gonna spit you out of my mouth."
  • 00:08:01.730 --> 00:08:04.633
  • Well, i mean, i'd say, "well, look, it's better than
  • 00:08:04.633 --> 00:08:06.001
  • Being cold."
  • 00:08:06.001 --> 00:08:09.504
  • I think we have tolerated a lot of lukewarm.
  • 00:08:09.504 --> 00:08:12.741
  • We've winked at a lot of ungodliness, you know, boys will
  • 00:08:12.741 --> 00:08:14.976
  • Be boys, and that's just how business gets done and they're
  • 00:08:14.976 --> 00:08:18.914
  • Sowing their wild oats.
  • 00:08:18.914 --> 00:08:20.248
  • Folks, we gotta have a different attitude, not angry.
  • 00:08:20.248 --> 00:08:23.251
  • We've got to have a desire to honor the lord.
  • 00:08:23.251 --> 00:08:26.922
  • Immediately before the return of the lord, the wicked will become
  • 00:08:26.922 --> 00:08:29.591
  • More wicked and the righteous will become more righteous.
  • 00:08:29.591 --> 00:08:32.360
  • What's the trajectory in your heart?
  • 00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:35.564
  • You see, in the christian life, i'm of the opinion that we are
  • 00:08:35.564 --> 00:08:37.999
  • Moving forward.
  • 00:08:37.999 --> 00:08:39.334
  • We don't stand still.
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  • We don't achieve completion and wait.
  • 00:08:40.702 --> 00:08:43.838
  • We don't get it all done and just camp.
  • 00:08:43.838 --> 00:08:47.742
  • Spiritual health to me is pretty similar to physical health.
  • 00:08:47.742 --> 00:08:51.513
  • Different seasons of your life, you have different attributes,
  • 00:08:51.513 --> 00:08:54.049
  • Your body changes.
  • 00:08:54.049 --> 00:08:56.084
  • And--but in every season, you have to give attention to what
  • 00:08:56.084 --> 00:08:58.486
  • It means to be healthy.
  • 00:08:58.486 --> 00:09:01.022
  • And if you have enough birthdays, you realize that
  • 00:09:01.022 --> 00:09:02.924
  • There's consequences if you're sloppy with your attitudes when
  • 00:09:02.924 --> 00:09:05.527
  • You're early.
  • 00:09:05.527 --> 00:09:07.629
  • You know, when you're young, you're just bulletproof.
  • 00:09:07.629 --> 00:09:10.432
  • You got metabolism like a furnace.
  • 00:09:10.432 --> 00:09:14.369
  • Three good meals a day is three packages of oreo double stuffs.
  • 00:09:14.369 --> 00:09:19.841
  • And you can maintain.
  • 00:09:19.841 --> 00:09:22.978
  • That doesn't work so well.
  • 00:09:22.978 --> 00:09:25.447
  • You get to my age, into your thirties,
  • 00:09:25.447 --> 00:09:27.248
  • You have to change your eating habits.
  • 00:09:27.248 --> 00:09:30.919
  • You know, in the simplest way, i think we need to have the
  • 00:09:34.289 --> 00:09:36.625
  • Imagination that we live with new light every day, that we're
  • 00:09:36.625 --> 00:09:39.928
  • Growing in the lord, that our perspective--as opposed to that
  • 00:09:39.928 --> 00:09:43.565
  • Notion that i've done all of my serious god business, there's
  • 00:09:43.565 --> 00:09:46.134
  • Nothing left for me to attend to.
  • 00:09:46.134 --> 00:09:48.069
  • I think that is a very destructive attitude.
  • 00:09:48.069 --> 00:09:51.072
  • Jesus gives us some words of comfort in luke 21, we looked at
  • 00:09:51.072 --> 00:09:53.675
  • 'em in the previous session.
  • 00:09:53.675 --> 00:09:55.010
  • I won't dwell on them.
  • 00:09:55.010 --> 00:09:56.344
  • He said, "there'll be signs in the sun, in the moon, and the
  • 00:09:56.344 --> 00:09:58.313
  • Stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the
  • 00:09:58.313 --> 00:10:03.418
  • Sea and the waves roaring."
  • 00:10:03.418 --> 00:10:04.753
  • I would say with some certainty there is perplexity amongst
  • 00:10:04.753 --> 00:10:07.288
  • The nations.
  • 00:10:07.288 --> 00:10:09.991
  • "men's hearts failing them for fear and the expectations of
  • 00:10:09.991 --> 00:10:13.361
  • Those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the
  • 00:10:13.361 --> 00:10:17.065
  • Heavens will be shaken."
  • 00:10:17.065 --> 00:10:18.433
  • I understand luke to be doing two things there.
  • 00:10:18.433 --> 00:10:21.469
  • He's telling us about the signs in the heavens and on the earth,
  • 00:10:21.469 --> 00:10:24.572
  • But he's also talking about the spiritual forces of evil in the
  • 00:10:24.572 --> 00:10:27.709
  • Heavens that are gonna be shaken.
  • 00:10:27.709 --> 00:10:30.345
  • There's gonna be realignment, there's gonna be great turmoil.
  • 00:10:30.345 --> 00:10:32.647
  • They understand that throughout the gospels, the demons and the
  • 00:10:32.647 --> 00:10:38.019
  • Unclean spirits were far more insightful than the disciples.
  • 00:10:38.019 --> 00:10:43.291
  • In mark chapel--chapter 1, mark's gospel, the first
  • 00:10:43.291 --> 00:10:46.528
  • Chapter, jesus goes into the synagogue in capernaum and a
  • 00:10:46.528 --> 00:10:49.764
  • Demonized man, the demon cries out of the man, knowing who
  • 00:10:49.764 --> 00:10:53.835
  • Jesus is.
  • 00:10:53.835 --> 00:10:55.837
  • The disciples haven't figured it out yet.
  • 00:10:55.837 --> 00:10:57.372
  • The high priest certainly doesn't know it, the demons do.
  • 00:10:57.372 --> 00:10:59.574
  • James, in his book, he said, "you believe there's a god, good
  • 00:10:59.574 --> 00:11:03.411
  • For you.
  • 00:11:03.411 --> 00:11:04.746
  • The demons believe that and they shudder."
  • 00:11:04.746 --> 00:11:07.882
  • So as we approach the end of the age, i assure you there's an
  • 00:11:07.882 --> 00:11:11.119
  • Awareness in the spiritual forces of darkness that we're
  • 00:11:11.119 --> 00:11:14.255
  • Approaching the end of the age, so they have an urgency.
  • 00:11:14.255 --> 00:11:18.093
  • It's like the climactic conclusion, and they want to
  • 00:11:18.093 --> 00:11:21.329
  • Overwhelm goodness.
  • 00:11:21.329 --> 00:11:23.164
  • That's why you'll see this intensification of darkness and
  • 00:11:23.164 --> 00:11:26.000
  • The light will be even more bright.
  • 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:32.173
  • "then they will see the son of man coming in a cloud
  • 00:11:32.173 --> 00:11:34.609
  • With power."
  • 00:11:34.609 --> 00:11:36.411
  • He's not coming back in a vulnerable way.
  • 00:11:36.411 --> 00:11:38.346
  • He's coming with the greatest expression of power that human
  • 00:11:38.346 --> 00:11:40.782
  • Beings have ever known.
  • 00:11:40.782 --> 00:11:42.684
  • That's why we're praying for the destiny of nations these days,
  • 00:11:42.684 --> 00:11:46.454
  • To change the spiritual forces over them.
  • 00:11:46.454 --> 00:11:49.190
  • "now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your
  • 00:11:49.190 --> 00:11:51.826
  • Heads, because your redemption draws near."
  • 00:11:51.826 --> 00:11:54.696
  • The word used is "when they begin to happen."
  • 00:11:54.696 --> 00:11:56.698
  • How are we to react?
  • 00:11:56.698 --> 00:11:58.066
  • Are we depressed, discouraged, wring our hands?
  • 00:11:58.066 --> 00:11:59.934
  • "well, i'm afraid i'm not gonna get to go on vacation"?
  • 00:11:59.934 --> 00:12:03.338
  • Says, "no, praise god; our redemption is drawing near."
  • 00:12:03.338 --> 00:12:06.908
  • Here's the punchline, our reaction is what tells us where
  • 00:12:06.908 --> 00:12:10.712
  • Our heart is invested.
  • 00:12:10.712 --> 00:12:12.714
  • [music]
  • 00:12:12.714 --> 00:12:15.750
  • Allen: you know, around the world people are searching for
  • 00:12:19.554 --> 00:12:21.723
  • Truth and together we're doing our very best to help them
  • 00:12:21.723 --> 00:12:24.826
  • Find it.
  • 00:12:24.826 --> 00:12:26.161
  • When you become a ministry partner with allen jackson
  • 00:12:26.161 --> 00:12:28.096
  • Ministries, you're joining a growing community of believers
  • 00:12:28.096 --> 00:12:31.366
  • Who are committed to strengthening the church and
  • 00:12:31.366 --> 00:12:34.002
  • Sharing god's word through every available channel: television,
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  • Radio, podcast, books, bible studies, digital
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  • Resources, conferences.
  • 00:12:41.409 --> 00:12:43.511
  • Your monthly partnership helps us equip believers, to reach new
  • 00:12:43.511 --> 00:12:46.848
  • Audiences, and to take the hope of jesus to people who may never
  • 00:12:46.848 --> 00:12:50.718
  • Have heard the gospel otherwise.
  • 00:12:50.718 --> 00:12:52.887
  • Together we can stand firm in our faith and make god's truth
  • 00:12:52.887 --> 00:12:56.791
  • Known right here at home and around the earth wherever god
  • 00:12:56.791 --> 00:12:59.994
  • Opens a door.
  • 00:12:59.994 --> 00:13:01.329
  • Let's keep gathering his people and building his church until
  • 00:13:01.329 --> 00:13:04.532
  • The day our king returns.
  • 00:13:04.532 --> 00:13:06.801
  • You can find more about becoming a ministry partner
  • 00:13:06.801 --> 00:13:09.871
  • At allenjackson.com/partner.
  • 00:13:09.871 --> 00:13:13.408
  • [music]
  • 00:13:13.408 --> 00:13:18.179
  • Allen: i've been present for a lot of births, a lot of animals
  • 00:13:20.048 --> 00:13:22.851
  • As a younger person and in the hospital quite a bit through the
  • 00:13:22.851 --> 00:13:25.353
  • Years with families and deliveries.
  • 00:13:25.353 --> 00:13:28.823
  • Pregnancy and delivery is a very vulnerable time.
  • 00:13:28.823 --> 00:13:33.027
  • An extraordinarily vulnerable time, but families go through
  • 00:13:33.027 --> 00:13:36.397
  • It joyfully.
  • 00:13:36.397 --> 00:13:37.732
  • I pray for pregnant families almost every weekend because
  • 00:13:37.732 --> 00:13:40.034
  • They want the baby.
  • 00:13:40.034 --> 00:13:42.136
  • And the question that's being put to us is, do we want
  • 00:13:42.136 --> 00:13:44.339
  • The baby?
  • 00:13:44.339 --> 00:13:46.107
  • Because if so, then you put up with the changes of pregnancy
  • 00:13:46.107 --> 00:13:49.777
  • And the birth pains, because without the changes of pregnancy
  • 00:13:49.777 --> 00:13:53.248
  • And no birth pains, there's no baby.
  • 00:13:53.248 --> 00:13:57.919
  • So if we're afraid of the changes, then we're not going to
  • 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:00.588
  • Engage in it.
  • 00:14:00.588 --> 00:14:01.956
  • We don't want to bring about the return of the king.
  • 00:14:01.956 --> 00:14:03.424
  • We don't want the birth pains to start.
  • 00:14:03.424 --> 00:14:04.759
  • We're kind of good.
  • 00:14:04.759 --> 00:14:06.094
  • Can we just keep the momentum going?
  • 00:14:06.094 --> 00:14:11.032
  • We'll just be quiet and sit in our churches and not talk about
  • 00:14:11.032 --> 00:14:14.302
  • What's happening on the other side of the windows because not
  • 00:14:14.302 --> 00:14:16.738
  • Everybody will like it and some people will be unhappy with you.
  • 00:14:16.738 --> 00:14:23.244
  • So we go to work and we're covert christians, we're
  • 00:14:23.244 --> 00:14:25.446
  • Undercover christians, and we go to class and go to university
  • 00:14:25.446 --> 00:14:28.950
  • And go to our schools and we have a personal faith, but we
  • 00:14:28.950 --> 00:14:32.053
  • Don't let it out in public.
  • 00:14:32.053 --> 00:14:33.388
  • Folks, if your faith is only personal, it is non-existent,
  • 00:14:33.388 --> 00:14:35.957
  • It's an imagination.
  • 00:14:35.957 --> 00:14:40.995
  • Birth pains.
  • 00:14:40.995 --> 00:14:42.563
  • What is the baby?
  • 00:14:42.563 --> 00:14:43.932
  • Well, in jesus's language, it's the birth of the kingdom of god
  • 00:14:43.932 --> 00:14:45.967
  • On earth.
  • 00:14:45.967 --> 00:14:48.670
  • And jesus said the birth pains are coming, they're guaranteed.
  • 00:14:48.670 --> 00:14:51.139
  • The question is how will we respond?
  • 00:14:51.139 --> 00:14:54.108
  • Well, in the same passage, jesus makes it very clear the church
  • 00:14:54.108 --> 00:14:56.477
  • Has a job to complete.
  • 00:14:56.477 --> 00:14:58.479
  • The church.
  • 00:14:58.479 --> 00:14:59.814
  • Now, before that seems overwhelming because you--we
  • 00:14:59.814 --> 00:15:01.716
  • Look at the landscape of the church and we go, "oh, what will
  • 00:15:01.716 --> 00:15:05.720
  • We do?
  • 00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:07.055
  • We can't agree.
  • 00:15:07.055 --> 00:15:08.423
  • We can't agree amongst ourselves to park between the lines.
  • 00:15:08.423 --> 00:15:13.461
  • I mean if you took a picture of our parking lot, you would say
  • 00:15:13.461 --> 00:15:15.563
  • There's no hope for the church."
  • 00:15:15.563 --> 00:15:18.933
  • I mean, we do, we get torqued about the smallest discipline,
  • 00:15:18.933 --> 00:15:22.737
  • You know, please don't bring your--it's not show your pet
  • 00:15:22.737 --> 00:15:24.639
  • Off at church day.
  • 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:26.007
  • "well, i don't really like that.
  • 00:15:26.007 --> 00:15:27.342
  • I like animals."
  • 00:15:27.342 --> 00:15:30.845
  • Never mind.
  • 00:15:30.845 --> 00:15:32.580
  • Ephesians 1, this is the reason there's hope.
  • 00:15:32.580 --> 00:15:34.349
  • Ephesians 1, "god placed all things under jesus's feet and
  • 00:15:34.349 --> 00:15:40.488
  • Appointed him," jesus, "to be the head over everything for
  • 00:15:40.488 --> 00:15:44.692
  • The church."
  • 00:15:44.692 --> 00:15:46.027
  • Please never forget this.
  • 00:15:46.027 --> 00:15:47.628
  • Jesus is the head of the church.
  • 00:15:47.628 --> 00:15:50.164
  • That's why we can fulfill our assignment.
  • 00:15:50.164 --> 00:15:52.100
  • In our strength, left to ourselves, we're gonna fail
  • 00:15:52.100 --> 00:15:54.669
  • Every time.
  • 00:15:54.669 --> 00:15:56.037
  • Jesus is the head of the church.
  • 00:15:56.037 --> 00:15:57.905
  • I'm constantly surprised at the church, in a good way.
  • 00:15:57.905 --> 00:16:02.777
  • Unbelievable, your expressions of kindness and love and
  • 00:16:02.777 --> 00:16:05.747
  • Generosity and your willingness to serve.
  • 00:16:05.747 --> 00:16:07.849
  • I'm thinking, only jesus could do that to a human life because
  • 00:16:07.849 --> 00:16:10.985
  • By definition, left to ourselves, we're selfish and
  • 00:16:10.985 --> 00:16:13.588
  • Greedy and all this stuff, but christ in us.
  • 00:16:13.588 --> 00:16:18.593
  • Folks, don't be concerned about the darkness.
  • 00:16:18.593 --> 00:16:21.062
  • Jesus is the head of the church.
  • 00:16:21.062 --> 00:16:22.730
  • Remember what he said to john?
  • 00:16:22.730 --> 00:16:24.065
  • "i'm the living one.
  • 00:16:24.065 --> 00:16:25.433
  • I was alive and i was dead.
  • 00:16:25.433 --> 00:16:26.768
  • I'm alive forevermore, and i have the keys of death
  • 00:16:26.768 --> 00:16:29.804
  • And hell."
  • 00:16:29.804 --> 00:16:33.841
  • We don't have to be frightened.
  • 00:16:33.841 --> 00:16:36.177
  • We have the leadership of the holy spirit and the complete
  • 00:16:36.177 --> 00:16:38.980
  • Provision of our lord and his redemptive work.
  • 00:16:38.980 --> 00:16:42.417
  • We are in a very good spot.
  • 00:16:42.417 --> 00:16:44.886
  • Matthew 24, my last passage, "nation will rise against
  • 00:16:44.886 --> 00:16:49.190
  • Nation, kingdom against kingdom."
  • 00:16:49.190 --> 00:16:51.426
  • The greek is ethnos, ethnic conflict in the earth, in
  • 00:16:51.426 --> 00:16:54.462
  • Our nation.
  • 00:16:54.462 --> 00:16:55.797
  • "there'll be famines and earthquakes in various places,
  • 00:16:55.797 --> 00:16:57.932
  • And all these are the beginning of birth pains."
  • 00:16:57.932 --> 00:17:01.969
  • The beginning of birth pains.
  • 00:17:01.969 --> 00:17:04.238
  • "then you'll be handed over to be persecuted and put to death,
  • 00:17:04.238 --> 00:17:06.674
  • And you'll be hated by all nations because of me."
  • 00:17:06.674 --> 00:17:08.910
  • Everybody's not gonna like you.
  • 00:17:08.910 --> 00:17:11.479
  • If you are turning down the truth that you know, trying to
  • 00:17:11.479 --> 00:17:14.916
  • Get broader acceptance and more clicks or more likes, if you are
  • 00:17:14.916 --> 00:17:19.320
  • Denying the lord, that is not a good habit.
  • 00:17:19.320 --> 00:17:25.593
  • Be identified with him.
  • 00:17:25.593 --> 00:17:28.329
  • You don't have to be angry.
  • 00:17:28.329 --> 00:17:29.664
  • It's not a condemning thing, you're not being judgy.
  • 00:17:29.664 --> 00:17:32.033
  • You know, if you go to the doctor, and you're 100 pounds
  • 00:17:32.033 --> 00:17:34.368
  • Overweight and he says, "you're obese."
  • 00:17:34.368 --> 00:17:37.171
  • You say, "i think you're judgy."
  • 00:17:37.171 --> 00:17:40.208
  • That won't change the fact that i'm fat.
  • 00:17:43.211 --> 00:17:48.082
  • Calling the doctor a name won't change my reality.
  • 00:17:48.082 --> 00:17:52.653
  • He's trying to offer me truth so i can adjust my behavior and
  • 00:17:52.653 --> 00:17:55.823
  • Be healthier.
  • 00:17:55.823 --> 00:17:59.093
  • We live in this time where if you present a truth and somebody
  • 00:17:59.093 --> 00:18:02.964
  • Doesn't like it, they try to affix a label to you.
  • 00:18:02.964 --> 00:18:06.467
  • And we don't wanna be labeled, we don't like the--all that
  • 00:18:06.467 --> 00:18:09.070
  • Comes with that, so we're quiet, we don't wanna say anything,
  • 00:18:09.070 --> 00:18:12.006
  • They're gonna think i'm judgy, and then they're gonna call me
  • 00:18:12.006 --> 00:18:14.675
  • Something, sexist or racist or xenophobic or something, or all
  • 00:18:14.675 --> 00:18:19.480
  • The above.
  • 00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:22.717
  • And we've been quiet for too long.
  • 00:18:22.717 --> 00:18:24.285
  • "the beginning of birth pains.
  • 00:18:24.285 --> 00:18:25.853
  • You're gonna be handed over and persecuted and put to death, and
  • 00:18:25.853 --> 00:18:28.456
  • You'll be hated by all nations because of me."
  • 00:18:28.456 --> 00:18:31.626
  • See, if you think you're not gonna have to deal with that,
  • 00:18:31.626 --> 00:18:33.227
  • That you're going to get airlifted out of here, so you
  • 00:18:33.227 --> 00:18:34.762
  • Don't even like to read this passage, you've got no shot at
  • 00:18:34.762 --> 00:18:38.966
  • Being prepared.
  • 00:18:38.966 --> 00:18:41.435
  • I mean, if you're leaving, i'm going with you.
  • 00:18:41.435 --> 00:18:44.272
  • But i'm gonna prepare.
  • 00:18:44.272 --> 00:18:46.574
  • "at that time," when all of this is happening, "many will turn
  • 00:18:46.574 --> 00:18:50.244
  • Away from the faith and betray and hate each other, and many
  • 00:18:50.244 --> 00:18:52.413
  • False prophets will appear and deceive many people."
  • 00:18:52.413 --> 00:18:55.249
  • That's that field we talked about.
  • 00:18:55.249 --> 00:18:57.952
  • False prophets, people you expect to tell the truth.
  • 00:18:57.952 --> 00:18:59.887
  • That's not just pulpiteers, that's places where you expect
  • 00:18:59.887 --> 00:19:02.590
  • The truth to be told, like the cdc or the fbi.
  • 00:19:02.590 --> 00:19:07.595
  • And we find ourselves in a place where the truth doesn't come
  • 00:19:07.595 --> 00:19:09.997
  • From those places in the way we would have liked it to.
  • 00:19:09.997 --> 00:19:12.633
  • It's unsettling, it's disorienting.
  • 00:19:12.633 --> 00:19:14.435
  • I mean, you can throw the pulpits in there for sure,
  • 00:19:14.435 --> 00:19:16.270
  • But--and "because of the increase of the wickedness
  • 00:19:16.270 --> 00:19:19.874
  • (lawlessness)," literally.
  • 00:19:19.874 --> 00:19:22.376
  • Lawlessness has exploded in our nation, not in the nations of
  • 00:19:22.376 --> 00:19:25.680
  • The world.
  • 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:27.315
  • We are teetering on the brink of almost total societal chaos.
  • 00:19:27.315 --> 00:19:32.019
  • We are, if you're not aware of that.
  • 00:19:32.019 --> 00:19:34.789
  • Because of our propensity to lawlessness, major american
  • 00:19:34.789 --> 00:19:39.493
  • Cities have refused now for a long time, decades, to adhere to
  • 00:19:39.493 --> 00:19:43.097
  • Federal law while they demand federal dollars.
  • 00:19:43.097 --> 00:19:45.399
  • You understand that's illegitimate.
  • 00:19:45.399 --> 00:19:49.904
  • You and i don't have that privilege.
  • 00:19:49.904 --> 00:19:52.240
  • We can't say, "well, we choose not to believe in the irs, but
  • 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:57.545
  • We do believe in social security."
  • 00:19:57.545 --> 00:20:01.649
  • You laugh because you understand it's patently absurd, but we
  • 00:20:01.649 --> 00:20:05.019
  • Have major american cities doing that.
  • 00:20:05.019 --> 00:20:08.856
  • Major american cities not cooperating with federal law
  • 00:20:08.856 --> 00:20:12.093
  • Enforcement in trying to remove violent criminals who are living
  • 00:20:12.093 --> 00:20:16.297
  • Illegally in our nation.
  • 00:20:16.297 --> 00:20:19.200
  • We have lived with lawlessness so long that we hear fraud and
  • 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:23.104
  • We think, "well, it's kind of misplaced something."
  • 00:20:23.104 --> 00:20:25.172
  • No, fraud is stealing.
  • 00:20:25.172 --> 00:20:28.643
  • And when billions and billions of dollars are being stolen,
  • 00:20:28.643 --> 00:20:32.313
  • Thousands and thousands of people know it.
  • 00:20:32.313 --> 00:20:36.584
  • Lawlessness.
  • 00:20:36.584 --> 00:20:38.452
  • It is rampant amongst us to the point that we're offended when
  • 00:20:38.452 --> 00:20:42.290
  • We have a national election that we think only citizens
  • 00:20:42.290 --> 00:20:45.660
  • Should vote.
  • 00:20:45.660 --> 00:20:48.696
  • And we don't wanna talk about it in polite places because now
  • 00:20:48.696 --> 00:20:51.832
  • You're being political.
  • 00:20:51.832 --> 00:20:53.167
  • That's not political, it's about truth.
  • 00:20:53.167 --> 00:20:54.735
  • It's biblical, it's lawlessness.
  • 00:20:54.735 --> 00:20:56.937
  • Jesus said the increase of lawlessness
  • 00:20:56.937 --> 00:20:59.473
  • Would cause the love of most to grow cold.
  • 00:20:59.473 --> 00:21:02.710
  • [applauding]
  • 00:21:02.710 --> 00:21:06.614
  • But he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
  • 00:21:07.748 --> 00:21:11.252
  • And here's the penultimate sign.
  • 00:21:11.252 --> 00:21:12.653
  • This is the sign of the end of the age.
  • 00:21:12.653 --> 00:21:14.488
  • "this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world
  • 00:21:14.488 --> 00:21:17.458
  • As a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."
  • 00:21:17.458 --> 00:21:22.330
  • We've got the tools and the opportunity to preach the gospel
  • 00:21:22.330 --> 00:21:24.732
  • Like no generation in human history.
  • 00:21:24.732 --> 00:21:27.168
  • I don't know if it's us or not, but i'm gonna take the tools
  • 00:21:27.168 --> 00:21:30.004
  • We've got and the energy we have and the opportunity god
  • 00:21:30.004 --> 00:21:32.673
  • Gives us.
  • 00:21:32.673 --> 00:21:34.008
  • I had a conversation one morning last week with church leaders.
  • 00:21:34.008 --> 00:21:37.478
  • I was on my phone.
  • 00:21:37.478 --> 00:21:39.213
  • I was texting church leaders in armenia that were working with
  • 00:21:39.213 --> 00:21:41.716
  • Iranian pastors and getting messages back, and i sent a note
  • 00:21:41.716 --> 00:21:44.585
  • To belarus to talk about what was happening with the ukrainian
  • 00:21:44.585 --> 00:21:47.588
  • Pastors we were working with.
  • 00:21:47.588 --> 00:21:48.923
  • In a minute my phone dings, and i get a video message real time
  • 00:21:48.923 --> 00:21:52.460
  • From belarus on my phone in murfreesboro.
  • 00:21:52.460 --> 00:21:58.699
  • Folks, we live in a new world.
  • 00:21:58.699 --> 00:22:01.769
  • Endurance is demanded for our salvation.
  • 00:22:01.769 --> 00:22:04.872
  • How do you maintain your salvation?
  • 00:22:04.872 --> 00:22:06.340
  • Not sitting in church, by enduring.
  • 00:22:06.340 --> 00:22:09.977
  • If you're in the midst of enduring, and some of us are,
  • 00:22:09.977 --> 00:22:14.749
  • Then i would submit to you that you're in training for
  • 00:22:14.749 --> 00:22:16.617
  • What's ahead.
  • 00:22:16.617 --> 00:22:18.486
  • The way you gain physical strength is by exercising to the
  • 00:22:18.486 --> 00:22:22.123
  • Point of fatigue.
  • 00:22:22.123 --> 00:22:23.457
  • If you don't exercise until you're fatigued, you don't
  • 00:22:23.457 --> 00:22:25.359
  • Gain strength.
  • 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:28.429
  • And so if you're being asked to stand in a place spiritually and
  • 00:22:28.429 --> 00:22:31.165
  • You say, "but i'm tired," god is enabling you to gain strength.
  • 00:22:31.165 --> 00:22:35.903
  • You say, "but i don't wanna be strong."
  • 00:22:35.903 --> 00:22:39.940
  • That was like me.
  • 00:22:39.940 --> 00:22:41.308
  • I didn't want to mature.
  • 00:22:41.308 --> 00:22:43.844
  • I'd be happy if my dad put gas in my car today.
  • 00:22:43.844 --> 00:22:53.053
  • Hold your breath.
  • 00:22:53.053 --> 00:22:57.124
  • You know, we have this--some ideas that live pretty real
  • 00:22:57.124 --> 00:23:02.229
  • Within us, you know, that when they--when times get easier,
  • 00:23:02.229 --> 00:23:04.064
  • When things get more stable, when things settle down, when
  • 00:23:04.064 --> 00:23:07.568
  • Politicians change or parties change, whatever it is, when
  • 00:23:07.568 --> 00:23:10.938
  • Times get easier, then we'll preach the gospel.
  • 00:23:10.938 --> 00:23:13.307
  • No, are you listening?
  • 00:23:13.307 --> 00:23:14.642
  • It's gonna get harder.
  • 00:23:14.642 --> 00:23:16.444
  • It's going to intensify.
  • 00:23:16.444 --> 00:23:18.212
  • It's gonna take courageous believers to see the
  • 00:23:18.212 --> 00:23:20.314
  • Age through.
  • 00:23:20.314 --> 00:23:22.817
  • Jesus's church, the church of jesus christ in the earth will
  • 00:23:22.817 --> 00:23:25.953
  • Not be deterred by opposition or difficulty.
  • 00:23:25.953 --> 00:23:28.189
  • Jesus wasn't.
  • 00:23:28.189 --> 00:23:30.224
  • His closest friends weren't.
  • 00:23:30.224 --> 00:23:32.827
  • After they saw him raised from the dead, difficulty and
  • 00:23:32.827 --> 00:23:35.896
  • Opposition and resistance did not deter them.
  • 00:23:35.896 --> 00:23:39.934
  • We're the 21st century edition, folks.
  • 00:23:39.934 --> 00:23:42.870
  • I believe we're approaching the end of the age.
  • 00:23:42.870 --> 00:23:44.238
  • We'll talk about some of the specifics.
  • 00:23:44.238 --> 00:23:45.573
  • I put a teaser in your notes just so you know
  • 00:23:45.573 --> 00:23:47.041
  • I hadn't forgotten.
  • 00:23:47.041 --> 00:23:48.909
  • There's some events, but i'm not trying to build a chart for you.
  • 00:23:48.909 --> 00:23:53.547
  • I'm trying to build an attitude in your heart.
  • 00:23:53.547 --> 00:23:56.116
  • Let's give the lord our best.
  • 00:23:56.116 --> 00:23:58.185
  • Let's choose to honor him.
  • 00:23:58.185 --> 00:23:59.553
  • Let's make murfreesboro a difficult place to be
  • 00:23:59.553 --> 00:24:01.188
  • And go to hell.
  • 00:24:01.188 --> 00:24:03.123
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:24:03.123 --> 00:24:08.195
  • It's possible.
  • 00:24:08.195 --> 00:24:09.563
  • We don't want it to be easy.
  • 00:24:09.563 --> 00:24:11.232
  • Another--i don't--i can't tell you how many people tell me
  • 00:24:11.232 --> 00:24:12.933
  • They've gotten an easter mug for 10 years in a row.
  • 00:24:12.933 --> 00:24:15.736
  • Like, well, have you been to church yet?
  • 00:24:15.736 --> 00:24:18.339
  • It's time.
  • 00:24:18.339 --> 00:24:20.674
  • I figure if they're telling me, they're a lot closer.
  • 00:24:20.674 --> 00:24:24.245
  • Stay after it.
  • 00:24:24.245 --> 00:24:25.613
  • I brought you a prayer, i took it from ephesians, it felt
  • 00:24:25.613 --> 00:24:27.715
  • Appropriate for this invitation.
  • 00:24:27.715 --> 00:24:30.618
  • I changed the pronouns, but i left the reference.
  • 00:24:30.618 --> 00:24:32.853
  • You can check me if the pronoun change offends you.
  • 00:24:32.853 --> 00:24:34.822
  • Just read it from ephesians 1. stand with me, if you will.
  • 00:24:34.822 --> 00:24:44.698
  • Jesus is coming back.
  • 00:24:44.698 --> 00:24:47.468
  • I wanna be busy for him.
  • 00:24:47.468 --> 00:24:50.504
  • And we don't work our way into heaven, nonsense.
  • 00:24:50.504 --> 00:24:54.909
  • But you can work your way out of the kingdom, you can work your
  • 00:24:54.909 --> 00:24:57.077
  • Way out of your rewards.
  • 00:24:57.077 --> 00:24:58.746
  • I don't want you to live in fear of your salvation.
  • 00:24:58.746 --> 00:25:01.682
  • But i do want you to know you can lose your rewards.
  • 00:25:01.682 --> 00:25:05.586
  • Please don't do that.
  • 00:25:05.586 --> 00:25:08.489
  • Let's read it together.
  • 00:25:08.489 --> 00:25:10.257
  • "we keep asking that the god of our lord jesus christ, the
  • 00:25:10.257 --> 00:25:13.928
  • Glorious father, may give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation,
  • 00:25:13.928 --> 00:25:18.566
  • So that we may know him better.
  • 00:25:18.566 --> 00:25:20.801
  • I pray also that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened
  • 00:25:20.801 --> 00:25:24.705
  • In order that we may know the hope to which
  • 00:25:24.705 --> 00:25:27.474
  • He has called us, the riches...
  • 00:25:27.474 --> 00:25:30.644
  • [congregation reading]
  • 00:25:30.644 --> 00:25:33.147
  • And his incomparably great power for us who believe.
  • 00:25:33.147 --> 00:25:37.418
  • That power is like the working of his mighty strength,
  • 00:25:37.418 --> 00:25:41.155
  • Which he exerted in christ...
  • 00:25:41.155 --> 00:25:43.791
  • [congregation reading]
  • 00:25:43.791 --> 00:25:49.730
  • Far above all rule and authority,
  • 00:25:49.730 --> 00:25:52.600
  • Power and dominion, and every title
  • 00:25:52.600 --> 00:25:55.536
  • That can be given, not only in the present age
  • 00:25:55.536 --> 00:25:59.039
  • But also in the one to come, amen."
  • 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:03.477
  • There's something better ahead.
  • 00:26:03.477 --> 00:26:05.980
  • God bless you.
  • 00:26:05.980 --> 00:26:08.649
  • [music]
  • 00:26:08.649 --> 00:26:13.520
  • Allen: you know, when i read my bible, i don't read it primarily
  • 00:26:14.855 --> 00:26:17.358
  • For information.
  • 00:26:17.358 --> 00:26:18.692
  • It's not just about facts and figures and dates and how to
  • 00:26:18.692 --> 00:26:21.629
  • Spell nebuchadnezzar and how many tribes they were and where
  • 00:26:21.629 --> 00:26:24.164
  • They fit in the land.
  • 00:26:24.164 --> 00:26:25.532
  • I mean, i like all that stuff, but i read my bible to
  • 00:26:25.532 --> 00:26:28.268
  • Be transformed.
  • 00:26:28.268 --> 00:26:29.870
  • I recognize i need the power of god at work in my life, so the
  • 00:26:29.870 --> 00:26:33.273
  • Characters of the bible become more than shadowy historical
  • 00:26:33.273 --> 00:26:36.477
  • People, they become my friends or my heroes.
  • 00:26:36.477 --> 00:26:39.213
  • We've put together a tool, it's "lessons from paul."
  • 00:26:39.213 --> 00:26:42.316
  • It's a 90-day devotional.
  • 00:26:42.316 --> 00:26:44.218
  • It's really gleaned from some of my favorite writings from the
  • 00:26:44.218 --> 00:26:47.221
  • Apostle paul.
  • 00:26:47.221 --> 00:26:48.656
  • You know, he begins as an angry, murderous man and becomes one of
  • 00:26:48.656 --> 00:26:51.659
  • The most powerful advocates for jesus that our world has
  • 00:26:51.659 --> 00:26:55.095
  • Ever known.
  • 00:26:55.095 --> 00:26:56.463
  • Well, i want that kind of transformation in my life to
  • 00:26:56.463 --> 00:26:58.866
  • Move from the place i am to be more effective for the purposes
  • 00:26:58.866 --> 00:27:01.535
  • Of the kingdom of god.
  • 00:27:01.535 --> 00:27:03.037
  • I think the tool will help you in the midst of whatever your
  • 00:27:03.037 --> 00:27:05.139
  • Circumstances, persecution, triumph.
  • 00:27:05.139 --> 00:27:08.075
  • "lessons from paul," it'll give you a pathway forward to
  • 00:27:08.075 --> 00:27:10.544
  • Cooperate with god and get to a better outcome.
  • 00:27:10.544 --> 00:27:13.580
  • I think you'll enjoy the devotional.
  • 00:27:13.580 --> 00:27:15.582
  • [music]
  • 00:27:15.582 --> 00:27:30.264