Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Determining Our Identity (Part 1) | March 18, 2026
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- Allen jackson: you know, around the world,
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- ♪♪♪
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- ♪♪♪
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- Allen jackson: now, the topic for this session is "determining
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- Our identity."
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- You know, there--in a season like this, there's so much focus
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- Given to the segments of our society, it really
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- Becomes wearisome.
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- Hear--you hear how this subset of our society will make
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- Decisions and how this group makes decisions and what this
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- Group thinks.
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- You know, i think it brings some confusion to us on how we even
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- Understand ourselves, and that was a really--the genesis for
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- This in my mind as i was praying for the church, not just our
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- Congregation but the broader church, to understand that the
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- Allegiance of our life is to the lordship of jesus.
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- That, that supersedes all the other identifiers in our lives,
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- That his authority in our lives, he sets the principles and
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- The priorities.
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- He establishes the boundaries, that's what it means to be a
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- Christ follower.
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- And the more i prayed around that and thought about that,
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- That's really where this lesson emerged.
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- So that's my target.
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- And we're gonna try to answer three questions: what determines
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- If you're jewish, what determines if you're an
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- American, and what determines if you're a christ follower.
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- We'll do that in some abbreviated way.
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- At least the jewish question was not one i'd ever really
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- Considered, to be candid, until my brother and i were at
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- Hebrew university.
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- And we had a class with one of the most brilliant professors
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- That i ever had the privilege of learning under.
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- And he did multiple sessions on this topic, on how the jewish
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- People understood what it was that identified them.
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- I guess hebrew university was a good place to introduce
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- That topic.
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- And he said that it actually--the truth was that
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- Throughout history, the criteria had varied.
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- It wasn't simple, it wasn't straightforward, it wasn't a
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- Single indicator.
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- There had been three primary things throughout history that
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- Had been used to identify the people who were jewish and who
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- Was not.
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- It was descent, your genealogy; the second was
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- Location, where you lived; and a third was the faith, the
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- Religion that you practiced.
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- And he went to some great lengths to try to help us
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- Understand that the emphasis varied at different times
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- Through history.
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- But i thought i would start with exodus 19.
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- This is god post-deliverance from hundreds of years of
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- Egyptian slavery that, if you'll remember, the extended family of
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- Abraham went into egypt, not as a nation, just as an expanded
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- Family, joseph and his brothers.
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- And then in 400 years in egypt, they multiplied to the point
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- That the egyptians were frightened of them, they
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- Enslaved them, and then god raises up moses to deliver them.
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- But they've never been a sovereign nation, they've never
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- Occupied a piece of territory.
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- They had no history of civil authority, of
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- Internal government structures.
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- They'd not had kings.
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- There's not even a great record of how they practiced
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- Their faith.
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- They were in the land of egypt, i suspect they knew a great deal
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- About egyptian holidays and egyptian gods and egyptian forms
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- Of worship.
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- They're referred to as a mixed multitude of people that god
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- Delivered out of hundreds of years of egyptian slavery and
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- Said, "i will make you into a nation."
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- That's the point of the books of moses, all those books you love
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- To read, leviticus and numbers and deuteronomy, all those rules
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- And regulations and boundaries.
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- He's taking this mixed multitude of people and fashioning them
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- Into a group of people that have a central focus that binds them
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- Together, an authority over their lives: i'm the god who
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- Feeds you every day.
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- I'm the god who brings water to you in the midst of the desert.
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- I'm the god who delivered you from the most power--social,
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- Economic, military force on the planet.
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- I'm the god who parted the red sea.
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- I will protect you.
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- I'll lead you with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.
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- I'll give you ten commandments.
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- I'll show you how to worship me.
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- This is what a sacrifice looks like, this is what you're
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- To bring.
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- He is fashioning a people.
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- And in exodus 19, verse 5, he said: "if you obey me fully and
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- Keep my covenant, then out of all the nations you'll be my
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- Treasured possession."
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- In order to be god's treasured possession, they had to meet the
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- Requirements, they had to fully obey him and keep his covenant.
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- They couldn't be mildly interested.
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- They couldn't say, "well, we like your holiday structure, we
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- Like your hr plan, so we'll do some of it."
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- "'although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a
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- Kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'
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- These are the words you're to speak to the israelites."
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- Again, god is fashioning a people, a nation.
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- He's establishing a culture.
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- And when we talk about understanding who the jewish
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- People are, we need to be aware enough to understand that
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- The points of emphasis have varied at different times
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- Through history.
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- There was a time that as god's covenant people living in the
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- Land which god had promised them as an inheritance, their
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- Location was a significant characteristic of the
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- Jewish people.
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- They're that people that were delivered from egypt that occupy
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- The land god promised them.
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- That was the expression of the covenant they had with him.
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- The period of the judges, they didn't even have a monarchy,
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- There were no kings.
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- When there was an external threat that threatened the
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- Well-being of the tribes, god would raise up the leaders they
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- Needed, gideon or samson or deborah.
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- The whole period of the monarchy, you read that tension.
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- We've just finished those books: godly kings, ungodly kings, the
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- Suffering that would come because of their wandering
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- Into ungodliness.
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- There are other times in jewish history, that location was not
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- Nearly as vital a component.
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- After the babylonians conquered jerusalem in 70, living in
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- Israel wasn't so important because the majority of their
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- Leaders didn't live in israel.
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- So location wasn't particularly relevant any longer.
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- After the roman destruction of jerusalem in 70 ad, location
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- Wasn't the primary factor in establishing a jewish identity.
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- For more than 2,000 years, there was no jewish state.
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- In our current setting, the answer is more heavily weighted
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- Towards descent, your genealogy, your dna.
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- It's a matter of dna more than location or even
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- Religious practice.
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- In fact, today, you can live anywhere in the world and
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- Be jewish.
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- Maybe not safely, but you can live among the nations.
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- You can be jewish and practice any religion you want.
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- We should be aware enough to recognize the distinction
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- Between being jewish by birth and practicing judaism as
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- A faith.
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- You can be jewish and practice islam.
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- It's generally understood today that to be jewish is a matter of
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- Biology more than location or faith.
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- But again, it's noteworthy, it's significant, it needs to be a
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- Part of your awareness that the criteria have shifted through
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- The centuries, depending upon a multitude of factors.
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- How did god determine who his people were, because they
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- Offered sacrifices at the temple in jerusalem?
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- That was okay until there was no longer a temple in jerusalem
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- Where you could offer a sacrifice.
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- It's a question you need to understand before it becomes too
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- Personal for you.
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- In 1 peter chapter 2, peter is quoting really the idea of
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- Exodus 19.
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- And i didn't put it in your notes, but the letter of 1
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- Peter was written to both jews and gentiles.
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- He labels them strangers and--or aliens in this world,
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- That because of their allegiance to jesus, he said that makes you
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- An alien in this world.
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- Now again, peter is an observant jewish man writing to jews
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- And gentiles.
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- It's in your notes, 1 peter 2:9.
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- He says: "you're a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a
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- Holy nation, a people belonging to god," sounds a lot like what
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- We just read, "that you may declare the praises of him who
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- Called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
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- Once you were not a people, but now you're the people of god;
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- Once you had not received mercy, but
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- Now you have received mercy."
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- Again, very similar language to deuteronomy 7.
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- God preparing a people for himself is the
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- Fundamental story of this book.
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- And it isn't left to us to decide how much we will be
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- Obedient to god or how much of his truth we embrace.
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- If we intend the benefits of the covenant, we have to yield fully
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- To his covenant, to his lordship.
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- It was that way in the exodus, and it's that way in the
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- 21st century.
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- I wanna answer a second question, and it may seem
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- Unrelated, but i don't believe it is.
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- I think it is on point, it's certainly on theme.
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- What determines if you're an american?
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- If i borrow the criteria we used a moment ago, is it the location
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- Where you live?
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- Is it the faith you practice?
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- Is it your genealogy?
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- I think we can understand pretty quickly that none of those would
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- Be the primary criteria.
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- You can be an american living someplace other than on the
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- Continental united states or in one of the 50 states.
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- You can be an american and practice any number of faiths,
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- It's not--there's not a faith criteria, there never has been.
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- We wouldn't suggest it.
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- We have been predominantly a christian nation, that was the
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- Value set, the worldview, that was used with our founding
- 00:11:10.653 --> 00:11:14.290
- Documents and our educational systems and our legal systems.
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- It has caused us to be one of the most prosperous and free
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- Nations in human history.
- 00:11:20.663 --> 00:11:22.898
- It's caused us to become the envy of the nations.
- 00:11:22.898 --> 00:11:25.301
- The reason we have millions of people pouring into our borders
- 00:11:25.301 --> 00:11:28.537
- Is not because we're systemically racist or
- 00:11:28.537 --> 00:11:31.474
- Economically unfair.
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- There's no place else on the planet that provides the
- 00:11:34.343 --> 00:11:36.645
- Opportunities we have provided, and that has
- 00:11:36.645 --> 00:11:39.815
- Been because of the worldview.
- 00:11:39.815 --> 00:11:41.150
- The church should be more aware of the value we represent to the
- 00:11:41.150 --> 00:11:45.821
- Cultures in which we live.
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- Allen: hey, i have a suggestion.
- 00:11:54.764 --> 00:11:56.098
- Let's stop waiting for somebody else to be a better leader.
- 00:11:56.098 --> 00:11:58.334
- Let's determine this year to lead with faith.
- 00:11:58.334 --> 00:12:00.903
- I've written a book to help.
- 00:12:00.903 --> 00:12:02.238
- It's a practical collection of tools that you and i can use the
- 00:12:02.238 --> 00:12:05.908
- Influence of our lives, faith first in the marketplace, in our
- 00:12:05.908 --> 00:12:09.678
- Homes, with our friends.
- 00:12:09.678 --> 00:12:11.180
- Folks, it's time for us to stop waiting for somebody else to
- 00:12:11.180 --> 00:12:13.716
- Step forward.
- 00:12:13.716 --> 00:12:15.050
- Let's determine to lead with faith.
- 00:12:15.050 --> 00:12:16.519
- We can do that and i believe we can change our homes, our
- 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:19.722
- Neighborhoods, our churches, maybe even our nation.
- 00:12:19.722 --> 00:12:22.792
- Announcer: choosing to lead with faith starts with a simple
- 00:12:22.858 --> 00:12:25.294
- Decision: to be intentional right where you are.
- 00:12:25.294 --> 00:12:28.564
- In his new book "lead with faith," pastor allen shares
- 00:12:28.564 --> 00:12:31.734
- Biblical insight and practical tools to help you live out your
- 00:12:31.734 --> 00:12:35.337
- Faith in meaningful ways every day.
- 00:12:35.337 --> 00:12:37.807
- This book will encourage you to stand for truth with wisdom,
- 00:12:37.807 --> 00:12:40.976
- Clarity, and courage without waiting for someone else to
- 00:12:40.976 --> 00:12:44.180
- Go first.
- 00:12:44.180 --> 00:12:45.548
- Request "lead with faith" with your gift of $30 or more at
- 00:12:45.548 --> 00:12:48.884
- Allenjackson.com or call ...
- 00:12:48.884 --> 00:12:53.622
- Allen: now, i would submit what fundamentally has determined our
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- Role in this nation is our citizenship.
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- It isn't the--we've come from the nations of the world, we're
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- A nation of immigrants.
- 00:13:09.271 --> 00:13:12.474
- We are the ultimate melting pot.
- 00:13:12.474 --> 00:13:15.211
- We don't all look the same.
- 00:13:15.211 --> 00:13:16.679
- We don't sound the same.
- 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:18.948
- We've had very many different faiths.
- 00:13:18.948 --> 00:13:20.583
- We've come from very many different nations.
- 00:13:20.583 --> 00:13:23.819
- There's not like a food that is uniquely american.
- 00:13:23.819 --> 00:13:28.157
- It's our citizenship, which reflects an underlying principle
- 00:13:28.157 --> 00:13:32.261
- Which is very important, and the church has to be a voice
- 00:13:32.261 --> 00:13:35.197
- In this.
- 00:13:35.197 --> 00:13:36.565
- We have been a nation of laws, and it's that commitment to
- 00:13:36.565 --> 00:13:42.071
- Authority and laws that were derived from the law of god that
- 00:13:42.071 --> 00:13:47.910
- Has brought the freedom and the liberty to us.
- 00:13:47.910 --> 00:13:51.380
- Again, not saying we have to be exclusively christian, i don't
- 00:13:51.380 --> 00:13:54.116
- Believe that's true.
- 00:13:54.116 --> 00:13:56.385
- God gives all of us a choice and they should have the choice to
- 00:13:56.385 --> 00:13:59.021
- Worship however we see fit.
- 00:13:59.021 --> 00:14:03.692
- But the great challenge before us, i would submit to you,
- 00:14:03.692 --> 00:14:06.862
- Is lawlessness.
- 00:14:06.862 --> 00:14:11.634
- And i would point that back at the community where i've spent
- 00:14:11.634 --> 00:14:16.071
- Most of my adult life, i believe the lawlessness has arrived to
- 00:14:16.071 --> 00:14:19.975
- The degree it is currently present because the voice of
- 00:14:19.975 --> 00:14:22.778
- God's people has been so small.
- 00:14:22.778 --> 00:14:26.582
- We've imagined that civil authority would protect us and
- 00:14:26.582 --> 00:14:30.819
- Keep us secure, therefore, we didn't have to be vocal about
- 00:14:30.819 --> 00:14:34.089
- Our biblical worldview.
- 00:14:34.089 --> 00:14:36.258
- We didn't have to be advocates for the principles of the
- 00:14:36.258 --> 00:14:38.661
- Kingdom to which we belong because we thought the civil
- 00:14:38.661 --> 00:14:41.563
- Authority would protect us, until it won't.
- 00:14:41.563 --> 00:14:46.101
- And if the church will be light and salt, not that everybody
- 00:14:46.101 --> 00:14:50.406
- Will be christian, but the values that emerge from that
- 00:14:50.406 --> 00:14:53.075
- Will bring freedom and liberty to all the people in a
- 00:14:53.075 --> 00:14:55.678
- Greater way.
- 00:14:55.678 --> 00:14:57.112
- There is much evidence through history to support that thesis.
- 00:14:57.112 --> 00:15:01.917
- So this challenge of lawlessness, i gave you some
- 00:15:01.917 --> 00:15:06.288
- Verses because it is very much a biblical principle.
- 00:15:06.288 --> 00:15:09.091
- We are warned about this with the same kind of frequency and
- 00:15:09.091 --> 00:15:11.961
- Intendancy--the frequency that jesus warned his disciples about
- 00:15:11.961 --> 00:15:17.433
- What would happen to him, ultimately, in jerusalem.
- 00:15:17.433 --> 00:15:20.302
- The question is: are we paying attention?
- 00:15:20.302 --> 00:15:23.906
- Do we understand our role?
- 00:15:23.906 --> 00:15:27.009
- In 2 thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 1, it says:
- 00:15:27.009 --> 00:15:29.545
- "concerning the coming of our lord jesus christ."
- 00:15:29.545 --> 00:15:32.147
- How many of you know that jesus is coming back to the earth?
- 00:15:32.147 --> 00:15:35.985
- The timing of that is beyond our purview, we don't know that.
- 00:15:35.985 --> 00:15:40.522
- The very best we could know would be something seasonally,
- 00:15:40.522 --> 00:15:44.026
- But you understand how difficult seasons are to anticipate.
- 00:15:44.026 --> 00:15:47.129
- This is november, and you can wear shorts in tennessee.
- 00:15:47.129 --> 00:15:51.333
- Seasons are not precise things, they give us some awareness.
- 00:15:51.333 --> 00:15:56.672
- The leaves are turning colors and falling off the trees, it's
- 00:15:56.672 --> 00:15:59.241
- Not that the world is dying, the season is changing.
- 00:15:59.241 --> 00:16:04.346
- And the best, the scripture says, we can know about the
- 00:16:04.346 --> 00:16:06.415
- Return of the lord would be seasonally.
- 00:16:06.415 --> 00:16:10.619
- That is less than precise, but he is coming back as certainly
- 00:16:10.619 --> 00:16:14.523
- As he was born in bethlehem, and we'll be gathered to him.
- 00:16:14.523 --> 00:16:17.659
- "we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or
- 00:16:17.659 --> 00:16:20.696
- Alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come
- 00:16:20.696 --> 00:16:24.833
- From us, saying that the day of the lord has already come."
- 00:16:24.833 --> 00:16:30.172
- There have been religious clowns, prophetic manipulators
- 00:16:30.172 --> 00:16:36.745
- For as long as there have been people of faith.
- 00:16:36.745 --> 00:16:41.784
- It's not new.
- 00:16:41.784 --> 00:16:43.118
- Paul's addressing the church that he helped bring into
- 00:16:43.118 --> 00:16:45.187
- Existence, warning them, and it's beneficial to us two
- 00:16:45.187 --> 00:16:50.092
- Millennia later.
- 00:16:50.092 --> 00:16:51.660
- "don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not
- 00:16:51.660 --> 00:16:54.830
- Come until the rebellion or the apostasies," either way, the
- 00:16:54.830 --> 00:16:59.368
- Greek word is apostasia, "occurs and the man of lawlessness is
- 00:16:59.368 --> 00:17:03.405
- Revealed, the man doomed to destruction."
- 00:17:03.405 --> 00:17:08.277
- Paul is warning the church at thessaloniki that jesus's return
- 00:17:08.277 --> 00:17:12.781
- Will be preceded by the emergence of a man
- 00:17:12.781 --> 00:17:15.084
- Of lawlessness.
- 00:17:15.084 --> 00:17:17.286
- With some of the rest of the material in the new testament,
- 00:17:17.286 --> 00:17:19.354
- We know him to be the antichrist, this global leader,
- 00:17:19.354 --> 00:17:22.157
- Who will set aside those biblical principles, that
- 00:17:22.157 --> 00:17:25.527
- Biblical worldview, that judeo-christian worldview, and
- 00:17:25.527 --> 00:17:29.832
- Will be the most beastly leader that the world has ever known.
- 00:17:29.832 --> 00:17:32.968
- It's not a small thing to push those values aside.
- 00:17:32.968 --> 00:17:38.740
- I won't do the word study 'cause i don't think you've had
- 00:17:38.740 --> 00:17:41.009
- Enough caffeine to stay awake, but the word for lawlessness
- 00:17:41.009 --> 00:17:45.514
- That's used in the passages i've given you refers specifically to
- 00:17:45.514 --> 00:17:49.418
- The rejecting of or the breaking of god's laws, the idea that we
- 00:17:49.418 --> 00:17:52.888
- Live under the law of god.
- 00:17:52.888 --> 00:17:57.392
- Matthew 7:23, jesus is speaking: "i'll declare to them, 'i never
- 00:17:57.392 --> 00:18:01.163
- Knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'"
- 00:18:01.163 --> 00:18:06.268
- If you reject god's boundaries, if you don't uphold those
- 00:18:06.268 --> 00:18:10.506
- Biblical principles, you shouldn't imagine you belong to
- 00:18:10.506 --> 00:18:14.576
- The kingdom of god.
- 00:18:14.576 --> 00:18:17.212
- This isn't a political discussion at all.
- 00:18:17.212 --> 00:18:20.883
- The lawlessness that is growing amongst us is growing because
- 00:18:20.883 --> 00:18:26.755
- We're stepping further and further away from a biblical
- 00:18:26.755 --> 00:18:29.791
- Worldview and how we understand family, human sexuality,
- 00:18:29.791 --> 00:18:33.462
- Marriage, the sanctity of human life for the very young or the
- 00:18:33.462 --> 00:18:36.999
- Very old.
- 00:18:36.999 --> 00:18:39.501
- And we were told, matthew 13 just--is the parable of the
- 00:18:39.501 --> 00:18:43.839
- Wheat and the tares.
- 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:45.174
- Jesus is speaking: "just as the tares are gathered up and burned
- 00:18:45.174 --> 00:18:47.743
- With fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
- 00:18:47.743 --> 00:18:50.345
- The son of man will send forth his angels, they'll gather out
- 00:18:50.345 --> 00:18:53.315
- Of his kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit
- 00:18:53.315 --> 00:18:58.687
- Lawlessness, and he'll throw them into the furnace of fire."
- 00:18:58.687 --> 00:19:03.959
- You cannot reject the principles of god and imagine you can
- 00:19:03.959 --> 00:19:09.097
- Participate in his kingdom.
- 00:19:09.097 --> 00:19:10.699
- Matthew 23: "woe to you, scribes and pharisees,
- 00:19:10.699 --> 00:19:14.703
- You're hypocrites!
- 00:19:14.703 --> 00:19:16.071
- You're like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear
- 00:19:16.071 --> 00:19:19.141
- Beautiful, but inside you're full of dead men's bones and
- 00:19:19.141 --> 00:19:21.743
- All uncleanness.
- 00:19:21.743 --> 00:19:23.812
- Outwardly you appear righteous, but inwardly you are full of
- 00:19:23.812 --> 00:19:27.182
- Hypocrisy and lawlessness."
- 00:19:27.182 --> 00:19:31.320
- He's talking to the religious leaders, the biblical scholars,
- 00:19:31.320 --> 00:19:34.890
- The conveners of religious services, the interpreters
- 00:19:34.890 --> 00:19:38.227
- Of scripture.
- 00:19:38.227 --> 00:19:40.262
- And he said, on the outside, you look mah-velous, but, he said,
- 00:19:40.262 --> 00:19:45.267
- On the inside, you're full of corruption, you
- 00:19:45.267 --> 00:19:48.537
- Practice lawlessness.
- 00:19:48.537 --> 00:19:50.739
- You hand burdens to other people that you yourself will not make
- 00:19:50.739 --> 00:19:54.076
- Any attempt to carry.
- 00:19:54.076 --> 00:19:59.047
- Matthew 24.
- 00:19:59.047 --> 00:20:01.984
- "many false prophets will arise and mislead many.
- 00:20:01.984 --> 00:20:04.620
- Because lawlessness is increased, most people
- 00:20:04.620 --> 00:20:08.357
- Will--the--most people's love will grow cold."
- 00:20:08.357 --> 00:20:12.060
- In the greek language, there are multiple words for love.
- 00:20:12.060 --> 00:20:14.229
- In english, we don't have that, we just have love.
- 00:20:14.229 --> 00:20:17.833
- You can love your dog and love your kids.
- 00:20:17.833 --> 00:20:21.403
- There's a little bit of a language break there.
- 00:20:21.403 --> 00:20:23.005
- You understand?
- 00:20:23.005 --> 00:20:24.973
- If your dog makes a mess in the house, you can put
- 00:20:24.973 --> 00:20:26.675
- Him outside.
- 00:20:26.675 --> 00:20:29.911
- If your kids make a mess in the house, don't do that.
- 00:20:29.911 --> 00:20:36.618
- But in the greek language, there are multiple words for love.
- 00:20:36.618 --> 00:20:39.221
- There's a love for physical love.
- 00:20:39.221 --> 00:20:42.224
- There's a love for the love of god, which is the word that's
- 00:20:42.224 --> 00:20:45.127
- Used here.
- 00:20:45.127 --> 00:20:47.362
- That most people--people's love, it'll be the love in the hearts
- 00:20:47.362 --> 00:20:50.732
- Of god's people will grow cold.
- 00:20:50.732 --> 00:20:52.401
- Why?
- 00:20:52.401 --> 00:20:53.735
- Because of the great increase in lawlessness.
- 00:20:53.735 --> 00:20:59.374
- "but the one who endures to the end will be saved.
- 00:20:59.374 --> 00:21:01.476
- And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached to the whole
- 00:21:01.476 --> 00:21:03.512
- World as a testimony to all nations, and then the end
- 00:21:03.512 --> 00:21:06.381
- Will come."
- 00:21:06.381 --> 00:21:07.716
- There's this contrast.
- 00:21:07.716 --> 00:21:09.051
- We've seen that in the gospels of late, where at the time where
- 00:21:09.051 --> 00:21:11.053
- Lawlessness is ratcheting up and the love of many in god's
- 00:21:11.053 --> 00:21:14.256
- Community is growing cold, the gospel of the kingdom is
- 00:21:14.256 --> 00:21:17.492
- Preached in an unprecedented way.
- 00:21:17.492 --> 00:21:20.162
- We have a choice to make, we have to decide where we will
- 00:21:20.162 --> 00:21:22.931
- Stand, who we will become, what we're gonna use our voice for.
- 00:21:22.931 --> 00:21:29.604
- We don't want to be encumbered.
- 00:21:29.604 --> 00:21:31.039
- We don't wanna be encumbered with attending church.
- 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:34.409
- We don't wanna be encumbered with serving and that we don't
- 00:21:34.409 --> 00:21:36.945
- Want to be encumbered.
- 00:21:36.945 --> 00:21:38.313
- No one can tell us, we say.
- 00:21:38.313 --> 00:21:40.515
- God can, he is sovereign.
- 00:21:40.515 --> 00:21:44.219
- We have today an open border, the refusal to enforce the
- 00:21:44.219 --> 00:21:47.022
- Boundaries of our nation.
- 00:21:47.022 --> 00:21:49.624
- It's handed to us under the guise of compassion, asylum, or
- 00:21:49.624 --> 00:21:52.728
- Sanctuary status.
- 00:21:52.728 --> 00:21:56.064
- Hundreds of thousands of children being trafficked into
- 00:21:56.064 --> 00:21:58.934
- The sex trades, don't tell me that's about asylum, it's evil,
- 00:21:58.934 --> 00:22:05.006
- And our silence, we will have to give an account for.
- 00:22:05.006 --> 00:22:09.745
- The lawlessness has flourished to the point that i think we're
- 00:22:09.745 --> 00:22:12.280
- Almost numb to it.
- 00:22:12.280 --> 00:22:14.583
- It's a callus that we have developed, we don't feel it.
- 00:22:14.583 --> 00:22:17.319
- We hardly recognize it.
- 00:22:17.319 --> 00:22:19.054
- It's inconvenient, we prefer not to notice.
- 00:22:19.054 --> 00:22:22.491
- It isn't about politics, folks, it's about the heart of our
- 00:22:22.491 --> 00:22:24.793
- People and the silence of the church.
- 00:22:24.793 --> 00:22:28.930
- Our current president, we have witnessed significant
- 00:22:28.930 --> 00:22:33.001
- Cognitive decline.
- 00:22:33.001 --> 00:22:36.505
- There's no joy in that.
- 00:22:36.505 --> 00:22:37.873
- If you've ever had someone you care about suffer that kind of
- 00:22:37.873 --> 00:22:39.975
- Decline, it's horribly painful, but it's also painfully obvious.
- 00:22:39.975 --> 00:22:46.014
- It progressed to the point that he was removed from the ballot,
- 00:22:46.014 --> 00:22:49.851
- Even though he was elected by the people to run again
- 00:22:49.851 --> 00:22:52.454
- For office.
- 00:22:52.454 --> 00:22:54.623
- Those are just facts on record.
- 00:22:54.623 --> 00:22:57.392
- Now, we don't know who is making the decisions on his behalf
- 00:22:57.392 --> 00:23:01.062
- While he's been in office.
- 00:23:01.062 --> 00:23:03.231
- Those individuals have never been identified, they never
- 00:23:03.231 --> 00:23:05.400
- Raised their hands.
- 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:06.768
- They never said we're the group that are the proxies helping.
- 00:23:06.768 --> 00:23:12.941
- We don't know who was responding on behalf of his office.
- 00:23:12.941 --> 00:23:16.111
- We don't know who determined the affairs of our nation.
- 00:23:16.111 --> 00:23:18.613
- Those things are not clear.
- 00:23:18.613 --> 00:23:20.415
- All that was clear was that there was enough decline that it
- 00:23:20.415 --> 00:23:23.585
- Wasn't appropriate to continue in spite of the votes of
- 00:23:23.585 --> 00:23:26.488
- Millions of people.
- 00:23:26.488 --> 00:23:29.191
- That is the picture of lawlessness in a nation of laws.
- 00:23:29.191 --> 00:23:33.862
- We're not bound together by our ethnicity, by our language.
- 00:23:33.862 --> 00:23:37.532
- We're not bound together because we
- 00:23:37.532 --> 00:23:38.867
- Look the same or we sound the same.
- 00:23:38.867 --> 00:23:40.202
- We've come from the nations of the world.
- 00:23:40.202 --> 00:23:41.937
- What has bound us together was our commitment to the rule of
- 00:23:41.937 --> 00:23:45.340
- Law, and it's being set aside in the most egregious ways, in the
- 00:23:45.340 --> 00:23:50.111
- Most profound ways.
- 00:23:50.111 --> 00:23:54.082
- Now we have a candidate for the presidency that hasn't received
- 00:23:54.082 --> 00:23:56.518
- A vote.
- 00:23:56.518 --> 00:23:58.253
- We don't know who the selection committee was.
- 00:23:58.253 --> 00:24:00.021
- We don't know who determined that our current president would
- 00:24:00.021 --> 00:24:03.758
- Not serve a second term.
- 00:24:03.758 --> 00:24:05.126
- There's been no medical report.
- 00:24:05.126 --> 00:24:06.461
- There's been no mental evaluation, just set aside by
- 00:24:06.461 --> 00:24:09.531
- Someone somewhere.
- 00:24:09.531 --> 00:24:12.033
- There's a complete lack of clarity on obligations which can
- 00:24:12.033 --> 00:24:15.971
- Be attached to the candidacy.
- 00:24:15.971 --> 00:24:18.540
- We don't know who the sponsors are.
- 00:24:18.540 --> 00:24:25.580
- So why should we be called-- surprised now that there are
- 00:24:25.580 --> 00:24:28.350
- Broad calls for people who aren't citizens to have the
- 00:24:28.350 --> 00:24:31.419
- Privilege to vote?
- 00:24:31.419 --> 00:24:36.324
- That is the talking point.
- 00:24:36.324 --> 00:24:38.527
- We recognize that the idea represents the dismissal of the
- 00:24:38.527 --> 00:24:41.630
- Rights and privileges of current citizens.
- 00:24:41.630 --> 00:24:45.166
- If non-citizens are given the rights and privileges of those
- 00:24:45.166 --> 00:24:48.904
- Who have been formally, legally processed as citizens, either by
- 00:24:48.904 --> 00:24:52.674
- Birth or choice and acceptance, everyone forfeits their rights
- 00:24:52.674 --> 00:24:56.845
- And privileges.
- 00:24:56.845 --> 00:24:58.179
- We have become lawless.
- 00:24:58.179 --> 00:25:01.082
- Now, we've been warned about it, but it doesn't mean that we have
- 00:25:01.082 --> 00:25:04.686
- To submit to it.
- 00:25:04.686 --> 00:25:06.354
- We're to be light and salt in the midst of the darkness, to
- 00:25:06.354 --> 00:25:10.225
- Use our voices to stand up for the children.
- 00:25:10.225 --> 00:25:14.863
- Marriage isn't left to the state to define, god did that, and we
- 00:25:14.863 --> 00:25:18.833
- As the people of god have to use our voices.
- 00:25:18.833 --> 00:25:22.003
- The lives of the children are not the property of the state,
- 00:25:22.003 --> 00:25:25.373
- They're not the property of a school board.
- 00:25:25.373 --> 00:25:28.343
- We have to use our voices.
- 00:25:28.343 --> 00:25:32.047
- Allen: jesus was a living revelation of almighty god.
- 00:25:32.047 --> 00:25:35.216
- That's my prayer for us today, that we would have more than a
- 00:25:35.216 --> 00:25:37.953
- Religious experience or some experience of reciting a prayer.
- 00:25:37.953 --> 00:25:42.123
- We need a revelation of jesus, it'll change our lives.
- 00:25:42.123 --> 00:25:45.427
- Let's pray, father, i thank you that you love us so much that
- 00:25:45.427 --> 00:25:48.396
- You sent your son, that you sent him in a package that we could
- 00:25:48.396 --> 00:25:52.133
- Relate to, that we could understand and that he could
- 00:25:52.133 --> 00:25:54.035
- Understand us.
- 00:25:54.035 --> 00:25:55.403
- I ask you now by your spirit to give us a living revelation of
- 00:25:55.403 --> 00:25:59.140
- Jesus of nazareth, not a historical figure or a religious
- 00:25:59.140 --> 00:26:02.510
- Leader, but the living person of jesus.
- 00:26:02.510 --> 00:26:05.180
- I thank you for it.
- 00:26:05.180 --> 00:26:06.548
- It's in his name we ask, amen.
- 00:26:06.548 --> 00:26:09.184
- ♪♪♪
- 00:26:09.184 --> 00:26:14.122
- Allen: i suspect we've all heard the line that leadership is
- 00:26:15.423 --> 00:26:18.093
- About influence.
- 00:26:18.093 --> 00:26:19.427
- Well, i have a question for you. what do you lead with?
- 00:26:19.427 --> 00:26:21.696
- What is the basis of your influence?
- 00:26:21.696 --> 00:26:23.431
- Is it your appearance, your education, your professional
- 00:26:23.431 --> 00:26:26.501
- Expertise, your professional accomplishments, your athletic
- 00:26:26.501 --> 00:26:29.304
- Ability, your family?
- 00:26:29.304 --> 00:26:31.006
- What is the point of influence that you use most frequently?
- 00:26:31.006 --> 00:26:35.343
- Well, i've written a book.
- 00:26:35.343 --> 00:26:36.711
- The title is gonna give away where i'm headed.
- 00:26:36.711 --> 00:26:38.513
- It's "lead with faith."
- 00:26:38.513 --> 00:26:39.948
- I think it's time that all of us begin to use our faith as an
- 00:26:39.948 --> 00:26:43.718
- Influence in the world where we find ourselves.
- 00:26:43.718 --> 00:26:46.287
- We're reluctant to do that.
- 00:26:46.287 --> 00:26:47.622
- We typically have more confidence in our education or
- 00:26:47.622 --> 00:26:50.725
- Our family system or our life experience, we feel a little
- 00:26:50.725 --> 00:26:53.695
- Uncertain to lead with faith.
- 00:26:53.695 --> 00:26:55.296
- The point of this book is to give you the tools to take your
- 00:26:55.296 --> 00:26:59.134
- Faith out of a church setting and bring it into
- 00:26:59.134 --> 00:27:02.003
- The marketplace.
- 00:27:02.003 --> 00:27:03.405
- If we will lead with faith, i believe god will help us make an
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- Impact in this generation.
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- Go to allenjackson.com and get your copy today.
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- ♪♪♪
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