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 - Expressions Of God's Power and Authority (Part 1) | February 6, 2025
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- Allen jackson: we're the church.
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- We are; that's awkward, isn't it?
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- Scruffy, broken down, inconsistent.
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- If your friends have heard you swear more than
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- They've heard you say, "i love jesus," we've got work to do.
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- If they've heard you express your enthusiasm and your joy
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- About wickedness and ungodly things and selfish gratification
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- More than they've heard us say, "god has been so good to me,"
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- We've got some work to do.
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- ♪♪♪
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- ♪♪♪
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- Allen: i wanna continue the discussion we began
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- In a previous session, really focused on the church.
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- The church and the earth.
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- Jesus is coming back to the earth for his church.
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- He came the first time to offer himself as a sacrifice for
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- Any who would believe in him, but he's coming back again;
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- Bodily, he's coming back to the earth
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- As a conquering king for his church.
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- There'll be many imitations.
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- There'll be many distractions.
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- There'll be many expressions of things that are false:
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- False teachers, false prophets, false apostles, false gospels,
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- False christs, even a false church.
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- We're warned clearly, repeatedly.
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- So i wanna talk a bit about this notion of the church, remind you
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- Of what we've been called to.
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- It's a glorious, amazing thing.
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- In ephesians chapter 5, in verse 25,
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- You do have that in your notes.
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- It says: "christ loved the church."
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- You really ought to stop there.
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- "christ loved the church."
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- If you're mad at the church, you and jesus have a problem.
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- I didn't like church.
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- It was a real problem when god came to invite me
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- Into the ministry.
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- I didn't like church.
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- To be honest, i didn't like christians that much.
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- You know what my problem was?
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- There was so little of jesus in me, i got uncomfortable
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- Around all those people.
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- "christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make
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- Her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through
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- The word, and to present her," the church, "to himself as
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- A radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish,
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- But holy and blameless."
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- Wow, "christ loved the church so much he gave himself up for
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- The church that she might be presented into eternity as
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- A radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish,
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- But holy, blameless."
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- Folks, that's more than a bible study society.
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- That's more than just barely making it over the threshold.
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- That's not the "well, how much do i have to do" club?
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- "how often do i have to volunteer?"
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- "how much do i have to give?"
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- "i'm supposed to be there how frequently?"
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- That doesn't--that's not what's being described in that passage.
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- Jesus offered himself up for you and for me, that we could stand
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- Before the creator of heaven and earth, holy and blameless, wow.
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- We'll never do that on our own.
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- We'll never be good enough or moral enough or kind enough or
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- Generous enough or smart enough.
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- We had to have help, and jesus raised his hand.
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- He said, "i will offer myself on their behalf.
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- I'll be the sacrifice for their transgressions."
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- And his objective, what he could see--in hebrews
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- It says he despised the shame.
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- He could look past the pain and the suffering,
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- Looking for a church, a radiant church.
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- Don't tell me the church is insignificant.
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- Don't tell me we don't matter.
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- Don't tell me we'll be fine if we're dispersed
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- Or distributed or silenced.
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- We won't be.
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- We're the expression.
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- We're an expression of god's power
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- And authority in the earth.
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- Ephesians 1, verse 4: "he chose us--
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- He chose us in him before the creation of the world
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- To be holy and blameless in his sight."
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- A radiant church is a church that is holy and blameless
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- In the sight of god.
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- You see, we can be holy and blameless in our sight.
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- Oh, come on.
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- You're like, "i'm pretty good."
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- I mean, if you'll give me a minute,
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- I'll explain why i've got some stains.
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- I mean, it wasn't anything i did.
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- I've been around some pretty stinky people,
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- And they stained me up.
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- I mean, it doesn't take us much effort at all to convince
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- Ourselves that we are holy and blameless, right?
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- We can go there.
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- We can justify about anything,
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- Where everybody's looking so innocent.
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- How many of you know somebody
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- That could justify just about anything?
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- Now, we're gonna get some buy-in.
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- But it says that we're holy and blameless in his sight.
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- In his sight, not in our opinion.
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- In the light of god's justice, we can be holy and blameless.
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- That's good news for our world, because none of us can be holy
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- And blameless on our own.
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- The motivation of jesus's sacrifice
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- Was our transformation.
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- Apart from jesus's redemptive work, we have
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- No way of achieving holiness or forgiveness.
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- It's why jesus is so important.
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- It's why the jesus narrative is so important.
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- It's why your jesus story is so important.
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- It's why the people who know you and all of your fractured
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- Lives and your brokenness and your inconsistencies,
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- To share with them how jesus is transforming you.
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- He's changing your "want-tos," he's changing your objectives.
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- Romans chapter 6 and verse 22.
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- Says: "now--" now's a timing word.
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- When's it mean?
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- Now.
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- Clever group.
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- "now you have been set free from sin and have become slaves
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- To god, the benefit you reap leads to holiness,
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- And the result is eternal life.
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- For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of god is eternal
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- Life in christ jesus our lord."
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- "now you have been set free from sin."
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- You can't be set free from sin unless you take what comes next.
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- And we've become slaves to god.
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- We've been set free from sin to become slaves for god.
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- I have an objective with this little study.
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- You see, i think we're gonna have
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- To make some course corrections.
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- We're gonna have to make some adjustments.
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- The church, the trajectory we've been on for several decades
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- In american evangelicalism, has been pretty self-absorbed.
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- We've had so much freedom and liberty and abundance
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- And opportunity that we didn't really need god
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- To sort those things out.
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- Our kids had schools,
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- And there was healthcare available to them.
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- And there was enough order in our world and there was enough
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- Latent opportunities around us that we could add god
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- As kind of a component, kind of a luxury item.
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- But folks, the world is changing, dramatically,
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- Rapidly, swiftly.
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- And those stabilizing voices and the things you've counted on,
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- They are deteriorating before your eyes,
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- Day after day after day.
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- We didn't understand they came from a biblical worldview so we
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- Were silent and let our biblical worldview be put in the shredder
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- And removed from the public square and taken
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- Out of corporate behavior and eliminated from the public
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- Justice system in place after place after place.
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- And now we're watching chaos begin to emerge.
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- It's growing rapidly.
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- And the church is a bit addled and a bit confused
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- And we're like, "well, wow, wow, what?"
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- We haven't been to church.
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- We've gathered in our buildings and we've had our little songs
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- And we've done our little studies and we've been
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- A little puffed up because we could do exegetically correct,
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- Homiletically, appropriately hermeneutically, exact studies.
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- But we weren't being transformed.
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- We weren't being changed.
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- We weren't a believing church.
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- We were an accumulating, we were gathering knowledge and getting
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- Facts and we were smug and self-righteous and we really
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- Didn't have this--we don't--to be set free from sin,
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- We weren't that bad.
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- There were worse people.
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- I mean, we probably thought we needed a little forgiveness,
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- You know, we needed a little polish because even silver,
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- Sterling silver, will tarnish without a little polish.
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- Jesus didn't come just to polish us.
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- He didn't come to hammer out the dents and put in a little bondo,
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- Slap a new coat of paint on us.
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- He came that we might be holy and blameless
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- In the sight of god.
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- And to do that, their power will need to be brought to bear,
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- Authority will come in to play.
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- We have to change kingdoms.
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- We have to understand that we need forgiveness from sin
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- Or we got no shot, and that in order to walk in that freedom,
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- We have to become willing to become slaves to god.
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- The benefits you reap leads to what?
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- It's in your notes.
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- "the benefit you reap leads to holiness."
- 00:10:01.651 --> 00:10:05.955
- "well, now, wait a minute, you want me to be one of those--"
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- Yeah, god intends that.
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- He didn't forgive your sin so you could be a pagan
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- With a clean conscience.
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- He didn't forgive you of your past so you could be the most
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- Worldly amongst the people of god.
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- He's forgiven us so that we could become slaves to him,
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- Which will lead us to holiness.
- 00:10:32.748 --> 00:10:36.052
- "and the result," don't miss the result, it's "eternal life."
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- Eternal life.
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- Not just a life without end.
- 00:10:45.861 --> 00:10:47.963
- Your spirit has no end.
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- When your body's done, your spirit will step into eternity.
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- Eternal life in this context is life in the presence of god.
- 00:10:53.536 --> 00:10:58.207
- Your spirit could spend all eternity apart from
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- The presence of god.
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- That's a desperate place, too desperate for
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- Me to even imagine.
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- You wanna spend every waking moment you have under the sun
- 00:11:08.451 --> 00:11:12.321
- Being certain that your eternity is in the presence of god.
- 00:11:12.321 --> 00:11:17.326
- And the presumptive attitude that "i said a little prayer,
- 00:11:17.326 --> 00:11:19.829
- Took a little dip in the pool, and therefore it's mine,
- 00:11:19.829 --> 00:11:22.498
- It's all mine," is a very deceptive idea.
- 00:11:22.498 --> 00:11:31.040
- Female announcer: if you look, you'll find good
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- News everywhere.
- 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:38.547
- Female: our baby was born healthy and strong.
- 00:11:38.547 --> 00:11:42.418
- Female: we have the groceries we need.
- 00:11:42.418 --> 00:11:44.987
- Male: another year cancer-free.
- 00:11:44.987 --> 00:11:48.357
- Female: we bought our first house this year.
- 00:11:48.357 --> 00:11:52.294
- Female: the raise came through when i needed it most.
- 00:11:52.294 --> 00:11:55.931
- Male: i have a working car.
- 00:11:55.931 --> 00:11:59.535
- Female: my husband came home safe.
- 00:11:59.535 --> 00:12:03.405
- Female announcer: philippians 4 tells us to, "think about
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- Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable,
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- Excellent and praiseworthy."
- 00:12:10.846 --> 00:12:13.115
- All of these things honor god and when we take time to notice
- 00:12:13.115 --> 00:12:16.418
- Them, we welcome god's presence and experience his peace.
- 00:12:16.418 --> 00:12:20.289
- Allen: you know, the two most critical junctures of any
- 00:12:22.057 --> 00:12:24.593
- Enterprise are how we begin and how we conclude.
- 00:12:24.593 --> 00:12:28.030
- So, the beginning of a new year is a tremendous opportunity.
- 00:12:28.030 --> 00:12:31.967
- We've prepared a tool we want to share with you.
- 00:12:31.967 --> 00:12:33.769
- It's a good news journal.
- 00:12:33.769 --> 00:12:35.638
- We wanna help you set a habit this year to do something with a
- 00:12:35.638 --> 00:12:39.675
- Bit more intention than perhaps has been our pattern in
- 00:12:39.675 --> 00:12:42.645
- The past.
- 00:12:42.645 --> 00:12:43.979
- We wanna start our year with an attitude of appreciation and
- 00:12:43.979 --> 00:12:47.016
- Gratitude for the blessings of god in our lives.
- 00:12:47.016 --> 00:12:50.252
- So, we've designed this journal so that you can use it as a part
- 00:12:50.252 --> 00:12:53.255
- Of your devotional.
- 00:12:53.255 --> 00:12:54.590
- It's something you could include the children, the grandchildren.
- 00:12:54.590 --> 00:12:56.826
- You could take it to work and create a good news journal for
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- The people you work with.
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- Wherever that may be, let's start our year out purposefully,
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- Intentionally saying, "thank you," to the lord for his
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- Goodness to us.
- 00:13:07.636 --> 00:13:09.104
- I know there's challenges and we have places where we need god's
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- Help, but we're gonna begin with gratitude and walk into the
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- Blessings of god in this year.
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- I think you'll enjoy the journal.
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- God bless.
- 00:13:19.849 --> 00:13:21.183
- Female announcer: when you keep a good news list, you'll notice
- 00:13:21.183 --> 00:13:23.285
- How god is constantly at work all around you.
- 00:13:23.285 --> 00:13:26.555
- Our new 52-week, good news notebook gives you a place to
- 00:13:26.555 --> 00:13:30.492
- Record your good news, prayers you saw god answer, and your
- 00:13:30.492 --> 00:13:34.096
- Current prayer requests.
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- As you look back on your lists over the weeks and months to
- 00:13:35.865 --> 00:13:38.734
- Come, you'll find a personal record of god's faithfulness
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- To you.
- 00:13:41.670 --> 00:13:43.005
- Allen: we are trusting god for a year like no other for his
- 00:13:43.005 --> 00:13:45.407
- Breakthroughs this year.
- 00:13:45.407 --> 00:13:46.775
- I believe the good news journal can be a part of our journey in
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- Each of our lives.
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- Female announcer: request your good news notebook when you
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- Download the app and be encouraged by the word today.
- 00:14:54.143 --> 00:15:00.015
- Allen: if we work with people and live next door to people
- 00:15:04.219 --> 00:15:07.289
- And we socialize with people and we gather with them and we don't
- 00:15:07.289 --> 00:15:12.194
- Have the willingness to say, "you know,
- 00:15:12.194 --> 00:15:15.164
- I'm pretty excited about jesus in my life."
- 00:15:15.164 --> 00:15:18.834
- If you don't say anything more than that, make 'em wonder why.
- 00:15:18.834 --> 00:15:24.673
- I bet most of them never thought about being excited about jesus.
- 00:15:24.673 --> 00:15:28.477
- They're excited about the next vacation.
- 00:15:28.477 --> 00:15:30.679
- They're excited about the kid's next ball game,
- 00:15:30.679 --> 00:15:32.481
- They're excited about ut hanging another 50 on somebody.
- 00:15:32.481 --> 00:15:37.386
- It's okay with me.
- 00:15:37.386 --> 00:15:40.189
- But are you willing to say, "you know,
- 00:15:40.189 --> 00:15:42.624
- I'm pretty excited with this jesus thing.
- 00:15:42.624 --> 00:15:44.693
- I've been thinking about him more and more."
- 00:15:44.693 --> 00:15:47.363
- First time you say it, it'll get really quiet.
- 00:15:47.363 --> 00:15:50.599
- "pass the cheese dip."
- 00:15:50.599 --> 00:15:54.970
- But if you'll let that be known, people will begin to come up
- 00:15:54.970 --> 00:15:58.240
- To you and say, "you know, i heard what you said,
- 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:00.909
- The thing about what you were excited.
- 00:16:00.909 --> 00:16:02.611
- I don't understand.
- 00:16:02.611 --> 00:16:03.979
- Could you tell me a little bit more about that?"
- 00:16:03.979 --> 00:16:06.348
- "well, there's a lot i don't know.
- 00:16:06.348 --> 00:16:09.418
- Lord knows, i certainly don't feel like a bible scholar,
- 00:16:09.418 --> 00:16:13.222
- But i believe he's real and i found hope in that
- 00:16:13.222 --> 00:16:17.126
- And i found peace and i, actually, i prayed a little bit.
- 00:16:17.126 --> 00:16:21.830
- I mean, like, out loud, me.
- 00:16:21.830 --> 00:16:23.198
- I, like, said a prayer.
- 00:16:23.198 --> 00:16:26.468
- It didn't show up on evan's caller id 'cause, apparently,
- 00:16:26.468 --> 00:16:29.505
- I wasn't in their directory, but i kept it up anyway."
- 00:16:29.505 --> 00:16:33.409
- You see, you can do this.
- 00:16:33.409 --> 00:16:36.845
- I can do this.
- 00:16:36.845 --> 00:16:38.914
- We haven't cared, 'cause we thought the government
- 00:16:38.914 --> 00:16:42.084
- Was gonna bring justice to us.
- 00:16:42.084 --> 00:16:45.287
- Hello?
- 00:16:47.656 --> 00:16:50.526
- We thought that somebody was gonna secure our future.
- 00:16:50.592 --> 00:16:53.495
- We'd elect somebody and they're gonna make this right.
- 00:16:53.495 --> 00:16:55.197
- So, we didn't really care.
- 00:16:55.197 --> 00:16:56.665
- Folks, the government didn't take jesus out of our schools.
- 00:16:56.665 --> 00:16:58.767
- We didn't put enough jesus in our kids and we sent our kids
- 00:16:58.767 --> 00:17:01.136
- To school and there was no jesus there.
- 00:17:01.136 --> 00:17:04.573
- That's the truth.
- 00:17:04.573 --> 00:17:06.742
- The government didn't take jesus out of the corporate world,
- 00:17:06.742 --> 00:17:09.011
- There wasn't enough jesus in us and we've been hanging out
- 00:17:09.011 --> 00:17:11.113
- In the corporate world, stacking bucks, and we didn't care
- 00:17:11.113 --> 00:17:13.082
- If jesus was there or not.
- 00:17:13.082 --> 00:17:18.954
- We're the church.
- 00:17:18.954 --> 00:17:20.656
- We are.
- 00:17:20.656 --> 00:17:22.391
- That's awkward, isn't it?
- 00:17:22.391 --> 00:17:23.892
- Scruffy, broken down, inconsistent.
- 00:17:23.892 --> 00:17:28.030
- If your friends have heard you swear more than
- 00:17:28.030 --> 00:17:31.300
- They've heard you say, "i love jesus," we've got work to do.
- 00:17:31.300 --> 00:17:37.172
- If they've heard you express your enthusiasm and your joy
- 00:17:37.172 --> 00:17:40.509
- About wickedness and ungodly things and selfish gratification
- 00:17:40.509 --> 00:17:44.847
- More than they've heard us say, "god has been so good to me,"
- 00:17:44.847 --> 00:17:49.318
- We've got some work to do.
- 00:17:49.318 --> 00:17:52.054
- "well, pastor, i'm an introvert."
- 00:17:52.054 --> 00:17:56.558
- Oh, i see.
- 00:17:56.558 --> 00:18:01.130
- That's in 2 hezekiah 3, verse 11: "introverts sit
- 00:18:01.130 --> 00:18:09.104
- Silently in the bleachers while those wacked-out people
- 00:18:09.104 --> 00:18:13.509
- Talk about something."
- 00:18:13.509 --> 00:18:19.581
- I wanna add another layer to it.
- 00:18:22.251 --> 00:18:24.920
- We have been overwhelmed with this notion
- 00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:27.456
- Of personal salvation, and i believe in that.
- 00:18:27.456 --> 00:18:30.826
- I believe in the new birth, being born again, saved.
- 00:18:30.826 --> 00:18:34.496
- I believe in that initiation point into the kingdom of god.
- 00:18:34.496 --> 00:18:38.567
- But this issue really came front and center with the lockdowns.
- 00:18:38.567 --> 00:18:42.704
- And it will be back.
- 00:18:42.704 --> 00:18:45.674
- The government never takes authority and yields it again.
- 00:18:45.674 --> 00:18:50.812
- They'll take it with a crisis.
- 00:18:50.812 --> 00:18:53.582
- But once they've understood you will yield to that expression of
- 00:18:53.582 --> 00:18:55.918
- Authority, they will create another crisis so they
- 00:18:55.918 --> 00:18:59.388
- Can exert that authority again.
- 00:18:59.388 --> 00:19:02.824
- The labels will be a bit different,
- 00:19:02.824 --> 00:19:04.960
- The causes will be a little different.
- 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:06.929
- Folks, we're very slow sometimes.
- 00:19:06.929 --> 00:19:09.598
- It's because we walk too much in the dark
- 00:19:09.598 --> 00:19:11.333
- And not enough in the light.
- 00:19:11.333 --> 00:19:13.502
- So i wanna add a notion to this, that while we believe
- 00:19:13.502 --> 00:19:18.006
- In that individual salvation that you have to make
- 00:19:18.006 --> 00:19:21.343
- A decision about jesus.
- 00:19:21.343 --> 00:19:22.878
- The fact that your wife loves jesus or your husband loves
- 00:19:22.878 --> 00:19:24.613
- Jesus will not help you.
- 00:19:24.613 --> 00:19:27.482
- The fact that your parents were godly people will not make
- 00:19:27.482 --> 00:19:29.885
- A difference when you have to give an account.
- 00:19:29.885 --> 00:19:32.521
- The fact that you sat in the midst of a church filled
- 00:19:32.521 --> 00:19:34.790
- With people who love the lord will not help you.
- 00:19:34.790 --> 00:19:36.925
- Your membership card from whatever community of faith,
- 00:19:36.925 --> 00:19:40.662
- Whatever denomination, whatever label, your laminated ministry
- 00:19:40.662 --> 00:19:45.267
- Tag from woc next gen ministries--
- 00:19:45.267 --> 00:19:47.869
- That might get you in.
- 00:19:47.869 --> 00:19:51.873
- I'm kidding.
- 00:19:53.508 --> 00:19:54.876
- Don't send me-- romans chapter 12 and verse 4: "just as each
- 00:19:54.876 --> 00:20:00.549
- One of us has one body with many members, and these members do
- 00:20:00.549 --> 00:20:04.286
- Not all have the same function, so in christ we who are many
- 00:20:04.286 --> 00:20:08.457
- Form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."
- 00:20:08.457 --> 00:20:14.263
- It's using the analogy of our physical person.
- 00:20:14.263 --> 00:20:17.266
- It said there's a lot of components,
- 00:20:17.266 --> 00:20:19.301
- And every component matters.
- 00:20:19.301 --> 00:20:21.570
- And no component flourishes alone.
- 00:20:21.570 --> 00:20:24.339
- You know that's true.
- 00:20:24.339 --> 00:20:25.974
- Your little finger's valuable.
- 00:20:25.974 --> 00:20:27.909
- It is.
- 00:20:27.909 --> 00:20:29.745
- You don't believe it, you get a little paper cut on that thing,
- 00:20:29.745 --> 00:20:32.214
- You'll take a sick day.
- 00:20:32.214 --> 00:20:34.683
- "i can't be typing with that thing.
- 00:20:34.683 --> 00:20:37.152
- It's throbbing."
- 00:20:37.152 --> 00:20:41.323
- Valuable as it is, if you severed it from
- 00:20:41.323 --> 00:20:43.258
- The rest of your body, it won't flourish.
- 00:20:43.258 --> 00:20:44.993
- It's done.
- 00:20:44.993 --> 00:20:46.728
- And no matter how valuable you think you are,
- 00:20:46.728 --> 00:20:48.764
- Apart from the body of christ, you are done.
- 00:20:48.764 --> 00:20:53.035
- "well, i'm born again."
- 00:20:53.035 --> 00:20:55.170
- Okay, i'll address that in a moment.
- 00:20:55.170 --> 00:20:58.473
- But you will not have finished your assignment,
- 00:20:58.473 --> 00:21:01.610
- You'll not complete what you were created for.
- 00:21:01.610 --> 00:21:04.313
- "well, i've had a lot of success."
- 00:21:04.313 --> 00:21:05.681
- I'm happy about that.
- 00:21:05.681 --> 00:21:07.015
- God blesses us even when we're ignorant.
- 00:21:07.015 --> 00:21:10.385
- "well, i've achieved and accomplished and become and--"
- 00:21:10.385 --> 00:21:13.088
- I understand that.
- 00:21:13.088 --> 00:21:15.057
- I mean, as magnificent as your heart is,
- 00:21:15.057 --> 00:21:18.894
- That pump in the middle of your person, separated
- 00:21:18.894 --> 00:21:22.130
- From the rest of your person, it's not overly helpful.
- 00:21:22.130 --> 00:21:25.100
- It's far more valuable functioning inside of the body,
- 00:21:25.100 --> 00:21:28.704
- Than it is as a science experiment being dissected.
- 00:21:28.704 --> 00:21:33.342
- Look at 1 corinthians 12: "if one part suffers,
- 00:21:33.342 --> 00:21:37.012
- Every part suffers with it; if one part is honored,
- 00:21:37.012 --> 00:21:40.549
- Every part rejoices with it.
- 00:21:40.549 --> 00:21:44.252
- Now you are the body of christ,
- 00:21:44.252 --> 00:21:46.221
- And each one of you is a part of it."
- 00:21:46.221 --> 00:21:48.790
- Ephesians 4, it's talking about the ministry gifts that god
- 00:21:48.790 --> 00:21:52.761
- Placed in the church and he said they were to "prepare god's
- 00:21:52.761 --> 00:21:55.263
- People for works of service, so that the body of christ
- 00:21:55.263 --> 00:21:57.733
- May be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in
- 00:21:57.733 --> 00:22:01.803
- The knowledge of the son of god and become mature,
- 00:22:01.803 --> 00:22:05.107
- Attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of christ."
- 00:22:05.107 --> 00:22:08.610
- The whole measure of the fullness of christ is expressed
- 00:22:08.610 --> 00:22:12.547
- In the unity of the body.
- 00:22:12.547 --> 00:22:17.386
- And if you'll allow me, unity in the faith does not equal some
- 00:22:17.386 --> 00:22:20.722
- Squishy compromise of truth.
- 00:22:20.722 --> 00:22:23.925
- It's not about negotiating away the principles of scripture.
- 00:22:23.925 --> 00:22:28.997
- Rather, we're united in our obedience to god's truth.
- 00:22:28.997 --> 00:22:33.001
- And i should also point out to you, 'cause it isn't clear if
- 00:22:33.001 --> 00:22:37.406
- You glance at our culture, that maturity does not equal sloppy
- 00:22:37.406 --> 00:22:41.209
- Adolescence as an adult.
- 00:22:41.209 --> 00:22:45.514
- The exuberance of youth has to yield
- 00:22:45.514 --> 00:22:49.418
- To the responsibility of maturing.
- 00:22:49.418 --> 00:22:52.788
- Amen, church?
- 00:22:52.788 --> 00:22:56.258
- It isn't just about me and how to get blessed, and how to get
- 00:22:56.258 --> 00:23:00.362
- What i want so that i can do what i want, when i want,
- 00:23:00.362 --> 00:23:03.565
- For the duration of time i want.
- 00:23:03.565 --> 00:23:06.435
- That's a very childish attitude in a human being or spiritually.
- 00:23:06.435 --> 00:23:15.944
- This bit has become so much more real to me in these last months
- 00:23:15.944 --> 00:23:19.247
- As we have traveled a bit.
- 00:23:19.247 --> 00:23:21.116
- Talking to church leaders and being
- 00:23:21.116 --> 00:23:23.118
- In churches across the country.
- 00:23:23.118 --> 00:23:26.788
- There's a great deal of disparity, a lot of distinction
- 00:23:26.788 --> 00:23:29.891
- And differences, in how we understand ourselves.
- 00:23:29.891 --> 00:23:35.197
- Well, we have the same book and our--the labels on our buildings
- 00:23:35.197 --> 00:23:38.600
- Are very similar and there are some forms of our worship
- 00:23:38.600 --> 00:23:41.069
- That are similar.
- 00:23:41.069 --> 00:23:43.271
- But when i'm with the church in portland and seattle,
- 00:23:43.271 --> 00:23:47.476
- They imagine themselves very differently.
- 00:23:47.476 --> 00:23:50.178
- Far more isolated, lots of different--and in city
- 00:23:50.178 --> 00:23:56.184
- After city after city, i listen and somewhere along the way
- 00:23:56.184 --> 00:23:59.855
- It became so clear to me that there's not a church in seattle
- 00:23:59.855 --> 00:24:02.324
- And a church in san diego and a church in detroit and
- 00:24:02.324 --> 00:24:06.828
- A church in philadelphia and a church in new york
- 00:24:06.828 --> 00:24:09.264
- And a church in murfreesboro.
- 00:24:09.264 --> 00:24:10.899
- There is the church.
- 00:24:10.899 --> 00:24:13.134
- The church.
- 00:24:13.134 --> 00:24:15.770
- And if i read this correctly, in romans or corinthians or--
- 00:24:15.770 --> 00:24:19.508
- If one part of us suffers, we all suffer.
- 00:24:19.508 --> 00:24:23.512
- We're the church.
- 00:24:23.512 --> 00:24:25.514
- There's not the church in the bible belt
- 00:24:25.514 --> 00:24:27.215
- And the church in pagan california.
- 00:24:27.215 --> 00:24:30.185
- May they drop into the ocean quickly.
- 00:24:30.185 --> 00:24:33.922
- I don't mean it.
- 00:24:33.922 --> 00:24:36.124
- We've been so casual with this.
- 00:24:36.124 --> 00:24:39.027
- Folks, we are the church.
- 00:24:39.027 --> 00:24:41.429
- And i found myself saying, "we'll be back.
- 00:24:41.429 --> 00:24:44.266
- You're not alone.
- 00:24:44.266 --> 00:24:45.600
- You do matter."
- 00:24:45.600 --> 00:24:47.536
- Where we're living is plunging into paganism so quickly,
- 00:24:47.536 --> 00:24:51.106
- We need your prayers.
- 00:24:51.106 --> 00:24:53.675
- That's true.
- 00:24:53.675 --> 00:24:55.911
- You've been downtown nashville lately on a weekend?
- 00:24:55.911 --> 00:24:59.814
- It's not the athens of the south any longer.
- 00:24:59.814 --> 00:25:04.419
- It's not the center of christian publishing.
- 00:25:04.419 --> 00:25:07.722
- It's nash vegas, we say, proudly.
- 00:25:07.722 --> 00:25:15.497
- We're the church, salt and light.
- 00:25:15.497 --> 00:25:19.935
- We're a body of people.
- 00:25:19.935 --> 00:25:22.904
- 1 corinthians 12:20: "there are many parts, but one body.
- 00:25:22.904 --> 00:25:28.043
- And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'i don't need you!'
- 00:25:28.043 --> 00:25:31.413
- And the head cannot say to the feet, 'i don't need you!'"
- 00:25:31.413 --> 00:25:36.484
- Let me give you the contemporary version of that.
- 00:25:36.484 --> 00:25:39.187
- "i don't need anyone else.
- 00:25:39.187 --> 00:25:40.789
- I'm born again."
- 00:25:40.789 --> 00:25:42.991
- Based on that scripture, you can't say that.
- 00:25:42.991 --> 00:25:47.729
- You can't say that.
- 00:25:47.729 --> 00:25:51.933
- "the eye cannot say to the hand, 'i don't need you!'
- 00:25:51.933 --> 00:25:56.404
- And the head can't say to the feet, 'i don't need you!'"
- 00:25:56.404 --> 00:26:02.744
- We have an assignment that requires cooperation.
- 00:26:05.647 --> 00:26:09.951
- "ohh, we're gonna have to work together."
- 00:26:09.951 --> 00:26:14.389
- I know, i hate to break it.
- 00:26:14.389 --> 00:26:17.058
- We're never gonna do this on our own.
- 00:26:17.058 --> 00:26:20.996
- We weren't called to be a group of individuals, transformed
- 00:26:20.996 --> 00:26:25.967
- By the power of god, his grace, and his mercy through
- 00:26:25.967 --> 00:26:29.671
- The authority of the shed blood of jesus, so we stand alone.
- 00:26:29.671 --> 00:26:33.675
- We have been justified, sanctified, redeemed,
- 00:26:33.675 --> 00:26:36.544
- To be included in the community of faith.
- 00:26:36.544 --> 00:26:40.515
- We need one another.
- 00:26:40.515 --> 00:26:43.318
- Allen: the new testament reveals to us that the church
- 00:26:43.385 --> 00:26:45.487
- Of jesus christ is a body, that we need one another.
- 00:26:45.487 --> 00:26:49.024
- That's awkward, isn't it?
- 00:26:49.024 --> 00:26:50.692
- Every part's important, though the parts that are more annoying
- 00:26:50.692 --> 00:26:53.828
- And the parts that seem more valuable in god's sight,
- 00:26:53.828 --> 00:26:56.564
- We've got to stand together.
- 00:26:56.564 --> 00:26:58.133
- I wanna pray that god will use your voice
- 00:26:58.133 --> 00:27:00.568
- And mine to bring healing to his people.
- 00:27:00.568 --> 00:27:03.204
- Heavenly father, i thank you for the church.
- 00:27:03.204 --> 00:27:05.740
- I pray that you will give us the wisdom to be a voice of
- 00:27:05.740 --> 00:27:08.810
- Encouragement and strength to those around us.
- 00:27:08.810 --> 00:27:11.179
- May we have the willingness to forgive those who need forgiven,
- 00:27:11.179 --> 00:27:13.648
- And to ask forgiveness where it's needed.
- 00:27:13.648 --> 00:27:15.650
- In jesus's name, amen.
- 00:27:15.650 --> 00:27:18.086
- Cc by aberdeen captioning 1-800-688-6621 www.aberdeen.io
- 00:27:18.153 --> 00:27:22.090
- ♪♪♪
- 00:27:25.026 --> 00:27:27.362