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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Extending The Kingdom (Part 1)

February 11, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - Extending The Kingdom (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Miracles #Healing #KingdomofGod #PersonalStory #Testimony #HandofGod #Deliverance #Supernatural #Faith #TrustGod #Restoration #WalkwithGod #Journey #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Extending The Kingdom (Part 1) | February 11, 2026
  • Allen jackson: you know, around the world,
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  • People are searching for truth, and together we're doing our
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  • Very best to help them find it.
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  • When you become a ministry partner with allen jackson
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  • Ministries, you're joining a growing community of believers
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  • Who are committed to strengthening the church and
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  • Sharing god's word through every available channel--
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  • Television, radio, podcast, books, bible studies,
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  • Digital resources, conferences.
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  • Your monthly partnership helps us equip believers to reach new
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  • Audiences, to take the hope of jesus to people who may never
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  • Have heard the gospel otherwise.
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  • Together, we can stand firm in our faith and make god's truth
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  • Known right here at home and around the earth, wherever
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  • God opens a door.
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  • Let's keep gathering his people and building his church until
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  • The day our king returns.
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  • You can find more about becoming a ministry partner
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  • At allenjackson.com/partner.
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  • Allen: i want to continue the theme we began in the previous
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  • Couple of sessions, talking about "miracles, healings, &
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  • You," and it's the "and you" part that's the most important.
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  • I have no interest in theoretical christianity or
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  • Abstract theology.
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  • I believe our faith has to have an impact, an outcome, a point
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  • Of transformation.
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  • And far too often in my experience we're open for
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  • Studies of, you know, the historical perspective on
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  • Scripture or we'll have a debate on whether god still does
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  • Miracles or not.
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  • If you're facing a challenge in your life, you don't need
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  • The debate.
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  • You need to understand how to extend an invitation.
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  • And so the "and you" part becomes critical because when we
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  • Talk about the miraculous or healing, it gets personal very
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  • Quickly because all of us have had people we cared about that
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  • Haven't had the outcomes we wanted them to have.
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  • And because of that, it's easy to withdraw from the discussion.
  • 00:02:06.475 --> 00:02:10.579
  • It's just almost too painful to open the conversation.
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  • And i don't think that is a helpful approach.
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  • I believe that god--through the blood of jesus, our sins can
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  • Be forgiven.
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  • But there are people that i have cared a great deal about or i've
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  • Done a lot of life with that have been challenged by sin.
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  • And i don't withdraw from the conversation of forgiveness or
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  • The efficacy of the blood of jesus because someone is
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  • Captured by sin for a moment or a season.
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  • And the lack of an outcome that you would have preferred, i
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  • Don't believe is an adequate reason to withdraw from the
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  • Miraculous involvement of god in our lives.
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  • I don't believe that we can complete our assignments without
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  • His supernatural help.
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  • And if i go to our heroes from scripture, their lives are not,
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  • You know, perfect exponential lines that grow uninterrupted.
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  • Even in the midst of the supernatural and the miraculous,
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  • They face challenges and have things to overcome.
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  • And so what i would invite you to is more the posture of an
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  • Overcomer than one who simply takes the discussion and pushes
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  • It aside because it's too awkward or too uncomfortable.
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  • You know, i find so often with god we want to deal
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  • In absolutes.
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  • I--there was a time in my life, i was, on this topic, i was in
  • 00:03:32.794 --> 00:03:35.897
  • That camp.
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  • When i was a young boy, my god supernaturally healed my mom and
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  • Changed the trajectory of my whole family.
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  • My brothers and myself and my father, god's mercy to my mother
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  • Extended to all of us.
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  • I got to grow up with my birth mom.
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  • She outlived the diagnosis by more than 50 years.
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  • Yay, god.
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  • And, you know, i've been through seasons in my life.
  • 00:04:03.325 --> 00:04:05.527
  • When i was in college, my last semester there, actually, i had
  • 00:04:05.527 --> 00:04:11.433
  • Changed my degree program around.
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  • I'd kind of taken my life plan and put it on the side and told
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  • The lord i would serve him, and my last semester there, i was
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  • Playing in the snow.
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  • And i crushed half my face.
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  • And i drove to the hospital in the snow and went to the er and
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  • Saw a surgeon, and he said, "it's highly probable you've got
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  • Nerve damage and we need to repair the bone structure as
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  • Quickly as we can to give you the best chance of recovery."
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  • I was newly minted in my saying i was gonna honor--i had no
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  • Idea i was gonna be a pastor.
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  • I just wanted to do what i thought the lord wanted me
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  • To do.
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  • And i said, "no, i think god will heal me," to the surgeon.
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  • So i checked myself out of the hospital on a friday afternoon,
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  • And i didn't go back to campus.
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  • I got a hotel room because i wanted to seek the lord and i
  • 00:05:03.485 --> 00:05:07.155
  • Called home.
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  • This was back before cell phones, you didn't call home
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  • A lot.
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  • And if i called, it usually meant there was a crisis.
  • 00:05:11.626 --> 00:05:13.662
  • So my parents were actually traveling.
  • 00:05:13.662 --> 00:05:15.731
  • They were doing a full gospel businessmen meeting in alabama,
  • 00:05:15.731 --> 00:05:19.000
  • And i got them in alabama and i said, "i had a little accident."
  • 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:25.040
  • I didn't tell them, but half my face looks like an ashtray.
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  • And they said, "well, we'll see if we can get a flight."
  • 00:05:29.778 --> 00:05:33.615
  • They got there somewhere over the weekend and they were very
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  • Gracious to me because i was kind of full of myself, you
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  • Know, if i'm going to serve the lord, he'll heal me.
  • 00:05:37.486 --> 00:05:40.155
  • If he won't heal me, why would i serve him?
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  • Mm, confidence comes easier when you haven't done as much life.
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  • And somewhere over the weekend in the gracious patience of my
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  • Parents in listening to me, i came to the realization that i
  • 00:05:59.341 --> 00:06:05.981
  • Don't dictate to god how he's going to move in my life
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  • Or when.
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  • And so by monday morning i had arrived at a place where i had
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  • Enough humility to call the doctor back, the surgeon back,
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  • And i said, "if i were to show back up at the hospital, would
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  • You put me back in the queue?"
  • 00:06:21.396 --> 00:06:25.767
  • And i didn't have feeling in half my face, and he didn't know
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  • If, you know, what the outcome would be, and there were several
  • 00:06:28.570 --> 00:06:31.907
  • Options, one of which was like peeling back.
  • 00:06:31.907 --> 00:06:34.910
  • I mean, it was--and so i went in for surgery.
  • 00:06:34.910 --> 00:06:39.681
  • When i came out, there was two tiny little incisions.
  • 00:06:39.681 --> 00:06:45.120
  • And he said, "we were able to take a little hook and pull your
  • 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:47.389
  • Cheek back out," and he said, "it just stuck in the
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  • Right place."
  • 00:06:49.991 --> 00:06:52.461
  • And he said, "now, i don't know about the feeling."
  • 00:06:52.461 --> 00:06:54.863
  • He said, "that's beyond what i can do."
  • 00:06:54.863 --> 00:07:00.001
  • And so i went back to class a couple of days later and the
  • 00:07:00.001 --> 00:07:02.070
  • First class i went to the professor, i--he said, "you
  • 00:07:02.070 --> 00:07:06.007
  • Know, i broke my cheek."
  • 00:07:06.007 --> 00:07:08.710
  • And he said, "it was a couple of years before i ever got the
  • 00:07:08.710 --> 00:07:11.046
  • Feeling back."
  • 00:07:11.046 --> 00:07:13.048
  • And when i'd shave, it was like shaving a rubber ball, you'd cut
  • 00:07:13.048 --> 00:07:17.118
  • Your face, you wouldn't care.
  • 00:07:17.118 --> 00:07:18.453
  • I mean, it was just--wasn't a very good prospect.
  • 00:07:18.453 --> 00:07:23.158
  • I had to go back two weeks later for a post-op checkup, and by
  • 00:07:23.158 --> 00:07:25.594
  • The time i went back for the checkup, my--the feeling was
  • 00:07:25.594 --> 00:07:28.263
  • All back in my face.
  • 00:07:28.263 --> 00:07:30.932
  • So, god restored my face.
  • 00:07:30.932 --> 00:07:36.004
  • And i very gratefully paid the surgeon's bill.
  • 00:07:36.004 --> 00:07:40.942
  • And i learned a lesson that you don't--we don't dictate to god
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  • How he's going to be involved in our lives.
  • 00:07:45.347 --> 00:07:48.550
  • We submit ourselves to him.
  • 00:07:48.550 --> 00:07:52.120
  • And some people i've--you've-- i've said it to you many times,
  • 00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:54.489
  • Do i believe in god or medicine?
  • 00:07:54.489 --> 00:07:55.924
  • And my answer's yes, you know, because god uses many things.
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  • When my car's out of gas, i don't pray for a miracle.
  • 00:08:01.229 --> 00:08:03.465
  • I pray for a filling station and cash.
  • 00:08:03.465 --> 00:08:07.536
  • And sometimes as christians, we just get weird.
  • 00:08:07.536 --> 00:08:11.306
  • But my trust is in god because he's the one that brings the
  • 00:08:11.306 --> 00:08:14.075
  • Restoration and the healing to our lives.
  • 00:08:14.075 --> 00:08:17.479
  • But i don't want to do it in a passive way, and i'm not
  • 00:08:17.479 --> 00:08:19.748
  • Comfortable with the way people pray, "god, you know, if it's
  • 00:08:19.748 --> 00:08:21.917
  • Your will."
  • 00:08:21.917 --> 00:08:24.452
  • If you're gonna pray that way, why do you go to the doctor
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  • At all?
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  • Do you understand?
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  • I think we have to establish that god wants us well.
  • 00:08:31.693 --> 00:08:35.964
  • Now, i don't always know why the challenges come or the--but
  • 00:08:35.964 --> 00:08:39.768
  • It's very important to me that we get our baselines set and so
  • 00:08:39.768 --> 00:08:43.738
  • Thus we're doing this brief study.
  • 00:08:43.738 --> 00:08:48.443
  • In this session i titled, "extending the kingdom," because
  • 00:08:48.443 --> 00:08:51.513
  • I don't think you'll find very many places in the scripture
  • 00:08:51.513 --> 00:08:53.882
  • Where the purposes of god are breaking forth in a significant
  • 00:08:53.882 --> 00:08:57.252
  • Way without the supernatural involvement of god.
  • 00:08:57.252 --> 00:09:01.323
  • You just don't find very many places where it's purely an
  • 00:09:01.323 --> 00:09:03.692
  • Intellectual exercise or an exercise in reasoning.
  • 00:09:03.692 --> 00:09:08.763
  • That certainly wasn't true in jesus's ministry.
  • 00:09:08.763 --> 00:09:10.765
  • He certainly--he made some presentations to people and his
  • 00:09:10.765 --> 00:09:14.636
  • Enemies were not able to withstand his logic when they
  • 00:09:14.636 --> 00:09:17.505
  • Would try to trick him in questions, but it was the
  • 00:09:17.505 --> 00:09:20.475
  • Expressions of the power of god that were what was
  • 00:09:20.475 --> 00:09:23.678
  • Truly irrefutable.
  • 00:09:23.678 --> 00:09:26.815
  • And so i think if we're going to see the kingdom of god extended
  • 00:09:26.815 --> 00:09:29.951
  • In our generation, it will require a people who believe and
  • 00:09:29.951 --> 00:09:34.322
  • Are willing to invite god into the midst of our lives, so that
  • 00:09:34.322 --> 00:09:37.459
  • Those supernatural expressions of god are a part of
  • 00:09:37.459 --> 00:09:40.161
  • Our journey.
  • 00:09:40.161 --> 00:09:42.230
  • And we can't be passive about that.
  • 00:09:42.230 --> 00:09:45.100
  • I can tell you this, it's very unlikely that god will be
  • 00:09:45.100 --> 00:09:47.435
  • Engaged if you don't invite him in.
  • 00:09:47.435 --> 00:09:50.105
  • You'll miss salvation if you don't invite him in.
  • 00:09:50.105 --> 00:09:53.742
  • And you'll miss many of the things god would do in your life
  • 00:09:53.742 --> 00:09:56.544
  • And through your life if you're not purposefully
  • 00:09:56.544 --> 00:09:59.014
  • In inviting him in.
  • 00:09:59.014 --> 00:10:02.751
  • Allen: we have partnered with our friends tim and david barton
  • 00:10:06.955 --> 00:10:09.391
  • To make available to you a two-volume set on
  • 00:10:09.391 --> 00:10:12.160
  • American history.
  • 00:10:12.160 --> 00:10:13.495
  • It's "the american story."
  • 00:10:13.495 --> 00:10:14.863
  • And it focuses on the part of american history that's been
  • 00:10:14.863 --> 00:10:17.032
  • Lost in much of our public education these days.
  • 00:10:17.032 --> 00:10:19.934
  • It's god's engagement with this nation and how he brought the
  • 00:10:19.934 --> 00:10:23.204
  • American story forward.
  • 00:10:23.204 --> 00:10:24.673
  • Our nation is more than politics or republicans and democrats.
  • 00:10:24.673 --> 00:10:28.109
  • It's god working in the lives of people to shape a nation that
  • 00:10:28.109 --> 00:10:31.680
  • Had brought forth his purposes in the world.
  • 00:10:31.680 --> 00:10:33.948
  • I believe it's an important part of our faith journey this year,
  • 00:10:33.948 --> 00:10:36.918
  • And i believe the books will be a blessing to you.
  • 00:10:36.918 --> 00:10:39.287
  • Announcer: the 250th anniversary of our nation is an important
  • 00:10:39.287 --> 00:10:42.757
  • Milestone we shouldn't rush past, because history matters.
  • 00:10:42.757 --> 00:10:47.295
  • "the american story" is a two-volume book series that
  • 00:10:47.295 --> 00:10:50.131
  • Explores how faith, courage, and conviction helped shape the
  • 00:10:50.131 --> 00:10:53.768
  • United states from the very beginning.
  • 00:10:53.768 --> 00:10:56.204
  • Gain a greater understanding of where we've been so you can
  • 00:10:56.204 --> 00:10:59.274
  • Protect and defend our nation's biblical foundations as we
  • 00:10:59.274 --> 00:11:02.277
  • Move forward.
  • 00:11:02.277 --> 00:11:03.611
  • Request "the american story" with your gift of $50 or more at
  • 00:11:03.611 --> 00:11:07.015
  • Allenjackson.com or call...
  • 00:11:07.015 --> 00:11:12.454
  • Allen: jesus said something in john 14 that is--it's just that
  • 00:11:15.657 --> 00:11:19.127
  • Phrase, those phrases i've told you where it says, "i tell you
  • 00:11:19.127 --> 00:11:21.763
  • The truth," that you--he tells you that because what's coming
  • 00:11:21.763 --> 00:11:23.832
  • Next is so bizarre, you wouldn't believe it was true if he didn't
  • 00:11:23.832 --> 00:11:26.167
  • Say, "i'm telling you the truth."
  • 00:11:26.167 --> 00:11:28.737
  • So when you read, "i tell you the truth," you wanna buckle
  • 00:11:28.737 --> 00:11:30.705
  • Your seatbelt before you read on.
  • 00:11:30.705 --> 00:11:33.508
  • "i tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what
  • 00:11:33.508 --> 00:11:35.944
  • I've been doing.
  • 00:11:35.944 --> 00:11:38.046
  • He'll do even greater things than these, because i'm going to
  • 00:11:38.046 --> 00:11:40.381
  • The father."
  • 00:11:40.381 --> 00:11:42.250
  • I don't think greater in the magnitude of what god would do
  • 00:11:42.250 --> 00:11:48.556
  • Through our lives, but simply the number of us who are
  • 00:11:48.556 --> 00:11:51.993
  • Believers in jesus going forth in jesus's name, means the
  • 00:11:51.993 --> 00:11:55.730
  • Opportunity of what can happen is truly remarkable.
  • 00:11:55.730 --> 00:11:59.400
  • It's a fascinating study to follow the disciples through the
  • 00:11:59.400 --> 00:12:02.203
  • Book of acts and watch the way so many of the miracles that
  • 00:12:02.203 --> 00:12:04.973
  • They experienced with jesus are duplicated in their
  • 00:12:04.973 --> 00:12:06.875
  • Own behavior.
  • 00:12:06.875 --> 00:12:10.512
  • They bring peter to pray for a young woman who's dead.
  • 00:12:10.512 --> 00:12:14.716
  • And he repeats almost verbatim, the practice he saw when he
  • 00:12:14.716 --> 00:12:18.386
  • Followed jesus to pray for a young girl who was dead.
  • 00:12:18.386 --> 00:12:22.724
  • And over and over, we see that pattern, and jesus said to us
  • 00:12:22.724 --> 00:12:26.995
  • That we should expect in our lives what we read happened in
  • 00:12:26.995 --> 00:12:29.931
  • His life.
  • 00:12:29.931 --> 00:12:31.933
  • And if that isn't a part of your journey, that's not the way that
  • 00:12:31.933 --> 00:12:34.302
  • Your faith was unpacked with you, it's not the tradition you
  • 00:12:34.302 --> 00:12:37.005
  • Grew up in, if you grew up in a tradition that believed miracles
  • 00:12:37.005 --> 00:12:40.074
  • Ceased at the end of the first century, i'm not trying to
  • 00:12:40.074 --> 00:12:42.744
  • Ignite a debate.
  • 00:12:42.744 --> 00:12:44.112
  • Time's too short.
  • 00:12:44.112 --> 00:12:45.446
  • I'm not interested in the controversy.
  • 00:12:45.446 --> 00:12:47.549
  • But my life has been shaped by the supernatural power of god,
  • 00:12:47.549 --> 00:12:50.318
  • So i know it's real.
  • 00:12:50.318 --> 00:12:52.453
  • And i would invite you into that.
  • 00:12:52.453 --> 00:12:55.723
  • Not in a--not in an arrogant way, not in a demanding way.
  • 00:12:55.723 --> 00:13:00.161
  • We're not spiritual diagnosticians, we can't look at
  • 00:13:00.161 --> 00:13:02.330
  • People and tell them why they weren't.
  • 00:13:02.330 --> 00:13:04.632
  • And you can fill in the blank after the weren't any more than
  • 00:13:04.632 --> 00:13:06.734
  • We can tell them why they were, and you can fill in the blank
  • 00:13:06.734 --> 00:13:08.803
  • After the were.
  • 00:13:08.803 --> 00:13:10.171
  • Most of it is about expressions of the grace and mercy of god.
  • 00:13:10.171 --> 00:13:14.509
  • Now, there are some things we can do that can facilitate god's
  • 00:13:14.509 --> 00:13:18.012
  • Moving in our lives the same-- the way there's--we can do--we
  • 00:13:18.012 --> 00:13:20.682
  • Can facilitate holiness and, i mean, we make choices.
  • 00:13:20.682 --> 00:13:25.820
  • Let's not act as if we're just passive, that god acts upon us.
  • 00:13:25.820 --> 00:13:30.024
  • He acts in conjunction with us.
  • 00:13:30.024 --> 00:13:32.861
  • It's an important distinction, but jesus very clearly said, "i
  • 00:13:32.861 --> 00:13:35.763
  • Tell you the truth, you can do the things i've been doing."
  • 00:13:35.763 --> 00:13:39.667
  • Talk to the lord about that.
  • 00:13:39.667 --> 00:13:42.303
  • Now be careful, you can't get the good without some of the--
  • 00:13:42.303 --> 00:13:44.706
  • Jesus also had a tremendous amount of rejection and
  • 00:13:44.706 --> 00:13:46.774
  • Resistance and hatred, right?
  • 00:13:46.774 --> 00:13:50.645
  • We want the good, but we don't want any of the--i mean he was
  • 00:13:50.645 --> 00:13:55.583
  • Tempted in some very profound ways.
  • 00:13:55.583 --> 00:13:59.153
  • Acts chapter of--acts is the story of jesus's best friends
  • 00:13:59.153 --> 00:14:01.990
  • After jesus went back to heaven.
  • 00:14:01.990 --> 00:14:03.358
  • That is the book of acts.
  • 00:14:03.358 --> 00:14:05.660
  • Acts chapter 1, jesus goes back to heaven and the balance of the
  • 00:14:05.660 --> 00:14:08.263
  • Book of acts, where jesus's closest friends are recruits,
  • 00:14:08.263 --> 00:14:12.433
  • And what they did in his name in his absence.
  • 00:14:12.433 --> 00:14:16.137
  • And by acts chapter 1, jesus goes back to heaven.
  • 00:14:16.137 --> 00:14:18.907
  • Acts chapter 2 is the day of pentecost.
  • 00:14:18.907 --> 00:14:21.142
  • Acts chapter 3, there's a healing in jerusalem that stirs
  • 00:14:21.142 --> 00:14:23.878
  • The whole city.
  • 00:14:23.878 --> 00:14:26.147
  • And that is going to be the pattern that becomes normative
  • 00:14:26.147 --> 00:14:29.083
  • Through the whole book of acts.
  • 00:14:29.083 --> 00:14:31.252
  • The presentation of the jesus narrative accompanied by
  • 00:14:31.252 --> 00:14:36.291
  • Demonstrations of the power of god.
  • 00:14:36.291 --> 00:14:39.527
  • And i don't believe the pattern is ever intended to be changed.
  • 00:14:39.527 --> 00:14:44.399
  • I don't think sermons are how we're going to overcome the
  • 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:46.467
  • Enemy, says the person who spends a great deal of time
  • 00:14:46.467 --> 00:14:50.238
  • Preparing and presenting sermons.
  • 00:14:50.238 --> 00:14:53.608
  • But i understand it's the power of god in our lives.
  • 00:14:53.608 --> 00:14:56.711
  • But in acts chapter 5, as a result of what god was doing
  • 00:14:56.711 --> 00:15:01.349
  • Through the lives of the believers, jesus's friends, it
  • 00:15:01.349 --> 00:15:03.618
  • Says: "the people brought the sick into the streets and laid
  • 00:15:03.618 --> 00:15:06.387
  • Them on beds and mats so that at least peter's shadow might fall
  • 00:15:06.387 --> 00:15:09.190
  • On some of them as he passed by.
  • 00:15:09.190 --> 00:15:11.826
  • Crowds gathered from the towns around jerusalem, bringing their
  • 00:15:11.826 --> 00:15:14.329
  • Sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them
  • 00:15:14.329 --> 00:15:17.465
  • Were healed."
  • 00:15:17.465 --> 00:15:18.800
  • I think it's an example of what jesus said in the john
  • 00:15:18.800 --> 00:15:20.401
  • 14 passage.
  • 00:15:20.401 --> 00:15:21.736
  • He said, "you'll not only do what i've been doing, you'll see
  • 00:15:21.736 --> 00:15:23.404
  • Some things you haven't seen with me."
  • 00:15:23.404 --> 00:15:26.174
  • Peter's shadow is bringing healing to people.
  • 00:15:26.174 --> 00:15:29.911
  • Peter, "put your foot in your mouth," peter.
  • 00:15:29.911 --> 00:15:35.249
  • Peter, the one jesus said, "get behind me, satan," peter.
  • 00:15:35.249 --> 00:15:39.721
  • Peter, that when the women came and said, "the tomb is empty,
  • 00:15:39.721 --> 00:15:42.623
  • The lord has risen," he went, "oh, bother."
  • 00:15:42.623 --> 00:15:45.893
  • I mean, he went to the tomb, but he didn't believe.
  • 00:15:45.893 --> 00:15:50.031
  • Peter, his shadow.
  • 00:15:50.031 --> 00:15:53.835
  • See, one of the things we have to overcome is we are so easily
  • 00:15:53.835 --> 00:15:59.707
  • Offended by god and others.
  • 00:15:59.707 --> 00:16:03.978
  • We are.
  • 00:16:03.978 --> 00:16:05.780
  • We have these preconceived ideas of how god should move and what
  • 00:16:05.780 --> 00:16:08.783
  • We think the answer would be, like, your face will be healed
  • 00:16:08.783 --> 00:16:12.253
  • Without a doctor because you have the faith to do so and god
  • 00:16:12.253 --> 00:16:15.123
  • Should validate your faith and you can go on the banquet
  • 00:16:15.123 --> 00:16:18.026
  • Circuit and eat a lot of chicken and green beans and tell people
  • 00:16:18.026 --> 00:16:22.163
  • About what god did for you.
  • 00:16:22.163 --> 00:16:25.533
  • Or you can humble yourself and let the lord lead you, and he'll
  • 00:16:25.533 --> 00:16:28.803
  • Bring the restoration.
  • 00:16:28.803 --> 00:16:31.205
  • But we're so easily offended.
  • 00:16:31.205 --> 00:16:34.942
  • Imagine if i said to you, "listen, i'm too busy to pray
  • 00:16:34.942 --> 00:16:37.712
  • For you, but if you'll stand along the sidewalk while i walk
  • 00:16:37.712 --> 00:16:41.449
  • To the car, maybe god will meet you."
  • 00:16:41.449 --> 00:16:49.624
  • "whoa.
  • 00:16:49.624 --> 00:16:51.926
  • Well, well, well, well--" i'm not suggesting that.
  • 00:16:51.926 --> 00:16:57.765
  • I'm telling you whether it's the way god moves in our lives or
  • 00:16:57.765 --> 00:17:01.069
  • The perception we have of someone else and we don't like
  • 00:17:01.069 --> 00:17:03.471
  • The way they prayed, or the translation they read.
  • 00:17:03.471 --> 00:17:08.443
  • You know, i've found that when i'm desperate enough, a lot of
  • 00:17:08.443 --> 00:17:11.312
  • That drains away from me.
  • 00:17:11.312 --> 00:17:16.484
  • I used to have pretty significant disdain for tv
  • 00:17:16.484 --> 00:17:21.689
  • Preachers...you know, because they--i would watch
  • 00:17:21.689 --> 00:17:30.098
  • Occasionally and i would think, "oh, please don't do that."
  • 00:17:30.098 --> 00:17:35.636
  • You know, like, "put your hand on the television.
  • 00:17:35.636 --> 00:17:37.738
  • Get up and put your hand on the television set and i'm gonna
  • 00:17:37.738 --> 00:17:41.109
  • Pray for the sick," and i'd think, "what a quack."
  • 00:17:41.109 --> 00:17:47.615
  • Until you're sick, and you can't sleep and you're up in the
  • 00:17:47.615 --> 00:17:51.819
  • Middle of the night.
  • 00:17:51.819 --> 00:17:53.454
  • You turn the tv on and there's somebody there saying, "put your
  • 00:17:53.454 --> 00:17:56.724
  • Hand--" you know, and you're so sick.
  • 00:17:56.724 --> 00:17:58.292
  • I'd put my hand, i'd put my foot, i put my tongue on the
  • 00:17:58.292 --> 00:18:01.929
  • Television set if it will help.
  • 00:18:01.929 --> 00:18:06.934
  • And i find so often that that tendency to be offended comes
  • 00:18:06.934 --> 00:18:11.873
  • From a--somehow we think we're going to manage it.
  • 00:18:11.873 --> 00:18:19.313
  • I want god's help.
  • 00:18:19.313 --> 00:18:23.184
  • I want to cooperate with him.
  • 00:18:23.184 --> 00:18:26.954
  • You know, the one of the--i'm not gonna finish your outline in
  • 00:18:26.954 --> 00:18:36.164
  • This session.
  • 00:18:36.164 --> 00:18:39.167
  • But the holy spirit is our guide, the words used to
  • 00:18:39.167 --> 00:18:42.937
  • Describe him in the new testament, one of them is he's
  • 00:18:42.937 --> 00:18:46.040
  • Our guide.
  • 00:18:46.040 --> 00:18:48.342
  • And we're often not very good campers.
  • 00:18:48.342 --> 00:18:53.414
  • We don't intend to take the direction of the guide.
  • 00:18:53.414 --> 00:18:58.553
  • That's really been sharpened for me because i have gone with
  • 00:18:58.553 --> 00:19:01.022
  • Hundreds, thousands of people on tours to israel and we have some
  • 00:19:01.022 --> 00:19:06.994
  • Really good guides.
  • 00:19:06.994 --> 00:19:08.362
  • Everybody that takes a trip to israel thinks they have the
  • 00:19:08.362 --> 00:19:09.997
  • Best guide.
  • 00:19:09.997 --> 00:19:11.365
  • I'm quite comfortable with that, but i've learned the value of a
  • 00:19:11.365 --> 00:19:14.168
  • Good guide.
  • 00:19:14.168 --> 00:19:16.337
  • I lived in israel, i studied at the hebrew university there and,
  • 00:19:16.337 --> 00:19:20.374
  • Without a guide, you can walk through the streets of jerusalem
  • 00:19:20.374 --> 00:19:22.176
  • And you don't know what you're looking at.
  • 00:19:22.176 --> 00:19:25.313
  • I don't know if the walls around the old city of jerusalem date
  • 00:19:25.313 --> 00:19:28.516
  • Back to the days of jesus or they were built by the modern
  • 00:19:28.516 --> 00:19:31.953
  • Israeli army as a tourist attraction.
  • 00:19:31.953 --> 00:19:35.990
  • It takes somebody that's--or else you can go do all the
  • 00:19:35.990 --> 00:19:38.392
  • Research, but that's an enormous lift.
  • 00:19:38.392 --> 00:19:41.862
  • And you don't know when you're walking by a cave if it's a
  • 00:19:41.862 --> 00:19:44.498
  • Significant cave or it's just an expression of erosion.
  • 00:19:44.498 --> 00:19:48.669
  • And i've watched people resist the guide.
  • 00:19:48.669 --> 00:19:50.504
  • I was in jerusalem once.
  • 00:19:50.504 --> 00:19:51.872
  • I wasn't there with a tour and i saw a guide who was a friend of
  • 00:19:51.872 --> 00:19:54.875
  • Mine in the old city.
  • 00:19:54.875 --> 00:19:58.412
  • And i walked over to say hello to him and he was with a group,
  • 00:19:58.412 --> 00:20:01.015
  • So i waited and somebody came up and asked him where they could
  • 00:20:01.015 --> 00:20:03.651
  • Get film.
  • 00:20:03.651 --> 00:20:05.019
  • This was back when we still used film.
  • 00:20:05.019 --> 00:20:07.555
  • We used to have cameras that you had to put--never mind.
  • 00:20:07.555 --> 00:20:13.761
  • Or maybe they needed another memory stick for their camera.
  • 00:20:13.761 --> 00:20:15.796
  • I don't know, they needed a-- they need a--and he said,
  • 00:20:15.796 --> 00:20:18.566
  • "well, you can--there's a place right there," he said, "where
  • 00:20:18.566 --> 00:20:21.936
  • You could get that."
  • 00:20:21.936 --> 00:20:23.471
  • And the person said, "well, i saw a shop back when i came
  • 00:20:23.471 --> 00:20:27.308
  • Through jaffa gate."
  • 00:20:27.308 --> 00:20:30.278
  • And ronnie said, "well, that store right over there, you can
  • 00:20:30.278 --> 00:20:32.747
  • Do that."
  • 00:20:32.747 --> 00:20:34.282
  • And they said, "no, but i saw a store when i came through
  • 00:20:34.282 --> 00:20:36.517
  • Jaffa gate.
  • 00:20:36.517 --> 00:20:37.885
  • It was right there beside david's citadel and--"
  • 00:20:37.885 --> 00:20:39.687
  • We weren't in that part of the city anymore.
  • 00:20:39.687 --> 00:20:43.691
  • He said, "well, that store right there," and they said, "i saw--"
  • 00:20:43.691 --> 00:20:46.494
  • He said, "i think that'd be a good job for you.
  • 00:20:46.494 --> 00:20:48.896
  • Why don't you go there?"
  • 00:20:48.896 --> 00:20:52.266
  • And i have--i've watched people consistently refuse to take the
  • 00:20:52.266 --> 00:20:56.003
  • Counsel of the guide.
  • 00:20:56.003 --> 00:20:59.540
  • And it's made me very much more conscious of a desire to
  • 00:20:59.540 --> 00:21:04.912
  • Cooperate with the spirit of god.
  • 00:21:04.912 --> 00:21:08.516
  • Because i come to the lord and say, "this is how i want you to
  • 00:21:08.516 --> 00:21:10.751
  • Do it.
  • 00:21:10.751 --> 00:21:12.286
  • This is my timeline, this is my pattern.
  • 00:21:12.286 --> 00:21:14.955
  • This is what i--i want peter to come lay his hands on me and say
  • 00:21:14.955 --> 00:21:19.193
  • One of those apostolic prayers.
  • 00:21:19.193 --> 00:21:24.031
  • I feel that would be the appropriate way to be ministered
  • 00:21:24.031 --> 00:21:27.301
  • To by a person that is serving god."
  • 00:21:27.301 --> 00:21:34.208
  • "and the only option available is he's gonna be walking down
  • 00:21:34.208 --> 00:21:36.477
  • The street.
  • 00:21:36.477 --> 00:21:38.546
  • There's some other sick people out there, and yesterday when he
  • 00:21:38.546 --> 00:21:40.581
  • Walked down the street, some of them got well."
  • 00:21:40.581 --> 00:21:42.183
  • "i'm not--who does he think-- no, i'm not doing that."
  • 00:21:42.183 --> 00:21:44.885
  • "well, it's your choice, but--" and i think we miss much from
  • 00:21:44.885 --> 00:21:50.157
  • The lord.
  • 00:21:50.157 --> 00:21:53.494
  • "that's not the way i wanted it to be.
  • 00:21:53.494 --> 00:21:54.829
  • That's not the way i wanted worship to be.
  • 00:21:54.829 --> 00:21:56.364
  • That's not the size church i was interested in.
  • 00:21:56.364 --> 00:21:59.400
  • I didn't expect it to be like that."
  • 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:02.436
  • Folks, i want what god has for me.
  • 00:22:02.436 --> 00:22:07.108
  • My life journey does not look what i imagined, like what i
  • 00:22:07.108 --> 00:22:10.311
  • Imagined, when i was 14 or 16 or 18 or 22.
  • 00:22:10.311 --> 00:22:16.584
  • Or 40.
  • 00:22:16.584 --> 00:22:20.621
  • But i have to admit it seems to me god's been involved.
  • 00:22:20.621 --> 00:22:25.226
  • And i want to learn to say yes to him, and i would--when we
  • 00:22:25.226 --> 00:22:27.695
  • Talk about miracles and healing and the supernatural and so much
  • 00:22:27.695 --> 00:22:32.433
  • Of it is being willing to let god be god in our lives.
  • 00:22:32.433 --> 00:22:37.371
  • And then however we experience the lord, we think that is
  • 00:22:37.371 --> 00:22:39.840
  • The pattern.
  • 00:22:39.840 --> 00:22:43.611
  • When i was a--when i was a boy, we got involved in the
  • 00:22:43.611 --> 00:22:46.580
  • Charismatic renewal.
  • 00:22:46.580 --> 00:22:47.948
  • I'm really--i may not get--i'm not finishing your notes, i
  • 00:22:47.948 --> 00:22:49.817
  • Told you.
  • 00:22:49.817 --> 00:22:53.087
  • And one of the women that was friends with my parents received
  • 00:22:53.087 --> 00:22:57.358
  • The baptism in the holy--we lived in south florida and if it
  • 00:22:57.358 --> 00:22:59.693
  • Got cold, your houses didn't have great heat and she was
  • 00:22:59.693 --> 00:23:02.863
  • Getting--it was cold and she had her oven on and the door
  • 00:23:02.863 --> 00:23:05.065
  • Open, finishing getting dressed in front of the oven and the
  • 00:23:05.065 --> 00:23:07.868
  • Lord met her one morning.
  • 00:23:07.868 --> 00:23:11.338
  • So after that, when she was going to pray for somebody that
  • 00:23:11.338 --> 00:23:13.607
  • Really needed god to do something in their life, how do
  • 00:23:13.607 --> 00:23:16.610
  • You think she did it?
  • 00:23:16.610 --> 00:23:19.113
  • She'd go turn on the oven and open the door.
  • 00:23:19.113 --> 00:23:21.949
  • Because that's where god met her, and i tell you that because
  • 00:23:21.949 --> 00:23:24.285
  • That one's a little extreme, but we tend to think that the most
  • 00:23:24.285 --> 00:23:27.822
  • Right way to experience god is the way that we've
  • 00:23:27.822 --> 00:23:30.624
  • Experienced god.
  • 00:23:30.624 --> 00:23:34.195
  • Because that's our experience portfolio and we want god to fit
  • 00:23:34.195 --> 00:23:37.364
  • Into that.
  • 00:23:37.364 --> 00:23:38.699
  • And we're a little offended that somebody would get--experience
  • 00:23:38.699 --> 00:23:41.902
  • God in another way.
  • 00:23:41.902 --> 00:23:44.638
  • I've had to learn that in practical ways through
  • 00:23:44.638 --> 00:23:46.507
  • The church.
  • 00:23:46.507 --> 00:23:47.875
  • Baptisms, for when the church was--we didn't have a
  • 00:23:47.875 --> 00:23:50.945
  • Baptistery when the church began, so we baptized people in
  • 00:23:50.945 --> 00:23:53.447
  • Swimming pools and creeks and we'd go to people's homes.
  • 00:23:53.447 --> 00:23:57.751
  • We did a baptism one time in the spa in a health club.
  • 00:23:57.751 --> 00:24:03.491
  • I'm pretty sure it was the most godly thing that ever happened
  • 00:24:03.491 --> 00:24:05.326
  • In the health club, but-- because we didn't have access to
  • 00:24:05.326 --> 00:24:09.797
  • Anything else, and we would baptize people wherever
  • 00:24:09.797 --> 00:24:11.565
  • We could.
  • 00:24:11.565 --> 00:24:12.933
  • And then we got sophisticated enough we could have a
  • 00:24:12.933 --> 00:24:14.602
  • Baptistery in the church.
  • 00:24:14.602 --> 00:24:17.872
  • We were proper.
  • 00:24:17.872 --> 00:24:20.441
  • And then we outgrew it.
  • 00:24:20.441 --> 00:24:23.878
  • So we'd put up a swimming pool.
  • 00:24:23.878 --> 00:24:25.246
  • We put in--when this sanctuary was being--before it was
  • 00:24:25.246 --> 00:24:28.249
  • Completed, it was just concrete.
  • 00:24:28.249 --> 00:24:31.952
  • I asked, i said, "we'd like to baptize.
  • 00:24:31.952 --> 00:24:36.423
  • We have some people who would like to be baptized.
  • 00:24:36.423 --> 00:24:38.225
  • Could we do it in the sanctuary before it's finished?"
  • 00:24:38.225 --> 00:24:42.663
  • I had an idea that people i was asking were thinking of the
  • 00:24:42.663 --> 00:24:44.932
  • Typical church baptism that there was a couple of people.
  • 00:24:44.932 --> 00:24:48.669
  • We had a couple of hundred.
  • 00:24:48.669 --> 00:24:51.605
  • And so they said, "yes, we'd be glad," because it was--we
  • 00:24:51.605 --> 00:24:55.276
  • Needed special permission.
  • 00:24:55.276 --> 00:24:57.077
  • So we put a couple of pools in here before there was ever
  • 00:24:57.077 --> 00:24:59.513
  • Chairs or carpet or paint, and we baptized people one weekend
  • 00:24:59.513 --> 00:25:03.817
  • And somebody took a picture and it got back to the people that
  • 00:25:03.817 --> 00:25:05.986
  • Gave us permission.
  • 00:25:05.986 --> 00:25:08.856
  • "well, you didn't tell us."
  • 00:25:08.856 --> 00:25:10.190
  • I was like, "told you we were gonna baptize people."
  • 00:25:10.190 --> 00:25:16.330
  • But i didn't have a frame of reference, is--"can you baptize
  • 00:25:16.330 --> 00:25:18.766
  • People in a pool?
  • 00:25:18.766 --> 00:25:20.100
  • Does it count?
  • 00:25:20.100 --> 00:25:23.304
  • That's not how we do it."
  • 00:25:23.304 --> 00:25:25.806
  • And i find that we close down our ability to receive from the
  • 00:25:25.806 --> 00:25:30.544
  • Lord because we know what we want him to do.
  • 00:25:30.544 --> 00:25:37.084
  • And i want--some of you have bruises in your relationship
  • 00:25:37.084 --> 00:25:40.821
  • With the lord.
  • 00:25:40.821 --> 00:25:42.156
  • Some of you have scars and you have closed doors with him
  • 00:25:42.156 --> 00:25:45.893
  • Because he didn't meet you in the way you wanted him to
  • 00:25:45.893 --> 00:25:47.828
  • Meet you.
  • 00:25:47.828 --> 00:25:51.899
  • Then i would invite you to a place where--to have a more
  • 00:25:51.899 --> 00:25:55.436
  • Gentle conversation with god and say, "god, i would rather make
  • 00:25:55.436 --> 00:26:00.441
  • Room for you to be the god of creation, than to do it in the
  • 00:26:00.441 --> 00:26:06.213
  • Image that i want you to be."
  • 00:26:06.213 --> 00:26:11.685
  • Allen: hey, this is not just the beginning of another year.
  • 00:26:15.823 --> 00:26:18.425
  • This is the beginning of the 250th anniversary of our nation.
  • 00:26:18.425 --> 00:26:22.162
  • This is a very special year.
  • 00:26:22.162 --> 00:26:24.064
  • It's god's story.
  • 00:26:24.064 --> 00:26:25.399
  • This isn't about national politics or economics or
  • 00:26:25.399 --> 00:26:28.969
  • Chest thumping.
  • 00:26:28.969 --> 00:26:30.304
  • This is an acknowledgement that god works in the history of
  • 00:26:30.304 --> 00:26:32.873
  • People and nations.
  • 00:26:32.873 --> 00:26:34.775
  • Well, most of us don't care a lot about history, so we
  • 00:26:34.775 --> 00:26:36.777
  • Partnered with some of our good friends, wallbuilders tim and
  • 00:26:36.777 --> 00:26:39.513
  • David barton.
  • 00:26:39.513 --> 00:26:40.881
  • They have the best on this topic.
  • 00:26:40.881 --> 00:26:42.216
  • It's a two-volume set on "the american story."
  • 00:26:42.216 --> 00:26:44.718
  • It'll help us understand god's engagement in american history.
  • 00:26:44.718 --> 00:26:49.256
  • We've lost most of this in our public schools and certainly in
  • 00:26:49.256 --> 00:26:51.892
  • Higher education.
  • 00:26:51.892 --> 00:26:53.227
  • We gotta start back with our families around the kitchen
  • 00:26:53.227 --> 00:26:55.396
  • Table, learning how god has been engaged with us, so we can
  • 00:26:55.396 --> 00:26:58.432
  • Imagine a future that includes god.
  • 00:26:58.432 --> 00:27:01.068
  • Let's pray and ask for his help.
  • 00:27:01.068 --> 00:27:03.203
  • Father, i thank you.
  • 00:27:03.203 --> 00:27:04.538
  • I believe you have blessed our nation and caused us to
  • 00:27:04.538 --> 00:27:06.407
  • Flourish, and i pray that this year you would open our hearts
  • 00:27:06.407 --> 00:27:09.376
  • To what you have still ahead of us, that we might invite you
  • 00:27:09.376 --> 00:27:13.213
  • Into our homes, our communities, and into this nation's future,
  • 00:27:13.213 --> 00:27:16.717
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:16.717 --> 00:27:18.686
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:18.686 --> 00:27:30.297