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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - A Father's Faith (Part 1)

July 13, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - A Father's Faith (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Testimony #PersonalStory #Family #Foundation #Responsibility #Struggle #Father #Parenting #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - A Father's Faith (Part 1) | July 13, 2026
  • ...
  • 00:00:00.633 --> 00:00:00.325
  • Allen jackson: we have a new resource for you.
  • 00:00:00.759 --> 00:00:01.994
  • I'm really excited about this.
  • 00:00:02.127 --> 00:00:02.628
  • It's a book. it's a booklet.
  • 00:00:03.328 --> 00:00:04.663
  • It's a small book called "your identity in christ."
  • 00:00:04.663 --> 00:00:07.599
  • It was derived from years of teaching and leading in the
  • 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:10.436
  • Context of the church.
  • 00:00:10.436 --> 00:00:11.937
  • We're walking through a season, folks, when there's so much
  • 00:00:11.937 --> 00:00:13.639
  • Confusion about our identity.
  • 00:00:13.639 --> 00:00:15.541
  • We put this together to help you understand who you are in
  • 00:00:15.541 --> 00:00:18.277
  • Christ, not just about your salvation, but so that you can
  • 00:00:18.277 --> 00:00:21.213
  • Lead a triumphant, victorious, overcoming life.
  • 00:00:21.213 --> 00:00:24.783
  • We built it for an individual read.
  • 00:00:24.783 --> 00:00:26.218
  • It's great for a small group.
  • 00:00:26.218 --> 00:00:27.686
  • It's a great resource for your kitchen table time as a family
  • 00:00:27.686 --> 00:00:30.823
  • With children or grandchildren.
  • 00:00:30.823 --> 00:00:32.724
  • If you know who you are in christ, it changes everything
  • 00:00:32.724 --> 00:00:35.961
  • About the landscape of your life.
  • 00:00:35.961 --> 00:00:38.063
  • I'm righteous in the sight of god.
  • 00:00:38.063 --> 00:00:40.432
  • I can stand before god without fear, guilt, or condemnation.
  • 00:00:40.432 --> 00:00:44.403
  • Those are such important foundational principles to get
  • 00:00:44.403 --> 00:00:47.573
  • Secure in your heart, around your table with the people you
  • 00:00:47.573 --> 00:00:50.976
  • Care about, in your small groups, with your friends.
  • 00:00:50.976 --> 00:00:53.545
  • Your identity in christ, it's a game changer.
  • 00:00:53.545 --> 00:00:56.181
  • I believe it will add momentum to your spiritual growth in
  • 00:00:56.181 --> 00:00:59.084
  • This season.
  • 00:00:59.084 --> 00:01:00.452
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:01:00.452 --> 00:01:07.059
  • Allen: all right, if you're in one of our sanctuaries on
  • 00:01:07.059 --> 00:01:10.262
  • Campus, you should have received an outline when you came in.
  • 00:01:10.262 --> 00:01:14.500
  • [congregation laughing]
  • 00:01:14.500 --> 00:01:17.469
  • We told them to give outlines to all the christians.
  • 00:01:17.469 --> 00:01:19.771
  • [congregation laughing and applauding]
  • 00:01:19.771 --> 00:01:26.745
  • Oh, it's okay.
  • 00:01:26.745 --> 00:01:30.349
  • No outlines today, but god is still present, i promise, okay?
  • 00:01:30.349 --> 00:01:36.522
  • You know, back in the day, like, you know, when dinosaurs still
  • 00:01:36.522 --> 00:01:39.992
  • Roamed the earth, we like brought our bibles to church,
  • 00:01:39.992 --> 00:01:43.662
  • Looked up scriptures, pretended to.
  • 00:01:43.662 --> 00:01:48.433
  • You know, you'd sit on your-- "does anybody know where
  • 00:01:48.433 --> 00:01:50.035
  • Habakkuk is?
  • 00:01:50.035 --> 00:01:51.403
  • Somebody help me find it."
  • 00:01:51.403 --> 00:01:53.672
  • So, you know, a little different today.
  • 00:01:53.672 --> 00:01:58.243
  • But i do want to read one scripture, they'll put it on
  • 00:01:58.243 --> 00:01:59.978
  • The screens.
  • 00:01:59.978 --> 00:02:01.313
  • Thank god for technology, and wherever you are, you can
  • 00:02:01.313 --> 00:02:03.048
  • See it.
  • 00:02:03.048 --> 00:02:04.416
  • It's father's day weekend.
  • 00:02:04.416 --> 00:02:05.751
  • I thought it was an appropriate framing for what we're going to
  • 00:02:05.751 --> 00:02:08.587
  • Talk about.
  • 00:02:08.587 --> 00:02:09.922
  • It's ephesians chapter 3, beginning in verse 14, it says,
  • 00:02:09.922 --> 00:02:14.359
  • "for this reason i bow my knees before the father, from whom
  • 00:02:14.359 --> 00:02:18.630
  • Every family in heaven on earth derives its name."
  • 00:02:18.630 --> 00:02:23.001
  • We don't talk about it a great deal in church world, but we
  • 00:02:23.001 --> 00:02:25.804
  • Should, it's important.
  • 00:02:25.804 --> 00:02:27.973
  • "father" describes the role that god chose for himself in all of
  • 00:02:27.973 --> 00:02:33.512
  • His creation, and he chose jesus to be the one to unveil
  • 00:02:33.512 --> 00:02:40.752
  • That revelation.
  • 00:02:40.752 --> 00:02:42.588
  • In fact, the new testament tells us that in the past, god spoke
  • 00:02:42.588 --> 00:02:45.390
  • To us through prophets, and through miracles, and signs, and
  • 00:02:45.390 --> 00:02:49.228
  • Wonders, but in these last days, he's spoken to us by his son.
  • 00:02:49.228 --> 00:02:54.466
  • Now, the one revelation that a son can uniquely give is about
  • 00:02:54.466 --> 00:02:58.904
  • A father.
  • 00:02:58.904 --> 00:03:01.006
  • And so, god as our father changes the whole nature of the
  • 00:03:01.006 --> 00:03:05.043
  • Equation of our faith.
  • 00:03:05.043 --> 00:03:07.179
  • Not a tyrant, not some cruel
  • 00:03:07.179 --> 00:03:10.148
  • Authoritarian something-or-other.
  • 00:03:10.148 --> 00:03:12.551
  • People say, "the god of the old testament is so harsh."
  • 00:03:12.551 --> 00:03:14.586
  • No, he's a good father.
  • 00:03:14.586 --> 00:03:18.390
  • He delivers his kids from slavery, he provides some
  • 00:03:18.390 --> 00:03:21.526
  • Boundaries for them so they can flourish.
  • 00:03:21.526 --> 00:03:24.229
  • Sounds like a good dad to me.
  • 00:03:24.229 --> 00:03:26.765
  • And if you don't know god in that way, and there can be some
  • 00:03:26.765 --> 00:03:28.900
  • Impediments to that, your own journey, your own family
  • 00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:31.003
  • Systems, a lot of things cloud that, we're gonna talk about it
  • 00:03:31.003 --> 00:03:32.904
  • A bit.
  • 00:03:32.904 --> 00:03:34.239
  • But i didn't want father's day to come and go without you being
  • 00:03:34.239 --> 00:03:36.074
  • Aware, and for you to under-- to--i don't want you to miss
  • 00:03:36.074 --> 00:03:40.479
  • The significance of fathers.
  • 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:43.382
  • Much denigrated these days.
  • 00:03:43.382 --> 00:03:45.851
  • You know, all the gender confusion conversations have
  • 00:03:45.851 --> 00:03:49.655
  • Escalated to the point that there's a resentment between men
  • 00:03:49.655 --> 00:03:54.092
  • And women that has nothing to do with god.
  • 00:03:54.092 --> 00:03:57.062
  • Folks, it's not about greater or lesser, stronger or weaker,
  • 00:03:57.062 --> 00:03:59.931
  • We're different.
  • 00:03:59.931 --> 00:04:01.800
  • Again, not a bad thing, not something to be used for
  • 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:04.770
  • Diminishment on either side of the discussion, to recognize
  • 00:04:04.770 --> 00:04:08.840
  • The difference.
  • 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:10.208
  • It's grown to the point in the language that it's absurd.
  • 00:04:10.208 --> 00:04:13.779
  • When i was in seminary, and it's been a day or two--my brother,
  • 00:04:13.779 --> 00:04:20.052
  • Philip, is here today.
  • 00:04:20.052 --> 00:04:21.420
  • We got the same courses.
  • 00:04:21.420 --> 00:04:23.322
  • If we used a male pronoun in reference to god, we would
  • 00:04:23.322 --> 00:04:27.125
  • Be failed.
  • 00:04:27.125 --> 00:04:31.430
  • In the graduate school where they were training ministers.
  • 00:04:31.430 --> 00:04:35.400
  • They were so offended by the notion of a father god.
  • 00:04:35.400 --> 00:04:39.371
  • Now, you could call god a whole lot of other things, but you
  • 00:04:39.371 --> 00:04:42.908
  • Couldn't refer to him as "father."
  • 00:04:42.908 --> 00:04:45.377
  • At the time, it seemed so absurd.
  • 00:04:45.377 --> 00:04:46.978
  • I thought, "oh, that'll never make its way into
  • 00:04:46.978 --> 00:04:48.580
  • Mainstream thought."
  • 00:04:48.580 --> 00:04:51.083
  • My naiveté, 'cause the sponsor of that wasn't academia or
  • 00:04:51.083 --> 00:04:55.520
  • Theology, it was demonic.
  • 00:04:55.520 --> 00:04:58.724
  • And so, now we've arrived at this absurd place where we want
  • 00:04:58.724 --> 00:05:02.494
  • To erase all those boundaries.
  • 00:05:02.494 --> 00:05:03.895
  • New york has a law that's making its way through the system, and
  • 00:05:03.895 --> 00:05:06.698
  • The governor has said she will sign it where they won't use the
  • 00:05:06.698 --> 00:05:09.868
  • "mother" and "father" as a part of their legal language
  • 00:05:09.868 --> 00:05:11.903
  • Any longer.
  • 00:05:11.903 --> 00:05:13.271
  • They're going to refer to "gestating persons" and
  • 00:05:13.271 --> 00:05:17.008
  • "non-gestating persons."
  • 00:05:17.008 --> 00:05:18.910
  • We're so resentful of one another that the only
  • 00:05:22.948 --> 00:05:24.750
  • Distinction we will concede is, "you can have a child."
  • 00:05:24.750 --> 00:05:30.655
  • And in some places, the absurdity has grown where
  • 00:05:30.655 --> 00:05:32.424
  • They'll even deny that.
  • 00:05:32.424 --> 00:05:34.025
  • So i would submit to you that, as christians, as
  • 00:05:34.025 --> 00:05:35.660
  • Christ followers, we gotta come back to the plan that god's
  • 00:05:35.660 --> 00:05:38.597
  • Given us, and celebrate our families, thank god for
  • 00:05:38.597 --> 00:05:41.833
  • Our differences.
  • 00:05:41.833 --> 00:05:44.669
  • We need godly men.
  • 00:05:44.669 --> 00:05:46.271
  • Godly men who seek god, godly men who will take their place.
  • 00:05:46.271 --> 00:05:50.642
  • And if your expression of masculinity is destructive and
  • 00:05:50.642 --> 00:05:53.211
  • Toxic, don't blame god, it's sin.
  • 00:05:53.211 --> 00:05:56.047
  • Let's be--oh, that's equally true for women.
  • 00:05:56.047 --> 00:05:59.017
  • Femininity is not toxic, it's ungodliness that's destructive.
  • 00:05:59.017 --> 00:06:04.189
  • If we'll come back to the fundamentals, our families will
  • 00:06:04.189 --> 00:06:06.358
  • Flourish, our kids will do well, we'll be different from the
  • 00:06:06.358 --> 00:06:09.661
  • World, amen?
  • 00:06:09.661 --> 00:06:12.397
  • All right, that's the whole sermon.
  • 00:06:12.397 --> 00:06:17.102
  • That's why you didn't get an outline, but you can't
  • 00:06:17.102 --> 00:06:18.570
  • Leave yet.
  • 00:06:18.570 --> 00:06:20.572
  • The doors are locked, don't tell the fire marshal.
  • 00:06:20.572 --> 00:06:24.109
  • Now, on father's day, i want to take the opportunity to see if
  • 00:06:24.109 --> 00:06:27.279
  • We could glean some wisdom-- not from me.
  • 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:31.983
  • You know that's not particularly hopeful.
  • 00:06:31.983 --> 00:06:34.519
  • But i asked my dad if he would be willing to sit down and have
  • 00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:38.056
  • A conversation with me.
  • 00:06:38.056 --> 00:06:39.991
  • I have reluctantly coaxed him into doing a podcast or two.
  • 00:06:39.991 --> 00:06:43.995
  • If you have found those, you know a part of this
  • 00:06:43.995 --> 00:06:46.064
  • Backstory already.
  • 00:06:46.064 --> 00:06:47.966
  • With some reluctance, he agreed to do that in a live format.
  • 00:06:47.966 --> 00:06:51.903
  • So if you will help me welcome my dad, george jackson.
  • 00:06:51.903 --> 00:06:54.773
  • [congregation cheering and applauding]
  • 00:06:54.773 --> 00:07:19.097
  • Allen: welcome, you have to use that.
  • 00:07:20.298 --> 00:07:23.235
  • George jackson: okay, yes.
  • 00:07:23.235 --> 00:07:24.803
  • How do you respond to "welcome?"
  • 00:07:24.803 --> 00:07:27.239
  • I'm here!
  • 00:07:27.239 --> 00:07:31.309
  • Allen: he stopped me this morning early and he said, "you
  • 00:07:31.309 --> 00:07:33.845
  • Haven't given us an outline."
  • 00:07:33.845 --> 00:07:36.481
  • And i said, "i know, it's because you're it!"
  • 00:07:36.481 --> 00:07:40.452
  • He didn't seem very comforted by that.
  • 00:07:40.452 --> 00:07:42.153
  • Some of you may, or many of you may not know, he is the founding
  • 00:07:42.153 --> 00:07:46.591
  • Pastor of this place.
  • 00:07:46.591 --> 00:07:48.059
  • [congregation cheering and applauding]
  • 00:07:48.059 --> 00:07:56.835
  • George: i didn't go to vanderbilt.
  • 00:07:56.835 --> 00:08:01.139
  • Allen: he and my mother had a bible study in their home here
  • 00:08:01.139 --> 00:08:04.376
  • In murfreesboro for many years, more than a decade.
  • 00:08:04.376 --> 00:08:08.680
  • And that bible study, and the fruit of that bible study, were
  • 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:12.317
  • The seeds that led to this congregation.
  • 00:08:12.317 --> 00:08:15.186
  • So easter sunday, 1980, was the first formal gathering.
  • 00:08:15.186 --> 00:08:19.691
  • Twenty-nine people?
  • 00:08:19.691 --> 00:08:21.393
  • George: yeah.
  • 00:08:21.393 --> 00:08:22.727
  • Allen: what the heck were you thinking?
  • 00:08:22.727 --> 00:08:25.597
  • George: well, there are a lot of baptist church of christ,
  • 00:08:25.597 --> 00:08:32.170
  • Episcopalians, and others around the community that like to be
  • 00:08:32.170 --> 00:08:36.675
  • With us every thursday night.
  • 00:08:36.675 --> 00:08:39.444
  • And so it got to where i always say it got out of hand in the
  • 00:08:39.444 --> 00:08:44.115
  • Size of it.
  • 00:08:44.115 --> 00:08:45.483
  • And so, through exploring other avenues, i gave it away to two
  • 00:08:45.483 --> 00:08:52.090
  • Pastors, and it didn't work, and so i just came to the
  • 00:08:52.090 --> 00:08:56.995
  • Conclusion, if they couldn't do any better, i would be willing,
  • 00:08:56.995 --> 00:09:01.600
  • For us to begin to be where we could open the doors to people
  • 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:06.805
  • In the community that were afraid to come to a weekly
  • 00:09:06.805 --> 00:09:13.211
  • Meeting, that they had the opportunity to come on sunday
  • 00:09:13.211 --> 00:09:17.382
  • Morning, and so we started easter, 1980.
  • 00:09:17.382 --> 00:09:22.253
  • Allen: and you had this in mind?
  • 00:09:22.253 --> 00:09:24.489
  • George: oh, yeah.
  • 00:09:24.489 --> 00:09:29.761
  • I didn't even have genesis in mind.
  • 00:09:29.761 --> 00:09:37.168
  • No, i mean, the reason you're here today is the reason we
  • 00:09:37.168 --> 00:09:43.041
  • Started world outreach.
  • 00:09:43.041 --> 00:09:46.411
  • There were people in their community that were looking for
  • 00:09:46.411 --> 00:09:50.949
  • God and didn't know where to go, what to do, how to find him,
  • 00:09:50.949 --> 00:09:57.589
  • Because life wasn't working.
  • 00:09:57.589 --> 00:10:00.458
  • And that's really--if you're honest, most of it didn't come
  • 00:10:00.458 --> 00:10:05.764
  • Because you liked the preacher.
  • 00:10:05.764 --> 00:10:07.532
  • I mean, we got to get along with him.
  • 00:10:07.532 --> 00:10:10.935
  • We need him.
  • 00:10:10.935 --> 00:10:13.071
  • But really, we came because we were looking for more than what
  • 00:10:13.071 --> 00:10:19.244
  • I endured through 30 years of my life.
  • 00:10:19.244 --> 00:10:21.880
  • Betty and i were 30, about 30, when we really became
  • 00:10:21.880 --> 00:10:26.885
  • Christians, not church-attenders.
  • 00:10:26.885 --> 00:10:29.921
  • And that transformation, i found, was in all of us if we
  • 00:10:29.921 --> 00:10:37.328
  • Had an opportunity for someone to give us a little direction,
  • 00:10:37.328 --> 00:10:43.902
  • Be a support to us, not be afraid to identify with us in
  • 00:10:43.902 --> 00:10:48.773
  • The place we had been, to come to the place we wanted to be.
  • 00:10:48.773 --> 00:10:54.212
  • And so that's kind of the basis of why we started to make a
  • 00:10:54.212 --> 00:11:00.585
  • Place available to people that they were willing to identify
  • 00:11:00.585 --> 00:11:04.923
  • With, to come out of their backgrounds and to move forward
  • 00:11:04.923 --> 00:11:09.661
  • With jesus.
  • 00:11:09.661 --> 00:11:11.396
  • Allen: but you not only opened your home for a bible study, if
  • 00:11:11.396 --> 00:11:16.601
  • My memory's correct, you went to lebanon for a bible study,
  • 00:11:16.601 --> 00:11:21.806
  • Tullahoma for a bible study, nashville for a bible study.
  • 00:11:21.806 --> 00:11:27.245
  • You were multi-site before it was cool.
  • 00:11:27.245 --> 00:11:30.715
  • George: right, well, i actually--as long as we were in
  • 00:11:30.715 --> 00:11:37.222
  • The home and a bible study, i was able to function as a--in
  • 00:11:37.222 --> 00:11:42.393
  • The leadership of full gospel business men, and i was
  • 00:11:42.393 --> 00:11:46.898
  • Responsible for six chapters in middle tennessee, and that's
  • 00:11:46.898 --> 00:11:54.272
  • Where philip and allen and got all their good education.
  • 00:11:54.272 --> 00:11:59.611
  • They so joyfully, every saturday night, would say, "dad, where
  • 00:11:59.611 --> 00:12:04.549
  • Are we going?
  • 00:12:04.549 --> 00:12:05.917
  • What town tonight?"
  • 00:12:05.917 --> 00:12:08.052
  • And so we would either go to clarksville, or cookville, or
  • 00:12:08.052 --> 00:12:12.891
  • Tullahoma, mcminnville, because where i was responsible, i
  • 00:12:12.891 --> 00:12:19.297
  • Wanted to get to know the people and the leadership, and how they
  • 00:12:19.297 --> 00:12:24.135
  • Were running their chapters.
  • 00:12:24.135 --> 00:12:26.905
  • With that, the boys heard real people give their testimony that
  • 00:12:26.905 --> 00:12:35.814
  • Had been into the world, had felt hurt,
  • 00:12:35.814 --> 00:12:40.418
  • Disaster, hopelessness.
  • 00:12:40.418 --> 00:12:44.255
  • And when they came to know there was a real god, the provision
  • 00:12:44.255 --> 00:12:49.160
  • He'd made through jesus, they heard them tell of the life they
  • 00:12:49.160 --> 00:12:53.064
  • Had now.
  • 00:12:53.064 --> 00:12:54.399
  • They heard all kinds of people in business, i mean, you name
  • 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:59.370
  • It, and they heard them give their testimony, and that had
  • 00:12:59.370 --> 00:13:02.540
  • An effect.
  • 00:13:02.540 --> 00:13:04.275
  • So what we learned through those places gave us the background
  • 00:13:04.275 --> 00:13:12.050
  • For what we wanted to do for people when we actually came to
  • 00:13:12.050 --> 00:13:18.022
  • The place.
  • 00:13:18.022 --> 00:13:19.357
  • I couldn't see any way to escape, to say we would be a
  • 00:13:19.357 --> 00:13:23.328
  • Church because it wasn't what i was looking forward to.
  • 00:13:23.328 --> 00:13:28.900
  • Allen: we can pause there just-- well, one thing i think i--we
  • 00:13:28.900 --> 00:13:31.536
  • Need to note, my brother's here this morning, he'll
  • 00:13:31.536 --> 00:13:33.438
  • Corroborate this.
  • 00:13:33.438 --> 00:13:34.806
  • I don't have any recollection that once my parents ever walked
  • 00:13:34.806 --> 00:13:38.142
  • In and said, "what would you like to do on saturday night?"
  • 00:13:38.142 --> 00:13:42.847
  • We were just informed of destinations, and the
  • 00:13:42.847 --> 00:13:45.416
  • Expectations of our participation.
  • 00:13:45.416 --> 00:13:47.352
  • But the beginning of the church, it was an effort.
  • 00:13:47.352 --> 00:13:54.459
  • From my vantage point, it felt like a sacrifice.
  • 00:13:54.459 --> 00:13:56.461
  • I thought you'd probably lost your balance.
  • 00:13:56.461 --> 00:13:58.930
  • I wasn't living here by then, but it was a change of routine.
  • 00:13:58.930 --> 00:14:03.034
  • It was a commitment.
  • 00:14:03.034 --> 00:14:04.402
  • You understand what it means to be at church on the weekends,
  • 00:14:04.402 --> 00:14:06.004
  • And if you make that commitment to let the organization emerge,
  • 00:14:06.004 --> 00:14:09.707
  • You're committed to that on a regular basis.
  • 00:14:09.707 --> 00:14:11.943
  • Your peer group were buying boats on the lake, or houses
  • 00:14:11.943 --> 00:14:15.780
  • Someplace else, and you made a decision to invest time and
  • 00:14:15.780 --> 00:14:19.450
  • Energy in the church.
  • 00:14:19.450 --> 00:14:22.287
  • I mean, from the vantage point today, it may seem like it makes
  • 00:14:22.287 --> 00:14:25.857
  • More sense, but at the time, it was a sacrifice.
  • 00:14:25.857 --> 00:14:29.294
  • George: well, it just required the matter of time.
  • 00:14:29.294 --> 00:14:34.933
  • If you haven't figured it out, if you will wait, god has a plan
  • 00:14:34.933 --> 00:14:41.706
  • For your life.
  • 00:14:41.706 --> 00:14:43.641
  • And he's not a day ahead of you, he's way ahead of you, waiting
  • 00:14:43.641 --> 00:14:48.313
  • For you to pick up on it.
  • 00:14:48.313 --> 00:14:54.452
  • Our life at home and our professional life changed from
  • 00:14:54.452 --> 00:14:58.790
  • 1975 to 1976.
  • 00:14:58.790 --> 00:15:01.826
  • There was a transition period when i went from doing strictly
  • 00:15:01.826 --> 00:15:07.832
  • Equine to started doing family pets.
  • 00:15:07.832 --> 00:15:12.403
  • And with that, the structure and the timeframe of life could be
  • 00:15:12.403 --> 00:15:18.376
  • Better predicted than it could in our previous life.
  • 00:15:18.376 --> 00:15:25.616
  • And so, with that, we could begin to plan to have a thursday
  • 00:15:25.616 --> 00:15:31.956
  • Night bible study, sunday morning bible teaching, and
  • 00:15:31.956 --> 00:15:38.896
  • Sunday night.
  • 00:15:38.896 --> 00:15:40.698
  • And so we began to plan our life around that, and god was way
  • 00:15:40.698 --> 00:15:46.904
  • Ahead of us.
  • 00:15:46.904 --> 00:15:48.873
  • That began to change in '75, and then by the time 1980 came, five
  • 00:15:48.873 --> 00:15:56.314
  • Years later, we were where we could handle it.
  • 00:15:56.314 --> 00:16:01.886
  • It wasn't that it was easy, but we could handle it.
  • 00:16:01.886 --> 00:16:05.123
  • It took all hands on deck because--i was just thinking,
  • 00:16:05.123 --> 00:16:09.761
  • When allen was talking about the joy of going to different towns,
  • 00:16:09.761 --> 00:16:16.234
  • The boys would go with us, but many times, because of my
  • 00:16:16.234 --> 00:16:23.508
  • Affiliation all around middle tennessee with christians, we
  • 00:16:23.508 --> 00:16:29.113
  • Would be asked to come and give our testimony as a family.
  • 00:16:29.113 --> 00:16:35.453
  • And everyone--body had a--in the family had a part to play.
  • 00:16:35.453 --> 00:16:43.661
  • And through that, they learned how to interact with people, to
  • 00:16:43.661 --> 00:16:51.235
  • Be willing to stand up in front of people, and it was
  • 00:16:51.235 --> 00:16:55.473
  • The foundation.
  • 00:16:55.473 --> 00:16:57.942
  • All of those things helped us to get to where we were willing to
  • 00:16:57.942 --> 00:17:02.613
  • Take a bigger responsibility and say, "yes, we'll be a church."
  • 00:17:02.613 --> 00:17:10.321
  • Announcer: everywhere we turn, someone is telling us who we
  • 00:17:14.525 --> 00:17:17.061
  • Should be, how we should look, and what we should believe.
  • 00:17:17.061 --> 00:17:20.832
  • It's no wonder so many of us feel isolated, uncertain,
  • 00:17:20.832 --> 00:17:24.836
  • Confused, and like we're not enough.
  • 00:17:24.836 --> 00:17:27.738
  • But god has a different message.
  • 00:17:27.738 --> 00:17:30.041
  • You are chosen, loved, accepted, and redeemed, and, as you more
  • 00:17:30.041 --> 00:17:35.379
  • Fully understand how god sees you, it will change how you see
  • 00:17:35.379 --> 00:17:38.549
  • Yourself, how you see god, and how you live your life.
  • 00:17:38.549 --> 00:17:43.020
  • In "your identity in christ: 12 truths about who you are,"
  • 00:17:43.020 --> 00:17:46.691
  • Pastor allen jackson shares the unchanging truth of god's word.
  • 00:17:46.691 --> 00:17:51.028
  • From isolation to belonging, from doubt to confidence,
  • 00:17:51.028 --> 00:17:55.500
  • Discover your identity in him.
  • 00:17:55.500 --> 00:17:58.269
  • You or someone you know needs the encouragement, truth, and
  • 00:17:58.269 --> 00:18:02.173
  • Freedom found in this book.
  • 00:18:02.173 --> 00:18:06.310
  • Request yours today when you donate any amount at
  • 00:18:06.310 --> 00:18:08.746
  • Allenjackson.com or call ...
  • 00:18:08.746 --> 00:18:14.785
  • Allen: i have two brothers, i'm the oldest by a huge margin, but
  • 00:18:14.852 --> 00:18:20.758
  • We'd all be included in that.
  • 00:18:20.758 --> 00:18:22.960
  • And so the run-up to those-- you know, maybe we had a
  • 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:26.164
  • 30-minute block of time when we were asked to, he was asked
  • 00:18:26.164 --> 00:18:29.934
  • To share something, and we would all get invited into that.
  • 00:18:29.934 --> 00:18:36.774
  • So the discussion was, "okay, you know, you each have three
  • 00:18:36.774 --> 00:18:40.411
  • Minutes, and this is your topic.
  • 00:18:40.411 --> 00:18:43.781
  • You tell them how you became a christian, or you tell them
  • 00:18:43.781 --> 00:18:46.350
  • About how this prayer got answered."
  • 00:18:46.350 --> 00:18:48.286
  • It was like beat-the-clock for jesus.
  • 00:18:48.286 --> 00:18:53.090
  • And for those of you that have children, you can imagine all of
  • 00:18:53.090 --> 00:18:55.693
  • The love and support that came from three brothers for
  • 00:18:55.693 --> 00:18:57.895
  • Those opportunities.
  • 00:18:57.895 --> 00:18:59.964
  • But, somehow, we survived those days.
  • 00:18:59.964 --> 00:19:02.366
  • But i think that i want to step back a little bit because the
  • 00:19:02.366 --> 00:19:04.702
  • Narrative needs the--to understand what god has done, i
  • 00:19:04.702 --> 00:19:08.472
  • Think it's helpful to hear a bit of the story.
  • 00:19:08.472 --> 00:19:12.310
  • I was born in kansas city when you and mom were first married.
  • 00:19:12.310 --> 00:19:17.181
  • You--we lived there, and you had a different job.
  • 00:19:17.181 --> 00:19:19.083
  • You weren't a veterinarian, you were a funeral director.
  • 00:19:19.083 --> 00:19:21.719
  • George: right.
  • 00:19:21.719 --> 00:19:24.555
  • Allen: i don't have a great deal of memory of that, but we
  • 00:19:24.555 --> 00:19:26.891
  • Were there.
  • 00:19:26.891 --> 00:19:28.226
  • George: no, you shouldn't.
  • 00:19:28.226 --> 00:19:29.594
  • Allen: good, and you made the decision a couple of years into
  • 00:19:29.594 --> 00:19:36.200
  • That, that you wanted to change careers.
  • 00:19:36.200 --> 00:19:39.904
  • And what prompted that?
  • 00:19:39.904 --> 00:19:42.240
  • You were a funeral director and you decided you wanted to go to
  • 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:44.242
  • Veterinary school.
  • 00:19:44.242 --> 00:19:46.544
  • George: well, just to get down to the basic of it, i saw where
  • 00:19:46.544 --> 00:19:50.548
  • I was in life, i had gone as far as i was going to go in the
  • 00:19:50.548 --> 00:19:56.787
  • Profession i was in.
  • 00:19:56.787 --> 00:19:59.423
  • I didn't have the finances to own my own funeral business, and
  • 00:19:59.423 --> 00:20:05.863
  • That's the basic line in that particular area.
  • 00:20:05.863 --> 00:20:11.302
  • I was working in a very large funeral home in kansas city, and
  • 00:20:11.302 --> 00:20:17.575
  • There were other gentlemen there that were 50 years ahead of me,
  • 00:20:17.575 --> 00:20:23.814
  • And i was doing everything they were doing.
  • 00:20:23.814 --> 00:20:26.217
  • In fact, due to my youth and energy, i was initiating things
  • 00:20:26.217 --> 00:20:32.490
  • And getting things done around the funeral home that they
  • 00:20:32.490 --> 00:20:36.427
  • Hadn't thought of, but i saw i was the end of a path, and i
  • 00:20:36.427 --> 00:20:43.401
  • Began looking, "what can i do to better my family in the future,
  • 00:20:43.401 --> 00:20:49.340
  • Because i'm at a dead-end street?"
  • 00:20:49.340 --> 00:20:52.143
  • And--oh, just as a sidelight to kind of put it in perspective,
  • 00:20:52.143 --> 00:20:56.714
  • We're talking about 1957, '58.
  • 00:20:56.714 --> 00:21:01.852
  • I took a job for $300 a month and had to pay the owner $60 a
  • 00:21:01.852 --> 00:21:08.326
  • Month for a third floor attic apartment, so that kind of puts
  • 00:21:08.326 --> 00:21:14.999
  • Things in perspective as to why i began to look around.
  • 00:21:14.999 --> 00:21:19.637
  • And i went back to school, took a course in chemistry.
  • 00:21:19.637 --> 00:21:24.875
  • I liked the sciences, and i went back to school over night and
  • 00:21:24.875 --> 00:21:28.346
  • Took a course in chemistry, but betty had a brother who had come
  • 00:21:28.346 --> 00:21:36.821
  • Out of the military and had gone back to missouri university.
  • 00:21:36.821 --> 00:21:42.793
  • He knew what he wanted to do.
  • 00:21:42.793 --> 00:21:44.128
  • I was already two years ahead of him in college when he came out
  • 00:21:44.128 --> 00:21:48.699
  • Of the navy, and he went back to mu, knew he wanted to be
  • 00:21:48.699 --> 00:21:53.137
  • A veterinarian.
  • 00:21:53.137 --> 00:21:54.939
  • Well, he didn't have everything to make life work smooth, and
  • 00:21:54.939 --> 00:22:02.847
  • So, a lot of weekends betty would go up there, be a help to
  • 00:22:02.847 --> 00:22:07.051
  • Them in their home, take her paycheck, and help keep them on
  • 00:22:07.051 --> 00:22:12.757
  • A financial basis.
  • 00:22:12.757 --> 00:22:14.992
  • And so, through that process, i would occasionally go with her
  • 00:22:14.992 --> 00:22:19.897
  • On a weekend and i would see what he was doing, what he was
  • 00:22:19.897 --> 00:22:24.268
  • Learning, what was happening in his life.
  • 00:22:24.268 --> 00:22:29.006
  • And we can't go back to her, but i--growing up around my
  • 00:22:29.006 --> 00:22:33.310
  • Grandfather, i had a taste and place in my life for the farm,
  • 00:22:33.310 --> 00:22:43.187
  • The country, animals.
  • 00:22:43.187 --> 00:22:45.389
  • I could wear you out with stories.
  • 00:22:45.389 --> 00:22:47.057
  • As philip says, "daddy, hush, you've got enough
  • 00:22:47.057 --> 00:22:50.561
  • Stories going."
  • 00:22:50.561 --> 00:22:52.096
  • So, anyway, it was natural for me to enjoy what i saw
  • 00:22:52.096 --> 00:22:58.636
  • Him doing.
  • 00:22:58.636 --> 00:23:00.004
  • I liked science, i liked medicine, i liked animals.
  • 00:23:00.004 --> 00:23:04.809
  • And so, through his influence, i saw what i wanted to do with
  • 00:23:04.809 --> 00:23:10.848
  • My life.
  • 00:23:10.848 --> 00:23:12.183
  • I just had to figure out how can i do it because it didn't look
  • 00:23:12.183 --> 00:23:16.487
  • Real easy.
  • 00:23:16.487 --> 00:23:19.523
  • Allen: okay, so you moved from kansas city to columbia, and
  • 00:23:19.523 --> 00:23:23.627
  • While you're there going through vet school, two more boys,
  • 00:23:23.627 --> 00:23:26.697
  • Philip and doyle, are born.
  • 00:23:26.697 --> 00:23:28.432
  • George: yeah, but let me drop back to people that live
  • 00:23:28.432 --> 00:23:30.801
  • Real life.
  • 00:23:30.801 --> 00:23:33.437
  • Allen: we've only got three hours.
  • 00:23:33.437 --> 00:23:34.905
  • George: okay, we've only got two hours.
  • 00:23:34.905 --> 00:23:39.610
  • I had to go back to finish requirements to be a candidate
  • 00:23:39.610 --> 00:23:43.948
  • For veterinary school one year.
  • 00:23:43.948 --> 00:23:47.151
  • I went back, took 34 hours that year.
  • 00:23:47.151 --> 00:23:51.255
  • But that wasn't the whole thing.
  • 00:23:51.255 --> 00:23:53.691
  • Betty had to stay in kansas city with allen in order for us to
  • 00:23:53.691 --> 00:23:58.796
  • Have a way to make a living.
  • 00:23:58.796 --> 00:24:01.332
  • I lived in a basement--
  • 00:24:01.332 --> 00:24:05.169
  • Allen: room.
  • 00:24:05.169 --> 00:24:06.537
  • George: it wasn't even a room, it was just a little petitioned
  • 00:24:06.537 --> 00:24:09.907
  • Off place, and every weekend, i would drive back to kansas city
  • 00:24:09.907 --> 00:24:17.081
  • And see allan and betty, and then go back to school on
  • 00:24:17.081 --> 00:24:21.352
  • Sunday night.
  • 00:24:21.352 --> 00:24:23.020
  • And i was trying to make grades that would get me into
  • 00:24:23.020 --> 00:24:26.690
  • Vet school.
  • 00:24:26.690 --> 00:24:28.058
  • So there was a lot going on in our life than just a happy,
  • 00:24:28.058 --> 00:24:32.263
  • Happy, clappy time.
  • 00:24:32.263 --> 00:24:36.667
  • Allen: all right, so you--two more boys, phillip's born and
  • 00:24:36.667 --> 00:24:44.441
  • Then doyle is born, and you're just finishing up vet school,
  • 00:24:44.441 --> 00:24:48.279
  • Getting ready to take your national boards.
  • 00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:50.881
  • And mom goes to the hospital to deliver--she had to have a
  • 00:24:50.881 --> 00:24:54.451
  • C-section for doyle, and while she's in the hospital, she's
  • 00:24:54.451 --> 00:24:59.023
  • Diagnosed with cancer.
  • 00:24:59.023 --> 00:25:00.991
  • And you go to--we go to church every sunday.
  • 00:25:00.991 --> 00:25:02.693
  • I remember--by now, i can remember, i'm seven.
  • 00:25:02.693 --> 00:25:05.663
  • And church was not optional, i tried.
  • 00:25:05.663 --> 00:25:09.466
  • And you had to have a doctor's excuse.
  • 00:25:09.466 --> 00:25:14.705
  • And so we went to church every week, but we weren't christians,
  • 00:25:14.705 --> 00:25:17.508
  • Because when mom's--when they told her she had six months
  • 00:25:17.508 --> 00:25:19.843
  • To live.
  • 00:25:19.843 --> 00:25:21.178
  • And that becomes a pivot point, because they wanted to do
  • 00:25:21.178 --> 00:25:25.683
  • Dramatic surgery at the same time they did the c-section, and
  • 00:25:25.683 --> 00:25:28.552
  • You said no.
  • 00:25:28.552 --> 00:25:30.254
  • You--actually, the line i've been told is you said, "i
  • 00:25:30.254 --> 00:25:32.356
  • Wouldn't do that to a cow," which took courage when my mom
  • 00:25:32.356 --> 00:25:36.961
  • Could hear you say that.
  • 00:25:36.961 --> 00:25:40.598
  • George: she'd been an old heifer sometimes.
  • 00:25:40.598 --> 00:25:43.400
  • [congregation laughing]
  • 00:25:43.400 --> 00:25:54.044
  • Allen: you're brave now.
  • 00:25:52.076 --> 00:25:55.679
  • George: heaven will rain down.
  • 00:25:55.679 --> 00:25:57.014
  • You know, actually, today is two years, on father's day was the
  • 00:25:57.014 --> 00:26:04.888
  • Day that betty first got sick.
  • 00:26:04.888 --> 00:26:06.924
  • It's been two years.
  • 00:26:06.924 --> 00:26:09.760
  • She wasn't an old heifer.
  • 00:26:09.760 --> 00:26:14.431
  • Go ahead.
  • 00:26:14.431 --> 00:26:18.702
  • Allen: hey, i'm really excited about our newest publication.
  • 00:26:22.940 --> 00:26:25.609
  • "your identity in christ."
  • 00:26:25.609 --> 00:26:27.378
  • Far too often in christendom we major on the minors.
  • 00:26:27.378 --> 00:26:30.381
  • We get way heated up about which church we attend,
  • 00:26:30.381 --> 00:26:32.282
  • Which denomination we belong to, which translation
  • 00:26:32.282 --> 00:26:34.451
  • Of the bible we read.
  • 00:26:34.451 --> 00:26:35.819
  • Folks, those things are all okay.
  • 00:26:35.819 --> 00:26:37.354
  • But knowing who you are in christ, it will mean freedom
  • 00:26:37.354 --> 00:26:41.025
  • Or it will put you in a place of bondage.
  • 00:26:41.025 --> 00:26:43.060
  • When i help people through the steps of spiritual freedom,
  • 00:26:43.060 --> 00:26:45.896
  • The foundation of that is understanding
  • 00:26:45.896 --> 00:26:48.032
  • Who we are in christ.
  • 00:26:48.032 --> 00:26:49.833
  • We put together this little booklet as a tool.
  • 00:26:49.833 --> 00:26:51.969
  • It'll help you individually. you can do it as a small group.
  • 00:26:51.969 --> 00:26:54.538
  • It's a great resource to share with your children
  • 00:26:54.538 --> 00:26:56.874
  • Or your grandchildren at your kitchen table time.
  • 00:26:56.874 --> 00:26:59.576
  • It'll make a difference in your life,
  • 00:26:59.576 --> 00:27:01.111
  • Knowing who you are in christ, first and foremost,
  • 00:27:01.111 --> 00:27:04.214
  • As a part of your spiritual formation.
  • 00:27:04.214 --> 00:27:06.150
  • In fact, i wanna pray with you before we go.
  • 00:27:06.150 --> 00:27:07.818
  • That god will bring new freedom to you in this season.
  • 00:27:07.818 --> 00:27:11.221
  • Father, thank you, for you have established.
  • 00:27:11.221 --> 00:27:13.791
  • You have paid the price that we can participate
  • 00:27:13.791 --> 00:27:15.926
  • In your kingdom.
  • 00:27:15.926 --> 00:27:17.261
  • By your spirit, awaken us to who we are in christ,
  • 00:27:17.261 --> 00:27:20.898
  • First and foremost, in jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:20.898 --> 00:27:25.869