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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Full Measure of Devotion (Part 1)

April 8, 2025 | S25:E101

Allen Jackson - Full Measure of Devotion (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#BodyofChrist #Church #Dedication/Devotion #Honesty #Religion #Culture #Truth #Integrity #inActive #AllenJacksonMinistries #AllenJackson #Commitment #KingdomofGod #LightoftheWorld #Lies #Temple #Tabernacle

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Full Measure of Devotion (Part 1) | April 8, 2025
  • ...
  • 00:00:00.633 --> 00:00:01.316
  • Allen jackson: we're working through a series on "tabernacle,
  • 00:00:07.556 --> 00:00:10.526
  • Temple, synagogues & churches."
  • 00:00:10.626 --> 00:00:11.160
  • Not just places of worship or styles of worship or ways to
  • 00:00:13.962 --> 00:00:16.832
  • Worship, but the way that god engages people of faith
  • 00:00:16.832 --> 00:00:20.302
  • In community.
  • 00:00:20.302 --> 00:00:22.404
  • We're the 21st century edition of that.
  • 00:00:22.404 --> 00:00:25.974
  • And i believe it's significantly important to understand the role
  • 00:00:25.974 --> 00:00:29.311
  • And the significance of church and being in community of faith.
  • 00:00:29.311 --> 00:00:33.816
  • It's not fashionable these days.
  • 00:00:33.816 --> 00:00:36.285
  • And technology is changing imaginations around that, but
  • 00:00:36.285 --> 00:00:39.354
  • I don't believe biblically it has changed at all.
  • 00:00:39.354 --> 00:00:41.990
  • I think it's important.
  • 00:00:41.990 --> 00:00:43.625
  • And in this session, we're gonna talk a bit more in detail about
  • 00:00:43.625 --> 00:00:46.228
  • The full measure of devotion, another topic that i don't hear
  • 00:00:46.228 --> 00:00:50.566
  • A great deal about in this season.
  • 00:00:50.566 --> 00:00:53.168
  • You know, churches and messaging are like fashion.
  • 00:00:53.168 --> 00:00:56.805
  • They tend to go in cycles and there tends to be a lot of
  • 00:00:56.805 --> 00:00:59.741
  • Groupthink and there's some things that are left out of the
  • 00:00:59.741 --> 00:01:03.212
  • Current conversation that i think are important.
  • 00:01:03.212 --> 00:01:05.314
  • They may not be fashionable, but they're very significant.
  • 00:01:05.314 --> 00:01:08.517
  • But i wanna start with an idea that i think is a pretty
  • 00:01:08.517 --> 00:01:10.652
  • Accurate description of what we're doing.
  • 00:01:10.652 --> 00:01:12.121
  • The weekend, the last few days, have reminded me of it.
  • 00:01:12.121 --> 00:01:15.057
  • You know, all the messaging around the storms and the
  • 00:01:15.057 --> 00:01:18.360
  • Frantic interruptions of your-- if you're watching ball games,
  • 00:01:18.360 --> 00:01:22.598
  • Which is what i do, you know, and the anxiety of the people
  • 00:01:22.598 --> 00:01:27.035
  • Who are reporting and the fear that's instilled.
  • 00:01:27.035 --> 00:01:28.770
  • A lot of storms across our nation, thunder and lightning
  • 00:01:28.770 --> 00:01:31.807
  • And high winds and great volumes of rain.
  • 00:01:31.807 --> 00:01:33.742
  • It was evident all around as you came to church today, i suspect.
  • 00:01:33.742 --> 00:01:37.880
  • Well, i want to submit to you that there's something happening
  • 00:01:37.880 --> 00:01:40.082
  • That's even more dramatic than what we've seen in the weather
  • 00:01:40.082 --> 00:01:41.984
  • In the last 72 hours.
  • 00:01:41.984 --> 00:01:44.086
  • I think we're walking through the midst of a truth storm.
  • 00:01:44.086 --> 00:01:48.123
  • I think there is truth being revealed, truth breaking into
  • 00:01:48.123 --> 00:01:51.460
  • The public square, things that have been hidden in the darkness
  • 00:01:51.460 --> 00:01:53.996
  • That are bursting into the light.
  • 00:01:53.996 --> 00:01:56.098
  • It's far more disruptive, far more powerful, has a far greater
  • 00:01:56.098 --> 00:02:00.035
  • Potential of changing our future than any thunder or lightning or
  • 00:02:00.035 --> 00:02:04.072
  • Volume of wind or rain that we've experienced recently.
  • 00:02:04.072 --> 00:02:07.843
  • And i'm of the opinion that behind all of it is god.
  • 00:02:07.843 --> 00:02:12.014
  • I like storms, just for full confession.
  • 00:02:12.014 --> 00:02:14.082
  • I like thunderstorms.
  • 00:02:14.082 --> 00:02:16.418
  • Like, the darker it gets and the more frantic the people on
  • 00:02:16.418 --> 00:02:19.087
  • Television get, the more i want to get closer to
  • 00:02:19.087 --> 00:02:21.089
  • Something outside.
  • 00:02:21.089 --> 00:02:22.791
  • I wanna sit and watch.
  • 00:02:22.791 --> 00:02:24.993
  • My wife thinks i have no sense, but that's not just around
  • 00:02:24.993 --> 00:02:27.596
  • Storms, that's just, you know.
  • 00:02:27.596 --> 00:02:32.134
  • She woke me up one night and said the wind was so bad it'd
  • 00:02:32.134 --> 00:02:34.369
  • Blown the--true story, blown the window out of our
  • 00:02:34.369 --> 00:02:37.039
  • Living room.
  • 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.976
  • So i got up and went and put the window back in.
  • 00:02:40.976 --> 00:02:45.214
  • And went back to bed, which apparently was not the
  • 00:02:45.214 --> 00:02:49.151
  • Appropriate response.
  • 00:02:49.151 --> 00:02:54.056
  • That was the only part i understood.
  • 00:02:54.056 --> 00:02:55.991
  • So i like storms.
  • 00:02:55.991 --> 00:02:58.060
  • I do.
  • 00:02:58.060 --> 00:03:01.296
  • But we're living through a truth storm and there--
  • 00:03:01.296 --> 00:03:04.066
  • It's unsettling.
  • 00:03:04.066 --> 00:03:05.801
  • It brings adrenaline, it brings some anxiety because you
  • 00:03:05.801 --> 00:03:08.570
  • Recognize there's tremendous potential for change, and you
  • 00:03:08.570 --> 00:03:11.907
  • Don't know what that's going to elicit.
  • 00:03:11.907 --> 00:03:13.775
  • You don't know which direction it's going to go.
  • 00:03:13.775 --> 00:03:16.144
  • You just recognize that there's a lot happening, that the status
  • 00:03:16.144 --> 00:03:20.115
  • Quo is not in full play at the moment.
  • 00:03:20.115 --> 00:03:23.552
  • Does that feel like what we're watching?
  • 00:03:23.552 --> 00:03:24.953
  • Now, i believe this is god-initiated.
  • 00:03:24.953 --> 00:03:27.089
  • The beginning point in my awareness took a dramatic change
  • 00:03:27.089 --> 00:03:29.825
  • About 2020 when we first heard about that virus from
  • 00:03:29.825 --> 00:03:32.294
  • Wuhan, china.
  • 00:03:32.294 --> 00:03:34.296
  • We came to know it as covid-19, but when we first heard about
  • 00:03:34.296 --> 00:03:36.865
  • It, all we heard was it was a tremendous threat, and we really
  • 00:03:36.865 --> 00:03:39.201
  • Weren't sure how to protect ourselves.
  • 00:03:39.201 --> 00:03:41.303
  • We weren't sure of treatment protocols.
  • 00:03:41.303 --> 00:03:43.071
  • We just understood that we were being told that it was
  • 00:03:43.071 --> 00:03:45.240
  • A terrible, terrible threat, and so we began to pray, sincerely,
  • 00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:49.811
  • As a community of faith: "god, let the truth be known, so we
  • 00:03:49.811 --> 00:03:52.948
  • Will know how to help one another, how to protect
  • 00:03:52.948 --> 00:03:55.050
  • Ourselves, how to protect our families."
  • 00:03:55.050 --> 00:03:57.352
  • I didn't understand we were praying about anything more
  • 00:03:57.352 --> 00:03:59.288
  • Than covid-19.
  • 00:03:59.288 --> 00:04:01.556
  • But from that day until this we've continued those prayers
  • 00:04:01.556 --> 00:04:04.226
  • And the truth storm has intensified.
  • 00:04:04.226 --> 00:04:06.028
  • Covid seems almost simple by comparison.
  • 00:04:06.028 --> 00:04:09.064
  • I'm not minimizing that.
  • 00:04:09.064 --> 00:04:10.432
  • I'm just saying that it hasn't stopped.
  • 00:04:10.432 --> 00:04:13.335
  • I didn't know god was going to shake the earth to the degree
  • 00:04:13.335 --> 00:04:16.171
  • He has.
  • 00:04:16.171 --> 00:04:17.906
  • We see this.
  • 00:04:17.906 --> 00:04:19.274
  • I--there's such a lengthy list of the way the truth storm is
  • 00:04:19.274 --> 00:04:21.310
  • Shaking things that it's--it extends beyond what we can do in
  • 00:04:21.310 --> 00:04:23.812
  • Any single session or i would even try.
  • 00:04:23.812 --> 00:04:26.481
  • I had no idea that anti-semitism was flourishing at our most
  • 00:04:26.481 --> 00:04:30.519
  • Celebrated college campuses.
  • 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:33.322
  • If i hadn't seen that with my own eyes in recent months,
  • 00:04:33.322 --> 00:04:35.757
  • I would never imagined it was possible.
  • 00:04:35.757 --> 00:04:39.194
  • There were so many things.
  • 00:04:39.194 --> 00:04:40.529
  • I had an interview this week with a physician, a doctor, he
  • 00:04:40.529 --> 00:04:44.533
  • Spent his life, helping deliver babies.
  • 00:04:44.533 --> 00:04:48.236
  • He's helped deliver thousands of babies, and he has given much of
  • 00:04:48.236 --> 00:04:52.474
  • His energy to being an advocate for those children.
  • 00:04:52.474 --> 00:04:57.145
  • He's written a whole bible study guide.
  • 00:04:57.145 --> 00:05:00.382
  • He's known as the prolife doc.
  • 00:05:00.382 --> 00:05:01.717
  • He's written a whole bible study guide to help us understand the
  • 00:05:01.717 --> 00:05:03.985
  • Viability of those children before their parents see them.
  • 00:05:03.985 --> 00:05:07.122
  • In fact, he's done some animations recently.
  • 00:05:07.122 --> 00:05:08.757
  • I got to watch one with him.
  • 00:05:08.757 --> 00:05:10.092
  • It was an animation, not a video, it's an animation, so you
  • 00:05:10.092 --> 00:05:12.327
  • Don't have all the--my dad was a veterinarian, folks.
  • 00:05:12.327 --> 00:05:14.429
  • I grew up with gross stuff, all right?
  • 00:05:14.429 --> 00:05:17.866
  • I got two brothers.
  • 00:05:17.866 --> 00:05:19.201
  • There were three boys.
  • 00:05:19.201 --> 00:05:20.569
  • My dad was a vet.
  • 00:05:20.569 --> 00:05:21.903
  • It was a small business.
  • 00:05:21.903 --> 00:05:23.271
  • So while we're having dinner, the phone rings and some
  • 00:05:23.271 --> 00:05:24.606
  • Farmer's got a cow trying to have a calf.
  • 00:05:24.606 --> 00:05:28.710
  • Now my mother's goal was to raise three sons who were
  • 00:05:28.710 --> 00:05:31.146
  • Not heathens.
  • 00:05:31.146 --> 00:05:33.782
  • She really tried to teach us manners, how to behave.
  • 00:05:33.782 --> 00:05:36.785
  • You can't fight in the house.
  • 00:05:36.785 --> 00:05:40.188
  • You know, which fork to use, all the stuff.
  • 00:05:40.188 --> 00:05:43.658
  • And we're at dinner and she's trying to enforce the law on the
  • 00:05:43.658 --> 00:05:46.628
  • Three of us, and farmer brown calls and his cow's trying to
  • 00:05:46.628 --> 00:05:50.432
  • Calf and the calf's half delivered and my dad is taking
  • 00:05:50.432 --> 00:05:54.302
  • The description and we're sitting looking at one another.
  • 00:05:54.302 --> 00:05:59.674
  • So a video of a baby being born or a calf being born or a foal
  • 00:05:59.674 --> 00:06:04.446
  • Being born, to me, that's dinner table conversation.
  • 00:06:04.446 --> 00:06:10.986
  • But i understand everybody didn't have the benefit of such
  • 00:06:10.986 --> 00:06:14.055
  • A well-rounded upbringing as i did.
  • 00:06:14.055 --> 00:06:17.692
  • So i see the value of an animation because it's much
  • 00:06:17.692 --> 00:06:21.163
  • More sedate.
  • 00:06:21.163 --> 00:06:23.432
  • But the animation is of a mom who's very pregnant, but the
  • 00:06:23.432 --> 00:06:27.402
  • Baby needs open heart surgery.
  • 00:06:27.402 --> 00:06:30.705
  • And the animation shows how the mom has an anesthesiologist to
  • 00:06:30.705 --> 00:06:36.645
  • Help get her ready for surgery.
  • 00:06:36.645 --> 00:06:39.014
  • And the mom has a surgeon to help prepare her and the baby
  • 00:06:39.014 --> 00:06:43.685
  • Has his own anesthesiologist to help get him ready for surgery.
  • 00:06:43.685 --> 00:06:50.258
  • And his own surgeon to help get him ready for surgery.
  • 00:06:50.258 --> 00:06:55.997
  • And the baby has a patient number.
  • 00:06:55.997 --> 00:06:59.534
  • And it's a billable event, recognized by the
  • 00:06:59.534 --> 00:07:06.675
  • Insurance company.
  • 00:07:06.675 --> 00:07:09.644
  • And when you're done with the animation, it's just--there's
  • 00:07:09.644 --> 00:07:12.781
  • No imagination whatsoever that that little baby, that little
  • 00:07:12.781 --> 00:07:15.917
  • Fellow that his parents haven't even seen yet, is a real person.
  • 00:07:15.917 --> 00:07:20.489
  • He's a patient.
  • 00:07:20.489 --> 00:07:25.494
  • He's a patient with his own anesthesiologist and his own
  • 00:07:25.494 --> 00:07:28.830
  • Surgeon and his own hospital bill.
  • 00:07:28.830 --> 00:07:33.201
  • Little fellow's in debt before he gets here.
  • 00:07:33.201 --> 00:07:36.438
  • It's the american dream.
  • 00:07:36.438 --> 00:07:41.042
  • But it completely eliminates this idea that has grown in the
  • 00:07:41.042 --> 00:07:45.347
  • Darkness, that it's not a child.
  • 00:07:45.347 --> 00:07:50.118
  • That it's a choice or some other something or other
  • 00:07:50.118 --> 00:07:52.754
  • That eliminates.
  • 00:07:52.754 --> 00:07:54.089
  • It's a truth storm.
  • 00:07:54.089 --> 00:07:55.457
  • It's unmistakable.
  • 00:07:55.457 --> 00:07:56.791
  • You can't hide from it.
  • 00:07:56.791 --> 00:07:58.159
  • It's right there.
  • 00:07:58.159 --> 00:08:00.095
  • It was wonderful to see the video and to have the discussion
  • 00:08:00.095 --> 00:08:03.131
  • And know that there are people that are saying we have to stand
  • 00:08:03.131 --> 00:08:05.700
  • Up for our children.
  • 00:08:05.700 --> 00:08:08.637
  • Anywhere you look, this truth storm, the clouds are gathering
  • 00:08:08.637 --> 00:08:11.806
  • And truth is swirling about in ways we haven't seen.
  • 00:08:11.806 --> 00:08:15.176
  • Darkness is being dispelled.
  • 00:08:15.176 --> 00:08:17.212
  • The fog is lifting.
  • 00:08:17.212 --> 00:08:20.582
  • You know, i would expect the scientific community or the
  • 00:08:20.582 --> 00:08:23.552
  • Pulpits in our nation to be adamant and determined and
  • 00:08:23.552 --> 00:08:27.355
  • Persistent in telling us that god created us male and female.
  • 00:08:27.355 --> 00:08:31.026
  • After all, it's good theology and it's very good science.
  • 00:08:31.026 --> 00:08:35.463
  • But the pulpits and the scientific community have been
  • 00:08:35.463 --> 00:08:38.867
  • Strangely silent.
  • 00:08:38.867 --> 00:08:40.435
  • So we've had politicians lately saying there's two sexes.
  • 00:08:40.435 --> 00:08:50.478
  • And there's all the same anxiety that comes around one of those
  • 00:08:51.813 --> 00:08:54.649
  • Alerts that pops up on your phone about tornadoes.
  • 00:08:54.649 --> 00:08:57.452
  • We're all stunned and shocked and we run for the basement.
  • 00:08:57.452 --> 00:09:01.389
  • But i would submit to you that shouldn't really be that much of
  • 00:09:01.389 --> 00:09:04.125
  • A dramatic announcement.
  • 00:09:04.125 --> 00:09:05.860
  • The facts are pretty evident when it comes to male
  • 00:09:05.860 --> 00:09:08.263
  • And female.
  • 00:09:08.263 --> 00:09:11.232
  • They're revealed throughout life, and if you're following
  • 00:09:11.232 --> 00:09:14.235
  • It, they're revealed in the first chapter of genesis.
  • 00:09:14.235 --> 00:09:17.672
  • So that if we're people of the book and people with anything
  • 00:09:17.672 --> 00:09:20.375
  • Like awareness, we would know god created us male and female,
  • 00:09:20.375 --> 00:09:24.913
  • And we're not the same.
  • 00:09:24.913 --> 00:09:31.052
  • It's not about lesser or greater.
  • 00:09:31.052 --> 00:09:34.656
  • I'm not suggesting that.
  • 00:09:34.656 --> 00:09:36.124
  • I'm just suggesting we're different.
  • 00:09:36.124 --> 00:09:39.894
  • That's biblical.
  • 00:09:39.894 --> 00:09:41.262
  • God created man and he said, "oh, that's not good."
  • 00:09:41.262 --> 00:09:45.667
  • Women, that should be your favorite verse in all the bible.
  • 00:09:45.667 --> 00:09:51.539
  • God said, "there's something else needed; we're not
  • 00:09:51.539 --> 00:09:54.743
  • Finished yet."
  • 00:09:54.743 --> 00:09:57.445
  • I mean, it's a fundamental notion and yet on this point,
  • 00:09:57.445 --> 00:10:01.082
  • The churches and the scientific community have had a great deal
  • 00:10:01.082 --> 00:10:05.120
  • Of time finding the courage to express their voice because the
  • 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:08.657
  • Darkness was powerful.
  • 00:10:08.657 --> 00:10:12.494
  • It was choking out the truth to the point that we'd arrived at
  • 00:10:12.494 --> 00:10:15.630
  • These absurd places.
  • 00:10:15.630 --> 00:10:18.833
  • We have men in the olympics boxing with women.
  • 00:10:18.833 --> 00:10:23.138
  • And nobody wants to say anything.
  • 00:10:23.138 --> 00:10:27.375
  • Now that's absurd, but the truth storm started.
  • 00:10:27.375 --> 00:10:31.846
  • And now we're saying it at the most powerful places in the
  • 00:10:31.846 --> 00:10:34.249
  • Nation and i pray that the churches and the scientific
  • 00:10:34.249 --> 00:10:37.552
  • Community find the courage to tell the truth.
  • 00:10:37.552 --> 00:10:39.621
  • You see, it doesn't really matter what surgery you have
  • 00:10:39.621 --> 00:10:41.790
  • Performed upon you, every cell in your body identifies you as
  • 00:10:41.790 --> 00:10:45.226
  • Male or female. [congregation applauding]
  • 00:10:45.226 --> 00:10:54.269
  • Well, there's another truth storm.
  • 00:10:54.269 --> 00:10:55.637
  • The list could go on and on.
  • 00:10:55.637 --> 00:10:56.971
  • I'll give you one more because i really--you have an outline
  • 00:10:56.971 --> 00:10:58.573
  • With scriptures and you're looking at that thinking, "dear
  • 00:10:58.573 --> 00:11:00.241
  • God, what's--" so the bible tells us things like to
  • 00:11:00.241 --> 00:11:06.748
  • Practice contentment.
  • 00:11:06.748 --> 00:11:08.817
  • And it tells us that envy and greed and covetousness are evil
  • 00:11:08.817 --> 00:11:13.455
  • And that if you practice them, you will not enter the kingdom
  • 00:11:13.455 --> 00:11:17.192
  • Of god, so they are off limits.
  • 00:11:17.192 --> 00:11:20.428
  • They're not life enhancements, they're not pathways to
  • 00:11:20.428 --> 00:11:23.231
  • Something better, even if you baptize them in envy and
  • 00:11:23.231 --> 00:11:26.835
  • Covetousness for your children, they're evil.
  • 00:11:26.835 --> 00:11:30.739
  • They will keep you from the kingdom and the truth storm
  • 00:11:30.739 --> 00:11:33.241
  • That's blowing around has revealed levels of fraud and
  • 00:11:33.241 --> 00:11:38.613
  • Waste and greed in levels that are almost, they're so stunning,
  • 00:11:38.613 --> 00:11:43.785
  • It's difficult to process.
  • 00:11:43.785 --> 00:11:45.153
  • The numbers are so large and the magnitude of what's been going
  • 00:11:45.153 --> 00:11:47.856
  • On, the absurdity of it truly feels like a storm.
  • 00:11:47.856 --> 00:11:51.059
  • You just want to go sit in the basement and
  • 00:11:51.059 --> 00:11:52.427
  • Turn the lights out.
  • 00:11:52.427 --> 00:11:54.429
  • But i don't believe we really have that option.
  • 00:11:54.429 --> 00:11:56.164
  • You know, it was decades ago where some government
  • 00:11:56.164 --> 00:11:59.067
  • Investigation found that the department of defense had spent
  • 00:11:59.067 --> 00:12:01.002
  • $600 on a hammer that you could buy at a local hardware store
  • 00:12:01.002 --> 00:12:05.507
  • For about $6 and that's, for years and years, that's been
  • 00:12:05.507 --> 00:12:09.544
  • Kind of the joke, the punch line on government fraud and waste.
  • 00:12:09.544 --> 00:12:13.248
  • By today's revelations of the truth storm, a $600 hammer seems
  • 00:12:13.248 --> 00:12:17.752
  • Like a bargain.
  • 00:12:17.752 --> 00:12:19.954
  • We sent $60 million to gaza for condoms.
  • 00:12:19.954 --> 00:12:26.294
  • I've been to gaza.
  • 00:12:26.294 --> 00:12:28.930
  • Never mind.
  • 00:12:28.930 --> 00:12:35.703
  • But what's being revealed in this storm about the levels of
  • 00:12:35.703 --> 00:12:39.808
  • Fraudulent spending and waste and stealing and the complicity
  • 00:12:39.808 --> 00:12:44.746
  • Of the media and the silence of the leaders who have been in
  • 00:12:44.746 --> 00:12:47.749
  • Place a long time while this was taking place, you can't steal
  • 00:12:47.749 --> 00:12:51.753
  • That much money and the people in town with you not know it.
  • 00:12:51.753 --> 00:12:55.824
  • It's impossible.
  • 00:12:55.824 --> 00:12:57.926
  • This has been happening for so long that we elect people and we
  • 00:12:57.926 --> 00:13:00.562
  • Send them to leadership roles in our nation and they go as kind
  • 00:13:00.562 --> 00:13:03.364
  • Of ordinary citizens with ordinary incomes and they serve
  • 00:13:03.364 --> 00:13:07.001
  • For a short season of time and they become fabulously wealthy.
  • 00:13:07.001 --> 00:13:10.605
  • It's happened so frequently we've considered that to
  • 00:13:10.605 --> 00:13:12.674
  • Be normal.
  • 00:13:12.674 --> 00:13:14.042
  • Folks, it's not normal.
  • 00:13:14.042 --> 00:13:16.344
  • It's not right.
  • 00:13:16.344 --> 00:13:17.679
  • We shouldn't be tolerant of it.
  • 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:21.049
  • And not only that, if the organization they're presiding
  • 00:13:21.049 --> 00:13:23.751
  • Over is plummeting into almost irrecoverable debt, they
  • 00:13:23.751 --> 00:13:27.655
  • Shouldn't be rewarded for it with our money.
  • 00:13:27.655 --> 00:13:34.229
  • But we've watched it for so long, we're anesthetized to it.
  • 00:13:34.229 --> 00:13:37.765
  • We just kind of nod numbly and go, "that's the way--" no,
  • 00:13:37.765 --> 00:13:40.335
  • That's not the way the system should work.
  • 00:13:40.335 --> 00:13:43.271
  • And it's gonna take courage.
  • 00:13:43.271 --> 00:13:46.407
  • It's intriguing to me.
  • 00:13:46.407 --> 00:13:48.042
  • As i said, i like storms.
  • 00:13:48.042 --> 00:13:49.377
  • I'll go get a lawn chair and sit as close to it as i can without
  • 00:13:49.377 --> 00:13:51.779
  • Just getting completely soaked.
  • 00:13:51.779 --> 00:13:53.114
  • I may get a little wet.
  • 00:13:53.114 --> 00:13:55.850
  • But i'm watching the response to this truth storm and the
  • 00:13:55.850 --> 00:13:58.486
  • Reduction of the trough of public waste seems to
  • 00:13:58.486 --> 00:14:00.855
  • Frighten many.
  • 00:14:00.855 --> 00:14:03.591
  • The implication: the graft and dishonesty and lies are
  • 00:14:03.591 --> 00:14:09.097
  • Necessary components of governance, and we should accept
  • 00:14:09.097 --> 00:14:11.432
  • Them as such.
  • 00:14:11.432 --> 00:14:13.268
  • Well, that's just how it works.
  • 00:14:13.268 --> 00:14:14.669
  • That's human nature.
  • 00:14:14.669 --> 00:14:17.305
  • No, i have friends, people that i've done life with, they've
  • 00:14:17.305 --> 00:14:22.110
  • Said to me of late, "well, you know, pastor, given the access
  • 00:14:22.110 --> 00:14:25.647
  • To money, everyone steals."
  • 00:14:25.647 --> 00:14:30.952
  • No, i reject the premise.
  • 00:14:30.952 --> 00:14:36.024
  • Somebody else's practice of evil does not give you license to
  • 00:14:36.024 --> 00:14:39.894
  • Be evil.
  • 00:14:39.894 --> 00:14:41.262
  • You will miss the kingdom of god.
  • 00:14:41.262 --> 00:14:46.401
  • We have a lord that set the agenda.
  • 00:14:46.401 --> 00:14:48.636
  • We should not steal.
  • 00:14:48.636 --> 00:14:50.004
  • We should not betray our families.
  • 00:14:50.004 --> 00:14:51.572
  • We should not betray our personal responsibilities to
  • 00:14:51.572 --> 00:14:54.642
  • Integrity and honesty for the sake of personal gain or
  • 00:14:54.642 --> 00:14:58.046
  • For opportunity.
  • 00:14:58.046 --> 00:15:00.148
  • Character matters.
  • 00:15:00.148 --> 00:15:02.350
  • Sacrificial leadership is a value worth maintaining.
  • 00:15:02.350 --> 00:15:05.320
  • In fact, our faith demands that integrity.
  • 00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:10.091
  • I don't believe we can capitulate.
  • 00:15:10.091 --> 00:15:14.862
  • Female announcer: it's going to be an amazing spring at world
  • 00:15:19.067 --> 00:15:21.269
  • Outreach church, and you're invited to be part of it all.
  • 00:15:21.269 --> 00:15:24.672
  • Join us in tennessee for easter weekend and our spring festival,
  • 00:15:24.672 --> 00:15:28.343
  • Kicking off saturday, april 12th, and running through
  • 00:15:28.343 --> 00:15:30.845
  • Sunday, april 27th.
  • 00:15:30.845 --> 00:15:32.814
  • Worship with musical guest artists, crowder, charity gayle,
  • 00:15:32.814 --> 00:15:36.651
  • Matthew west, franni cash, and the katinas.
  • 00:15:36.651 --> 00:15:39.053
  • Hear special messages from pastor allen jackson.
  • 00:15:39.053 --> 00:15:42.590
  • Enjoy fun activities for the whole family, food trucks,
  • 00:15:42.590 --> 00:15:45.727
  • And more.
  • 00:15:45.727 --> 00:15:47.095
  • Services will take place both indoors and outdoors.
  • 00:15:47.095 --> 00:15:49.564
  • Invite your friends and family to come celebrate our risen king
  • 00:15:49.564 --> 00:15:52.767
  • This spring.
  • 00:15:52.767 --> 00:15:54.102
  • Allen: hey, this is pastor allen.
  • 00:15:54.102 --> 00:15:55.470
  • I wanna give you a personal invitation to join us on our
  • 00:15:55.470 --> 00:15:57.572
  • Campus here in murfreesboro for our spring festival and our
  • 00:15:57.572 --> 00:16:01.042
  • Easter celebration.
  • 00:16:01.042 --> 00:16:02.777
  • It's a wonderful time to be with people of faith and celebrate
  • 00:16:02.777 --> 00:16:06.547
  • This most remarkable time of the year.
  • 00:16:06.547 --> 00:16:08.916
  • Announcer: find all the details at allenjackson.com/spring.
  • 00:16:08.916 --> 00:16:12.687
  • We can't wait to see you there.
  • 00:16:12.687 --> 00:16:14.922
  • Allen: i believe god is moving in the earth in an unprecedented
  • 00:16:19.127 --> 00:16:22.063
  • Way and at the heart of that is an awakening, it's a shaking,
  • 00:16:22.063 --> 00:16:26.000
  • And in that shaking, there's a sifting.
  • 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:27.702
  • There are people falling through the cracks and there are people
  • 00:16:27.702 --> 00:16:29.837
  • Becoming more alert and aware of what god is doing.
  • 00:16:29.837 --> 00:16:32.907
  • At the heart of that is the acknowledgment, the realization,
  • 00:16:32.907 --> 00:16:36.477
  • That spiritual forces shape our lives.
  • 00:16:36.477 --> 00:16:39.514
  • Folks, this isn't for the lunatic fringe.
  • 00:16:39.514 --> 00:16:41.749
  • This isn't for the hyper-spiritual people.
  • 00:16:41.749 --> 00:16:44.952
  • This is the stuff of the bible and it better be the stuff of
  • 00:16:44.952 --> 00:16:47.355
  • Our lives or we are in a tremendous deficit position.
  • 00:16:47.355 --> 00:16:51.893
  • Well, i've written a book, "angels, demons & you," simply
  • 00:16:51.893 --> 00:16:55.029
  • A biblical review of those spiritual forces that are
  • 00:16:55.029 --> 00:16:57.832
  • Impacting us today.
  • 00:16:57.832 --> 00:16:59.167
  • There's a battle in the earth and it's not between armies
  • 00:16:59.167 --> 00:17:01.936
  • Wearing the labels of nations or terrorist groups.
  • 00:17:01.936 --> 00:17:04.772
  • It's a spiritual battle.
  • 00:17:04.772 --> 00:17:06.340
  • If you don't understand, if you don't understand the equipment
  • 00:17:06.340 --> 00:17:08.943
  • And the authority you've been given, you are in a tremendous
  • 00:17:08.943 --> 00:17:12.547
  • Position of forfeiture.
  • 00:17:12.547 --> 00:17:14.782
  • Don't live that way.
  • 00:17:14.782 --> 00:17:16.150
  • "angels, demons & you," you need the solution.
  • 00:17:16.150 --> 00:17:19.720
  • Announcer: loneliness, depression, despair.
  • 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:22.423
  • They all have a spiritual origin.
  • 00:17:22.423 --> 00:17:24.592
  • We're in a spiritual battle, and the forces of evil stand against
  • 00:17:24.592 --> 00:17:28.129
  • Us, but we don't need to be afraid.
  • 00:17:28.129 --> 00:17:30.631
  • We need to prepare.
  • 00:17:30.631 --> 00:17:32.166
  • Allen: jesus said the children have angels assigned to them
  • 00:17:32.166 --> 00:17:34.735
  • That have the father's attention.
  • 00:17:34.735 --> 00:17:36.270
  • It's safe to say that in the kingdom of god there are
  • 00:17:36.270 --> 00:17:39.373
  • Spiritual beings in significant number.
  • 00:17:39.373 --> 00:17:43.978
  • And they're ministering spirits, the bible says, sent forth to
  • 00:17:43.978 --> 00:17:47.115
  • Help us.
  • 00:17:47.115 --> 00:17:48.783
  • They're messengers, they fill the pages of scripture, and yet
  • 00:17:48.783 --> 00:17:51.752
  • We tend to kind of imagine if it's--as if it's peripheral,
  • 00:17:51.752 --> 00:17:54.822
  • Secondary, that you could be a christ follower, not really be
  • 00:17:54.822 --> 00:17:57.792
  • Engaged or have to imagine spiritual forces.
  • 00:17:57.792 --> 00:18:00.661
  • "we believe in organization." well, so do i.
  • 00:18:00.661 --> 00:18:03.297
  • I like a good plan and i like an organization
  • 00:18:03.297 --> 00:18:07.702
  • That is run well but i don't want to--it's not an either/or
  • 00:18:07.702 --> 00:18:11.038
  • Equation and i certainly don't want to exchange the power of
  • 00:18:11.038 --> 00:18:15.243
  • God and the spiritual help that he's made available to us for
  • 00:18:15.243 --> 00:18:18.279
  • The imagination that we can out-organize evil.
  • 00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:20.681
  • Announcer: pastor allen's new book, "angels, demons & you,"
  • 00:18:20.681 --> 00:18:23.551
  • Offers compelling biblical evidence about angels and
  • 00:18:23.551 --> 00:18:26.721
  • Demons, and the rules in the heavens, on earth, and in
  • 00:18:26.721 --> 00:18:30.658
  • Our lives.
  • 00:18:30.658 --> 00:18:32.026
  • It answers the questions you want to know.
  • 00:18:32.026 --> 00:18:34.795
  • Learn what the bible has to say about angels, demons, and
  • 00:18:34.795 --> 00:18:38.065
  • Spiritual warfare.
  • 00:18:38.065 --> 00:18:39.534
  • Gain helpful insight that will help you identify and remove
  • 00:18:39.534 --> 00:18:43.237
  • Evil from your life.
  • 00:18:43.237 --> 00:18:45.106
  • Find practical tools and biblical truth that will help
  • 00:18:45.106 --> 00:18:48.075
  • You align your beliefs more fully with god's word.
  • 00:18:48.075 --> 00:18:51.279
  • "angels, demons & you" will help you recognize the spiritual
  • 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:54.649
  • Battle around you so you can live without fear, and stand
  • 00:18:54.649 --> 00:18:57.785
  • Firm in your faith.
  • 00:18:57.785 --> 00:18:59.353
  • Allen: this is our season in time to be a difference-maker
  • 00:18:59.353 --> 00:19:01.856
  • For the kingdom of god, and that's a spiritual assignment.
  • 00:19:01.856 --> 00:19:05.793
  • Announcer: request your copy when you donate $30 or more at
  • 00:19:05.793 --> 00:19:08.863
  • Allenjackson.com or by calling...
  • 00:19:08.863 --> 00:19:19.840
  • Allen: i started with the concluding sentence from the
  • 00:19:19.907 --> 00:19:21.742
  • Declaration of independence.
  • 00:19:21.742 --> 00:19:23.144
  • I think it's relevant.
  • 00:19:23.144 --> 00:19:25.246
  • Says: this declaration--for the support of this declaration with
  • 00:19:25.246 --> 00:19:28.449
  • A firm reliance on the protection of divine
  • 00:19:28.449 --> 00:19:30.651
  • Providence," the signers of the declaration were acknowledging
  • 00:19:30.651 --> 00:19:34.722
  • Their dependence on almighty god, "we mutually pledge to each
  • 00:19:34.722 --> 00:19:38.960
  • Other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
  • 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:43.397
  • Those words seem so quaint.
  • 00:19:43.397 --> 00:19:46.400
  • The pledging of our lives and our honor to one another for
  • 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:49.704
  • A cause beyond ourselves, for which we are facing the
  • 00:19:49.704 --> 00:19:53.441
  • Possibility of great loss.
  • 00:19:53.441 --> 00:19:57.011
  • Those ideas seem so quaint to us.
  • 00:19:57.011 --> 00:19:58.913
  • How is it we have lost touch with principles like honor and
  • 00:19:58.913 --> 00:20:02.850
  • Dignity and sacrifice?
  • 00:20:02.850 --> 00:20:06.220
  • How is it that we've had decades of leadership, not just in
  • 00:20:06.220 --> 00:20:09.257
  • Washington, folks, we've had it in churches, we've had it in the
  • 00:20:09.257 --> 00:20:12.193
  • Business world, we've had it in athletics.
  • 00:20:12.193 --> 00:20:16.397
  • You know, i'm old enough i remember where at the earliest
  • 00:20:16.397 --> 00:20:20.434
  • Levels of childhood you were taught when you participated in
  • 00:20:20.434 --> 00:20:22.870
  • Athletics, you represented something other than yourself.
  • 00:20:22.870 --> 00:20:26.807
  • You represented a school or a team or a community, and it was
  • 00:20:26.807 --> 00:20:30.678
  • One of the great honors of your life.
  • 00:20:30.678 --> 00:20:33.314
  • It was much less about your personal ability or talent; it
  • 00:20:33.314 --> 00:20:36.150
  • Was the privilege of being included to represent something
  • 00:20:36.150 --> 00:20:38.452
  • Greater than yourself.
  • 00:20:38.452 --> 00:20:39.854
  • We took those ideas of sportsmanship and we taught them
  • 00:20:39.854 --> 00:20:42.890
  • Into civics, into our responsibilities as citizens.
  • 00:20:42.890 --> 00:20:45.893
  • We brought them into the church with our responsibilities in the
  • 00:20:45.893 --> 00:20:48.663
  • Kingdom of god.
  • 00:20:48.663 --> 00:20:49.997
  • Almost all of those ideas have been swept aside.
  • 00:20:49.997 --> 00:20:54.101
  • Now we train little mercenaries.
  • 00:20:54.101 --> 00:20:57.204
  • We get them personal coaching and great opportunities and
  • 00:20:57.204 --> 00:20:59.607
  • They're fluid and they move from here to there.
  • 00:20:59.607 --> 00:21:01.375
  • I'm not against athletics and the participation of our kids
  • 00:21:01.375 --> 00:21:04.011
  • And the honing of their skills, but we better learn that we live
  • 00:21:04.011 --> 00:21:07.148
  • For something other than ourselves, or adulthood is going
  • 00:21:07.148 --> 00:21:09.583
  • To be very difficult.
  • 00:21:09.583 --> 00:21:12.553
  • And we've done that to--it's not the children's fault.
  • 00:21:12.553 --> 00:21:16.157
  • We've done it to them because we parent competitively and we
  • 00:21:16.157 --> 00:21:18.693
  • Grandparent hyper-competitively.
  • 00:21:18.693 --> 00:21:22.763
  • We don't want anybody to have any difficulty.
  • 00:21:22.763 --> 00:21:26.033
  • We got to eliminate all of that because we don't want
  • 00:21:26.033 --> 00:21:28.636
  • Any difficulty.
  • 00:21:28.636 --> 00:21:29.970
  • We had difficulty and we don't want any more.
  • 00:21:29.970 --> 00:21:32.473
  • We needed some discipline to get those earlier times in our life
  • 00:21:32.473 --> 00:21:35.242
  • Through, but we got out from under them, and we don't want
  • 00:21:35.242 --> 00:21:36.844
  • Any discipline now, and we don't need anyone related to us to
  • 00:21:36.844 --> 00:21:40.114
  • Have any discipline.
  • 00:21:40.114 --> 00:21:41.916
  • We have to change.
  • 00:21:41.916 --> 00:21:44.318
  • And, church, it's got to begin with us.
  • 00:21:44.318 --> 00:21:46.320
  • We are the conscience of the culture.
  • 00:21:46.320 --> 00:21:47.755
  • We are the people of faith.
  • 00:21:47.755 --> 00:21:49.323
  • If judgment comes on our nation, it won't come because of
  • 00:21:49.323 --> 00:21:51.525
  • The pagans.
  • 00:21:51.525 --> 00:21:52.927
  • It won't come because the political party you don't like
  • 00:21:52.927 --> 00:21:55.162
  • Got elected.
  • 00:21:55.162 --> 00:21:56.497
  • Judgment will come because the people of faith walked into
  • 00:21:56.497 --> 00:21:58.532
  • The darkness.
  • 00:21:58.532 --> 00:22:00.634
  • So i'm very concerned with the local church.
  • 00:22:00.634 --> 00:22:03.671
  • I'm very concerned with our attitudes.
  • 00:22:03.671 --> 00:22:05.473
  • I'm very concerned with the silence, the indifference,
  • 00:22:05.473 --> 00:22:08.976
  • Or the outright ungodliness.
  • 00:22:08.976 --> 00:22:11.245
  • I wanna start with the notion of devotion.
  • 00:22:11.245 --> 00:22:12.880
  • I gave you the definition.
  • 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:15.149
  • You know, we think of--we write devotionals.
  • 00:22:15.149 --> 00:22:17.551
  • I'll send you a devotional every morning.
  • 00:22:17.551 --> 00:22:20.287
  • You just go to the website and give us your email address.
  • 00:22:20.287 --> 00:22:23.190
  • It's free.
  • 00:22:23.190 --> 00:22:24.558
  • It'll drop in your inbox, monday through friday, a little
  • 00:22:24.558 --> 00:22:27.061
  • Spiritual vitamin to start your day.
  • 00:22:27.061 --> 00:22:29.930
  • It's intentionally built to be short, a little reflection on
  • 00:22:29.930 --> 00:22:33.234
  • Scripture, a scripture verse, and a prayer, the bible reading
  • 00:22:33.234 --> 00:22:36.437
  • For the day if you're interested, but you can do the
  • 00:22:36.437 --> 00:22:38.005
  • Whole devotional in less than 10 minutes if you read slowly.
  • 00:22:38.005 --> 00:22:42.143
  • We should know the difference between having a devotional
  • 00:22:42.143 --> 00:22:45.546
  • And devotion.
  • 00:22:45.546 --> 00:22:47.815
  • Because they are very, very different things.
  • 00:22:47.815 --> 00:22:50.284
  • It doesn't take great devotional--devotion to read
  • 00:22:50.284 --> 00:22:53.120
  • A 10-minute devotional.
  • 00:22:53.120 --> 00:22:59.593
  • Particularly if someone else writes it for you.
  • 00:22:59.593 --> 00:23:03.397
  • Like, if i was gonna really be old school, hardcore,
  • 00:23:03.397 --> 00:23:05.900
  • Mean-spirited: "you've got a bible.
  • 00:23:05.900 --> 00:23:10.304
  • Get your own devotional."
  • 00:23:10.304 --> 00:23:14.308
  • We'll send you one tomorrow, i promise, okay?
  • 00:23:14.308 --> 00:23:17.678
  • But the definition of devotion is the fact or state of being
  • 00:23:17.678 --> 00:23:21.415
  • Ardently dedicated and loyal.
  • 00:23:21.415 --> 00:23:24.185
  • Ardently dedicated and loyal.
  • 00:23:24.185 --> 00:23:28.222
  • I don't believe there's such a thing as a christ follower who's
  • 00:23:28.222 --> 00:23:31.192
  • Not devoted to jesus.
  • 00:23:31.192 --> 00:23:34.862
  • I don't believe you can do that.
  • 00:23:34.862 --> 00:23:37.598
  • Because he's either lord of all or he's not lord at all.
  • 00:23:37.598 --> 00:23:41.035
  • There's no gray.
  • 00:23:41.035 --> 00:23:42.837
  • There's no, like, hyper-disciples and
  • 00:23:42.837 --> 00:23:44.505
  • Super-disciples and grade a disciples and grade c disciples
  • 00:23:44.505 --> 00:23:47.374
  • And then those who just get in.
  • 00:23:47.374 --> 00:23:50.511
  • I brought you a passage.
  • 00:23:50.511 --> 00:23:51.846
  • It's philippians 3. this is paul, the apostle.
  • 00:23:51.846 --> 00:23:53.614
  • He said: "if anyone thinks he has reasons to put confidence in
  • 00:23:53.614 --> 00:23:56.083
  • The flesh, i have more."
  • 00:23:56.083 --> 00:23:57.885
  • Not a really humble statement.
  • 00:23:57.885 --> 00:24:00.421
  • Paul said, "you think your resume is good; mine's better."
  • 00:24:00.421 --> 00:24:05.559
  • That's what he said.
  • 00:24:05.559 --> 00:24:07.495
  • Doesn't really matter how you turn it, and then he's gonna
  • 00:24:07.495 --> 00:24:09.296
  • Tell you why he's better.
  • 00:24:09.296 --> 00:24:11.765
  • And he's gonna start from the way he was born.
  • 00:24:11.765 --> 00:24:13.901
  • He said, i was born to the right group of people and you weren't,
  • 00:24:13.901 --> 00:24:17.104
  • Ha, ha, ha.
  • 00:24:17.104 --> 00:24:19.073
  • "i have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of
  • 00:24:19.073 --> 00:24:22.443
  • Israel, of the tribe of benjamin, a hebrew of the
  • 00:24:22.443 --> 00:24:24.645
  • Hebrews; in regard to the law, a pharisee; as for zeal,
  • 00:24:24.645 --> 00:24:27.515
  • Persecuting the church; as for legalistic
  • 00:24:27.515 --> 00:24:29.950
  • Righteousness, faultless."
  • 00:24:29.950 --> 00:24:31.418
  • That's his cv prior to meeting jesus on the road to damascus.
  • 00:24:31.418 --> 00:24:36.724
  • He was a rising star.
  • 00:24:36.724 --> 00:24:38.659
  • He had the brightest future.
  • 00:24:38.659 --> 00:24:40.694
  • He was so zealous and effective at home in jerusalem that they
  • 00:24:40.694 --> 00:24:43.430
  • Gave him assignments beyond the country.
  • 00:24:43.430 --> 00:24:47.234
  • He was an international developer.
  • 00:24:47.234 --> 00:24:50.137
  • And then he met jesus.
  • 00:24:50.137 --> 00:24:51.505
  • In verse 7, he said, "but whatever was to my profit i now
  • 00:24:51.505 --> 00:24:55.109
  • Consider loss for the sake of christ.
  • 00:24:55.109 --> 00:24:57.511
  • What is more, i consider everything a loss compared to
  • 00:24:57.511 --> 00:25:00.314
  • The surpassing greatness of knowing christ jesus my lord,
  • 00:25:00.314 --> 00:25:04.351
  • For whose sake i have lost all things.
  • 00:25:04.351 --> 00:25:07.421
  • I consider them rubbish, that i may gain christ and be found in
  • 00:25:07.421 --> 00:25:10.691
  • Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the
  • 00:25:10.691 --> 00:25:14.094
  • Law, but that which is through faith in christ--the
  • 00:25:14.094 --> 00:25:16.997
  • Righteousness that comes from god and is by faith.
  • 00:25:16.997 --> 00:25:20.367
  • I want to know christ and the power of his resurrection and
  • 00:25:20.367 --> 00:25:23.704
  • The fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in
  • 00:25:23.704 --> 00:25:28.609
  • His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection of
  • 00:25:28.609 --> 00:25:34.281
  • The dead."
  • 00:25:34.281 --> 00:25:36.116
  • Wow, not a fashionable passage.
  • 00:25:36.116 --> 00:25:40.888
  • Now, you can dissect it in theological terms and hide from
  • 00:25:40.888 --> 00:25:44.825
  • The implications of it, but the simple reading, an honest glance
  • 00:25:44.825 --> 00:25:50.431
  • At that passage, is it's a statement on devotion.
  • 00:25:50.431 --> 00:25:54.802
  • "i consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing
  • 00:25:54.802 --> 00:25:58.505
  • Greatness of knowing christ jesus, my lord."
  • 00:25:58.505 --> 00:26:02.610
  • There is nothing in the--with the--in the influence of my
  • 00:26:02.610 --> 00:26:06.447
  • Life, he's saying, not my education, not my professional
  • 00:26:06.447 --> 00:26:09.583
  • Accomplishments, not my achievements, not my peer group,
  • 00:26:09.583 --> 00:26:13.287
  • Not my contact list.
  • 00:26:13.287 --> 00:26:14.955
  • He said, "everything is but rubbish," and that's kind of
  • 00:26:14.955 --> 00:26:17.992
  • A cleaned up english word.
  • 00:26:17.992 --> 00:26:19.460
  • More literally he said, "it's dung."
  • 00:26:19.460 --> 00:26:22.296
  • You choose your euphemism.
  • 00:26:22.296 --> 00:26:26.734
  • It's trash compared to the privilege and the opportunity
  • 00:26:26.734 --> 00:26:30.771
  • Of knowing jesus.
  • 00:26:30.771 --> 00:26:32.373
  • Personal question, we're in church, don't answer.
  • 00:26:32.373 --> 00:26:35.442
  • I want you to think about it for a few days.
  • 00:26:35.442 --> 00:26:37.745
  • If the people who know you, work with you, the people who spend
  • 00:26:37.745 --> 00:26:40.347
  • Their discretionary time with you, were asked what the most
  • 00:26:40.347 --> 00:26:43.884
  • Valuable thing in your life was, the thing that you prized, the
  • 00:26:43.884 --> 00:26:47.688
  • Thing that you were most committed to, how many of them
  • 00:26:47.688 --> 00:26:52.459
  • Would answer without hesitation, "oh, it's jesus"?
  • 00:26:52.459 --> 00:26:57.398
  • Allen: when the spirit of god begins to move, one of the most
  • 00:26:57.398 --> 00:26:59.833
  • Important things we can do is to continue to say yes to him.
  • 00:26:59.833 --> 00:27:03.303
  • No hesitation, no reluctance, we're all in.
  • 00:27:03.303 --> 00:27:06.740
  • Let's pray.
  • 00:27:06.740 --> 00:27:08.108
  • Heavenly father, yes, yes to you.
  • 00:27:08.108 --> 00:27:10.110
  • We want to cooperate in obedience and faithfulness and
  • 00:27:10.110 --> 00:27:13.313
  • Steadfastness to serve your purposes, in jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:13.313 --> 00:27:17.718
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:18.285 --> 00:27:28.328