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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Generational Choices (Part 1)

June 10, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - Generational Choices (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Foundation #GenerationalCurses #Enemy #Eternity #Struggle #Devil #PromiseLand #Leaders #Israel #Prostitution #Judgement #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Generational Choices (Part 1) | June 10, 2026
  • ...
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  • Allen jackson: hey, i've encouraged you for a long time
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  • To lead with your faith.
  • 00:00:03.153 --> 00:00:04.587
  • Take your faith outside the church building
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  • Into all the places that your life takes you,
  • 00:00:06.689 --> 00:00:08.825
  • Where you have influence, where you have a voice.
  • 00:00:08.825 --> 00:00:11.227
  • We've created some pieces to help you do that:
  • 00:00:11.227 --> 00:00:13.263
  • A tote bag, a blanket.
  • 00:00:13.263 --> 00:00:14.998
  • Maybe you're going to a ball game or the park or the beach,
  • 00:00:14.998 --> 00:00:17.567
  • Wherever that may be.
  • 00:00:17.567 --> 00:00:18.935
  • You take these along, they are a celebration of our nation's
  • 00:00:18.935 --> 00:00:21.871
  • 250th anniversary.
  • 00:00:21.871 --> 00:00:24.207
  • Somebody will want to know where you got it, what it's about.
  • 00:00:24.207 --> 00:00:26.776
  • It gives you an opportunity to share your faith.
  • 00:00:26.776 --> 00:00:29.679
  • You know, i've had the privilege of living in some places outside
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  • The united states.
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  • Things like a grocery store or fast food or food delivery,
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  • Those things weren't possible in the places i lived.
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  • When i come home, just walking through a grocery store reminds
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  • Me of the goodness and the faithfulness of god,
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  • His blessings on our nation.
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  • Use your voice to say god has blessed america.
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  • Something as simple as a tote bag can open a door
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  • For your god story.
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  • Together, we're gonna lift up the name of jesus in this
  • 00:00:55.939 --> 00:00:58.341
  • Generation and see god bless america again.
  • 00:00:58.341 --> 00:01:04.547
  • Allen: we're working through a series on how to
  • 00:01:08.551 --> 00:01:10.186
  • Stormproof the foundations of our lives.
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  • Jesus told a parable about that.
  • 00:01:12.989 --> 00:01:16.793
  • Jesus told us, forewarned us that storms come to everyone,
  • 00:01:16.793 --> 00:01:20.163
  • Nobody is exempt.
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  • But that in the midst of that, we can prepare ourselves so that
  • 00:01:22.298 --> 00:01:25.635
  • Our lives have a foundation that we survive in the storms.
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  • If we don't do that, the storms will bring total destruction.
  • 00:01:29.005 --> 00:01:33.776
  • It's too late to get ready when the storm is approaching.
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  • We have to build the foundations when we don't know we're gonna
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  • Need them.
  • 00:01:40.183 --> 00:01:41.518
  • In this session, i want to talk about generational choices, and
  • 00:01:41.518 --> 00:01:44.521
  • I'm gonna start with that idea.
  • 00:01:44.521 --> 00:01:45.889
  • I believe every generation has to make a choice regarding
  • 00:01:45.889 --> 00:01:48.358
  • Their faith.
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  • I don't believe that's just my opinion, i think it's a
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  • Biblical principle.
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  • And i'm gonna briefly try to highlight it for you, but we
  • 00:01:52.996 --> 00:01:55.398
  • Could do it in a far more comprehensive way.
  • 00:01:55.398 --> 00:01:59.035
  • We'll start in the book of judges.
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  • You know where the book of judges fits in the chronological
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  • Story unfolding of the bible?
  • 00:02:03.506 --> 00:02:07.343
  • After the exodus, the hebrew slaves are released from egypt
  • 00:02:07.343 --> 00:02:12.048
  • With a little help from god.
  • 00:02:12.048 --> 00:02:14.317
  • And they're pushed--god sends them into the wilderness where
  • 00:02:14.317 --> 00:02:17.387
  • There's no provision, so he becomes their provision.
  • 00:02:17.387 --> 00:02:20.590
  • And there he teaches them how to be a nation.
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  • He implements the laws of society and the priestly rules
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  • And the rules for worship, and all that forms a group of slaves
  • 00:02:26.462 --> 00:02:29.899
  • Who've been slaves for hundreds of years into a group of people
  • 00:02:29.899 --> 00:02:33.836
  • United by their faith in god following god.
  • 00:02:33.836 --> 00:02:37.707
  • And ultimately he brings them into the land that he promised
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  • Them, a land that flows with milk and honey.
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  • And then they have to conquer the territory.
  • 00:02:43.313 --> 00:02:46.382
  • It's not like the adversaries that are in that land
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  • Just surrender.
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  • In order for them to occupy god's intent for them, they have
  • 00:02:50.486 --> 00:02:53.723
  • To be willing to do the conflict that is essential for that.
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  • There's a spiritual parallel in the new testament for you.
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  • We don't have a land--piece of geography promised to us, but we
  • 00:03:00.263 --> 00:03:05.201
  • Live in the land of god's promises.
  • 00:03:05.201 --> 00:03:08.171
  • And for us to live out the promises of god, we will have to
  • 00:03:08.171 --> 00:03:13.042
  • Engage in the spiritual conflict to displace the enemy.
  • 00:03:13.042 --> 00:03:18.881
  • Jesus defeated him on the cross,
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  • Completely, irreversibly for all eternity.
  • 00:03:23.419 --> 00:03:27.423
  • But he's still present in the earth, and we are ambassadors
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  • For the kingdom of god, and we have to engage in that conflict.
  • 00:03:31.661 --> 00:03:35.898
  • Ephesians 6:10 says, "we wrestle not against flesh and blood,"
  • 00:03:35.898 --> 00:03:38.868
  • And all christians repunctuate that.
  • 00:03:38.868 --> 00:03:41.170
  • They prefer to say, "we just wrestle not."
  • 00:03:41.170 --> 00:03:44.207
  • We don't believe in that, we don't believe in the devil, we
  • 00:03:44.207 --> 00:03:46.376
  • Don't believe in demons.
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  • You may not believe in them, but they believe in you.
  • 00:03:47.744 --> 00:03:52.115
  • Every generation has to make a choice for themselves, and the
  • 00:03:52.115 --> 00:03:54.717
  • Book of judges is a story that--they're recounting to us
  • 00:03:54.717 --> 00:03:58.721
  • Of after the hebrew people occupied the promised land, that
  • 00:03:58.721 --> 00:04:05.061
  • Generation upon generation, they would drift away from god.
  • 00:04:05.061 --> 00:04:09.132
  • There was no king.
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  • God would raise up a judge, a leader, not somebody in black
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  • Robes, but a leader from one of the tribes to lead the people
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  • Against the oppression.
  • 00:04:16.773 --> 00:04:18.741
  • And i'll give you just a sample in judges chapter 2, joshua
  • 00:04:18.741 --> 00:04:21.511
  • Has died.
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  • "who was the one who led them in the conquest of
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  • Their inheritance.
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  • This is after that whole generation had been gathered to
  • 00:04:27.583 --> 00:04:29.886
  • Their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew
  • 00:04:29.886 --> 00:04:32.221
  • Neither the lord nor what he had done for israel.
  • 00:04:32.221 --> 00:04:36.426
  • Then the israelites did evil in the eyes of the lord and served
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  • The baals.
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  • They forsook the lord, the god of their fathers, who had
  • 00:04:41.230 --> 00:04:43.666
  • Brought them out of egypt.
  • 00:04:43.666 --> 00:04:45.335
  • They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples
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  • Around them.
  • 00:04:47.804 --> 00:04:49.138
  • They provoked the lord to anger because they forsook him and
  • 00:04:49.138 --> 00:04:51.708
  • Served baal and the ashtoreths.
  • 00:04:51.708 --> 00:04:54.210
  • In his anger against israel the lord handed them over to raiders
  • 00:04:54.210 --> 00:04:57.680
  • Who plundered them.
  • 00:04:57.680 --> 00:04:59.716
  • He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no
  • 00:04:59.716 --> 00:05:02.552
  • Longer able to resist."
  • 00:05:02.552 --> 00:05:05.822
  • It feels very contemporary to me.
  • 00:05:05.822 --> 00:05:09.726
  • We--there are generational choices that are made, and if we
  • 00:05:09.726 --> 00:05:13.763
  • Don't purposefully, intentionally teach and train
  • 00:05:13.763 --> 00:05:17.233
  • The generations who follow us, they will--the knowledge of god
  • 00:05:17.233 --> 00:05:21.804
  • And the knowledge of our history will be diminished.
  • 00:05:21.804 --> 00:05:25.141
  • I can give you an example from very recently with us when dr.
  • 00:05:25.141 --> 00:05:28.411
  • Alveda king was here.
  • 00:05:28.411 --> 00:05:30.413
  • After service on sunday, we taped a podcast and invited
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  • The teenagers.
  • 00:05:33.783 --> 00:05:35.685
  • And when we extended the invitation to the teenagers, we
  • 00:05:35.685 --> 00:05:38.254
  • Discovered that the majority of them did not know who dr. martin
  • 00:05:38.254 --> 00:05:41.023
  • Luther king was.
  • 00:05:41.023 --> 00:05:43.693
  • They knew nothing of his "i have a dream" speech on the mall
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  • In washington.
  • 00:05:47.530 --> 00:05:49.599
  • So, before we could truly give them the invitation, we had to
  • 00:05:49.599 --> 00:05:52.435
  • Create some highlight videos introducing them to dr. king.
  • 00:05:52.435 --> 00:05:57.840
  • And once i understood it was very clear to me, you see, you
  • 00:05:57.840 --> 00:06:01.611
  • Couldn't teach dei in the schools, which we do,
  • 00:06:01.611 --> 00:06:06.349
  • And tell the story of dr. king.
  • 00:06:06.349 --> 00:06:10.420
  • Because his dream was that we wouldn't be judged by our
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  • Appearance but by the content of our character.
  • 00:06:13.222 --> 00:06:16.993
  • And dei has taken the opposite approach to that.
  • 00:06:16.993 --> 00:06:21.397
  • And so, in order to push the divisive hatred of dei, they had
  • 00:06:21.397 --> 00:06:27.370
  • To diminish what dr. king and many others gave their
  • 00:06:27.370 --> 00:06:30.406
  • Lives for.
  • 00:06:30.406 --> 00:06:32.842
  • So, when i read the passage from judges, it felt very personal to
  • 00:06:32.842 --> 00:06:36.412
  • Me, a generation grew up who neither knew the lord nor what
  • 00:06:36.412 --> 00:06:39.449
  • He had done for israel.
  • 00:06:39.449 --> 00:06:42.151
  • And we have to teach every generation because every
  • 00:06:42.151 --> 00:06:44.987
  • Generation makes a choice for themselves.
  • 00:06:44.987 --> 00:06:48.391
  • And because of their lack of knowledge, because of their lack
  • 00:06:48.391 --> 00:06:51.727
  • Of awareness, they worship the idols.
  • 00:06:51.727 --> 00:06:56.466
  • And to really understand that the gods of the canaanite
  • 00:06:56.466 --> 00:07:00.903
  • People, they were agricultural people, so their gods were about
  • 00:07:00.903 --> 00:07:04.740
  • The productivity of the land, and much of their worship
  • 00:07:04.740 --> 00:07:08.377
  • Had to do with sexuality and immorality.
  • 00:07:08.377 --> 00:07:12.448
  • Prostitution in various forms, offering your children as a
  • 00:07:12.448 --> 00:07:15.318
  • Sacrifice so that you would have better crops, make more money.
  • 00:07:15.318 --> 00:07:18.788
  • Imagine that, offering your children for economic gain.
  • 00:07:18.788 --> 00:07:21.891
  • Gee, we wouldn't do that in the 21st century.
  • 00:07:21.891 --> 00:07:24.460
  • And because the young--the generation who followed did not
  • 00:07:28.331 --> 00:07:32.502
  • Know the story, they drifted into the pleasure of worshiping
  • 00:07:32.502 --> 00:07:38.341
  • The fertility gods of the nations around them.
  • 00:07:38.341 --> 00:07:43.012
  • After all, they had homes, they didn't have to go to battle,
  • 00:07:43.012 --> 00:07:47.650
  • They hadn't faced the brick pits of egypt, they hadn't lived in
  • 00:07:47.650 --> 00:07:51.020
  • The desert and collected manna from the ground, and followed a
  • 00:07:51.020 --> 00:07:54.023
  • Pillar of fire or a pillar of cloud.
  • 00:07:54.023 --> 00:07:56.993
  • They had an easier life.
  • 00:07:56.993 --> 00:07:58.327
  • They had vineyards and crops and homes and cities.
  • 00:07:58.327 --> 00:08:04.300
  • And they forfeited it to the judgment of god.
  • 00:08:04.300 --> 00:08:08.471
  • It says, "the lord handed them over who plundered them."
  • 00:08:08.471 --> 00:08:13.376
  • I spent a few weeks not long ago talking to you about the
  • 00:08:13.376 --> 00:08:15.811
  • Plundering of our nation.
  • 00:08:15.811 --> 00:08:18.581
  • It's happening before our very eyes and has been for quite
  • 00:08:18.581 --> 00:08:22.418
  • Some time.
  • 00:08:22.418 --> 00:08:24.387
  • That pattern is repeated through the book of judges.
  • 00:08:24.387 --> 00:08:27.256
  • The judges that you know, if you have read your bible, gideon,
  • 00:08:27.256 --> 00:08:31.861
  • Barack, deborah, samson, god would raise up leaders when
  • 00:08:31.861 --> 00:08:38.034
  • Those invading forces would be
  • 00:08:38.034 --> 00:08:43.773
  • Really exercising the judgment of god on the hebrew people.
  • 00:08:43.773 --> 00:08:49.111
  • Look in chapter 13, it says, "again the israelites did evil
  • 00:08:49.111 --> 00:08:52.181
  • In the eyes of the lord, so the lord delivered them into the
  • 00:08:52.181 --> 00:08:56.218
  • Hands of the philistines for 40 years."
  • 00:08:56.218 --> 00:09:00.089
  • God would raise up a leader, not always a godly leader.
  • 00:09:00.089 --> 00:09:05.161
  • He didn't always raise up--the last of the judges.
  • 00:09:05.161 --> 00:09:07.863
  • Do you remember who the last of the judges was?
  • 00:09:07.863 --> 00:09:11.901
  • Who was the judge to whom the tribal elders came and said, "we
  • 00:09:11.901 --> 00:09:16.305
  • Don't want you to be judge over us anymore?"
  • 00:09:16.305 --> 00:09:20.476
  • It was samuel.
  • 00:09:20.476 --> 00:09:22.211
  • Samuel was the last of the judges.
  • 00:09:22.211 --> 00:09:25.848
  • A man who heard the voice of god.
  • 00:09:25.848 --> 00:09:29.585
  • And samuel complained to the lord and god said to samuel,
  • 00:09:29.585 --> 00:09:32.922
  • "it's not you they're rejecting, it's me.
  • 00:09:32.922 --> 00:09:36.392
  • So, tell them what a king will do."
  • 00:09:36.392 --> 00:09:38.094
  • They said we want to be like all the other peoples.
  • 00:09:38.094 --> 00:09:42.064
  • And he told them and they said, "we want a king."
  • 00:09:42.064 --> 00:09:45.334
  • So, god told samuel to anoint.
  • 00:09:45.334 --> 00:09:47.169
  • Who was the first king?
  • 00:09:47.169 --> 00:09:49.305
  • It's not a trick question, saul.
  • 00:09:49.305 --> 00:09:52.041
  • Not the one who became the apostle, the one who became the
  • 00:09:52.041 --> 00:09:53.976
  • King, old testament, king saul.
  • 00:09:53.976 --> 00:09:58.981
  • He stood head and shoulders above all the people.
  • 00:09:58.981 --> 00:10:01.484
  • He wasn't more godly than samuel.
  • 00:10:01.484 --> 00:10:04.453
  • He wasn't more righteous than samuel.
  • 00:10:04.453 --> 00:10:07.857
  • He didn't know the lord better than samuel.
  • 00:10:07.857 --> 00:10:11.193
  • If god had been choosing the person who was closest to him
  • 00:10:11.193 --> 00:10:13.763
  • That we have a presentation of, he would have orchestrated the
  • 00:10:13.763 --> 00:10:16.799
  • Circumstances for samuel to be king.
  • 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:21.203
  • And saul was overwhelmed with pride, and god said, "i've
  • 00:10:21.203 --> 00:10:24.073
  • Rejected him."
  • 00:10:24.073 --> 00:10:25.441
  • Now saul wasn't removed from the throne, but he was removed from
  • 00:10:25.441 --> 00:10:29.245
  • God's org chart.
  • 00:10:29.245 --> 00:10:31.747
  • And god sent samuel to anoint the king--david to be king when
  • 00:10:31.747 --> 00:10:36.152
  • He was just a shepherd boy.
  • 00:10:36.152 --> 00:10:38.688
  • And david becomes the mightiest of the israelite kings, but
  • 00:10:38.688 --> 00:10:42.892
  • David is far from a choir boy.
  • 00:10:42.892 --> 00:10:46.629
  • David's not allowed to build the temple, but god says, "because
  • 00:10:46.629 --> 00:10:50.332
  • Of the blood on his hands."
  • 00:10:50.332 --> 00:10:52.802
  • He's an adulterer?
  • 00:10:52.802 --> 00:10:55.004
  • He's a murderer?
  • 00:10:55.004 --> 00:10:56.539
  • He's a conniver?
  • 00:10:56.539 --> 00:10:58.574
  • A violent guy.
  • 00:10:58.574 --> 00:11:01.877
  • But god used them to bring leadership and deliverance to
  • 00:11:01.877 --> 00:11:05.681
  • His people.
  • 00:11:05.681 --> 00:11:08.551
  • Every generation has to make a choice for themselves.
  • 00:11:08.551 --> 00:11:13.622
  • It's a very important point.
  • 00:11:13.622 --> 00:11:15.424
  • We've lost sight of this.
  • 00:11:15.424 --> 00:11:16.859
  • We've had such a focus, such an intense focus on
  • 00:11:16.859 --> 00:11:20.763
  • Personal salvation.
  • 00:11:20.763 --> 00:11:22.264
  • We've had little, if any, awareness of
  • 00:11:22.264 --> 00:11:25.101
  • Generational responsibility.
  • 00:11:25.101 --> 00:11:29.105
  • We just shrugged our shoulder, it doesn't matter.
  • 00:11:29.105 --> 00:11:31.173
  • It does matter, whether your children will know freedom or
  • 00:11:31.173 --> 00:11:33.843
  • Not has a great deal to do with what we instruct them about
  • 00:11:33.843 --> 00:11:37.646
  • The lord.
  • 00:11:37.646 --> 00:11:40.683
  • We say, "well, it doesn't matter.
  • 00:11:40.683 --> 00:11:42.017
  • We just want them to not go to hell."
  • 00:11:42.017 --> 00:11:44.320
  • Well, you'd rather them not live lives of oppression and
  • 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:47.757
  • Submission to ungodly things.
  • 00:11:47.757 --> 00:11:52.394
  • And that necessitates us teaching them how to know
  • 00:11:52.394 --> 00:11:55.765
  • The lord.
  • 00:11:55.765 --> 00:11:59.268
  • I--that's almost totally absent from the public conversation.
  • 00:11:59.268 --> 00:12:06.008
  • Allen: hey, we're celebrating this year the 250th anniversary
  • 00:12:10.212 --> 00:12:13.616
  • Of the signing of the declaration of independence.
  • 00:12:13.616 --> 00:12:16.318
  • What a wonderful privilege we have.
  • 00:12:16.318 --> 00:12:18.721
  • You know, god has blessed our nation so many good things.
  • 00:12:18.721 --> 00:12:21.657
  • People say to me, "well, our whole history is not good."
  • 00:12:21.657 --> 00:12:24.093
  • Well, folks, you know, my history is not great.
  • 00:12:24.093 --> 00:12:26.295
  • Your family history is not perfect.
  • 00:12:26.295 --> 00:12:28.297
  • But you love your family, you love your children.
  • 00:12:28.297 --> 00:12:30.933
  • In spite of our weaknesses-- well, our nation hadn't been
  • 00:12:30.933 --> 00:12:33.602
  • Perfect, but through that whole story, the goodness of god
  • 00:12:33.602 --> 00:12:36.872
  • Is evident.
  • 00:12:36.872 --> 00:12:38.207
  • It still is.
  • 00:12:38.207 --> 00:12:39.575
  • Let's ask god to bless america again.
  • 00:12:39.575 --> 00:12:42.144
  • I believe he will.
  • 00:12:42.144 --> 00:12:43.445
  • Female announcer: as we celebrate 250 years of god's
  • 00:12:43.445 --> 00:12:46.348
  • Faithfulness to our nation, we want to help you carry
  • 00:12:46.348 --> 00:12:49.251
  • That message along with you.
  • 00:12:49.251 --> 00:12:50.853
  • This commemorative tote bag and blanket are simple reminders of
  • 00:12:50.853 --> 00:12:54.423
  • His goodness and a way to spark meaningful
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  • Conversations wherever you go.
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  • Request your limited edition tote bag and blanket
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  • Today while supplies last with your gift
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  • Of $100 or more at allenjackson.com or call...
  • 00:13:04.400 --> 00:13:11.473
  • Allen: and if we go back to the book of judges, how many of you
  • 00:13:12.741 --> 00:13:14.743
  • Know the story of samson?
  • 00:13:14.743 --> 00:13:17.079
  • Most of us learned that in sunday school.
  • 00:13:17.079 --> 00:13:18.447
  • It's kind of fun, strong guy.
  • 00:13:18.447 --> 00:13:20.883
  • You know, samson was not like heavily muscled up.
  • 00:13:20.883 --> 00:13:23.185
  • He didn't look like an nfl linebacker.
  • 00:13:23.185 --> 00:13:26.322
  • Because if he looked like that, there would have been no
  • 00:13:26.322 --> 00:13:28.190
  • Question why he was strong.
  • 00:13:28.190 --> 00:13:31.227
  • But the big question of samson's day is what's the source of
  • 00:13:31.227 --> 00:13:35.130
  • His strength?
  • 00:13:35.130 --> 00:13:37.466
  • Well, if he had, you know, 36 inch biceps, we would have known
  • 00:13:37.466 --> 00:13:41.637
  • What the source of his strength was.
  • 00:13:41.637 --> 00:13:44.607
  • Samson looked a lot like you and me.
  • 00:13:44.607 --> 00:13:53.682
  • And god used samson to bring freedom to the people from
  • 00:13:57.820 --> 00:14:02.658
  • The philistines.
  • 00:14:02.658 --> 00:14:04.593
  • But if you know the story very well, samson was far from a
  • 00:14:04.593 --> 00:14:08.264
  • Stellar character.
  • 00:14:08.264 --> 00:14:11.333
  • I mean, his moral compass was broken.
  • 00:14:11.333 --> 00:14:15.070
  • Is that fair?
  • 00:14:15.070 --> 00:14:16.672
  • And yet god used him to bring freedom to the people.
  • 00:14:16.672 --> 00:14:21.110
  • The people needed to choose god.
  • 00:14:21.110 --> 00:14:25.014
  • I can give you king josiah.
  • 00:14:25.014 --> 00:14:26.749
  • Do you remember king josiah?
  • 00:14:26.749 --> 00:14:28.751
  • Became king when he was just a boy, and he ordered a remodeling
  • 00:14:28.751 --> 00:14:32.288
  • Of the temple.
  • 00:14:32.288 --> 00:14:33.656
  • The temple had fallen into such disrepair, the doors
  • 00:14:33.656 --> 00:14:35.157
  • Didn't work.
  • 00:14:35.157 --> 00:14:37.226
  • And he ordered the temple to be remodeled, and when they're
  • 00:14:37.226 --> 00:14:39.728
  • Remodeling it, they found a copy of the books of moses, they lost
  • 00:14:39.728 --> 00:14:43.766
  • The bible.
  • 00:14:43.766 --> 00:14:46.302
  • I mean, you got to be in bad shape to lose the bible and not
  • 00:14:46.302 --> 00:14:49.338
  • Know it.
  • 00:14:49.338 --> 00:14:51.273
  • Gee, that sounds a lot like us.
  • 00:14:51.273 --> 00:14:53.309
  • And when they read him from the scripture, he tore his robes.
  • 00:14:56.445 --> 00:15:02.117
  • It's an expression of grief, of mourning.
  • 00:15:02.117 --> 00:15:05.020
  • And he said, "the judgment of god will come to us."
  • 00:15:05.020 --> 00:15:09.358
  • And josiah initiated a lengthy series of reforms.
  • 00:15:09.358 --> 00:15:12.761
  • I wanted to put them in your notes, but they're so long, it
  • 00:15:12.761 --> 00:15:14.530
  • Would have taken too long.
  • 00:15:14.530 --> 00:15:16.498
  • He tore down the idols, he cut down the asherah poles, all the
  • 00:15:16.498 --> 00:15:20.269
  • Things that were part of that canaanite fertility cult, which
  • 00:15:20.269 --> 00:15:23.672
  • Was mostly about sexual immorality and pleasure,
  • 00:15:23.672 --> 00:15:27.910
  • Including the prostitutes quarters that were a part of
  • 00:15:27.910 --> 00:15:32.114
  • The temple.
  • 00:15:32.114 --> 00:15:35.417
  • Now for that to have happened, there had to be a constituency
  • 00:15:35.417 --> 00:15:39.655
  • That thought it was a good idea.
  • 00:15:39.655 --> 00:15:42.458
  • There had to be some sort of priestly characters that were
  • 00:15:42.458 --> 00:15:45.160
  • Presiding over the places, using that immorality to
  • 00:15:45.160 --> 00:15:49.164
  • Gain authority.
  • 00:15:49.164 --> 00:15:51.100
  • It was profitable.
  • 00:15:51.100 --> 00:15:55.104
  • And the king tore it down, kind of like an executive order.
  • 00:15:55.104 --> 00:15:58.407
  • No, no, there's a--it's a serious point.
  • 00:16:01.877 --> 00:16:04.947
  • And when the king died, the next king was more wicked than those
  • 00:16:04.947 --> 00:16:09.284
  • Who'd come before him.
  • 00:16:09.284 --> 00:16:10.619
  • Do you know why?
  • 00:16:10.619 --> 00:16:12.755
  • Because the people had not had a change of heart.
  • 00:16:12.755 --> 00:16:16.558
  • This is important for us.
  • 00:16:20.162 --> 00:16:23.399
  • Because someone who has the courage to stand in public and
  • 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:26.101
  • Say, "there's right and wrong, and i choose right," has very
  • 00:16:26.101 --> 00:16:30.706
  • Limited effectiveness if the people don't repent.
  • 00:16:30.706 --> 00:16:36.045
  • We can't just live through sin, we have to say, "i
  • 00:16:36.045 --> 00:16:40.315
  • Was complicit.
  • 00:16:40.315 --> 00:16:43.052
  • On my watch, we sacrificed 60 million babies.
  • 00:16:43.052 --> 00:16:48.023
  • On my watch, we took jesus out of the schools.
  • 00:16:48.023 --> 00:16:52.594
  • On my watch, our universities became anti-semitic
  • 00:16:52.594 --> 00:16:56.698
  • Propaganda pools."
  • 00:16:56.698 --> 00:17:00.569
  • We have to own it.
  • 00:17:00.569 --> 00:17:02.337
  • We have a leader these days.
  • 00:17:05.974 --> 00:17:07.609
  • I don't know, we're just a couple of days in.
  • 00:17:07.609 --> 00:17:09.511
  • I don't know what the future will bring, but when i hear the
  • 00:17:09.511 --> 00:17:11.914
  • President of the united states say, "there are only
  • 00:17:11.914 --> 00:17:14.950
  • Two genders."
  • 00:17:14.950 --> 00:17:19.221
  • And for the most part, the churches have been
  • 00:17:23.192 --> 00:17:25.160
  • Totally silent.
  • 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:29.098
  • I think, lord, be merciful to us.
  • 00:17:29.098 --> 00:17:33.168
  • You've raised up a voice not because his character is perhaps
  • 00:17:33.168 --> 00:17:36.772
  • Perfect, but he has the courage to speak the truth.
  • 00:17:36.772 --> 00:17:41.276
  • I remember praying together as a community that the truth would
  • 00:17:41.276 --> 00:17:44.379
  • Be restored, that truth had fallen in the streets.
  • 00:17:44.379 --> 00:17:48.217
  • I heard the president have the courage to say, "we will not use
  • 00:17:48.217 --> 00:17:52.154
  • Our federal dollars to teach dei."
  • 00:17:52.154 --> 00:17:57.526
  • I was stunned.
  • 00:17:57.526 --> 00:17:58.894
  • It's a godless, divisive, socialistic--
  • 00:18:01.897 --> 00:18:06.168
  • It isn't biblical, but our churches have been teaching it.
  • 00:18:06.168 --> 00:18:09.872
  • Our christian universities and christian schools have
  • 00:18:09.872 --> 00:18:12.274
  • Embraced it.
  • 00:18:12.274 --> 00:18:14.943
  • And it's not enough for us to have a leader because leaders
  • 00:18:14.943 --> 00:18:18.947
  • Come and go.
  • 00:18:18.947 --> 00:18:20.916
  • In our world and in the biblical, that's the story, but
  • 00:18:20.916 --> 00:18:24.553
  • The people have to choose.
  • 00:18:24.553 --> 00:18:26.488
  • We have to teach our children.
  • 00:18:26.488 --> 00:18:35.097
  • We have an assignment.
  • 00:18:38.634 --> 00:18:40.736
  • Matthew 5, this is jesus again, "blessed are you."
  • 00:18:40.736 --> 00:18:47.309
  • How many of you want to do something that jesus said would
  • 00:18:47.309 --> 00:18:49.378
  • Bring a blessing to you?
  • 00:18:49.378 --> 00:18:52.948
  • About 10%.
  • 00:18:52.948 --> 00:18:55.150
  • What do the rest of you want?
  • 00:18:55.150 --> 00:18:57.653
  • If jesus says that i'm gonna bless the people that do this,
  • 00:18:57.653 --> 00:19:00.222
  • Watch me go get in line.
  • 00:19:00.222 --> 00:19:03.358
  • He said, "blessed are you," this is a part of the sermon on the
  • 00:19:03.358 --> 00:19:06.595
  • Mount, "when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say
  • 00:19:06.595 --> 00:19:12.568
  • All kinds of evil against you because of me."
  • 00:19:12.568 --> 00:19:17.806
  • We haven't lived like that was a blessing.
  • 00:19:17.806 --> 00:19:20.676
  • We've lived like that was something to be avoided.
  • 00:19:20.676 --> 00:19:25.080
  • We've lived like we shouldn't do that.
  • 00:19:25.080 --> 00:19:28.650
  • We've lived like unity was more important than telling
  • 00:19:28.650 --> 00:19:30.919
  • The truth.
  • 00:19:30.919 --> 00:19:32.955
  • We've lived as if kindness was a greater value than telling
  • 00:19:32.955 --> 00:19:35.857
  • The truth.
  • 00:19:35.857 --> 00:19:37.659
  • Because we understood that if we spoke the truth and we gave a
  • 00:19:37.659 --> 00:19:42.464
  • Biblical perspective on right and wrong, good and evil,
  • 00:19:42.464 --> 00:19:45.167
  • Marriage, human sexuality, that there would be people who didn't
  • 00:19:45.167 --> 00:19:51.473
  • Like it.
  • 00:19:51.473 --> 00:19:52.841
  • They would insult us, they would call us names.
  • 00:19:52.841 --> 00:19:56.278
  • There might even be persecution, we could forfeit something.
  • 00:19:56.278 --> 00:19:59.348
  • They would falsely say, imagine that, falsely say all kinds of
  • 00:19:59.348 --> 00:20:02.517
  • Evil against us because of our jesus perspective.
  • 00:20:02.517 --> 00:20:09.024
  • So, then we're watching somebody who's had every imaginable thing
  • 00:20:09.024 --> 00:20:11.660
  • Said about them.
  • 00:20:11.660 --> 00:20:15.597
  • Jesus said, "there's a blessing in that."
  • 00:20:15.597 --> 00:20:20.068
  • If there's a blessing if you do the right thing, you understand
  • 00:20:20.068 --> 00:20:22.971
  • The opposite of that?
  • 00:20:22.971 --> 00:20:25.907
  • There's a curse if you don't.
  • 00:20:25.907 --> 00:20:29.444
  • "rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven,
  • 00:20:33.649 --> 00:20:37.619
  • For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were
  • 00:20:37.619 --> 00:20:40.355
  • Before you."
  • 00:20:40.355 --> 00:20:42.124
  • You're not unique.
  • 00:20:42.124 --> 00:20:43.659
  • We're not the first generation to face pressures.
  • 00:20:43.659 --> 00:20:47.462
  • We're just the current edition.
  • 00:20:47.462 --> 00:20:49.865
  • This has been going on since the book of judges and before.
  • 00:20:49.865 --> 00:20:55.237
  • Remember, this is jesus.
  • 00:20:55.237 --> 00:20:56.571
  • Verse 13, now the rest of this, we know a little better, but the
  • 00:20:56.571 --> 00:20:59.041
  • Context of the rest of this is in that, you'll be persecuted
  • 00:20:59.041 --> 00:21:03.345
  • And hated.
  • 00:21:03.345 --> 00:21:05.747
  • And they'll say things about you that are not true.
  • 00:21:05.747 --> 00:21:10.452
  • "you are the salt of the earth.
  • 00:21:10.452 --> 00:21:12.020
  • And if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made
  • 00:21:12.020 --> 00:21:14.423
  • Salty again?
  • 00:21:14.423 --> 00:21:16.058
  • It's no longer good for anything, except to be thrown
  • 00:21:16.058 --> 00:21:18.260
  • Out and trampled by men."
  • 00:21:18.260 --> 00:21:21.263
  • You should be conscious of the fact that jesus warned us about
  • 00:21:21.263 --> 00:21:23.699
  • Losing our saltiness.
  • 00:21:23.699 --> 00:21:25.834
  • He talked to the church in revelation about losing their
  • 00:21:25.834 --> 00:21:28.370
  • Passion, their first love.
  • 00:21:28.370 --> 00:21:30.172
  • They've lost their momentum.
  • 00:21:30.172 --> 00:21:31.540
  • He said, "you're lukewarm, i'm gonna spit you out."
  • 00:21:31.540 --> 00:21:33.642
  • "you're the light of the world.
  • 00:21:36.845 --> 00:21:38.213
  • A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
  • 00:21:38.213 --> 00:21:39.881
  • Neither do people give light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
  • 00:21:39.881 --> 00:21:42.884
  • Instead they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone
  • 00:21:42.884 --> 00:21:45.320
  • In the house.
  • 00:21:45.320 --> 00:21:47.289
  • In the same way, let your light shine before men."
  • 00:21:47.289 --> 00:21:49.491
  • We haven't been good at that.
  • 00:21:49.491 --> 00:21:50.859
  • We've had a lot of bowls.
  • 00:21:50.859 --> 00:21:54.296
  • We've had a lot of shades over our lights.
  • 00:21:54.296 --> 00:21:56.531
  • You know, we don't want to offend anybody.
  • 00:21:56.531 --> 00:22:00.268
  • We don't want to be obnoxious.
  • 00:22:00.268 --> 00:22:02.971
  • We don't wanna force our faith on anybody.
  • 00:22:02.971 --> 00:22:05.374
  • We don't wanna be judgy.
  • 00:22:05.374 --> 00:22:07.275
  • We got a whole vocabulary to excuse the fact that we lost
  • 00:22:07.275 --> 00:22:11.279
  • Our saltiness.
  • 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:12.647
  • The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good
  • 00:22:15.717 --> 00:22:18.120
  • People to do nothing, and we've done so much nothing that evil
  • 00:22:18.120 --> 00:22:20.789
  • Almost triumphed.
  • 00:22:20.789 --> 00:22:24.926
  • And now we have this rather awkward reminder, somebody
  • 00:22:24.926 --> 00:22:27.129
  • Telling the truth in the public square.
  • 00:22:27.129 --> 00:22:29.097
  • I'm not sure how we're gonna respond.
  • 00:22:29.097 --> 00:22:32.401
  • We're very early in this.
  • 00:22:32.401 --> 00:22:35.170
  • It's more probable that we will be offended than it is that we
  • 00:22:35.170 --> 00:22:39.741
  • Will repent.
  • 00:22:39.741 --> 00:22:43.678
  • Dr. fauci gets a pardon.
  • 00:22:43.678 --> 00:22:45.213
  • Why?
  • 00:22:45.213 --> 00:22:48.517
  • If we were following the science, there's no need
  • 00:22:48.517 --> 00:22:50.419
  • For that.
  • 00:22:50.419 --> 00:22:53.889
  • And people know.
  • 00:22:53.889 --> 00:22:56.558
  • Are we gonna tell the truth?
  • 00:22:56.558 --> 00:23:00.862
  • We've subjected our children to mutilation.
  • 00:23:00.862 --> 00:23:04.433
  • It was profitable.
  • 00:23:04.433 --> 00:23:06.535
  • And we've known it was happening.
  • 00:23:06.535 --> 00:23:09.571
  • We're reluctant to speak to our schools about the inappropriate
  • 00:23:09.571 --> 00:23:12.574
  • Literature in them.
  • 00:23:12.574 --> 00:23:13.975
  • I suspect because we're way too exposed to inappropriate things
  • 00:23:13.975 --> 00:23:17.179
  • On our own.
  • 00:23:17.179 --> 00:23:20.215
  • Light and salt.
  • 00:23:23.618 --> 00:23:25.620
  • What will we do now that the truth is told a bit?
  • 00:23:25.620 --> 00:23:28.790
  • We can discredit the messenger.
  • 00:23:28.790 --> 00:23:32.260
  • Well, you mean like samson?
  • 00:23:35.897 --> 00:23:37.265
  • Or the apostle paul?
  • 00:23:40.602 --> 00:23:42.771
  • Or mosses?
  • 00:23:42.771 --> 00:23:44.973
  • It's disruptive, it's messy, it's awkward.
  • 00:23:44.973 --> 00:23:48.910
  • Yeah, remember when god recruited moses?
  • 00:23:48.910 --> 00:23:50.512
  • Is exodus chapter 3, that whole burning bush thing,
  • 00:23:50.512 --> 00:23:52.647
  • Remember that?
  • 00:23:52.647 --> 00:23:53.982
  • Kind of a dramatic little narrative.
  • 00:23:53.982 --> 00:23:55.350
  • And he sends him back to get the slaves out of egypt, then moses
  • 00:23:55.350 --> 00:23:58.687
  • Rolls and he fin--you know, he's reluctant, he didn't want to go.
  • 00:23:58.687 --> 00:24:01.423
  • He finally goes, he rolls into pharaoh's palace and he says,
  • 00:24:01.423 --> 00:24:04.759
  • "let these people go.
  • 00:24:04.759 --> 00:24:07.863
  • God sent me, i got tricks."
  • 00:24:07.863 --> 00:24:12.367
  • "you do?"
  • 00:24:12.367 --> 00:24:13.702
  • "let me show you."
  • 00:24:13.702 --> 00:24:15.470
  • Remember what moses said--i mean what pharaoh said?
  • 00:24:15.470 --> 00:24:19.040
  • Living bible, "fat chance."
  • 00:24:19.040 --> 00:24:23.078
  • Remember what the people said?
  • 00:24:23.078 --> 00:24:25.180
  • "it was better before you were here.
  • 00:24:25.180 --> 00:24:27.249
  • It was better before you were here.
  • 00:24:28.817 --> 00:24:32.854
  • We don't like you."
  • 00:24:32.854 --> 00:24:36.224
  • God sent him.
  • 00:24:36.224 --> 00:24:39.261
  • I'm thinking if god sent me with a message and tricks, that the
  • 00:24:39.261 --> 00:24:44.399
  • People would be like having a parade for me.
  • 00:24:44.399 --> 00:24:48.236
  • It was messy stuff.
  • 00:24:51.740 --> 00:24:53.909
  • In fact, the whole journey that moses was with them, there was
  • 00:24:53.909 --> 00:24:57.212
  • Always a segment of the people, there was always a segment of
  • 00:24:57.212 --> 00:24:59.915
  • The people who said, "we don't like you and we don't like what
  • 00:24:59.915 --> 00:25:03.518
  • You're doing."
  • 00:25:03.518 --> 00:25:06.555
  • Well, they picked manna up off the ground that god provided and
  • 00:25:06.555 --> 00:25:09.658
  • Drank water that god provided for them in the desert.
  • 00:25:09.658 --> 00:25:12.494
  • Their hearts were so far from the things of god that they
  • 00:25:12.494 --> 00:25:15.430
  • Would repeatedly say, day after day, "we don't like you and we
  • 00:25:15.430 --> 00:25:19.267
  • Don't like what you're doing."
  • 00:25:19.267 --> 00:25:20.635
  • Folks, we gotta make some decisions.
  • 00:25:20.635 --> 00:25:24.673
  • This isn't political.
  • 00:25:24.673 --> 00:25:26.708
  • These are about biblical principles.
  • 00:25:26.708 --> 00:25:29.244
  • Gender's not confusing.
  • 00:25:29.244 --> 00:25:30.912
  • We shouldn't need to be told that by a politician.
  • 00:25:30.912 --> 00:25:34.683
  • We should be echoing that message in our neighborhoods, in
  • 00:25:34.683 --> 00:25:37.852
  • Our family gatherings, in our kitchen tables, in our
  • 00:25:37.852 --> 00:25:41.122
  • Children's schools.
  • 00:25:41.122 --> 00:25:42.624
  • Allen: wanna pray with you before we go, but i just wanna
  • 00:25:46.428 --> 00:25:48.496
  • Remind you, we don't have to outthink evil or outwork evil.
  • 00:25:48.496 --> 00:25:51.866
  • We don't have to be louder than evil.
  • 00:25:51.866 --> 00:25:53.501
  • We need to understand the authority that is ours in
  • 00:25:53.501 --> 00:25:56.938
  • Jesus's name and the power of his shed blood, it
  • 00:25:56.938 --> 00:26:00.008
  • Changes everything.
  • 00:26:00.008 --> 00:26:01.776
  • I wanna pray with you, father, i thank you that through the name
  • 00:26:01.776 --> 00:26:04.379
  • Of jesus, we have been delivered out of the hand of the devil,
  • 00:26:04.379 --> 00:26:07.549
  • That he has no power over us, no authority over us in jesus's
  • 00:26:07.549 --> 00:26:11.686
  • Name, and i pray that that truth would take root in our hearts
  • 00:26:11.686 --> 00:26:15.223
  • And enable us to live with great boldness, in jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:26:15.223 --> 00:26:21.663
  • Allen: you know, around the world,
  • 00:26:25.467 --> 00:26:26.801
  • People are searching for truth, and together we're doing our
  • 00:26:26.801 --> 00:26:29.571
  • Very best to help them find it.
  • 00:26:29.571 --> 00:26:31.640
  • When you become a ministry partner with allen jackson
  • 00:26:31.640 --> 00:26:33.908
  • Ministries, you're joining a growing community of believers
  • 00:26:33.908 --> 00:26:37.245
  • Who are committed to strengthening the church and
  • 00:26:37.245 --> 00:26:40.048
  • Sharing god's word through every available channel--
  • 00:26:40.048 --> 00:26:43.318
  • Television, radio, podcast, books, bible studies,
  • 00:26:43.318 --> 00:26:46.721
  • Digital resources, conferences.
  • 00:26:46.721 --> 00:26:49.591
  • Your monthly partnership helps us equip believers to reach new
  • 00:26:49.591 --> 00:26:52.761
  • Audiences, to take the hope of jesus to people who may never
  • 00:26:52.761 --> 00:26:56.665
  • Have heard the gospel otherwise.
  • 00:26:56.665 --> 00:26:58.767
  • Together, we can stand firm in our faith and make god's truth
  • 00:26:58.767 --> 00:27:02.704
  • Known right here at home and around the earth, wherever
  • 00:27:02.704 --> 00:27:05.840
  • God opens a door.
  • 00:27:05.840 --> 00:27:07.242
  • Let's keep gathering his people and building his church until
  • 00:27:07.242 --> 00:27:10.545
  • The day our king returns.
  • 00:27:10.545 --> 00:27:12.781
  • You can find more about becoming a ministry partner
  • 00:27:12.781 --> 00:27:15.684
  • At allenjackson.com/partner.
  • 00:27:15.684 --> 00:27:26.795