1. TBN
  2. Programs
  3. Allen Jackson Ministries
  4. Episodes
  5. Allen Jackson - Generational Faith (Part 1)
Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Generational Faith (Part 1)

May 25, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - Generational Faith (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#WordofGod #Shame #Disobedience #Sacrifice #Injustice #Angels #GenerationX #AllenJackson

Closed captions

Show Timecode
Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Generational Faith (Part 1) | May 25, 2026
  • ...
  • 00:00:00.633 --> 00:00:01.317
  • Allen jackson: you know, around the world people are searching
  • 00:00:01.751 --> 00:00:03.319
  • For truth, and together, we're doing our very best to help them
  • 00:00:03.420 --> 00:00:06.656
  • Find it.
  • 00:00:06.756 --> 00:00:07.991
  • When you become a ministry partner with allen jackson
  • 00:00:08.124 --> 00:00:09.059
  • Ministries, you're joining a growing community of believers
  • 00:00:10.260 --> 00:00:13.196
  • Who are committed to strengthening the church and
  • 00:00:13.196 --> 00:00:15.832
  • Sharing god's word through every available channel: television,
  • 00:00:15.832 --> 00:00:19.836
  • Radio, podcast, books, bible studies, digital
  • 00:00:19.836 --> 00:00:23.239
  • Resources, conferences.
  • 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:25.341
  • Your monthly partnership helps us equip believers, to reach new
  • 00:00:25.341 --> 00:00:28.678
  • Audiences, and to take the hope of jesus to people who may never
  • 00:00:28.678 --> 00:00:32.549
  • Have heard the gospel otherwise.
  • 00:00:32.549 --> 00:00:34.717
  • Together, we can stand firm in our faith and make god's truth
  • 00:00:34.717 --> 00:00:38.621
  • Known, right here at home and around the earth, wherever god
  • 00:00:38.621 --> 00:00:41.825
  • Opens the door.
  • 00:00:41.825 --> 00:00:43.159
  • Let's keep gathering his people and building his church until
  • 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:46.362
  • The day our king returns.
  • 00:00:46.362 --> 00:00:48.631
  • You can find more about becoming a ministry partner
  • 00:00:48.631 --> 00:00:51.701
  • At allenjackson.com/partner.
  • 00:00:51.701 --> 00:00:55.638
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:00:57.107 --> 00:01:01.811
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:01:01.878 --> 00:01:19.129
  • Allen: i want to continue a study we started in a previous
  • 00:01:21.831 --> 00:01:24.033
  • Session under the general theme of lessons and listening.
  • 00:01:24.033 --> 00:01:27.770
  • There are very few characteristics in all of
  • 00:01:27.770 --> 00:01:29.772
  • Scripture that are more significant.
  • 00:01:29.772 --> 00:01:31.407
  • The one, in fact, i think a primary identifier of the people
  • 00:01:31.407 --> 00:01:34.477
  • Of god throughout scripture, from genesis to revelation, is
  • 00:01:34.477 --> 00:01:37.714
  • That they recognize his voice, that they hear his voice.
  • 00:01:37.714 --> 00:01:40.116
  • Jesus said, "my sheep know my voice and follow me."
  • 00:01:40.116 --> 00:01:43.119
  • With that ability to listen to god, not in some strange, weird,
  • 00:01:43.119 --> 00:01:45.889
  • Bizarre way, but lessons in listening.
  • 00:01:45.889 --> 00:01:49.559
  • I hope you're doing the bible reading with us.
  • 00:01:49.559 --> 00:01:52.228
  • This really started for me with our bible reading for the week.
  • 00:01:52.228 --> 00:01:54.531
  • We've just started in the book of genesis.
  • 00:01:54.531 --> 00:01:56.866
  • If you didn't begin in january, i want to give you an invitation
  • 00:01:56.866 --> 00:01:59.202
  • To join us now.
  • 00:01:59.202 --> 00:02:00.537
  • We're beginning the old testament.
  • 00:02:00.537 --> 00:02:01.905
  • The books of genesis and exodus are really good reads, a lot
  • 00:02:01.905 --> 00:02:04.707
  • Of fun.
  • 00:02:04.707 --> 00:02:06.075
  • Hollywood's made a fortune off genesis and exodus.
  • 00:02:06.075 --> 00:02:09.279
  • I mean, there are a lot of drama, a lot of good stories.
  • 00:02:09.279 --> 00:02:11.147
  • It's not a difficult read at all.
  • 00:02:11.147 --> 00:02:12.515
  • Now, when you get to leviticus-- i'm gonna step back in and help
  • 00:02:12.515 --> 00:02:16.619
  • You a little bit with leviticus.
  • 00:02:16.619 --> 00:02:19.122
  • I'm not even sure god reads leviticus--that's not true, i'm
  • 00:02:19.122 --> 00:02:21.257
  • Sure he does.
  • 00:02:21.257 --> 00:02:23.927
  • There's a purpose to it.
  • 00:02:23.927 --> 00:02:25.261
  • But genesis and exodus, there's a lot of narrative that is
  • 00:02:25.261 --> 00:02:28.565
  • Truly engaging.
  • 00:02:28.565 --> 00:02:30.166
  • About ten or 15 minutes a day, you can read through your entire
  • 00:02:30.166 --> 00:02:32.368
  • Bible in the course of a year, it will change your life.
  • 00:02:32.368 --> 00:02:35.805
  • I don't know of another single thing apart from your
  • 00:02:35.805 --> 00:02:38.041
  • Relationship with jesus that has the transformational impact that
  • 00:02:38.041 --> 00:02:41.477
  • A consistent reading of your bible will do.
  • 00:02:41.477 --> 00:02:43.513
  • So if you fail to do that for whatever reason, no shame today,
  • 00:02:43.513 --> 00:02:46.683
  • Just join us.
  • 00:02:46.683 --> 00:02:48.251
  • But this lesson started for me when i was doing that reading in
  • 00:02:48.251 --> 00:02:51.154
  • Genesis chapter 26.
  • 00:02:51.154 --> 00:02:54.023
  • God has--appears to isaac.
  • 00:02:54.023 --> 00:02:56.159
  • This is a father-son story.
  • 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:57.527
  • Isaac is the son, god appears to isaac with a message that he
  • 00:02:57.527 --> 00:03:00.863
  • Wants to do some remarkable things in isaac's life, but it's
  • 00:03:00.863 --> 00:03:03.900
  • Not because isaac is special.
  • 00:03:03.900 --> 00:03:05.235
  • He's saying, "i'm gonna do these things in your life because of
  • 00:03:05.235 --> 00:03:07.237
  • Your dad."
  • 00:03:07.237 --> 00:03:09.105
  • We can read it, it's genesis 26 and verse 2: "the lord appeared
  • 00:03:09.105 --> 00:03:11.808
  • To isaac and said, 'don't go down to egypt."'
  • 00:03:11.808 --> 00:03:15.745
  • Now, if you know the backstory a bit, and some of you may,
  • 00:03:15.745 --> 00:03:18.948
  • Isaac's father, in a time of great drought where they lived,
  • 00:03:18.948 --> 00:03:21.985
  • Had gone to egypt because of the nile river.
  • 00:03:21.985 --> 00:03:24.988
  • There was an abundance of water, and therefore, a steady
  • 00:03:24.988 --> 00:03:27.390
  • Food supply.
  • 00:03:27.390 --> 00:03:28.725
  • And when there was a drought in canaan, abraham had gone to
  • 00:03:28.725 --> 00:03:31.227
  • Egypt for the food.
  • 00:03:31.227 --> 00:03:33.429
  • But god is saying to isaac, even though there's some stress in
  • 00:03:33.429 --> 00:03:36.266
  • The land where you live, "don't go to egypt; live in the land
  • 00:03:36.266 --> 00:03:39.135
  • Where i tell you to live.
  • 00:03:39.135 --> 00:03:40.470
  • Stay in this land for a while, i'll be with you and i will
  • 00:03:40.470 --> 00:03:42.872
  • Bless you.
  • 00:03:42.872 --> 00:03:44.540
  • For to you and your descendants i'll give all these lands and
  • 00:03:44.540 --> 00:03:47.110
  • We'll confirm the oath.
  • 00:03:47.110 --> 00:03:48.444
  • I swore to your father abraham.
  • 00:03:48.444 --> 00:03:50.580
  • I'll make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky
  • 00:03:50.580 --> 00:03:53.016
  • And i'll give them all these lands.
  • 00:03:53.016 --> 00:03:55.385
  • Through your offspring, all nations on earth will be
  • 00:03:55.385 --> 00:03:58.054
  • Blessed," wow!
  • 00:03:58.054 --> 00:04:00.857
  • I mean, we pray for a parking spots!
  • 00:04:00.857 --> 00:04:03.926
  • Then god said to isaac, "...all nations on earth will be blessed
  • 00:04:03.926 --> 00:04:08.197
  • Through you."
  • 00:04:08.197 --> 00:04:09.565
  • Imagine announcing that in your small group.
  • 00:04:09.565 --> 00:04:12.035
  • That gets you voted off the island.
  • 00:04:12.035 --> 00:04:14.904
  • I mean, it's a dramatic promise to isaac.
  • 00:04:14.904 --> 00:04:18.975
  • But then god says to isaac, lest he get an inflated ego, look at
  • 00:04:18.975 --> 00:04:23.313
  • Verse 5, he said, "...all nations on earth will be blessed
  • 00:04:23.313 --> 00:04:26.616
  • Because abraham, your father, obeyed me and kept my
  • 00:04:26.616 --> 00:04:33.356
  • Requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws."
  • 00:04:33.356 --> 00:04:37.794
  • So isaac listened to all that, and it says he stayed put.
  • 00:04:37.794 --> 00:04:41.464
  • Smart man, isaac.
  • 00:04:41.464 --> 00:04:43.766
  • He was a pretty good listener.
  • 00:04:43.766 --> 00:04:45.902
  • It's an overwhelming promise, but the punchline in that
  • 00:04:45.902 --> 00:04:49.005
  • Passage is that 5th verse.
  • 00:04:49.005 --> 00:04:51.607
  • God said to isaac, "i'll do all these things for you because of
  • 00:04:51.607 --> 00:04:54.344
  • Your father, abraham."
  • 00:04:54.344 --> 00:04:55.845
  • And then he gives him some specifics.
  • 00:04:55.845 --> 00:04:57.880
  • He said, "abraham obeyed me."
  • 00:04:57.880 --> 00:04:59.482
  • The translation that you have is the new international version.
  • 00:04:59.482 --> 00:05:02.785
  • Some of the more literal translations, it says that
  • 00:05:02.785 --> 00:05:05.488
  • Abraham "listened to my voice" or "hearkened to my voice."
  • 00:05:05.488 --> 00:05:10.159
  • "abraham listened to me."
  • 00:05:10.159 --> 00:05:14.130
  • You can't be obedient if you don't know the assignment.
  • 00:05:14.130 --> 00:05:16.432
  • So the translator in this particular case used "obedience"
  • 00:05:16.432 --> 00:05:19.702
  • As an outcome description of the translation, but hebrew is an
  • 00:05:19.702 --> 00:05:23.773
  • Ancient language.
  • 00:05:23.773 --> 00:05:25.108
  • It's very directive, it's simple.
  • 00:05:25.108 --> 00:05:26.676
  • In fact, if you want to add emphasis in hebrew, you
  • 00:05:26.676 --> 00:05:29.345
  • Typically just duplicate the word.
  • 00:05:29.345 --> 00:05:31.614
  • Sometimes in english, you'll read a passage in the old
  • 00:05:31.614 --> 00:05:33.516
  • Testament and it will say, "listen listening."
  • 00:05:33.516 --> 00:05:36.185
  • It doesn't mean "listen with both ears," it means
  • 00:05:36.185 --> 00:05:38.154
  • "listen carefully."
  • 00:05:38.154 --> 00:05:40.189
  • Well, in this case, it says that abraham listened to my voice.
  • 00:05:40.189 --> 00:05:43.926
  • And then there's four statements made, they're very similar.
  • 00:05:43.926 --> 00:05:46.229
  • I mean, i can find some distinctions, but in tone,
  • 00:05:46.229 --> 00:05:49.365
  • They're really very similar.
  • 00:05:49.365 --> 00:05:50.733
  • "he kept my requirements, he kept my commands, he kept my
  • 00:05:50.733 --> 00:05:54.370
  • Decrees, and he kept my laws."
  • 00:05:54.370 --> 00:05:57.740
  • Is there a difference between requirements, commands, decrees,
  • 00:05:57.740 --> 00:06:00.243
  • And laws?
  • 00:06:00.243 --> 00:06:01.577
  • Perhaps we could identify some distinctions, but the theme is
  • 00:06:01.577 --> 00:06:05.014
  • Very, very similar.
  • 00:06:05.014 --> 00:06:06.382
  • "abraham listened and he obeyed, and because he did that, there
  • 00:06:06.382 --> 00:06:11.354
  • Is an amazing blessing coming to your life, isaac."
  • 00:06:11.354 --> 00:06:16.526
  • If that was all you knew, it would be a--it's a point of
  • 00:06:16.526 --> 00:06:20.530
  • Truth, but there's a bit of a backstory.
  • 00:06:20.530 --> 00:06:22.532
  • I gave you the prelude in your notes.
  • 00:06:22.532 --> 00:06:25.435
  • Just a couple of chapters earlier, in genesis 22, now,
  • 00:06:25.435 --> 00:06:28.671
  • It's only separated by four chapters, but it's separated by
  • 00:06:28.671 --> 00:06:31.207
  • Several years in isaac's life, because in chapter 22, he's a
  • 00:06:31.207 --> 00:06:34.777
  • Young man.
  • 00:06:34.777 --> 00:06:36.846
  • His father abraham is still alive.
  • 00:06:36.846 --> 00:06:38.448
  • In fact, god has said to abraham, "i want you to offer
  • 00:06:38.448 --> 00:06:41.017
  • Isaac as a sacrifice," and that's not some
  • 00:06:41.017 --> 00:06:45.054
  • Theoretical thing.
  • 00:06:45.054 --> 00:06:46.422
  • They still made animal sacrifices.
  • 00:06:46.422 --> 00:06:47.757
  • He said, "i want you to offer isaac like you would offer a
  • 00:06:47.757 --> 00:06:50.860
  • Sheep, or a bull, or a goat.
  • 00:06:50.860 --> 00:06:54.330
  • I want you to cut his throat and put his lifeless body on
  • 00:06:54.330 --> 00:06:57.533
  • An altar."
  • 00:06:57.533 --> 00:07:01.137
  • Abraham's waited a long time for isaac, but he obeys.
  • 00:07:01.137 --> 00:07:05.308
  • So he says to isaac and a couple of servants, "we're gonna make
  • 00:07:05.308 --> 00:07:07.810
  • A journey."
  • 00:07:07.810 --> 00:07:09.145
  • God said, "i'll show you where to offer him."
  • 00:07:09.145 --> 00:07:10.513
  • It was on mount moriah, which-- oh, by the way, is where the
  • 00:07:10.513 --> 00:07:12.748
  • Temple--solomon's temple would be built later, which--oh, by
  • 00:07:12.748 --> 00:07:15.551
  • The way, is where golgotha was, where jesus would be
  • 00:07:15.551 --> 00:07:18.087
  • Sacrificed later.
  • 00:07:18.087 --> 00:07:21.491
  • "take isaac--," that's what's in your notes, it's genesis 22.
  • 00:07:21.491 --> 00:07:25.495
  • Abraham has made it to gol--to mount moriah, he's put isaac on
  • 00:07:25.495 --> 00:07:29.866
  • The altar, and he's pulling back the knife to take his life.
  • 00:07:29.866 --> 00:07:33.636
  • "then he reached out his hand and he took the knife to slay
  • 00:07:33.636 --> 00:07:35.705
  • His son.
  • 00:07:35.705 --> 00:07:37.039
  • But the angel of the lord called out to him from
  • 00:07:37.039 --> 00:07:38.541
  • Heaven, 'abraham!'"
  • 00:07:38.541 --> 00:07:41.644
  • Now, we're left to conclude some things from the text.
  • 00:07:41.644 --> 00:07:45.281
  • It says, "the angel of the lord called out to abraham
  • 00:07:45.281 --> 00:07:47.884
  • From heaven."
  • 00:07:47.884 --> 00:07:49.385
  • The way i understand that, the way i--we could disagree, we
  • 00:07:49.385 --> 00:07:51.888
  • Both still to go to heaven, but in my opinion, the lord called
  • 00:07:51.888 --> 00:07:55.391
  • To abraham in a voice, "don't touch your son."
  • 00:07:55.391 --> 00:07:58.995
  • It didn't say, "the lord said to abraham," says he "called out
  • 00:07:58.995 --> 00:08:02.164
  • To him."
  • 00:08:02.164 --> 00:08:03.499
  • So if god's calling out to abraham, i think it's a
  • 00:08:03.499 --> 00:08:05.134
  • Legitimate conclusion that isaac would have heard him.
  • 00:08:05.134 --> 00:08:10.006
  • You with me so far?
  • 00:08:10.006 --> 00:08:11.474
  • I'm not doing any real gross injustice to the text.
  • 00:08:11.474 --> 00:08:14.944
  • Abraham said, "here i am."
  • 00:08:14.944 --> 00:08:16.312
  • "'don't lay a hand on the boy.
  • 00:08:16.312 --> 00:08:17.647
  • Don't do anything to him.
  • 00:08:17.647 --> 00:08:19.015
  • Now i know that you fear god, because you haven't withheld
  • 00:08:19.015 --> 00:08:21.350
  • Your son, your only son.'
  • 00:08:21.350 --> 00:08:23.920
  • And the angel of the lord called to abraham from heaven a
  • 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:28.090
  • Second time."
  • 00:08:28.090 --> 00:08:29.425
  • Same scenario, still on the mountain, still with the altar,
  • 00:08:29.425 --> 00:08:32.094
  • And isaac and all the emotion.
  • 00:08:32.094 --> 00:08:34.497
  • Can you imagine the emotion of climbing mount moriah with isaac
  • 00:08:34.497 --> 00:08:38.100
  • Alone, and the wood, and the fire you need for the sacrifice,
  • 00:08:38.100 --> 00:08:41.437
  • Knowing you plan to come back down the hill alone?
  • 00:08:41.437 --> 00:08:44.907
  • And the new testament tells us that abraham believed if he took
  • 00:08:44.907 --> 00:08:47.343
  • Isaac's life, god would raise him from the dead.
  • 00:08:47.343 --> 00:08:51.213
  • Still, i'm thinking the climb up that hill could have been a
  • 00:08:51.213 --> 00:08:53.215
  • Bit quiet.
  • 00:08:53.215 --> 00:08:55.084
  • Imagine what it was like coming down, a little different.
  • 00:08:55.084 --> 00:09:00.623
  • The word of the lord, "the angel called to abraham a second time
  • 00:09:00.623 --> 00:09:04.026
  • And said, 'i swear by myself, declares the lord, that because
  • 00:09:04.026 --> 00:09:07.129
  • You have done this and haven't withheld your son, i will bless
  • 00:09:07.129 --> 00:09:10.199
  • You and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky
  • 00:09:10.199 --> 00:09:13.202
  • And the sand on the seashore.
  • 00:09:13.202 --> 00:09:14.737
  • Your descendants will take possession of the cities of
  • 00:09:14.737 --> 00:09:16.672
  • Their enemies, and through your offspring, all nations on earth
  • 00:09:16.672 --> 00:09:19.241
  • Will be blessed, because you've obeyed me."'
  • 00:09:19.241 --> 00:09:23.546
  • Now go back to chapter 26 with me.
  • 00:09:23.546 --> 00:09:26.616
  • Remember what god said to isaac?
  • 00:09:26.616 --> 00:09:29.018
  • "i'll make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the
  • 00:09:29.018 --> 00:09:31.554
  • Sky, and we'll give them all these lands, and through your
  • 00:09:31.554 --> 00:09:34.690
  • Offspring, all nations on the earth will be blessed because
  • 00:09:34.690 --> 00:09:37.860
  • Abraham listened to me and kept my decrees."
  • 00:09:37.860 --> 00:09:44.634
  • See, chapter 26, isn't some theoretical, theological study
  • 00:09:44.634 --> 00:09:48.437
  • For isaac.
  • 00:09:48.437 --> 00:09:49.772
  • He was there, in a most vulnerable position, when he
  • 00:09:49.772 --> 00:09:55.511
  • Heard god call out to abraham.
  • 00:09:55.511 --> 00:09:58.948
  • And he knew his father well enough to know all the drama and
  • 00:09:58.948 --> 00:10:03.853
  • The emotion that had gone into that moment.
  • 00:10:03.853 --> 00:10:07.356
  • And so, now isaac has a message from the lord for himself, and
  • 00:10:07.356 --> 00:10:11.927
  • It says that isaac cooperated with the lord.
  • 00:10:11.927 --> 00:10:14.930
  • He did what the lord said.
  • 00:10:14.930 --> 00:10:18.334
  • Pretty good listening skills, baked in from one generation to
  • 00:10:18.334 --> 00:10:23.806
  • The next.
  • 00:10:23.806 --> 00:10:25.174
  • We're gonna talk a bit about generational faith.
  • 00:10:25.174 --> 00:10:26.842
  • How do we take our faith and make an impact in the
  • 00:10:26.842 --> 00:10:29.412
  • Generations around us?
  • 00:10:29.412 --> 00:10:31.247
  • Certainly relevant for your children, but please don't limit
  • 00:10:31.247 --> 00:10:33.315
  • It to that.
  • 00:10:33.315 --> 00:10:34.850
  • Every generation has to choose for themselves, and the best
  • 00:10:34.850 --> 00:10:38.154
  • Opportunity to choose to cooperate with god comes from
  • 00:10:38.154 --> 00:10:41.090
  • The generation who precedes us and what we have learned
  • 00:10:41.090 --> 00:10:43.526
  • From them.
  • 00:10:43.526 --> 00:10:45.394
  • What's the generational impact you hope to leave?
  • 00:10:45.394 --> 00:10:50.666
  • We're gonna talk about it in one more passage in 2 timothy
  • 00:10:50.666 --> 00:10:53.035
  • Chapter 1 and verse 5.
  • 00:10:53.035 --> 00:10:54.370
  • This is new testament because some of
  • 00:10:54.370 --> 00:10:56.005
  • You don't read the old testament, which is so weird.
  • 00:10:56.005 --> 00:11:00.376
  • Folks, when god finished malachi, he didn't get a gummy
  • 00:11:00.376 --> 00:11:03.446
  • And chill.
  • 00:11:03.446 --> 00:11:10.319
  • Same god that sent the babylonians to jerusalem is the
  • 00:11:10.319 --> 00:11:13.689
  • God that sent his son to golgotha, i promise!
  • 00:11:13.689 --> 00:11:17.893
  • 2 timothy chapter 1, paul is writing to timothy, a young man
  • 00:11:17.893 --> 00:11:21.530
  • He's mentoring.
  • 00:11:21.530 --> 00:11:22.865
  • He said, "i've been reminded of your sincere faith, which first
  • 00:11:22.865 --> 00:11:26.368
  • Lived in your grandmother lois and in your mother eunice and,
  • 00:11:26.368 --> 00:11:29.004
  • I'm persuaded, now lives in you also.
  • 00:11:29.004 --> 00:11:32.675
  • For this reason i remind you to fan into flame the gift of god,
  • 00:11:32.675 --> 00:11:35.644
  • Which is in you through the laying on of my hands."
  • 00:11:35.644 --> 00:11:38.714
  • A faith that lived in his grandmother, and his mother, and
  • 00:11:38.714 --> 00:11:41.650
  • Is present within him.
  • 00:11:41.650 --> 00:11:43.219
  • Generational faith, it's an important thing.
  • 00:11:43.219 --> 00:11:47.389
  • You know, it's a concept we don't talk about often in the
  • 00:11:47.389 --> 00:11:49.892
  • Context of our faith.
  • 00:11:49.892 --> 00:11:51.260
  • We talk about it in other arenas of our lives.
  • 00:11:51.260 --> 00:11:52.895
  • We talk about people being generational athletes.
  • 00:11:52.895 --> 00:11:55.765
  • They have a set of skills and physical abilities that sets
  • 00:11:55.765 --> 00:12:00.703
  • Them apart, that makes them somewhat unique amongst
  • 00:12:00.703 --> 00:12:04.206
  • Their peers.
  • 00:12:04.206 --> 00:12:05.975
  • We talk about generational wealth, wealth that impacts one
  • 00:12:05.975 --> 00:12:09.445
  • Generation upon another.
  • 00:12:09.445 --> 00:12:10.813
  • It's not always about enormous amounts of money, it's just
  • 00:12:10.813 --> 00:12:14.049
  • About the impact from one generation to the next.
  • 00:12:14.049 --> 00:12:17.720
  • We don't talk about generational faith as much, but i want to ask
  • 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:21.957
  • You to think about that with me a little bit.
  • 00:12:21.957 --> 00:12:24.326
  • What's the impact of your faith on the generation who
  • 00:12:24.326 --> 00:12:26.862
  • Follows us?
  • 00:12:26.862 --> 00:12:28.664
  • It's appropriate to think about it in the context of your faith.
  • 00:12:28.664 --> 00:12:31.100
  • It's probably easier to develop the idea there, but it shouldn't
  • 00:12:31.100 --> 00:12:34.303
  • Be limited to the people who share your dna.
  • 00:12:34.303 --> 00:12:37.773
  • What's the impact of your faith upon the people with whom you do
  • 00:12:37.773 --> 00:12:40.376
  • Business, upon your neighbors, upon the people with whom you've
  • 00:12:40.376 --> 00:12:43.179
  • Gone to school, the people you're doing life with, your
  • 00:12:43.179 --> 00:12:45.481
  • Peer group?
  • 00:12:45.481 --> 00:12:46.982
  • Generational faith: i can tell you a couple of things about it.
  • 00:12:46.982 --> 00:12:50.319
  • What you do and who you are is far more impactful than what
  • 00:12:50.319 --> 00:12:54.156
  • You say.
  • 00:12:54.156 --> 00:12:56.425
  • Actions really do speak more loudly than words.
  • 00:12:56.425 --> 00:12:58.594
  • It isn't that words don't matter, they have an authority,
  • 00:12:58.594 --> 00:13:00.796
  • But who you are--your kids will learn more about who you are
  • 00:13:00.796 --> 00:13:04.300
  • Than from what you tell them, and so will your friends.
  • 00:13:04.300 --> 00:13:07.536
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:13:08.103 --> 00:13:13.042
  • Allen: "lessons from paul" is a 90-day devotional.
  • 00:13:16.078 --> 00:13:19.215
  • Some of my favorite verses that paul wrote, a bit of devotional
  • 00:13:19.215 --> 00:13:23.385
  • Time, and then some place to journal.
  • 00:13:23.385 --> 00:13:25.821
  • The goal is to be changed.
  • 00:13:25.821 --> 00:13:27.189
  • We wanna be transformed by the word of god and not just
  • 00:13:27.189 --> 00:13:29.358
  • Informed by it.
  • 00:13:29.358 --> 00:13:31.093
  • Saul of tarsus, a hero of mine, i got to know him as the apostle
  • 00:13:31.093 --> 00:13:33.829
  • Paul, an unrelenting advocate for jesus in the face of
  • 00:13:33.829 --> 00:13:37.366
  • Unyielding persecution.
  • 00:13:37.366 --> 00:13:39.401
  • Folks, that sounds like the world we live in.
  • 00:13:39.401 --> 00:13:41.503
  • "lessons from paul," it'll help you and i be overcomers,
  • 00:13:41.503 --> 00:13:44.106
  • Triumphant in this season in the earth.
  • 00:13:44.106 --> 00:13:46.609
  • You'll enjoy the book.
  • 00:13:46.609 --> 00:13:48.010
  • Female announcer: following jesus isn't always easy, but you
  • 00:13:48.010 --> 00:13:50.746
  • Don't have to walk through it alone.
  • 00:13:50.746 --> 00:13:52.681
  • The same power that transformed paul is available to you today.
  • 00:13:52.681 --> 00:13:57.486
  • "lessons from paul," by pastor allen, is a 90-day devotional
  • 00:13:57.486 --> 00:14:00.990
  • Filled with scripture, encouragement, and journaling
  • 00:14:00.990 --> 00:14:04.159
  • Prompts, and space to write, helping you apply each day's
  • 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:07.730
  • Reading to your actual life.
  • 00:14:07.730 --> 00:14:10.266
  • Request your copy with your gift of $25 or more at
  • 00:14:10.266 --> 00:14:14.236
  • Allenjackson.com, or call ...
  • 00:14:14.236 --> 00:14:19.742
  • Allen: the transformational faith which impacts generations
  • 00:14:23.212 --> 00:14:25.848
  • Is our goal.
  • 00:14:25.848 --> 00:14:27.516
  • Here's the awkward reality.
  • 00:14:27.516 --> 00:14:28.851
  • If we have to do a diagnostic-- my dad was a vet, so, you know,
  • 00:14:28.851 --> 00:14:32.221
  • The first encounter with a patient, or a horse, or a cow,
  • 00:14:32.221 --> 00:14:35.591
  • Or a puppy, or a kitten was always the diagnostics.
  • 00:14:35.591 --> 00:14:38.060
  • That was my favorite part.
  • 00:14:38.060 --> 00:14:40.863
  • When we were--when i was at home, my dad only treated
  • 00:14:40.863 --> 00:14:43.632
  • Horses, which meant we went to visit most of the patients he
  • 00:14:43.632 --> 00:14:46.201
  • Was to see.
  • 00:14:46.201 --> 00:14:47.569
  • He had to drive to wherever the horses were.
  • 00:14:47.569 --> 00:14:49.238
  • We'd pile out of the truck or the vehicle and go find the
  • 00:14:49.238 --> 00:14:52.308
  • Horse and hear whatever the farmer, or the horse trainer had
  • 00:14:52.308 --> 00:14:55.010
  • To say, but then my dad would begin the diagnosis.
  • 00:14:55.010 --> 00:14:58.013
  • And i started playing the game really early in my life.
  • 00:14:58.013 --> 00:15:00.616
  • I would see if i could make a diagnosis that would match
  • 00:15:00.616 --> 00:15:02.785
  • The doctor's.
  • 00:15:02.785 --> 00:15:04.887
  • And so i have this--i still carry that habit, kind of that
  • 00:15:04.887 --> 00:15:07.156
  • Diagnostic thing.
  • 00:15:07.156 --> 00:15:09.725
  • And if you ask me for a diagnosis of contemporary
  • 00:15:09.725 --> 00:15:12.294
  • American christendom, i would say to you, the evidence is
  • 00:15:12.294 --> 00:15:15.364
  • Overwhelming that, for decades, there's been a tremendous
  • 00:15:15.364 --> 00:15:17.766
  • Falling away.
  • 00:15:17.766 --> 00:15:20.069
  • The influence of a biblical worldview of a judeo-christian
  • 00:15:20.069 --> 00:15:22.871
  • Culture on the world in which we live is tremendously diminished.
  • 00:15:22.871 --> 00:15:27.276
  • No, i'm not a negative person.
  • 00:15:27.276 --> 00:15:28.644
  • I know god can reverse that.
  • 00:15:28.644 --> 00:15:29.979
  • That's the story of scripture and the story of the church, but
  • 00:15:29.979 --> 00:15:32.448
  • You can't get to a better outcome until you can get to an
  • 00:15:32.448 --> 00:15:34.550
  • Honest diagnosis of where you are.
  • 00:15:34.550 --> 00:15:38.387
  • And so, this idea of generational faith is something
  • 00:15:38.387 --> 00:15:40.956
  • I live with quite a bit.
  • 00:15:40.956 --> 00:15:42.324
  • I pray about it, and think about it, and ask the lord for wisdom
  • 00:15:42.324 --> 00:15:45.027
  • And insight on it.
  • 00:15:45.027 --> 00:15:47.129
  • You know, there's a meeting i have had far too frequently in
  • 00:15:47.129 --> 00:15:50.165
  • Recent weeks and months, exponentially more than i would
  • 00:15:50.165 --> 00:15:52.301
  • Have had a decade ago about children who reject the faith of
  • 00:15:52.301 --> 00:15:56.739
  • Their parents.
  • 00:15:56.739 --> 00:15:59.074
  • They leave home, or they get engaged in some form of higher
  • 00:15:59.074 --> 00:16:02.745
  • Education, or out from under that umbrella of home and they
  • 00:16:02.745 --> 00:16:04.913
  • Reject the worldview of their parents, the faith of their
  • 00:16:04.913 --> 00:16:07.616
  • Parents, the beliefs of their parents.
  • 00:16:07.616 --> 00:16:11.220
  • And in recent months, i've had meeting after meeting
  • 00:16:11.220 --> 00:16:13.756
  • Consistently with parents who've been banished by their children,
  • 00:16:13.756 --> 00:16:17.192
  • Who've cut ties completely, estranged from their family.
  • 00:16:17.192 --> 00:16:21.964
  • You know, it used to be almost assumed that the faith of one
  • 00:16:21.964 --> 00:16:25.200
  • Generation would be handed to the next.
  • 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:27.770
  • We could say that about the church.
  • 00:16:27.770 --> 00:16:29.104
  • It's not--i wouldn't point that just at families.
  • 00:16:29.104 --> 00:16:30.973
  • The apostasy has broken out in the church on such a widespread
  • 00:16:30.973 --> 00:16:33.942
  • Basis that you can no longer just assume that the building
  • 00:16:33.942 --> 00:16:37.613
  • That where the sign says "church" means that they will be
  • 00:16:37.613 --> 00:16:39.882
  • Orthodox in their approach to scripture in the person
  • 00:16:39.882 --> 00:16:42.017
  • Of jesus.
  • 00:16:42.017 --> 00:16:43.986
  • Generational faith: a faith that will impact the generations who
  • 00:16:43.986 --> 00:16:47.756
  • Come behind us.
  • 00:16:47.756 --> 00:16:49.925
  • So i wanna take the balance of our time, and i've got a few
  • 00:16:49.925 --> 00:16:52.127
  • Minutes, and i really kind of give you a how-to guide.
  • 00:16:52.127 --> 00:16:54.563
  • It's a continuation of what we did in the previous session, so
  • 00:16:54.563 --> 00:16:57.366
  • I'm gonna review briefly, but only briefly.
  • 00:16:57.366 --> 00:16:59.101
  • You'll need to go back and hear the other session if you want it
  • 00:16:59.101 --> 00:17:00.969
  • In more detail.
  • 00:17:00.969 --> 00:17:02.304
  • I believe there's something you and i can do to make our faith
  • 00:17:02.304 --> 00:17:05.441
  • Impactful over generations, just like abraham.
  • 00:17:05.441 --> 00:17:08.077
  • I don't think abraham was consciously trying to build the
  • 00:17:08.077 --> 00:17:10.646
  • Plan, but in his willingness to listen to god and then he'll be
  • 00:17:10.646 --> 00:17:12.748
  • Obedient to what he heard, he changed isaac's life, and
  • 00:17:12.748 --> 00:17:16.018
  • Through that jacob's life, and his descendants until
  • 00:17:16.018 --> 00:17:19.154
  • Today's life.
  • 00:17:19.154 --> 00:17:22.224
  • You know, hundreds of years after king david was gone.
  • 00:17:22.224 --> 00:17:25.761
  • God sent a message to the reigning king in jerusalem, and
  • 00:17:25.761 --> 00:17:28.931
  • He said, because of the faithfulness of my servant
  • 00:17:28.931 --> 00:17:32.234
  • David, i will spare the city.
  • 00:17:32.234 --> 00:17:35.437
  • Wouldn't you like to serve the lord in such a way that, if the
  • 00:17:35.437 --> 00:17:37.439
  • Lord tarried 3 or 400 years from now, god would roll up and say,
  • 00:17:37.439 --> 00:17:40.109
  • "because of my servant, joe, i'm about to whoop the enemy."
  • 00:17:40.109 --> 00:17:46.281
  • If you didn't grow up in the south, that's really good news,
  • 00:17:46.281 --> 00:17:48.484
  • If you're with joe.
  • 00:17:48.484 --> 00:17:51.120
  • Generational faith, what's that look like?
  • 00:17:51.120 --> 00:17:52.754
  • Well, psalm 138 in verse 2 says, "you have exalted above all
  • 00:17:52.754 --> 00:17:56.925
  • Things your name and your word."
  • 00:17:56.925 --> 00:17:58.861
  • I believe that.
  • 00:17:58.861 --> 00:18:00.929
  • I believe, at the end of the age, when everything in this
  • 00:18:00.929 --> 00:18:03.432
  • Present age is evaluated, two things will be exalted above
  • 00:18:03.432 --> 00:18:07.603
  • Everything else: the name of the lord jesus christ, and the
  • 00:18:07.603 --> 00:18:11.406
  • Authority of his word.
  • 00:18:11.406 --> 00:18:13.775
  • I believe that, i do!
  • 00:18:13.775 --> 00:18:18.113
  • Yeah, i'm okay if you follow the science.
  • 00:18:18.113 --> 00:18:20.082
  • I'm an advocate for education.
  • 00:18:20.082 --> 00:18:21.517
  • I think you should train your intellect and your ability to
  • 00:18:21.517 --> 00:18:24.052
  • Learn and study, but all of those things should point you
  • 00:18:24.052 --> 00:18:28.023
  • Towards the superiority and the supremacy of the name of jesus
  • 00:18:28.023 --> 00:18:31.927
  • And the authority of his word.
  • 00:18:31.927 --> 00:18:34.563
  • When i don't understand, i'm gonna vote for the word of god,
  • 00:18:34.563 --> 00:18:37.166
  • I'm gonna vote for jesus.
  • 00:18:37.166 --> 00:18:39.501
  • And so, when i think about a generational faith, i can tell
  • 00:18:39.501 --> 00:18:41.904
  • You this, it's going to be built on those cornerstones: jesus and
  • 00:18:41.904 --> 00:18:45.874
  • His word.
  • 00:18:45.874 --> 00:18:47.876
  • And so i just kind of want to walk you through a little bit
  • 00:18:47.876 --> 00:18:50.345
  • Of this.
  • 00:18:50.345 --> 00:18:51.713
  • You know, it's important.
  • 00:18:51.713 --> 00:18:53.048
  • It doesn't take very long, only three generations for us to
  • 00:18:53.048 --> 00:18:54.583
  • Completely lose an idea, you know that.
  • 00:18:54.583 --> 00:18:59.788
  • We showed you a video a few weeks ago when we had the
  • 00:18:59.788 --> 00:19:01.957
  • Kitchen tables set up all over the building of the kids
  • 00:19:01.957 --> 00:19:04.993
  • Interacting with some items from a decade or two apart from them.
  • 00:19:04.993 --> 00:19:08.797
  • Remember the little fellows looking at the phone book?
  • 00:19:08.797 --> 00:19:12.100
  • And they had no idea what--how many of you have never used a
  • 00:19:12.100 --> 00:19:14.570
  • Phone book?
  • 00:19:14.570 --> 00:19:15.904
  • Raise your hand.
  • 00:19:15.904 --> 00:19:17.272
  • It's all right, there's not, like, a tax.
  • 00:19:17.272 --> 00:19:22.077
  • It's not new york.
  • 00:19:22.077 --> 00:19:23.412
  • You could raise your hand on that, it's okay!
  • 00:19:23.412 --> 00:19:26.381
  • Never used a phone--they don't even know what one is!
  • 00:19:26.381 --> 00:19:29.751
  • I remembered when the primary means of announcing that the
  • 00:19:29.751 --> 00:19:32.287
  • Church was in the community was the phone book, seems kind
  • 00:19:32.287 --> 00:19:35.824
  • Of funny.
  • 00:19:35.824 --> 00:19:38.594
  • Nashville hot chicken.
  • 00:19:38.594 --> 00:19:42.064
  • How many of you ever used doordash or grubhub?
  • 00:19:42.064 --> 00:19:45.567
  • You're still afraid to raise your hand at church.
  • 00:19:45.567 --> 00:19:47.035
  • It's, like, it's okay!
  • 00:19:47.035 --> 00:19:49.304
  • Doordash, grubhub?
  • 00:19:49.304 --> 00:19:50.639
  • You got some--yeah, if you want some nashville hot chicken, you
  • 00:19:50.639 --> 00:19:52.474
  • Don't have to do anything but find a phone, and some stranger
  • 00:19:52.474 --> 00:19:56.211
  • You don't know will bring it to you.
  • 00:19:56.211 --> 00:20:00.549
  • How cool is that?
  • 00:20:00.549 --> 00:20:03.285
  • If my grandmother had wanted some nashville hot chicken,
  • 00:20:03.285 --> 00:20:09.925
  • Grubhub was not an option.
  • 00:20:09.925 --> 00:20:12.494
  • You know what she did?
  • 00:20:12.494 --> 00:20:15.364
  • She went out in the backyard, caught a chicken, wrung its
  • 00:20:15.364 --> 00:20:24.973
  • Neck, dressed it, and when she got done, you'd have some real
  • 00:20:24.973 --> 00:20:31.413
  • Nashville hot chicken.
  • 00:20:31.413 --> 00:20:35.217
  • I suspect, the majority of us, if we had a chicken coop in the
  • 00:20:35.217 --> 00:20:39.488
  • Backyard filled with fryers,
  • 00:20:39.488 --> 00:20:44.660
  • We would starve to death before we
  • 00:20:44.660 --> 00:20:49.898
  • Figured out how to get some nashville hot chicken.
  • 00:20:49.898 --> 00:20:52.567
  • Three generations, we've lost something that had been
  • 00:20:52.567 --> 00:20:55.003
  • Happening for a long, long, long time.
  • 00:20:55.003 --> 00:20:58.340
  • It doesn't take long to have a new normal rolled out and to
  • 00:20:58.340 --> 00:21:02.544
  • Lose complete touch with the past.
  • 00:21:02.544 --> 00:21:04.913
  • Generational faith: so how do we do this?
  • 00:21:04.913 --> 00:21:07.149
  • How do we build this?
  • 00:21:07.149 --> 00:21:08.517
  • How does that get put in place?
  • 00:21:08.517 --> 00:21:11.053
  • Remember the two cornerstones, the word of god and the person
  • 00:21:11.053 --> 00:21:14.856
  • Of jesus, his name.
  • 00:21:14.856 --> 00:21:16.591
  • Let's start with the word of god.
  • 00:21:16.591 --> 00:21:17.926
  • We'll do the other, but let's start with the word of god.
  • 00:21:17.926 --> 00:21:20.329
  • How do you engage the word of god?
  • 00:21:20.329 --> 00:21:21.697
  • How do you start to open your life to that?
  • 00:21:21.697 --> 00:21:23.098
  • It's a complicated book, it's 66 books all bound together,
  • 00:21:23.098 --> 00:21:26.702
  • Written across a broad period of time by dozens of authors,
  • 00:21:26.702 --> 00:21:31.573
  • Different styles of literature-- excuse me--different languages.
  • 00:21:31.573 --> 00:21:36.712
  • It's not simple.
  • 00:21:36.712 --> 00:21:39.381
  • It's not even arranged chronologically, and if it is,
  • 00:21:39.381 --> 00:21:41.683
  • I'm not sure it helps.
  • 00:21:41.683 --> 00:21:44.119
  • So how do you engage the bible to make it meaningful?
  • 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:46.722
  • You can't pronounce the names, you don't know the places.
  • 00:21:46.722 --> 00:21:49.958
  • The social customs are different.
  • 00:21:49.958 --> 00:21:52.828
  • Well, i would submit to you that the way we begin to get to know
  • 00:21:52.828 --> 00:21:55.564
  • The bible is you get to know the stories and some of
  • 00:21:55.564 --> 00:21:58.033
  • The characters.
  • 00:21:58.033 --> 00:21:59.801
  • It's true for children, it's how we introduce them to the
  • 00:21:59.801 --> 00:22:02.504
  • Bible, typically.
  • 00:22:02.504 --> 00:22:03.839
  • We don't start them with greek verbs, and teach them how to
  • 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:07.008
  • Parse a greek verb, thank god.
  • 00:22:07.008 --> 00:22:11.713
  • We introduce them to the stories and the characters of the bible,
  • 00:22:11.713 --> 00:22:14.616
  • But it doesn't matter whether you're a child or an adult, it's
  • 00:22:14.616 --> 00:22:17.319
  • The beginning point.
  • 00:22:17.319 --> 00:22:18.653
  • You get to know the names of some of those people.
  • 00:22:18.653 --> 00:22:21.256
  • And i spent a good bit more time with this in a previous session,
  • 00:22:21.256 --> 00:22:24.259
  • I won't belabor it in this one, but we're reading the book of
  • 00:22:24.259 --> 00:22:27.062
  • Genesis right now, before you-- the second half of the book of
  • 00:22:27.062 --> 00:22:29.598
  • Genesis deals with a character by the name of joseph.
  • 00:22:29.598 --> 00:22:33.702
  • He came from a family that makes dysfunctional seem like
  • 00:22:33.702 --> 00:22:39.708
  • A compliment.
  • 00:22:39.708 --> 00:22:41.977
  • His brothers sold him into slavery.
  • 00:22:41.977 --> 00:22:45.614
  • His brothers sold him into slavery, and that was his
  • 00:22:45.614 --> 00:22:50.452
  • Best brothers.
  • 00:22:50.452 --> 00:22:53.155
  • His mean brothers just wanted to kill him.
  • 00:22:53.155 --> 00:22:55.891
  • That's a rough family!
  • 00:22:55.891 --> 00:22:58.894
  • Almost half the book of genesis, the first book in the bible,
  • 00:22:58.894 --> 00:23:01.396
  • Deals with joe and his family.
  • 00:23:01.396 --> 00:23:02.764
  • It's an amazing story.
  • 00:23:02.764 --> 00:23:04.666
  • He becomes the prime minister of egypt.
  • 00:23:04.666 --> 00:23:06.535
  • And so we teach people their stories of the book of exodus.
  • 00:23:06.535 --> 00:23:10.338
  • You meet this character named moses, pretty
  • 00:23:10.338 --> 00:23:13.341
  • Remarkable character.
  • 00:23:13.341 --> 00:23:15.911
  • Had a little bit of a sibling rivalry with pharaoh of egypt,
  • 00:23:15.911 --> 00:23:20.248
  • But moses had god's help, and it works out really, really well.
  • 00:23:20.248 --> 00:23:24.786
  • Cecil b. demille taught you a lot about moses.
  • 00:23:24.786 --> 00:23:27.756
  • Every time i read the word "moses," i still hear yul
  • 00:23:30.892 --> 00:23:33.094
  • Brynner saying "moses."
  • 00:23:33.094 --> 00:23:39.267
  • Charlton heston, would it not be too funny if you got to heaven
  • 00:23:39.267 --> 00:23:42.804
  • And moses was about 4"2' with a squeaky voice?
  • 00:23:42.804 --> 00:23:48.810
  • [in a squeaky voice] "let my people go!"
  • 00:23:48.810 --> 00:23:51.446
  • [laughter]
  • 00:23:51.446 --> 00:23:54.983
  • Charlton heston made it more fun.
  • 00:23:58.753 --> 00:24:01.723
  • But we learn about moses, and the plagues, and the red sea,
  • 00:24:01.723 --> 00:24:04.059
  • And all the things that go with that.
  • 00:24:04.059 --> 00:24:05.393
  • Or you learn about nebuchadnezzar, and a golden
  • 00:24:05.393 --> 00:24:08.396
  • Statue, and people who wouldn't bow, and a fiery furnace, and
  • 00:24:08.396 --> 00:24:13.034
  • Three jewish young men that were being hated, thrown into
  • 00:24:13.034 --> 00:24:16.471
  • The furnace.
  • 00:24:16.471 --> 00:24:18.340
  • Or you get to the new testament, and you meet jesus, and the
  • 00:24:18.340 --> 00:24:20.542
  • Miracles, and all the things that he did, and the wonderful--
  • 00:24:20.542 --> 00:24:23.512
  • You get to know the bible initially by you--introduced to
  • 00:24:23.512 --> 00:24:26.448
  • The stories and the characters of scripture.
  • 00:24:26.448 --> 00:24:29.918
  • All of us begin that way.
  • 00:24:29.918 --> 00:24:32.020
  • You don't know their context, you don't know how
  • 00:24:32.020 --> 00:24:33.722
  • They're related.
  • 00:24:33.722 --> 00:24:35.090
  • They're these--just these dramatic events and incidents
  • 00:24:35.090 --> 00:24:39.461
  • Where god touched the life of an individual.
  • 00:24:39.461 --> 00:24:42.397
  • And then as you become a bit more familiar with it, you can
  • 00:24:42.397 --> 00:24:45.667
  • Maybe begin to know where you would go to find the story.
  • 00:24:45.667 --> 00:24:47.869
  • If you were going to look for the story of noah and his ark.
  • 00:24:47.869 --> 00:24:52.374
  • You probably wouldn't look for that in the gospel of john.
  • 00:24:52.374 --> 00:24:56.411
  • And you start to become familiar, a bit, with the
  • 00:24:56.411 --> 00:24:59.047
  • Broader narrative.
  • 00:24:59.047 --> 00:25:00.715
  • The second step in building this generational faith: you don't
  • 00:25:00.715 --> 00:25:03.051
  • Stop there.
  • 00:25:03.051 --> 00:25:04.486
  • I learned this years ago, church was small, and i'd be teaching.
  • 00:25:04.486 --> 00:25:08.690
  • I didn't used to do outlines.
  • 00:25:08.690 --> 00:25:10.525
  • Can you imagine something so glorious?
  • 00:25:10.525 --> 00:25:13.461
  • And i would say, "oh, you know the story of nehemiah?"
  • 00:25:13.461 --> 00:25:20.168
  • Then i would take off, and somebody would--inevitably,
  • 00:25:20.168 --> 00:25:23.004
  • Somebody would come after service and say, "pastor, i
  • 00:25:23.004 --> 00:25:25.340
  • Don't know who nehemiah is."
  • 00:25:25.340 --> 00:25:28.410
  • Then i realized that we didn't have a uniform familiarity with
  • 00:25:28.410 --> 00:25:31.913
  • The story.
  • 00:25:31.913 --> 00:25:33.248
  • We didn't all know the characters.
  • 00:25:33.248 --> 00:25:35.417
  • [cough] excuse me.
  • 00:25:35.417 --> 00:25:38.153
  • And so, i began to print those outlines so you'd at least have
  • 00:25:38.153 --> 00:25:41.489
  • A bit of the background.
  • 00:25:41.489 --> 00:25:45.060
  • But after you get familiar with the characters, then you've got
  • 00:25:45.060 --> 00:25:47.462
  • To invest the effort to actually read your bible.
  • 00:25:47.462 --> 00:25:51.600
  • You've got to do--you've got to step past that.
  • 00:25:51.600 --> 00:25:53.602
  • "oh, i don't do that.
  • 00:25:53.602 --> 00:25:54.970
  • I don't like to read."
  • 00:25:54.970 --> 00:25:56.304
  • Okay, listen, it's available digitally.
  • 00:25:56.304 --> 00:25:58.740
  • On our own apps you can listen to the bible!
  • 00:25:58.740 --> 00:26:01.509
  • The systematic, consistent reading of your bible will
  • 00:26:01.509 --> 00:26:04.446
  • Transform your faith.
  • 00:26:04.446 --> 00:26:05.814
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:26:06.314 --> 00:26:11.186
  • Allen: and when i read my bible, i don't read it primarily
  • 00:26:12.554 --> 00:26:15.223
  • For information.
  • 00:26:15.223 --> 00:26:16.558
  • It's not just about facts, and figures, and dates, and how to
  • 00:26:16.558 --> 00:26:19.194
  • Spell "nebuchadnezzar," and how many tribes they were, and where
  • 00:26:19.194 --> 00:26:21.730
  • They fit in the land.
  • 00:26:21.730 --> 00:26:23.098
  • I mean, i like all that stuff, but i read my bible to
  • 00:26:23.098 --> 00:26:25.834
  • Be transformed.
  • 00:26:25.834 --> 00:26:27.435
  • I recognize i need the power of god at work in my life, so the
  • 00:26:27.435 --> 00:26:30.805
  • Characters of the bible become more than shadowy historical
  • 00:26:30.805 --> 00:26:34.042
  • People, they become my friends or my heroes.
  • 00:26:34.042 --> 00:26:36.778
  • We've put together a tool, it's "lessons from paul," it's a
  • 00:26:36.778 --> 00:26:40.148
  • 90-day devotional.
  • 00:26:40.148 --> 00:26:41.783
  • It's really gleaned from some of my favorite writings from the
  • 00:26:41.783 --> 00:26:44.819
  • Apostle paul.
  • 00:26:44.819 --> 00:26:46.221
  • You know, he begins as an angry, murderous man, and becomes one
  • 00:26:46.221 --> 00:26:49.157
  • Of the most powerful advocates for jesus that our world has
  • 00:26:49.157 --> 00:26:52.661
  • Ever known.
  • 00:26:52.661 --> 00:26:53.995
  • Well, i want that kind of transformation in my life, to
  • 00:26:53.995 --> 00:26:56.431
  • Move from the place i am to be more effective for the purposes
  • 00:26:56.431 --> 00:26:59.100
  • Of the kingdom of god.
  • 00:26:59.100 --> 00:27:00.602
  • I think the tool will help you in the midst of whatever your
  • 00:27:00.602 --> 00:27:02.871
  • Circumstances, persecution, triumph.
  • 00:27:02.871 --> 00:27:05.640
  • "lessons from paul," it'll give you a pathway forward to
  • 00:27:05.640 --> 00:27:08.143
  • Cooperate with god and get to a better outcome.
  • 00:27:08.143 --> 00:27:11.179
  • I think you'll enjoy the devotional.
  • 00:27:11.179 --> 00:27:13.314
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:13.381 --> 00:27:13.381