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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Generational Faith (Part 2)

May 26, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - Generational Faith (Part 2)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Generations #Submission #WordofGod #Authority #HandofGod #Protection #Faith #TrustGod #Foundation #SpiritualFoundation #Honor #GlorifyGod #Obedience #Surrender #Reverence #FearoftheLord #WalkwithGod #SpiritualGrowth #Self-Denial #Truth #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Generational Faith (Part 2) | May 26, 2026
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  • Allen jackson: one of my heroes in the bible is saul of tarsus.
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  • He becomes the apostle paul.
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  • I know you know his story.
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  • He's written two thirds of our new testament by title.
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  • And one of the most remarkable characters we meet in all of
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  • The scripture.
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  • He was a pharisee with a remarkable education, brilliant
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  • Mind, and he hated jesus and jesus' followers until he met
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  • Jesus one day.
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  • He's on the road to damascus and jesus interrupts his life and he
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  • Becomes the apostle paul, one of the most powerful voices for
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  • Jesus that history has ever known.
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  • We put together a 90 day devotional.
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  • It's "lessons from paul."
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  • I'm still learning from paul, and i just wanted to share it
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  • With you.
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  • There's a little--there's a scripture verse, there's a bit
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  • Of a devotional.
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  • There's a place for some journaling.
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  • It's really intended to provide some direction so that you and i
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  • Become overcomers.
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  • Overcomers of our past, overcomers of the opposition in
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  • The present.
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  • Doesn't matter what the adversary is, the power of god
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  • That delivered paul, he'll deliver you and me.
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  • I believe you'll enjoy "lessons from paul."
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Allen: the systematic, consistent reading of your bible
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  • Will transform your faith.
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  • I don't think you can sustain your faith in the current
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  • Environment we're in without that consistent.
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  • And as you begin to read your bible, there's another habit
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  • That will emerge.
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  • You'll begin to recognize from time to time a phrase or a
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  • Statement or a verse that seems impactful to you.
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  • It's like, oh, that makes sense to me.
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  • Every verse won't, every chapter won't, sometimes every
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  • Book won't.
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  • But you'll read a verse and it will somehow resonate with you.
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  • If you're doing the bible reading with us, i would invite
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  • You for the next few weeks, write down a verse today.
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  • Just take a verse out of the daily reading and go, oh, that's
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  • A good verse for me.
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  • And if you read it, you don't find a verse today, i'm okay,
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  • No shame.
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  • Just go on.
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  • I brought you just a sampling of what i'm talking about.
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  • Psalm 9 and verse 9 says, "the lord is a refuge for the
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  • Oppressed, and a stronghold in times of trouble."
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  • That's really good to know.
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  • That if you're being oppressed, challenged, threatened, if
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  • There's expressions of pushback in your life that aren't
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  • Logical, they don't just seem physical.
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  • If they're spiritual in nature, you should know that god is a
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  • Refuge for you.
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  • And you can say, god, i feel vulnerable.
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  • I feel exposed.
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  • I feel, i don't know how to navigate this.
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  • But i thank you that you're my refuge.
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  • That's really important to know about god.
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  • That he's a stronghold when you're walking through troubling
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  • Times because troubling times come to all of us.
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  • See, we've got to move past the bible is some theoretical
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  • Collection of documents from antiquity.
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  • Folks, if it isn't relevant today, you're just a historian.
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  • People of faith believe that what god has said and done, god
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  • Is saying and doing today.
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  • That god is a stronghold in times of trouble.
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  • Those who know your name will trust in you.
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  • Because you have never forsaken those who trust in you.
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  • That's a really important thing to know about god.
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  • You may not know how to spell nebuchadnezzar.
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  • But you should know that god is a stronghold in times
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  • Of trouble.
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  • I'll give you another example, psalm 103, "praise the lord, o
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  • My soul, and forget not all his benefits."
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  • I read that and i think: well, i don't even know what his
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  • Benefits are.
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  • I haven't forgotten them.
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  • I never learned them.
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  • You know, christians would rather go to a seminar on heaven
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  • Than go to heaven.
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  • Oh come on.
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  • We're theoretical christians.
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  • We wanna do another study.
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  • I wanna have a practicum.
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  • I'll be glad to teach a class on how to be born again, but you
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  • Can't come to the second session until you bring somebody you led
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  • To the lord.
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  • Well, well, well, well, well, well, well, i don't know
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  • About that.
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  • Look at this psalm.
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  • It's amazing.
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  • Psalm 103.
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  • "praise the lord, o my soul, and forget not all his benefits."
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  • He forgives all your sins.
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  • He heals all your diseases.
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  • He redeems your life from the pit.
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  • He'll crown you with love and compassion.
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  • He'll satisfy your desires with good things, renew your youth
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  • Like the eagle's.
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  • You might want to know that list of benefits.
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  • As you read your bible, start to pay attention.
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  • God will--there'll be a verse that makes sense to you.
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  • If you put a date in the margin of your bible out beside it,
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  • You'll be able to track your own growth and maturity.
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  • Because you go back and read that chapter a few months later
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  • Or that passage some season later, and you'll remember where
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  • You were when that verse spoke to you.
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  • And you'll realize you're in a different place now.
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  • And you'll go, i've got a different perspective.
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  • There's a difference in how a ten year old sees the world and
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  • A 20-year-old or a 40-year-old.
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  • Not good or bad, just different.
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  • We want to grow in our faith.
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  • But there's another step.
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  • You read the word of god, but you can't stop there.
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  • And these are really intentional, purposeful, as much
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  • As moving from knowing bible stories and characters to say,
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  • I'm gonna read my bible regularly.
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  • The next step in this progression of establishing a
  • 00:05:07.023 --> 00:05:09.592
  • Generational faith is you're willing to lead your life under
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  • The authority of god's word.
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  • Abraham just didn't hear god's voice.
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  • He chose to do what god invited him to do.
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  • Yielding to the authority of scripture, changing
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  • Your behavior.
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  • You have no idea how many times i've had a conversation,
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  • Multiplied hundreds of times.
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  • People say to me, you know, i know what the bible says, but
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  • Let me tell you what i think.
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  • And i'm inside of me i'm going, oh, i'm most enthused to know.
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  • How you're interested in setting aside what god has invited
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  • You to?
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  • We all do that.
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  • Well, maybe he didn't really mean it.
  • 00:05:49.265 --> 00:05:50.767
  • I gave you a couple of verses, exodus 15.
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  • This is god.
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  • He's speaking to a group of people that four days earlier,
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  • We're still egyptian slaves.
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  • I mean, they've still got the odors of egypt in
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  • Their clothing.
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  • I mean, they are freshly delivered through the red sea.
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  • God, moses says to them, "if you listen carefully to the voice of
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  • The lord your god and you do what is right in his eyes, if
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  • You pay attention to his commands and keep all of his
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  • Decrees, i'll not bring on you any of the diseases i brought on
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  • The egyptians, for i'm the lord who heals you."
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  • The word heals is the modern hebrew word for physician.
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  • God said, "i'll be your doctor."
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  • But it's not some arbitrary promise.
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  • It's not just like whimsical.
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  • Did you catch it?
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  • There's conditions for that promise.
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  • He said, "if you pay attention to my commands and you keep my
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  • Decrees, if you'll do what's right in my eyes."
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  • You have to have the intent of honoring me, he said, "if you
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  • Will honor me, if you'll give your heart to that, i will care
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  • For you."
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  • And most of us would like god to care for us when we have a
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  • Problem we want cared for.
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  • But i have to say, the rest of the time, we just hope he's not
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  • Paying much attention.
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  • Like you're the youngest in a long string of kids and he's
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  • Just letting you raise yourself.
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  • Until you get in a hard place, and then you start quoting his
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  • Word to him and going, you said you'd heal me.
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  • You see, we have to willingly submit our lives to the
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  • Authority of god.
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  • Now we do that incrementally.
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  • The same way you mature as a person, emotionally or
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  • Physically or with regard to responsibility, you mature with
  • 00:07:31.467 --> 00:07:34.637
  • The lord.
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  • You'll do that incrementally over time.
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  • Excuse me.
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  • If you choose to do so.
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  • It's not automatic.
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  • Sitting in church will not cause you to mature if you don't
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  • Choose to.
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  • You'll have to willfully submit yourself to the truth that god
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  • Makes real to you.
  • 00:07:53.356 --> 00:07:57.159
  • Not the truth that he's made real to me, the truth he's made
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  • Real to you.
  • 00:08:00.096 --> 00:08:01.864
  • God doesn't ask of all of us what he asked of abraham.
  • 00:08:01.864 --> 00:08:06.669
  • But god made a remarkable promise to abraham.
  • 00:08:06.669 --> 00:08:10.473
  • We do too much comparison of ourselves with others.
  • 00:08:10.473 --> 00:08:14.577
  • I went to the hospital once to pray for a man, he was facing a
  • 00:08:14.577 --> 00:08:17.880
  • Life threatening emergency, he was scheduled for surgery the
  • 00:08:17.880 --> 00:08:20.550
  • Next morning and he was a churched person, he didn't
  • 00:08:20.550 --> 00:08:23.152
  • Live here.
  • 00:08:23.152 --> 00:08:24.520
  • I was in--he was a church person, but he really didn't
  • 00:08:24.520 --> 00:08:27.490
  • Know the lord.
  • 00:08:27.490 --> 00:08:28.858
  • And i said i wouldn't want anybody that i cared about to
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  • Face the procedure you have tomorrow without knowing they
  • 00:08:30.493 --> 00:08:32.595
  • Were prepared to meet the lord.
  • 00:08:32.595 --> 00:08:36.365
  • Could we pray?
  • 00:08:36.365 --> 00:08:37.700
  • And he said, "oh, we don't need to pray."
  • 00:08:37.700 --> 00:08:39.135
  • He said, "i'm a good man."
  • 00:08:39.135 --> 00:08:41.704
  • And i said, well, i don't doubt that, but that's not
  • 00:08:41.704 --> 00:08:44.106
  • The standard.
  • 00:08:44.106 --> 00:08:45.474
  • And he said, well, i'm a whole lot better than the man that
  • 00:08:45.474 --> 00:08:47.209
  • Lives across the street from me.
  • 00:08:47.209 --> 00:08:49.645
  • He's just as sincere as he could be.
  • 00:08:49.645 --> 00:08:52.315
  • And i said, well, i don't even doubt that, but unless the man
  • 00:08:52.315 --> 00:08:55.117
  • That's across the street from you is sitting on the throne
  • 00:08:55.117 --> 00:08:56.986
  • When you step into eternity, that's not gonna help you.
  • 00:08:56.986 --> 00:09:01.857
  • So we prayed together.
  • 00:09:01.857 --> 00:09:04.694
  • We spend too much time comparing ourselves to other people.
  • 00:09:04.694 --> 00:09:07.096
  • Folks, what you want to do is practice obedience to the truth
  • 00:09:07.096 --> 00:09:10.266
  • That god has made known to you.
  • 00:09:10.266 --> 00:09:12.435
  • If you know to tell the truth, stop lying.
  • 00:09:12.435 --> 00:09:15.605
  • If you know to be generous, practice that.
  • 00:09:15.605 --> 00:09:19.575
  • If you have some imagination of what it means to be a good
  • 00:09:19.575 --> 00:09:21.644
  • Husband, be one.
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  • If you've got some insight on what it might be to go be a good
  • 00:09:25.715 --> 00:09:28.017
  • Wife or a good mother, do that.
  • 00:09:28.017 --> 00:09:33.456
  • We don't really need a word study.
  • 00:09:33.456 --> 00:09:36.125
  • We don't have to plunge more deeply into 10th century
  • 00:09:36.125 --> 00:09:38.828
  • Bce culture.
  • 00:09:38.828 --> 00:09:40.630
  • If we will begin with the truth that we know, my experience is
  • 00:09:40.630 --> 00:09:45.568
  • God will lead you forward into more maturity.
  • 00:09:45.568 --> 00:09:49.372
  • If you're ignoring the truth that you know, it's not
  • 00:09:49.372 --> 00:09:51.507
  • Incumbent upon god to give you any further invitations.
  • 00:09:51.507 --> 00:09:56.412
  • So we get to know the characters and the stories.
  • 00:09:56.412 --> 00:09:58.981
  • We begin to read our bibles, and then we make this intentional
  • 00:09:58.981 --> 00:10:02.351
  • Decision to begin to submit ourselves to the authority of
  • 00:10:02.351 --> 00:10:06.455
  • God, but we're not done yet.
  • 00:10:06.455 --> 00:10:07.790
  • Remember, it's a generational faith, an impact that could
  • 00:10:07.790 --> 00:10:09.725
  • Change generations.
  • 00:10:09.725 --> 00:10:11.060
  • That's not simple.
  • 00:10:11.060 --> 00:10:14.964
  • Allen: you know, around the world people are searching for
  • 00:10:19.168 --> 00:10:21.337
  • Truth and together we're doing our very best to help them
  • 00:10:21.337 --> 00:10:24.407
  • Find it.
  • 00:10:24.407 --> 00:10:25.775
  • When you become a ministry partner with allen jackson
  • 00:10:25.775 --> 00:10:27.710
  • Ministries, you're joining a growing community of believers
  • 00:10:27.710 --> 00:10:30.980
  • Who are committed to strengthening the church and
  • 00:10:30.980 --> 00:10:33.616
  • Sharing god's word through every available channel.
  • 00:10:33.616 --> 00:10:36.986
  • Television, radio, podcast, books, bible studies, digital
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  • Audiences to take the hope of jesus to people who may never
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  • Have heard the gospel otherwise.
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  • Together we can stand firm in our faith and make god's truth
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  • Known right here at home and around the earth wherever god
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  • Opens the door.
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  • Let's keep gathering his people and building his church until
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  • The day our king returns.
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  • You can find more about becoming a ministry partner
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  • At allenjackson.com/partner.
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  • Allen: that the next step in this little journey is you
  • 00:11:19.462 --> 00:11:21.964
  • Leading your life under authority.
  • 00:11:21.964 --> 00:11:23.432
  • It's how you make your way into the kingdom of god.
  • 00:11:23.432 --> 00:11:24.967
  • You confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that jesus
  • 00:11:24.967 --> 00:11:27.136
  • Is lord, you'll be saved.
  • 00:11:27.136 --> 00:11:29.004
  • If you don't confess with your mouth and believe in your heart,
  • 00:11:29.004 --> 00:11:31.107
  • It's not that god doesn't want you in his kingdom, you chose
  • 00:11:31.107 --> 00:11:34.076
  • Not to participate.
  • 00:11:34.076 --> 00:11:36.645
  • You understand?
  • 00:11:36.645 --> 00:11:38.013
  • We've left so much of what god has made available to us
  • 00:11:38.013 --> 00:11:40.216
  • Unexperienced because we haven't chosen to participate.
  • 00:11:40.216 --> 00:11:44.553
  • Well, i don't know if i believe in that.
  • 00:11:44.553 --> 00:11:45.888
  • That's the problem.
  • 00:11:45.888 --> 00:11:48.924
  • See, faith comes by hearing the word of god.
  • 00:11:48.924 --> 00:11:52.928
  • I'm not talking about weird self-promoting things.
  • 00:11:52.928 --> 00:11:55.731
  • I'm talking about experiencing the character of god.
  • 00:11:55.731 --> 00:12:00.069
  • The next step in this generational fourth faith as it
  • 00:12:00.069 --> 00:12:02.905
  • Progresses, is to begin to recognize the spiritual force,
  • 00:12:02.905 --> 00:12:06.008
  • The authority in your words.
  • 00:12:06.008 --> 00:12:07.376
  • Your words matter.
  • 00:12:07.376 --> 00:12:10.513
  • Now, that can be misunderstood and misapplied.
  • 00:12:10.513 --> 00:12:12.615
  • You know, food is essential for your well-being, but it can also
  • 00:12:12.615 --> 00:12:15.251
  • Kill you.
  • 00:12:15.251 --> 00:12:16.952
  • But it doesn't mean that good nutrition is wrong.
  • 00:12:16.952 --> 00:12:20.356
  • So when i say to you that your words have spiritual authority,
  • 00:12:20.356 --> 00:12:22.792
  • Go, i knew some crackpot.
  • 00:12:22.792 --> 00:12:24.126
  • I got that.
  • 00:12:24.126 --> 00:12:26.362
  • I know people killing themselves with a fork, but that doesn't
  • 00:12:26.362 --> 00:12:28.564
  • Mean you shouldn't eat.
  • 00:12:28.564 --> 00:12:31.133
  • So don't reject the principle because you've seen it misused.
  • 00:12:31.133 --> 00:12:36.005
  • There's a spiritual force in your words.
  • 00:12:36.005 --> 00:12:39.441
  • Look in deuteronomy 30:11.
  • 00:12:39.441 --> 00:12:41.777
  • "now what i'm commanding you today isn't too difficult for
  • 00:12:41.777 --> 00:12:44.113
  • You or beyond your reach.
  • 00:12:44.113 --> 00:12:46.348
  • It's not up to heaven so that you have to ask who will ascend
  • 00:12:46.348 --> 00:12:48.918
  • Into heaven to get it or proclaim it to us so we can obey
  • 00:12:48.918 --> 00:12:52.221
  • It, nor is it beyond the sea that you have to ask who will
  • 00:12:52.221 --> 00:12:54.790
  • Cross the sea to get it."
  • 00:12:54.790 --> 00:12:56.792
  • He's saying what i'm saying to you today, it's not beyond you.
  • 00:12:56.792 --> 00:12:59.328
  • It's not too hard for you to understand.
  • 00:12:59.328 --> 00:13:00.930
  • It's not beyond your reach or beyond your grasp.
  • 00:13:00.930 --> 00:13:03.365
  • It's available to you.
  • 00:13:03.365 --> 00:13:04.867
  • Look at verse 14.
  • 00:13:04.867 --> 00:13:06.202
  • "now the word is near you.
  • 00:13:06.202 --> 00:13:07.570
  • It's in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it."
  • 00:13:07.570 --> 00:13:11.340
  • What are the two things that god said he would exalt above
  • 00:13:11.340 --> 00:13:14.009
  • Everything else?
  • 00:13:14.009 --> 00:13:15.377
  • That's where we started.
  • 00:13:15.377 --> 00:13:16.712
  • The name of jesus and his word.
  • 00:13:16.712 --> 00:13:19.648
  • And moses is trying to establish these former slaves of egypt in
  • 00:13:19.648 --> 00:13:22.685
  • A life pattern that will cause them to flourish generation
  • 00:13:22.685 --> 00:13:26.555
  • Upon generation.
  • 00:13:26.555 --> 00:13:28.023
  • And he says: god's word isn't beyond you.
  • 00:13:28.023 --> 00:13:30.025
  • His instruction isn't too distant from you.
  • 00:13:30.025 --> 00:13:32.228
  • It's in your heart and it's in your mouth.
  • 00:13:32.228 --> 00:13:36.532
  • How much time do you spend agreeing with the talking heads
  • 00:13:36.532 --> 00:13:39.001
  • That you watch on television or social media?
  • 00:13:39.001 --> 00:13:42.137
  • And how much time do you spend using your words to support what
  • 00:13:42.137 --> 00:13:44.907
  • God has said?
  • 00:13:44.907 --> 00:13:47.276
  • It's an important question.
  • 00:13:47.276 --> 00:13:48.611
  • Look in philippians 4:4, "rejoice in the lord always.
  • 00:13:48.611 --> 00:13:50.346
  • I'll say it again, rejoice."
  • 00:13:50.346 --> 00:13:55.117
  • Paul wrote philippians from a prison cell.
  • 00:13:55.117 --> 00:13:58.487
  • And he's not whining.
  • 00:13:58.487 --> 00:13:59.855
  • He writes to them and says, rejoice, use your words to give
  • 00:13:59.855 --> 00:14:03.726
  • Expression of joy to god.
  • 00:14:03.726 --> 00:14:07.963
  • Well we could change our lives if we would begin to implement a
  • 00:14:07.963 --> 00:14:11.300
  • Little bit of discipline over the words that we use,
  • 00:14:11.300 --> 00:14:14.536
  • Generational faith.
  • 00:14:14.536 --> 00:14:15.905
  • Let your kids hear you rejoice in the lord more than they hear
  • 00:14:15.905 --> 00:14:19.241
  • You complain about people.
  • 00:14:19.241 --> 00:14:22.478
  • Let your friends hear you do that.
  • 00:14:22.478 --> 00:14:26.448
  • Let the people in your small group hear you do that.
  • 00:14:26.448 --> 00:14:30.953
  • Well, psalm 91, "i will say of the lord, 'he is my refuge and
  • 00:14:30.953 --> 00:14:39.795
  • My fortress, my god in whom i trust."'
  • 00:14:39.795 --> 00:14:42.598
  • What do you say about the lord?
  • 00:14:42.598 --> 00:14:44.066
  • I'll tell you what i say, he's my refuge.
  • 00:14:44.066 --> 00:14:45.734
  • I trust in him.
  • 00:14:45.734 --> 00:14:47.569
  • Aren't you afraid of the 30 trillion?
  • 00:14:47.569 --> 00:14:50.005
  • Yeah, i don't like the debt we've got, but i trust the lord.
  • 00:14:50.005 --> 00:14:53.876
  • I'm not gonna go sit in the cave and wait.
  • 00:14:53.876 --> 00:14:57.880
  • I'm gonna lift up the banner of jesus and the word of god in the
  • 00:14:57.880 --> 00:15:00.916
  • Name of jesus and charge.
  • 00:15:00.916 --> 00:15:02.885
  • What are you gonna do?
  • 00:15:02.885 --> 00:15:05.154
  • I trust in the lord.
  • 00:15:05.154 --> 00:15:10.059
  • He's my refuge and my fortress.
  • 00:15:08.457 --> 00:15:12.995
  • Begin to say what god has said about you.
  • 00:15:12.995 --> 00:15:16.265
  • You don't have to climb up on your desk at work and proclaim
  • 00:15:16.265 --> 00:15:19.034
  • Some psalm over everybody.
  • 00:15:19.034 --> 00:15:22.504
  • But you can let it begin to inform your conversations.
  • 00:15:22.504 --> 00:15:26.308
  • You can let it start to fill your heart and your mind.
  • 00:15:26.308 --> 00:15:28.577
  • You say, well, that's not easy.
  • 00:15:28.577 --> 00:15:29.912
  • I'm not suggesting it's easy.
  • 00:15:29.912 --> 00:15:31.480
  • I'm suggesting it takes every bit as much discipline as a
  • 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:33.816
  • Disciplined diet does or a disciplined exercise pattern
  • 00:15:33.816 --> 00:15:36.885
  • Would, or any of the other places in your life that
  • 00:15:36.885 --> 00:15:39.521
  • Require self-discipline.
  • 00:15:39.521 --> 00:15:41.757
  • It's one of the fruit of the spirit.
  • 00:15:41.757 --> 00:15:44.293
  • You're not going to grow up in the lord without
  • 00:15:44.293 --> 00:15:45.861
  • Some discipline.
  • 00:15:45.861 --> 00:15:48.263
  • Oh, isn't that awful?
  • 00:15:48.263 --> 00:15:51.433
  • Don't you just wish we could eat chocolate and be spiritual?
  • 00:15:51.433 --> 00:15:55.337
  • You were like, i'd always have a pocket full of m&m's.
  • 00:15:55.337 --> 00:15:58.707
  • I'll be loving me some jesus, don't you?
  • 00:15:58.707 --> 00:16:00.909
  • It takes discipline to serve the lord, but i'm not done yet.
  • 00:16:04.346 --> 00:16:07.916
  • Generational faith, you move beyond recognizing this, and
  • 00:16:07.916 --> 00:16:12.554
  • Then you step out of that private life, that battle in
  • 00:16:12.554 --> 00:16:15.057
  • Your head, that tape in your head.
  • 00:16:15.057 --> 00:16:16.492
  • Folks, you gotta get that in place or you're never going
  • 00:16:16.492 --> 00:16:18.761
  • Any further.
  • 00:16:18.761 --> 00:16:22.865
  • Then we have a role as advocates for jesus.
  • 00:16:22.865 --> 00:16:27.236
  • The bible, the word, the bible uses as ambassador, 2
  • 00:16:27.236 --> 00:16:29.972
  • Corinthians 5, god is reconciling the world to himself
  • 00:16:29.972 --> 00:16:33.075
  • In christ, not counting men's sins against them.
  • 00:16:33.075 --> 00:16:35.110
  • That's really good news.
  • 00:16:35.110 --> 00:16:36.678
  • That there's a way for all the world to be reconciled to the
  • 00:16:36.678 --> 00:16:38.947
  • Creator of heaven and earth through jesus, and he is
  • 00:16:38.947 --> 00:16:41.817
  • Committed to us.
  • 00:16:41.817 --> 00:16:44.353
  • Oh, you ought to circle that he's committed to us the message
  • 00:16:44.353 --> 00:16:46.989
  • Of reconciliation.
  • 00:16:46.989 --> 00:16:48.357
  • It didn't say he committed the message to the pastors.
  • 00:16:48.357 --> 00:16:51.593
  • He didn't commit the message to the professional christians, to
  • 00:16:51.593 --> 00:16:53.896
  • The clerics, to the theologians, to the seminary professors,
  • 00:16:53.896 --> 00:16:57.633
  • It's us.
  • 00:16:57.633 --> 00:16:59.001
  • We're all in this game.
  • 00:16:59.001 --> 00:17:01.437
  • How awkward is that?
  • 00:17:01.437 --> 00:17:02.805
  • I work in such a dark place.
  • 00:17:02.805 --> 00:17:04.273
  • There's no christians where i work.
  • 00:17:04.273 --> 00:17:05.641
  • I know it's why god sent you.
  • 00:17:05.641 --> 00:17:09.978
  • He needed a light in the darkness, but it's difficult,
  • 00:17:09.978 --> 00:17:13.215
  • Yeah, that's why i chose you.
  • 00:17:13.215 --> 00:17:15.651
  • You're stubborn and you have a big mouth.
  • 00:17:15.651 --> 00:17:17.252
  • He knew you were up to the challenge.
  • 00:17:17.252 --> 00:17:24.359
  • He is reconciling the world through us.
  • 00:17:24.359 --> 00:17:27.796
  • How awkward is that a bunch of cracked pots.
  • 00:17:27.796 --> 00:17:31.166
  • People with warts and mistakes and failures and evidence.
  • 00:17:31.166 --> 00:17:37.139
  • Then god yada ya, it's for my glory that even through a bunch
  • 00:17:37.139 --> 00:17:39.741
  • Of cracked pots, good things can happen.
  • 00:17:39.741 --> 00:17:44.213
  • Verse 20 we are therefore christ's ambassadors as though
  • 00:17:44.213 --> 00:17:47.683
  • God were making his appeal through us.
  • 00:17:47.683 --> 00:17:50.285
  • God's making his appeal to the earth through us.
  • 00:17:50.285 --> 00:17:56.692
  • So if we talk about generational faith and there's generational
  • 00:17:56.692 --> 00:17:59.595
  • Deterioration, where is the fault?
  • 00:17:59.595 --> 00:18:01.930
  • It's not with what jesus did.
  • 00:18:01.930 --> 00:18:03.532
  • His redemptive work is perfect, complete, and entire.
  • 00:18:03.532 --> 00:18:06.835
  • We don't pick up this idea of generational faith.
  • 00:18:10.906 --> 00:18:12.875
  • We'd rather our kids be on the sports team we want them to be
  • 00:18:12.875 --> 00:18:15.511
  • On or get the invitation to the social group we want them to
  • 00:18:15.511 --> 00:18:19.648
  • Have or be in the school we think is better.
  • 00:18:19.648 --> 00:18:22.718
  • And i'm not opposed to any of those things, they have their
  • 00:18:22.718 --> 00:18:24.586
  • Place, but they are secondary to us helping them get to know the
  • 00:18:24.586 --> 00:18:28.624
  • Reality of a living god, the authority of jesus' name and the
  • 00:18:28.624 --> 00:18:31.727
  • Power of his word.
  • 00:18:31.727 --> 00:18:33.996
  • Your friends groups.
  • 00:18:33.996 --> 00:18:35.330
  • I don't care if you talk to your friends about the sports teams
  • 00:18:35.330 --> 00:18:37.399
  • That you champion or the universities that you advocate
  • 00:18:37.399 --> 00:18:39.902
  • For, or the business model you have that informs your
  • 00:18:39.902 --> 00:18:43.005
  • Retirement planning.
  • 00:18:43.005 --> 00:18:44.339
  • All of those things are appropriate conversations, but
  • 00:18:44.339 --> 00:18:45.908
  • They should be secondary or tertiary to your conversations
  • 00:18:45.908 --> 00:18:49.044
  • Around the word of god.
  • 00:18:49.044 --> 00:18:50.379
  • Its place in your life, and the authority of jesus' name.
  • 00:18:50.379 --> 00:18:53.682
  • If people know you and the things that come to mind first
  • 00:18:53.682 --> 00:18:56.218
  • Don't have to do with the word of god and the authority of
  • 00:18:56.218 --> 00:18:58.520
  • Jesus, what kind of friend are you?
  • 00:18:58.520 --> 00:19:02.691
  • What kind of friend are you?
  • 00:19:02.691 --> 00:19:06.094
  • We are ambassadors as though god were making his appeal
  • 00:19:06.094 --> 00:19:09.231
  • Through us.
  • 00:19:09.231 --> 00:19:12.434
  • God's appeal to our generation is coming through people as
  • 00:19:12.434 --> 00:19:15.404
  • Broken as you and me.
  • 00:19:15.404 --> 00:19:17.406
  • Reconciling the world to himself.
  • 00:19:17.406 --> 00:19:20.075
  • Be reconciled to god.
  • 00:19:20.075 --> 00:19:22.711
  • I have a friend who's an ambassador.
  • 00:19:22.711 --> 00:19:25.447
  • He got tagged by this current administration to be the
  • 00:19:25.447 --> 00:19:29.351
  • Ambassador in a country that's been at war since he got there.
  • 00:19:29.351 --> 00:19:33.789
  • And i knew enough about him.
  • 00:19:33.789 --> 00:19:35.157
  • He gave up a very lucrative set of circumstances.
  • 00:19:35.157 --> 00:19:39.061
  • Moved his family 7000 miles away from home.
  • 00:19:39.061 --> 00:19:41.330
  • He just--he'd recently relocated to be where his daughter and his
  • 00:19:41.330 --> 00:19:46.535
  • Grandchildren were.
  • 00:19:46.535 --> 00:19:48.303
  • His wife was very happy about that.
  • 00:19:48.303 --> 00:19:52.007
  • And the call came and said, "will you serve as
  • 00:19:52.007 --> 00:19:53.775
  • An ambassador?
  • 00:19:53.775 --> 00:19:55.143
  • Will you go to a war-torn country thousands of miles from
  • 00:19:55.143 --> 00:19:57.179
  • Home and away from your grandchildren?"
  • 00:19:57.179 --> 00:20:00.015
  • And he said yes.
  • 00:20:00.015 --> 00:20:03.485
  • And he has to fly on his car, the american flag, which puts
  • 00:20:03.485 --> 00:20:06.455
  • You at risk in the nation where he lives.
  • 00:20:06.455 --> 00:20:09.424
  • So, if you're an ambassador, you're not an
  • 00:20:09.424 --> 00:20:11.026
  • Undercover ambassador.
  • 00:20:11.026 --> 00:20:13.428
  • You're not a covert ambassador.
  • 00:20:13.428 --> 00:20:14.963
  • That's called a spy.
  • 00:20:14.963 --> 00:20:17.866
  • And if you'll note the text, it doesn't say we are god's spies.
  • 00:20:17.866 --> 00:20:22.738
  • It says we're his ambassadors.
  • 00:20:22.738 --> 00:20:25.173
  • So we gladly wear the--carry the flag of the kingdom we represent
  • 00:20:25.173 --> 00:20:30.178
  • And the name of the one that we call lord.
  • 00:20:30.178 --> 00:20:32.581
  • We won't have much generational impact for the good if we're
  • 00:20:35.784 --> 00:20:38.854
  • Spies for the kingdom.
  • 00:20:38.854 --> 00:20:42.157
  • We're ambassadors.
  • 00:20:42.157 --> 00:20:44.326
  • And the last piece of this generational transformation is
  • 00:20:44.326 --> 00:20:47.596
  • Not that you're just an ambassador.
  • 00:20:47.596 --> 00:20:48.964
  • Now you're willing to accept the assignment.
  • 00:20:48.964 --> 00:20:51.800
  • Abraham, "i need you to leave the place where you live.
  • 00:20:51.800 --> 00:20:54.970
  • Leave your family, leave your heritage, leave all the things
  • 00:20:54.970 --> 00:20:59.408
  • That go with that.
  • 00:20:59.408 --> 00:21:00.776
  • Go to a land that i'll show you.
  • 00:21:00.776 --> 00:21:02.110
  • I'm not even gonna tell you where you're going, abraham.
  • 00:21:02.110 --> 00:21:03.445
  • I just need you to move."
  • 00:21:03.445 --> 00:21:05.614
  • And abraham listened.
  • 00:21:05.614 --> 00:21:07.716
  • "abraham, i need you to offer your son as a sacrifice.
  • 00:21:07.716 --> 00:21:11.219
  • I'll show you where."
  • 00:21:11.219 --> 00:21:12.554
  • "okay, i'm moving, i'm moving."
  • 00:21:12.554 --> 00:21:13.922
  • "isaac, we gotta go."
  • 00:21:13.922 --> 00:21:16.792
  • "isaac, stay where you are.
  • 00:21:16.792 --> 00:21:19.961
  • The promise you heard me make to your father.
  • 00:21:19.961 --> 00:21:23.231
  • I'm making it to you."
  • 00:21:23.231 --> 00:21:25.534
  • Are you listening, isaac?
  • 00:21:25.534 --> 00:21:27.669
  • See, i believe god is still searching the earth for men and
  • 00:21:27.669 --> 00:21:30.339
  • Women who will listen to him.
  • 00:21:30.339 --> 00:21:32.974
  • I wanna be one of those people.
  • 00:21:32.974 --> 00:21:35.410
  • I'm chief amongst the crack pots.
  • 00:21:35.410 --> 00:21:38.580
  • But i want to be a person who listens to the lord.
  • 00:21:38.580 --> 00:21:41.917
  • Look at john 17.
  • 00:21:41.917 --> 00:21:43.285
  • Jesus was speaking.
  • 00:21:43.285 --> 00:21:44.619
  • "i brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me
  • 00:21:44.619 --> 00:21:46.455
  • To do."
  • 00:21:46.455 --> 00:21:48.056
  • 2 timothy 4, it's the apostle paul from a roman prison
  • 00:21:48.056 --> 00:21:50.892
  • Awaiting a trial.
  • 00:21:50.892 --> 00:21:52.694
  • He's already had one and he narrowly escaped condemnation
  • 00:21:52.694 --> 00:21:55.430
  • To death.
  • 00:21:55.430 --> 00:21:57.265
  • And he said, "i'm already being poured out like a
  • 00:21:57.265 --> 00:21:59.234
  • Drink offering.
  • 00:21:59.234 --> 00:22:00.569
  • The time for my departure has come."
  • 00:22:00.569 --> 00:22:01.903
  • It doesn't mean it's time for him to check into his
  • 00:22:01.903 --> 00:22:03.438
  • Flight online.
  • 00:22:03.438 --> 00:22:05.874
  • He's expecting condemnation.
  • 00:22:05.874 --> 00:22:08.877
  • But he said, "i have fought the good fight, i have finished the
  • 00:22:08.877 --> 00:22:12.080
  • Race, i have kept the faith."
  • 00:22:12.080 --> 00:22:15.083
  • Now here's the reality, folks.
  • 00:22:15.083 --> 00:22:16.418
  • You can do all the things we've talked about and you can follow
  • 00:22:16.418 --> 00:22:18.553
  • This little progression and set yourself on a path.
  • 00:22:18.553 --> 00:22:21.990
  • You can do all of this and you'll still face
  • 00:22:21.990 --> 00:22:23.792
  • Generational challenges.
  • 00:22:23.792 --> 00:22:25.927
  • We're not removed from the arena.
  • 00:22:25.927 --> 00:22:28.230
  • Doesn't mean your family will be perfect.
  • 00:22:28.230 --> 00:22:31.133
  • And your work environment's always gonna be stable.
  • 00:22:31.133 --> 00:22:33.802
  • We're still gonna face the challenges.
  • 00:22:33.802 --> 00:22:35.437
  • That's the nature of the journey.
  • 00:22:35.437 --> 00:22:36.838
  • Jesus had opposition.
  • 00:22:36.838 --> 00:22:38.173
  • All of our heroes had opposition.
  • 00:22:38.173 --> 00:22:40.742
  • The certainty that we have from scripture, and it's where we
  • 00:22:40.742 --> 00:22:42.878
  • Started this, is that god will exalt his name and his word.
  • 00:22:42.878 --> 00:22:45.981
  • He will bring the victory.
  • 00:22:45.981 --> 00:22:48.450
  • The question is, will we listen and will we choose to
  • 00:22:48.450 --> 00:22:52.587
  • Be obedient?
  • 00:22:52.587 --> 00:22:54.122
  • That's different than sitting in church.
  • 00:22:54.122 --> 00:22:58.160
  • That's different than hiding amongst the christians.
  • 00:22:58.160 --> 00:22:59.961
  • I go to the gym, but nobody should confuse me for an
  • 00:22:59.961 --> 00:23:01.963
  • Olympic athlete.
  • 00:23:01.963 --> 00:23:04.266
  • I just hide amongst them with a doughnut on my breath.
  • 00:23:04.266 --> 00:23:09.638
  • Now i walk in the doughnut shop and they say to me at the donut
  • 00:23:13.341 --> 00:23:16.978
  • Shop behind the counter, "have you been to the gym yet?"
  • 00:23:16.978 --> 00:23:19.915
  • Isn't that rude?
  • 00:23:22.918 --> 00:23:25.620
  • Just hush and give me the donuts.
  • 00:23:25.620 --> 00:23:27.355
  • Like i don't wanna talk about the gym.
  • 00:23:27.355 --> 00:23:30.158
  • But hiding in church doesn't do this for you.
  • 00:23:30.158 --> 00:23:33.028
  • And i'm an advocate for church.
  • 00:23:33.028 --> 00:23:36.298
  • I wanna close with an invitation.
  • 00:23:36.298 --> 00:23:37.666
  • I gave you a prayer, you can take that with you.
  • 00:23:37.666 --> 00:23:39.167
  • I wanna close with an invitation.
  • 00:23:39.167 --> 00:23:43.004
  • Understanding a little bit of the paradigm of perhaps what the
  • 00:23:43.004 --> 00:23:45.507
  • Journey might look like, wherever you are on
  • 00:23:45.507 --> 00:23:47.509
  • Your journey.
  • 00:23:47.509 --> 00:23:48.910
  • If you'd be willing to say to the lord, "i'm willing to be an
  • 00:23:48.910 --> 00:23:51.413
  • Ambassador for you.
  • 00:23:51.413 --> 00:23:53.281
  • In my home, in my peer group, in the marketplace, on the
  • 00:23:53.281 --> 00:23:57.118
  • Bleachers, while i'm watching the kids play.
  • 00:23:57.118 --> 00:24:00.088
  • Wherever i go, i'm gonna lead with the authority of your word,
  • 00:24:00.088 --> 00:24:05.160
  • And then i'm gonna honor the name of jesus."
  • 00:24:05.160 --> 00:24:08.797
  • If you'd be willing to say that, i don't want everybody to stand
  • 00:24:08.797 --> 00:24:11.333
  • Because god will take you seriously.
  • 00:24:11.333 --> 00:24:13.468
  • When i make a commitment to the lord, it is every bit as serious
  • 00:24:16.738 --> 00:24:19.007
  • To me as when i sign a contract.
  • 00:24:19.007 --> 00:24:21.576
  • But if you'd be willing to say to the lord, i'll accept that
  • 00:24:21.576 --> 00:24:25.013
  • Ambassadorial appointment.
  • 00:24:25.013 --> 00:24:27.816
  • I'm just gonna ask you to stand.
  • 00:24:27.816 --> 00:24:29.751
  • Whichever sanctuary you're in.
  • 00:24:29.751 --> 00:24:31.086
  • If you're at home watching, you can stand with us from there.
  • 00:24:31.086 --> 00:24:33.889
  • If you're like new to this, this is my first sunday in church,
  • 00:24:33.889 --> 00:24:35.824
  • Pastor, i'm not signing up for anything.
  • 00:24:35.824 --> 00:24:37.192
  • I got that.
  • 00:24:37.192 --> 00:24:38.527
  • I respect that.
  • 00:24:38.527 --> 00:24:41.396
  • But i don't want you to settle for just being church people.
  • 00:24:41.396 --> 00:24:43.465
  • Wow, well, jesus had 11 and they shook the world.
  • 00:24:47.035 --> 00:24:53.608
  • We should at least rock middle tennessee, hallelujah.
  • 00:24:53.608 --> 00:24:58.813
  • Let's pray.
  • 00:24:58.813 --> 00:25:00.248
  • Father, thank you for your word and it's truth and it's power.
  • 00:25:00.248 --> 00:25:04.219
  • I thank you for your great love for us, that you have called us
  • 00:25:04.219 --> 00:25:06.821
  • Out of darkness into the kingdom of your son.
  • 00:25:06.821 --> 00:25:10.458
  • That you have written a story for us, that you're the author
  • 00:25:10.458 --> 00:25:13.128
  • And the completer of our story.
  • 00:25:13.128 --> 00:25:15.664
  • I praise you for that.
  • 00:25:15.664 --> 00:25:17.766
  • And lord, we've stood in your presence today to acknowledge
  • 00:25:17.766 --> 00:25:22.003
  • The assignments you have for us.
  • 00:25:22.003 --> 00:25:24.539
  • To be ambassadors for your kingdom.
  • 00:25:24.539 --> 00:25:27.542
  • And now i ask you to give us a new boldness.
  • 00:25:27.542 --> 00:25:32.781
  • A greater awareness of the people around us who are hungry
  • 00:25:32.781 --> 00:25:35.550
  • And searching.
  • 00:25:35.550 --> 00:25:38.520
  • Lord, may we have a new fear of god.
  • 00:25:38.520 --> 00:25:41.890
  • A respect and a reverence for you that's greater than the
  • 00:25:41.890 --> 00:25:44.459
  • Respect or reverence we would hold for anything else that
  • 00:25:44.459 --> 00:25:47.662
  • Would enable us to use our voices and our actions to be
  • 00:25:47.662 --> 00:25:50.765
  • Advocates for you.
  • 00:25:50.765 --> 00:25:52.934
  • But i pray that we would live in such a way that the generations
  • 00:25:52.934 --> 00:25:55.370
  • Who follow us would receive blessings from you.
  • 00:25:55.370 --> 00:25:59.407
  • May the thoughts of our heart and our attitudes and our
  • 00:25:59.407 --> 00:26:01.876
  • Actions be pleasing in your sight.
  • 00:26:01.876 --> 00:26:04.679
  • Deliver us from evil.
  • 00:26:04.679 --> 00:26:07.282
  • Let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is
  • 00:26:07.282 --> 00:26:09.718
  • In heaven in this generation.
  • 00:26:09.718 --> 00:26:12.621
  • We thank you for it in jesus' name, amen, hallelujah.
  • 00:26:12.621 --> 00:26:17.058
  • God bless you.
  • 00:26:17.058 --> 00:26:18.426
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:26:19.327 --> 00:26:23.365
  • Allen: you know, when i read my bible, i don't read it primarily
  • 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:27.702
  • For information.
  • 00:26:27.702 --> 00:26:29.037
  • It's not just about facts and figures and dates and how to
  • 00:26:29.037 --> 00:26:31.673
  • Spell nebuchadnezzar and how many tribes they were and where
  • 00:26:31.673 --> 00:26:34.242
  • They fit in the land.
  • 00:26:34.242 --> 00:26:35.577
  • I mean, i like all that stuff, but i read my bible to
  • 00:26:35.577 --> 00:26:38.313
  • Be transformed.
  • 00:26:38.313 --> 00:26:39.914
  • I recognize i need the power of god at work in my life, so the
  • 00:26:39.914 --> 00:26:43.284
  • Characters of the bible become more than shadowy
  • 00:26:43.284 --> 00:26:45.954
  • Historical people.
  • 00:26:45.954 --> 00:26:47.288
  • They become my friends or my heroes.
  • 00:26:47.288 --> 00:26:49.257
  • We've put together a tool.
  • 00:26:49.257 --> 00:26:50.759
  • It's "lessons from paul."
  • 00:26:50.759 --> 00:26:52.327
  • It's a 90 day devotional.
  • 00:26:52.327 --> 00:26:54.262
  • It's really gleaned from some of my favorite writings from the
  • 00:26:54.262 --> 00:26:57.298
  • Apostle paul.
  • 00:26:57.298 --> 00:26:58.700
  • You know, he begins as an angry, murderous man and becomes one of
  • 00:26:58.700 --> 00:27:01.703
  • The most powerful advocates for jesus that our world has
  • 00:27:01.703 --> 00:27:05.140
  • Ever known.
  • 00:27:05.140 --> 00:27:06.474
  • Well, i want that kind of transformation in my life to
  • 00:27:06.474 --> 00:27:08.910
  • Move from the place i am to be more effective for the purposes
  • 00:27:08.910 --> 00:27:11.579
  • Of the kingdom of god.
  • 00:27:11.579 --> 00:27:13.114
  • I think the tool will help you in the midst of whatever your
  • 00:27:13.114 --> 00:27:15.350
  • Circumstances, persecution, triumph, lessons from paul,
  • 00:27:15.350 --> 00:27:19.020
  • It'll give you a pathway forward to cooperate with god and get to
  • 00:27:19.020 --> 00:27:22.390
  • A better outcome.
  • 00:27:22.390 --> 00:27:23.725
  • I think you'll enjoy the devotional.
  • 00:27:23.725 --> 00:27:25.126
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:27.162 --> 00:27:27.162