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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - God's Plan, God's Promises and God's People (Part 1)

August 2, 2025 | 28:35

Allen Jackson - God's Plan, God's Promises and God's People (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Pastors #Plan #PromisesofGod #Peopleinyourlife #RelationshipwithGod #WalkwithGod #TrustGod #Faithfulness #Grace

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - God's Plan, God's Promises and God's People (Part 1) | August 2, 2025
  • ...
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  • Allen jackson: i sat down recently with my father to do
  • 00:00:05.464 --> 00:00:08.100
  • A podcast for my "culture and christianity" podcast, and it
  • 00:00:08.233 --> 00:00:09.301
  • Was so valuable to me.
  • 00:00:12.638 --> 00:00:15.274
  • I mean, we it was stories that obviously i'm familiar with,
  • 00:00:15.274 --> 00:00:17.743
  • But as i heard him recount his faith, it ignited something
  • 00:00:17.743 --> 00:00:21.113
  • In me about the faithfulness of god across generations.
  • 00:00:21.113 --> 00:00:25.017
  • Well, i encourage my dad to put together a book about his
  • 00:00:25.017 --> 00:00:27.686
  • Experiences with the holy spirit.
  • 00:00:27.686 --> 00:00:29.788
  • It changed his life, my parents's life, ultimately
  • 00:00:29.788 --> 00:00:32.591
  • My family's life.
  • 00:00:32.591 --> 00:00:34.259
  • I believe the book will be a real encouragement to you.
  • 00:00:34.259 --> 00:00:37.029
  • I wanna make it available to you right along with "unleashing
  • 00:00:37.029 --> 00:00:39.898
  • The power of the holy spirit."
  • 00:00:39.898 --> 00:00:41.366
  • It's something i put together a while back that's been one of
  • 00:00:41.366 --> 00:00:44.136
  • The most effective tools we've ever had in the ministry.
  • 00:00:44.136 --> 00:00:46.805
  • Together, they'll open the doorway for you to not just have
  • 00:00:46.805 --> 00:00:50.042
  • Language around the holy spirit, but to have something to
  • 00:00:50.042 --> 00:00:53.278
  • Actually do to invite him into your life in a regular basis,
  • 00:00:53.278 --> 00:00:55.981
  • To give you the wisdom you need to help you unlock the problems
  • 00:00:55.981 --> 00:00:59.618
  • That we face, the spirit of god within us to help us, guide us,
  • 00:00:59.618 --> 00:01:03.655
  • And direct us.
  • 00:01:03.655 --> 00:01:05.090
  • That's invaluable, and these books will help you understand.
  • 00:01:05.090 --> 00:01:08.193
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:01:08.193 --> 00:01:18.237
  • Allen: we had a--as far as i'm concerned, a god event
  • 00:01:20.005 --> 00:01:21.874
  • This week.
  • 00:01:21.874 --> 00:01:23.208
  • The context is important, so before you respond, let's
  • 00:01:23.208 --> 00:01:25.644
  • Process the context.
  • 00:01:25.644 --> 00:01:26.979
  • But there was a ruling from the irs this week that said churches
  • 00:01:26.979 --> 00:01:34.153
  • Could endorse political candidates without punishment.
  • 00:01:34.153 --> 00:01:42.628
  • Not really anxious to get into that business, but the heart of
  • 00:01:42.628 --> 00:01:48.867
  • That is they--they're restoring a component of free speech which
  • 00:01:48.867 --> 00:01:52.337
  • Had been taken away from people of faith.
  • 00:01:52.337 --> 00:01:56.275
  • And not all people of faith, but there had been a segment of the
  • 00:01:56.275 --> 00:02:00.078
  • Christian church that had been muzzled.
  • 00:02:00.078 --> 00:02:03.582
  • But it really goes back to the 1960s, which for some of you is
  • 00:02:03.582 --> 00:02:06.952
  • Ancient history.
  • 00:02:06.952 --> 00:02:08.320
  • But lyndon johnson was president, the vietnam war was
  • 00:02:08.320 --> 00:02:10.923
  • At its peak and there was a tremendous national divide,
  • 00:02:10.923 --> 00:02:15.460
  • Perhaps greater than the one we have today, over that war.
  • 00:02:15.460 --> 00:02:20.465
  • And johnson slipped into some legislation making its way
  • 00:02:20.465 --> 00:02:23.368
  • Through congress a provision that would revoke churches
  • 00:02:23.368 --> 00:02:29.141
  • Exempt status if they comment--if they commented on
  • 00:02:29.141 --> 00:02:34.046
  • A political candidate, so it became known as the
  • 00:02:34.046 --> 00:02:36.014
  • Johnson amendment.
  • 00:02:36.014 --> 00:02:37.349
  • He didn't want churches criticizing vietnam.
  • 00:02:37.349 --> 00:02:41.119
  • And so for 60 plus years, the churches have lived with it.
  • 00:02:41.119 --> 00:02:44.022
  • It's become a part of the culture.
  • 00:02:44.022 --> 00:02:47.292
  • And it is, to a great extent, because of the churches, not the
  • 00:02:47.292 --> 00:02:50.028
  • Politicians, folks.
  • 00:02:50.028 --> 00:02:52.464
  • We serve a king.
  • 00:02:52.464 --> 00:02:55.801
  • But it's resulted in churches being inept and inert, inactive.
  • 00:02:55.801 --> 00:03:02.241
  • Because in our current environment, if we say, "well,
  • 00:03:02.241 --> 00:03:04.243
  • Biblically, marriage is between a man and a woman," somebody
  • 00:03:04.243 --> 00:03:06.712
  • Starts shouting at us, "you're being political."
  • 00:03:06.712 --> 00:03:10.349
  • No, i'm being biblical.
  • 00:03:10.349 --> 00:03:13.318
  • Or if we talk about sexual morality and immorality from a
  • 00:03:13.318 --> 00:03:16.855
  • Biblical perspective, and what's appropriate and inappropriate,
  • 00:03:16.855 --> 00:03:20.058
  • Somebody's offended and they say, "well, you're being
  • 00:03:20.058 --> 00:03:22.361
  • Poli"--no, we're being biblical.
  • 00:03:22.361 --> 00:03:25.664
  • Or if we say that the nuclear family, a mother and a father
  • 00:03:25.664 --> 00:03:31.169
  • And their biological children was the--god's best intent.
  • 00:03:31.169 --> 00:03:34.773
  • Now, we live in a broken world, we don't get that, but
  • 00:03:34.773 --> 00:03:37.342
  • That's god's intent.
  • 00:03:37.342 --> 00:03:39.411
  • Not the multiple--those are not political issues, those are
  • 00:03:39.411 --> 00:03:43.915
  • Biblical issues.
  • 00:03:43.915 --> 00:03:47.252
  • But because our churches are so divided and our faith is so
  • 00:03:47.252 --> 00:03:51.957
  • Inconsistent, it's been far more convenient just to not talk
  • 00:03:51.957 --> 00:03:55.160
  • About those things, so we talk about the culture of the 1st
  • 00:03:55.160 --> 00:03:57.529
  • Century and the pharisees and the sadducees.
  • 00:03:57.529 --> 00:04:03.302
  • The pharisees believed in the resurrection and the sadducees
  • 00:04:03.302 --> 00:04:06.071
  • Did not.
  • 00:04:06.071 --> 00:04:07.439
  • That's why they're sad, you see. [congregation laughing]
  • 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:16.348
  • I've been to those bible studies too.
  • 00:04:16.348 --> 00:04:20.052
  • And we hide completely from the issues that are shaping our
  • 00:04:20.052 --> 00:04:24.022
  • Lives, our families, our children, our schools.
  • 00:04:24.022 --> 00:04:27.526
  • Dei is evil.
  • 00:04:27.526 --> 00:04:30.629
  • Judging people by their appearance is evil.
  • 00:04:30.629 --> 00:04:36.735
  • But the church has been confused, so it was a tremendous
  • 00:04:36.735 --> 00:04:39.638
  • Breakthrough this week when the irs said churches--that they've
  • 00:04:39.638 --> 00:04:43.275
  • Taken down some of the prohibition against free speech.
  • 00:04:43.275 --> 00:04:47.779
  • So we're allowed--it's not that we're anxious--as far as i'm
  • 00:04:47.779 --> 00:04:49.981
  • Concerned, it's not that we're anxious to jump into the
  • 00:04:49.981 --> 00:04:51.950
  • Political arena and start selecting candidates, but it
  • 00:04:51.950 --> 00:04:54.553
  • Does give us the freedom to talk about culture and current events
  • 00:04:54.553 --> 00:04:59.491
  • Without that persistent threat.
  • 00:04:59.491 --> 00:05:08.367
  • And the skeptics, and i assure you in the weeks and the months
  • 00:05:08.367 --> 00:05:11.103
  • To come, you're gonna hear a lot of arguments around this whole
  • 00:05:11.103 --> 00:05:13.305
  • Spectrum on this, and many of them will be from church
  • 00:05:13.305 --> 00:05:15.440
  • Leaders, saying, "well, churches shouldn't be doing that."
  • 00:05:15.440 --> 00:05:23.749
  • So i think there's a couple of things we should understand.
  • 00:05:23.749 --> 00:05:27.185
  • You know, they'll say, "well, if you're gonna do that, your
  • 00:05:27.185 --> 00:05:29.087
  • Tax status."
  • 00:05:29.087 --> 00:05:30.422
  • Folks, schools and universities have significant tax
  • 00:05:30.422 --> 00:05:36.495
  • Protections, and i assure you they are very ideological in
  • 00:05:36.495 --> 00:05:41.466
  • What they teach.
  • 00:05:41.466 --> 00:05:43.368
  • They have a worldview that they advocate for very blatantly,
  • 00:05:43.368 --> 00:05:47.072
  • Very boldly, very persistently, and no one says that they
  • 00:05:47.072 --> 00:05:51.209
  • Shouldn't do that.
  • 00:05:51.209 --> 00:05:52.577
  • In fact, the only thing they say they shouldn't do
  • 00:05:52.577 --> 00:05:53.945
  • Is if they're boldly and blatantly christian.
  • 00:05:53.945 --> 00:05:58.049
  • And it's been the silence of the church on this issue that has
  • 00:05:58.049 --> 00:06:01.820
  • Enabled all this to happen.
  • 00:06:01.820 --> 00:06:03.522
  • Once again, god is intervening.
  • 00:06:03.522 --> 00:06:05.357
  • You know, it took a president who many people think wasn't
  • 00:06:05.357 --> 00:06:07.826
  • Morally qualified, i don't necessarily agree, but who said
  • 00:06:07.826 --> 00:06:11.163
  • Marriage is between a man and a woman because the pastors didn't
  • 00:06:11.163 --> 00:06:13.365
  • Have the courage to say it from the pulpits.
  • 00:06:13.365 --> 00:06:16.435
  • And now the irs, that's been the bully of the church for my adult
  • 00:06:16.435 --> 00:06:19.938
  • Life, rules that we can talk about what's happening in the
  • 00:06:19.938 --> 00:06:23.742
  • Public square again.
  • 00:06:23.742 --> 00:06:25.811
  • God is moving, i promise you. [congregation applauding]
  • 00:06:25.811 --> 00:06:32.017
  • One of the things that's been revealed this year is there have
  • 00:06:32.017 --> 00:06:34.586
  • Been hundreds of billions of dollars, tax dollars, tax
  • 00:06:34.586 --> 00:06:40.192
  • Dollars, going to ngos--many of whom were tax exempt--to do the
  • 00:06:40.192 --> 00:06:49.501
  • Bidding of people with very significant political agendas.
  • 00:06:49.501 --> 00:06:55.407
  • So god is moving in the earth, and the irs ruling this week was
  • 00:06:55.407 --> 00:06:58.543
  • A tremendous victory for freedom of speech for all of us.
  • 00:06:58.543 --> 00:07:03.014
  • What that will look like and how that gets lived out will be a
  • 00:07:03.014 --> 00:07:05.650
  • Thing of much debate.
  • 00:07:05.650 --> 00:07:07.018
  • I can tell you that representative mark harris of
  • 00:07:07.018 --> 00:07:09.087
  • North carolina and senator james lankford of oklahoma have
  • 00:07:09.087 --> 00:07:12.491
  • Introduced a bill into congress that would make that irs
  • 00:07:12.491 --> 00:07:17.996
  • Ruling--it's called the free speech fairness act--a part of
  • 00:07:17.996 --> 00:07:21.166
  • Our law, and completely reverse the johnson amendment.
  • 00:07:21.166 --> 00:07:24.836
  • That would be a victory and it's worth praying for.
  • 00:07:24.836 --> 00:07:30.442
  • Tell you, god's moving so fast, we don't have time to keep up
  • 00:07:30.442 --> 00:07:32.544
  • With it all.
  • 00:07:32.544 --> 00:07:34.479
  • Supreme court, the ir--who thought god would use
  • 00:07:34.479 --> 00:07:37.682
  • Politicians, the supreme court, and the irs to bring freedom to
  • 00:07:37.682 --> 00:07:40.552
  • The church?
  • 00:07:40.552 --> 00:07:42.387
  • Not me.
  • 00:07:42.387 --> 00:07:44.956
  • You know, and i mean, i'm thinking, well, if you were
  • 00:07:44.956 --> 00:07:46.558
  • Gonna do that like we've done it 60 years, and shut up, allen.
  • 00:07:46.558 --> 00:07:50.729
  • I'm clearly not in charge of the clock, but the lord is moving.
  • 00:07:50.729 --> 00:07:56.501
  • All right, you should have an outline.
  • 00:07:56.501 --> 00:07:57.869
  • I get to do the part i prepared for.
  • 00:07:57.869 --> 00:08:01.306
  • I want to start, at least, a brief series under the theme of
  • 00:08:01.306 --> 00:08:05.877
  • "god's plan."
  • 00:08:05.877 --> 00:08:07.212
  • How many of you know god has a plan for your life?
  • 00:08:07.212 --> 00:08:09.114
  • If you're not living on purpose, you're missing out.
  • 00:08:09.114 --> 00:08:12.651
  • God has a plan for every life.
  • 00:08:12.651 --> 00:08:14.185
  • He's the author and the completer of your story.
  • 00:08:14.185 --> 00:08:18.056
  • God has a promise that he's made to you.
  • 00:08:18.056 --> 00:08:19.958
  • In fact, he has a whole collection of promises that he's
  • 00:08:19.958 --> 00:08:21.993
  • Made to you.
  • 00:08:21.993 --> 00:08:23.428
  • Many of them, if not all of them, are conditional, and if
  • 00:08:23.428 --> 00:08:26.064
  • You don't meet the conditions, you won't be able to enjoy
  • 00:08:26.064 --> 00:08:28.633
  • The promise.
  • 00:08:28.633 --> 00:08:31.002
  • And then we have all this false garbage in the church, "well,
  • 00:08:31.002 --> 00:08:33.805
  • Pastor, you know, i don't wanna be presumptuous, i just want to
  • 00:08:33.805 --> 00:08:36.508
  • Go to heaven."
  • 00:08:36.508 --> 00:08:38.510
  • Well, bless your heart.
  • 00:08:38.510 --> 00:08:41.846
  • Let me make a suggestion.
  • 00:08:41.846 --> 00:08:43.882
  • If god created you for a purpose and you don't have the faith and
  • 00:08:43.882 --> 00:08:47.586
  • The courage and the strength to appropriate his promises, i'm
  • 00:08:47.586 --> 00:08:50.589
  • Gonna submit to you you've got a little chance of fulfilling
  • 00:08:50.589 --> 00:08:52.657
  • Your purpose.
  • 00:08:52.657 --> 00:08:55.126
  • So what in essence we've said to god is, "i don't really care
  • 00:08:55.126 --> 00:08:57.295
  • What you created me for, i wanna live life my way and then go to
  • 00:08:57.295 --> 00:09:00.832
  • Heaven when i'm done."
  • 00:09:00.832 --> 00:09:03.268
  • That's patently offensive.
  • 00:09:03.268 --> 00:09:05.904
  • So we're gonna look at god's plan for our lives, god's
  • 00:09:05.904 --> 00:09:09.007
  • Promises to us, and what it means to be god's people.
  • 00:09:09.007 --> 00:09:12.711
  • We're not gonna do all of that in this session, but we're gonna
  • 00:09:12.711 --> 00:09:17.015
  • Open the doorway.
  • 00:09:17.015 --> 00:09:18.750
  • If you're doing the bible reading with us, and i pray that
  • 00:09:18.750 --> 00:09:20.952
  • You are, if you're not, join us, we're reading a fun book
  • 00:09:20.952 --> 00:09:23.955
  • Right now.
  • 00:09:23.955 --> 00:09:25.290
  • We started the book of judges.
  • 00:09:25.290 --> 00:09:27.158
  • I'm telling you, judges, it's like superheroes.
  • 00:09:27.158 --> 00:09:31.496
  • They're strong people and gifted people and crazy enemies.
  • 00:09:31.496 --> 00:09:36.635
  • Judges is drama.
  • 00:09:36.635 --> 00:09:38.770
  • Leviticus is something else, but judges has got some drama.
  • 00:09:38.770 --> 00:09:43.108
  • But we just finished the book of deuteronomy.
  • 00:09:43.108 --> 00:09:45.076
  • If you haven't joined us, come on, it's a great time.
  • 00:09:45.076 --> 00:09:47.145
  • Fifteen minutes a day or so, you can read through the bible in
  • 00:09:47.145 --> 00:09:49.247
  • A year, it'll change your life.
  • 00:09:49.247 --> 00:09:51.683
  • But at this point in the narrative, what we're learning
  • 00:09:51.683 --> 00:09:53.918
  • From our bible reading is that god fulfills his promises to
  • 00:09:53.918 --> 00:09:57.022
  • His people.
  • 00:09:57.022 --> 00:09:58.523
  • And in the book of judges, he's fulfilling a promise he made in
  • 00:09:58.523 --> 00:10:01.159
  • Earlier generations.
  • 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:03.194
  • It wasn't a promise he made originally to joshua and
  • 00:10:03.194 --> 00:10:08.566
  • Joshua's contemporaries, it's a promise that was made way back
  • 00:10:08.566 --> 00:10:12.570
  • In the book of genesis to abraham, and then to isaac, and
  • 00:10:12.570 --> 00:10:15.140
  • Then to jacob.
  • 00:10:15.140 --> 00:10:16.875
  • It was reiterated to moses.
  • 00:10:16.875 --> 00:10:19.477
  • We're just reading the fulfillment of that promise,
  • 00:10:19.477 --> 00:10:21.546
  • God's bringing them into a promised land.
  • 00:10:21.546 --> 00:10:24.983
  • In fact, the exodus generation, the people who saw the plagues
  • 00:10:24.983 --> 00:10:27.485
  • On egypt and walked through the red sea with the water walled up
  • 00:10:27.485 --> 00:10:30.088
  • On either side, they didn't make the cut, they didn't make it
  • 00:10:30.088 --> 00:10:32.757
  • Into the promised land.
  • 00:10:32.757 --> 00:10:34.926
  • It didn't diminish god's promise.
  • 00:10:34.926 --> 00:10:36.728
  • Their lack of faithfulness, their unbelief, their
  • 00:10:36.728 --> 00:10:39.030
  • Stubbornness, and their rebellion, it didn't diminish
  • 00:10:39.030 --> 00:10:41.733
  • God's commitment to his promise.
  • 00:10:41.733 --> 00:10:44.169
  • Joshua led the next generation, they struggled with obedience
  • 00:10:44.169 --> 00:10:47.272
  • Over and over.
  • 00:10:47.272 --> 00:10:48.606
  • We just finished the book of joshua, lord help them.
  • 00:10:48.606 --> 00:10:53.778
  • The judges followed.
  • 00:10:53.778 --> 00:10:56.114
  • And what we're gonna read in the book of judges is that
  • 00:10:56.114 --> 00:10:58.016
  • Generation after generation fumbled the opportunity that god
  • 00:10:58.016 --> 00:11:00.685
  • Gave them.
  • 00:11:00.685 --> 00:11:03.755
  • I give you that kind of brief introduction because god is
  • 00:11:03.755 --> 00:11:07.025
  • Still fulfilling his promises to his people in the earth.
  • 00:11:07.025 --> 00:11:10.462
  • But the lesson from the book of judges is similar to the lesson
  • 00:11:10.462 --> 00:11:12.864
  • In the book of joshua, which is very similar to the book--the
  • 00:11:12.864 --> 00:11:15.133
  • Lessons in the book of deuteronomy, is that every
  • 00:11:15.133 --> 00:11:18.136
  • Generation has to choose to follow the lord.
  • 00:11:18.136 --> 00:11:22.340
  • The fact that abraham chose to leave his home and follow the
  • 00:11:22.340 --> 00:11:25.176
  • Lord didn't help moses, moses had to decide to respond at the
  • 00:11:25.176 --> 00:11:28.813
  • Burning bush.
  • 00:11:28.813 --> 00:11:30.148
  • And moses' obedience didn't carry the day for joshua, joshua
  • 00:11:30.148 --> 00:11:33.218
  • Had to say he was willing to lead the people into the
  • 00:11:33.218 --> 00:11:35.487
  • Promised land.
  • 00:11:35.487 --> 00:11:37.956
  • And abraham and moses and joshua didn't help gideon a bit when
  • 00:11:37.956 --> 00:11:42.327
  • The midianites were raiding the country, other than to give him
  • 00:11:42.327 --> 00:11:44.696
  • Some points to plot a trajectory along.
  • 00:11:44.696 --> 00:11:47.532
  • Gideon has to decide to be faithful.
  • 00:11:47.532 --> 00:11:49.834
  • Every generation has to choose the lord.
  • 00:11:49.834 --> 00:11:52.303
  • You and i stand up on the shoulders of those who preceded
  • 00:11:52.303 --> 00:11:56.574
  • Us, but we have to occupy our inheritance for ourselves.
  • 00:11:56.574 --> 00:12:02.580
  • We do.
  • 00:12:02.580 --> 00:12:03.915
  • A failure to seek the lord and to fully serve the lord will
  • 00:12:03.915 --> 00:12:06.618
  • Result in a forfeiture of his blessing.
  • 00:12:06.618 --> 00:12:09.988
  • We have been taught a diminished gospel.
  • 00:12:09.988 --> 00:12:13.958
  • It's had a--it's--there's been a heavy emphasis on conversion and
  • 00:12:13.958 --> 00:12:18.229
  • The new birth.
  • 00:12:18.229 --> 00:12:19.564
  • And i believe in those things, but the purpose of those things
  • 00:12:19.564 --> 00:12:21.699
  • Is to give us access to the kingdom of god to fulfill our
  • 00:12:21.699 --> 00:12:25.303
  • Purpose with our journey through time.
  • 00:12:25.303 --> 00:12:29.407
  • Which means that you and i have to decide that we will believe
  • 00:12:29.407 --> 00:12:33.378
  • God for ourselves and our families for something more than
  • 00:12:33.378 --> 00:12:38.683
  • Just going to heaven when we die.
  • 00:12:38.683 --> 00:12:43.054
  • Does that feel like what you're reading?
  • 00:12:43.054 --> 00:12:45.690
  • Feels a lot like what's in the pages of joshua, and i'm certain
  • 00:12:45.690 --> 00:12:49.494
  • It's what's in the pages of judges.
  • 00:12:49.494 --> 00:12:52.497
  • It's in the pages of our new testament as we'll see in
  • 00:12:52.497 --> 00:12:54.799
  • A few minutes.
  • 00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:56.267
  • People following god's plan, have you noticed that there's
  • 00:12:56.267 --> 00:13:00.238
  • Persistent adversaries?
  • 00:13:00.238 --> 00:13:03.641
  • Have you noticed that there's obstructions, that
  • 00:13:03.641 --> 00:13:06.644
  • There's resistance?
  • 00:13:06.644 --> 00:13:08.880
  • God says to moses in a burning bush in exodus 3, "i want you to
  • 00:13:08.880 --> 00:13:11.716
  • Go back to egypt to get my people and lead them out."
  • 00:13:11.716 --> 00:13:14.752
  • Moses is a little reluctant, but he goes back.
  • 00:13:14.752 --> 00:13:16.588
  • But there's a problem, pharaoh didn't wanna let them go.
  • 00:13:16.588 --> 00:13:20.658
  • Maybe moses knew that, maybe it was intuitive, but if i'm taking
  • 00:13:20.658 --> 00:13:23.761
  • The commission, it would have been better for me if god had
  • 00:13:23.761 --> 00:13:25.997
  • Said, "and pharaoh is going to be really, really difficult to
  • 00:13:25.997 --> 00:13:28.566
  • Deal with."
  • 00:13:28.566 --> 00:13:31.469
  • And then i would have really preferred that god said to me,
  • 00:13:31.469 --> 00:13:33.671
  • "and those people that you're gonna lead out,
  • 00:13:33.671 --> 00:13:36.975
  • Stiff-necked bunch.
  • 00:13:36.975 --> 00:13:39.344
  • They're gonna grumble and complain and mutter their way
  • 00:13:39.344 --> 00:13:42.080
  • Across the desert."
  • 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:47.352
  • And there's similar challenges for joshua.
  • 00:13:47.352 --> 00:13:49.954
  • There's similar challenges in the book of judges.
  • 00:13:49.954 --> 00:13:53.224
  • There's similar challenges throughout the story
  • 00:13:53.224 --> 00:13:55.293
  • Of scripture.
  • 00:13:55.293 --> 00:13:56.694
  • Spoiler alert, news flash, breaking news, there is
  • 00:13:56.694 --> 00:14:01.266
  • Resistance to the purposes of god in the 21st century.
  • 00:14:01.266 --> 00:14:08.539
  • Allen: i sat down with my father recently, did a podcast.
  • 00:14:12.677 --> 00:14:15.380
  • He told the story of how he came to faith,
  • 00:14:15.380 --> 00:14:17.348
  • How god transformed our family.
  • 00:14:17.348 --> 00:14:19.484
  • They started a home bible study all the way up to the beginning
  • 00:14:19.484 --> 00:14:21.653
  • Of this church that i've served now for decades.
  • 00:14:21.653 --> 00:14:24.022
  • As i listened, the heart of it was the work of the holy spirit
  • 00:14:24.022 --> 00:14:26.824
  • In his life and through his life.
  • 00:14:26.824 --> 00:14:29.127
  • I asked him to do a book around the topic,
  • 00:14:29.127 --> 00:14:31.195
  • And we have it so that you can invite the spirit of god to be
  • 00:14:31.195 --> 00:14:34.532
  • The dynamic presence of the power of god to bring change in
  • 00:14:34.532 --> 00:14:38.670
  • Life and hope no matter what the circumstances.
  • 00:14:38.670 --> 00:14:41.239
  • You'll enjoy the book.
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  • Female announcer: experience the holy spirit in a deeper way with
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  • This new book by pastor allen's dad, "the eternal
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  • Breath of life."
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  • Request your copy when you donate any amount today.
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  • And when you give $50 or more, you can also request "unleashing
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  • The power of the holy spirit."
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  • It's a collection of pastor allen's sermons that will help
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  • You understand the holy spirit in new ways.
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  • Request yours today at allenjackson.com
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  • Or by calling...
  • 00:15:07.332 --> 00:15:11.869
  • Allen: people following god's plan.
  • 00:15:13.972 --> 00:15:15.473
  • I wanna start in deuteronomy 6.
  • 00:15:15.473 --> 00:15:18.276
  • It's a little longer than i would normally read.
  • 00:15:18.276 --> 00:15:20.511
  • I just want to point you at the language, the language in this
  • 00:15:20.511 --> 00:15:22.246
  • Passage is very intense.
  • 00:15:22.246 --> 00:15:25.350
  • And it's moses talking to the covenant people of god,
  • 00:15:25.350 --> 00:15:28.753
  • Describing for them a people who follow the lord, okay?
  • 00:15:28.753 --> 00:15:35.727
  • Deuteronomy 6: "these are the commands, the decrees and the
  • 00:15:35.727 --> 00:15:39.564
  • Laws," they're not the suggestions, the hints, and the
  • 00:15:39.564 --> 00:15:41.899
  • Nudges, "the lord your god directed me to teach you to
  • 00:15:41.899 --> 00:15:47.338
  • Observe in the land, you're crossing the jordan to possess
  • 00:15:47.338 --> 00:15:52.510
  • It...be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that
  • 00:15:52.510 --> 00:15:55.913
  • You may increase greatly just as the lord, the god of your
  • 00:15:55.913 --> 00:15:59.350
  • Fathers, promised you...love the lord your god with all your
  • 00:15:59.350 --> 00:16:01.853
  • Heart, with all your soul, with all your strength...impress them
  • 00:16:01.853 --> 00:16:05.323
  • On your children...be careful that you don't forget the
  • 00:16:05.323 --> 00:16:10.695
  • Lord...fear the lord your god, serve him only...do not follow
  • 00:16:10.695 --> 00:16:14.966
  • Other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; a jealous
  • 00:16:14.966 --> 00:16:19.170
  • God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy
  • 00:16:19.170 --> 00:16:22.173
  • You from the face of the land...do what is right, do what
  • 00:16:22.173 --> 00:16:27.378
  • Is good in the lord's sight, you may go in and take over the good
  • 00:16:27.378 --> 00:16:31.115
  • Land that the lord promised...thrusting out all of
  • 00:16:31.115 --> 00:16:34.185
  • Your enemies before you, as the lord said...but he brought us
  • 00:16:34.185 --> 00:16:37.755
  • Out from here to bring us in and to give us the land that he
  • 00:16:37.755 --> 00:16:41.192
  • Promised...the lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to
  • 00:16:41.192 --> 00:16:44.262
  • Fear the lord our god...and if we are careful to obey..."
  • 00:16:44.262 --> 00:16:48.833
  • Did you get the--did you get the tone of the language?
  • 00:16:48.833 --> 00:16:51.569
  • Did you hear the words?
  • 00:16:51.569 --> 00:16:52.970
  • Commands, decrees, laws, possessed, be careful, with all
  • 00:16:52.970 --> 00:16:56.841
  • Your heart, all your soul, all your strength, impress it upon
  • 00:16:56.841 --> 00:17:00.478
  • Your children.
  • 00:17:00.478 --> 00:17:03.848
  • Be careful not to forget, fear the lord, serve him only, don't
  • 00:17:03.848 --> 00:17:07.218
  • Follow other gods.
  • 00:17:07.218 --> 00:17:08.553
  • He's a jealous god, he will destroy you.
  • 00:17:08.553 --> 00:17:12.256
  • Do what is right and good, take over the good land, thrust out
  • 00:17:12.256 --> 00:17:16.527
  • All of your enemies, wow!
  • 00:17:16.527 --> 00:17:20.731
  • I thought we were supposed to assimilate.
  • 00:17:20.731 --> 00:17:29.273
  • In the old testament, the covenant people of god were told
  • 00:17:29.273 --> 00:17:34.112
  • That their inheritance was a promised land, a little strip
  • 00:17:34.112 --> 00:17:36.981
  • Of land at the very end of the mediterranean that the world is
  • 00:17:36.981 --> 00:17:39.851
  • Still arguing about.
  • 00:17:39.851 --> 00:17:42.253
  • And i assure you that in the halls of heaven, they could care
  • 00:17:42.253 --> 00:17:46.124
  • Less about the united nations and the security council.
  • 00:17:46.124 --> 00:17:50.228
  • Doesn't mean that the jewish people are always right or
  • 00:17:50.228 --> 00:17:52.230
  • Everything that they do is right, but god promised to that
  • 00:17:52.230 --> 00:17:54.699
  • Group of people, that piece of land, that's their inheritance.
  • 00:17:54.699 --> 00:17:57.735
  • Your life will go better if you'll make peace with that.
  • 00:17:57.735 --> 00:18:04.742
  • The new testament and the new covenant is a little different,
  • 00:18:04.742 --> 00:18:06.878
  • We haven't been promised a particular place on
  • 00:18:06.878 --> 00:18:09.113
  • Planet earth.
  • 00:18:09.113 --> 00:18:10.448
  • We don't have a little strip of terra firma that's ours.
  • 00:18:10.448 --> 00:18:15.520
  • What we are promised under the new covenant is the kingdom,
  • 00:18:15.520 --> 00:18:21.792
  • A different realm of authority that supersedes anything in this
  • 00:18:21.792 --> 00:18:27.431
  • Current world order.
  • 00:18:27.431 --> 00:18:31.702
  • Now, what we learn from scripture is that both the
  • 00:18:31.702 --> 00:18:34.205
  • Promised land and our space in that kingdom have to
  • 00:18:34.205 --> 00:18:38.176
  • Be occupied.
  • 00:18:38.176 --> 00:18:40.478
  • God said that land belonged to the jewish people, to the
  • 00:18:40.478 --> 00:18:42.914
  • Descendants of abraham, isaac, and jacob.
  • 00:18:42.914 --> 00:18:45.082
  • And we--we've been reading through the book of joshua the
  • 00:18:45.082 --> 00:18:49.287
  • Battles that took place, the warfare that took place, the
  • 00:18:49.287 --> 00:18:52.023
  • Conflict that took place, the weariness that came with that.
  • 00:18:52.023 --> 00:18:55.193
  • That victory could--it was only possible when they were living
  • 00:18:55.193 --> 00:18:57.795
  • In obedience to god.
  • 00:18:57.795 --> 00:18:59.163
  • Did you read all that stuff?
  • 00:18:59.163 --> 00:19:00.932
  • I mean, the big picture portions of that, that's what the story
  • 00:19:00.932 --> 00:19:03.568
  • Is about.
  • 00:19:03.568 --> 00:19:04.902
  • And now in the book of judges, you won't stay in the land if
  • 00:19:04.902 --> 00:19:07.238
  • You don't decide to serve the lord.
  • 00:19:07.238 --> 00:19:08.873
  • The land has to be occupied.
  • 00:19:08.873 --> 00:19:11.175
  • Well, in the old testament, the promised land required conquest.
  • 00:19:11.175 --> 00:19:14.011
  • It requires that today, the jewish people will not survive
  • 00:19:14.011 --> 00:19:16.881
  • In that land if they don't give attention to it.
  • 00:19:16.881 --> 00:19:21.652
  • In the new testament, the new covenant, it also requires
  • 00:19:21.652 --> 00:19:25.223
  • A conquest, not of physical territory but of spiritual.
  • 00:19:25.223 --> 00:19:31.862
  • I can easily substantiate this for you in the scripture, and we
  • 00:19:31.862 --> 00:19:35.499
  • Will, to an extent, but bear with me just a moment.
  • 00:19:35.499 --> 00:19:38.402
  • Because we have lived with such stability, such prosperity and
  • 00:19:38.402 --> 00:19:41.839
  • A culture with a biblical worldview that really hasn't
  • 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:44.041
  • Required us to rely upon god until there was some personal
  • 00:19:44.041 --> 00:19:46.744
  • Crisis, a family crisis, a health crisis, some natural
  • 00:19:46.744 --> 00:19:50.615
  • Disaster that would bring some unwanted thing to us, and then
  • 00:19:50.615 --> 00:19:53.884
  • We would press in on the lord a bit to cry out to him.
  • 00:19:53.884 --> 00:19:56.754
  • Maybe he is a healer, maybe he is a deliverer, maybe he is a
  • 00:19:56.754 --> 00:20:00.024
  • Restorer, but we really haven't had to live that way because
  • 00:20:00.024 --> 00:20:02.560
  • We've had such abundance, so many freedoms, and so
  • 00:20:02.560 --> 00:20:04.929
  • Many liberties.
  • 00:20:04.929 --> 00:20:07.498
  • But i'm sure you've noticed our world is rapidly changing, and i
  • 00:20:07.498 --> 00:20:10.701
  • Believe we're gonna have to grow up in our faith and our
  • 00:20:10.701 --> 00:20:12.737
  • Responses to god.
  • 00:20:12.737 --> 00:20:15.039
  • But we shouldn't act like this is something about just the end
  • 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:17.308
  • Of the age, this isn't about just a rapidly
  • 00:20:17.308 --> 00:20:20.611
  • Approaching rapture.
  • 00:20:20.611 --> 00:20:22.780
  • That may be, i'm not saying it isn't, but that's not exactly,
  • 00:20:22.780 --> 00:20:26.384
  • I believe, the best way to understand.
  • 00:20:26.384 --> 00:20:28.152
  • I would submit to you that what we're experiencing is the
  • 00:20:28.152 --> 00:20:30.454
  • Challenge to the kingdom of god.
  • 00:20:30.454 --> 00:20:34.325
  • I put a list of bullets in your note, i'm not gonna--notes, i'm
  • 00:20:34.325 --> 00:20:36.994
  • Not gonna take the time to read all the scriptures.
  • 00:20:36.994 --> 00:20:38.829
  • I think you'll recognize the narrative.
  • 00:20:38.829 --> 00:20:41.565
  • You see, the new testament narrative is about our king,
  • 00:20:41.565 --> 00:20:44.635
  • Remember his name?
  • 00:20:44.635 --> 00:20:47.004
  • He's jesus, the one that came from nazareth.
  • 00:20:47.004 --> 00:20:49.040
  • There were many jesus, this is the nazareth one.
  • 00:20:49.040 --> 00:20:54.879
  • Our king was falsely accused, he became the object of
  • 00:20:54.879 --> 00:20:59.450
  • Irrational hatred.
  • 00:20:59.450 --> 00:21:02.453
  • I mean, he fed multitudes, he made wine out of water, he
  • 00:21:02.453 --> 00:21:05.423
  • Healed the sick, he raised the dead.
  • 00:21:05.423 --> 00:21:07.758
  • You wouldn't imagine that that would elicit great hatred and
  • 00:21:07.758 --> 00:21:11.429
  • Murderous rage, but it did.
  • 00:21:11.429 --> 00:21:13.030
  • It was illogical and irrational and ultimately, he was tortured
  • 00:21:13.030 --> 00:21:16.233
  • To death.
  • 00:21:16.233 --> 00:21:18.669
  • And under the pressure of an angry mob and brutal roman
  • 00:21:18.669 --> 00:21:22.673
  • Soldiers, his closest friends and followers abandoned him
  • 00:21:22.673 --> 00:21:27.244
  • Because they recognized the imminent personal threat.
  • 00:21:27.244 --> 00:21:30.514
  • "too much pressure to be identified with jesus, we'll
  • 00:21:30.514 --> 00:21:34.151
  • Go hide."
  • 00:21:34.151 --> 00:21:38.289
  • And then, in spite of jesus telling them it would happen,
  • 00:21:38.289 --> 00:21:42.093
  • Much to the surprise of his closest friends and followers,
  • 00:21:42.093 --> 00:21:44.862
  • God raised jesus back to life.
  • 00:21:44.862 --> 00:21:48.499
  • You may or may not have noticed that jesus only appeared after
  • 00:21:48.499 --> 00:21:51.268
  • The resurrection to his followers.
  • 00:21:51.268 --> 00:21:54.805
  • He only spent time with his friends, those who had believed
  • 00:21:54.805 --> 00:21:57.608
  • In him prior to his resurr--crucifixion.
  • 00:21:57.608 --> 00:22:01.445
  • His enemies, they imagined they'd had a great victory.
  • 00:22:01.445 --> 00:22:05.549
  • Oh, they celebrated.
  • 00:22:05.549 --> 00:22:07.651
  • The last image that's presented to the non-believers is jesus on
  • 00:22:07.651 --> 00:22:11.555
  • The cross, naked, hungry, and thirsty, in want of all things,
  • 00:22:11.555 --> 00:22:16.627
  • Suffocating to death.
  • 00:22:16.627 --> 00:22:22.967
  • And then we read that the spirit of god is poured out upon
  • 00:22:22.967 --> 00:22:25.436
  • Jesus's friends and there's some transformation that takes place.
  • 00:22:25.436 --> 00:22:31.542
  • It's difficult to explain.
  • 00:22:31.542 --> 00:22:32.877
  • The ones who have been like "keystone cops" and cowardly
  • 00:22:32.877 --> 00:22:35.479
  • Lions and bumbling, they have a new purpose, a new authority, a
  • 00:22:35.479 --> 00:22:41.018
  • New boldness, a new clarity, and they begin to tell their
  • 00:22:41.018 --> 00:22:44.221
  • Personal stories of knowing jesus.
  • 00:22:44.221 --> 00:22:47.825
  • And there are tremendous responses that begin to emerge,
  • 00:22:47.825 --> 00:22:50.461
  • There are miracles, crowds of people gather.
  • 00:22:50.461 --> 00:22:53.798
  • Growing pains, the systems for interacting with one another are
  • 00:22:53.798 --> 00:22:57.468
  • Stretched because of the new people coming, what used to be
  • 00:22:57.468 --> 00:23:02.239
  • Counted in handfuls are counted in thousands.
  • 00:23:02.239 --> 00:23:06.343
  • And there's a very predictable response to that, the same
  • 00:23:06.343 --> 00:23:08.646
  • People that hated jesus now hate jesus's friends, they're jealous
  • 00:23:08.646 --> 00:23:12.483
  • Of them.
  • 00:23:12.483 --> 00:23:14.452
  • And the same hatred pointed at jesus is pointed at them,
  • 00:23:14.452 --> 00:23:17.188
  • They're arrested, they're threatened.
  • 00:23:17.188 --> 00:23:19.757
  • Violence in jerusalem begins again, murders of jesus's
  • 00:23:19.757 --> 00:23:23.360
  • Friends in jerusalem again.
  • 00:23:23.360 --> 00:23:27.164
  • The persecution intensifies to the point that jesus's friends
  • 00:23:27.164 --> 00:23:30.100
  • Are scattered, they can't stay in a centralized place anymore
  • 00:23:30.100 --> 00:23:34.171
  • To survive.
  • 00:23:34.171 --> 00:23:35.506
  • I don't like that.
  • 00:23:35.506 --> 00:23:36.874
  • To be completely candid, that part of the narrative always
  • 00:23:36.874 --> 00:23:39.677
  • Makes me uncomfortable.
  • 00:23:39.677 --> 00:23:41.011
  • How about a line of angels around jesus's friend and the
  • 00:23:41.011 --> 00:23:49.420
  • Past--first person or the 'pirst ferson', whichever works,
  • 00:23:49.420 --> 00:23:53.057
  • The first person to touch one of the angels just melts, next.
  • 00:23:53.057 --> 00:24:01.265
  • But that's not what god did.
  • 00:24:01.265 --> 00:24:04.301
  • He sends angels to get peter out of a prison.
  • 00:24:04.301 --> 00:24:07.838
  • And he goes where there's a group of people praying through
  • 00:24:07.838 --> 00:24:09.874
  • The night, and he said, "i'm okay, but tell the brothers i'm
  • 00:24:09.874 --> 00:24:15.112
  • Leaving for a while," ah!
  • 00:24:15.112 --> 00:24:20.317
  • It's an amazing narrative, persecution results
  • 00:24:20.317 --> 00:24:22.653
  • In dispersion.
  • 00:24:22.653 --> 00:24:24.054
  • There are remarkable results.
  • 00:24:24.054 --> 00:24:26.624
  • All over the roman empire, people are accepting the
  • 00:24:26.624 --> 00:24:29.059
  • Jesus story.
  • 00:24:29.059 --> 00:24:30.394
  • There's miracles, extraordinary miracles, healings, deliverance.
  • 00:24:30.394 --> 00:24:33.497
  • And everywhere the message goes, there's hatred and accusations
  • 00:24:33.497 --> 00:24:36.967
  • And arrest and violence and riots.
  • 00:24:36.967 --> 00:24:41.906
  • From a prison cell in rome, paul writes letters to churches that
  • 00:24:41.906 --> 00:24:47.011
  • He helped bring into existence, that he helped birth in ephesus
  • 00:24:47.011 --> 00:24:50.915
  • And colossae.
  • 00:24:50.915 --> 00:24:52.283
  • I gave you just a sampling of the tone of the new testament.
  • 00:24:52.283 --> 00:24:55.252
  • Folks, we've missed this.
  • 00:24:55.252 --> 00:25:00.558
  • Just listen to the tone, romans 8:35: "who shall separate us
  • 00:25:00.558 --> 00:25:03.928
  • From the love of christ?
  • 00:25:03.928 --> 00:25:06.063
  • Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or
  • 00:25:06.063 --> 00:25:08.799
  • Nakedness or danger or sword?"
  • 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:10.868
  • What's being implied is that trouble and hardship and
  • 00:25:10.868 --> 00:25:13.270
  • Persecution and famine and nakedness for the sake of the
  • 00:25:13.270 --> 00:25:15.940
  • Gospel is a part of the package.
  • 00:25:15.940 --> 00:25:22.379
  • And the answer in verse 37: "no, in all of these things we are
  • 00:25:22.379 --> 00:25:26.517
  • More than conquerors through him who loved us."
  • 00:25:26.517 --> 00:25:30.354
  • How--what does it mean to be more than a conqueror?
  • 00:25:30.354 --> 00:25:31.989
  • That's an interesting phrase to me.
  • 00:25:31.989 --> 00:25:34.124
  • I mean, i'm pretty happy, you know, just being a conqueror
  • 00:25:34.124 --> 00:25:36.226
  • Is not bad.
  • 00:25:36.226 --> 00:25:37.661
  • We came, we saw, we conquered.
  • 00:25:37.661 --> 00:25:41.398
  • I'm all right with that little paradigm.
  • 00:25:41.398 --> 00:25:43.901
  • What's it mean to be more than a conqueror?
  • 00:25:43.901 --> 00:25:47.438
  • Obviously there's some opinion in this, but it seems to me that
  • 00:25:47.438 --> 00:25:50.841
  • It means after you've conquered, then you plunder.
  • 00:25:50.841 --> 00:25:54.345
  • And you're not only victorious, you leave with all the spoils.
  • 00:25:54.345 --> 00:26:01.885
  • Allen: being a christ follower is not as much about an
  • 00:26:06.023 --> 00:26:08.092
  • Experience and a completed activity, a prayer, a visit
  • 00:26:08.092 --> 00:26:11.929
  • To an altar, a response to an evangelist.
  • 00:26:11.929 --> 00:26:14.665
  • It's certainly a beginning point of welcoming jesus into your
  • 00:26:14.665 --> 00:26:18.068
  • Heart, but it's a life that we lead.
  • 00:26:18.068 --> 00:26:20.104
  • So, we continue to grow and learn and gain strength as life
  • 00:26:20.104 --> 00:26:23.741
  • Presents challenges.
  • 00:26:23.741 --> 00:26:25.075
  • We get to know god in a new way.
  • 00:26:25.075 --> 00:26:27.044
  • Well, i believe this book about the holy spirit is a tool to
  • 00:26:27.044 --> 00:26:29.813
  • Help you gain a new momentum to grow through the things in your
  • 00:26:29.813 --> 00:26:33.984
  • Life under the direction of the power of the spirit of god.
  • 00:26:33.984 --> 00:26:37.287
  • Folks, we're not gonna outwork evil or outthink evil.
  • 00:26:37.287 --> 00:26:39.690
  • We're not gonna out organize evil.
  • 00:26:39.690 --> 00:26:41.592
  • The only thing evil will yield to is a power greater than
  • 00:26:41.592 --> 00:26:44.194
  • Itself, and that power is the spirit of god in you and me
  • 00:26:44.194 --> 00:26:48.666
  • Manifest in the earth through people of faith.
  • 00:26:48.666 --> 00:26:51.535
  • We're salt and light.
  • 00:26:51.535 --> 00:26:53.137
  • We're change agents.
  • 00:26:53.137 --> 00:26:54.638
  • I wanna pray.
  • 00:26:54.638 --> 00:26:56.006
  • Heavenly father, give us a discernment to recognize your
  • 00:26:56.006 --> 00:26:58.475
  • Spirit, how we can welcome him into our lives and cooperate
  • 00:26:58.475 --> 00:27:01.412
  • With him to bring your breakthroughs into our lives,
  • 00:27:01.412 --> 00:27:04.715
  • Our homes, and our churches.
  • 00:27:04.715 --> 00:27:06.984
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:06.984 --> 00:27:08.452
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:08.452 --> 00:27:26.437