Allen Jackson - Jesus Changes Everything (Part 1)

May 15, 2025 | S25:E138

Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

#Hope #Fear #Freedom #Gospel #Religion #Jesus #Change #Joy #inActive #Resurrection #AllenJacksonMinistries #AllenJackson #Death #NewCreation #Transformation #Crucifixion #BornAgain #Disappointed

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Jesus Changes Everything (Part 1) | May 15, 2025

Allen jackson: it's good to be with you again.
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You know, we're walking through a season of some pretty
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Unprecedented turmoil.
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There are cars burning and car dealerships burning, and there
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Are judges.
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There's just a lot of stuff.
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Well, i'm really excited about our offer this month.
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In fact, we chose it because i think it will bring you a
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Pathway of stability in the midst of all the turmoil.
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It's written by a good friend of mine, rob morgan, "the lord is
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My shepherd."
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And it seems to me we need to know the tranquility that comes
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From a shepherd who is marking a path for us and then standing
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Watch over us when we know there's predators about.
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We're living in a predatory season.
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We need to know the lord is a shepherd, and i believe this
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Offer can make a real difference in your life.
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In fact, it's important enough that we'll make it available for
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A gift of any amount.
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I think it's far more important that you have it in your hand
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Than the cost attached to it.
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God is moving in the earth, and we wanna move with him.
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Our shepherd will lead us through.
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You'll enjoy the book.
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♪♪♪
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♪♪♪
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Allen: the title is "jesus changes everything," because i
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Believe that, i believe he truly does.
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I believe a personal relationship, not just a
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Historic knowledge.
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I earned a degree in history.
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We need more than just a historic nod to jesus, we need
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To know him in a personal way.
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Christianity is not a dead religion.
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We don't worship someone who lived in antiquity and just, we
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Try to memorize his clever sayings.
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We worship a living king.
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Jesus is the head of the church today, which transcends any
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Denomination or affiliation or preference of style of worship
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Or translation of the bible, we actually serve a living king,
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That's exciting.
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And easter weekend is the celebration of jesus's
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Resurrection from the dead.
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He was arrested, he was betrayed, he was arrested, he
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Was falsely accused, condemned to death, tortured to death in
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Public, and then on sunday morning he was raised to
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Life again.
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That is the heart of the story of christianity.
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It's not about cathedrals, it's not primarily about systematic
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Theology, it's not about translations of the scripture,
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It's about our living lord and king.
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And the defining characteristic of a christ follower is they
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Choose to believe that.
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It is really more than it's about keeping rules or a code.
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It's a very personal decision about an individual by the name
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Of jesus of nazareth and the place that you give him in
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Your life.
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If you sit in church and you haven't given jesus the lordship
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Of your life, you shouldn't imagine you're a
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Christ follower.
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Jesus changes everything.
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There's a simple sentence in the gospel of john.
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Almost half of the gospel of john is dedicated to jesus
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Either preparing his disciples for his suffering when he
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Arrives in jerusalem or recounting those events.
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And as jesus begins to prepare his disciples, there's this one
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Little sentence that slipped in, you could easily overlook it.
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It's in john 16:12.
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Jesus looks at his closest friends in the midst of all the
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Instructions he's giving them, and he said, "i have much more
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To say to you, more than you can now bear."
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And then he moves on.
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He said, "you'll get more help.
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You'll get further instruction.
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You'll get more training.
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There's a lot more you're going to need to know, but you can't
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Take any more right now.
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You're emotionally full.
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Your minds are clouded.
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There's just no more capacity."
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We've all been there, when you're like, you know, "if this
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Sermon doesn't stop in a minute, i'm leaving, because i can't
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Take it anymore."
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I'm not the first person to drive a crowd to that place.
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And what was in front of jesus's closest friends, to be
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Completely honest, was almost unbearable.
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It was just about more than they could contemplate.
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It was certainly more than they could emotionally process
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Or imagine.
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Their training is incomplete, there are events about to
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Unfold, which will be unbearable for them.
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And jesus said, "i'm going to help you."
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Well, i want to spend the balance of our time this morning
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Looking at the coaching that jesus gave his friends.
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I think it would be safe to say that the people closest to jesus
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Went through a bit of a rough patch once he was arrested.
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It completely disoriented them.
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It took everything they thought they understood and everything
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That they thought they knew and turned it upside down.
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After all, they've been following jesus for three years.
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They've seen him still a storm, they've seen him speak to waves
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And the sea grew quiet.
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They've watched him raise the dead back to life.
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They've seen him feed a multitude with a boy's lunch.
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They've picked up basket fulls of leftovers from that event
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That were greater than the amount they started with.
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They've seen him be challenged by people trying to trap him
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With his words and he very nimbly would turn them back.
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They just couldn't imagine there was a circumstance that he
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Couldn't address, and then they saw him betrayed, arrested and
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Tortured to death.
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And it's turned everything they thought they understood
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Upside down.
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I think that's important for us because you and i are living
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Through a season that's confusing in itself.
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In the world around us, if you pay any attention these days,
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Good is often called evil.
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And evil is frequently celebrated as
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Something courageous.
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And in far too many churches, we've rejected biblical
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Authority and we seek the approval of our secular
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Overlords, so we'll compromise the fundamental principles of
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The word of god so that we can receive the applause of
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Our culture.
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It's confusing, it's disorienting, but i have good
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News, jesus will help us.
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Just as certainly as he helped his friends in the pages of the
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Gospels, i assure you this morning that we're not alone.
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We're not isolated, we have tremendous support available
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To us.
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So i'm going to take two or three of these little episodes
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With jesus and his friends.
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In john chapter 20, it's resurrection morning and jesus's
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Closest friends are in a very dark place.
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In fact, i think it's safe to say they've been totally
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Captured by fear and disappointment.
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They've watched the unthinkable.
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They've seen the most horrific thing they could imagine.
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And now they're completely exposed, they feel vulnerable,
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So they're not only frightened, they're crushed
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With disappointment.
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It's john chapter 20, in verse 1, it says, "early on the first
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Day of the week, while it was still dark, mary magdalene went
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To the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from
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The entrance.
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So she came running to simon peter and the other disciple,
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The one jesus loved, and said, 'they've taken the lord out of
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The tomb, and we don't know where they put him!'"
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You have to step back from that a minute.
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The conflict with jesus is so great, so intense, that his
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Closest friends imagine that desecrating the graves is a
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Possible activity.
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What kind of hatred do you have to have for someone?
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That after you've tortured him to death in public, his friends
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Have the imagination you would desecrate their grave.
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You see, jesus didn't die because of some quaint
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Theological dispute.
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He wasn't crucified because he crossed some
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Theological boundary.
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There was an intense hatred.
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The violent spirit of antichrist orchestrated the torturing the
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Death of jesus of nazareth, far more than the romans or the high
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Priest or the sanhedrin, or any other group of people.
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The activities that led to resurrection morning were
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Orchestrated by an expression of the spirit of antichrist.
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And what you and i have to understand is that spirit is
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Still at work in the earth.
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The hatred of jesus in the earth is not new.
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It's not a 21st century initiative.
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You and i knew you're going to have to have
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A different attitude.
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We're going to have to have a different understanding.
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It's going to require of us a bit more of a determined faith,
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A persistent faith.
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We're a bit like the frog in the kettle.
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I don't think we understand how dramatically the culture has
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Been changing, because it's been changing incrementally over the
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Course of our lifetimes, those of us that have had a
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Few birthdays.
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This is the 45th anniversary of this congregation.
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Easter sunday 1980 was our first service.
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I was three years old, you can do the math.
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But we're going to have to have a bit more
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Of a determined faith.
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Not long ago, the rutherford county school board voted to
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Begin their meetings with a prayer.
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Nothing dramatic, nothing required, nothing demanded, not
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Forced participation.
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They simply said, "we'd like to begin our meetings with a
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Prayer, not just a moment of silence."
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But there was tremendous anxiety that they would be sued, that
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Legal action would be taken against them.
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Many suggested that the aclu would get involved.
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There's some question at the moment if that's
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Actually happening.
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I have a question for you.
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How have we arrived at a place where we are sued for a
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Christian prayer?
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And how is it that we're so cowardly, we will accept that as
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If it's normative, that's unthinkable.
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No one's being forced to comply or forced to participate.
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A group of people simply said, we'll begin with the prayer.
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They were elected to those places.
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They could be removed from those places if people don't like the
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Prayers, or we could put people in places that are willing
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To pray.
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How have we capitulated?
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What has stirred us?
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How has fear, fear of the cost of a lawsuit, fear of the threat
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Of someone disagreeing, driven us into the shadows.
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We're not that different than that first century audience,
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"where have they taken our lord?
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They've removed him from the tomb," or we've removed him from
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A lot of public places.
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But jesus didn't leave him there, in john chapter 20, same
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Chapter, verse 10, "the disciples went back to their
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Homes, but mary stood outside the tomb crying.
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And as she wept, she'd bent over to look into the tomb and she
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Saw two angels in white, seated where jesus' body had been, one
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At the head, the other at the foot.
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They said, 'woman, why are you crying?'
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'well, they've taken my lord away, and i don't know where
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They put him.'
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And she turned around and she saw jesus standing there, but
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She didn't realize it was jesus."
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You know you can be so captured by grief, so tormented by fear,
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So overwhelmed by disappointment that it changes
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Your perspective.
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It changes your perception.
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It alters how you see reality.
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You see everything through the lens of disappointment.
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Hope is snatched from your heart.
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Mary was in that place.
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"'woman, why are you crying?
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Who is it you're looking for?'
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She thought he was the gardener."
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She's been hanging out with jesus for a while.
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"she thought he was the gardener.
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She said, 'sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where
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You've put him, and i will get him.'
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And jesus said to her, 'mary.'"
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It says she cried out "rabboni!"
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Means teacher, it makes me smile.
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Of all the things jesus could do, of all the places he could
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Be, of all the expressions of his power, his glory or his
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Majesty, he takes a moment on resurrection day to pause and
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Say, "mary, why are you crying?"
00:11:22.797 --> 00:11:27.402
I love it, i'm telling you jesus changes everything.
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I promise you, for the rest of her existence, that woman was
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Never the same again.
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The emotions she brought to the garden that morning, the
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Emotions that she gave display to when she saw an empty tomb
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Were completely erased.
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The fear and the disappointment, they evaporated in a moment.
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Cc by aberdeen captioning 1-800-688-6621 aberdeen.io
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Allen: hey, the question i'm asked most often is, "how do i
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Know what god wants me to do?
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If i just knew what god wanted me to do, i would do it,
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Whatever it is."
00:11:59.167 --> 00:12:00.902
Well, our offer this month i think will help.
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It's by a good friend of mine, rob morgan,
00:12:02.604 --> 00:12:04.472
"the lord is my shepherd."
00:12:04.472 --> 00:12:06.174
He's gonna unpack the scripture that tells us how to follow the
00:12:06.174 --> 00:12:09.010
Lord's guidance and understand his abiding presence
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And his comfort.
00:12:12.514 --> 00:12:13.948
It'll help you chart a course and know the path that
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God has for you.
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Get a copy, it'll make a difference in your life.
00:12:18.386 --> 00:12:20.688
Female announcer: life can be overwhelming,
00:12:20.688 --> 00:12:22.157
But true peace is possible.
00:12:22.157 --> 00:12:24.459
Pastor robert morgan's book "the lord is my shepherd" reflects on
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The specific ways psalm 23 speaks to our lives today.
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It will help you find rest for your soul and discover the joy,
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Inspiration, power, and peace found in psalm 23.
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In today's culture it's essential to know god is leading
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Us, charting our path, and watching over us.
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Request your copy of "the lord is my shepherd" when you donate
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Any amount at allenjackson.com or by calling ...
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Allen: you see, i don't believe we can serve the lord if we
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Allow fear to dominate our hearts.
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It's going to be necessary for us to have a greater confidence
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In jesus than in those things which frighten us.
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Which means we're going to have to focus our attention on who he
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Is, what he said, what charity was singing about a few
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Moments ago.
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We spend too much time rehearsing the things that
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Frighten us, the things that we don't like.
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We're more aware of the challenges and the powers that
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They threaten us with than we are the power of the god
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We serve.
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The christian church has been in existence on planet earth now
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For more than two millennia.
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There are certainly some dark chapters in that, but the
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Triumph of jesus has overcome empires.
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It's overcome horrific chapters in human history.
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It's brought more tolerance, it's brought more opportunity,
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It's brought greater freedom and liberty wherever the gospel has
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Been properly presented.
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And jesus is still doing that in the earth.
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We do not have to lead lives that are bent over by fear
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And disappointment.
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And if you came to easter worship challenged by those two
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Imposters, we're going to dispense them in just a moment.
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We're not accepting them beyond this day.
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In that same chapter, john 20, there's another scene with some
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Other emotions.
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This time it's a larger gathering.
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Jesus' closest friends are all gathered in one place.
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The doors are locked, they're shut in.
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They've been to the tomb, the body was gone, they don't know
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Where it's at.
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There's a lot of confusion.
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I would submit to you that this group has been totally
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Captivated by hopelessness.
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Have you ever been hopeless?
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Hopelessness is a package deal, it comes with despair.
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All the air goes out of you.
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You've lost your motivation.
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You've been robbed of your courage.
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This group of people fits that description.
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It's john 20, and verse 19, "on the evening of that first day of
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The week, when the disciples were together, with the doors
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Locked for the fear of the jews, jesus came and stood among them
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And said, 'peace be with you!'
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And then he showed them his hands in his side, and his
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Disciples were overjoyed when they saw the lord."
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I often say the bible has a great gift for understatement.
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There's a dozen, a couple of dozen people locked in a room.
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They're afraid they're going to be arrested.
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They're afraid they're going to be tortured.
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Their best friend that they thought was the most unique
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Human being they've ever known, has been crucified.
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And now they're being hunted and they're locked in a room and
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Jesus steps into the room with them.
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And he shows them the signs of his passion, and john reports
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That they were overjoyed.
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I mean i think the emotion might have been a little different
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Than just overjoyed.
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Suppose you got a text in the next 12 seconds that just said
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You won the lottery.
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How many of you'd be happy?
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Maybe you get a text in the next 12 seconds from doge that said,
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You don't have to pay taxes for the next 20 years of your life.
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How many of you would be overjoyed?
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That's awesome, yay me.
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I would submit to you, the disciples were uproariously,
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Insanely, beyond any emotional level i know how to describe for
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You, overwhelmed with the reality that their best friend
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Was not dead.
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In fact, he was alive and standing before them.
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I'll tell you what intrigues me about that, is that jesus made
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The effort to come see them.
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You know, technically from a theological standpoint, if we
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Get into the intricacies of the teaching of scripture, both old
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And new testament, hebrew bible, new testament, jesus has
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Fulfilled the sacrifice.
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The temple curtain was torn in two when he pronounced
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"it's finished."
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The way into the holiest of holies has been open
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For everybody.
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I mean the work was accomplished, complete.
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He said it himself.
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He's fulfilled his obligation, but on resurrection morning he
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Goes to find his friends.
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They need his help.
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And he doesn't leave them alone.
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He said, "there's a lot more you're going to need to know,
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But you can't hear it now, but i'll be back.
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There'll be teaching, there'll be help, there'll
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Be instruction."
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You and i are going to face some circumstances that have
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Little hope.
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There will be seasons in all of our lives.
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They come to everyone that present challenges which give
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Rise to despair.
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But here's the good news on easter morning, we can reject
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Those intruders.
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We have a living hope.
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In 1 peter chapter 1, and verse 3, peter, the fisherman that was
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In the room that day on resurrection morning.
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He's in that group of people in john 20 when jesus stepped into
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The room.
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And he writes near the end of his life.
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It's 1 peter 1, and verse 3, "praise be to the god and father
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Of our lord jesus christ!
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In his great mercy he's given us new birth into a living hope
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Through the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead."
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A new birth we've had a physical birth, but he said, "in jesus we
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Can have a spiritual birth."
00:17:46.114 --> 00:17:48.149
And the overriding characteristic that peter
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Attaches to that new birth is a living hope.
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That we don't ever again have to be captured by hopelessness
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And despair.
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They are not our overlord.
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We may see circumstances that bring despair.
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We may walk through shadowed valleys where hope is small, but
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Our hope is alive.
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It's centered in a person, in an authority, a power that is
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Greater than any circumstance we face, any diagnosis we receive,
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Any challenge that comes before us.
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That is good news.
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But i would subject to you, we have to have more than a passive
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Response and go, "yeah, you know, that's nice, allen.
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Good, good, i'm happy, yay me.
00:18:35.663 --> 00:18:38.833
That feels about as real to me as that lottery win you told me
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About a moment ago."
00:18:42.303 --> 00:18:44.705
Well, i want to invite you towards a different response.
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I want to suggest that we have to start treating hopelessness
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And despair.
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We have to reject them in our lives, decide that it's not
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Welcome in our heart.
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That we're not going to spend our time thinking about them.
00:18:57.552 --> 00:18:59.620
We're not going to welcome them in, celebrate, recount all the
00:18:59.620 --> 00:19:02.390
Reasons we have to have little hope.
00:19:02.390 --> 00:19:05.193
We're not going to remind ourselves repetitiously, over
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And over, about the things that have brought despair to us.
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In fact, i want to invite you to begin to fill your mind with the
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Reality of a living jesus, of his presence, of his power and
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His authority.
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A moment ago, i told you, when jesus spoke to mary in the
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Garden that her life was forever changed, because she's never
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Going to face despair darker and deeper than she'd felt that
00:19:26.180 --> 00:19:29.483
Morning when jesus was gone.
00:19:29.483 --> 00:19:31.986
And now she's had an encounter with a living jesus and it's
00:19:31.986 --> 00:19:35.022
Changed her life forever, it did.
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I want to invite you to that this morning, not just an entry
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Point, not just a conversion experience, not a new birth, not
00:19:41.395 --> 00:19:44.765
A profession of faith, a dramatic transformation in the
00:19:44.765 --> 00:19:48.035
Way you know jesus.
00:19:48.035 --> 00:19:50.504
My parents dragged me to church when we were kids.
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We had to go every week.
00:19:53.374 --> 00:19:55.977
You didn't have to love god, you didn't have to care about what
00:19:55.977 --> 00:19:59.013
Happened there, you just had to be there under the enforcement
00:19:59.013 --> 00:20:02.583
Of george.
00:20:02.583 --> 00:20:05.853
In fact, he's here today and i'm at church on easter sunday, it's
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Pretty good enforcement.
00:20:08.756 --> 00:20:11.058
But somewhere along that way, something changed, and we moved
00:20:11.058 --> 00:20:14.695
From just being religious people who attended church and said we
00:20:14.695 --> 00:20:17.598
Belong to a group, and identified with this subset
00:20:17.598 --> 00:20:20.134
Of christians.
00:20:20.134 --> 00:20:21.869
We actually had a personal experience with jesus
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Of nazareth.
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And what i'm suggesting to you this morning, some of you came
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With heavy burdens of disappointment, of hopelessness,
00:20:29.343 --> 00:20:33.247
Of despair.
00:20:33.247 --> 00:20:34.949
And i want to invite you to say a little prayer with me.
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We're not going to wait till the end.
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We're going to treat those two impostors like they're persons
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Without bodies.
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We're not accepting them.
00:20:42.356 --> 00:20:43.724
We're going to drive them out of here.
00:20:43.724 --> 00:20:45.059
I tell you, if i go get in my car when i leave campus,
00:20:45.059 --> 00:20:46.927
Then there's somebody sitting on the hood and said,
00:20:46.927 --> 00:20:48.529
"i think i'm going to take this."
00:20:48.529 --> 00:20:50.931
No, you're not.
00:20:50.931 --> 00:20:53.234
If you're bigger than me, i'll go get an equalizer.
00:20:53.234 --> 00:20:57.305
Because when the outcomes matter, i'm not fighting fair.
00:20:57.305 --> 00:21:01.108
And i'm telling you, the outcome in your life matters.
00:21:01.108 --> 00:21:05.212
This isn't about a fight, this is about a declaration
00:21:05.212 --> 00:21:07.748
Of authority.
00:21:07.748 --> 00:21:09.116
And hopelessness and despair do not have the authority to
00:21:09.116 --> 00:21:12.453
Dominate your life unless you give it to them.
00:21:12.453 --> 00:21:16.424
So i'm going to ask you this easter morning to say a little
00:21:16.424 --> 00:21:18.959
Prayer that you could just repeat it with me out loud.
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Use your outdoor voice.
00:21:22.430 --> 00:21:24.565
I want this hopelessness and despair to know they're not
00:21:24.565 --> 00:21:27.068
Welcome in my life.
00:21:27.068 --> 00:21:29.170
Say this with me.
00:21:29.170 --> 00:21:30.504
"i renounce the spirit of despair, in jesus name.
00:21:30.504 --> 00:21:36.877
I am not hopeless.
00:21:36.877 --> 00:21:39.413
My circumstances are not hopeless.
00:21:39.413 --> 00:21:43.317
I have a living hope.
00:21:43.317 --> 00:21:45.886
His name is jesus.
00:21:45.886 --> 00:21:48.356
He is the christ, my king, my lord.
00:21:48.356 --> 00:21:53.361
I am filled with joy.
00:21:53.361 --> 00:21:56.430
I have a purpose.
00:21:56.430 --> 00:21:58.733
I know god has good things planned for me since the
00:21:58.733 --> 00:22:05.039
Creation of the world and i am free."
00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:10.077
Hallelujah,.
00:22:10.077 --> 00:22:17.685
Jesus helped that group of people through that rough patch.
00:22:17.685 --> 00:22:21.622
But there was one of the disciples missing that day, his
00:22:21.622 --> 00:22:23.691
Name was thomas.
00:22:23.691 --> 00:22:25.259
We've labeled thomas throughout church history as "doubting
00:22:25.259 --> 00:22:27.762
Thomas," for what he said next.
00:22:27.762 --> 00:22:29.130
It's in that same 20th chapter of john, says, "thomas wasn't
00:22:29.130 --> 00:22:32.767
With the disciples when jesus came.
00:22:32.767 --> 00:22:34.635
So the other disciples told him, 'we've seen the lord!'
00:22:34.635 --> 00:22:38.172
But thomas said to them, 'unless i see the nail marks in his
00:22:38.172 --> 00:22:41.175
Hands and i put my finger where the nails were, and i put my
00:22:41.175 --> 00:22:44.912
Hand in his side, i will not believe it.'"
00:22:44.912 --> 00:22:47.281
That is a physical expression of discouragement.
00:22:50.251 --> 00:22:53.654
You know the little prefix d-i-s, it means to be without.
00:22:53.654 --> 00:22:58.426
To be discouraged is to be without courage, and jesus's
00:22:58.426 --> 00:23:02.029
Crucifixion drove the last bit of courage from thomas.
00:23:02.029 --> 00:23:06.333
He's followed him for three years.
00:23:06.333 --> 00:23:08.702
He's seen the anger, he's seen the resentment, he's heard the
00:23:08.702 --> 00:23:11.572
Plots and the schemes, and he's followed through all of
00:23:11.572 --> 00:23:14.642
Those things.
00:23:14.642 --> 00:23:16.343
But when he had to see his best friend tortured to death on a
00:23:16.343 --> 00:23:18.946
Roman cross, he lost all of his courage.
00:23:18.946 --> 00:23:21.282
There's no more protection, he's completely exposed,
00:23:21.282 --> 00:23:23.484
He's vulnerable.
00:23:23.484 --> 00:23:25.619
And even when his best friends say to him, "we've seen jesus,"
00:23:25.619 --> 00:23:28.756
He said, "no, no, no.
00:23:28.756 --> 00:23:31.325
I believed once.
00:23:31.325 --> 00:23:33.794
I bought into that for a long time.
00:23:33.794 --> 00:23:36.464
I pushed all my chips into the middle of the table, and the
00:23:36.464 --> 00:23:39.733
Table got swept clean on golgotha.
00:23:39.733 --> 00:23:42.203
I don't have anything left to push into the middle of
00:23:42.203 --> 00:23:43.904
The table."
00:23:43.904 --> 00:23:45.840
I don't know if you've ever had that kind of despair.
00:23:45.840 --> 00:23:48.709
I have, i've sat in the field at night and shaking my fist at the
00:23:48.709 --> 00:23:53.581
Stars and said, "god if this is how you treat your friends, i'm
00:23:53.581 --> 00:23:55.716
Going to pray for your enemies."
00:23:55.716 --> 00:23:58.652
I couldn't think of anything for which i could say thank you to
00:23:58.652 --> 00:24:01.055
The lord except his character.
00:24:01.055 --> 00:24:03.757
And i knew that that was steadfast.
00:24:03.757 --> 00:24:06.460
I couldn't find a circumstance in me that i had enough wisdom
00:24:06.460 --> 00:24:08.963
To say thank you for, so i would simply say, "god, i thank you
00:24:08.963 --> 00:24:11.465
That you're a faithful god, but i know you're a just god.
00:24:11.465 --> 00:24:16.003
But i know you're a god of mercy."
00:24:16.003 --> 00:24:18.606
And i would walk through that.
00:24:18.606 --> 00:24:21.108
I'd like to tell you that in a moment in time, all that lifted
00:24:21.108 --> 00:24:23.477
For me.
00:24:23.477 --> 00:24:24.845
It didn't happen quite that way.
00:24:24.845 --> 00:24:26.180
But god did lift me from that and deliver me from that.
00:24:26.180 --> 00:24:29.416
But in john 20, that same chapter, it's verse 25, it says,
00:24:29.416 --> 00:24:32.152
"a week later his disciples were in the house again, and thomas
00:24:32.152 --> 00:24:35.256
Was with them.
00:24:35.256 --> 00:24:36.624
The doors were locked, and jesus came and stood among them."
00:24:36.624 --> 00:24:39.393
I like that, with locked doors, jesus said, "no bother."
00:24:39.393 --> 00:24:42.196
"and he stood among them, 'peace be with you!'
00:24:46.100 --> 00:24:47.835
And then he said to thomas, 'thomas, come here.
00:24:47.835 --> 00:24:50.337
Put your finger here; and see my hands.
00:24:50.337 --> 00:24:52.072
And reach out your hand and put it into my side.
00:24:52.072 --> 00:24:53.774
Stop doubting and believe.'
00:24:53.774 --> 00:24:56.744
And thomas said, 'my lord and my god!'"
00:24:56.744 --> 00:24:59.880
It's so personal.
00:24:59.880 --> 00:25:01.849
Jesus appeared to the others.
00:25:01.849 --> 00:25:04.385
There was more than a dozen of them there that knew him well,
00:25:04.385 --> 00:25:06.587
That knew thomas well.
00:25:06.587 --> 00:25:07.955
I mean they've traveled together.
00:25:07.955 --> 00:25:09.290
They've done life together.
00:25:09.290 --> 00:25:10.658
They'll help thomas through, but jesus didn't leave it there.
00:25:10.658 --> 00:25:13.561
"thomas, come here."
00:25:13.561 --> 00:25:15.696
And there's no evidence in scripture that thomas ever
00:25:15.696 --> 00:25:18.132
Profaned the lord.
00:25:18.132 --> 00:25:19.466
He didn't ask for anything different than what the other
00:25:19.466 --> 00:25:21.402
Disciples had been given.
00:25:21.402 --> 00:25:23.137
They'd had a personal encounter with jesus.
00:25:23.137 --> 00:25:25.139
He'd shown them the signs of his passion, the wounds.
00:25:25.139 --> 00:25:29.176
And thomas said, "unless i see that, i cannot believe again."
00:25:29.176 --> 00:25:33.414
And jesus met thomas in that place.
00:25:33.414 --> 00:25:37.117
See, i'm asking you to imagine that challenges like doubt and
00:25:37.117 --> 00:25:40.421
Discouragement, to think of them as persons without a body,
00:25:40.421 --> 00:25:43.791
They're just that real.
00:25:43.791 --> 00:25:45.726
They're just as real and menacing as a
00:25:45.726 --> 00:25:47.895
Physical antagonist.
00:25:47.895 --> 00:25:50.331
And far too frequently you welcome them.
00:25:50.331 --> 00:25:52.433
We're a bit addled in our country.
00:25:52.433 --> 00:25:55.436
We have tens of thousands of people in our country illegally
00:25:55.436 --> 00:25:58.505
That are declared gang members.
00:25:58.505 --> 00:26:02.076
Violent, committed to illegal activity, and we're a bit out
00:26:02.076 --> 00:26:05.980
And we're going, "i'm not sure if that's good or that's bad."
00:26:05.980 --> 00:26:08.248
What do you mean?
00:26:08.248 --> 00:26:11.652
We should have clarity on that point.
00:26:11.652 --> 00:26:13.420
It's not a lack of kindness to say, "no, we do not want to be
00:26:13.420 --> 00:26:16.824
The collecting point for the most violent people
00:26:16.824 --> 00:26:19.493
On planet earth."
00:26:19.493 --> 00:26:21.095
Allen: you know, i really dislike the idea of a
00:26:23.964 --> 00:26:25.666
Religious lecture.
00:26:25.666 --> 00:26:27.101
I believe the point of ministry or opening the word of god is to
00:26:27.101 --> 00:26:29.870
Be transformed by it.
00:26:29.870 --> 00:26:31.572
So before we go, i want to give you two invitations.
00:26:31.572 --> 00:26:33.474
One's a prayer i'm going to pray with you, but the other is our
00:26:33.474 --> 00:26:35.542
Offer this month.
00:26:35.542 --> 00:26:36.910
The book is "the lord is my shepherd" by my friend
00:26:36.910 --> 00:26:39.013
Rob morgan.
00:26:39.013 --> 00:26:40.347
It's an important word in this season to understand god's
00:26:40.347 --> 00:26:44.318
Direction, his abiding presence, his protection.
00:26:44.318 --> 00:26:47.321
We all need that.
00:26:47.321 --> 00:26:48.656
It'll be a blessing in your life and something i think you want
00:26:48.656 --> 00:26:50.658
To share with some friends.
00:26:50.658 --> 00:26:52.192
But i want to pray with you before we go, that we'll know
00:26:52.192 --> 00:26:54.061
We're not alone.
00:26:54.061 --> 00:26:55.462
Heavenly father, i thank you for the resources you give us, for
00:26:55.462 --> 00:26:58.365
The voices that you provide in our lives; that in a world of
00:26:58.365 --> 00:27:01.402
Turmoil and confusion and honestly great fear that your
00:27:01.402 --> 00:27:05.005
Calm assuring voice guides us, and i thank you for it today.
00:27:05.005 --> 00:27:09.209
Thank you for your faithfulness.
00:27:09.209 --> 00:27:10.544
In jesus's name, amen.
00:27:10.544 --> 00:27:13.247
Get a copy of "the lord is my shepherd," and you take your
00:27:13.247 --> 00:27:16.383
Prayers into your family.
00:27:16.383 --> 00:27:17.718
We're a light in this dark world.
00:27:17.718 --> 00:27:19.620
God is moving and we want to move with him.
00:27:19.620 --> 00:27:27.294

Allen Jackson - Jesus Changes Everything (Part 1)

May 15, 2025 | S25:E138

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