1. TBN
  2. Programs
  3. Allen Jackson Ministries
  4. Episodes
  5. Allen Jackson - Jesus' Perfect Provision (Part 1)
Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Jesus' Perfect Provision (Part 1)

September 4, 2025 | 28:35

Allen Jackson - Jesus' Perfect Provision (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#HandofGod #Jesus #Provision #IdentityinChrist #RelationshipwithGod #Favor #Forgiveness #Rejection #Hatred #Bitterness #Peopleinyourlife

Closed captions

Show Timecode
Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Jesus' Perfect Provision (Part 1) | September 4, 2025
  • ...
  • 00:00:00.633 --> 00:00:01.316
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:00:01.784 --> 00:00:06.822
  • Allen jackson: hey, i sat down recently with my father to do a
  • 00:00:06.922 --> 00:00:09.191
  • Podcast for my "culture and christianity" podcast, and it
  • 00:00:09.324 --> 00:00:10.359
  • Was so valuable to me.
  • 00:00:13.695 --> 00:00:15.898
  • I mean, we--it was stories that obviously i'm familiar with, but
  • 00:00:15.898 --> 00:00:18.600
  • As i heard him recount his faith, it ignited something in
  • 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:22.171
  • Me about the faithfulness of god across generations.
  • 00:00:22.171 --> 00:00:26.241
  • Well, i encouraged my dad to put together a book about his
  • 00:00:26.241 --> 00:00:28.944
  • Experiences with the holy spirit.
  • 00:00:28.944 --> 00:00:30.913
  • It changed his life, my parents's life, ultimately, my
  • 00:00:30.913 --> 00:00:33.682
  • Family's life.
  • 00:00:33.682 --> 00:00:35.050
  • I believe the book will be a real encouragement to you.
  • 00:00:35.050 --> 00:00:38.420
  • I wanna make it available to you right along with "unleashing the
  • 00:00:38.420 --> 00:00:41.090
  • Power of the holy spirit."
  • 00:00:41.090 --> 00:00:42.424
  • It's something i put together a while back that's been one of
  • 00:00:42.424 --> 00:00:44.827
  • The most effective tools we've ever had in the ministry.
  • 00:00:44.827 --> 00:00:47.863
  • Together, they'll open the doorway for you to not just have
  • 00:00:47.863 --> 00:00:51.066
  • Language around the holy spirit, but to have something to
  • 00:00:51.066 --> 00:00:53.669
  • Actually do to invite him into your life on a regular basis, to
  • 00:00:53.669 --> 00:00:57.840
  • Give you the wisdom you need to help you unlock the problems
  • 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:00.542
  • That we face.
  • 00:01:00.542 --> 00:01:01.910
  • The spirit of god within us, to help us, guide us, and direct
  • 00:01:01.910 --> 00:01:05.280
  • Us, that's invaluable, and these books will help you understand.
  • 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:09.118
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:01:09.118 --> 00:01:21.497
  • Allen: the beginning point is god's great love for you, how
  • 00:01:19.128 --> 00:01:24.766
  • Significant you are in the kingdom of god, and in the
  • 00:01:24.766 --> 00:01:26.668
  • Purposes of god, and the scripture clearly says that god
  • 00:01:26.668 --> 00:01:29.905
  • Knew you when you were being knit together in your
  • 00:01:29.905 --> 00:01:31.507
  • Mother's womb.
  • 00:01:31.507 --> 00:01:33.308
  • The phrase that's used in ephesians is that "you have been
  • 00:01:33.308 --> 00:01:35.744
  • Accepted in the beloved," that god has accepted you into
  • 00:01:35.744 --> 00:01:40.015
  • His people.
  • 00:01:40.015 --> 00:01:41.617
  • Not because of our dna, not because of our genetic material,
  • 00:01:41.617 --> 00:01:45.220
  • But by the grace of god, he's made it possible for us to be
  • 00:01:45.220 --> 00:01:48.056
  • Considered his children.
  • 00:01:48.056 --> 00:01:50.159
  • The word that is used in ephesians is the exact same word
  • 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:55.864
  • That is used when gabriel came to visit mary with the
  • 00:01:55.864 --> 00:01:59.001
  • Announcement of her impending conception, when he said, "you
  • 00:01:59.001 --> 00:02:04.072
  • Are highly favored by god."
  • 00:02:04.072 --> 00:02:06.408
  • So to be accepted into the beloved, to be accepted into the
  • 00:02:06.408 --> 00:02:09.645
  • People of god is to receive the favor of god, and i think most
  • 00:02:09.645 --> 00:02:15.083
  • Of us, myself included, are typically far more aware, far
  • 00:02:15.083 --> 00:02:19.054
  • More cognizant of what we're not, and how we have failed, and
  • 00:02:19.054 --> 00:02:22.724
  • Where we have been inconsistent than we are aware of the fact
  • 00:02:22.724 --> 00:02:26.828
  • That god has shown us his great favor.
  • 00:02:26.828 --> 00:02:30.365
  • Not an excuse for sloppiness, but if we can begin with that
  • 00:02:30.365 --> 00:02:33.735
  • Point, that god's intent is that you and i would know we are
  • 00:02:33.735 --> 00:02:36.371
  • Loved, and valued, and significant in his purposes,
  • 00:02:36.371 --> 00:02:39.541
  • That we are not irrelevant.
  • 00:02:39.541 --> 00:02:42.110
  • See, i think if we ever were fully awakened to the
  • 00:02:42.110 --> 00:02:44.846
  • Significance for which god created us, it would change
  • 00:02:44.846 --> 00:02:47.716
  • Our lives.
  • 00:02:47.716 --> 00:02:49.551
  • We're content to say we want to go to heaven, and can you
  • 00:02:49.551 --> 00:02:52.554
  • Imagine if jesus said his only goal when he came to the earth
  • 00:02:52.554 --> 00:02:55.190
  • Was just to go back to heaven?
  • 00:02:55.190 --> 00:02:58.794
  • When you follow jesus through the gospels, that doesn't feel
  • 00:02:58.794 --> 00:03:00.762
  • At all like the narrative.
  • 00:03:00.762 --> 00:03:02.698
  • He understood he was on assignment, that he had
  • 00:03:02.698 --> 00:03:04.433
  • A purpose.
  • 00:03:04.433 --> 00:03:06.101
  • There would be opposition, there would be all sorts of things,
  • 00:03:06.101 --> 00:03:08.403
  • But he understood the nature of the journey, and i think, far
  • 00:03:08.403 --> 00:03:12.107
  • Too often, we miss that.
  • 00:03:12.107 --> 00:03:14.343
  • We allow a secular culture to dictate to us the patterns of
  • 00:03:14.343 --> 00:03:18.580
  • Our lives, and the thought processes of our lives,
  • 00:03:18.580 --> 00:03:21.283
  • And we forfeit so much of what i think god would bring to us.
  • 00:03:21.283 --> 00:03:24.786
  • The second point we made, and i'll just touch it, was that
  • 00:03:24.786 --> 00:03:27.389
  • Rejection is universal, and nobody makes the
  • 00:03:27.389 --> 00:03:31.526
  • Journey without it.
  • 00:03:31.526 --> 00:03:32.894
  • In fact, it's gonna visit your life repeatedly.
  • 00:03:32.894 --> 00:03:35.464
  • It's not something rare or unusual, and we looked at a
  • 00:03:35.464 --> 00:03:37.866
  • Whole host of biblical characters.
  • 00:03:37.866 --> 00:03:40.002
  • You know, we looked at moses, and i mean, his rejection
  • 00:03:40.002 --> 00:03:42.838
  • Started in childhood when his parents put him in a basket and
  • 00:03:42.838 --> 00:03:45.274
  • Turned him loose in the nile river.
  • 00:03:45.274 --> 00:03:47.309
  • I mean, we've romanticized that, but the truth is, his parents
  • 00:03:47.309 --> 00:03:50.178
  • Put him in a basket and turned him loose in the nile river.
  • 00:03:50.178 --> 00:03:54.349
  • That is not something that you imagine has a great future
  • 00:03:54.349 --> 00:03:56.685
  • Written on it.
  • 00:03:56.685 --> 00:03:58.520
  • He grew up emotionally torqued.
  • 00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:00.856
  • He grows up in pharaoh's palace, and yet he knows that his
  • 00:04:00.856 --> 00:04:04.693
  • People are the hebrew slaves, so he's enjoying the privilege of
  • 00:04:04.693 --> 00:04:07.229
  • The palace while his people are surviving the lash of the
  • 00:04:07.229 --> 00:04:11.566
  • Slave masters.
  • 00:04:11.566 --> 00:04:13.402
  • And it results in a very angry young man, he's a murderer.
  • 00:04:13.402 --> 00:04:17.372
  • And from that, moses is recruited by god.
  • 00:04:17.372 --> 00:04:19.474
  • I mean, the story goes on and on, it's in every season of
  • 00:04:19.474 --> 00:04:21.443
  • His life.
  • 00:04:21.443 --> 00:04:23.078
  • King david, i mean, rejection follows him
  • 00:04:23.078 --> 00:04:26.415
  • Throughout the days of his life.
  • 00:04:26.415 --> 00:04:27.783
  • You choose character after character, jesus, the bible is
  • 00:04:27.783 --> 00:04:31.520
  • Very explicit in the rejection he faced.
  • 00:04:31.520 --> 00:04:34.623
  • I use some personal examples from my own childhood, phrases i
  • 00:04:34.623 --> 00:04:38.393
  • Learned, coping mechanisms, i thought, at the time.
  • 00:04:38.393 --> 00:04:40.662
  • I wasn't that sophisticated, i was just responding to life.
  • 00:04:40.662 --> 00:04:44.333
  • Kids make fun of me and i go, "i don't care."
  • 00:04:44.333 --> 00:04:46.134
  • Well, sure you do, you'd rather be applauded than rejected.
  • 00:04:46.134 --> 00:04:49.971
  • I got involved in athletics and i wasn't overly gifted, i was
  • 00:04:49.971 --> 00:04:52.507
  • Just stubborn and mean, which means you take your lumps, and
  • 00:04:52.507 --> 00:04:57.646
  • The only way to survive that was i'd learned to--i'd get up with
  • 00:04:57.646 --> 00:05:01.149
  • A bloody nose, or a bloody mouth, and go, "that
  • 00:05:01.149 --> 00:05:03.485
  • Didn't hurt."
  • 00:05:03.485 --> 00:05:05.287
  • Well, sure it did, but it didn't seem advantageous to me, at
  • 00:05:05.287 --> 00:05:09.958
  • That point.
  • 00:05:09.958 --> 00:05:11.393
  • And then i added to that, and then the next season, that i
  • 00:05:11.393 --> 00:05:15.364
  • Won't stop, "you can't make me quit.
  • 00:05:15.364 --> 00:05:17.432
  • You can't treat me so unfairly that i'll stop."
  • 00:05:17.432 --> 00:05:20.936
  • And all of those were coping skills, and what i--if we can
  • 00:05:20.936 --> 00:05:25.374
  • Accept that rejection is universal, what we want to learn
  • 00:05:25.374 --> 00:05:28.410
  • To do is move from rejection to acceptance.
  • 00:05:28.410 --> 00:05:32.447
  • You know, in a more broadly understood principle of
  • 00:05:32.447 --> 00:05:36.184
  • Christendom, i think we all understand that life is not fair
  • 00:05:36.184 --> 00:05:39.321
  • And that you will be mistreated.
  • 00:05:39.321 --> 00:05:41.723
  • That your life's gonna be touched by evil, sometimes gross
  • 00:05:41.723 --> 00:05:44.893
  • Evil, sometimes less-so, and it elicits a--there's a necessity
  • 00:05:44.893 --> 00:05:48.230
  • Of forgiveness.
  • 00:05:48.230 --> 00:05:49.631
  • You will have to learn to forgive if you're gonna follow
  • 00:05:49.631 --> 00:05:51.967
  • The lord, because you can't be forgiven unless you forgive.
  • 00:05:51.967 --> 00:05:56.204
  • Well, i don't believe rejection is any less common, and if we
  • 00:05:56.204 --> 00:06:01.376
  • Don't learn how to move from rejection to acceptance, then
  • 00:06:01.376 --> 00:06:04.913
  • The impact of rejection shapes our lives.
  • 00:06:04.913 --> 00:06:09.418
  • And we spent a good bit of time with that.
  • 00:06:09.418 --> 00:06:11.286
  • You know, rejection feels like you're on the outside, that
  • 00:06:11.286 --> 00:06:15.090
  • Everybody else got the training manual, and nobody gave it
  • 00:06:15.090 --> 00:06:17.592
  • To you.
  • 00:06:17.592 --> 00:06:19.428
  • You know, i saw a clip from charlie brown, a little strip
  • 00:06:19.428 --> 00:06:22.097
  • Years ago, and he said, "i've been here and i've been there.
  • 00:06:22.097 --> 00:06:24.232
  • I've been up and down--i've been up and i've been down, i've
  • 00:06:24.232 --> 00:06:26.935
  • Been all around, but never one time have i ever been where
  • 00:06:26.935 --> 00:06:29.571
  • It's at."
  • 00:06:29.571 --> 00:06:33.241
  • I think we all understand that on one level, because rejection
  • 00:06:33.241 --> 00:06:37.546
  • Touches across our lives.
  • 00:06:37.546 --> 00:06:39.848
  • It can start before you're born.
  • 00:06:39.848 --> 00:06:44.085
  • A child in the womb can feel rejection.
  • 00:06:44.085 --> 00:06:47.689
  • Not because parents are evil, sometimes circumstances are
  • 00:06:47.689 --> 00:06:50.125
  • Very difficult.
  • 00:06:50.125 --> 00:06:52.861
  • You know, if you can imagine that a child in the womb could
  • 00:06:52.861 --> 00:06:55.664
  • Be impacted physically by choices that a mother would
  • 00:06:55.664 --> 00:06:58.233
  • Make, then i think you're incredibly naive not to believe
  • 00:06:58.233 --> 00:07:01.069
  • That spiritual forces could impact a child in a very
  • 00:07:01.069 --> 00:07:03.371
  • Similar way.
  • 00:07:03.371 --> 00:07:05.340
  • We talk about rejection, we're talking about spiritual forces
  • 00:07:05.340 --> 00:07:07.943
  • And their impact in our lives.
  • 00:07:07.943 --> 00:07:10.245
  • If you're a person of scripture, if you're a christ-follower,
  • 00:07:10.245 --> 00:07:14.716
  • Spiritual forces are an inseparable part of the
  • 00:07:14.716 --> 00:07:17.352
  • Narrative, and we had better have a plan for
  • 00:07:17.352 --> 00:07:20.555
  • How we address them.
  • 00:07:20.555 --> 00:07:21.923
  • The same way you practice physical hygiene and you know
  • 00:07:21.923 --> 00:07:24.593
  • How to wash your hands, and covid brought us all back to
  • 00:07:24.593 --> 00:07:27.395
  • Some very fundamental practices of physical hygiene.
  • 00:07:27.395 --> 00:07:32.000
  • You better have an awareness and a plan for spiritual hygiene.
  • 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.737
  • And it's not a one-and-done thing, and tragically, we've
  • 00:07:35.737 --> 00:07:38.340
  • Been given this notion of the gospel that is good, that our
  • 00:07:38.340 --> 00:07:40.976
  • Sins can be forgiven and we can go to heaven, but we really
  • 00:07:40.976 --> 00:07:43.478
  • Haven't talked too much about how we can flourish spiritually.
  • 00:07:43.478 --> 00:07:46.581
  • How we be--how we're cleaned up, how we find freedom, and
  • 00:07:46.581 --> 00:07:49.684
  • Deliverance, and hope.
  • 00:07:49.684 --> 00:07:52.821
  • So that brings us to this topic, i wanna pick it up
  • 00:07:52.821 --> 00:07:55.490
  • In this next segment.
  • 00:07:55.490 --> 00:07:57.092
  • I wanna talk a bit about some of the results of rejection, and
  • 00:07:57.092 --> 00:08:01.563
  • One of the poster children of rejection in the bible that
  • 00:08:01.563 --> 00:08:03.865
  • Almost everybody would acknowledge was joseph, his
  • 00:08:03.865 --> 00:08:06.301
  • Brothers sold him into slavery, that's a bad day.
  • 00:08:06.301 --> 00:08:10.839
  • I mean, i've got brothers.
  • 00:08:10.839 --> 00:08:12.908
  • You know, we haven't always just hugged it out, sometimes we
  • 00:08:12.908 --> 00:08:17.312
  • Slugged it out, but as far as i know, we never got together and
  • 00:08:17.312 --> 00:08:20.315
  • Had a discussion about selling one another.
  • 00:08:20.315 --> 00:08:24.920
  • And yet, we all know--i trust you're familiar with the
  • 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:27.556
  • Joseph story.
  • 00:08:27.556 --> 00:08:28.924
  • He finds he was sold to ishmaelite slave traders, and he
  • 00:08:28.924 --> 00:08:32.127
  • Finds his way to egypt, and through the most remarkable set
  • 00:08:32.127 --> 00:08:35.063
  • Of circumstances, god causes him to be elevated to the
  • 00:08:35.063 --> 00:08:38.900
  • Second-most powerful position in egypt, only pharaoh is more
  • 00:08:38.900 --> 00:08:42.604
  • Powerful than joseph.
  • 00:08:42.604 --> 00:08:44.406
  • And there's a famine throughout the middle east, and his
  • 00:08:44.406 --> 00:08:46.675
  • Brothers come to egypt looking for grain.
  • 00:08:46.675 --> 00:08:49.911
  • And they're brought into joseph's presence.
  • 00:08:49.911 --> 00:08:52.547
  • They don't recognize him, he looks like an egyptian, he
  • 00:08:52.547 --> 00:08:54.449
  • Smells like an egyptian, he speaks like an egyptian, but he
  • 00:08:54.449 --> 00:08:58.286
  • Recognizes his brothers.
  • 00:08:58.286 --> 00:09:00.055
  • It's in your notes, it's genesis 45, "joseph said to his
  • 00:09:00.055 --> 00:09:03.158
  • Brothers, 'come close to me.'
  • 00:09:03.158 --> 00:09:04.526
  • And when they've done so, he said, 'i'm your brother joseph,
  • 00:09:04.526 --> 00:09:07.596
  • The one you sold into egypt.
  • 00:09:07.596 --> 00:09:09.965
  • And now, don't be distressed and don't be angry with yourselves
  • 00:09:09.965 --> 00:09:12.867
  • For selling me here, because it was to save lives that god sent
  • 00:09:12.867 --> 00:09:16.605
  • Me ahead of you.
  • 00:09:16.605 --> 00:09:18.707
  • For two years now there's been famine in the land, and for the
  • 00:09:18.707 --> 00:09:21.009
  • Next five years there won't be plowing or reaping.
  • 00:09:21.009 --> 00:09:23.645
  • But god sent me ahead of you to preserve a remnant."'
  • 00:09:23.645 --> 00:09:27.482
  • I told you, we could move from rejection to acceptance.
  • 00:09:27.482 --> 00:09:30.518
  • I see what seems very clear to me is that joseph has not
  • 00:09:30.518 --> 00:09:34.723
  • Forfeited his future because of the poor choices of his family.
  • 00:09:34.723 --> 00:09:39.194
  • That he found a way to understand he was valuable in
  • 00:09:39.194 --> 00:09:41.963
  • The purposes of god, and that wasn't the only circumstance he
  • 00:09:41.963 --> 00:09:45.333
  • Had to overcome.
  • 00:09:45.333 --> 00:09:46.835
  • The household he served in where he--when he refused
  • 00:09:46.835 --> 00:09:49.371
  • Ungodliness, he was lied about, and the outcome of that was he
  • 00:09:49.371 --> 00:09:52.474
  • Was imprisoned, and when he was put in prison and he gained a
  • 00:09:52.474 --> 00:09:54.709
  • Bit of an opportunity, he made a bargain with two of his fellow
  • 00:09:54.709 --> 00:09:57.946
  • Prisoners, and they broke their promise and left him in prison.
  • 00:09:57.946 --> 00:10:01.516
  • He could have been filled with bitterness and hate and rage.
  • 00:10:01.516 --> 00:10:05.053
  • He could have worn that victim's label.
  • 00:10:05.053 --> 00:10:07.322
  • See, one of the things that we have to decide we're going to do
  • 00:10:07.322 --> 00:10:10.025
  • Is not choose the label of victim.
  • 00:10:10.025 --> 00:10:13.561
  • It is so prevalent, it is so prominent in our culture.
  • 00:10:13.561 --> 00:10:17.565
  • And when you do that, you know, it's the same thing that hatred
  • 00:10:17.565 --> 00:10:20.502
  • And bitterness will do.
  • 00:10:20.502 --> 00:10:22.303
  • You ever been angry at somebody, then they didn't notice?
  • 00:10:22.303 --> 00:10:26.307
  • That's maddening, isn't it?
  • 00:10:26.307 --> 00:10:28.543
  • You know, you're trying to send on every vibe you can that i'm
  • 00:10:28.543 --> 00:10:31.279
  • Mad at you, and they're just clueless, makes you madder.
  • 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:35.750
  • You see, hatred and resentment and bitterness holds you
  • 00:10:35.750 --> 00:10:38.086
  • Captive, not the person that's the object of your hate.
  • 00:10:38.086 --> 00:10:41.756
  • And the same is true with rejection, when we suffer
  • 00:10:41.756 --> 00:10:43.992
  • Rejection and the emotions that are driven by that.
  • 00:10:43.992 --> 00:10:48.697
  • When you hold that bitterness and hatred that comes from that,
  • 00:10:48.697 --> 00:10:51.499
  • It doesn't hold the person who rejected you captive, it holds
  • 00:10:51.499 --> 00:10:55.870
  • You captive.
  • 00:10:55.870 --> 00:10:57.939
  • When you forgive someone, they're not getting away with
  • 00:10:57.939 --> 00:11:00.041
  • Anything, they will have to answer to the judge of all
  • 00:11:00.041 --> 00:11:01.710
  • The earth.
  • 00:11:01.710 --> 00:11:03.144
  • And when we're rejected, and then we choose to accept that
  • 00:11:03.144 --> 00:11:07.315
  • God has received us, and that god welcomes us, the people who
  • 00:11:07.315 --> 00:11:11.252
  • Brought that rejection to our lives, they're not escaping,
  • 00:11:11.252 --> 00:11:13.655
  • They'll still give an account to god.
  • 00:11:13.655 --> 00:11:16.991
  • Vengeance is not our burden, isn't that good?
  • 00:11:16.991 --> 00:11:18.893
  • You can take that off, you can take that out of your pack and
  • 00:11:18.893 --> 00:11:21.529
  • Lay it down.
  • 00:11:21.529 --> 00:11:23.431
  • If you've been carrying all the fuel you thought you needed for
  • 00:11:23.431 --> 00:11:26.000
  • Revenge, the only thing--the only person that's really
  • 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:28.603
  • Hindering is you.
  • 00:11:28.603 --> 00:11:32.273
  • Allen: i sat down with my father recently and did a podcast.
  • 00:11:36.444 --> 00:11:39.547
  • He told the story of how he came to faith, how god transformed
  • 00:11:39.547 --> 00:11:42.117
  • Our family.
  • 00:11:42.117 --> 00:11:43.451
  • They started a home bible study, all the way up to the beginning
  • 00:11:43.451 --> 00:11:45.286
  • Of this church that i've served now for decades.
  • 00:11:45.286 --> 00:11:48.089
  • And as i listened, the heart of it was the work of the holy
  • 00:11:48.089 --> 00:11:50.525
  • Spirit in his life and through his life.
  • 00:11:50.525 --> 00:11:52.994
  • I asked him to do a book around the topic, and we have it, so
  • 00:11:52.994 --> 00:11:56.431
  • That you can invite the spirit of god to be the dynamic
  • 00:11:56.431 --> 00:11:59.334
  • Presence of the power of god to bring change and life and
  • 00:11:59.334 --> 00:12:02.871
  • Hope, no matter what the circumstance is.
  • 00:12:02.871 --> 00:12:05.373
  • You'll enjoy the book.
  • 00:12:05.373 --> 00:12:06.775
  • Female announcer: experience the holy spirit in a deeper way with
  • 00:12:06.775 --> 00:12:09.144
  • This new book by pastor allen's dad,
  • 00:12:09.144 --> 00:12:11.346
  • "the eternal breath of life."
  • 00:12:11.346 --> 00:12:13.515
  • Request your copy when you donate any amount today, and
  • 00:12:13.515 --> 00:12:16.718
  • When you give $50 or more, you can also request "unleashing the
  • 00:12:16.718 --> 00:12:20.789
  • Power of the holy spirit."
  • 00:12:20.789 --> 00:12:22.557
  • It's a collection of pastor allen's sermons that will help
  • 00:12:22.557 --> 00:12:25.160
  • You understand the holy spirit in new ways.
  • 00:12:25.160 --> 00:12:28.096
  • Request yours today at allenjackson.com, or by
  • 00:12:28.096 --> 00:12:31.299
  • Calling ...
  • 00:12:31.299 --> 00:12:35.003
  • Allen: but i want to go back into the joseph story for a
  • 00:12:37.338 --> 00:12:39.407
  • Moment because we typically think about it as just joseph.
  • 00:12:39.407 --> 00:12:42.343
  • Joseph extends forgiveness to-- and acceptance to his brothers.
  • 00:12:42.343 --> 00:12:47.015
  • What i want to suggest to you is that that family had suffered
  • 00:12:47.015 --> 00:12:49.651
  • Some tremendous rejection.
  • 00:12:49.651 --> 00:12:52.387
  • Jacob, their father, israel, god changed his name, so you'll read
  • 00:12:52.387 --> 00:12:55.690
  • Him both as jacob and israel, same person.
  • 00:12:55.690 --> 00:12:58.526
  • He rejected those young men, those boys, when he chose joseph
  • 00:12:58.526 --> 00:13:01.896
  • As his favorite.
  • 00:13:01.896 --> 00:13:03.932
  • The scripture is very clear about it, i'm gonna--we're
  • 00:13:03.932 --> 00:13:05.733
  • Gonna read it together.
  • 00:13:05.733 --> 00:13:07.101
  • Look in genesis 37, we're stepping back now a little bit
  • 00:13:07.101 --> 00:13:09.571
  • Chronologically, joseph is still at home.
  • 00:13:09.571 --> 00:13:13.174
  • "israel loved joseph more than any of his other sons, because
  • 00:13:13.174 --> 00:13:16.678
  • He'd been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly
  • 00:13:16.678 --> 00:13:20.048
  • Ornamented robe for him.
  • 00:13:20.048 --> 00:13:21.382
  • And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than
  • 00:13:21.382 --> 00:13:23.484
  • Any of them, they hated him and they couldn't speak a kind word
  • 00:13:23.484 --> 00:13:28.089
  • To him.
  • 00:13:28.089 --> 00:13:29.757
  • Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they
  • 00:13:29.757 --> 00:13:32.093
  • Hated him all the more.
  • 00:13:32.093 --> 00:13:34.395
  • He said to them, 'listen to this dream i had: we were binding
  • 00:13:34.395 --> 00:13:37.298
  • Sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf
  • 00:13:37.298 --> 00:13:40.235
  • Rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around
  • 00:13:40.235 --> 00:13:42.704
  • Mine and bowed down to it.'
  • 00:13:42.704 --> 00:13:46.074
  • And his brothers said to him, 'do you intend to reign over us?
  • 00:13:46.074 --> 00:13:48.676
  • Will you actually rule us?'
  • 00:13:48.676 --> 00:13:50.345
  • And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he
  • 00:13:50.345 --> 00:13:53.815
  • Had said."
  • 00:13:53.815 --> 00:13:55.850
  • It's a really sharp contrast with the passage we read about
  • 00:13:55.850 --> 00:13:58.453
  • Joseph some years earlier--some years later in his life.
  • 00:13:58.453 --> 00:14:02.023
  • He had reason to hate his brothers, but he didn't.
  • 00:14:02.023 --> 00:14:07.528
  • His brothers had a reason to hate him, his father's parenting
  • 00:14:07.528 --> 00:14:11.332
  • Was a failure.
  • 00:14:11.332 --> 00:14:13.034
  • See, the reason rejection is so prevalent amongst us is--one of
  • 00:14:13.034 --> 00:14:16.671
  • The things that has contributed to that, it's not unique to it,
  • 00:14:16.671 --> 00:14:19.107
  • But the breakdown of family.
  • 00:14:19.107 --> 00:14:21.609
  • The failure of parents, particularly the failure
  • 00:14:21.609 --> 00:14:23.778
  • Of fathers.
  • 00:14:23.778 --> 00:14:25.113
  • The number of absentee fathers in the homes and in the lives of
  • 00:14:25.113 --> 00:14:28.349
  • Young people creates a sense of rejection.
  • 00:14:28.349 --> 00:14:31.986
  • Not intentionally, not purposefully, even in the best
  • 00:14:31.986 --> 00:14:35.924
  • Of circumstances.
  • 00:14:35.924 --> 00:14:38.760
  • Because it isn't--it's not a logical issue, it's a
  • 00:14:38.760 --> 00:14:41.129
  • Spiritual issue.
  • 00:14:41.129 --> 00:14:43.731
  • Joseph's brothers are filled with a rejection because their
  • 00:14:43.731 --> 00:14:46.234
  • Father clearly favors one of them over the others, and they
  • 00:14:46.234 --> 00:14:50.038
  • Hate the younger brother for that.
  • 00:14:50.038 --> 00:14:52.273
  • And then god gives joseph these dreams.
  • 00:14:52.273 --> 00:14:55.310
  • He gives him a glimpse of his future, and when he tells him,
  • 00:14:55.310 --> 00:14:58.079
  • It fuels his brothers's hatred even further.
  • 00:14:58.079 --> 00:15:01.316
  • And admittedly, joseph is a bit immature in his responses.
  • 00:15:01.316 --> 00:15:06.154
  • You know, maybe with a bit more maturity and a bit more
  • 00:15:06.154 --> 00:15:08.423
  • Experience, he wouldn't have brought the dreams to the
  • 00:15:08.423 --> 00:15:10.825
  • Breakfast table, but he did.
  • 00:15:10.825 --> 00:15:14.028
  • But the brothers experience rejection, and the rejection is
  • 00:15:14.028 --> 00:15:16.898
  • Unresolved, and the outcome of that is the hatred that tears
  • 00:15:16.898 --> 00:15:20.335
  • Apart the fabric of this family.
  • 00:15:20.335 --> 00:15:23.438
  • They're gonna suffer for this.
  • 00:15:23.438 --> 00:15:25.640
  • Same chapter, look at verse 17.
  • 00:15:25.640 --> 00:15:28.977
  • Joseph's father, israel, sends him after his brothers with
  • 00:15:28.977 --> 00:15:32.547
  • Some food.
  • 00:15:32.547 --> 00:15:34.015
  • "and joseph went after his brothers and he found them.
  • 00:15:34.015 --> 00:15:36.551
  • But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached
  • 00:15:36.551 --> 00:15:38.653
  • Them, they plotted to kill him."
  • 00:15:38.653 --> 00:15:41.489
  • They really hate him.
  • 00:15:41.489 --> 00:15:43.858
  • "'here comes the dreamer;' they said to each other.
  • 00:15:43.858 --> 00:15:45.860
  • 'come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these
  • 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:47.695
  • Cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him
  • 00:15:47.695 --> 00:15:50.999
  • And we'll see what comes of his dreams.'
  • 00:15:50.999 --> 00:15:53.735
  • Well, when reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from
  • 00:15:53.735 --> 00:15:55.870
  • Their hands.
  • 00:15:55.870 --> 00:15:57.205
  • 'let's not take his life,' they said.
  • 00:15:57.205 --> 00:15:58.573
  • 'don't shed any blood.
  • 00:15:58.573 --> 00:15:59.907
  • Throw him into the cistern, but don't lay a hand on him.'
  • 00:15:59.907 --> 00:16:03.511
  • Reuben said this to rescue him from them and to take him back
  • 00:16:03.511 --> 00:16:05.913
  • To his father.
  • 00:16:05.913 --> 00:16:07.682
  • So when joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of
  • 00:16:07.682 --> 00:16:09.617
  • His robe--the richly ornamented robe he was wearing--and they
  • 00:16:09.617 --> 00:16:12.620
  • Took him and they threw him into the cistern."
  • 00:16:12.620 --> 00:16:15.957
  • His brothers throw him in a pit, primarily because reuben
  • 00:16:15.957 --> 00:16:19.594
  • Interceded for him, and he said, "let's not kill him, let's just
  • 00:16:19.594 --> 00:16:21.896
  • Throw him, and leave him to starve to death."
  • 00:16:21.896 --> 00:16:24.899
  • Good job, brother.
  • 00:16:24.899 --> 00:16:27.068
  • And the author of genesis slips in that reuben's intent was to
  • 00:16:27.068 --> 00:16:29.737
  • Come and rescue him from the pit, but there's really nothing
  • 00:16:29.737 --> 00:16:32.940
  • To explain the hatred of his brothers is persistent and
  • 00:16:32.940 --> 00:16:35.243
  • Present, enough that the whole group of them would agree to
  • 00:16:35.243 --> 00:16:38.346
  • Murder one of them.
  • 00:16:38.346 --> 00:16:40.448
  • Same chapter, verse 26, "judah said to his brothers, 'what
  • 00:16:40.448 --> 00:16:43.684
  • Would we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?'
  • 00:16:43.684 --> 00:16:47.321
  • Come, let's sell him to the ishmaelites, and not lay our
  • 00:16:47.321 --> 00:16:51.092
  • Hands on him; after all, he is our brother."
  • 00:16:51.092 --> 00:16:55.463
  • This is really an upgraded option here.
  • 00:16:55.463 --> 00:16:58.132
  • "'he's our own flesh and blood,' and his brothers agreed.
  • 00:16:58.132 --> 00:17:00.334
  • So when the midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled
  • 00:17:00.334 --> 00:17:02.603
  • Joseph out of the cistern, sold him for twenty shekels of
  • 00:17:02.603 --> 00:17:05.840
  • Silver, and they took him to egypt.
  • 00:17:05.840 --> 00:17:08.543
  • When reuben returned to the cistern and saw that joseph
  • 00:17:08.543 --> 00:17:10.244
  • Wasn't there, he tore his clothes.
  • 00:17:10.244 --> 00:17:12.713
  • And he went back and said, 'the boy isn't there!
  • 00:17:12.713 --> 00:17:14.449
  • Where can i turn now?'
  • 00:17:14.449 --> 00:17:16.751
  • Then they got joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped
  • 00:17:16.751 --> 00:17:19.187
  • The robe in the blood.
  • 00:17:19.187 --> 00:17:20.521
  • They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said,
  • 00:17:20.521 --> 00:17:23.224
  • 'we found this.
  • 00:17:23.224 --> 00:17:24.559
  • Examine it to see whether it's your son's robe.'
  • 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:26.994
  • And he recognized it and he said, 'it's my son's robe!
  • 00:17:26.994 --> 00:17:29.764
  • Some ferocious animal has devoured him and joseph has
  • 00:17:29.764 --> 00:17:32.066
  • Surely been torn to pieces.'
  • 00:17:32.066 --> 00:17:34.702
  • Jacob tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth and mourned for his
  • 00:17:34.702 --> 00:17:37.638
  • Son many days."
  • 00:17:37.638 --> 00:17:40.241
  • It's a fascinating story.
  • 00:17:40.241 --> 00:17:43.244
  • We're more familiar with the joseph portion of the narrative,
  • 00:17:43.244 --> 00:17:46.080
  • The responses across joseph's family, across his brothers, are
  • 00:17:46.080 --> 00:17:49.016
  • Uneven, they're not uniform.
  • 00:17:49.016 --> 00:17:52.120
  • We're told that they hate joseph, they hate him because of
  • 00:17:52.120 --> 00:17:54.956
  • The favoritism of his father.
  • 00:17:54.956 --> 00:17:57.091
  • They hate him because of the visions god given him of his own
  • 00:17:57.091 --> 00:17:59.927
  • Future, and of theirs.
  • 00:17:59.927 --> 00:18:02.697
  • They're not processing it right.
  • 00:18:02.697 --> 00:18:04.932
  • They're a part of the covenant people of god.
  • 00:18:04.932 --> 00:18:08.469
  • They're going to be the tribal names for the nation of israel.
  • 00:18:08.469 --> 00:18:12.039
  • They're not removed from the purposes of god.
  • 00:18:12.039 --> 00:18:13.841
  • Folks, we gotta grapple with this.
  • 00:18:13.841 --> 00:18:15.543
  • You can be in the--you can be a part of god's kingdom.
  • 00:18:15.543 --> 00:18:18.045
  • You can have made a profession of faith and been baptized, but
  • 00:18:18.045 --> 00:18:21.249
  • You can still have such emotional baggage, such
  • 00:18:21.249 --> 00:18:23.751
  • Spiritual baggage, that it limits and it brings pain and
  • 00:18:23.751 --> 00:18:26.921
  • Disruption to the purposes of god.
  • 00:18:26.921 --> 00:18:28.990
  • We have to decide we wanna be clean.
  • 00:18:28.990 --> 00:18:30.725
  • We have to decide we wanna be free.
  • 00:18:30.725 --> 00:18:34.462
  • We've been smug and self-righteous, and say, "oh,
  • 00:18:34.462 --> 00:18:36.497
  • Yeah, i don't wanna talk about that."
  • 00:18:36.497 --> 00:18:38.866
  • We'll even have seminars on whether or not we believe in
  • 00:18:38.866 --> 00:18:40.935
  • Spiritual forces, or spiritual influences, or whether unclean
  • 00:18:40.935 --> 00:18:44.038
  • Spirits can bother a believer.
  • 00:18:44.038 --> 00:18:46.641
  • Stop, read your bible.
  • 00:18:46.641 --> 00:18:50.077
  • Stop looking for reasons so that it doesn't apply to us, and
  • 00:18:50.077 --> 00:18:53.214
  • Let's begin to invite the spirit of god to help us find the
  • 00:18:53.214 --> 00:18:55.917
  • Freedom that jesus made available.
  • 00:18:55.917 --> 00:18:58.286
  • It will change everything.
  • 00:18:58.286 --> 00:19:01.489
  • The different brothers have different attitudes
  • 00:19:01.489 --> 00:19:03.357
  • Towards joseph.
  • 00:19:03.357 --> 00:19:05.359
  • Reuben doesn't want him to be killed.
  • 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:07.528
  • Judah intercedes for him and says, "let's just sell him as
  • 00:19:07.528 --> 00:19:09.997
  • A slave."
  • 00:19:09.997 --> 00:19:11.832
  • And then they managed to drive the discussion so that joseph's
  • 00:19:11.832 --> 00:19:14.535
  • Life is spared, but the reality is in the poignant part of this
  • 00:19:14.535 --> 00:19:18.005
  • Is we process disappointment and pain differently.
  • 00:19:18.005 --> 00:19:21.475
  • We don't all process it the same way.
  • 00:19:21.475 --> 00:19:24.045
  • It isn't universal, even within a family system, even when you
  • 00:19:24.045 --> 00:19:26.948
  • Share dna, and you share common experiences, we still process
  • 00:19:26.948 --> 00:19:31.018
  • Life differently.
  • 00:19:31.018 --> 00:19:32.353
  • But we need the help and the freedom that comes through the
  • 00:19:32.353 --> 00:19:35.323
  • Blood of jesus.
  • 00:19:35.323 --> 00:19:36.991
  • You can make good and bad choices in the face of pain.
  • 00:19:36.991 --> 00:19:41.262
  • You see, pain is universal, rejection is universal.
  • 00:19:41.262 --> 00:19:45.399
  • Inappropriate treatment is universal, unfairness is
  • 00:19:45.399 --> 00:19:49.203
  • Universal, but in the face of all of those things, now we have
  • 00:19:49.203 --> 00:19:52.039
  • Choices to make.
  • 00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:53.374
  • We make godly choices or ungodly choices, your future will be
  • 00:19:53.374 --> 00:19:56.611
  • Determined by the answer you give.
  • 00:19:56.611 --> 00:20:01.649
  • This is not insignificant.
  • 00:20:01.649 --> 00:20:04.585
  • Reuben wanted to return joseph to their father.
  • 00:20:04.585 --> 00:20:06.754
  • Judah didn't want to kill him.
  • 00:20:06.754 --> 00:20:09.257
  • The angry brothers wanted to free joseph, but none of the
  • 00:20:09.257 --> 00:20:16.230
  • Brothers seem to care too much about their father's pain.
  • 00:20:16.230 --> 00:20:20.268
  • They all seem more than willing to take back to him a bloody
  • 00:20:20.268 --> 00:20:22.637
  • Robe and say, "the child of your affection has been torn
  • 00:20:22.637 --> 00:20:26.140
  • To pieces."
  • 00:20:26.140 --> 00:20:29.176
  • Now, we'll--when we meet them later on in the narrative, they
  • 00:20:29.176 --> 00:20:31.746
  • Have great concern about their father.
  • 00:20:31.746 --> 00:20:34.548
  • They're afraid that further heartache would destroy him, but
  • 00:20:34.548 --> 00:20:37.551
  • They understand, they've carried the guilt and the shame.
  • 00:20:37.551 --> 00:20:39.720
  • If you heard the previous session, we talked about what we
  • 00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:42.323
  • Have to do with shame, what happens when we're betrayed.
  • 00:20:42.323 --> 00:20:45.993
  • You see, they've carried the burden of this because they
  • 00:20:45.993 --> 00:20:47.895
  • Didn't know how to respond.
  • 00:20:47.895 --> 00:20:49.263
  • They didn't know how to process the rejection.
  • 00:20:49.263 --> 00:20:52.600
  • Our responses to rejection, they're as diverse as we are
  • 00:20:52.600 --> 00:20:56.637
  • People, but i can identify some pathways.
  • 00:20:56.637 --> 00:21:00.775
  • Perhaps you can recognize it.
  • 00:21:00.775 --> 00:21:02.843
  • You know, a primary impact of rejection is it impacts our own
  • 00:21:02.843 --> 00:21:05.813
  • Ability to give and receive love.
  • 00:21:05.813 --> 00:21:08.282
  • That family system was torn apart.
  • 00:21:08.282 --> 00:21:13.821
  • And rejection tears us apart.
  • 00:21:13.821 --> 00:21:15.289
  • 1 john 4:19 is not in your notes, but it is in the bible.
  • 00:21:15.289 --> 00:21:19.160
  • Says, "we love because he first loved us."
  • 00:21:19.160 --> 00:21:22.663
  • You see, the only way you and i can truly share love in this
  • 00:21:22.663 --> 00:21:27.001
  • World is to reflect the love that god has for us.
  • 00:21:27.001 --> 00:21:31.405
  • It's why the message of the gospel is so important.
  • 00:21:31.405 --> 00:21:34.875
  • The fundamental need of a human being is to feel valued,
  • 00:21:34.875 --> 00:21:37.678
  • Accepted, and loved.
  • 00:21:37.678 --> 00:21:39.680
  • And apart from god, those needs can never be met.
  • 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:43.150
  • We'll try to fill them with pleasure, we'll try to fill them
  • 00:21:43.150 --> 00:21:45.453
  • With accomplishment, we'll try to fill them with all sorts of
  • 00:21:45.453 --> 00:21:48.956
  • Things, but they're impostors.
  • 00:21:48.956 --> 00:21:52.893
  • Until we find peace with the creator of heaven and earth, we
  • 00:21:52.893 --> 00:21:56.297
  • Can never truly be at peace ourselves.
  • 00:21:56.297 --> 00:22:00.568
  • And then, once we're invited into that kingdom, our adversary
  • 00:22:00.568 --> 00:22:03.604
  • Does everything in his power to disrupt that.
  • 00:22:03.604 --> 00:22:06.340
  • If he can't keep you out of the kingdom, he will try to disrupt
  • 00:22:06.340 --> 00:22:08.776
  • Your progress in the kingdom, by causing you to focus on things
  • 00:22:08.776 --> 00:22:12.446
  • That are unfair or illegitimate or that you didn't
  • 00:22:12.446 --> 00:22:15.483
  • Plan on or--he's evil.
  • 00:22:15.483 --> 00:22:20.054
  • He is evil.
  • 00:22:20.054 --> 00:22:22.056
  • There seem--there's three primary responses that are
  • 00:22:22.056 --> 00:22:24.625
  • Pretty easily seen around us, i think.
  • 00:22:24.625 --> 00:22:26.794
  • A person who's rejected sometimes are tempted just to
  • 00:22:26.794 --> 00:22:29.196
  • Give in.
  • 00:22:29.196 --> 00:22:30.931
  • It's just as if life is too much.
  • 00:22:30.931 --> 00:22:34.135
  • You know, and they may pose some initial resistance to the
  • 00:22:34.135 --> 00:22:37.705
  • Challenges of the life that brings, but there isn't the
  • 00:22:37.705 --> 00:22:40.841
  • Strength of will or the force of will or the determination,
  • 00:22:40.841 --> 00:22:43.511
  • And then they just yield.
  • 00:22:43.511 --> 00:22:45.646
  • Life feels overwhelming to them.
  • 00:22:45.646 --> 00:22:48.449
  • It's exhausting emotionally, spiritually, physically.
  • 00:22:48.449 --> 00:22:52.920
  • The person who gives in, there's a downward progression that
  • 00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:55.456
  • Often comes with that.
  • 00:22:55.456 --> 00:22:56.824
  • It starts with rejection, but it extends to loneliness, and
  • 00:22:56.824 --> 00:23:00.027
  • Self-pity, and misery, and depression and
  • 00:23:00.027 --> 00:23:02.196
  • Despair, hopelessness.
  • 00:23:02.196 --> 00:23:03.798
  • If it's left unchecked, your heart will be filled with
  • 00:23:03.798 --> 00:23:07.034
  • Thoughts of suicide.
  • 00:23:07.034 --> 00:23:11.071
  • You know, it starts out with the pain in your life, but if it's
  • 00:23:11.071 --> 00:23:13.674
  • Unchecked, and it's left to grow and flourish, you find that
  • 00:23:13.674 --> 00:23:17.044
  • You're losing control over your responses.
  • 00:23:17.044 --> 00:23:20.548
  • And one of the best--diagnostic tools--thank you,
  • 00:23:20.548 --> 00:23:30.191
  • That i know is to recognize the difference between the holy
  • 00:23:30.191 --> 00:23:32.726
  • Spirit and an unholy spirit.
  • 00:23:32.726 --> 00:23:35.329
  • The spirit of god will convict you, the spirit of god will make
  • 00:23:35.329 --> 00:23:39.400
  • You uncomfortable with the behavior or a choice or
  • 00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:42.603
  • An attitude.
  • 00:23:42.603 --> 00:23:43.971
  • But when the holy spirit convicts you, you understand
  • 00:23:43.971 --> 00:23:46.774
  • That you have to change how you're thinking
  • 00:23:46.774 --> 00:23:48.309
  • And how you're behaving.
  • 00:23:48.309 --> 00:23:49.643
  • You understand the pathway to something different.
  • 00:23:49.643 --> 00:23:52.513
  • The word we use for that is "repentance," but the holy
  • 00:23:52.513 --> 00:23:54.682
  • Spirit makes you uncomfortable.
  • 00:23:54.682 --> 00:23:56.016
  • You're not--you're just not okay with the way i spoke or
  • 00:23:56.016 --> 00:23:58.986
  • The way i behaved, and it doesn't feel right.
  • 00:23:58.986 --> 00:24:01.422
  • Now, you can dull that, you can numb that, you could turn up the
  • 00:24:01.422 --> 00:24:04.792
  • Volume and get louder, or you can use things to try to
  • 00:24:04.792 --> 00:24:07.294
  • Medicate and overcome it.
  • 00:24:07.294 --> 00:24:08.996
  • But you know, now if you persist in an ungodly behavior, and
  • 00:24:08.996 --> 00:24:12.199
  • Ignoring that conviction of the spirit of god, you can grow so
  • 00:24:12.199 --> 00:24:15.603
  • Callous that you're oblivious to it.
  • 00:24:15.603 --> 00:24:18.672
  • You can "sear your conscience," the bible says.
  • 00:24:18.672 --> 00:24:22.576
  • But the alternative, an unholy spirit, he doesn't convict you,
  • 00:24:22.576 --> 00:24:26.780
  • He doesn't make you uncomfortable.
  • 00:24:26.780 --> 00:24:29.683
  • First, he says, "you're a failure, and you're always
  • 00:24:29.683 --> 00:24:31.652
  • Gonna fail.
  • 00:24:31.652 --> 00:24:33.320
  • There's no need in trying to change, you can't change."
  • 00:24:33.320 --> 00:24:36.590
  • And you give in to whatever those prompts are.
  • 00:24:36.590 --> 00:24:40.094
  • Whether it's self-loathing or hatred of other people, whatever
  • 00:24:40.094 --> 00:24:42.730
  • It may be, and what you begin to under--what you begin to
  • 00:24:42.730 --> 00:24:45.733
  • Recognize is that you lose your self-determination.
  • 00:24:45.733 --> 00:24:49.970
  • The devil's intent--the intent of an unholy and unclean spirit
  • 00:24:49.970 --> 00:24:53.707
  • Is to dominate you, control you, manipulate you.
  • 00:24:53.707 --> 00:24:57.611
  • The holy spirit will never dominate you.
  • 00:24:57.611 --> 00:25:01.582
  • So if you find some aspect of your life or your behavior or
  • 00:25:01.582 --> 00:25:04.351
  • Your vocabulary or some pattern or something, and then
  • 00:25:04.351 --> 00:25:08.222
  • You feel like, you know, it's out of control, then begin to
  • 00:25:08.222 --> 00:25:12.993
  • Ask the holy spirit to show you.
  • 00:25:12.993 --> 00:25:15.863
  • I'm gonna give you a prayer before we go that you can pray,
  • 00:25:15.863 --> 00:25:18.899
  • But the holy spirit will never dominate you.
  • 00:25:18.899 --> 00:25:20.701
  • God won't make you do something you want to do.
  • 00:25:20.701 --> 00:25:22.403
  • He'd have made us stop sinning long before we ever considered
  • 00:25:22.403 --> 00:25:25.272
  • It, amen.
  • 00:25:25.272 --> 00:25:30.945
  • Then there's a person who holds out, and that's not primarily--
  • 00:25:30.945 --> 00:25:34.949
  • My observation, it's not typically that they're sullen
  • 00:25:34.949 --> 00:25:36.884
  • And withdrawn.
  • 00:25:36.884 --> 00:25:38.218
  • A lot of times, the person who holds out in a response to
  • 00:25:38.218 --> 00:25:40.754
  • Rejection are just overly enthusiastic.
  • 00:25:40.754 --> 00:25:44.425
  • They're gonna compensate with superficial happiness.
  • 00:25:44.425 --> 00:25:47.194
  • Every moment has to be an adventure.
  • 00:25:47.194 --> 00:25:50.497
  • There's a lack of authenticity in it.
  • 00:25:50.497 --> 00:25:53.400
  • You don't ever feel like you really know the true person
  • 00:25:53.400 --> 00:25:55.703
  • Because they don't--that true person, they're afraid to let
  • 00:25:55.703 --> 00:25:57.938
  • Them back out because they've been rejected and they don't
  • 00:25:57.938 --> 00:25:59.807
  • Want to be rejected again, so we just kind of hold out.
  • 00:25:59.807 --> 00:26:04.912
  • Cc by aberdeen captioning 1-800-688-6621 www.aberdeen.io
  • 00:26:04.979 --> 00:26:10.017
  • Allen: being a christ follower is not as much about an
  • 00:26:11.218 --> 00:26:13.354
  • Experience and a completed activity, a prayer, a visit to
  • 00:26:13.354 --> 00:26:17.224
  • An altar, a response to an evangelist.
  • 00:26:17.224 --> 00:26:20.361
  • It's certainly a beginning point of welcoming jesus into your
  • 00:26:20.361 --> 00:26:22.997
  • Heart, but it's a life that we lead, so we continue to grow,
  • 00:26:22.997 --> 00:26:26.400
  • And learn and gain strength.
  • 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:28.435
  • As life presents challenges, we get to know god in a new way.
  • 00:26:28.435 --> 00:26:31.839
  • Well, i believe this book about the holy spirit is a tool to
  • 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:35.275
  • Help you gain a new momentum to grow through the things in your
  • 00:26:35.275 --> 00:26:39.146
  • Life under the direction of the power of the spirit of god.
  • 00:26:39.146 --> 00:26:42.449
  • Folks, we're not gonna outwork evil or outthink evil, we're
  • 00:26:42.449 --> 00:26:45.319
  • Not gonna out organize evil, the only thing evil will yield to is
  • 00:26:45.319 --> 00:26:48.522
  • A power greater than itself, and that power is the spirit of god,
  • 00:26:48.522 --> 00:26:52.693
  • And you and me manifest in the earth through people of faith.
  • 00:26:52.693 --> 00:26:56.997
  • We're salt and light, we're change agents.
  • 00:26:56.997 --> 00:26:59.500
  • I wanna pray.
  • 00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:00.834
  • Heavenly father, give us a discernment to recognize your
  • 00:27:00.834 --> 00:27:03.904
  • Spirit, how we can welcome him into our lives, and cooperate
  • 00:27:03.904 --> 00:27:07.207
  • With him to bring your breakthroughs into our lives,
  • 00:27:07.207 --> 00:27:09.910
  • Our homes and our churches.
  • 00:27:09.910 --> 00:27:11.779
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:11.779 --> 00:27:13.447
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:13.447 --> 00:27:29.997