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