1. TBN
  2. Programs
  3. Allen Jackson Ministries
  4. Episodes
  5. Allen Jackson - Learning From The Apostle Paul (Part 1)
Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Learning From The Apostle Paul (Part 1)

January 26, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - Learning From The Apostle Paul (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#WordofGod #Challenges #Compassion #Disciples #Destiny #Prophecy #FalseProphets #Rejection #Sanctification #AllenJackson

Closed captions

Show Timecode
Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Learning From The Apostle Paul (Part 1) | January 26, 2026
  • ...
  • 00:00:00.633 --> 00:00:01.317
  • Allen jackson: you know, around the world people are searching
  • 00:00:01.751 --> 00:00:03.353
  • For truth, and together we're doing our very best to help them
  • 00:00:03.453 --> 00:00:06.623
  • Find it.
  • 00:00:06.723 --> 00:00:07.957
  • When you become a ministry partner with "allen jackson
  • 00:00:08.091 --> 00:00:09.893
  • Ministries," you're joining a growing community of believers
  • 00:00:10.026 --> 00:00:11.094
  • Who are committed to strengthening the church and
  • 00:00:13.196 --> 00:00:15.865
  • Sharing god's word through every available channel television,
  • 00:00:15.865 --> 00:00:19.836
  • Radio, podcast, books, bible studies, digital
  • 00:00:19.836 --> 00:00:23.273
  • Resources, conferences.
  • 00:00:23.273 --> 00:00:25.341
  • Your monthly partnership helps us equip believers to reach new
  • 00:00:25.341 --> 00:00:28.678
  • Audiences and to take the hope of jesus to people who may never
  • 00:00:28.678 --> 00:00:32.549
  • Have heard the gospel otherwise.
  • 00:00:32.549 --> 00:00:34.684
  • Together we can stand firm in our faith and make god's truth
  • 00:00:34.684 --> 00:00:38.621
  • Known, right here at home and around the earth wherever god
  • 00:00:38.621 --> 00:00:41.825
  • Opens the door.
  • 00:00:41.825 --> 00:00:43.159
  • Let's keep gathering his people and building his church until
  • 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:46.362
  • The day our king returns.
  • 00:00:46.362 --> 00:00:48.631
  • You can find more about becoming a ministry partner
  • 00:00:48.631 --> 00:00:51.701
  • At allenjackson.com/partner.
  • 00:00:51.701 --> 00:00:55.338
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:00:56.473 --> 00:01:00.510
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:01:02.779 --> 00:01:07.117
  • Allen: i want to continue the theme we began last weekend.
  • 00:01:09.052 --> 00:01:15.058
  • We were really--on sunday we talked about the apostle paul
  • 00:01:15.058 --> 00:01:20.230
  • And god's recruitment of him, and i wanna carry that forward
  • 00:01:20.230 --> 00:01:23.433
  • A bit.
  • 00:01:23.433 --> 00:01:24.968
  • The title of "little strength and a faithful god," i think is
  • 00:01:24.968 --> 00:01:27.770
  • An accurate description of much of the apostle's life, but i
  • 00:01:27.770 --> 00:01:31.441
  • Think of the challenge we find for ourselves, but before i do
  • 00:01:31.441 --> 00:01:35.111
  • That and before i step fully into your outline, i wanna take
  • 00:01:35.111 --> 00:01:37.614
  • Just a moment.
  • 00:01:37.614 --> 00:01:38.948
  • At the beginning--i like the beginning of the year.
  • 00:01:38.948 --> 00:01:40.316
  • I always like the sense of a fresh calendar and a new set of
  • 00:01:40.316 --> 00:01:43.019
  • Opportunities when i was in school, and--but i always loved
  • 00:01:43.019 --> 00:01:46.923
  • The beginning of a semester, 'cause there was two or three
  • 00:01:46.923 --> 00:01:49.993
  • Days when i wasn't behind.
  • 00:01:49.993 --> 00:01:52.762
  • It was just amazing.
  • 00:01:52.762 --> 00:01:54.831
  • I was up with all the smart people there for 72 hours,
  • 00:01:54.831 --> 00:01:58.635
  • And--well, i always have that sense of the beginning of the
  • 00:01:58.635 --> 00:02:01.538
  • New year.
  • 00:02:01.538 --> 00:02:02.906
  • It's an invitation to join with the lord in what he's doing, and
  • 00:02:02.906 --> 00:02:06.509
  • I have that sense, but it always--it's a time for
  • 00:02:06.509 --> 00:02:08.678
  • Reflection for me.
  • 00:02:08.678 --> 00:02:10.013
  • What am i aware that god is doing?
  • 00:02:10.013 --> 00:02:11.381
  • What can i see?
  • 00:02:11.381 --> 00:02:12.715
  • And i don't imagine that i understand all that god is doing
  • 00:02:12.715 --> 00:02:15.218
  • Or that we have time to unpack that in great detail, but it
  • 00:02:15.218 --> 00:02:19.322
  • Felt like just an important opportunity to kind of orient
  • 00:02:19.322 --> 00:02:23.526
  • Ourselves in the world, and there was a couple of verses
  • 00:02:23.526 --> 00:02:26.262
  • That seemed to me to be on point, at least from my
  • 00:02:26.262 --> 00:02:29.032
  • Perspective, and i'd like to share them with you.
  • 00:02:29.032 --> 00:02:31.201
  • I gave them to you in your notes from two different translations
  • 00:02:31.201 --> 00:02:34.337
  • Because i think it's helpful, and i can explain briefly.
  • 00:02:34.337 --> 00:02:37.607
  • They're from matthew chapter 24.
  • 00:02:37.607 --> 00:02:40.176
  • Matthew chapter 24 has a parallel passage in luke 21, and
  • 00:02:40.176 --> 00:02:44.280
  • Another one in mark's gospel.
  • 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:47.016
  • All of them are in response to a couple of questions that the
  • 00:02:47.016 --> 00:02:49.752
  • Disciples asked jesus.
  • 00:02:49.752 --> 00:02:52.121
  • They said, what will be the sign of the destruction of
  • 00:02:52.121 --> 00:02:55.592
  • The temple?
  • 00:02:55.592 --> 00:02:56.926
  • When will that happen?
  • 00:02:56.926 --> 00:02:58.294
  • Jesus has told them that the temple will be destroyed, and it
  • 00:02:58.294 --> 00:02:59.896
  • Blew their mind.
  • 00:02:59.896 --> 00:03:01.231
  • It took herod almost--herod the great almost 50 years to build
  • 00:03:01.231 --> 00:03:02.932
  • The temple in jerusalem, and jesus said it was going to be
  • 00:03:02.932 --> 00:03:06.336
  • Destroyed, that there wouldn't be one stone left on another.
  • 00:03:06.336 --> 00:03:09.672
  • It was one of the wonders of the ancient world, that they
  • 00:03:09.672 --> 00:03:11.708
  • Couldn't imagine.
  • 00:03:11.708 --> 00:03:13.076
  • They thought if the temple was destroyed, it would have to be
  • 00:03:13.076 --> 00:03:14.677
  • The end of the world.
  • 00:03:14.677 --> 00:03:16.679
  • They couldn't imagine anything else.
  • 00:03:16.679 --> 00:03:20.183
  • So they said to jesus after he said the temple's gonna be
  • 00:03:20.183 --> 00:03:22.485
  • Destroyed, he said, well, tell us.
  • 00:03:22.485 --> 00:03:23.886
  • What will be the signs of the end of the age and of
  • 00:03:23.886 --> 00:03:26.956
  • Your return?
  • 00:03:26.956 --> 00:03:29.125
  • And in those collective passages, matthew, luke, and
  • 00:03:29.125 --> 00:03:33.529
  • Mark, i believe jesus answers all of those questions.
  • 00:03:33.529 --> 00:03:37.834
  • He gave them a timeline for the destruction of that second
  • 00:03:37.834 --> 00:03:40.203
  • Temple, and he also gave them some insight into what would
  • 00:03:40.203 --> 00:03:44.207
  • Happen in the earth at the end of this age.
  • 00:03:44.207 --> 00:03:46.175
  • The bible talks about ages as one of the measures of time.
  • 00:03:46.175 --> 00:03:51.748
  • At the end of this age--and at the end of this age, the messiah
  • 00:03:51.748 --> 00:03:54.284
  • Is coming back.
  • 00:03:54.284 --> 00:03:56.019
  • That's the biblical presentation.
  • 00:03:56.019 --> 00:03:57.353
  • So jesus gives us a bit of a timeline, and at the beginning
  • 00:03:57.353 --> 00:04:00.256
  • Of matthew's presentation of that, he lists a dozen or so
  • 00:04:00.256 --> 00:04:03.059
  • Characteristics of what will be happening in the world, and as
  • 00:04:03.059 --> 00:04:06.429
  • He's concluding that, those are the verses i gave you.
  • 00:04:06.429 --> 00:04:09.132
  • He said there will be many false prophets who will arise and will
  • 00:04:09.132 --> 00:04:12.435
  • Mislead many.
  • 00:04:12.435 --> 00:04:13.803
  • That's an important little nugget.
  • 00:04:13.803 --> 00:04:16.039
  • There will be many false prophets and many will
  • 00:04:16.039 --> 00:04:18.841
  • Be misled.
  • 00:04:18.841 --> 00:04:20.510
  • Not a few, impacting a handful.
  • 00:04:20.510 --> 00:04:23.346
  • Many, affecting many people.
  • 00:04:23.346 --> 00:04:27.016
  • And i think--certainly we can think of prophet in the biblical
  • 00:04:27.016 --> 00:04:30.353
  • Sense, but that's the narrowest definition.
  • 00:04:30.353 --> 00:04:33.222
  • In the bible, a prophet is not primarily a foreteller, a
  • 00:04:33.222 --> 00:04:36.859
  • Predictor of the future.
  • 00:04:36.859 --> 00:04:38.961
  • The prophetic role in scripture was to present to the people
  • 00:04:38.961 --> 00:04:42.665
  • God's perspective.
  • 00:04:42.665 --> 00:04:45.134
  • The priestly role in scripture was to represent the people
  • 00:04:45.134 --> 00:04:48.004
  • To god.
  • 00:04:48.004 --> 00:04:49.339
  • You brought your sacrifices to the priest, and they offered it
  • 00:04:49.339 --> 00:04:51.441
  • To the lord.
  • 00:04:51.441 --> 00:04:52.775
  • Jesus is our great high priest.
  • 00:04:52.775 --> 00:04:55.478
  • He is our advocate before his father.
  • 00:04:55.478 --> 00:04:58.581
  • That's why we no longer need a human--another human priest as
  • 00:04:58.581 --> 00:05:01.718
  • An intercessor for us.
  • 00:05:01.718 --> 00:05:03.553
  • We have a great high priest, jesus of nazareth.
  • 00:05:03.553 --> 00:05:06.823
  • The prophetic role is different.
  • 00:05:06.823 --> 00:05:08.424
  • The prophetic role was to say to the people, this is
  • 00:05:08.424 --> 00:05:11.160
  • God's perspective.
  • 00:05:11.160 --> 00:05:12.495
  • Typically the prophetic role was reminding the people of a
  • 00:05:12.495 --> 00:05:15.264
  • Biblical perspective when they have deviated from it.
  • 00:05:15.264 --> 00:05:20.069
  • So a false prophet is someone who misrepresents
  • 00:05:20.069 --> 00:05:24.640
  • God's perspective.
  • 00:05:24.640 --> 00:05:27.577
  • Now, they can be in a religious context, but i would submit to
  • 00:05:27.577 --> 00:05:30.213
  • You, anybody that is a--presents themself as a truth teller or an
  • 00:05:30.213 --> 00:05:34.684
  • Informed opinion, and they lead you away from god's perspective,
  • 00:05:34.684 --> 00:05:38.721
  • Is a false prophet.
  • 00:05:38.721 --> 00:05:41.557
  • And i would submit you were living in a time when that
  • 00:05:41.557 --> 00:05:43.693
  • Is proliferating.
  • 00:05:43.693 --> 00:05:46.596
  • And the other part of that passage that we see is they're
  • 00:05:46.596 --> 00:05:49.499
  • Influencing many, many people, but jesus wasn't finished.
  • 00:05:49.499 --> 00:05:54.537
  • He said, "'because lawlessness is increased, most people's love
  • 00:05:54.537 --> 00:05:58.641
  • Will grow cold.
  • 00:05:58.641 --> 00:06:00.343
  • But the one who endures to the end will be saved,'" and we got
  • 00:06:00.343 --> 00:06:04.113
  • Two more pieces of the puzzle there.
  • 00:06:04.113 --> 00:06:05.481
  • He said lawlessness will be increasing, and the requirement
  • 00:06:05.481 --> 00:06:09.986
  • Of those who are faithful, those who aren't influenced by the
  • 00:06:09.986 --> 00:06:12.488
  • False prophets and who aren't overcome by lawlessness, will be
  • 00:06:12.488 --> 00:06:17.427
  • Required to endure.
  • 00:06:17.427 --> 00:06:18.761
  • Isn't that a happy thought?
  • 00:06:18.761 --> 00:06:21.731
  • Endurance suggests resistance, opposition, some determination
  • 00:06:21.731 --> 00:06:27.970
  • On our part.
  • 00:06:27.970 --> 00:06:29.705
  • Now, i gave you two translations because of the word that's
  • 00:06:29.705 --> 00:06:32.308
  • Translated in that first passage you have, which is the new
  • 00:06:32.308 --> 00:06:35.711
  • American standard bible, that's translated lawlessness.
  • 00:06:35.711 --> 00:06:39.348
  • I don't do a lot of word studies.
  • 00:06:39.348 --> 00:06:40.716
  • It's not usually overly helpful.
  • 00:06:40.716 --> 00:06:42.185
  • In this case, there's a nuance that may be.
  • 00:06:42.185 --> 00:06:44.620
  • The greek word is anomia, and in its context, i think it probably
  • 00:06:44.620 --> 00:06:49.625
  • Means more about god's law.
  • 00:06:49.625 --> 00:06:51.794
  • It's not used exclusively that way in first century greek, but
  • 00:06:51.794 --> 00:06:54.831
  • In the context here, it seems to me when jesus said that
  • 00:06:54.831 --> 00:06:58.067
  • Lawlessness will increase, it'll be--there'll be a, rejection of
  • 00:06:58.067 --> 00:07:02.305
  • God's laws, not like just ten commandments, but a god
  • 00:07:02.305 --> 00:07:05.174
  • Perspective will be rejected.
  • 00:07:05.174 --> 00:07:08.578
  • That seems to be what's reflected--the other passage i
  • 00:07:08.578 --> 00:07:10.780
  • Gave you is from the new international version.
  • 00:07:10.780 --> 00:07:12.982
  • In that 12 verse it says, "'because of the increase
  • 00:07:12.982 --> 00:07:15.151
  • Of wickedness.'"
  • 00:07:15.151 --> 00:07:16.652
  • Same greek words translated two ways.
  • 00:07:16.652 --> 00:07:18.387
  • In the new american standard, it's lawlessness, in the niv
  • 00:07:18.387 --> 00:07:21.691
  • It's wickedness.
  • 00:07:21.691 --> 00:07:23.226
  • Between the two, i think you kind of get the window.
  • 00:07:23.226 --> 00:07:26.229
  • There's a rejection of god's boundaries.
  • 00:07:26.229 --> 00:07:29.465
  • We're not going to live by those.
  • 00:07:29.465 --> 00:07:33.035
  • And the niv calls it wickedness, which i think is a pretty
  • 00:07:33.035 --> 00:07:35.505
  • Accurate description of that.
  • 00:07:35.505 --> 00:07:36.839
  • If you choose not to live by god's boundaries, you've chosen
  • 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:39.108
  • A path of wickedness.
  • 00:07:39.108 --> 00:07:40.676
  • You can dress it up.
  • 00:07:40.676 --> 00:07:42.044
  • You can say you're enlightened, or you're educated, or you're
  • 00:07:42.044 --> 00:07:44.914
  • Sophisticated, or you're chic, or you're cosmopolitan, but if
  • 00:07:44.914 --> 00:07:48.317
  • You're rejecting god's boundaries, you're wicked.
  • 00:07:48.317 --> 00:07:52.154
  • You may be fashionably wicked, or intelligently wicked, or have
  • 00:07:52.154 --> 00:07:56.359
  • A remarkable education and be wicked, but you've still
  • 00:07:56.359 --> 00:07:58.794
  • Rejected god's boundaries, and the biblical prescription for
  • 00:07:58.794 --> 00:08:01.364
  • That is wicked.
  • 00:08:01.364 --> 00:08:03.466
  • I don't wanna be in that camp.
  • 00:08:03.466 --> 00:08:05.868
  • Now, jesus is describing a scene in the earth as we approach the
  • 00:08:05.868 --> 00:08:09.972
  • End of the age.
  • 00:08:09.972 --> 00:08:11.340
  • "'he who endures to the end will be saved.
  • 00:08:11.340 --> 00:08:12.742
  • This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world
  • 00:08:12.742 --> 00:08:15.344
  • As a testimony to all the nations, and then the end
  • 00:08:15.344 --> 00:08:17.446
  • Will come.'"
  • 00:08:17.446 --> 00:08:19.048
  • Wow, so now we've got this little scenario, and it's not
  • 00:08:19.048 --> 00:08:22.251
  • The whole passage, we don't have time, but on point of what we're
  • 00:08:22.251 --> 00:08:25.855
  • Watching, jesus is describing a tension between true and false.
  • 00:08:25.855 --> 00:08:31.360
  • He's describing that god's boundaries and their widespread
  • 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:36.032
  • Rejection in the earth, and that there will be a tension which
  • 00:08:36.032 --> 00:08:40.403
  • Escalates as the gospel of the kingdom is preached throughout
  • 00:08:40.403 --> 00:08:44.240
  • The whole world.
  • 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:46.609
  • So it's not a diminished presentation of the gospel, it's
  • 00:08:46.609 --> 00:08:49.145
  • An escalation of that.
  • 00:08:49.145 --> 00:08:51.314
  • With greater intensity, with greater frequency, with greater
  • 00:08:51.314 --> 00:08:55.084
  • Reach than the world has ever known, the gospel of the kingdom
  • 00:08:55.084 --> 00:08:57.987
  • Is going to be proclaimed, hallelujah, and there will be
  • 00:08:57.987 --> 00:09:04.093
  • False messages in an attempt to dismantle the boundaries that
  • 00:09:04.093 --> 00:09:08.764
  • God has given us in his scripture, and it will require
  • 00:09:08.764 --> 00:09:12.268
  • On the part of the people of faith to endure.
  • 00:09:12.268 --> 00:09:16.339
  • Jesus's message.
  • 00:09:16.339 --> 00:09:18.541
  • Say, "well, i don't like it."
  • 00:09:18.541 --> 00:09:19.875
  • Well, okay, duly noted, but it's really helpful.
  • 00:09:19.875 --> 00:09:24.914
  • If i told you to fly from here to israel, it would take
  • 00:09:24.914 --> 00:09:27.116
  • 11 hours.
  • 00:09:27.116 --> 00:09:28.451
  • You go, "i don't like long flights."
  • 00:09:28.451 --> 00:09:29.819
  • Okay, but if you're gonna fly from here to there, that's what
  • 00:09:29.819 --> 00:09:32.588
  • It takes.
  • 00:09:32.588 --> 00:09:34.624
  • I mean, you can swim, but that's not better.
  • 00:09:34.624 --> 00:09:38.861
  • So what are we seeing in our world?
  • 00:09:38.861 --> 00:09:41.430
  • That's my opinion.
  • 00:09:41.430 --> 00:09:42.765
  • You could disagree with me, and we could both go to heaven, but
  • 00:09:42.765 --> 00:09:44.800
  • It seems to me that those verses are a pretty accurate
  • 00:09:44.800 --> 00:09:47.470
  • Description of what's unfolding that i can see in our world.
  • 00:09:47.470 --> 00:09:50.873
  • We're seeing, in a way beyond anything in my lifetime, a
  • 00:09:50.873 --> 00:09:55.678
  • Broad, widespread rejection of civil law.
  • 00:09:55.678 --> 00:09:59.915
  • Fortunately, there's been a change, but for many, many years
  • 00:09:59.915 --> 00:10:02.585
  • Now, we've had open borders.
  • 00:10:02.585 --> 00:10:05.488
  • Which, you know, it's been cast in many ways.
  • 00:10:05.488 --> 00:10:07.523
  • We were told it was an expression of compassion, then
  • 00:10:07.523 --> 00:10:09.525
  • We were told frequently that our borders were secure.
  • 00:10:09.525 --> 00:10:12.561
  • Don't believe your lying eyes, those millions of people that
  • 00:10:12.561 --> 00:10:14.797
  • Are pouring over our borders and those caravans that are coming
  • 00:10:14.797 --> 00:10:17.266
  • From all over the world.
  • 00:10:17.266 --> 00:10:19.301
  • One of the challenges with venezuela is one of the most
  • 00:10:19.301 --> 00:10:22.004
  • Violent gangs in the world is--came from venezuela, and
  • 00:10:22.004 --> 00:10:25.941
  • They've flooded through our open borders.
  • 00:10:25.941 --> 00:10:27.309
  • They have a presence now in all 50 american states.
  • 00:10:27.309 --> 00:10:32.148
  • It's stunning.
  • 00:10:32.148 --> 00:10:33.516
  • We have sanctuary cities and sanctuary states, not safe
  • 00:10:33.516 --> 00:10:37.119
  • Places, places that refuse to enforce federal laws.
  • 00:10:37.119 --> 00:10:40.389
  • We're not going to obey federal law.
  • 00:10:40.389 --> 00:10:42.091
  • We'll pick and choose the laws we want to obey.
  • 00:10:42.091 --> 00:10:44.727
  • We're not obeying the ones we don't like, but we still demand
  • 00:10:44.727 --> 00:10:47.263
  • Federal funding, and we have rather elaborately called
  • 00:10:47.263 --> 00:10:51.600
  • Those sanctuaries.
  • 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:53.703
  • They're failing.
  • 00:10:53.703 --> 00:10:55.071
  • Most of them are bankrupt.
  • 00:10:55.071 --> 00:10:57.339
  • They have enormous problems.
  • 00:10:57.339 --> 00:10:58.908
  • Violence is escalating almost uniformly across those sanctuary
  • 00:10:58.908 --> 00:11:02.411
  • Places, but they're not enforcing federal laws.
  • 00:11:02.411 --> 00:11:06.782
  • Beyond that, often in those sanctuary states and even
  • 00:11:06.782 --> 00:11:09.218
  • Beyond, there is an open, overt resistance of officers enforcing
  • 00:11:09.218 --> 00:11:13.656
  • Our laws.
  • 00:11:13.656 --> 00:11:15.591
  • We've heard the cries for defunding our police, and police
  • 00:11:15.591 --> 00:11:18.327
  • Budgets having been slashed, and now federal law enforcement
  • 00:11:18.327 --> 00:11:21.764
  • That's trying to enforce our federal laws, like illegal
  • 00:11:21.764 --> 00:11:24.333
  • Immigrants, violent convicted criminals like gang members from
  • 00:11:24.333 --> 00:11:28.504
  • Venezuela being collected and deported, they are
  • 00:11:28.504 --> 00:11:31.874
  • Resisting that.
  • 00:11:31.874 --> 00:11:34.477
  • They have frequently, consistently published home
  • 00:11:34.477 --> 00:11:37.279
  • Addresses of law enforcement officers to make them targets.
  • 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:42.618
  • See, this isn't passive resistance, and beyond that,
  • 00:11:42.618 --> 00:11:45.955
  • We're experiencing, in the most unbelievable ways,
  • 00:11:45.955 --> 00:11:48.591
  • Widespread fraud.
  • 00:11:48.591 --> 00:11:51.627
  • You know, recently in the spotlight is minnesota.
  • 00:11:51.627 --> 00:11:55.164
  • Billions of dollars.
  • 00:11:55.164 --> 00:11:59.969
  • You understand what fraud is, right?
  • 00:11:57.666 --> 00:12:01.637
  • Fraud's a fancy word for stealing.
  • 00:12:01.637 --> 00:12:05.274
  • You're acquiring money in a fraudulent way.
  • 00:12:05.274 --> 00:12:08.410
  • In a deceptive way you're securing money that doesn't
  • 00:12:08.410 --> 00:12:12.047
  • Belong to you, and the fraud in our nation is an epidemic of
  • 00:12:12.047 --> 00:12:18.254
  • Indescribable proportions.
  • 00:12:18.254 --> 00:12:21.891
  • The hud secretary, a man i've interviewed on multiple
  • 00:12:21.891 --> 00:12:24.627
  • Occasions, they came out in the last few days and said there
  • 00:12:24.627 --> 00:12:27.263
  • Were several billion dollars in fraud from our housing and urban
  • 00:12:27.263 --> 00:12:31.634
  • Development, it's a cabinet position, by fraudulent rent
  • 00:12:31.634 --> 00:12:36.806
  • Request, people getting rent payments that are dead.
  • 00:12:36.806 --> 00:12:42.444
  • Bill--somebody's cashing the checks.
  • 00:12:42.444 --> 00:12:44.814
  • Billions of dollars.
  • 00:12:44.814 --> 00:12:46.182
  • We saw it with all the doge efforts at the beginning of the
  • 00:12:46.182 --> 00:12:48.851
  • Current administration.
  • 00:12:48.851 --> 00:12:50.419
  • We were doing--making wonderful investments of our tax dollars,
  • 00:12:50.419 --> 00:12:53.355
  • Things like paying for sesame street in iraq because big bird
  • 00:12:53.355 --> 00:12:57.860
  • Is essential in the middle east.
  • 00:12:57.860 --> 00:13:01.297
  • There is fraud throughout the system.
  • 00:13:01.297 --> 00:13:03.532
  • We know there's there, medicare.
  • 00:13:03.532 --> 00:13:06.569
  • I mean, it's just billion upon billion upon billions of dollars
  • 00:13:06.569 --> 00:13:10.539
  • That citizens are taking fraudulently, stealing, because
  • 00:13:10.539 --> 00:13:16.745
  • We have the imagination that civil law is not that important.
  • 00:13:16.745 --> 00:13:21.550
  • Borders are open.
  • 00:13:21.550 --> 00:13:23.352
  • We can defund the police.
  • 00:13:23.352 --> 00:13:25.721
  • There's no right and wrong.
  • 00:13:25.721 --> 00:13:27.089
  • It's such a quaint old fashioned idea.
  • 00:13:27.089 --> 00:13:29.725
  • I'm entitled.
  • 00:13:29.725 --> 00:13:34.363
  • Allen: welcome to 2026. happy new year.
  • 00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:41.237
  • We've created a new book to help you.
  • 00:13:41.237 --> 00:13:42.705
  • It's called "turn up the light."
  • 00:13:42.705 --> 00:13:44.073
  • It's a devotional for the whole year.
  • 00:13:44.073 --> 00:13:45.708
  • It's a really simple idea.
  • 00:13:45.708 --> 00:13:47.076
  • I can join you for a cup of coffee in the morning.
  • 00:13:47.076 --> 00:13:49.879
  • We'll have a brief conversation with the spiritual principal to
  • 00:13:49.879 --> 00:13:52.715
  • Start our day, a scripture verse, a prayer, and then when
  • 00:13:52.715 --> 00:13:55.718
  • You're tired of me, you can close the book.
  • 00:13:55.718 --> 00:13:58.187
  • It's perfect.
  • 00:13:58.187 --> 00:13:59.722
  • In all seriousness, we do wanna turn up the light.
  • 00:13:59.722 --> 00:14:02.358
  • Let's not rage against the darkness.
  • 00:14:02.358 --> 00:14:03.792
  • Let's invite god into the midst of this year and then just see
  • 00:14:03.792 --> 00:14:06.695
  • What he will do.
  • 00:14:06.695 --> 00:14:08.030
  • Female announcer: pastor allen's new devotional "turn up the
  • 00:14:08.030 --> 00:14:10.132
  • Light" is designed to equip you every single day of the year.
  • 00:14:10.132 --> 00:14:13.702
  • Inside, you'll find 365 short devotionals, each with a
  • 00:14:13.702 --> 00:14:17.740
  • Scripture, teaching, and a prayer.
  • 00:14:17.740 --> 00:14:20.409
  • As you begin this new year, don't rage against the darkness.
  • 00:14:20.409 --> 00:14:23.646
  • Instead, choose to turn up the light.
  • 00:14:23.646 --> 00:14:25.881
  • You can request this book when you donate $25 or more today at
  • 00:14:25.881 --> 00:14:29.985
  • Allenjackson.com or by calling ...
  • 00:14:29.985 --> 00:14:36.692
  • Female announcer: we are committed to helping you grow in
  • 00:14:38.227 --> 00:14:39.795
  • Your faith, and have tools for your journey no matter
  • 00:14:39.795 --> 00:14:41.964
  • Your schedule.
  • 00:14:41.964 --> 00:14:43.332
  • Get daily encouragement and insight with pastor allen's
  • 00:14:43.332 --> 00:14:45.634
  • Daily devotion right in your inbox.
  • 00:14:45.634 --> 00:14:47.436
  • Just sign up on the website.
  • 00:14:47.436 --> 00:14:49.004
  • Join us on one of our live stream services right from your
  • 00:14:49.004 --> 00:14:51.874
  • Tv using the allen jackson ministries app.
  • 00:14:51.874 --> 00:14:54.510
  • Listen to a powerful message through your favorite podcast
  • 00:14:54.510 --> 00:14:57.246
  • App, perfect for a commute,
  • 00:14:57.246 --> 00:14:58.814
  • And make sure to follow pastor allen
  • 00:14:58.814 --> 00:15:00.382
  • On social media to stay up to date with everything happening
  • 00:15:00.382 --> 00:15:03.319
  • Here with "allen jackson ministries."
  • 00:15:03.319 --> 00:15:06.722
  • Allen: and then we see in some broad ways, bold ways, brazen
  • 00:15:08.791 --> 00:15:12.094
  • Ways, a rejection and intolerance of
  • 00:15:12.094 --> 00:15:14.596
  • God's perspectives.
  • 00:15:14.596 --> 00:15:17.099
  • The most unsettling of those in the past year was charlie
  • 00:15:17.099 --> 00:15:21.537
  • Kirk's martyrdom.
  • 00:15:21.537 --> 00:15:23.839
  • Charlie wasn't an elected politician, nor a pastor or
  • 00:15:23.839 --> 00:15:27.176
  • A minister.
  • 00:15:27.176 --> 00:15:28.577
  • He was a young man that went to college campuses and engaged in
  • 00:15:28.577 --> 00:15:31.046
  • A dialogue with students from a biblical worldview and was
  • 00:15:31.046 --> 00:15:36.251
  • Having an enormous effect on those students, and for that
  • 00:15:36.251 --> 00:15:40.022
  • Reason he was hunted.
  • 00:15:40.022 --> 00:15:43.459
  • Now, as unsettling as that is, when we saw charlie's memorial
  • 00:15:43.459 --> 00:15:46.895
  • Service the reports are as many as a billion people witnessed
  • 00:15:46.895 --> 00:15:53.902
  • That service, which included a clear presentation of the gospel
  • 00:15:53.902 --> 00:15:58.774
  • Of jesus christ, which is one of the most startling things in
  • 00:15:58.774 --> 00:16:07.249
  • My lifetime.
  • 00:16:07.249 --> 00:16:08.617
  • Never imagined that the majority of the cabinet of the united
  • 00:16:08.617 --> 00:16:11.253
  • States of america affirmed that presentation of the gospel while
  • 00:16:11.253 --> 00:16:15.124
  • A billion people witnessed it.
  • 00:16:15.124 --> 00:16:18.660
  • Now, that's a high price to pay for a platform of a billion
  • 00:16:18.660 --> 00:16:24.133
  • People, but the name of jesus was lifted up.
  • 00:16:24.133 --> 00:16:29.605
  • Sounds a lot like matthew 24 to me.
  • 00:16:29.605 --> 00:16:32.975
  • We see marriage and family.
  • 00:16:32.975 --> 00:16:34.343
  • We're talking about god's boundaries being disassembled.
  • 00:16:34.343 --> 00:16:37.446
  • It's--i don't think there's any place that's more--is any more
  • 00:16:37.446 --> 00:16:39.615
  • Visible than in marriage and family conversations.
  • 00:16:39.615 --> 00:16:42.418
  • There's almost a complete rejection of the biblical
  • 00:16:42.418 --> 00:16:44.420
  • Concept of marriage.
  • 00:16:44.420 --> 00:16:48.624
  • We're told that we shouldn't imagine that simply between a
  • 00:16:48.624 --> 00:16:51.226
  • Man and a woman any longer, a covenant before god between a
  • 00:16:51.226 --> 00:16:54.096
  • Man and a woman, which is the biblical definition.
  • 00:16:54.096 --> 00:16:58.867
  • I mean, the institution of marriage, the purposes of
  • 00:16:58.867 --> 00:17:01.937
  • Marriage, all of those things are--there's enormous efforts to
  • 00:17:01.937 --> 00:17:04.973
  • Set them aside, and the truth is, the churches, the buildings
  • 00:17:04.973 --> 00:17:08.811
  • That the signs say church and we have ecclesiastical
  • 00:17:08.811 --> 00:17:11.680
  • Architecture, have not been great defenders of the biblical
  • 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:16.185
  • Ideas of marriage and family and the values that the scripture
  • 00:17:16.185 --> 00:17:19.922
  • Gives to us.
  • 00:17:19.922 --> 00:17:22.091
  • We've got to come back to this, folks.
  • 00:17:22.091 --> 00:17:24.460
  • The bible describes a relationship between men and
  • 00:17:24.460 --> 00:17:27.296
  • Women, and describes certain objectives to that relationship,
  • 00:17:27.296 --> 00:17:33.502
  • Certain behaviors to that relationship that are not
  • 00:17:33.502 --> 00:17:36.205
  • Appropriate before marriage or beyond marriage, and they can't
  • 00:17:36.205 --> 00:17:41.343
  • Be understood in any other context other than between that
  • 00:17:41.343 --> 00:17:44.313
  • Covenant between a man and a woman in the sight of god.
  • 00:17:44.313 --> 00:17:47.116
  • The bible doesn't give us the option of designing that on our
  • 00:17:47.116 --> 00:17:50.452
  • Own terms and imagining that we're faithful to the integrity
  • 00:17:50.452 --> 00:17:54.623
  • Of scripture.
  • 00:17:54.623 --> 00:17:57.926
  • Now, those values have shaped our nation from its inception,
  • 00:17:57.926 --> 00:18:01.263
  • But in recent years they have been broadly pushed aside, and
  • 00:18:01.263 --> 00:18:04.399
  • There's been very little said from the pulpits of our nation.
  • 00:18:04.399 --> 00:18:09.338
  • That's reached the points of such absurdity that we see it on
  • 00:18:09.338 --> 00:18:11.907
  • Things that are not complicated at all, like on discussions of
  • 00:18:11.907 --> 00:18:14.343
  • Biological sex.
  • 00:18:14.343 --> 00:18:15.844
  • The bible says he created us male and female.
  • 00:18:15.844 --> 00:18:19.948
  • Those were the options.
  • 00:18:19.948 --> 00:18:22.518
  • I talked to a psychiatrist from new york that said on their
  • 00:18:22.518 --> 00:18:25.154
  • Induction forms to medical facilities, they had more than
  • 00:18:25.154 --> 00:18:28.524
  • 30 choices.
  • 00:18:28.524 --> 00:18:31.560
  • I'd have to go to school.
  • 00:18:31.560 --> 00:18:34.496
  • We've surrendered our children to mutilation under the guise of
  • 00:18:34.496 --> 00:18:37.266
  • Gender confusion.
  • 00:18:37.266 --> 00:18:39.735
  • All of these things, they're not complicated.
  • 00:18:39.735 --> 00:18:41.436
  • We shouldn't be surprised.
  • 00:18:41.436 --> 00:18:42.771
  • They're the logical outgrowth of rejecting biblical concepts of
  • 00:18:42.771 --> 00:18:45.574
  • Gender and family.
  • 00:18:45.574 --> 00:18:47.809
  • This doesn't happen suddenly.
  • 00:18:47.809 --> 00:18:49.144
  • This isn't a political discussion.
  • 00:18:49.144 --> 00:18:50.612
  • This isn't about red or blue.
  • 00:18:50.612 --> 00:18:52.814
  • We've been watching this for decades.
  • 00:18:52.814 --> 00:18:54.283
  • We've been party to this conversation.
  • 00:18:54.283 --> 00:18:56.552
  • We've been through the educational system, the majority
  • 00:18:56.552 --> 00:18:58.754
  • Of us.
  • 00:18:58.754 --> 00:19:00.122
  • We've listened to these statements, that there's no
  • 00:19:00.122 --> 00:19:01.456
  • Differences between men and women, other than some minor
  • 00:19:01.456 --> 00:19:04.393
  • Reproductive differences, and we're trying to even deny those.
  • 00:19:04.393 --> 00:19:08.597
  • We don't even want to refer to mothers any longer, we just have
  • 00:19:08.597 --> 00:19:10.899
  • Birthing people, and we act as if it's like a choice you
  • 00:19:10.899 --> 00:19:15.003
  • Can make.
  • 00:19:15.003 --> 00:19:16.338
  • No, it really isn't.
  • 00:19:16.338 --> 00:19:19.241
  • We're told that we're just completely
  • 00:19:19.241 --> 00:19:20.742
  • Interchangeable humanoids.
  • 00:19:20.742 --> 00:19:24.112
  • What nonsense.
  • 00:19:24.112 --> 00:19:27.015
  • So we've done some absurd things.
  • 00:19:27.015 --> 00:19:28.417
  • We said, well, women deserve a place on the front lines of
  • 00:19:28.417 --> 00:19:30.786
  • Battle because there's no difference in us physically.
  • 00:19:30.786 --> 00:19:32.654
  • We're all the same.
  • 00:19:32.654 --> 00:19:35.257
  • We've played this nonsense forward.
  • 00:19:35.257 --> 00:19:40.862
  • I'm not saying we're lesser or greater, but we're not just
  • 00:19:40.862 --> 00:19:44.132
  • The same.
  • 00:19:44.132 --> 00:19:47.869
  • It started initially with our daughters wanted to compete in
  • 00:19:47.869 --> 00:19:50.872
  • Boys's sports, 'cause some of them were extraordinarily gifted
  • 00:19:50.872 --> 00:19:53.442
  • Athletes and they had the ability to compete with those
  • 00:19:53.442 --> 00:19:57.879
  • Boys as they were maturing.
  • 00:19:57.879 --> 00:20:00.082
  • Until now we find ourselves in this place because we didn't say
  • 00:20:00.082 --> 00:20:02.651
  • Anything about that because we want everybody to have an equal
  • 00:20:02.651 --> 00:20:04.853
  • Opportunity and after all, we're the same, and so now we have men
  • 00:20:04.853 --> 00:20:08.390
  • Competing with women, and that's not a level field at all because
  • 00:20:08.390 --> 00:20:12.828
  • We're not the same.
  • 00:20:12.828 --> 00:20:16.231
  • It's absurd, and the church has been too silent.
  • 00:20:16.231 --> 00:20:20.802
  • Jesus told us about it, but we're watching it happen, and in
  • 00:20:20.802 --> 00:20:25.574
  • Such a broad way, and we're intimidated.
  • 00:20:25.574 --> 00:20:28.243
  • See, those of us that are christ followers, we have to use our
  • 00:20:28.243 --> 00:20:30.579
  • Voices, whether we're christ followers in the educational
  • 00:20:30.579 --> 00:20:32.881
  • Realm or the healthcare care realm or the theological realm
  • 00:20:32.881 --> 00:20:36.351
  • Or wherever that may be.
  • 00:20:36.351 --> 00:20:37.753
  • We have to be advocates for the truth that we know in
  • 00:20:37.753 --> 00:20:40.022
  • Those places.
  • 00:20:40.022 --> 00:20:41.823
  • It's junk science that says we're the same.
  • 00:20:41.823 --> 00:20:44.293
  • But we're watching all of these things unfold.
  • 00:20:48.130 --> 00:20:51.933
  • I mean, if there's truthfully no difference physically in our
  • 00:20:51.933 --> 00:20:54.836
  • Abilities, then we shouldn't have men's sports and women's
  • 00:20:54.836 --> 00:20:57.005
  • Sports, we just have sports.
  • 00:20:57.005 --> 00:21:02.811
  • I mean, that's the logical extension of this.
  • 00:21:02.811 --> 00:21:05.180
  • We don't need title ix saying that we need special protection
  • 00:21:05.180 --> 00:21:07.849
  • For women's sports and college athletics.
  • 00:21:07.849 --> 00:21:09.885
  • We just need sports if there's really no difference.
  • 00:21:09.885 --> 00:21:13.789
  • What absurdity.
  • 00:21:13.789 --> 00:21:17.192
  • But we've been silent, 'cause we wanted to be chic and celebrated
  • 00:21:17.192 --> 00:21:19.961
  • And welcomed, and we don't wanna be divisive because we stopped
  • 00:21:19.961 --> 00:21:22.331
  • Enforcing biblical boundaries around human sexuality in the
  • 00:21:22.331 --> 00:21:25.133
  • Church a long time ago.
  • 00:21:25.133 --> 00:21:26.868
  • We stopped those conversations about things like fornication
  • 00:21:26.868 --> 00:21:29.571
  • And adultery.
  • 00:21:29.571 --> 00:21:31.940
  • So then we had no moral authority to talk about things
  • 00:21:31.940 --> 00:21:33.909
  • Like homosexuality, so we were just kind of standing there
  • 00:21:33.909 --> 00:21:36.445
  • Numbly because we weren't addressing it.
  • 00:21:36.445 --> 00:21:38.447
  • You see, we can't address it at the table at the white house if
  • 00:21:38.447 --> 00:21:40.849
  • We're not willing to address it at the table in our house, and
  • 00:21:40.849 --> 00:21:44.619
  • It's so--it's difficult.
  • 00:21:44.619 --> 00:21:46.421
  • It's confusing, but jesus told us this would describe the end
  • 00:21:46.421 --> 00:21:50.892
  • Of the age.
  • 00:21:50.892 --> 00:21:53.528
  • But i don't wanna stop there.
  • 00:21:53.528 --> 00:21:55.697
  • I read it to you.
  • 00:21:55.697 --> 00:21:57.065
  • It's verse 14.
  • 00:21:57.065 --> 00:21:58.400
  • He said, "'this gospel of the kingdom will be preached to the
  • 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:00.001
  • Whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the
  • 00:22:00.001 --> 00:22:03.004
  • End will come.'"
  • 00:22:03.004 --> 00:22:04.740
  • The penultimate sign of the end of the age is not the increase
  • 00:22:04.740 --> 00:22:08.810
  • Of darkness or the wickedness or the escalation of those things
  • 00:22:08.810 --> 00:22:13.014
  • Or ethnic conflict or signs in the heaven.
  • 00:22:13.014 --> 00:22:17.285
  • The penultimate sign is the proclamation of the gospel of
  • 00:22:17.285 --> 00:22:21.089
  • The kingdom in the whole world.
  • 00:22:21.089 --> 00:22:24.259
  • So in the face of all these escalations the gospel's gonna
  • 00:22:24.259 --> 00:22:30.365
  • Be preached.
  • 00:22:30.365 --> 00:22:31.700
  • I believe the message is intended to cultivate in us a
  • 00:22:31.700 --> 00:22:34.202
  • Determined effort, a wholehearted response.
  • 00:22:34.202 --> 00:22:38.240
  • It's not an invitation to a passing--a passive response of
  • 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:41.977
  • Mild gratitude.
  • 00:22:41.977 --> 00:22:43.345
  • "well, god's been very good to me, so i'm gonna live stream
  • 00:22:43.345 --> 00:22:47.149
  • More frequently than i did last year."
  • 00:22:47.149 --> 00:22:51.219
  • I believe we can overcome the lawlessness.
  • 00:22:51.219 --> 00:22:53.288
  • I believe we can overcome the flourishing false prophets.
  • 00:22:53.288 --> 00:22:57.092
  • I believe we can overcome the ethnic conflict with a bold,
  • 00:22:57.092 --> 00:23:00.195
  • Determined, unrelenting presentation of the truth of
  • 00:23:00.195 --> 00:23:03.532
  • God's word and the gospel of the kingdom.
  • 00:23:03.532 --> 00:23:06.568
  • We have good news for our generation.
  • 00:23:06.568 --> 00:23:10.172
  • So let's not focus on the darkness, and wring our hands at
  • 00:23:10.172 --> 00:23:12.874
  • The ungodliness.
  • 00:23:12.874 --> 00:23:14.209
  • Let's recognize that technology has made our world much smaller.
  • 00:23:14.209 --> 00:23:17.212
  • The language barriers are collapsing.
  • 00:23:17.212 --> 00:23:19.414
  • I can talk with pastors in venezuela on a facetime at the
  • 00:23:19.414 --> 00:23:23.418
  • Altar in our church at the end of a service.
  • 00:23:23.418 --> 00:23:27.322
  • Who knew?
  • 00:23:27.322 --> 00:23:30.025
  • I'm not that clever.
  • 00:23:30.025 --> 00:23:32.494
  • Distance is being melted by communications tools.
  • 00:23:32.494 --> 00:23:35.230
  • Connectivity has changed our world.
  • 00:23:35.230 --> 00:23:37.566
  • Globalism is overcoming isolationism.
  • 00:23:37.566 --> 00:23:41.169
  • There's a lot of negative things i can see about globalism, but
  • 00:23:41.169 --> 00:23:44.105
  • One of the positive things is it's very difficult to isolate a
  • 00:23:44.105 --> 00:23:47.309
  • People group any longer.
  • 00:23:47.309 --> 00:23:50.011
  • Because we're so connected, we can share a message around
  • 00:23:50.011 --> 00:23:52.514
  • The earth.
  • 00:23:52.514 --> 00:23:54.216
  • The end time proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom will
  • 00:23:54.216 --> 00:23:57.385
  • Unfold in the midst of this conflict.
  • 00:23:57.385 --> 00:23:59.821
  • It won't be unchallenged, but it will be triumphant.
  • 00:23:59.821 --> 00:24:04.125
  • What an exciting season.
  • 00:24:04.125 --> 00:24:07.496
  • God is moving in the earth, so what do i see?
  • 00:24:07.496 --> 00:24:09.798
  • I see wickedness unfolding, some startling--i see absurd things
  • 00:24:09.798 --> 00:24:14.836
  • On a regular basis, and i see opportunities for the gospel of
  • 00:24:14.836 --> 00:24:18.340
  • The kingdom that are unprecedented.
  • 00:24:18.340 --> 00:24:20.041
  • What are you gonna give yourself to?
  • 00:24:20.041 --> 00:24:22.978
  • It's not a simple answer.
  • 00:24:22.978 --> 00:24:24.312
  • It's not a one-time answer.
  • 00:24:24.312 --> 00:24:25.680
  • It's a recognition we're gonna need one another.
  • 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:27.015
  • We're gonna have to help one another, encourage one another.
  • 00:24:27.015 --> 00:24:32.554
  • It's not a simple time, but god is moving in the earth.
  • 00:24:32.554 --> 00:24:36.758
  • Which brings me back to the apostle paul.
  • 00:24:36.758 --> 00:24:39.461
  • I'm back to your notes.
  • 00:24:39.461 --> 00:24:40.795
  • There's hope.
  • 00:24:40.795 --> 00:24:42.264
  • We're not gonna read every one of those scriptures.
  • 00:24:42.264 --> 00:24:45.000
  • Aren't you thrilled?
  • 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:48.870
  • You know, the story of the apostle paul is a
  • 00:24:48.870 --> 00:24:54.342
  • Crushing story.
  • 00:24:54.342 --> 00:24:56.578
  • When we meet saul of tarsus, he's the enforcer for the
  • 00:24:56.578 --> 00:25:00.148
  • Religious establishment in jerusalem, the power brokers.
  • 00:25:00.148 --> 00:25:04.119
  • Short of rome, the religious establishment in jerusalem has
  • 00:25:04.119 --> 00:25:07.055
  • As much power as anybody there, and from that, over all the
  • 00:25:07.055 --> 00:25:11.326
  • Jewish world.
  • 00:25:11.326 --> 00:25:13.328
  • I mean, the romans have a secular authority, but it's
  • 00:25:13.328 --> 00:25:16.598
  • Paralleled in a very remarkable way by the scribes and the
  • 00:25:16.598 --> 00:25:19.501
  • Pharisees, the temple authority, and paul is their enforcer.
  • 00:25:19.501 --> 00:25:22.804
  • Saul of tarsus is the enforcer.
  • 00:25:22.804 --> 00:25:25.173
  • He's standing there organizing the group that stoned stephen in
  • 00:25:25.173 --> 00:25:28.643
  • The streets of jerusalem.
  • 00:25:28.643 --> 00:25:31.479
  • And he's so encouraged by the outcome of that, their poll
  • 00:25:31.479 --> 00:25:34.749
  • Numbers all went up, they doubled down on it.
  • 00:25:34.749 --> 00:25:36.785
  • He began to go into the houses of the believers in jerusalem,
  • 00:25:36.785 --> 00:25:39.387
  • The people who believed jesus of nazareth was the messiah, and
  • 00:25:39.387 --> 00:25:42.290
  • Dragged men and women from their homes to be imprisoned.
  • 00:25:42.290 --> 00:25:47.696
  • And the numbers kept going up.
  • 00:25:47.696 --> 00:25:49.898
  • So he got letters from the authorities in jerusalem to go
  • 00:25:49.898 --> 00:25:52.000
  • To damascus, and he's gonna bring people back from damascus
  • 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:56.471
  • Bound in chains.
  • 00:25:56.471 --> 00:25:59.074
  • They're riding the wave.
  • 00:25:59.074 --> 00:26:01.176
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:26:02.377 --> 00:26:06.748
  • Allen: i love the promise of a new year, all the opportunities
  • 00:26:06.748 --> 00:26:09.784
  • That it holds.
  • 00:26:09.784 --> 00:26:11.152
  • We wanna begin that on purpose, so we've created a new tool.
  • 00:26:11.152 --> 00:26:13.688
  • It's a book.
  • 00:26:13.688 --> 00:26:15.056
  • It's a devotional, 365 day devotional built out of those
  • 00:26:15.056 --> 00:26:18.259
  • Digital devotionals that you're familiar with.
  • 00:26:18.259 --> 00:26:20.629
  • The intent is just to give you a bit of a spiritual beginning for
  • 00:26:20.629 --> 00:26:23.465
  • The day, a little vitamin, spiritual vitamin for your day,
  • 00:26:23.465 --> 00:26:25.800
  • A prayer, a scripture verse.
  • 00:26:25.800 --> 00:26:27.502
  • It's easy to share.
  • 00:26:27.502 --> 00:26:28.837
  • You know, i've often said to you, don't rage against the
  • 00:26:28.837 --> 00:26:30.505
  • Darkness, turn up the light.
  • 00:26:30.505 --> 00:26:32.374
  • We very creatively entitled this devotional "turn up the light."
  • 00:26:32.374 --> 00:26:36.344
  • Get a couple of copies, share one with a friend, maybe a
  • 00:26:36.344 --> 00:26:38.713
  • Family member.
  • 00:26:38.713 --> 00:26:40.081
  • Let's do it together.
  • 00:26:40.081 --> 00:26:41.416
  • God is moving in the earth.
  • 00:26:41.416 --> 00:26:42.784
  • Don't let your attention be drawn to the darkness and the
  • 00:26:42.784 --> 00:26:45.253
  • Chaos and the confusion.
  • 00:26:45.253 --> 00:26:47.055
  • Let's focus our hearts on the lord.
  • 00:26:47.055 --> 00:26:48.723
  • Ask him to turn up the light, and raise our hands, and let's
  • 00:26:48.723 --> 00:26:51.793
  • Just see what he will do in our lives.
  • 00:26:51.793 --> 00:26:54.095
  • Let's pray.
  • 00:26:54.095 --> 00:26:55.463
  • Father, i thank you for a new year, for the strength to meet
  • 00:26:55.463 --> 00:26:57.565
  • This beginning.
  • 00:26:57.565 --> 00:26:58.900
  • We wanna invite you into the midst of our homes, our lives,
  • 00:26:58.900 --> 00:27:01.670
  • Our journeys.
  • 00:27:01.670 --> 00:27:03.004
  • May christ in us truly be a light in this world this year.
  • 00:27:03.004 --> 00:27:06.441
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:06.441 --> 00:27:08.476
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:10.245 --> 00:27:29.931