1. TBN
  2. Programs
  3. Allen Jackson Ministries
  4. Episodes
  5. Allen Jackson - Let's Eat - Spiritual Foundations (Part 1)
Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Let's Eat - Spiritual Foundations (Part 1)

March 2, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - Let's Eat - Spiritual Foundations (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#SpiritualFoundation #Focus #SeekGod #Dedication/Devotion #WalkwithGod #Discipleship #Restoration #Serving #ServantofGod #Calling #Purpose #AllenJackson

Closed captions

Show Timecode
Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Let's Eat - Spiritual Foundations (Part 1) | March 2, 2026
  • ...
  • 00:00:00.633 --> 00:00:01.384
  • Allen jackson: you know, around the world people are searching
  • 00:00:01.484 --> 00:00:03.319
  • For truth and together we're doing our very best to help them
  • 00:00:03.420 --> 00:00:04.454
  • Find it.
  • 00:00:06.656 --> 00:00:07.991
  • When you become a ministry partner with allen jackson
  • 00:00:07.991 --> 00:00:09.926
  • Ministries, you're joining a growing community of believers
  • 00:00:09.926 --> 00:00:13.196
  • Who are committed to strengthening the church and
  • 00:00:13.196 --> 00:00:15.832
  • Sharing god's word through every available channel: television,
  • 00:00:15.832 --> 00:00:19.836
  • Radio, podcast, books, bible studies, digital
  • 00:00:19.836 --> 00:00:23.239
  • Resources, conferences.
  • 00:00:23.239 --> 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 --> 00:00:34.717
  • Together, we can stand firm in our faith and make god's truth
  • 00:00:34.717 --> 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 at
  • 00:00:48.631 --> 00:00:51.701
  • Allenjackson.com/partner.
  • 00:00:51.701 --> 00:00:58.374
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:01:01.711 --> 00:01:20.096
  • Allen: well, the series we're walking through is called
  • 00:01:23.733 --> 00:01:25.969
  • "let's eat."
  • 00:01:25.969 --> 00:01:27.904
  • If you've been a part of the church for a while, it's a kind
  • 00:01:27.904 --> 00:01:30.206
  • Of a familiar pattern.
  • 00:01:30.206 --> 00:01:31.574
  • We have done a lot of discussion around "let's pray."
  • 00:01:31.574 --> 00:01:34.377
  • The idea is similar with "let's pray."
  • 00:01:34.377 --> 00:01:35.778
  • We wanted prayer to break outside of a sanctuary in
  • 00:01:35.778 --> 00:01:38.214
  • A formal religious service and incorporate it into our homes,
  • 00:01:38.214 --> 00:01:40.717
  • And our lives, and our actions, and our interactions.
  • 00:01:40.717 --> 00:01:43.853
  • Well, "let's eat" is a similar idea.
  • 00:01:43.853 --> 00:01:46.489
  • We want to understand how to center our homes under the
  • 00:01:46.489 --> 00:01:49.025
  • Authority of god.
  • 00:01:49.025 --> 00:01:51.127
  • Our faith has to be vibrant, and vital, and active, and
  • 00:01:51.127 --> 00:01:53.930
  • Transformational beyond a worship service.
  • 00:01:53.930 --> 00:01:57.066
  • Sitting in a church for a few minutes on a weekend does not
  • 00:01:57.066 --> 00:01:59.869
  • Make you a christ follower.
  • 00:01:59.869 --> 00:02:02.138
  • Any more than sitting in your garage makes you an automobile
  • 00:02:02.138 --> 00:02:08.878
  • Or visiting the gym makes you an athlete.
  • 00:02:08.878 --> 00:02:11.614
  • You can buy all those fancy new gym clothes.
  • 00:02:11.614 --> 00:02:14.684
  • Get you a $300 pair of workout shoes.
  • 00:02:14.684 --> 00:02:18.354
  • You're still fat and out of shape.
  • 00:02:18.354 --> 00:02:21.958
  • You got--but you gotta put in the work.
  • 00:02:21.958 --> 00:02:26.596
  • And being a christ follower has a great deal to do with
  • 00:02:26.596 --> 00:02:30.400
  • Understanding the authority under which we choose to live
  • 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:32.602
  • Our lives.
  • 00:02:32.602 --> 00:02:33.937
  • So, in this session, i want to talk a bit about spiritual
  • 00:02:33.937 --> 00:02:35.838
  • Foundations and their significance, and i wanna begin
  • 00:02:35.838 --> 00:02:38.875
  • With the obvious point that god is in the restoration business.
  • 00:02:38.875 --> 00:02:43.580
  • You know, when we talk about families and the condition of
  • 00:02:43.580 --> 00:02:45.682
  • Our families, and the opportunities, and the
  • 00:02:45.682 --> 00:02:47.584
  • Challenges that come with that across all the seasons of life,
  • 00:02:47.584 --> 00:02:51.020
  • One reality we have to acknowledge is all of our
  • 00:02:51.020 --> 00:02:53.122
  • Families struggle.
  • 00:02:53.122 --> 00:02:54.824
  • There's no perfect family.
  • 00:02:54.824 --> 00:02:56.192
  • If you think you know a perfect family, you just don't know them
  • 00:02:56.192 --> 00:02:57.961
  • Well enough.
  • 00:02:57.961 --> 00:03:00.396
  • And if you're trying to hold up the facade that your family's
  • 00:03:00.396 --> 00:03:02.932
  • Perfect, it's an enormous amount of work.
  • 00:03:02.932 --> 00:03:06.302
  • The reality is, all of our families need to know the
  • 00:03:06.302 --> 00:03:08.905
  • Restoring power of god.
  • 00:03:08.905 --> 00:03:11.107
  • Church is not a hall of fame, it's much more a hospital.
  • 00:03:11.107 --> 00:03:15.979
  • I'm not celebrating our brokenness, i'm acknowledging
  • 00:03:15.979 --> 00:03:18.214
  • The reality of it, and if we'll turn our faces to god, he'll
  • 00:03:18.214 --> 00:03:20.683
  • Help bring restoration to us.
  • 00:03:20.683 --> 00:03:23.219
  • And i think a great deal of that begins at our kitchen tables.
  • 00:03:23.219 --> 00:03:26.456
  • We've moved too far away from them.
  • 00:03:26.456 --> 00:03:27.857
  • We'll talk more about that, but i want to start in the 13th
  • 00:03:27.857 --> 00:03:30.126
  • Chapter of john.
  • 00:03:30.126 --> 00:03:31.494
  • Do you know, almost a third of jesus's ministry took place at
  • 00:03:31.494 --> 00:03:33.630
  • A table?
  • 00:03:33.630 --> 00:03:35.965
  • Not in a sermon, not in the temple.
  • 00:03:35.965 --> 00:03:38.501
  • Almost a third of the recorded ministry of jesus in the
  • 00:03:38.501 --> 00:03:40.903
  • Gospels, the people he ministered to, oftentimes, some
  • 00:03:40.903 --> 00:03:44.007
  • Of the most profound things he had to teach or share, took
  • 00:03:44.007 --> 00:03:47.076
  • Place at a table.
  • 00:03:47.076 --> 00:03:49.178
  • I promise you, our tables have greater spiritual significance
  • 00:03:49.178 --> 00:03:52.048
  • Than we have thought about.
  • 00:03:52.048 --> 00:03:54.117
  • The further we've moved away from the table as an organizing
  • 00:03:54.117 --> 00:03:57.720
  • Order in our home, the more we've stepped away from the
  • 00:03:57.720 --> 00:04:00.690
  • Authority of god.
  • 00:04:00.690 --> 00:04:02.558
  • But in john chapter 13, it's a meal very near jesus's betrayal,
  • 00:04:02.558 --> 00:04:06.529
  • And it's--he's coming to the conclusion of his time with
  • 00:04:06.529 --> 00:04:08.665
  • His disciples.
  • 00:04:08.665 --> 00:04:10.066
  • We're gonna look at two or three segments from that
  • 00:04:10.066 --> 00:04:11.934
  • Really quickly.
  • 00:04:11.934 --> 00:04:13.436
  • Verse 2: "the evening meal was being served, and the devil had
  • 00:04:13.436 --> 00:04:17.240
  • Already prompted judas iscariot, the son of simon, to
  • 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:19.776
  • Betray jesus.
  • 00:04:19.776 --> 00:04:21.577
  • Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power,
  • 00:04:21.577 --> 00:04:24.080
  • And that he'd come from god and was returning to god; so he got
  • 00:04:24.080 --> 00:04:27.617
  • Up from the meal, he took off his outer clothing, he wrapped
  • 00:04:27.617 --> 00:04:29.886
  • A towel around his waist, and he poured water into a basin and
  • 00:04:29.886 --> 00:04:33.056
  • Began to wash his disciples's feet, drying them with a towel
  • 00:04:33.056 --> 00:04:36.759
  • That was wrapped around him.
  • 00:04:36.759 --> 00:04:38.094
  • He came to simon peter, who said, 'lord, are you gonna wash
  • 00:04:38.094 --> 00:04:41.064
  • My feet?'
  • 00:04:41.064 --> 00:04:43.333
  • Jesus said, 'you don't realize now what i'm doing, but later
  • 00:04:43.333 --> 00:04:45.768
  • You'll understand.'
  • 00:04:45.768 --> 00:04:48.104
  • And peter said, 'no, you'll never wash my feet.'
  • 00:04:48.104 --> 00:04:51.674
  • And jesus said, 'well, unless i wash your feet, you have no part
  • 00:04:51.674 --> 00:04:54.243
  • With me.'
  • 00:04:54.243 --> 00:04:55.912
  • And simon replied, 'well, not just my feet, but my hands and
  • 00:04:55.912 --> 00:04:58.481
  • My head as well.'
  • 00:04:58.481 --> 00:05:00.950
  • Poor pete, aren't you glad god didn't record everything
  • 00:05:00.950 --> 00:05:03.519
  • You said?
  • 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:05.955
  • In a book that people were gonna read for a couple
  • 00:05:05.955 --> 00:05:08.024
  • Thousand years.
  • 00:05:08.024 --> 00:05:11.327
  • Awkward.
  • 00:05:11.327 --> 00:05:13.296
  • Well, this is a fascinating little window.
  • 00:05:13.296 --> 00:05:16.032
  • I think, you know, big picture, it's worth noting that the devil
  • 00:05:16.032 --> 00:05:18.368
  • Is active in the midst of jesus's redemptive purposes.
  • 00:05:18.368 --> 00:05:22.305
  • I'll tell you that because you and i think we're gonna engage
  • 00:05:22.305 --> 00:05:24.374
  • With god and the god's purposes are gonna break forth in our
  • 00:05:24.374 --> 00:05:26.843
  • Lives, our homes, our circumstances, and then we're
  • 00:05:26.843 --> 00:05:30.413
  • Deeply upset, surprised and shocked when the devil intrudes.
  • 00:05:30.413 --> 00:05:35.084
  • It's like we read our bibles, but we don't pay any attention.
  • 00:05:35.084 --> 00:05:39.055
  • At the table where jesus is preparing his closest friends
  • 00:05:39.055 --> 00:05:41.691
  • With their--kind of their last minute instructions, the devil
  • 00:05:41.691 --> 00:05:44.660
  • Is alive and well and at work, and jesus knows it.
  • 00:05:44.660 --> 00:05:48.531
  • This is the same jesus that would cast unclean spirits out
  • 00:05:48.531 --> 00:05:51.300
  • Of people who were in synagogues.
  • 00:05:51.300 --> 00:05:54.470
  • I mean, he clearly has authority over spiritual forces in ways
  • 00:05:54.470 --> 00:05:57.540
  • That we still wrestle to understand.
  • 00:05:57.540 --> 00:06:00.476
  • And yet, judas is at the table.
  • 00:06:00.476 --> 00:06:03.045
  • And satan's purposes are running parallel to what is happening in
  • 00:06:03.045 --> 00:06:05.982
  • Jesus's life.
  • 00:06:05.982 --> 00:06:07.717
  • In fact, i think it's fair to call this little event we're
  • 00:06:07.717 --> 00:06:09.485
  • Gonna watch for a moment or two together, a training event.
  • 00:06:09.485 --> 00:06:13.322
  • In my own imagination, it's kind of the gem for
  • 00:06:13.322 --> 00:06:15.491
  • Spiritual formation.
  • 00:06:15.491 --> 00:06:17.827
  • I mean, there's exercise being conducted to the point that even
  • 00:06:17.827 --> 00:06:20.663
  • John as he records it says, you know, they didn't understand
  • 00:06:20.663 --> 00:06:22.665
  • Really what was happening in real time, which means they came
  • 00:06:22.665 --> 00:06:25.168
  • To understand it much more deeply, much more fully at a
  • 00:06:25.168 --> 00:06:27.804
  • Later time with some reflection that really lines up with my own
  • 00:06:27.804 --> 00:06:31.207
  • Experience with god.
  • 00:06:31.207 --> 00:06:32.608
  • I lived through things and in the real time in the moment,
  • 00:06:32.608 --> 00:06:34.243
  • A lot of times it's just confusing, and frustrating,
  • 00:06:34.243 --> 00:06:36.679
  • Or frightening, or makes me angry.
  • 00:06:36.679 --> 00:06:38.047
  • I don't know.
  • 00:06:38.047 --> 00:06:39.382
  • I have a lot of responses, but in hindsight i look back and
  • 00:06:39.382 --> 00:06:42.151
  • I go, ah, god was walking with me through that.
  • 00:06:42.151 --> 00:06:47.623
  • You know, in real time, you're just busy and crazy busy, and
  • 00:06:47.623 --> 00:06:50.526
  • Overwhelmed, and stretched, and the answers don't seem as
  • 00:06:50.526 --> 00:06:54.597
  • Available as you'd like them to be, and you look back and you're
  • 00:06:54.597 --> 00:06:56.732
  • Going, ah, god was working in me.
  • 00:06:56.732 --> 00:07:01.504
  • Or the devil was working in me.
  • 00:07:01.504 --> 00:07:05.074
  • I mean, you know somebody.
  • 00:07:05.074 --> 00:07:09.912
  • It's also a portrayal as jesus as a servant.
  • 00:07:09.912 --> 00:07:14.684
  • The most remarkable man these people have ever known.
  • 00:07:14.684 --> 00:07:16.986
  • He's walked on the water, he's raised the dead, he's opened
  • 00:07:16.986 --> 00:07:19.455
  • Blind eyes.
  • 00:07:19.455 --> 00:07:20.790
  • They've never known anybody like him.
  • 00:07:20.790 --> 00:07:22.158
  • They would literally follow him anywhere.
  • 00:07:22.158 --> 00:07:23.493
  • In fact, a great deal of angst is about to be unleashed because
  • 00:07:23.493 --> 00:07:25.895
  • He's gonna tell them, "i'm leaving, and where i'm going,
  • 00:07:25.895 --> 00:07:27.563
  • You can't come."
  • 00:07:27.563 --> 00:07:28.931
  • And they did--that's not the bargain they think
  • 00:07:28.931 --> 00:07:30.266
  • They've struck.
  • 00:07:30.266 --> 00:07:31.634
  • They've never known anybody like him, and yet at this critical
  • 00:07:31.634 --> 00:07:34.303
  • Time in his own life, he is hours away, he's just--he's on
  • 00:07:34.303 --> 00:07:37.607
  • The very cusp of being tortured to death, and he's washing the
  • 00:07:37.607 --> 00:07:41.677
  • Feet of this group of people.
  • 00:07:41.677 --> 00:07:47.850
  • We're gonna have to reclaim our willingness to serve.
  • 00:07:47.850 --> 00:07:51.821
  • You know, we have exchanged in american christendom in the 21st
  • 00:07:51.821 --> 00:07:55.124
  • Century, volunteerism for serving.
  • 00:07:55.124 --> 00:07:58.294
  • We volunteer a little bit of our time.
  • 00:07:58.294 --> 00:08:00.930
  • We've got a little extra time, or a little convenient time, or
  • 00:08:00.930 --> 00:08:03.366
  • A little time we don't need, or it's kind of what polite people
  • 00:08:03.366 --> 00:08:06.435
  • Do, or maybe people that want to be good people do.
  • 00:08:06.435 --> 00:08:09.672
  • That's not the biblical presentation at all.
  • 00:08:09.672 --> 00:08:11.407
  • We serve a king.
  • 00:08:11.407 --> 00:08:13.442
  • We serve at the pleasure of a king.
  • 00:08:13.442 --> 00:08:16.245
  • My time's his time.
  • 00:08:16.245 --> 00:08:18.648
  • It's not my time and i give him a little extra.
  • 00:08:18.648 --> 00:08:21.684
  • It's not my time, and if there's an opening in my calendar, i'll
  • 00:08:21.684 --> 00:08:24.387
  • Volunteer a little bit.
  • 00:08:24.387 --> 00:08:25.955
  • My life is given to me.
  • 00:08:25.955 --> 00:08:27.290
  • Every day is a gift.
  • 00:08:27.290 --> 00:08:28.624
  • Every breath is a gift, and i will yield them in service of
  • 00:08:28.624 --> 00:08:31.160
  • The king.
  • 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:32.528
  • We offer ourselves--the bible says in romans 12--as
  • 00:08:32.528 --> 00:08:33.863
  • A living sacrifice.
  • 00:08:33.863 --> 00:08:35.398
  • We gotta come back to that church.
  • 00:08:35.398 --> 00:08:37.266
  • If we're gonna have a church that transforms culture, a shirt
  • 00:08:37.266 --> 00:08:39.569
  • That shaped--a church that shapes culture.
  • 00:08:39.569 --> 00:08:42.471
  • If we're gonna engage our children and our grandchildren
  • 00:08:42.471 --> 00:08:45.074
  • With a faith that is transformational enough that
  • 00:08:45.074 --> 00:08:47.209
  • They'll give their lives to it, we have to bring back to them,
  • 00:08:47.209 --> 00:08:49.912
  • We have to demonstrate, live out in front of them the imagination
  • 00:08:49.912 --> 00:08:52.448
  • That we serve a king.
  • 00:08:52.448 --> 00:08:57.486
  • There's some hard work to be done because there's a part of
  • 00:08:57.486 --> 00:08:59.589
  • Me that says no chance, this is my time.
  • 00:08:59.589 --> 00:09:02.124
  • Every season of your life comes with a license to be
  • 00:09:02.124 --> 00:09:05.394
  • Completely self-absorbed.
  • 00:09:05.394 --> 00:09:07.763
  • When you're single, this is your time.
  • 00:09:07.763 --> 00:09:10.566
  • When you're newly married, it's a very important time.
  • 00:09:10.566 --> 00:09:12.468
  • We want to establish our home.
  • 00:09:12.468 --> 00:09:13.803
  • This is a me time.
  • 00:09:13.803 --> 00:09:15.671
  • When you have children and small children, you know, this is
  • 00:09:15.671 --> 00:09:17.707
  • Family time.
  • 00:09:17.707 --> 00:09:19.041
  • It's very important time, these are the highest priorities in
  • 00:09:19.041 --> 00:09:21.143
  • My life.
  • 00:09:21.143 --> 00:09:22.678
  • Children become teenagers, now they really need focus, and
  • 00:09:22.678 --> 00:09:25.147
  • I gotta focus on this.
  • 00:09:25.147 --> 00:09:26.515
  • It's an important season, short period, they'll be gone.
  • 00:09:26.515 --> 00:09:28.417
  • I gotta optimize every moment.
  • 00:09:28.417 --> 00:09:31.887
  • Kids are gone.
  • 00:09:31.887 --> 00:09:33.255
  • We've lived our whole lives for somebody else, this is our
  • 00:09:33.255 --> 00:09:34.824
  • Time now.
  • 00:09:34.824 --> 00:09:37.126
  • Grandkids come along, nothing more important than shaping that
  • 00:09:37.126 --> 00:09:39.395
  • Next generation.
  • 00:09:39.395 --> 00:09:40.730
  • I'm gonna shape that genera--all those statements are legitimate.
  • 00:09:40.730 --> 00:09:42.765
  • But if you use them as excuses for self-absorption,
  • 00:09:42.765 --> 00:09:45.701
  • Self-absorption and selfish behavior, you will miss the
  • 00:09:45.701 --> 00:09:48.037
  • Opportunities of the kingdom of god.
  • 00:09:48.037 --> 00:09:50.539
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:09:50.539 --> 00:09:55.578
  • Allen: we have partnered with our friends tim and david barton
  • 00:09:56.979 --> 00:09:59.548
  • To make available to you a two-volume set on
  • 00:09:59.548 --> 00:10:02.218
  • American history.
  • 00:10:02.218 --> 00:10:03.552
  • It's "the american story", and it focuses on the part of
  • 00:10:03.552 --> 00:10:06.555
  • American history that's been lost in much of our public
  • 00:10:06.555 --> 00:10:08.924
  • Education these days.
  • 00:10:08.924 --> 00:10:10.292
  • It's god's engagement with this nation and how he brought the
  • 00:10:10.292 --> 00:10:13.195
  • American story forward.
  • 00:10:13.195 --> 00:10:14.697
  • Our nation is more than politics or republicans and democrats.
  • 00:10:14.697 --> 00:10:18.167
  • It's god working in the lives of people to shape a nation that
  • 00:10:18.167 --> 00:10:21.704
  • Had brought forth his purposes in the world.
  • 00:10:21.704 --> 00:10:24.006
  • I believe it's an important part of our faith journey this year,
  • 00:10:24.006 --> 00:10:26.942
  • And i believe the books will be a blessing to you.
  • 00:10:26.942 --> 00:10:29.245
  • Female announcer: the 250th anniversary of our nation is
  • 00:10:29.311 --> 00:10:32.481
  • An important milestone we shouldn't rush past, because
  • 00:10:32.481 --> 00:10:35.851
  • History matters.
  • 00:10:35.851 --> 00:10:37.319
  • "the american story" is a two-volume book series that
  • 00:10:37.319 --> 00:10:40.156
  • Explores how faith, courage, and conviction helped shape the
  • 00:10:40.156 --> 00:10:43.793
  • United states from the very beginning.
  • 00:10:43.793 --> 00:10:46.228
  • Gain a greater understanding of where we've been so you can
  • 00:10:46.228 --> 00:10:49.298
  • Protect and defend our nation's biblical foundations as we
  • 00:10:49.298 --> 00:10:52.301
  • Move forward.
  • 00:10:52.301 --> 00:10:53.636
  • Request "the american story" with your gift of $50 or more at
  • 00:10:53.636 --> 00:10:57.039
  • Allenjackson.com or call ...
  • 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:02.111
  • Allen: i'll throw in one more note about that first segment.
  • 00:11:05.648 --> 00:11:07.683
  • The disciples have been with jesus three years.
  • 00:11:07.683 --> 00:11:10.920
  • Talk about a master class.
  • 00:11:10.920 --> 00:11:12.254
  • They've been walking with the master for three years, but
  • 00:11:12.254 --> 00:11:15.591
  • They're very much still learners.
  • 00:11:15.591 --> 00:11:18.394
  • They don't understand what's happening at the table.
  • 00:11:18.394 --> 00:11:20.329
  • They don't understand what jesus is doing.
  • 00:11:20.329 --> 00:11:22.098
  • They don't have clarity on what's coming next.
  • 00:11:22.098 --> 00:11:24.333
  • Oh, he's told them over and over again, but they're still just
  • 00:11:24.333 --> 00:11:26.869
  • Kind of addled.
  • 00:11:26.869 --> 00:11:30.106
  • This following god thing, i would love to pull the rug
  • 00:11:30.106 --> 00:11:33.743
  • Completely out from under this notion that we have mastered
  • 00:11:33.743 --> 00:11:36.278
  • Being christ followers.
  • 00:11:36.278 --> 00:11:38.547
  • Oh, i am very much aware i'm a beginner.
  • 00:11:38.547 --> 00:11:42.151
  • I mean, i know a little bit more than i did back at the
  • 00:11:42.151 --> 00:11:44.220
  • Beginning, but i don't think i got a handle on this thing.
  • 00:11:44.220 --> 00:11:48.390
  • Let's push on same meal, same table, verse 21: "after he'd
  • 00:11:48.390 --> 00:11:53.796
  • Said these things, jesus was troubled in spirit and he
  • 00:11:53.796 --> 00:11:56.232
  • Testified, 'i tell you the truth,'" and those of you know
  • 00:11:56.232 --> 00:11:58.734
  • By now, when jesus says that, you better buckle up.
  • 00:11:58.734 --> 00:12:01.704
  • Because the reason he says, "i tell you the truth," is what's
  • 00:12:01.704 --> 00:12:03.706
  • Coming next is so bizarre that you wouldn't believe it if he
  • 00:12:03.706 --> 00:12:06.175
  • Didn't say, "no, no, that really, that's true."
  • 00:12:06.175 --> 00:12:09.545
  • "i'll tell you the truth, one of you is gonna betray me."
  • 00:12:09.545 --> 00:12:17.553
  • This is the inner circle.
  • 00:12:17.553 --> 00:12:21.090
  • These are the best of the best.
  • 00:12:21.090 --> 00:12:22.424
  • They were handpicked.
  • 00:12:22.424 --> 00:12:24.627
  • They've made every cut.
  • 00:12:24.627 --> 00:12:28.697
  • "one of you is gonna betray me, and his disciples stared at one
  • 00:12:28.697 --> 00:12:32.134
  • Another," you can almost feel the tension in the room now.
  • 00:12:32.134 --> 00:12:35.471
  • "they stared at one another, at a loss to know which one of them
  • 00:12:35.471 --> 00:12:37.907
  • He meant.
  • 00:12:37.907 --> 00:12:40.242
  • And one of them, the disciple whom jesus loved," it's john,
  • 00:12:40.242 --> 00:12:43.245
  • Was reclining next to him, and peter motioned to john and said,
  • 00:12:43.245 --> 00:12:47.616
  • 'ask him which one he means.'"
  • 00:12:47.616 --> 00:12:51.153
  • God bless peter.
  • 00:12:51.153 --> 00:12:54.590
  • "and john leaned back against jesus and said, 'lord, who
  • 00:12:54.590 --> 00:12:56.959
  • Is it?'
  • 00:12:56.959 --> 00:12:59.628
  • And jesus said, 'it's the one to whom i'll give this piece of
  • 00:12:59.628 --> 00:13:01.864
  • Bread when i've dipped it in the dish.'"
  • 00:13:01.864 --> 00:13:06.235
  • I think it's worth at least noting just in passing that
  • 00:13:06.235 --> 00:13:09.872
  • Everybody's not treated the same at the table.
  • 00:13:09.872 --> 00:13:13.843
  • I don't--the way i understood--the way i read it,
  • 00:13:13.843 --> 00:13:15.411
  • You could read it your own, but he told john, "it's the one
  • 00:13:15.411 --> 00:13:19.682
  • That's gonna dip the bread in the bowl with me."
  • 00:13:19.682 --> 00:13:23.652
  • We get way heated up, don't worry about other
  • 00:13:23.652 --> 00:13:25.654
  • People's assignment.
  • 00:13:25.654 --> 00:13:27.022
  • You be faithful to what god created you for.
  • 00:13:27.022 --> 00:13:30.759
  • We haven't all been called to be someone.
  • 00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:32.428
  • All we have to do is fulfill what god created us for, there's
  • 00:13:32.428 --> 00:13:34.964
  • Such freedom in that.
  • 00:13:34.964 --> 00:13:37.032
  • Don't compare your family to somebody else's family.
  • 00:13:37.032 --> 00:13:39.068
  • Well, i don't know why they get to, or they had to
  • 00:13:39.068 --> 00:13:40.936
  • Or--it's okay.
  • 00:13:40.936 --> 00:13:42.304
  • Just--let's just be who god created us to be.
  • 00:13:42.304 --> 00:13:45.674
  • "then, dipping in the piece of bread, he gave it to
  • 00:13:45.674 --> 00:13:47.309
  • Judas iscariot.
  • 00:13:47.309 --> 00:13:49.278
  • As soon as judas took the bread, satan entered him.
  • 00:13:49.278 --> 00:13:52.281
  • 'what you're about to do, jesus said, you go do quickly.'"
  • 00:13:52.281 --> 00:13:57.086
  • Not everybody at jesus's table is an advocate.
  • 00:13:57.086 --> 00:14:00.122
  • Not everybody at jesus's table is on board.
  • 00:14:00.122 --> 00:14:03.225
  • Not everybody at jesus's table is a supporter, but jesus
  • 00:14:03.225 --> 00:14:06.462
  • Is undeterred.
  • 00:14:06.462 --> 00:14:08.464
  • We start talking about gathering at tables, and gathering people,
  • 00:14:08.464 --> 00:14:11.367
  • And gathering families, you should not be discouraged or
  • 00:14:11.367 --> 00:14:15.204
  • Dismayed because you don't always have complete uniformity
  • 00:14:15.204 --> 00:14:18.073
  • Of thought at the table.
  • 00:14:18.073 --> 00:14:20.843
  • If jesus didn't have uniformity of thought, i think there's
  • 00:14:20.843 --> 00:14:23.879
  • A high degree of probability allen may not.
  • 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:27.850
  • I'm just thinking.
  • 00:14:27.850 --> 00:14:30.352
  • I'd also remind you of the message from the psalmist where
  • 00:14:30.352 --> 00:14:34.523
  • He said, "god said, 'i prepare a table before you in the presence
  • 00:14:34.523 --> 00:14:40.529
  • Of your enemies.'"
  • 00:14:40.529 --> 00:14:42.331
  • I don't know about you, but i don't want to eat with enemies.
  • 00:14:42.331 --> 00:14:45.100
  • I'm happy for enemies to be in the place where i'm eating
  • 00:14:45.100 --> 00:14:47.202
  • Because i'm gonna pray they choke and i wanna watch, but i
  • 00:14:47.202 --> 00:14:51.240
  • Don't really wanna sit with them.
  • 00:14:51.240 --> 00:14:55.477
  • But the psalmist said to us that god prepares a table for us in
  • 00:14:55.477 --> 00:14:58.881
  • The presence of our enemies, and jesus, at one of the last meals
  • 00:14:58.881 --> 00:15:02.418
  • He has with his disciples, sits at a table with an
  • 00:15:02.418 --> 00:15:06.155
  • Adversary present.
  • 00:15:06.155 --> 00:15:08.524
  • And it's equally clear that not everyone at the table is fully
  • 00:15:08.524 --> 00:15:12.194
  • Aware of the unfolding circumstances.
  • 00:15:12.194 --> 00:15:14.763
  • Folks, we don't have to fully understand what god is doing.
  • 00:15:14.763 --> 00:15:17.533
  • So, we talk a lot about it, ways--we can recognize how god
  • 00:15:17.533 --> 00:15:20.069
  • Is moving and we celebrate it when we see it because god moves
  • 00:15:20.069 --> 00:15:22.771
  • In ways i don't expect.
  • 00:15:22.771 --> 00:15:25.240
  • He moves in the lives of people.
  • 00:15:25.240 --> 00:15:26.575
  • I thought, well, i never thought that person would do
  • 00:15:26.575 --> 00:15:28.010
  • Something godly.
  • 00:15:28.010 --> 00:15:29.845
  • Then i look at some people and they go, oh, they're a powerful
  • 00:15:29.845 --> 00:15:32.047
  • Tool and they can't find their voice.
  • 00:15:32.047 --> 00:15:35.250
  • Or they don't have a demonstration of courage and
  • 00:15:35.250 --> 00:15:37.453
  • It's confusing, and you watch that and i find i fit right in
  • 00:15:37.453 --> 00:15:41.523
  • With the group of people that i read in my bible.
  • 00:15:41.523 --> 00:15:43.625
  • They seem to be always a little bit behind and going, oh.
  • 00:15:43.625 --> 00:15:48.497
  • Verse 36, same chapter: "simon peter asked him, 'lord, where
  • 00:15:48.497 --> 00:15:51.166
  • Are you going?'
  • 00:15:51.166 --> 00:15:53.535
  • And jesus replied, 'where i'm going, you can't follow now, but
  • 00:15:53.535 --> 00:15:57.439
  • You'll follow later.'
  • 00:15:57.439 --> 00:15:59.675
  • And peter said, 'well, lord, why can't i follow you now?
  • 00:15:59.675 --> 00:16:03.278
  • I've been following you for three years.
  • 00:16:03.278 --> 00:16:04.680
  • I've climbed hills with you.
  • 00:16:04.680 --> 00:16:08.450
  • I've been in angry crowds with you.
  • 00:16:08.450 --> 00:16:15.157
  • Why can't i follow you?
  • 00:16:15.157 --> 00:16:16.525
  • Now, i'll lay down my life for you.'
  • 00:16:16.525 --> 00:16:17.860
  • And jesus answered, 'will you really lay down your life
  • 00:16:17.860 --> 00:16:20.362
  • For me?
  • 00:16:20.362 --> 00:16:22.131
  • I tell you the truth.'"
  • 00:16:22.131 --> 00:16:23.465
  • You know, i run these things through my imagination, and by
  • 00:16:23.465 --> 00:16:26.568
  • This point in three years and every time jesus says, "i tell
  • 00:16:26.568 --> 00:16:28.704
  • You the truth," the disciples flinch.
  • 00:16:28.704 --> 00:16:33.876
  • "i'll tell you the truth, peter, before the rooster crows, you'll
  • 00:16:33.876 --> 00:16:36.245
  • Disown me three times."
  • 00:16:36.245 --> 00:16:37.579
  • Before the sun comes up.
  • 00:16:37.579 --> 00:16:39.782
  • This is an end of day meal, but before the sun comes up, peter,
  • 00:16:39.782 --> 00:16:42.918
  • You're gonna have denied that you even know me,
  • 00:16:42.918 --> 00:16:46.255
  • Multiple times.
  • 00:16:46.255 --> 00:16:48.223
  • Even jesus's friends are unprepared for the stress.
  • 00:16:48.223 --> 00:16:53.395
  • Jesus's conversation at this table makes restoration easier.
  • 00:16:53.395 --> 00:16:56.865
  • All the disciples have listened to the conversation.
  • 00:16:56.865 --> 00:17:00.102
  • He said to them, "you--i'm leaving, where i'm going, you
  • 00:17:00.102 --> 00:17:02.137
  • Can't come.
  • 00:17:02.137 --> 00:17:03.472
  • One of you is a betrayer.
  • 00:17:03.472 --> 00:17:04.840
  • Peter, the most boisterous of all of you, he's gonna deny me
  • 00:17:04.840 --> 00:17:06.942
  • Three times.
  • 00:17:06.942 --> 00:17:08.277
  • In fact, all of you are gonna abandon me before the
  • 00:17:08.277 --> 00:17:09.812
  • Evening's gone."
  • 00:17:09.812 --> 00:17:11.747
  • Jesus is building bridges for them because they have a time to
  • 00:17:11.747 --> 00:17:15.050
  • Think about it and reflect upon it, they know jesus
  • 00:17:15.050 --> 00:17:17.186
  • Wasn't surprised.
  • 00:17:17.186 --> 00:17:18.554
  • He understood it's gonna make that restoration easier.
  • 00:17:18.554 --> 00:17:23.325
  • It's an important table setting for me because it's indicative
  • 00:17:23.325 --> 00:17:26.895
  • Of the tables i've been at.
  • 00:17:26.895 --> 00:17:29.531
  • You know, a desire to follow the lord, commitments to follow the
  • 00:17:29.531 --> 00:17:32.201
  • Lord, even some skin in the game and some years in the game, but
  • 00:17:32.201 --> 00:17:35.571
  • A lot of different seats and a lot of different perspectives,
  • 00:17:35.571 --> 00:17:37.940
  • And it's not always uniform and it's not always unanimous, and
  • 00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:41.043
  • We don't understand with the clarity that we would like, and
  • 00:17:41.043 --> 00:17:43.178
  • Yet jesus is at the table.
  • 00:17:43.178 --> 00:17:46.048
  • What i've been inviting you to think about with me is the
  • 00:17:46.048 --> 00:17:48.217
  • Spiritual authority over your table.
  • 00:17:48.217 --> 00:17:51.720
  • And how intentional you are with that or you're not.
  • 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:55.724
  • How do we establish that?
  • 00:17:55.724 --> 00:17:58.760
  • Look at john 8:44.
  • 00:17:58.760 --> 00:18:00.929
  • Jesus is speaking to a group of religious leaders, very well
  • 00:18:00.929 --> 00:18:03.332
  • Educated, very engaged in spiritual activities.
  • 00:18:03.332 --> 00:18:06.602
  • They participate in daily sacrifices.
  • 00:18:06.602 --> 00:18:08.604
  • They keep the right religious holidays.
  • 00:18:08.604 --> 00:18:10.239
  • They eat the right foods.
  • 00:18:10.239 --> 00:18:11.607
  • They don't drink the wrong things.
  • 00:18:11.607 --> 00:18:13.742
  • They are all in.
  • 00:18:13.742 --> 00:18:15.077
  • If you ask the community to evaluate them, they would have
  • 00:18:15.077 --> 00:18:17.012
  • Been the gold standard.
  • 00:18:17.012 --> 00:18:19.448
  • And jesus looks at them and says, "you belong to your
  • 00:18:19.448 --> 00:18:21.950
  • Father, the devil, and you wanna carry out your father's desire.
  • 00:18:21.950 --> 00:18:27.990
  • He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding the
  • 00:18:27.990 --> 00:18:30.192
  • Truth, there's no truth in him.
  • 00:18:30.192 --> 00:18:31.560
  • When he lies, he speaks his native language, he's a liar and
  • 00:18:31.560 --> 00:18:35.130
  • The father of lies."
  • 00:18:35.130 --> 00:18:36.465
  • Jesus not only says you're of your father, the devil, then he
  • 00:18:36.465 --> 00:18:38.667
  • Talks some trash about their father.
  • 00:18:38.667 --> 00:18:43.305
  • That's an offensive passage.
  • 00:18:43.305 --> 00:18:46.275
  • I know who your dad is and he's wicked.
  • 00:18:46.275 --> 00:18:51.046
  • Now, for all the people who say jesus was all about love, not
  • 00:18:51.046 --> 00:18:53.549
  • Every sentence.
  • 00:18:53.549 --> 00:18:55.617
  • I mean, i suppose we could say it's the truth to just love to
  • 00:18:55.617 --> 00:18:58.287
  • Tell them the truth, but that's a very incendiary conversation,
  • 00:18:58.287 --> 00:19:01.857
  • And jesus is saying you can be very religious, very engaged in
  • 00:19:01.857 --> 00:19:05.027
  • Activities, you can do all the right things and still be under
  • 00:19:05.027 --> 00:19:08.030
  • The wrong authority.
  • 00:19:08.030 --> 00:19:10.132
  • It's a cautionary note for the contemporary church.
  • 00:19:10.132 --> 00:19:12.267
  • We can sit in the right buildings, and wear the right
  • 00:19:12.267 --> 00:19:14.770
  • Clothing, and have the right beverage list, and the right
  • 00:19:14.770 --> 00:19:16.939
  • Vocabulary words, and we could do all those things and still
  • 00:19:16.939 --> 00:19:19.341
  • Have the wrong spiritual authority over our lives.
  • 00:19:19.341 --> 00:19:22.611
  • We've sold an incomplete gospel that you just recite a prayer,
  • 00:19:22.611 --> 00:19:27.082
  • Make a profession of faith, and maybe take a dip in a pool of
  • 00:19:27.082 --> 00:19:29.985
  • Water, and that you're kind of golden, you're good to go and
  • 00:19:29.985 --> 00:19:32.221
  • You don't have to think about your faith.
  • 00:19:32.221 --> 00:19:34.423
  • That's not a complete gospel.
  • 00:19:34.423 --> 00:19:36.692
  • I believe in conversion and the new birth and salvation,
  • 00:19:36.692 --> 00:19:39.294
  • Absolutely, without question, the essential nature of that
  • 00:19:39.294 --> 00:19:42.331
  • Entry into the kingdom of god.
  • 00:19:42.331 --> 00:19:44.967
  • But it doesn't come without a responsibility to pay attention.
  • 00:19:44.967 --> 00:19:48.737
  • The alternative to that is in matthew 26, jesus, just a few
  • 00:19:48.737 --> 00:19:54.009
  • Moments after the dinner we just looked at, he's in gethsemane
  • 00:19:54.009 --> 00:19:56.745
  • With his disciples and they've come with an angry group to
  • 00:19:56.745 --> 00:20:00.983
  • Arrest him and peter's gotten engaged again.
  • 00:20:00.983 --> 00:20:02.951
  • I know you're shocked.
  • 00:20:02.951 --> 00:20:05.120
  • And jesus says to peter to put his sword away, he said, "do you
  • 00:20:05.120 --> 00:20:07.522
  • Think i can't call on my father, and he'll at once put at my
  • 00:20:07.522 --> 00:20:09.825
  • Disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"
  • 00:20:09.825 --> 00:20:12.694
  • Roman legions carry different numbers, anywhere from 1,000 to
  • 00:20:12.694 --> 00:20:15.097
  • 5,000 people, 12,000 to 60,000 angels could be here in
  • 00:20:15.097 --> 00:20:18.400
  • A heartbeat.
  • 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:19.735
  • Peter, your sword's kind of comical.
  • 00:20:19.735 --> 00:20:23.071
  • Jesus is very clearly under a different authority.
  • 00:20:23.071 --> 00:20:26.675
  • So, the resources of heaven are at my disposal.
  • 00:20:26.675 --> 00:20:29.244
  • I have a question for you, when we're talking about establishing
  • 00:20:29.244 --> 00:20:31.513
  • The spiritual authority of your home, do you understand the
  • 00:20:31.513 --> 00:20:33.782
  • Difference of being under the authority of the devil and all
  • 00:20:33.782 --> 00:20:39.655
  • The darkness that he represents, or having the authority of the
  • 00:20:39.655 --> 00:20:43.625
  • Kingdom of god as your support?
  • 00:20:43.625 --> 00:20:48.597
  • Very different places.
  • 00:20:48.597 --> 00:20:50.832
  • If you could see them graphically or imagine them in
  • 00:20:50.832 --> 00:20:53.201
  • Any tangible way, it's a very simple choice.
  • 00:20:53.201 --> 00:20:56.071
  • It's not accidental though, it requires some intentionality and
  • 00:20:56.071 --> 00:21:00.042
  • Some determination to lead our lives under the authority of the
  • 00:21:00.042 --> 00:21:04.279
  • Spirit of god.
  • 00:21:04.279 --> 00:21:06.148
  • And i really believe in most respects that begins with our
  • 00:21:06.148 --> 00:21:08.884
  • Behaviors at the table.
  • 00:21:08.884 --> 00:21:11.353
  • I'll talk more about it.
  • 00:21:11.353 --> 00:21:12.688
  • I'll give you one more verse, it's ephesians 6 says:
  • 00:21:12.688 --> 00:21:14.656
  • "our struggle isn't with flesh and blood."
  • 00:21:14.656 --> 00:21:18.160
  • It doesn't say we don't struggle, it just simply says
  • 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:20.062
  • The struggle of our lives isn't primarily with people, or
  • 00:21:20.062 --> 00:21:22.864
  • Organizations, or institutions, but it's with spiritual forces
  • 00:21:22.864 --> 00:21:25.567
  • Of wickedness in the heavenly places.
  • 00:21:25.567 --> 00:21:28.170
  • Again, i think in contemporary christian, we've kind of stepped
  • 00:21:28.170 --> 00:21:30.672
  • Away from this notion and we just think, you know, "it's not
  • 00:21:30.672 --> 00:21:33.175
  • That relevant, the devil's not chic anymore."
  • 00:21:33.175 --> 00:21:38.146
  • You know, "believing in spiritual things, we're kind of
  • 00:21:38.146 --> 00:21:40.182
  • Beyond that.
  • 00:21:40.182 --> 00:21:41.516
  • We're a little more sophisticated, now we have
  • 00:21:41.516 --> 00:21:43.485
  • Universities and hospitals."
  • 00:21:43.485 --> 00:21:46.455
  • And i'm grateful for all of those things, but it doesn't
  • 00:21:46.455 --> 00:21:48.457
  • Diminish the reality of spiritual things.
  • 00:21:48.457 --> 00:21:50.192
  • And if you don't understand there is a spiritual struggle
  • 00:21:50.192 --> 00:21:53.495
  • Over your life, your home, and your future, you're ignoring the
  • 00:21:53.495 --> 00:21:56.998
  • Fundamentals of scripture.
  • 00:21:56.998 --> 00:21:59.334
  • And if that struggle exists, then it's in our best interest
  • 00:21:59.334 --> 00:22:02.137
  • To understand how to flourish in the midst of that.
  • 00:22:02.137 --> 00:22:05.140
  • Jesus was not at all frightened to have judas at the table.
  • 00:22:05.140 --> 00:22:09.177
  • He could stand in front of a group of religious leaders that
  • 00:22:09.177 --> 00:22:11.146
  • He understood fully were under the influence of satanic things,
  • 00:22:11.146 --> 00:22:14.783
  • And jesus was not threatened.
  • 00:22:14.783 --> 00:22:17.419
  • We shouldn't be threatened, or frightened, or intimidated by
  • 00:22:17.419 --> 00:22:19.921
  • Expressions of evil.
  • 00:22:19.921 --> 00:22:21.256
  • We should understand there's a greater force with us, but we
  • 00:22:21.256 --> 00:22:24.593
  • Can't just ignore it.
  • 00:22:24.593 --> 00:22:27.562
  • We can't treat it like tennesseans do snow and ice,
  • 00:22:27.562 --> 00:22:32.134
  • Throw a little sand on the road and speed up.
  • 00:22:32.134 --> 00:22:36.438
  • The presence of god in our homes has been consistently
  • 00:22:36.438 --> 00:22:38.974
  • Diminishing for decades.
  • 00:22:38.974 --> 00:22:41.276
  • The spiritual authority of our homes has shifted incrementally
  • 00:22:41.276 --> 00:22:44.279
  • Over an extended period of time, bit by bit, week by week, year
  • 00:22:44.279 --> 00:22:47.516
  • By year.
  • 00:22:47.516 --> 00:22:48.850
  • The impact is seen most easily, i think, in our young adults.
  • 00:22:48.850 --> 00:22:54.556
  • We find when they leave home and then they return some period
  • 00:22:54.556 --> 00:22:57.392
  • Later, whether it's from college, or the military, or
  • 00:22:57.392 --> 00:22:59.628
  • A gap year, too frequently they no longer hold the
  • 00:22:59.628 --> 00:23:02.864
  • Biblical worldview.
  • 00:23:02.864 --> 00:23:05.767
  • In fact, it's not uncommon.
  • 00:23:05.767 --> 00:23:07.102
  • I have these conversations on a very regular basis, they're a
  • 00:23:07.102 --> 00:23:09.805
  • Bit offended when they return by the faith of their parents.
  • 00:23:09.805 --> 00:23:13.708
  • And this isn't just an issue for families with small children,
  • 00:23:13.708 --> 00:23:17.712
  • It's most evident in the lives of children because the children
  • 00:23:17.712 --> 00:23:20.615
  • Are the most vulnerable amongst us, both physically
  • 00:23:20.615 --> 00:23:23.151
  • And spiritually.
  • 00:23:23.151 --> 00:23:24.486
  • It's why they require extra protection.
  • 00:23:24.486 --> 00:23:27.489
  • This challenge is real for every generation, wherever you are on
  • 00:23:27.489 --> 00:23:30.959
  • That life cycle.
  • 00:23:30.959 --> 00:23:32.727
  • The spiritual authority of our homes must be established,
  • 00:23:32.727 --> 00:23:36.164
  • Cultivated, and protected, no matter what age we are or no
  • 00:23:36.164 --> 00:23:39.601
  • Matter what circumstances of our lives today.
  • 00:23:39.601 --> 00:23:42.904
  • You may have had a godly home when your children were small
  • 00:23:42.904 --> 00:23:45.240
  • And you may have stopped paying attention.
  • 00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:50.212
  • I consistently engage with families on a weekly basis who
  • 00:23:50.212 --> 00:23:52.914
  • Are facing the challenges of adult children returning home
  • 00:23:52.914 --> 00:23:55.684
  • With a dramatically different worldview, brings tremendous
  • 00:23:55.684 --> 00:23:59.321
  • Stress to the family systems.
  • 00:23:59.321 --> 00:24:01.690
  • Sometimes there's simply--maybe they're just living together
  • 00:24:01.690 --> 00:24:04.359
  • Without marriage.
  • 00:24:04.359 --> 00:24:05.694
  • Sometimes they've--they returned home and they've transitioned,
  • 00:24:05.694 --> 00:24:07.796
  • And they have new names and pronouns.
  • 00:24:07.796 --> 00:24:11.366
  • Sometimes they return home and they're engaged
  • 00:24:11.366 --> 00:24:13.335
  • In homosexuality.
  • 00:24:13.335 --> 00:24:14.669
  • The variations are many, but what is consistent is the break
  • 00:24:14.669 --> 00:24:17.806
  • With the biblical worldview, which parents imagined they held
  • 00:24:17.806 --> 00:24:21.076
  • And they had taught their family.
  • 00:24:21.076 --> 00:24:24.112
  • The values that we thought resonated through our homes and
  • 00:24:24.112 --> 00:24:26.314
  • Families are not able to withstand the challenges of
  • 00:24:26.314 --> 00:24:29.451
  • A secular culture.
  • 00:24:29.451 --> 00:24:31.820
  • So, we get mad at the culture.
  • 00:24:31.820 --> 00:24:34.322
  • We want to blame the schools, or the universities,
  • 00:24:34.322 --> 00:24:37.759
  • Or the churches.
  • 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:40.595
  • So we think, "we'll enroll our children in christian schools,
  • 00:24:40.595 --> 00:24:43.498
  • Schools with christian in the title."
  • 00:24:43.498 --> 00:24:46.535
  • Now, i don't believe that's an adequate solution.
  • 00:24:46.535 --> 00:24:49.237
  • I'm grateful for truly christian schools, but sequestering our
  • 00:24:49.237 --> 00:24:52.841
  • Children is a delaying tactic.
  • 00:24:52.841 --> 00:24:57.546
  • They're ultimately going to have to engage with the secular
  • 00:24:57.546 --> 00:24:59.848
  • Culture, then we have to find a way to establish our values in
  • 00:24:59.848 --> 00:25:03.885
  • Our homes in a more robust way.
  • 00:25:03.885 --> 00:25:07.088
  • We can't be dependent upon the schools.
  • 00:25:07.088 --> 00:25:10.458
  • It seems similar in a way--if you'll allow me--we just came
  • 00:25:10.458 --> 00:25:12.961
  • Through a bit of cold weather to putting antifreeze in your car,
  • 00:25:12.961 --> 00:25:16.164
  • But when the temperature dips to the twenties, your
  • 00:25:16.164 --> 00:25:17.866
  • Radiator freezes.
  • 00:25:17.866 --> 00:25:21.169
  • Well, we're not willing to say that our preparation for our
  • 00:25:21.169 --> 00:25:23.204
  • Automobile failed, or our antifreeze was faulty, it
  • 00:25:23.204 --> 00:25:27.008
  • Couldn't be that, we're smarter than that.
  • 00:25:27.008 --> 00:25:32.213
  • So, our solution is to move to florida so then we're no longer
  • 00:25:32.213 --> 00:25:38.086
  • Subjected to freezing, subfreezing temperatures.
  • 00:25:38.086 --> 00:25:41.990
  • Well, i would--if you will allow me--submit to you that avoiding
  • 00:25:41.990 --> 00:25:46.294
  • The cold does not mean that your car is better prepared
  • 00:25:46.294 --> 00:25:48.530
  • For winter.
  • 00:25:48.530 --> 00:25:52.334
  • And neither do i think that isolating our children from
  • 00:25:52.334 --> 00:25:54.502
  • Secular ideas makes them better prepared to
  • 00:25:54.502 --> 00:25:56.705
  • Overcome ungodliness.
  • 00:25:56.705 --> 00:25:59.074
  • Our homes, our schools, and our churches must boldly teach the
  • 00:25:59.074 --> 00:26:03.345
  • Truth and confront our ungodly culture.
  • 00:26:03.345 --> 00:26:07.682
  • We have to shape the culture and not be shaped by it.
  • 00:26:07.682 --> 00:26:11.486
  • That's gonna take a different expression of our faith than
  • 00:26:11.486 --> 00:26:13.488
  • We're familiar with.
  • 00:26:13.488 --> 00:26:14.856
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:26:14.856 --> 00:26:21.296
  • Allen: hey, this is not just the beginning of another year.
  • 00:26:21.296 --> 00:26:23.898
  • This is the beginning of the 250th anniversary of our nation.
  • 00:26:23.898 --> 00:26:27.636
  • This is a very special year.
  • 00:26:27.636 --> 00:26:29.537
  • It's god's story.
  • 00:26:29.537 --> 00:26:30.872
  • This isn't about national politics or economics or
  • 00:26:30.872 --> 00:26:34.442
  • Chest thumping.
  • 00:26:34.442 --> 00:26:35.777
  • This is an acknowledgement that god works in the history of
  • 00:26:35.777 --> 00:26:38.346
  • People and nations.
  • 00:26:38.346 --> 00:26:40.248
  • Well, most of us don't care a lot about history, so we
  • 00:26:40.248 --> 00:26:42.250
  • Partnered with some of our good friends, wallbuilders, tim and
  • 00:26:42.250 --> 00:26:44.986
  • David barton.
  • 00:26:44.986 --> 00:26:46.354
  • They have the best on this topic.
  • 00:26:46.354 --> 00:26:47.689
  • It's a two-volume set on "the american story."
  • 00:26:47.689 --> 00:26:50.191
  • It'll help us understand god's engagement in american history.
  • 00:26:50.191 --> 00:26:54.729
  • We've lost most of this in our public schools and certainly in
  • 00:26:54.729 --> 00:26:57.365
  • Higher education.
  • 00:26:57.365 --> 00:26:58.700
  • We gotta start back with our families around the kitchen
  • 00:26:58.700 --> 00:27:00.869
  • Table, learning how god has been engaged with us so we can
  • 00:27:00.869 --> 00:27:03.905
  • Imagine a future that includes god.
  • 00:27:03.905 --> 00:27:06.541
  • Let's pray and ask for his help.
  • 00:27:06.541 --> 00:27:08.677
  • Father, i thank you.
  • 00:27:08.677 --> 00:27:10.011
  • I believe you have blessed our nation and caused us to
  • 00:27:10.011 --> 00:27:11.880
  • Flourish, and i pray that this year you would open our hearts
  • 00:27:11.880 --> 00:27:14.849
  • To what you have still ahead of us, that we might invite you
  • 00:27:14.849 --> 00:27:18.687
  • Into our homes, our communities, and into this nation's future.
  • 00:27:18.687 --> 00:27:22.223
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:22.223 --> 00:27:24.626
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:24.626 --> 00:27:24.626