Allen Jackson - The Lord Is With You (Part 2)

January 10, 2025 | S25:E10

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

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - The Lord Is With You (Part 2) | January 10, 2025
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Allen jackson: if you'll allow me--i know it's in the bible
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  • And it's a wonderful story and we celebrate mary and
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  • Joseph and they're in our pageants
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  • And they're venerated because we're looking back on them from
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  • Two millennia's perspective.
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  • But i would submit to you, if you were involved in that, if it
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  • Was your name on the invitation that had been mailed out, or if
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  • It was your child in the midst of that set of circumstances, i
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  • Think the most appropriate--one of the most appropriate words i
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  • Could find would be disappointment.
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  • Joseph, i assure you, was disappointed in mary, or he
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  • Would not have needed the visit from the angel.
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  • Mary's words to him were not sufficient.
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  • He understands the circumstance, he's very well versed in it.
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  • He's decided he's not going forward with the commitment.
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  • So mary's words to him were not sufficient.
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  • The disappointment in him is more real than her assertion
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  • That it's supernatural.
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  • Is that fair?
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  • I've done no injustice to the text.
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  • So what i'm going to suggest to you is that disappointment in
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  • My life or your life, as it was in joseph's life, could be a
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  • Signpost for a breakthrough.
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  • You know what a disappointment is?
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  • If we break the word down, that little prefix "dis" d-i-s
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  • Means "without."
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  • A "disappointment" is an appointment that shows up that
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  • You didn't have on your calendar.
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  • "oh, i didn't want that.
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  • I didn't want to make time for that.
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  • I didn't wanna have to deal with that.
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  • I wasn't planning on this."
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  • That's a disappointment.
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  • Matthew puts it this way, "mary was found to be with child."
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  • It's really disappointing, if you know it's not your child.
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  • So here's my question: are we willing to turn our faces to the
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  • Lord and, "lord, they say there's some disappointments in
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  • My life, this christmas season.
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  • There's some things i'm not really just--wouldn't have been
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  • The way i scheduled it.
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  • It wouldn't have been the way i had planned it.
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  • It wasn't what i had dreamt of, but i believe you're moving and
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  • I wanna follow you.
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  • I don't want a--
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  • I want to follow you."
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  • See, i'm pretty certain that in this circumstance, at least a
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  • Part of what's going through joseph is if you feel pretty
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  • Vulnerable, the community knows.
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  • Nazareth is a town of 1500 or fewer people in the time that
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  • They were there.
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  • It's a small community.
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  • They all know about the intentions of mary and joseph,
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  • And there's not really any way to hide
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  • What's happening with mary.
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  • I would submit to you it's the reason she hurried off to see
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  • Aunt elizabeth, immediately
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  • After the announcement of the angel.
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  • It's easier to process that at a distance.
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  • But joseph, you're pretty vulnerable.
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  • There's a sense of rejection.
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  • "you're what?"
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  • It's humiliating.
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  • And i want to suggest that those things typically have to be
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  • Navigated in the midst of a breakthrough.
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  • Breakthrough is when god intervenes, it's typically not
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  • That all the people around you, the seculars and everybody go,
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  • "oh, that is so awesome."
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  • That hasn't been my experience.
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  • There's always some loud skeptics.
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  • "well, why are you doing that?
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  • How come you could do that?
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  • I've never seen that before, that's not the way we did it.
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  • Don't know if i like that!"
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  • You're living through it thinking, "i'm
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  • Not even doing it!
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  • If god weren't helping, it's not happening."
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  • Are you willing to say yes to a breakthrough?
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  • What did the angels say to joseph?
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  • "don't be afraid to take mary home as your wife."
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  • What do you think is at the heart of the problem?
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  • "i'm not taking her home."
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  • The fourth observation i would give you is the breakthroughs
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  • Are about the purposes of god.
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  • See, we start asking typically because we know what we want.
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  • But the real interventions, the real interventions of god are
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  • About the purposes of god more than they're about what i want.
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  • That'll be another session, but i could give you a litany of
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  • Examples from my own life and my experience with other people.
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  • Breakthroughs that were far more about the purposes of god.
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  • In this particular case, the message from gabriel was, "you
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  • Give this child the name jesus."
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  • "well, that seals it.
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  • Everybody will know he's not mine!"
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  • "well it really isn't about you, joe.
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  • You name him jesus.
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  • Ask mary about uncle zachariah, what he said since i talked to
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  • Him last."
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  • That's a pretty startling thing.
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  • This isn't about you.
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  • "well, you've got a role to play, we need your strength, we
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  • Need you to participate, we need you to step up.
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  • But if you think this is just about you, you're
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  • Not understanding."
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  • You see, the narrowest possible imagination of a breakthrough
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  • Is, "it's just for me, this is what i want.
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  • It's what i wanna do and the way i want it to happen and
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  • This was the scenario i imagined and this is how i
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  • Wanna be treated and this is how i wanna be perceived."
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  • I don't find most of the breakthroughs are about that.
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  • I think when saul of tarsus had his breakthrough on the road to
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  • Damascus, he lost almost all of his friends.
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  • And those who are going to be his new friends are too afraid
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  • To talk to him.
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  • He is very isolated, lots of rejection cascading over him, in
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  • The midst of god's breakthrough in his life.
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  • I think maybe the most startling to me in this is that joseph
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  • Said yes.
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  • Joseph said yes.
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  • Joseph said yes!
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  • I read that and i think, "wow.
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  • I just--well, i'm gonna need, like, quadruple confirmation."
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  • I think it's also safe to say that breakthroughs initiate
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  • A journey.
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  • That frequently, with the biblical narratives and in our
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  • Own experiences, frequently you cannot see or imagine
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  • The outcome.
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  • I'm pretty certain that at the point that joseph and mary had
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  • That angelic visit that they didn't understand all that was
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  • In front of them.
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  • I assure you the expectation from messiah in the first
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  • Century at that point in time was not of someone who's going
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  • To be crucified by romans.
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  • It was a political leader, a military leader, a deliverer,
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  • More from the book of judges, more of a character like gideon
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  • Or samson or king david.
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  • Somebody who's gonna change the narrative of authority and the
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  • Expression of power.
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  • And then there'll be a liberty that comes to our people.
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  • And so if you're going to be engaged in the emergence of
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  • Messiah, this is like a parade.
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  • That was the idea.
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  • It was so ingrained, it's what resulted--it really
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  • Contributed mightily to the crucifixion of jesus.
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  • So when mary and joseph as teenagers here, you're gonna be
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  • In on this drama.
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  • "wow, we'll get seats in the palace."
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  • They couldn't see the end of it.
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  • Are you willing to say yes to the lord when you understand you
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  • Can't see the end of it.
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  • You know the old analogy: you land on a desert island, and if
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  • You want to display your commitment to your new location,
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  • You burned the boats.
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  • And you've eliminated any possibility of escape.
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  • I want to ask you to consider, in the serving of the lord, have
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  • You ever come to the point where you're willing to burn
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  • The boats?
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  • Or do you keep your escape hatches open, just in case this
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  • God thing didn't work out the way i thought it would.
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  • You've ever pushed the chips into the middle of the table and
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  • Say, "listen, i'm all in with this."
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  • 'cause i'm pretty certain that's what mary and joseph were doing.
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  • And they couldn't see the outcome.
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  • You see some little glimpses of it.
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  • It's when jesus is 12 and they they lose him, and they find him
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  • After several days and he's in the temple, having discussions
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  • With the scholars, and they're completely confused by that.
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  • They weren't prepared for that or there's a different--there's
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  • A bit of a scene change when mary's at the wedding and cana,
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  • And they're out of wine, and she says to the servants, "just do
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  • Whatever he tells you.
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  • Just whatever he tells you to do, listen to him."
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  • Or at the cross, mary's standing at the foot of the cross.
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  • I cannot imagine.
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  • I don't have a broad enough emotional spectrum to paint a
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  • Picture for you of that.
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  • I can't imagine.
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  • Seeing jesus beaten in the way he's been beaten and watching
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  • Him being tortured in public, and through the haze of the
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  • Pain, jesus looks down at mary, and john, and says, "behold
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  • Your son."
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  • And to john, "behold your mother."
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  • I promise you, when gabriel came to visit mary as a teenage
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  • Girl in nazareth, she didn't see that.
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  • See, i think we abort breakthroughs.
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  • I think we hit stop.
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  • There--you know, you get that little thing that's scrolling,
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  • Does that annoy you as much as it annoys me?
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  • I think that little thing mocks me.
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  • It's like you've done something wrong and there's no outcome.
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  • You think, "well, i'll be patient for another 60 seconds,"
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  • And it keeps scrolling.
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  • When i call somebody smart and they'll say, "well, have
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  • You rebooted?"
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  • I got a boot for you, come over here.
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  • Well, i'm pretty certain that, in my life, i've hit abort on
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  • Some breakthroughs that god would have put in front of me
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  • Because i didn't want to wait or i couldn't see an outcome,
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  • And i wanted more instant gratification.
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  • Breakthroughs initiate a journey, but you typically can't
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  • See the outcome.
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  • Female announcer: if you look, you'll find good
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  • News everywhere.
  • 00:11:38.847 --> 00:11:40.749
  • Female: our baby was born healthy and strong.
  • 00:11:40.749 --> 00:11:44.719
  • Female: we have the groceries we need.
  • 00:11:44.719 --> 00:11:47.155
  • Male: another year cancer free.
  • 00:11:47.155 --> 00:11:50.525
  • Female: we bought our first house this year.
  • 00:11:50.525 --> 00:11:54.462
  • Female: the raise came through when i needed it most.
  • 00:11:54.462 --> 00:11:58.099
  • Male: i have a working car.
  • 00:11:58.099 --> 00:12:01.669
  • Female: my husband came home safe.
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  • Announcer: philippians 4 tells us to think about whatever is
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  • True, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent,
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  • And praiseworthy.
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  • All of these things honor god, and when we take time to notice
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  • Them, we welcome god's presence and experience his peace.
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  • Allen: you know, the two most critical junctures of any
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  • Enterprise are how we begin and how we conclude.
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  • So the beginning of a new year is a tremendous opportunity.
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  • We've prepared a tool we wanna share with you.
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  • It's a good news journal.
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  • We wanna help you set a habit this year to do something with a
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  • Bit more intention than perhaps has been our pattern in
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  • The past.
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  • We wanna start our year with an attitude of appreciation and
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  • Gratitude for the blessings of god in our lives.
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  • So we've designed this journal so that you can use it as a part
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  • Of your devotional.
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  • It's something you could include the children, the grandchildren.
  • 00:12:56.791 --> 00:12:58.993
  • You could take it to work and create a good news journal for
  • 00:12:58.993 --> 00:13:01.429
  • The people you work with.
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  • Wherever that may be, let's start our year out purposefully,
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  • Intentionally saying thank you to the lord for his goodness
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  • To us.
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  • I know there's challenges and we have places where we need god's
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  • Help, but we're gonna begin with gratitude and walk into the
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  • Blessings of god in this year.
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  • I think you'll enjoy the journal.
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  • God bless.
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  • Announcer: when you keep a good news list, you'll notice how god
  • 00:13:23.351 --> 00:13:25.854
  • Is constantly at work all around you.
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  • Our new 52 week good news notebook gives you a place to
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  • Record your good news, prayers you saw god answer, and your
  • 00:13:32.660 --> 00:13:36.231
  • Current prayer requests.
  • 00:13:36.231 --> 00:13:38.032
  • As you look back on your lists over the weeks and months to
  • 00:13:38.032 --> 00:13:40.902
  • Come, you'll find a personal record of
  • 00:13:40.902 --> 00:13:42.937
  • God's faithfulness to you.
  • 00:13:42.937 --> 00:13:44.339
  • Allen: we are trusting god for a year like no other, for his
  • 00:13:44.339 --> 00:13:47.575
  • Breakthroughs this year.
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  • I believe the good news journal can be a part of our journey in
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  • Each of our lives.
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  • Calling ...
  • 00:13:58.987 --> 00:14:03.124
  • Allen: i gotta wrap it up, so let's do this quickly.
  • 00:14:06.127 --> 00:14:08.863
  • Breakthroughs are the fulfillment of god's promises.
  • 00:14:08.863 --> 00:14:12.200
  • I want to say it again, it's really important: breakthroughs
  • 00:14:12.200 --> 00:14:14.335
  • Of the fulfillment of god's promises.
  • 00:14:14.335 --> 00:14:17.338
  • I could develop that with quite a bit of complexity from
  • 00:14:17.338 --> 00:14:20.708
  • Scripture, but i'll give you one passage.
  • 00:14:20.708 --> 00:14:22.243
  • 2 peter 1.
  • 00:14:22.243 --> 00:14:24.012
  • This is the fisherman that jesus recruited.
  • 00:14:24.012 --> 00:14:25.947
  • He said, "he's given us his very great and precious promises, so
  • 00:14:25.947 --> 00:14:29.484
  • That through them you may participate in the divine nature
  • 00:14:29.484 --> 00:14:31.920
  • And escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
  • 00:14:31.920 --> 00:14:35.723
  • How do we escape evil and the corruption it brings in
  • 00:14:35.723 --> 00:14:38.593
  • Our world?
  • 00:14:38.593 --> 00:14:39.994
  • He told you: through the promises of god.
  • 00:14:39.994 --> 00:14:44.999
  • You see, the exodus generation were given a promised land, a
  • 00:14:44.999 --> 00:14:48.736
  • Space on terra firma that belonged to them and their
  • 00:14:48.736 --> 00:14:51.406
  • Children and the generations who came after them forever.
  • 00:14:51.406 --> 00:14:54.442
  • It's printed in the book, and it still frustrates the nations of
  • 00:14:54.442 --> 00:14:57.478
  • The earth.
  • 00:14:57.478 --> 00:15:00.014
  • Well, god didn't give to you and me a piece of ground.
  • 00:15:00.014 --> 00:15:03.384
  • He didn't give us a promised land, but our existence and our
  • 00:15:03.384 --> 00:15:07.555
  • Journey through time is the land of god's promises.
  • 00:15:07.555 --> 00:15:13.428
  • Which means you'll have to take some time and energy to get to
  • 00:15:13.428 --> 00:15:16.264
  • Know the promises of god.
  • 00:15:16.264 --> 00:15:19.400
  • In order to stand against the evil in our community, you got
  • 00:15:19.400 --> 00:15:21.469
  • To read some books that you probably shouldn't read.
  • 00:15:21.469 --> 00:15:24.572
  • 'cause once you read it, you go, "oh, i don't need to be there."
  • 00:15:24.572 --> 00:15:28.276
  • And if you're gonna--if you're going to live in the fulfillment
  • 00:15:28.276 --> 00:15:30.545
  • Of the promises of god, you'll have to spend some time
  • 00:15:30.545 --> 00:15:33.047
  • Searching them, coming to understand them.
  • 00:15:33.047 --> 00:15:36.384
  • They're god's provision for your life.
  • 00:15:36.384 --> 00:15:38.853
  • God's provision for you and me is in his promises.
  • 00:15:38.853 --> 00:15:41.589
  • "i wish i knew what god would do."
  • 00:15:41.589 --> 00:15:42.924
  • He's told you!
  • 00:15:42.924 --> 00:15:45.193
  • He's told you.
  • 00:15:45.193 --> 00:15:46.527
  • He said, "i'll never leave you or forsake you."
  • 00:15:46.527 --> 00:15:47.895
  • "well, i feel like he's abandoned me."
  • 00:15:47.895 --> 00:15:49.263
  • Well, your feeling's not accurate.
  • 00:15:49.263 --> 00:15:53.267
  • "well, you can't tell me how i feel."
  • 00:15:53.267 --> 00:15:54.635
  • No, i can't, i can just tell you it's not fully accurate.
  • 00:15:54.635 --> 00:15:58.139
  • "it's real, i can't help how i feel."
  • 00:15:58.139 --> 00:16:01.676
  • I know, but you can just decide which feeling to believe, which
  • 00:16:01.676 --> 00:16:05.313
  • Feeling to act on.
  • 00:16:05.313 --> 00:16:08.416
  • There have been times i didn't feel like preaching.
  • 00:16:08.416 --> 00:16:16.824
  • I just put on the screen, didn't feel like it today.
  • 00:16:16.824 --> 00:16:21.162
  • "yeah, well, that's not a very mature response."
  • 00:16:21.162 --> 00:16:25.500
  • You're right!
  • 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:27.568
  • And we have incubated some very immature responses to life.
  • 00:16:27.568 --> 00:16:35.643
  • God's provision is in his promises.
  • 00:16:35.643 --> 00:16:38.179
  • Look at luke 7, i can give you some support from jesus's life.
  • 00:16:38.179 --> 00:16:42.283
  • He's talking about john the baptist, and he says, "this is
  • 00:16:42.283 --> 00:16:44.585
  • The one about whom it was written.
  • 00:16:44.585 --> 00:16:45.953
  • I'll send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way
  • 00:16:45.953 --> 00:16:48.656
  • Before you.
  • 00:16:48.656 --> 00:16:50.091
  • I tell you, among those born among women, there's no one
  • 00:16:50.091 --> 00:16:52.326
  • Greater than john; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of
  • 00:16:52.326 --> 00:16:54.462
  • God is greater than he."
  • 00:16:54.462 --> 00:16:56.397
  • I'll give you the shorthand on that, 'cause our our time is
  • 00:16:56.397 --> 00:16:58.933
  • Slipping past.
  • 00:16:58.933 --> 00:17:00.334
  • Jesus understood the circumstances surrounding him,
  • 00:17:00.334 --> 00:17:03.404
  • His life, to be the fulfillment of scripture.
  • 00:17:03.404 --> 00:17:08.276
  • I want to say it again, very clearly, i can give you
  • 00:17:08.276 --> 00:17:11.112
  • Multiple passages.
  • 00:17:11.112 --> 00:17:12.780
  • Jesus understood the circumstances surrounding his
  • 00:17:12.780 --> 00:17:15.950
  • Life to be the fulfillment of god's promises.
  • 00:17:15.950 --> 00:17:20.955
  • We should do no less. we should do no less.
  • 00:17:20.955 --> 00:17:27.995
  • Then, finally, it it's the ending that matters.
  • 00:17:31.933 --> 00:17:34.102
  • Breakthroughs are understood in their conclusion, in their
  • 00:17:34.102 --> 00:17:36.838
  • Outworking, not on their finality because they lead to
  • 00:17:36.838 --> 00:17:40.108
  • Other things, but it's when you recognize god has intervened.
  • 00:17:40.108 --> 00:17:44.645
  • And to do that, you have to push through, you have to overcome,
  • 00:17:44.645 --> 00:17:47.381
  • You have to persevere, you have to endure.
  • 00:17:47.381 --> 00:17:49.750
  • All those words that i would rather not.
  • 00:17:49.750 --> 00:17:53.454
  • I've mentioned elizabeth and zachariah and john, their son,
  • 00:17:53.454 --> 00:17:56.891
  • In matthew 14, in verse 9, it says, "the king was distressed,
  • 00:17:56.891 --> 00:18:00.895
  • Because of his oaths and his dinner guest, he ordered that
  • 00:18:00.895 --> 00:18:04.265
  • The request to be granted and he had john beheaded in prison.
  • 00:18:04.265 --> 00:18:08.703
  • His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl,
  • 00:18:08.703 --> 00:18:11.005
  • Who carried it to her mother.
  • 00:18:11.005 --> 00:18:13.341
  • John's disciples came and took his body and buried it.
  • 00:18:13.341 --> 00:18:15.610
  • Then they went to find jesus."
  • 00:18:15.610 --> 00:18:18.946
  • Well, the passage i just read to you, immediately preceding that,
  • 00:18:18.946 --> 00:18:21.949
  • Jesus said "there wasn't anyone greater born among women
  • 00:18:21.949 --> 00:18:24.685
  • Than john."
  • 00:18:24.685 --> 00:18:27.655
  • And herod beheaded him.
  • 00:18:27.655 --> 00:18:31.192
  • Talk about a breakthrough missed.
  • 00:18:31.192 --> 00:18:34.529
  • Herod was intrigued by john, but he wasn't strong enough to stand
  • 00:18:34.529 --> 00:18:39.100
  • Up to the manipulative forces in his life and he would rather
  • 00:18:39.100 --> 00:18:41.702
  • Indulge his pleasures than stand up for what's right.
  • 00:18:41.702 --> 00:18:45.640
  • Gee, that doesn't sound like the 21st century.
  • 00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:53.080
  • And so john's mission was finished.
  • 00:18:53.080 --> 00:18:58.686
  • I don't believe he did something wrong.
  • 00:18:58.686 --> 00:19:01.889
  • 1 corinthians 9 says, "do you not know that in a race all the
  • 00:19:01.889 --> 00:19:04.725
  • Runners run, only one gets the prize.
  • 00:19:04.725 --> 00:19:07.128
  • Run in such a way as to get the prize."
  • 00:19:07.128 --> 00:19:09.564
  • You see, breakthroughs are about us setting apart.
  • 00:19:09.564 --> 00:19:14.268
  • Oftentimes from family, from contemporaries, from
  • 00:19:14.268 --> 00:19:16.904
  • Conventional wisdom.
  • 00:19:16.904 --> 00:19:18.806
  • Breakthroughs are about aligning with god.
  • 00:19:18.806 --> 00:19:21.943
  • The messages are often challenging.
  • 00:19:21.943 --> 00:19:25.713
  • God's called you out of the world, not to be indistinct, not
  • 00:19:25.713 --> 00:19:30.885
  • To be so well camouflaged they didn't know you were
  • 00:19:30.885 --> 00:19:33.321
  • A christian.
  • 00:19:33.321 --> 00:19:39.694
  • I've told you, there were seasons in my life i was way
  • 00:19:39.694 --> 00:19:42.163
  • Too undercover.
  • 00:19:42.163 --> 00:19:44.665
  • I grew up in this community, they were very shocked when i
  • 00:19:44.665 --> 00:19:47.268
  • Showed up as a pastor.
  • 00:19:47.268 --> 00:19:50.504
  • I mean, we laugh about it, and i tell it with a bit of a smirk,
  • 00:19:50.504 --> 00:19:54.075
  • But i'm not really proud of it.
  • 00:19:54.075 --> 00:19:58.012
  • I went to the public schools here,
  • 00:19:58.012 --> 00:20:00.915
  • Played on their basketball teams.
  • 00:20:00.915 --> 00:20:03.584
  • That was back when it was about the only option.
  • 00:20:03.584 --> 00:20:05.686
  • We used to actually pray before ball games.
  • 00:20:05.686 --> 00:20:08.189
  • I know that sounds quaint, but we did.
  • 00:20:08.189 --> 00:20:11.092
  • The last game i played at riverdale, they looked at me and
  • 00:20:11.092 --> 00:20:15.730
  • Said, "you pray."
  • 00:20:15.730 --> 00:20:17.932
  • I had never prayed before a game, or at least not in
  • 00:20:17.932 --> 00:20:20.534
  • That year.
  • 00:20:20.534 --> 00:20:22.637
  • And i got done with the prayer and a guy that i'd played ball
  • 00:20:22.637 --> 00:20:24.705
  • With a long time, several years, he looked at me, he said, "dang,
  • 00:20:24.705 --> 00:20:28.042
  • Jackson, i didn't know you knew how to pray."
  • 00:20:28.042 --> 00:20:33.881
  • That's not a compliment.
  • 00:20:33.881 --> 00:20:36.784
  • He knew i'd fight.
  • 00:20:36.784 --> 00:20:41.455
  • He knew i was stubborn.
  • 00:20:41.455 --> 00:20:44.925
  • He knew i'd run till i throw up.
  • 00:20:44.925 --> 00:20:51.399
  • But he didn't have any idea i knew how to pray.
  • 00:20:51.399 --> 00:20:57.838
  • You see, breakthroughs are about a willingness to align yourself
  • 00:20:57.838 --> 00:21:01.776
  • With god.
  • 00:21:01.776 --> 00:21:03.978
  • And we've been coached for a while now, i think, in some
  • 00:21:03.978 --> 00:21:06.881
  • Wrong directions.
  • 00:21:06.881 --> 00:21:13.421
  • Disappointment is not the final evaluation.
  • 00:21:13.421 --> 00:21:16.524
  • God can bring some great victories through
  • 00:21:16.524 --> 00:21:17.958
  • Disappointing circumstances.
  • 00:21:17.958 --> 00:21:20.361
  • Run to get the prize.
  • 00:21:20.361 --> 00:21:22.063
  • At the starting line, we all look good.
  • 00:21:22.063 --> 00:21:24.899
  • New shoes, hair's in place, plenty of oxygen.
  • 00:21:24.899 --> 00:21:31.739
  • At the end of the contest, i'm a mess.
  • 00:21:31.739 --> 00:21:35.376
  • There's usually blood and i can't breathe and my
  • 00:21:35.376 --> 00:21:37.445
  • Shirt's untucked.
  • 00:21:37.445 --> 00:21:39.680
  • My hair is plastered in my head.
  • 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:41.282
  • I can watch you move, and i sweat.
  • 00:21:41.282 --> 00:21:44.251
  • So if i'm moving, it's just embarrassing.
  • 00:21:44.251 --> 00:21:48.289
  • "run in such a way as to get the prize."
  • 00:21:48.289 --> 00:21:52.360
  • We've treated our faith like it's a photo op.
  • 00:21:52.360 --> 00:21:55.062
  • We want every hair in place.
  • 00:21:55.062 --> 00:21:57.598
  • We want to tell our stories as if we couldn't imagine stress
  • 00:21:57.598 --> 00:22:01.102
  • Or strain.
  • 00:22:01.102 --> 00:22:03.871
  • Discomfort.
  • 00:22:03.871 --> 00:22:06.006
  • "no, i met jesus and every day he's just been filled with
  • 00:22:06.006 --> 00:22:08.542
  • Greater glory than the day before."
  • 00:22:08.542 --> 00:22:12.613
  • I'd hear those stories and go, "well, i haven't met him yet."
  • 00:22:12.613 --> 00:22:20.721
  • I mean, you know the stories, daniel got to go to the lions'
  • 00:22:20.721 --> 00:22:23.190
  • Den, shadrach, meshach, and abednego got to go to a really
  • 00:22:23.190 --> 00:22:25.793
  • Hot furnace, moses had to go talk to pharaoh over and
  • 00:22:25.793 --> 00:22:30.398
  • Over again.
  • 00:22:30.398 --> 00:22:33.501
  • Jesus had to go to the cross.
  • 00:22:33.501 --> 00:22:37.938
  • I mean, it's a long list.
  • 00:22:37.938 --> 00:22:39.707
  • Breakthroughs, and i'll close with this.
  • 00:22:39.707 --> 00:22:41.308
  • Breakthroughs present opportunities for us into
  • 00:22:41.308 --> 00:22:44.378
  • God's purposes.
  • 00:22:44.378 --> 00:22:47.148
  • More than they satisfy our own temporal, or
  • 00:22:47.148 --> 00:22:51.318
  • Temporary, circumstances.
  • 00:22:51.318 --> 00:22:54.655
  • You see, real breakthroughs do more than just satisfy my wants.
  • 00:22:54.655 --> 00:22:59.860
  • They may do that, but they present opportunities to be
  • 00:22:59.860 --> 00:23:03.764
  • Engaged in the purposes of god, and there's no greater
  • 00:23:03.764 --> 00:23:06.333
  • Breakthrough for your life!
  • 00:23:06.333 --> 00:23:09.403
  • You'd rather be engaged in the purposes of god than win the
  • 00:23:09.403 --> 00:23:11.972
  • Lottery, i promise.
  • 00:23:11.972 --> 00:23:18.913
  • Breakthroughs, breakthroughs, breakthroughs.
  • 00:23:18.913 --> 00:23:23.551
  • Let's be like joseph, "yes!"
  • 00:23:23.551 --> 00:23:26.020
  • He said yes!
  • 00:23:26.020 --> 00:23:29.924
  • Mary said it, and it was still somewhat theoretical.
  • 00:23:29.924 --> 00:23:32.860
  • I'm not saying it was easier, she's gonna get stretch marks.
  • 00:23:32.860 --> 00:23:36.997
  • She's got to go find joseph.
  • 00:23:36.997 --> 00:23:39.867
  • She's got an answer.
  • 00:23:39.867 --> 00:23:47.074
  • And then joseph's got his own side of it.
  • 00:23:47.074 --> 00:23:49.043
  • Mary said, "may it be unto me."
  • 00:23:49.043 --> 00:23:51.212
  • And joseph said, "yeah, i'm in too."
  • 00:23:51.212 --> 00:23:54.782
  • We can't do less, folks.
  • 00:23:54.782 --> 00:23:59.653
  • Again, i believe in being the new birth
  • 00:23:59.653 --> 00:24:02.022
  • And conversion, but stop.
  • 00:24:02.022 --> 00:24:06.494
  • These are the covenant people of god, living in the promised
  • 00:24:06.494 --> 00:24:09.396
  • Land, celebrating at the temple.
  • 00:24:09.396 --> 00:24:11.932
  • They've got all the credentials, but god puts something in front
  • 00:24:11.932 --> 00:24:15.002
  • Of them that takes every ounce of courage they have.
  • 00:24:15.002 --> 00:24:19.507
  • Let's decide to be those people.
  • 00:24:19.507 --> 00:24:22.276
  • Breakthroughs, breakthroughs.
  • 00:24:22.276 --> 00:24:27.281
  • Stand with me, we're gonna say yes to the lord.
  • 00:24:27.281 --> 00:24:34.221
  • Don't miss--i believe god heals and delivers and
  • 00:24:38.259 --> 00:24:41.362
  • Restores and renews and provides.
  • 00:24:41.362 --> 00:24:43.797
  • I believe he opens up the windows of heaven and pours
  • 00:24:43.797 --> 00:24:45.633
  • Blessings out on his people.
  • 00:24:45.633 --> 00:24:48.502
  • I believe god toppled goliath, and enabled gideon to overcome
  • 00:24:48.502 --> 00:24:52.406
  • The midianites, and he caused the lions to not be hungry and
  • 00:24:52.406 --> 00:24:57.411
  • The furnace to not be so hot.
  • 00:24:57.411 --> 00:25:00.114
  • And he caused murderous paul--saul to become the
  • 00:25:00.114 --> 00:25:02.816
  • Apostle paul,
  • 00:25:02.816 --> 00:25:05.219
  • Bigmouth peter to become the anchor in the church.
  • 00:25:05.219 --> 00:25:10.190
  • I mean, god changes circumstances and times.
  • 00:25:10.190 --> 00:25:12.893
  • I mean, it's amazing what he will do.
  • 00:25:12.893 --> 00:25:16.697
  • But there's a component to it that we've looked past while
  • 00:25:16.697 --> 00:25:19.767
  • We've celebrated.
  • 00:25:19.767 --> 00:25:24.738
  • Those guys still had to get tied hand and foot and carried to
  • 00:25:24.738 --> 00:25:29.043
  • The mouth of a furnace, and the men that threw him into the
  • 00:25:29.043 --> 00:25:31.178
  • Furnace were killed by the heat.
  • 00:25:31.178 --> 00:25:35.416
  • They saw the blisters on somebody else.
  • 00:25:35.416 --> 00:25:41.589
  • Lord, thank you for your word, for its truth and power
  • 00:25:41.589 --> 00:25:44.224
  • And authority.
  • 00:25:44.224 --> 00:25:45.593
  • Thank you that you've called us to the 21st century, to be men
  • 00:25:45.593 --> 00:25:48.963
  • And women of faith, to take our place in your
  • 00:25:48.963 --> 00:25:51.398
  • Unfolding purposes.
  • 00:25:51.398 --> 00:25:53.634
  • Thank you for a christmas season when we can celebrate the
  • 00:25:53.634 --> 00:25:56.870
  • Faithfulness of those who have preceded us, those men and women
  • 00:25:56.870 --> 00:26:00.808
  • Who said yes to you and allowed your purposes to break
  • 00:26:00.808 --> 00:26:03.410
  • Forth and change generations.
  • 00:26:03.410 --> 00:26:07.214
  • And lord, in humility tonight, we wanna say thank you.
  • 00:26:07.214 --> 00:26:09.650
  • Thank you that, through the blood of jesus, we have been
  • 00:26:09.650 --> 00:26:11.652
  • Delivered out of the hand of the enemy.
  • 00:26:11.652 --> 00:26:14.321
  • Thank you that, through the blood of jesus, our sins have
  • 00:26:14.321 --> 00:26:16.457
  • Been forgiven,
  • 00:26:16.457 --> 00:26:17.791
  • That we've been justified and sanctified and called according
  • 00:26:17.791 --> 00:26:20.761
  • To your purposes.
  • 00:26:20.761 --> 00:26:22.129
  • And now, lord, we want to say yes to you.
  • 00:26:22.129 --> 00:26:25.633
  • We want to say yes to you.
  • 00:26:25.633 --> 00:26:28.469
  • Forgive us where we've been stubborn or unconcerned or
  • 00:26:28.469 --> 00:26:31.705
  • Unwilling to prepare.
  • 00:26:31.705 --> 00:26:33.741
  • Lord, we choose a new path tonight.
  • 00:26:33.741 --> 00:26:37.444
  • We want to be men and women who follow you, who cooperate with
  • 00:26:37.444 --> 00:26:41.281
  • Your spirit, who yield to your direction.
  • 00:26:41.281 --> 00:26:46.086
  • Give us discerning hearts.
  • 00:26:46.086 --> 00:26:48.722
  • Give us understanding and insight.
  • 00:26:48.722 --> 00:26:51.759
  • May the fear of god grow within us.
  • 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:55.596
  • We thank you for what you're doing
  • 00:26:55.596 --> 00:26:58.232
  • And we want to say yes to you,
  • 00:26:58.232 --> 00:27:00.601
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:00.601 --> 00:27:04.505
  • God bless you.
  • 00:27:04.505 --> 00:27:05.873
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:05.873 --> 00:27:30.230