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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Obedient To The Vision (Part 1)

January 28, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - Obedient To The Vision (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Obedience #Visions/Dreams #Repentance #WalkwithGod #Journey #Calling #Fellowship #Jesus #Faithfulness #TrustGod #Faith #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Obedient To The Vision (Part 1) | January 28, 2026
  • ...
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  • Allen jackson: you know, around the world,
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  • People are searching for truth, and together we're doing our
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  • Very best to help them find it.
  • 00:00:05.621 --> 00:00:07.589
  • When you become a ministry partner with allen jackson
  • 00:00:07.723 --> 00:00:09.858
  • Ministries, you're joining a growing community of believers
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  • Who are committed to strengthening the church and
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  • Sharing god's word through every available channel--
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  • Television, radio, podcast, books, bible studies,
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  • Digital resources, conferences.
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  • Your monthly partnership helps us equip believers to reach new
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  • Audiences, to take the hope of jesus to people who may never
  • 00:00:28.710 --> 00:00:32.614
  • Have heard the gospel otherwise.
  • 00:00:32.614 --> 00:00:34.716
  • Together, we can stand firm in our faith and make god's truth
  • 00:00:34.716 --> 00:00:38.654
  • Known right here at home and around the earth, wherever
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  • God opens a door.
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  • Let's keep gathering his people and building his church until
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  • The day our king returns.
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  • You can find more about becoming a ministry partner
  • 00:00:48.730 --> 00:00:51.633
  • At allenjackson.com/partner.
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  • Allen: we've been working through a little series really
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  • Based on the faithfulness of god.
  • 00:01:09.618 --> 00:01:12.454
  • In my notes, it's my "so far" series.
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  • But i have used two biblical characters as kind of the center
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  • Point for our learning, and that was joseph and what was required
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  • Of him to fulfill god's purposes for his life.
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  • I mean, he comes from the family of the patriarchs, so his
  • 00:01:31.707 --> 00:01:35.511
  • Spiritual heritage seems to be stellar, but the reality is he
  • 00:01:35.511 --> 00:01:38.747
  • Comes from a really fractured family.
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  • It wasn't just his brothers.
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  • I mean, it was a far more systemic problem than that.
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  • God works--god brings his purposes in the earth forward
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  • Through fractured families.
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  • And if the enemy has been telling you that god's purposes
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  • In your life are small because of the circumstances of your
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  • Family system, you should understand that the adversary is
  • 00:01:59.268 --> 00:02:02.304
  • A liar and the father of lies.
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  • The redemptive work of jesus is sufficient to lift us above the
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  • Brokenness of those systems from which our lives emerge.
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  • That's a very important principle, and it is biblical to
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  • The core.
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  • Joseph highlights that in a remarkable way.
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  • From the trauma of that, the trauma continues in his life.
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  • There's not a singular episode, it seems like a, just a drum
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  • Roll of painful experiences until ultimately joseph becomes
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  • The governor of egypt.
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  • And at that time he gets settled in that position and is secure
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  • In that position, his family rolls back in.
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  • Gee, that couldn't be traumatic.
  • 00:02:42.544 --> 00:02:45.747
  • And there's a reconciliation, but we use joseph's life as a
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  • Bit of a template for understanding what you and i
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  • Will have to process, that forgiveness and overcoming
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  • Rejection and anger and bitterness and hatred, those
  • 00:02:54.690 --> 00:02:57.059
  • Aren't one-time events.
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  • That's the toolkit we need in order to continue to
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  • Spiritually flourish.
  • 00:03:02.364 --> 00:03:05.334
  • You have to have a spiritual immune system that helps you
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  • Shake off those intruders because they will come
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  • Throughout your life.
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  • And to be unaware of those tools leaves you woefully ill prepared
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  • To fulfill god's purposes for your life.
  • 00:03:24.686 --> 00:03:26.555
  • If joseph hadn't known how to overcome anger and resentment
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  • And bitterness, if hatred had taken root in his life, the new
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  • Testament tells us to not even let a--not let the root of
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  • Bitterness grow in us.
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  • If he hadn't known how to--what to do with that, he would have
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  • Never been the governor of egypt.
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  • And then we have looked at saul of tarsus who becomes the
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  • Apostle paul.
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  • By title, wrote about 2/3 of our new testament.
  • 00:03:49.845 --> 00:03:53.915
  • When we meet saul, he is an angry--he's a pharisee, he's a
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  • Religious expert, highly trained jewish scholar, but he hates
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  • Deeply the notion that jesus of nazareth is messiah and anyone
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  • Who will advocate for that.
  • 00:04:09.131 --> 00:04:11.800
  • And his hatred and his bitterness is so deep that he is
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  • Actively engaged in the arrest and execution of people who will
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  • Dare to affirm that.
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  • We meet him in acts chapter 7 when stephen is being murdered
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  • Just outside of jerusalem.
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  • And saul is encouraging the people who are stoning stephen.
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  • But then we're told he expands his territory.
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  • He takes men and women from throughout jerusalem and the
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  • Surrounding areas, bound in chains because of their advocacy
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  • For jesus.
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  • And beyond that, he branches out, he's headed to damascus for
  • 00:04:43.632 --> 00:04:46.868
  • The same--i mean, he's a zealot.
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  • And jesus interrupts him.
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  • The same jesus that ascended back to heaven in acts chapter 1
  • 00:04:52.674 --> 00:04:55.344
  • Steps back into time to confront saul of tarsus and says, "what
  • 00:04:55.344 --> 00:04:59.548
  • Just exactly is it you think you're doing?"
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  • Living bible.
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  • And saul of tarsus begins the transition to become the
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  • Apostle paul.
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  • But from the encounter he has with jesus that leaves him
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  • Blind, until ananias comes to pray for him and gives him a bit
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  • Of a indication of what his journey will be, before saul
  • 00:05:20.435 --> 00:05:26.508
  • Leaves damascus, there's a plot to murder him because of his
  • 00:05:26.508 --> 00:05:30.278
  • Advocacy for jesus.
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  • He has to be smuggled out of damascus.
  • 00:05:33.081 --> 00:05:36.551
  • And the first time he goes to jerusalem to meet with the
  • 00:05:36.551 --> 00:05:39.221
  • Apostles, he has to be shepherded out of jerusalem
  • 00:05:39.221 --> 00:05:43.091
  • Because there is a plot to kill him in jerusalem.
  • 00:05:43.091 --> 00:05:47.529
  • And that pattern is going to follow him through the entire
  • 00:05:47.529 --> 00:05:50.899
  • Window we have of his life in our new testament until the last
  • 00:05:50.899 --> 00:05:54.102
  • Time he goes to jerusalem, and on that occasion, he has to have
  • 00:05:54.102 --> 00:05:58.106
  • An escort of roman soldiers because there's another yet
  • 00:05:58.106 --> 00:06:01.176
  • Assassination plot against his life.
  • 00:06:01.176 --> 00:06:06.047
  • Now, we have a good bit of information about him from the
  • 00:06:06.047 --> 00:06:08.183
  • Letters he's written in our new testament.
  • 00:06:08.183 --> 00:06:10.519
  • It's an understatement to say that he suffered for his faith.
  • 00:06:10.519 --> 00:06:16.024
  • Five times he was beaten almost to death.
  • 00:06:16.024 --> 00:06:19.828
  • He was stoned and left for dead.
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  • He was arrested numerous times.
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  • He was released from prison by angelic intervention.
  • 00:06:26.635 --> 00:06:29.871
  • He was released, i mean, it's-- he led a brutal life.
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  • I assure you, by the time we read 1 and 2 timothy that he's
  • 00:06:35.143 --> 00:06:38.246
  • Writing as an older man, he bears in his body the marks of
  • 00:06:38.246 --> 00:06:42.751
  • The physical suffering because of his advocacy for the gospel.
  • 00:06:42.751 --> 00:06:48.690
  • So for saul of tarsus to be an advocate for jesus of nazareth
  • 00:06:48.690 --> 00:06:52.894
  • Was not a call to comfort and convenience or ease.
  • 00:06:52.894 --> 00:06:58.667
  • He faced consistent adversity, consistent hatred, frequent
  • 00:06:58.667 --> 00:07:05.006
  • Physical suffering because of his advocacy for jesus.
  • 00:07:05.006 --> 00:07:10.612
  • I tell you that because that is such a different experience than
  • 00:07:10.612 --> 00:07:13.515
  • We've been invited to.
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  • I'm grateful for that.
  • 00:07:14.850 --> 00:07:16.184
  • I'm grateful that we don't have to face that kind of persecution
  • 00:07:16.184 --> 00:07:18.753
  • For the advocacy of the gospel, but i don't want to pervert the
  • 00:07:18.753 --> 00:07:21.423
  • Gospel into something that's about comfort and convenience
  • 00:07:21.423 --> 00:07:23.792
  • Because the one who wrote a big significant portion of our new
  • 00:07:23.792 --> 00:07:27.062
  • Testament understood the lord in a dramatically different way.
  • 00:07:27.062 --> 00:07:31.600
  • And he wasn't a man that was unfamiliar with
  • 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:35.070
  • The supernatural.
  • 00:07:35.070 --> 00:07:36.671
  • Luke tells us that god did extraordinary miracles through
  • 00:07:36.671 --> 00:07:39.374
  • The hands of paul.
  • 00:07:39.374 --> 00:07:42.043
  • That even pieces of cloth that he would lay his hands on and
  • 00:07:42.043 --> 00:07:44.679
  • Pray for when they were taken someplace else and placed on
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  • Sick people that the sick people would get well.
  • 00:07:47.482 --> 00:07:49.284
  • So it wasn't like he didn't know the power of god.
  • 00:07:49.284 --> 00:07:53.955
  • So we have to have room in our imagination that we could live
  • 00:07:53.955 --> 00:07:56.725
  • In the power of god, the supernatural engagement of god,
  • 00:07:56.725 --> 00:08:00.529
  • And still face challenges in our lives.
  • 00:08:00.529 --> 00:08:05.967
  • So this session i've titled, "obedient to the vision."
  • 00:08:05.967 --> 00:08:09.004
  • I thought we'd start with acts 26.
  • 00:08:09.004 --> 00:08:11.473
  • Paul is in caesarea, he's awaiting transport to rome.
  • 00:08:11.473 --> 00:08:14.643
  • He's appealed to caesar, because the jews are so angry with him
  • 00:08:14.643 --> 00:08:18.480
  • In the land of israel, he can't seem to get a fair trial.
  • 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:22.784
  • But agrippa visits and he has an opportune audience with king
  • 00:08:22.784 --> 00:08:27.055
  • Agrippa, and that's where we step in.
  • 00:08:27.055 --> 00:08:28.390
  • He's giving his testimony.
  • 00:08:28.390 --> 00:08:30.125
  • He has an opportunity to plead his case and argue his
  • 00:08:30.125 --> 00:08:32.961
  • Innocence, and he chooses not to do that.
  • 00:08:32.961 --> 00:08:35.363
  • He chooses to be an advocate for jesus.
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  • Boy, that's a surprise.
  • 00:08:37.365 --> 00:08:39.801
  • And he said, "king agrippa, i was not disobedient to the
  • 00:08:39.801 --> 00:08:42.504
  • Vision from heaven.
  • 00:08:42.504 --> 00:08:44.673
  • First to those in damascus, and then to those in jerusalem and
  • 00:08:44.673 --> 00:08:47.342
  • In all judea, and to the gentiles also, i preached that
  • 00:08:47.342 --> 00:08:50.812
  • They should repent and turn to god and prove their repentance
  • 00:08:50.812 --> 00:08:54.616
  • By their deeds."
  • 00:08:54.616 --> 00:08:57.218
  • He's giving you his life mission.
  • 00:08:57.218 --> 00:08:58.853
  • We meet him early in life as a young man, filled with zeal and
  • 00:08:58.853 --> 00:09:03.458
  • Anger and resentment and all sorts of things.
  • 00:09:03.458 --> 00:09:06.628
  • But now, nearing the end of his life, we hear paul a bit
  • 00:09:06.628 --> 00:09:10.298
  • More temperate.
  • 00:09:10.298 --> 00:09:12.233
  • And he said, "i have been obedient to the vision
  • 00:09:12.233 --> 00:09:15.303
  • From heaven."
  • 00:09:15.303 --> 00:09:16.671
  • What vision?
  • 00:09:16.671 --> 00:09:18.006
  • The one he had on the road to damascus.
  • 00:09:18.006 --> 00:09:19.407
  • "and i have been an advocate for this jesus.
  • 00:09:19.407 --> 00:09:22.644
  • I've been an advocate in jerusalem and judea.
  • 00:09:22.644 --> 00:09:25.647
  • I've been an advocate to the non-jewish world.
  • 00:09:25.647 --> 00:09:29.250
  • I have had the same message wherever i went that people
  • 00:09:29.250 --> 00:09:32.153
  • Should repent and turn to god and prove their repentance by
  • 00:09:32.153 --> 00:09:34.990
  • Their deeds."
  • 00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:36.725
  • Two millennia later, that message is desperately needed in
  • 00:09:36.725 --> 00:09:39.628
  • Our world.
  • 00:09:39.628 --> 00:09:42.864
  • They hated paul because he took that message to the jewish
  • 00:09:42.864 --> 00:09:45.467
  • People, and when they heard it they were angry with him because
  • 00:09:45.467 --> 00:09:48.336
  • They had the right set of rules, they were convinced, they ate
  • 00:09:48.336 --> 00:09:50.839
  • The right foods, they celebrated the right holidays, they had the
  • 00:09:50.839 --> 00:09:54.342
  • Scripture, the prophets were from their own family tree.
  • 00:09:54.342 --> 00:09:58.647
  • They checked all the boxes.
  • 00:09:58.647 --> 00:10:01.483
  • And they weren't open to repent.
  • 00:10:01.483 --> 00:10:03.118
  • Feels a lot like the 21st century church in america.
  • 00:10:03.118 --> 00:10:07.222
  • We're only moderately interested in things like repentance.
  • 00:10:07.222 --> 00:10:09.924
  • We think the pagans need to repent.
  • 00:10:09.924 --> 00:10:14.095
  • Paul found a more receptive audience frequently in the
  • 00:10:14.095 --> 00:10:16.831
  • Non-jewish world.
  • 00:10:16.831 --> 00:10:19.534
  • So "being obedient to the vision from heaven."
  • 00:10:19.534 --> 00:10:21.536
  • I would submit to you that god has a vision for you and
  • 00:10:21.536 --> 00:10:23.538
  • Your life.
  • 00:10:23.538 --> 00:10:25.874
  • The vision that goes beyond just your destiny in heaven.
  • 00:10:25.874 --> 00:10:28.677
  • I'm not opposed to that, i don't want to diminish that.
  • 00:10:28.677 --> 00:10:31.413
  • It's the most remarkable miracle that will ever touch your life
  • 00:10:31.413 --> 00:10:34.149
  • Or mine, that transformation from the kingdom of darkness
  • 00:10:34.149 --> 00:10:36.651
  • Into the kingdom of light.
  • 00:10:36.651 --> 00:10:38.920
  • But the idea that you'll say a few magic words and your
  • 00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:43.258
  • Eternity changes and then you never again have to think about
  • 00:10:43.258 --> 00:10:46.227
  • It is inordinately destructive to your spiritual formation.
  • 00:10:46.227 --> 00:10:52.200
  • We have to grow up in the lord.
  • 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:57.105
  • Allen: welcome to 2026. happy new year.
  • 00:11:00.942 --> 00:11:04.145
  • We've created a new book to help you.
  • 00:11:04.145 --> 00:11:05.647
  • It's called "turn up the light."
  • 00:11:05.647 --> 00:11:06.981
  • It's a devotional for the whole year.
  • 00:11:06.981 --> 00:11:08.616
  • It's a really simple idea.
  • 00:11:08.616 --> 00:11:09.951
  • I can join you for a cup of coffee in the morning.
  • 00:11:09.951 --> 00:11:12.787
  • We'll have a brief conversation with a spiritual principle
  • 00:11:12.787 --> 00:11:15.490
  • To start our day, a scripture verse, a prayer.
  • 00:11:15.490 --> 00:11:18.293
  • And then when you're tired of me,
  • 00:11:18.293 --> 00:11:19.627
  • You can close the book.
  • 00:11:19.627 --> 00:11:21.129
  • It's perfect.
  • 00:11:21.129 --> 00:11:22.731
  • In all seriousness, we do wanna turn up the light.
  • 00:11:22.731 --> 00:11:25.166
  • Let's not rage against the darkness.
  • 00:11:25.166 --> 00:11:26.568
  • Let's invite god into the midst of this year
  • 00:11:26.568 --> 00:11:29.003
  • And then just see what he will do.
  • 00:11:29.003 --> 00:11:30.805
  • Female announcer: pastor allen's new devotional,
  • 00:11:30.805 --> 00:11:32.340
  • "turn up the light," is designed to equip you every single day
  • 00:11:32.340 --> 00:11:35.477
  • Of the year.
  • 00:11:35.477 --> 00:11:36.811
  • Inside, you'll find 365 short devotionals,
  • 00:11:36.811 --> 00:11:39.948
  • Each with a scripture, teaching, and a prayer.
  • 00:11:39.948 --> 00:11:43.118
  • As you begin this new year, don't rage against the darkness.
  • 00:11:43.118 --> 00:11:46.321
  • Instead, choose to turn up the light.
  • 00:11:46.321 --> 00:11:48.490
  • You can request this book when you donate $25 or more today
  • 00:11:48.490 --> 00:11:52.560
  • At allenjackson.com or by calling...
  • 00:11:52.560 --> 00:11:57.999
  • Allen: the reality is the future is uncertain.
  • 00:12:01.970 --> 00:12:05.306
  • It's in god's control.
  • 00:12:05.306 --> 00:12:06.674
  • We don't control it.
  • 00:12:06.674 --> 00:12:08.443
  • We don't control god by quoting his word to him.
  • 00:12:08.443 --> 00:12:11.880
  • I'm an advocate for the word of god.
  • 00:12:11.880 --> 00:12:13.715
  • I believe it.
  • 00:12:13.715 --> 00:12:15.049
  • I want it in my mouth.
  • 00:12:15.049 --> 00:12:16.417
  • I often invite you to join me in prayers of the scripture,
  • 00:12:16.417 --> 00:12:20.221
  • Praying it over our lives, but not as a tool to manipulate god,
  • 00:12:20.221 --> 00:12:24.425
  • A tool to change my character to bring it in greater conformity
  • 00:12:24.425 --> 00:12:27.428
  • To the image of christ.
  • 00:12:27.428 --> 00:12:29.964
  • And yours.
  • 00:12:29.964 --> 00:12:31.800
  • But the future is uncertain, so we've had a bit of a laugh, you
  • 00:12:31.800 --> 00:12:37.038
  • Know, because of that.
  • 00:12:37.038 --> 00:12:38.373
  • We all, if--it's hard to admit in church, but life's difficult.
  • 00:12:38.373 --> 00:12:41.142
  • It's more difficult than i would like it to be.
  • 00:12:41.142 --> 00:12:44.813
  • You know, i don't know why brussels sprouts are good for
  • 00:12:44.813 --> 00:12:46.614
  • You and ice cream's not.
  • 00:12:46.614 --> 00:12:49.250
  • Well, that's probably not true.
  • 00:12:49.250 --> 00:12:50.585
  • I do know, but i don't like it.
  • 00:12:50.585 --> 00:12:52.387
  • If i'd been designing the system, mint chip ice cream
  • 00:12:52.387 --> 00:12:57.358
  • Would have been the premium muscle builder.
  • 00:12:57.358 --> 00:13:03.765
  • And things like brussels sprouts and broccoli would have caused
  • 00:13:03.765 --> 00:13:06.835
  • Fat to explode, and--but i didn't design the system.
  • 00:13:06.835 --> 00:13:10.805
  • Life's more difficult.
  • 00:13:10.805 --> 00:13:12.173
  • Evil exists, it exists in our world, whether you're a christ
  • 00:13:12.173 --> 00:13:14.475
  • Follower or you're not.
  • 00:13:14.475 --> 00:13:16.845
  • And you will encounter evil in your journey through time.
  • 00:13:16.845 --> 00:13:20.849
  • Your life is going to be marred by disappointments.
  • 00:13:20.849 --> 00:13:24.953
  • You know, the prefix "dis" means without.
  • 00:13:24.953 --> 00:13:27.355
  • A disappointment is something that wasn't on your schedule,
  • 00:13:27.355 --> 00:13:31.192
  • But it showed up in your life.
  • 00:13:31.192 --> 00:13:33.928
  • I didn't intend for you to intrude in my life.
  • 00:13:33.928 --> 00:13:36.931
  • It's disappointing that you're here.
  • 00:13:36.931 --> 00:13:40.568
  • All of our lives come with disappointments.
  • 00:13:40.568 --> 00:13:43.371
  • People will let you down, because we're broken.
  • 00:13:43.371 --> 00:13:48.877
  • Good people, organizations will let--churches will let you
  • 00:13:48.877 --> 00:13:51.279
  • Down, pastors will let you down, you'll let them down.
  • 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:55.683
  • It's the nature of the journey.
  • 00:13:55.683 --> 00:13:58.753
  • But in 1 corinthians 1:9, there's this remarkable
  • 00:13:58.753 --> 00:14:01.122
  • Statement from paul to the church in corinth.
  • 00:14:01.122 --> 00:14:04.125
  • It's a church where there's a very--a real dynamic of the
  • 00:14:04.125 --> 00:14:08.062
  • Spirit and a very real expression of their
  • 00:14:08.062 --> 00:14:10.298
  • Carnal nature.
  • 00:14:10.298 --> 00:14:12.333
  • They're immoral drunkards engaged with the gifts of
  • 00:14:12.333 --> 00:14:16.504
  • The spirit.
  • 00:14:16.504 --> 00:14:19.974
  • You'll have to think about that for a bit.
  • 00:14:19.974 --> 00:14:22.810
  • But paul is reminding them in 1 corinthians 1:9, he said, "god,
  • 00:14:22.810 --> 00:14:26.247
  • Who has called you into fellowship with his son christ--
  • 00:14:26.247 --> 00:14:29.284
  • Jesus christ our lord, is faithful."
  • 00:14:29.284 --> 00:14:34.022
  • The real essence of the sentence is in the first word and the
  • 00:14:34.022 --> 00:14:36.691
  • Last two, god is faithful.
  • 00:14:36.691 --> 00:14:39.627
  • Between that there's this insertion about what god did for
  • 00:14:39.627 --> 00:14:43.464
  • Us in jesus.
  • 00:14:43.464 --> 00:14:45.833
  • He called us into fellowship with his son.
  • 00:14:45.833 --> 00:14:49.237
  • But the essence of the assertion is god is faithful.
  • 00:14:49.237 --> 00:14:53.007
  • Now why does that matter?
  • 00:14:53.007 --> 00:14:54.342
  • Because the world we live in is uncertain.
  • 00:14:54.342 --> 00:14:57.745
  • And we need to bake this into our hearts until it becomes a
  • 00:14:57.745 --> 00:15:01.749
  • Part of our emotional and mental stability that the god we serve
  • 00:15:01.749 --> 00:15:08.423
  • Is faithful, when i can see it and when i can't see it.
  • 00:15:08.423 --> 00:15:14.762
  • And what i've discovered is we embrace it in degrees.
  • 00:15:14.762 --> 00:15:20.134
  • Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart, our
  • 00:15:20.134 --> 00:15:21.903
  • Mouths speak, and if you listen to people, it leaks out of us
  • 00:15:21.903 --> 00:15:24.639
  • All the time.
  • 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:26.007
  • I've shared it with you.
  • 00:15:26.007 --> 00:15:27.342
  • I picked it up in the people that tell me about the church
  • 00:15:27.342 --> 00:15:29.077
  • When they're newer here.
  • 00:15:29.077 --> 00:15:30.912
  • Very common.
  • 00:15:30.912 --> 00:15:32.246
  • They'll, you know, they'll say, "pastor, we've been coming for 6
  • 00:15:32.246 --> 00:15:33.748
  • Weeks, and we've really enjoyed the church.
  • 00:15:33.748 --> 00:15:37.218
  • So far."
  • 00:15:37.218 --> 00:15:39.087
  • You know, if you just meet a couple of people, it's okay.
  • 00:15:39.087 --> 00:15:40.955
  • I understand what they're saying.
  • 00:15:40.955 --> 00:15:42.323
  • I understand the meaning of that, but if i do a newcomers
  • 00:15:42.323 --> 00:15:44.792
  • Class and there's 100 people and 75 of them make some statement
  • 00:15:44.792 --> 00:15:50.064
  • About this place, you know, "we found the building is
  • 00:15:50.064 --> 00:15:52.100
  • Maintained beautifully.
  • 00:15:52.100 --> 00:15:54.669
  • So far."
  • 00:15:54.669 --> 00:15:56.838
  • Well, i'm glad you noticed because we're not cleaning the
  • 00:15:56.838 --> 00:15:58.339
  • Bathrooms anymore.
  • 00:15:58.339 --> 00:16:02.543
  • And i finally got to the point where, you know, i just say,
  • 00:16:02.543 --> 00:16:04.412
  • "listen, let's change how we describe our experience for our
  • 00:16:04.412 --> 00:16:07.548
  • Mutual well-being."
  • 00:16:07.548 --> 00:16:09.717
  • But then i began to hear my conversations.
  • 00:16:09.717 --> 00:16:13.154
  • And people would say, you know, "how's it going?"
  • 00:16:13.154 --> 00:16:14.756
  • "well, it's been a great year.
  • 00:16:14.756 --> 00:16:17.558
  • So far."
  • 00:16:17.558 --> 00:16:20.194
  • Or "how's the church going?"
  • 00:16:20.194 --> 00:16:21.562
  • I'll be with a group of pastors, "how's the church going?"
  • 00:16:21.562 --> 00:16:23.031
  • "you know, the lord's been really good to us.
  • 00:16:23.031 --> 00:16:24.365
  • I've been there for this many years, and i have to say, up
  • 00:16:24.365 --> 00:16:26.734
  • Till this point, the lord's been really good.
  • 00:16:26.734 --> 00:16:30.505
  • God's been great so far."
  • 00:16:30.505 --> 00:16:33.708
  • And i thought, "oh god, i'm so sorry."
  • 00:16:33.708 --> 00:16:37.879
  • And i've been working on this for a while.
  • 00:16:37.879 --> 00:16:40.281
  • I'm not saying that it doesn't ever leak out of me, but i have
  • 00:16:40.281 --> 00:16:42.850
  • Worked diligently to change my attitude from the inside out.
  • 00:16:42.850 --> 00:16:47.588
  • If i'm asked, i'm here to tell you, god is faithful.
  • 00:16:47.588 --> 00:16:51.826
  • He's been good to me.
  • 00:16:51.826 --> 00:16:54.929
  • And i have every imagination he'll continue to be good to me.
  • 00:16:54.929 --> 00:16:59.233
  • And i want that to be my declaration.
  • 00:16:59.233 --> 00:17:03.204
  • You know, in spite of my brokenness and the brokenness of
  • 00:17:03.204 --> 00:17:05.573
  • The world in which i live and the existence of evil and the
  • 00:17:05.573 --> 00:17:08.509
  • Presence of sin and all the things, the god i worship
  • 00:17:08.509 --> 00:17:12.013
  • Is faithful.
  • 00:17:12.013 --> 00:17:14.649
  • And i would encourage you to adopt a similar posture
  • 00:17:14.649 --> 00:17:17.819
  • For yourself.
  • 00:17:17.819 --> 00:17:19.153
  • It's not about your circumstances or whether
  • 00:17:19.153 --> 00:17:20.521
  • You're happy.
  • 00:17:20.521 --> 00:17:22.457
  • I'm not opposed to happy.
  • 00:17:22.457 --> 00:17:23.825
  • I'm just not gonna make that my god.
  • 00:17:23.825 --> 00:17:27.428
  • If i can choose happy or sad, i choose happy.
  • 00:17:27.428 --> 00:17:31.132
  • You know, it's like rich or poor.
  • 00:17:31.132 --> 00:17:32.467
  • I've had a little and i've had a lot.
  • 00:17:32.467 --> 00:17:34.035
  • More is better.
  • 00:17:34.035 --> 00:17:36.104
  • But i'm not gonna trade my soul for more.
  • 00:17:36.104 --> 00:17:42.510
  • And so the declaration that god is faithful is an essential
  • 00:17:42.510 --> 00:17:46.180
  • Component, and i want to take the balance of our time with the
  • 00:17:46.180 --> 00:17:49.217
  • Apostle paul.
  • 00:17:49.217 --> 00:17:50.585
  • As i said, he led a brutal life.
  • 00:17:50.585 --> 00:17:56.524
  • I don't know of someone who, as an advocate for jesus, has
  • 00:17:56.524 --> 00:18:00.661
  • Endured what the apostle paul did.
  • 00:18:00.661 --> 00:18:04.065
  • And yet his writings don't, i mean, you have to read
  • 00:18:04.065 --> 00:18:06.467
  • Carefully, you have to listen and pay attention to really pull
  • 00:18:06.467 --> 00:18:09.871
  • That together.
  • 00:18:09.871 --> 00:18:11.205
  • There's a couple of places where he lumps it together and he
  • 00:18:11.205 --> 00:18:12.807
  • Says, "this is what i've endured," but, you know, he's
  • 00:18:12.807 --> 00:18:15.143
  • Writing to the philippians, he said, "yeah, for this reason i'm
  • 00:18:15.143 --> 00:18:17.278
  • In chains."
  • 00:18:17.278 --> 00:18:18.613
  • Well, you could read that and think maybe he got a
  • 00:18:18.613 --> 00:18:20.081
  • New necklace.
  • 00:18:20.081 --> 00:18:22.150
  • I mean, if you're not really paying attention, you'd look
  • 00:18:22.150 --> 00:18:24.218
  • Past the fact that he's in a roman prison.
  • 00:18:24.218 --> 00:18:29.524
  • But when you read 2 timothy, you have to be paying a little bit
  • 00:18:29.524 --> 00:18:32.026
  • Of attention when he says, "timothy, can you come, can you
  • 00:18:32.026 --> 00:18:35.396
  • Come for a visit and will you hurry?
  • 00:18:35.396 --> 00:18:36.898
  • I'm cold.
  • 00:18:36.898 --> 00:18:38.900
  • Can you bring me a coat?
  • 00:18:38.900 --> 00:18:42.503
  • Nobody's here with me.
  • 00:18:42.503 --> 00:18:45.640
  • I'm alone, timothy.
  • 00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:48.609
  • Could you bring me some books?"
  • 00:18:48.609 --> 00:18:52.313
  • It's hard for me to talk about that and hard for me to read
  • 00:18:52.313 --> 00:18:54.649
  • That without it being emotional to me because paul has poured
  • 00:18:54.649 --> 00:18:57.885
  • His life out for the jesus story.
  • 00:18:57.885 --> 00:19:02.823
  • I mean, there are innumerable people whose lives benefited
  • 00:19:02.823 --> 00:19:05.860
  • During his life and certainly since his life, and yet we find
  • 00:19:05.860 --> 00:19:11.098
  • Him at the end of--nearing the end of his life in a roman
  • 00:19:11.098 --> 00:19:14.502
  • Prison cell, cold and abandoned.
  • 00:19:14.502 --> 00:19:18.673
  • And i'm thinking, "lord."
  • 00:19:18.673 --> 00:19:20.975
  • But then i meet john on the isle of patmos in revelation chapter
  • 00:19:20.975 --> 00:19:23.911
  • 1, and he said, "i, john, was-- your brother in the suffering
  • 00:19:23.911 --> 00:19:28.916
  • And companionship of our lord, was on the island of patmos for
  • 00:19:28.916 --> 00:19:34.255
  • The sake of the gospel.
  • 00:19:34.255 --> 00:19:36.724
  • I've been exiled to the copper mines because of my advocacy
  • 00:19:36.724 --> 00:19:40.728
  • For jesus.
  • 00:19:40.728 --> 00:19:43.698
  • But in the lord's day i was in the spirit, and i heard a voice.
  • 00:19:43.698 --> 00:19:52.974
  • And i turned around to see the voice.
  • 00:19:52.974 --> 00:19:56.744
  • And i fell at his feet like i was dead.
  • 00:19:56.744 --> 00:20:05.152
  • And he put his hand on me.
  • 00:20:05.152 --> 00:20:08.456
  • And he said, 'i'm the living one.
  • 00:20:08.456 --> 00:20:12.093
  • I was alive and i was dead and i'm alive forevermore.
  • 00:20:12.093 --> 00:20:16.497
  • And i have the keys of death and hell.'"
  • 00:20:16.497 --> 00:20:22.370
  • Joseph and paul and john understood something about
  • 00:20:22.370 --> 00:20:29.243
  • Serving jesus that is too much absent in
  • 00:20:29.243 --> 00:20:32.780
  • Contemporary christendom.
  • 00:20:32.780 --> 00:20:36.651
  • And so i brought you--we touched a couple of these in our
  • 00:20:36.651 --> 00:20:40.688
  • Previous session, but i didn't have time to complete it.
  • 00:20:40.688 --> 00:20:43.224
  • So i wanted to come back.
  • 00:20:43.224 --> 00:20:45.092
  • I won't dwell on the first couple ones because we've
  • 00:20:45.092 --> 00:20:46.961
  • Already unpacked them a bit, but some lessons from paul's journey
  • 00:20:46.961 --> 00:20:50.765
  • Because what he's saying to us is really a bit to me discordant
  • 00:20:50.765 --> 00:20:55.202
  • With his reality.
  • 00:20:55.202 --> 00:20:58.072
  • But if you understand his experience, it makes the words
  • 00:20:58.072 --> 00:21:01.075
  • Even more profound.
  • 00:21:01.075 --> 00:21:02.877
  • In philippians 4 and verse 12, paul said, "i know what it is to
  • 00:21:02.877 --> 00:21:05.946
  • Be in need, and i know what it is to have plenty.
  • 00:21:05.946 --> 00:21:11.085
  • I have learned the secret of being content in every
  • 00:21:11.085 --> 00:21:15.656
  • Situation," wow, "whether well fed or hungry, whether living in
  • 00:21:15.656 --> 00:21:22.797
  • Plenty or in want.
  • 00:21:22.797 --> 00:21:24.765
  • I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
  • 00:21:24.765 --> 00:21:29.637
  • He said, "i've had a lot and i've had a little.
  • 00:21:29.637 --> 00:21:31.439
  • I've been well fed.
  • 00:21:31.439 --> 00:21:32.807
  • I've been hungry.
  • 00:21:32.807 --> 00:21:34.141
  • I've been blessed.
  • 00:21:34.141 --> 00:21:35.509
  • I've been cursed.
  • 00:21:35.509 --> 00:21:36.844
  • I have been across the spectrum.
  • 00:21:36.844 --> 00:21:38.212
  • I've been celebrated and i've been hated, but i have learned
  • 00:21:38.212 --> 00:21:41.782
  • To be content in any and every situation."
  • 00:21:41.782 --> 00:21:44.985
  • Now, i'm leaning forward on this one.
  • 00:21:44.985 --> 00:21:48.556
  • I would like more contentment.
  • 00:21:48.556 --> 00:21:52.426
  • And he said, "i can do everything through christ who
  • 00:21:52.426 --> 00:21:57.732
  • Strengthens me."
  • 00:21:57.732 --> 00:21:59.333
  • What's he shouting at us?
  • 00:21:59.333 --> 00:22:01.235
  • God is faithful.
  • 00:22:01.235 --> 00:22:04.071
  • God is faithful, whether you're in the prison or at the head of
  • 00:22:04.071 --> 00:22:08.442
  • The parade.
  • 00:22:08.442 --> 00:22:09.844
  • God is faithful.
  • 00:22:09.844 --> 00:22:11.879
  • Whether you're at a banquet or you're hungry, god is faithful.
  • 00:22:11.879 --> 00:22:16.751
  • It isn't about my emotions or my circumstances, or the voices
  • 00:22:16.751 --> 00:22:23.424
  • Around me.
  • 00:22:23.424 --> 00:22:24.792
  • That's important for us because our lives bring us a menu
  • 00:22:24.792 --> 00:22:27.561
  • Of things.
  • 00:22:27.561 --> 00:22:28.996
  • We celebrate great victories and we grieve losses and everything
  • 00:22:28.996 --> 00:22:33.267
  • In between those, but across the whole spectrum in any and every
  • 00:22:33.267 --> 00:22:37.538
  • Circumstance, god is faithful.
  • 00:22:37.538 --> 00:22:43.177
  • You'll have to think about it, you'll have to meditate on it,
  • 00:22:43.177 --> 00:22:45.579
  • You'll have to talk to yourself.
  • 00:22:45.579 --> 00:22:47.381
  • "well, i don't feel like god is--" it's not dependent on
  • 00:22:47.381 --> 00:22:49.483
  • Your feelings.
  • 00:22:49.483 --> 00:22:54.388
  • Parents with little children.
  • 00:22:54.388 --> 00:22:57.324
  • Sometimes you look at them and they are the greatest delight of
  • 00:22:57.324 --> 00:23:01.862
  • Your life.
  • 00:23:01.862 --> 00:23:06.600
  • And sometimes you look at them and you're confident there was a
  • 00:23:06.600 --> 00:23:10.638
  • Mistake at the hospital.
  • 00:23:10.638 --> 00:23:17.411
  • It's not about our feelings.
  • 00:23:17.411 --> 00:23:19.814
  • It's about a decision.
  • 00:23:19.814 --> 00:23:22.283
  • Paul gives us another lesson in philippians 2, verse 3: he said,
  • 00:23:22.283 --> 00:23:25.820
  • "do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
  • 00:23:25.820 --> 00:23:27.988
  • Conceit, nothing.
  • 00:23:27.988 --> 00:23:30.858
  • But in humility consider others better than yourselves.
  • 00:23:30.858 --> 00:23:34.228
  • Each of you shouldn't look only to your own interest, but also
  • 00:23:34.228 --> 00:23:36.630
  • To the interest of others.
  • 00:23:36.630 --> 00:23:37.965
  • Your attitude should be the same as that of christ jesus."
  • 00:23:37.965 --> 00:23:41.235
  • Your attitude matters.
  • 00:23:41.235 --> 00:23:43.771
  • And he goes on in the following verses to give you a handful of
  • 00:23:43.771 --> 00:23:46.807
  • Characteristics about jesus's attitude, but the primary
  • 00:23:46.807 --> 00:23:50.077
  • Message is you've got to accept responsibility for
  • 00:23:50.077 --> 00:23:52.646
  • Your attitude.
  • 00:23:52.646 --> 00:23:55.182
  • Nobody gave you an attitude.
  • 00:23:55.182 --> 00:23:56.717
  • If yours is bad, you chose it.
  • 00:23:56.717 --> 00:23:59.787
  • Joseph had every reason under the sun for a bad attitude.
  • 00:23:59.787 --> 00:24:02.723
  • Paul had every reason under the sun.
  • 00:24:02.723 --> 00:24:05.159
  • They chose not to.
  • 00:24:05.159 --> 00:24:08.295
  • And you and i can choose an attitude affirming the goodness
  • 00:24:08.295 --> 00:24:13.534
  • Of god and the faithfulness of god, or we can choose an
  • 00:24:13.534 --> 00:24:16.036
  • Attitude that says we're a victim and we can be angry and
  • 00:24:16.036 --> 00:24:19.406
  • Resentful and embittered and filled with unforgiveness, and
  • 00:24:19.406 --> 00:24:23.644
  • We will forfeit the purposes of god for our lives.
  • 00:24:23.644 --> 00:24:26.280
  • You may not forfeit your salvation, but you'll forfeit
  • 00:24:26.280 --> 00:24:28.582
  • The purposes of god.
  • 00:24:28.582 --> 00:24:33.153
  • "well, this wasn't what i expected," okay.
  • 00:24:33.153 --> 00:24:36.690
  • "it wasn't what i wanted," duly noted.
  • 00:24:36.690 --> 00:24:40.294
  • "this wasn't my plan."
  • 00:24:40.294 --> 00:24:41.629
  • I'm pretty sure joseph didn't plan all the things that
  • 00:24:41.629 --> 00:24:43.631
  • Happened to him.
  • 00:24:43.631 --> 00:24:46.066
  • I'm pretty confident that saul of tarsus, when he thought,
  • 00:24:46.066 --> 00:24:48.536
  • "well, if i get on the right side of this and i know who the
  • 00:24:48.536 --> 00:24:50.604
  • Real messiah is, it's not gonna blunt the momentum of
  • 00:24:50.604 --> 00:24:56.577
  • My career."
  • 00:24:56.577 --> 00:24:57.912
  • Well, it completely reordered it.
  • 00:24:57.912 --> 00:25:03.851
  • And then the third thing paul tells us in colossians 3: "since
  • 00:25:03.851 --> 00:25:07.855
  • You've been raised with christ, set your hearts on things above,
  • 00:25:07.855 --> 00:25:12.026
  • Where christ is seated at the right hand of god.
  • 00:25:12.026 --> 00:25:14.128
  • Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
  • 00:25:14.128 --> 00:25:18.799
  • For you died, and your life is now hidden with christ in god.
  • 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:21.835
  • When christ, who's your life, appears, then you also will
  • 00:25:21.835 --> 00:25:24.872
  • Appear with him in glory."
  • 00:25:24.872 --> 00:25:27.107
  • He gives us two very clear directives.
  • 00:25:27.107 --> 00:25:31.745
  • Did you hear them?
  • 00:25:31.745 --> 00:25:33.113
  • Set your hearts on things above.
  • 00:25:33.113 --> 00:25:35.583
  • And set your minds on things above.
  • 00:25:35.583 --> 00:25:38.452
  • What you're longing for and what you're thinking about needs to
  • 00:25:38.452 --> 00:25:41.822
  • Be directed beyond time.
  • 00:25:41.822 --> 00:25:45.492
  • That'll make you different from most of your secular
  • 00:25:45.492 --> 00:25:47.561
  • Acquaintance or your casual christian friends.
  • 00:25:47.561 --> 00:25:51.131
  • The ambitions of your life are going to be focused
  • 00:25:51.131 --> 00:25:54.301
  • Someplace else.
  • 00:25:54.301 --> 00:25:58.305
  • Allen: i love the promise of a new year,
  • 00:26:02.209 --> 00:26:04.278
  • All the opportunities that it holds.
  • 00:26:04.278 --> 00:26:06.513
  • We wanna begin that on purpose, so we've created a new tool.
  • 00:26:06.513 --> 00:26:09.216
  • It's a book.
  • 00:26:09.216 --> 00:26:10.551
  • It's a devotional, 365-day devotional, built out of those
  • 00:26:10.551 --> 00:26:13.887
  • Digital devotionals that you're familiar with.
  • 00:26:13.887 --> 00:26:16.123
  • The intent is just to give you a bit of a spiritual beginning
  • 00:26:16.123 --> 00:26:18.926
  • For the day, a little vitamin, spiritual vitamin,
  • 00:26:18.926 --> 00:26:20.828
  • For your day--a prayer, a scripture verse.
  • 00:26:20.828 --> 00:26:22.997
  • It's easy to share.
  • 00:26:22.997 --> 00:26:24.331
  • You know, i've often said that you don't rage against
  • 00:26:24.331 --> 00:26:26.133
  • The darkness; turn up the light.
  • 00:26:26.133 --> 00:26:28.002
  • Well, we very creatively entitled this devotional
  • 00:26:28.002 --> 00:26:30.437
  • "turn up the light."
  • 00:26:30.437 --> 00:26:31.905
  • Get a couple of copies.
  • 00:26:31.905 --> 00:26:33.240
  • Share one with a friend, maybe a family member.
  • 00:26:33.240 --> 00:26:34.708
  • Let's do it together. god is moving in the earth.
  • 00:26:34.708 --> 00:26:37.711
  • Don't let your attention be drawn to the darkness and the
  • 00:26:37.711 --> 00:26:40.781
  • Chaos and the confusion.
  • 00:26:40.781 --> 00:26:42.683
  • Let's focus our hearts on the lord.
  • 00:26:42.683 --> 00:26:44.184
  • Ask him to turn up the light and raise our hands,
  • 00:26:44.184 --> 00:26:47.021
  • And let's just see what he will do in our lives.
  • 00:26:47.021 --> 00:26:49.556
  • Let's pray.
  • 00:26:49.556 --> 00:26:51.158
  • Father, i thank you for a new year, for the strength to meet
  • 00:26:51.158 --> 00:26:53.127
  • This beginning.
  • 00:26:53.127 --> 00:26:54.461
  • We wanna invite you into the midst of our homes,
  • 00:26:54.461 --> 00:26:56.363
  • Our lives, our journeys.
  • 00:26:56.363 --> 00:26:58.332
  • May christ in us truly be a light in this world this year.
  • 00:26:58.332 --> 00:27:02.002
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:02.002 --> 00:27:04.038
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:04.038 --> 00:27:27.394