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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Pecan Pie and More (Part 1)

December 16, 2025 | 28:35

Allen Jackson - Pecan Pie and More (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#AmericanHistory #Thankfulness #Gratitude #Attitude #Choices #Faith #TrustGod #Honor #GlorifyGod #Worship #WaitingonGod #Comfort #Complacency #Perseverance #Endurance #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Pecan Pie and More (Part 1) | December 16, 2025
  • ...
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Allen jackson: we began allen jackson ministries
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  • To strengthen the church.
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  • Thank you for your partnership.
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  • Together we made an impact in this nation, but we're not done.
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  • In fact, in many ways i believe we're just beginning.
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  • The status quo is not adequate any longer.
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  • We can't sit in our churches and have our polite bible studies
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  • And sing our favorite choruses while we watch
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  • Darkness increasing in the world around us.
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  • We have to have the courage to tell the truth to our culture.
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  • A biblical worldview to engage current events in a way
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  • To make what we believe apart of the fabric of our schools,
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  • Our homes, our communities, our nation, and beyond.
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  • We have invitations now from war-torn countries
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  • In israel and ukraine to strengthen the churches there.
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  • I want to ask you to make an investment with us
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  • In allen jackson ministries
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  • To make 2026 the most fruitful year we've ever had together.
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  • God is moving in the earth.
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  • We want to keep the pace.
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  • We want to take new steps to make a new impact.
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  • Your help makes that possible.
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Allen: this is really the second part of a discussion i began in
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  • The previous session.
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  • So if you didn't hear the previous one, you can watch it
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  • If you want the whole narrative.
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  • It's really centered in thanksgiving.
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  • I chose for my title this morning, "pecan pie and more."
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  • Because when i get this close to thanksgiving, i'm making a
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  • Dessert plan.
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  • I put vegetables and side dishes on my plate as a distraction so
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  • Nobody will notice that i ate so much dessert.
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  • But the week really is about more than satisfying our desires
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  • For too much food.
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  • It's centered in the ability to give thanks and, you know, it
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  • Isn't new to us.
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  • It's in many ways a uniquely american holiday, not
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  • Exclusively so, but i have friends around the world and the
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  • One american holiday most of them would prefer to be here to
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  • Visit for would be thanksgiving.
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  • They want to know what pumpkin pie is and what's dressing.
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  • We would be happy to explain to them, but it's not a new thing.
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  • We've been celebrating thanksgiving on this continent
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  • Since the 1600s, before we were a nation.
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  • And as soon as we were formally a nation, it has become a formal
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  • Part of our annual calendar.
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  • President of the united states, you may have heard of him,
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  • George washington.
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  • He was a better man than recent history classes have told you.
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  • He proclaimed the first nationwide thanksgiving
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  • Celebration in america, marking november 26, 1789, as a day of
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  • "public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging
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  • With grateful hearts the many and signal favors of almighty
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  • God," so we are carrying forth a tradition this week.
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  • You know, the united states has never been a uniquely christian
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  • Nation in that we've never been a theocracy where, you know,
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  • Christianity was the official religion of the state and you
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  • Were required to be christian.
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  • It's never been that.
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  • But it has always been a nation that was defined by a
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  • Judeo-christian worldview, a biblical worldview.
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  • The thing that bound us together was not our ethnicity or our
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  • Appearance or our accent, because we're a melting pot.
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  • We've come from the nations of the world.
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  • In some rather checkered ways, the story is not perfect, but
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  • The thing that has enabled us to overcome and cooperate with one
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  • Another to become the most prosperous nation in the history
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  • Of civilization has been that judeo-christian worldview,
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  • Because it made us a tolerant place.
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  • You didn't have to choose to be christian.
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  • But the values of that worldview informed our legal system, our
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  • Educational system, how we do business, which has made us a
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  • Place where you could come from the most humble beginnings and
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  • Rise to the most powerful or influential or wealthy places.
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  • It's very unique in the world.
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  • It's popular these days, even in academia, in some of the
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  • Celebrated levels of academia, to mock that or to
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  • Minimize that.
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  • It's unfortunate.
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  • And the church has had a significant role in that.
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  • Until a few decades ago when somehow they convinced us to
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  • Separate our faith from the public square, and when we did
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  • So, the public square began to crater with ethics and integrity
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  • And well-being.
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  • And we're gonna have to find our voice.
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  • Again, not to have a theocracy, but our faith has a place in the
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  • Public square.
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  • Thanksgiving, i think, is a wonderful opportunity to be
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  • Reminded of that.
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  • And it's a week where you don't have to agree around every point
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  • Of faith, but i--we should be able to agree that god has
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  • Blessed us.
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  • So i want to do two things with you today.
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  • I wanna give you some simple guidelines for helping to
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  • Protect a grateful heart.
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  • There are very few things i know that will bring more momentum to
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  • Your life spiritually and otherwise than learning to be
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  • Grateful, thankful, to give expressions of gratitude.
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  • It's a little counter cultural these days.
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  • We tend to talk more about entitlement and what we got a
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  • Right to.
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  • But if we could make a shift and come back to being a grateful
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  • People, it really is centered in an attitude and the wonderful
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  • Thing about your attitude is it's different than most of the
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  • Other things that define you as a person.
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  • You choose your attitude.
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  • You didn't choose your hair, whether it's, you know, how it
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  • Is, or you didn't choose your height or your eye color, but
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  • You can choose your attitude.
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  • In fact, nobody can give you an attitude.
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  • If you got a bad attitude and you think somebody gave it to
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  • You, nope, you accepted it.
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  • Your attitude is yours.
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  • So i wanna give you just some little kind of boundaries,
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  • Bumpers or--for protecting a grateful heart, and i'll start
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  • With psalm 73.
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  • It says: "surely god is good to israel, to those who are pure
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  • In heart.
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  • But as for me," this is david the psalmist, the greatest of
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  • The israelite kings.
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  • "my feet had almost slipped; i had nearly lost my foothold.
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  • For i envied the arrogant when i saw the prosperity of
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  • The wicked."
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  • There are very few things that will erode your sense of
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  • Gratitude more quickly than looking at people who have
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  • Things that you don't and being envious of them.
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  • When we're commanded not to covet, it's because it is such a
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  • Corrosive attitude.
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  • And there's some powerful voices, powerful spiritual
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  • Forces in our nation today trying to pit us against one
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  • Another by cultivating envy, telling us what we have a
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  • Right to.
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  • Folks, we're the most blessed people on the planet in the
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  • History of peoples on the planet.
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  • We have so much there's too much of us.
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  • Come on, i didn't call you out personally, although--
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  • We have so much stuff we have to rent places to put it.
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  • How many of you have a lot of empty closet space at home?
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  • I didn't think so.
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  • And yet we're told we shouldn't be satisfied.
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  • We shouldn't be content.
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  • There's a difference in contentment and complacency.
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  • I'm not asking you to be complacent, but i'm telling you
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  • The voices trying to create discontentment in you do not
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  • Originate in the--from the throne room of god.
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  • We want to be grateful people.
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  • So there are some things you'll have to do.
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  • You have to celebrate the victories in your life, the
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  • Places god brings breakthroughs, those outcomes that could only
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  • Be explained by the goodness of god in your life.
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  • Stop and celebrate.
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  • We unpacked that in more detail earlier.
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  • I'm not gonna go back to that.
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  • You can listen if you choose.
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  • Don't just celebrate your victory, celebrate the victories
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  • Of the people you know.
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  • Stop being jealous.
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  • Stop wondering how they got ahead.
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  • Why did their kid get the opportunity?
  • 00:08:04.232 --> 00:08:05.667
  • My kid's more talented [grumbling]
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  • It's a miserable way to be.
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  • Celebrate the victories in your life and the victories of those
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  • That you know.
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  • Second, live with a sense of destiny.
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  • There's a reason for your life that can't--should not be
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  • Defined by secular culture.
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  • If you don't live with the awareness that god created you
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  • With a purpose and a plan, the bible says he knew you when you
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  • Were being knit together in your mother's womb, that jesus is the
  • 00:08:30.559 --> 00:08:33.628
  • Author and the completer of your story.
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  • You're not an accident.
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  • You're not some cosmic transaction, a random collection
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  • Of molecules hurtling through space, just trying to find
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  • Your way.
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  • Nonsense, you're a christ follower, you're a child of
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  • Almighty god, and there's a destiny, a purpose for
  • 00:08:47.676 --> 00:08:50.312
  • Your life.
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  • Don't get caught in illusions of grandeur.
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  • It's not about becoming--going viral or being an influencer,
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  • That the--why do we keep allowing ourselves to be defined
  • 00:09:02.791 --> 00:09:05.560
  • By a godless culture?
  • 00:09:05.560 --> 00:09:07.796
  • I want to be highly valued in the halls of heaven.
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  • Don't you?
  • 00:09:12.167 --> 00:09:13.501
  • Remember what the angel said to daniel on more than one
  • 00:09:13.501 --> 00:09:15.170
  • Occasion: "you are highly esteemed by god."
  • 00:09:15.170 --> 00:09:19.407
  • That's better than going viral, folks.
  • 00:09:19.407 --> 00:09:22.744
  • So recognize you're living with a purpose that god himself has
  • 00:09:22.744 --> 00:09:25.947
  • Given to you.
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  • Then we'll start with the new stuff: keep eternity in view.
  • 00:09:27.282 --> 00:09:30.018
  • Lead your life.
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  • You get way hung up on your calendars.
  • 00:09:31.353 --> 00:09:33.154
  • We get so disgruntled, we lose our gratitude, our thankfulness,
  • 00:09:33.154 --> 00:09:36.658
  • 'cause i had a timeline and a plan for my life and i'm 14
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  • Years old and i've missed all the marks.
  • 00:09:39.494 --> 00:09:42.697
  • And that'll follow you right on through life and you tend to
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  • Instigate it, parents and grandparents.
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  • Stop doing that.
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  • Don't get weepy.
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  • Most of my biblical heroes, their life plans don't look like
  • 00:09:52.440 --> 00:09:55.377
  • The ideal.
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  • God recruited moses for a pretty significant assignment when
  • 00:09:57.846 --> 00:10:00.682
  • Moses was trying to wind down.
  • 00:10:00.682 --> 00:10:05.086
  • He called david to be king when he was a teenager, but awkward,
  • 00:10:05.086 --> 00:10:08.490
  • There's already a king and he doesn't want to leave.
  • 00:10:08.490 --> 00:10:12.327
  • I mean, just about everybody in the story, their timeline is
  • 00:10:12.327 --> 00:10:15.730
  • Backwards and i think we got to live with eternity in view.
  • 00:10:15.730 --> 00:10:19.034
  • Our objective is that whatever time or place we find ourselves
  • 00:10:19.034 --> 00:10:22.337
  • In our unfolding story, we are living for a purpose
  • 00:10:22.337 --> 00:10:25.774
  • Beyond time.
  • 00:10:25.774 --> 00:10:27.809
  • You can't understand my life in terms of chronology of the years
  • 00:10:27.809 --> 00:10:31.413
  • That have passed.
  • 00:10:31.413 --> 00:10:32.814
  • I'm a servant of the most high god.
  • 00:10:32.814 --> 00:10:35.817
  • I've invested my strength and my talent and my energy and my
  • 00:10:35.817 --> 00:10:38.653
  • Abilities in serving the kingdom of god, and that story will not
  • 00:10:38.653 --> 00:10:41.456
  • Be understood in time.
  • 00:10:41.456 --> 00:10:43.825
  • You'll have to see the outcome of that in eternity and all the
  • 00:10:43.825 --> 00:10:46.461
  • Same is true of you.
  • 00:10:46.461 --> 00:10:49.364
  • Why would you accept the limits of time to define--"well, i
  • 00:10:49.364 --> 00:10:51.933
  • Thought i'd be further--" well, stop.
  • 00:10:51.933 --> 00:10:57.305
  • "i've been in church 40 years."
  • 00:10:57.305 --> 00:10:58.640
  • That doesn't mean you've grown up.
  • 00:10:58.640 --> 00:11:01.176
  • You may be still coming to church with your spiritual
  • 00:11:01.176 --> 00:11:02.944
  • Pampers and a pacifier.
  • 00:11:02.944 --> 00:11:08.283
  • See, i would get busy if you're trying to grow up in the lord
  • 00:11:08.283 --> 00:11:10.452
  • 'cause it's gonna be awkward when we step out of time and
  • 00:11:10.452 --> 00:11:12.687
  • Your spiritual condition is revealed for all.
  • 00:11:12.687 --> 00:11:18.893
  • 2 corinthians 4: "therefore we don't lose heart.
  • 00:11:18.893 --> 00:11:21.229
  • Though outwardly we're wasting away, yet inwardly we're being
  • 00:11:21.229 --> 00:11:23.832
  • Renewed day by day.
  • 00:11:23.832 --> 00:11:25.834
  • Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal
  • 00:11:25.834 --> 00:11:28.703
  • Glory that far outweighs them all.
  • 00:11:28.703 --> 00:11:31.773
  • So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen."
  • 00:11:31.773 --> 00:11:34.409
  • That's a paradox.
  • 00:11:34.409 --> 00:11:35.744
  • How do you look at what's unseen?
  • 00:11:35.744 --> 00:11:37.112
  • Well, you have to look with something other than your
  • 00:11:37.112 --> 00:11:38.446
  • Physical eyes.
  • 00:11:38.446 --> 00:11:40.248
  • "for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
  • 00:11:40.248 --> 00:11:44.652
  • If you're not orienting your life around spiritual things,
  • 00:11:44.652 --> 00:11:47.222
  • You're ignoring scripture.
  • 00:11:47.222 --> 00:11:49.224
  • I mean, you may be able to spell nebuchadnezzar, but you're still
  • 00:11:49.224 --> 00:11:51.426
  • Ignoring scripture.
  • 00:11:51.426 --> 00:11:53.294
  • Because the invitation is to fix our lives around something that
  • 00:11:53.294 --> 00:11:56.865
  • Is unseen.
  • 00:11:56.865 --> 00:11:58.233
  • 1 corinthians 13: "now we see but a poor reflection as in a
  • 00:11:58.233 --> 00:12:01.169
  • Mirror; then we will see face to face.
  • 00:12:01.169 --> 00:12:04.873
  • Now i know in part; but then i shall know fully."
  • 00:12:04.873 --> 00:12:10.044
  • Folks, there--i've got questions.
  • 00:12:10.044 --> 00:12:11.379
  • There are things i don't understand.
  • 00:12:11.379 --> 00:12:14.115
  • But i'm gonna honor the lord anyway.
  • 00:12:14.115 --> 00:12:16.184
  • Keep eternity in view.
  • 00:12:16.184 --> 00:12:17.519
  • It'll help you maintain a sense of gratitude.
  • 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:19.254
  • You get unhappy because what you wanted and when you wanted it
  • 00:12:19.254 --> 00:12:21.823
  • Hasn't arrived yet.
  • 00:12:21.823 --> 00:12:24.125
  • You understand we live in an increasingly culture that's
  • 00:12:24.125 --> 00:12:27.862
  • Defined by immediacy.
  • 00:12:27.862 --> 00:12:30.365
  • I won't ask how many times a week you order from amazon.
  • 00:12:30.365 --> 00:12:37.005
  • Allen: god is moving in the earth
  • 00:12:40.742 --> 00:12:42.343
  • And at allen jack ministries we're doing everything we can
  • 00:12:42.343 --> 00:12:45.213
  • To strengthen the church in our nation
  • 00:12:45.213 --> 00:12:47.115
  • And wherever god opens the door.
  • 00:12:47.115 --> 00:12:49.217
  • We don't intend to maintain the status quo
  • 00:12:49.217 --> 00:12:51.319
  • Or to gather at our churches for polite bible studies.
  • 00:12:51.319 --> 00:12:54.055
  • We're going to engage our culture with biblical truth
  • 00:12:54.055 --> 00:12:56.791
  • And give you the tools to do so.
  • 00:12:56.791 --> 00:12:59.160
  • We want our children and grandchildren to inherit
  • 00:12:59.160 --> 00:13:01.362
  • A church that's vibrant and vital.
  • 00:13:01.362 --> 00:13:04.265
  • And to do that we've got to make an investment.
  • 00:13:04.265 --> 00:13:06.835
  • Will you give generously to what we're doing
  • 00:13:06.835 --> 00:13:08.603
  • At allen jackson ministries?
  • 00:13:08.603 --> 00:13:10.071
  • Your partnership will make 2026 the most fruitful year
  • 00:13:10.071 --> 00:13:13.141
  • We've ever known.
  • 00:13:13.141 --> 00:13:14.475
  • Thank you.
  • 00:13:14.475 --> 00:13:15.810
  • Female announcer: at allen jackson ministries
  • 00:13:15.810 --> 00:13:17.178
  • We're committed to strengthening the church
  • 00:13:17.178 --> 00:13:19.180
  • And sharing the truth of god's word.
  • 00:13:19.180 --> 00:13:21.449
  • When you support this ministry with a gift of $75 or more
  • 00:13:21.449 --> 00:13:25.553
  • We'll send you the lead with faith esv journaling bible.
  • 00:13:25.553 --> 00:13:29.057
  • Your generosity will help us equip more people
  • 00:13:29.057 --> 00:13:31.526
  • With the biblical truth and encouragement they need
  • 00:13:31.526 --> 00:13:34.195
  • For the year ahead.
  • 00:13:34.195 --> 00:13:35.797
  • Give today at allenjackson.com or call...
  • 00:13:35.797 --> 00:13:42.604
  • Allen: there's a fourth thing you can do to help protect your
  • 00:13:42.670 --> 00:13:45.139
  • Attitude of thankfulness, and that's cultivate the will to
  • 00:13:45.139 --> 00:13:49.143
  • Bear discomfort.
  • 00:13:49.143 --> 00:13:51.145
  • We worship at the altars of comfort and convenience.
  • 00:13:51.145 --> 00:13:54.616
  • Do not bow your knee.
  • 00:13:54.616 --> 00:13:57.085
  • May i ask you a question?
  • 00:13:57.085 --> 00:13:58.453
  • What are you doing in your life on a routine basis that
  • 00:13:58.453 --> 00:14:00.722
  • Is uncomfortable?
  • 00:14:00.722 --> 00:14:03.157
  • If there's nothing, change.
  • 00:14:03.157 --> 00:14:05.793
  • There's not enough discipline, spiritual or otherwise.
  • 00:14:05.793 --> 00:14:11.065
  • I'm not opposed to comfort and convenience.
  • 00:14:11.065 --> 00:14:13.301
  • I rather enjoy them, but i will not define my character or my
  • 00:14:13.301 --> 00:14:17.906
  • Life choices or my objectives by them.
  • 00:14:17.906 --> 00:14:21.476
  • This is biblical.
  • 00:14:21.476 --> 00:14:22.810
  • It's not just allen with an attitude.
  • 00:14:22.810 --> 00:14:24.178
  • 2 timothy chapter 2 and verse 8, paul is writing to a young man
  • 00:14:24.178 --> 00:14:28.216
  • That he's mentoring.
  • 00:14:28.216 --> 00:14:30.251
  • And he said, "remember jesus, raised from the dead, descended
  • 00:14:30.251 --> 00:14:34.455
  • From david.
  • 00:14:34.455 --> 00:14:35.790
  • This is my gospel, for which i am suffering even to the point
  • 00:14:35.790 --> 00:14:39.661
  • Of being chained like a criminal.
  • 00:14:39.661 --> 00:14:42.430
  • But god's word is not chained."
  • 00:14:42.430 --> 00:14:43.798
  • He said, "i'm chained in a prison, not because i've stolen
  • 00:14:43.798 --> 00:14:46.334
  • Or embezzled or lied or manipulated.
  • 00:14:46.334 --> 00:14:49.871
  • I am chained because of my vocal advocacy for jesus of nazareth."
  • 00:14:49.871 --> 00:14:55.476
  • You understand how awkward it's going to be when you meet the
  • 00:14:55.476 --> 00:14:57.478
  • Apostle paul if you have been quiet because somebody said they
  • 00:14:57.478 --> 00:15:01.382
  • Didn't agree with your opinion?
  • 00:15:01.382 --> 00:15:04.519
  • He said, "i'm chained to a wall like an animal because of my
  • 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:09.958
  • Advocacy for the gospel."
  • 00:15:09.958 --> 00:15:11.292
  • "therefore i endure everything for the sake of the elect, that
  • 00:15:11.292 --> 00:15:14.329
  • They too may obtain the salvation that's in
  • 00:15:14.329 --> 00:15:16.331
  • Christ jesus."
  • 00:15:16.331 --> 00:15:17.665
  • 2 timothy 4: "but you, keep your head in all situations,
  • 00:15:17.665 --> 00:15:20.535
  • Endure hardship."
  • 00:15:20.535 --> 00:15:23.871
  • We are so far--we've got the squishiest version of
  • 00:15:23.871 --> 00:15:26.975
  • Christianity i think we've had in two millennia.
  • 00:15:26.975 --> 00:15:30.945
  • Come on, now.
  • 00:15:30.945 --> 00:15:32.914
  • I mean, i know you're in church, so i'm--you're, not all of you
  • 00:15:32.914 --> 00:15:35.516
  • Are in church.
  • 00:15:35.516 --> 00:15:36.851
  • Some of you didn't come to church today.
  • 00:15:36.851 --> 00:15:41.289
  • I'm playing, but we do, we get upset because somebody sits in
  • 00:15:41.289 --> 00:15:44.392
  • Our seats.
  • 00:15:44.392 --> 00:15:46.361
  • "had to walk too far across the parking lot."
  • 00:15:46.361 --> 00:15:48.262
  • [grumbling]
  • 00:15:48.262 --> 00:15:51.666
  • You go to a concert or a ball game, you pay some crazy number
  • 00:15:51.733 --> 00:15:55.770
  • To park your car and then walk several blocks.
  • 00:15:55.770 --> 00:16:01.943
  • What's happened to us?
  • 00:16:01.943 --> 00:16:03.911
  • We get mad if the sermon's too long, if it's too short, we're
  • 00:16:03.911 --> 00:16:06.514
  • Like goldilocks.
  • 00:16:06.514 --> 00:16:08.616
  • It's got to be just right.
  • 00:16:08.616 --> 00:16:11.185
  • "they sang the song i liked and the person that sang it was the
  • 00:16:11.185 --> 00:16:14.222
  • One i liked to hear sing.
  • 00:16:14.222 --> 00:16:16.524
  • And i got my favorite seat and the people nice to--next to
  • 00:16:16.524 --> 00:16:19.460
  • Me smiled."
  • 00:16:19.460 --> 00:16:21.763
  • You're requiring on 12 or 14 external components for you to
  • 00:16:21.763 --> 00:16:24.832
  • Have a positive day with the lord.
  • 00:16:24.832 --> 00:16:26.467
  • That's messed up.
  • 00:16:26.467 --> 00:16:31.305
  • Following jesus is not easy.
  • 00:16:31.305 --> 00:16:34.942
  • It's free, but it's not easy.
  • 00:16:34.942 --> 00:16:39.580
  • Jesus said you can't follow him unless you take up your cross,
  • 00:16:39.580 --> 00:16:43.584
  • That's an instrument of execution, capital punishment.
  • 00:16:43.584 --> 00:16:48.723
  • It's the death penalty for your old carnal self that i want, i
  • 00:16:48.723 --> 00:16:52.593
  • Think, and i feel.
  • 00:16:52.593 --> 00:16:54.395
  • You can't dictate your life by those things and imagine you're
  • 00:16:54.395 --> 00:16:56.964
  • Following the lord, no matter where you sit on sunday.
  • 00:16:56.964 --> 00:17:01.002
  • The will to bear discomfort will help you be grateful.
  • 00:17:01.002 --> 00:17:06.641
  • And the fifth one is you should anticipate resistance.
  • 00:17:06.641 --> 00:17:09.644
  • There's gonna be pushback.
  • 00:17:09.644 --> 00:17:12.547
  • We live in a world that's in conflict, if you haven't
  • 00:17:12.547 --> 00:17:14.782
  • Noticed, and i'm not talking about geopolitical conflict.
  • 00:17:14.782 --> 00:17:18.086
  • There's a spiritual conflict.
  • 00:17:18.086 --> 00:17:19.554
  • You can call it ideologies or worldviews.
  • 00:17:19.554 --> 00:17:21.823
  • There's a lot of labels for it.
  • 00:17:21.823 --> 00:17:23.958
  • When they're trying to redefine marriage or tell us our
  • 00:17:23.958 --> 00:17:27.462
  • Biological sex is not--that it's a confusing issue, you
  • 00:17:27.462 --> 00:17:31.632
  • Should understand there's a spiritual conflict going on.
  • 00:17:31.632 --> 00:17:35.036
  • Those ideas are too bizarre to just come from an academia.
  • 00:17:35.036 --> 00:17:41.476
  • There's gonna be resistance.
  • 00:17:41.476 --> 00:17:43.311
  • There'll be resistance in your family.
  • 00:17:43.311 --> 00:17:44.779
  • "well, i never thought it--" no, stop.
  • 00:17:44.779 --> 00:17:48.015
  • There's gonna--we'll have to overcome.
  • 00:17:48.015 --> 00:17:50.818
  • We're overcomers.
  • 00:17:50.818 --> 00:17:52.487
  • You're not a failure because there's resistance.
  • 00:17:52.487 --> 00:17:55.556
  • You didn't miss god.
  • 00:17:55.556 --> 00:17:58.392
  • Don't shrink back, don't lose your gratitude.
  • 00:17:58.392 --> 00:18:01.562
  • God hasn't abandoned you.
  • 00:18:01.562 --> 00:18:03.698
  • He's called you to such a time as this.
  • 00:18:03.698 --> 00:18:07.301
  • Imagine if when david took the lunch to his brothers in the
  • 00:18:07.301 --> 00:18:10.705
  • Battlefield that he heard goliath bellow his challenge, he
  • 00:18:10.705 --> 00:18:12.907
  • Said, "oh, this is awful.
  • 00:18:12.907 --> 00:18:15.543
  • I'm supposed to be king and there's a big guy down there.
  • 00:18:15.543 --> 00:18:18.646
  • Oh-oh." [sniffles]
  • 00:18:18.646 --> 00:18:20.715
  • No, he said he doesn't understand.
  • 00:18:24.051 --> 00:18:28.422
  • He's talking about saul and he said this nation exists to serve
  • 00:18:28.422 --> 00:18:32.994
  • God and he's about to come down.
  • 00:18:32.994 --> 00:18:37.832
  • We need a little bit more of that.
  • 00:18:37.832 --> 00:18:40.434
  • We're ambassadors for a kingdom.
  • 00:18:40.434 --> 00:18:42.036
  • It's not gonna be simple.
  • 00:18:42.036 --> 00:18:44.605
  • "pastor, pray for me, the place i work, there's so
  • 00:18:44.605 --> 00:18:46.474
  • Much darkness."
  • 00:18:46.474 --> 00:18:47.842
  • Yeah, that's why god sent you.
  • 00:18:47.842 --> 00:18:51.245
  • "my neighbors are mean."
  • 00:18:51.245 --> 00:18:52.613
  • Yeah, that's why god put you there.
  • 00:18:52.613 --> 00:18:58.486
  • "well, i don't like it."
  • 00:18:58.486 --> 00:18:59.854
  • Well, take it up with the boss, but in the interim, be thankful.
  • 00:18:59.854 --> 00:19:05.326
  • And finally, focus on the character of god.
  • 00:19:05.326 --> 00:19:08.930
  • I'm making light of it a bit, but it isn't funny when you're
  • 00:19:08.930 --> 00:19:12.800
  • In those dark difficult places.
  • 00:19:12.800 --> 00:19:16.504
  • The darkest seasons of my life, and there have been a few.
  • 00:19:16.504 --> 00:19:20.274
  • There have been times i almost lost my faith,
  • 00:19:20.274 --> 00:19:23.711
  • When my expressions of gratitude weren't related to events or
  • 00:19:23.711 --> 00:19:26.714
  • Circumstances or breakthroughs.
  • 00:19:26.714 --> 00:19:29.784
  • When at those places when i couldn't really--there wasn't
  • 00:19:29.784 --> 00:19:31.786
  • Something i felt like i could say thank you for, my baseline
  • 00:19:31.786 --> 00:19:35.389
  • At that point was the character of god.
  • 00:19:35.389 --> 00:19:38.326
  • I could say, god, i thank you that i know you are faithful.
  • 00:19:38.326 --> 00:19:42.597
  • Today i don't--it doesn't even seem like i see that expression,
  • 00:19:42.597 --> 00:19:45.967
  • But i know you are faithful and i will give you thanks.
  • 00:19:45.967 --> 00:19:49.704
  • I know that you care for me, and i thank you for that.
  • 00:19:49.704 --> 00:19:53.574
  • My gratitude is not related to my circumstance.
  • 00:19:53.574 --> 00:19:55.943
  • My gratitude is founded upon the character of who god is.
  • 00:19:55.943 --> 00:20:00.815
  • And i will be grateful and i would invite you to that this
  • 00:20:00.815 --> 00:20:05.686
  • Thanksgiving season or this christmas holiday season.
  • 00:20:05.686 --> 00:20:08.889
  • If your life isn't ideal, if it's not what you would have
  • 00:20:08.889 --> 00:20:12.260
  • Preferred, choose to give thanks to the lord this week for who
  • 00:20:12.260 --> 00:20:16.464
  • He is.
  • 00:20:16.464 --> 00:20:18.332
  • He will define your future.
  • 00:20:18.332 --> 00:20:20.167
  • He's not finished yet.
  • 00:20:20.167 --> 00:20:24.405
  • You know, most of my life, i was involved when i was younger with
  • 00:20:22.103 --> 00:20:27.875
  • Athletics and conditioning and all those things, and you know,
  • 00:20:27.875 --> 00:20:31.145
  • When they tell you you're getting in shape, you know what
  • 00:20:31.145 --> 00:20:32.880
  • That's code for?
  • 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:34.749
  • Awful.
  • 00:20:34.749 --> 00:20:37.752
  • You know, you're the end of some court or some field and
  • 00:20:37.752 --> 00:20:40.421
  • You've been exercising and pushing yourself to the point
  • 00:20:40.421 --> 00:20:42.590
  • That you're--you had the dry heaves and there's some snotty
  • 00:20:42.590 --> 00:20:45.993
  • Coach standing over by the end, smiling.
  • 00:20:45.993 --> 00:20:48.396
  • "it's good for you."
  • 00:20:48.396 --> 00:20:49.730
  • Well, if it's so good for me, why don't you run a little bit?
  • 00:20:49.730 --> 00:20:53.000
  • Had a coach who used to follow us down the road while we were
  • 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:54.902
  • Running, in his car.
  • 00:20:54.902 --> 00:20:57.838
  • I used to pray he'd have a flat tire so we could all stop and
  • 00:20:57.838 --> 00:20:59.974
  • Watch him change the tire.
  • 00:20:59.974 --> 00:21:04.278
  • Well, spiritually, you know, those places where it's
  • 00:21:04.278 --> 00:21:07.848
  • Difficult, god is building a strength in you and there's no
  • 00:21:07.848 --> 00:21:10.084
  • Other way to gain.
  • 00:21:10.084 --> 00:21:12.320
  • I'm not suggesting you volunteer for those seasons, but if you're
  • 00:21:12.320 --> 00:21:14.822
  • Walking through one, there's something good coming.
  • 00:21:14.822 --> 00:21:17.692
  • Now, i want to take the balance of our time, and i've got a few
  • 00:21:17.692 --> 00:21:19.694
  • Minutes, so don't get too discouraged.
  • 00:21:19.694 --> 00:21:22.063
  • I want to give you--i want to give you 5 days of thanksgiving.
  • 00:21:22.063 --> 00:21:24.598
  • I know thanksgiving is one day in the calendar, but we got a
  • 00:21:24.598 --> 00:21:27.635
  • Whole week and i want to give you five expressions of
  • 00:21:27.635 --> 00:21:30.104
  • Giving thanks.
  • 00:21:30.104 --> 00:21:31.672
  • You can pick the one that's most appropriate for you or you can
  • 00:21:31.672 --> 00:21:33.941
  • Just go crazy and take a different approach every day.
  • 00:21:33.941 --> 00:21:36.944
  • You don't have to limit it to this week.
  • 00:21:36.944 --> 00:21:38.279
  • In fact, you could put these into play over your--you could
  • 00:21:38.279 --> 00:21:40.281
  • Take one a week for the month and use it all next year and
  • 00:21:40.281 --> 00:21:44.251
  • Transform your year.
  • 00:21:44.251 --> 00:21:46.854
  • See, i'm far more interested in the expression of your faith,
  • 00:21:46.854 --> 00:21:49.357
  • The practice of your faith, the outcome of your faith, than the
  • 00:21:49.357 --> 00:21:52.393
  • Theory of what you believe.
  • 00:21:52.393 --> 00:21:54.595
  • We gotta stop arguing about styles of worship and
  • 00:21:54.595 --> 00:21:57.231
  • Translations of the bible and the frequency of communion and
  • 00:21:57.231 --> 00:22:00.267
  • Start to live out our faith in a tangible way.
  • 00:22:00.267 --> 00:22:04.638
  • We've got to make an impact in our world.
  • 00:22:04.638 --> 00:22:06.841
  • We've got to get the salt out of the shaker.
  • 00:22:06.841 --> 00:22:10.411
  • We do.
  • 00:22:10.411 --> 00:22:11.779
  • So 5 days of thanksgiving, the first couple we touched on in an
  • 00:22:11.779 --> 00:22:14.982
  • Earlier service, so i'll give you the highlights.
  • 00:22:14.982 --> 00:22:17.251
  • We're gonna begin day one by being thankful to god.
  • 00:22:17.251 --> 00:22:21.055
  • That there's a god, that we're not alone, we're not a cosmic
  • 00:22:21.055 --> 00:22:24.191
  • Accident, we're not some random collision of molecules.
  • 00:22:24.191 --> 00:22:29.096
  • We're not nameless blobs of protoplasm hurtling
  • 00:22:29.096 --> 00:22:32.767
  • Through space.
  • 00:22:32.767 --> 00:22:34.602
  • There's a god, an intelligent designer, and he wants to be
  • 00:22:34.602 --> 00:22:40.207
  • Known by us.
  • 00:22:40.207 --> 00:22:42.510
  • That's amazing.
  • 00:22:42.510 --> 00:22:45.112
  • I don't know who the--your greatest hero is, who you think
  • 00:22:45.112 --> 00:22:48.249
  • Is the smartest or the most successful or the most powerful,
  • 00:22:48.249 --> 00:22:51.919
  • But whoever that is, i--or the most gifted athlete, but i
  • 00:22:51.919 --> 00:22:55.923
  • Suspect they're probably--you don't think they're probably
  • 00:22:55.923 --> 00:22:58.025
  • Waiting for your phone call.
  • 00:22:58.025 --> 00:23:01.195
  • But the creator of heaven and earth knows your name.
  • 00:23:01.195 --> 00:23:07.301
  • He pays attention.
  • 00:23:07.301 --> 00:23:08.636
  • Now that's an upside and a downside, but he pays attention.
  • 00:23:08.636 --> 00:23:13.274
  • Be thankful there's a god, and i gave you a proclamation, and i
  • 00:23:13.274 --> 00:23:17.912
  • Recommended it three times a day, not just to be honorary, i
  • 00:23:17.912 --> 00:23:20.714
  • Took it from daniel.
  • 00:23:20.714 --> 00:23:23.117
  • Daniel was a slave in babylon.
  • 00:23:23.117 --> 00:23:26.287
  • Lived his whole life as a slave.
  • 00:23:26.287 --> 00:23:27.855
  • One of the greatest heroes in the bible, it says he was highly
  • 00:23:27.855 --> 00:23:31.091
  • Esteemed by god and there was no expression of the power of god
  • 00:23:31.091 --> 00:23:34.462
  • To deliver him from slavery.
  • 00:23:34.462 --> 00:23:37.731
  • You'll have to walk around with that a little bit.
  • 00:23:37.731 --> 00:23:40.935
  • 'cause we've believed that you couldn't find god's greatest
  • 00:23:40.935 --> 00:23:43.838
  • Purpose for your life or great significance if your life didn't
  • 00:23:43.838 --> 00:23:47.274
  • Meet your highest expectations.
  • 00:23:47.274 --> 00:23:50.110
  • That's a lie.
  • 00:23:50.110 --> 00:23:52.847
  • It's a lie.
  • 00:23:52.847 --> 00:23:56.450
  • But daniel, his adversaries were jealous of him.
  • 00:23:56.450 --> 00:24:01.355
  • And they got a law passed that said if you prayed to anybody
  • 00:24:01.355 --> 00:24:03.791
  • Other than the king, that you would be murdered, and when the
  • 00:24:03.791 --> 00:24:12.066
  • Law was passed, daniel went home as was his habit and opened his
  • 00:24:12.066 --> 00:24:15.169
  • Windows and prayed three times a day.
  • 00:24:15.169 --> 00:24:19.974
  • Daniel did not believe in the separation of church and state.
  • 00:24:19.974 --> 00:24:24.445
  • And so i brought you just a proclamation that you
  • 00:24:24.445 --> 00:24:27.548
  • Could make, it's from psalm 103.
  • 00:24:27.548 --> 00:24:28.916
  • I gave you the reference.
  • 00:24:28.916 --> 00:24:30.251
  • It's a wonderful declaration over your life.
  • 00:24:30.251 --> 00:24:31.952
  • I would encourage you to take a day and do it morning, noon,
  • 00:24:31.952 --> 00:24:34.121
  • And evening.
  • 00:24:34.121 --> 00:24:37.458
  • Just make it a proclamation over your life.
  • 00:24:37.458 --> 00:24:41.595
  • And then on day two, i'm gonna expand your
  • 00:24:41.595 --> 00:24:44.698
  • Category a little bit.
  • 00:24:44.698 --> 00:24:46.033
  • We're gonna begin to be thankful for the blessings of god in our
  • 00:24:46.033 --> 00:24:47.768
  • Lives because we have some.
  • 00:24:47.768 --> 00:24:49.336
  • You probably don't have all the blessings you'd like, you
  • 00:24:49.336 --> 00:24:51.205
  • Probably got a list.
  • 00:24:51.205 --> 00:24:53.207
  • But we have been blessed by god.
  • 00:24:53.207 --> 00:24:56.043
  • If nothing else, we live in a nation where we have more
  • 00:24:56.043 --> 00:24:58.078
  • Abundance and more freedom and more liberty than most people on
  • 00:24:58.078 --> 00:25:00.381
  • The planet could ever imagine.
  • 00:25:00.381 --> 00:25:02.216
  • It's not perfect, but we have so much.
  • 00:25:02.216 --> 00:25:04.785
  • One of my favorite places to visit is a grocery store.
  • 00:25:04.785 --> 00:25:08.222
  • I've lived in places where i didn't have those.
  • 00:25:08.222 --> 00:25:11.592
  • So i just--i still--i don't mind going to the grocery store,
  • 00:25:11.592 --> 00:25:14.929
  • It just makes me smile.
  • 00:25:14.929 --> 00:25:17.631
  • In fact, you need good directions when--if you're sent
  • 00:25:17.631 --> 00:25:19.967
  • To the grocery store, which i sometimes i am.
  • 00:25:19.967 --> 00:25:22.836
  • You need good directions or you'll mess up.
  • 00:25:22.836 --> 00:25:26.440
  • If you weren't really listening and all you heard them say was
  • 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:28.776
  • Go to the grocery store and get lettuce,
  • 00:25:28.776 --> 00:25:32.379
  • You better have your camera out 'cause you're gonna be taking
  • 00:25:32.379 --> 00:25:34.214
  • Some pictures and sending them home and going, "help
  • 00:25:34.214 --> 00:25:36.250
  • Me, please.
  • 00:25:36.250 --> 00:25:38.652
  • There's so many kinds.
  • 00:25:38.652 --> 00:25:40.287
  • Do you want it in a bag or do you want it naked?
  • 00:25:40.287 --> 00:25:42.656
  • What kind of lettuce do you want?"
  • 00:25:42.656 --> 00:25:45.926
  • Or if you were told you need crackers.
  • 00:25:45.926 --> 00:25:49.163
  • Or you're at a store you've never been to before and you
  • 00:25:49.163 --> 00:25:51.532
  • Finally find the right aisle.
  • 00:25:51.532 --> 00:25:54.234
  • There's still no relief because there's 75 kinds of crackers.
  • 00:25:54.234 --> 00:25:58.939
  • Who needs 80 choices of crackers?
  • 00:25:58.939 --> 00:26:02.843
  • I mean, we're goofy blessed.
  • 00:26:02.843 --> 00:26:09.083
  • Allen: allen jackson ministries was created
  • 00:26:13.020 --> 00:26:14.989
  • To strengthen the church.
  • 00:26:14.989 --> 00:26:16.457
  • Your partnership has made this possible.
  • 00:26:16.457 --> 00:26:18.559
  • Thank you for your faithfulness and your generosity.
  • 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:21.261
  • But the need is as significant as it's ever been.
  • 00:26:21.261 --> 00:26:24.264
  • Not simply in this nation, now we have invitations
  • 00:26:24.264 --> 00:26:26.400
  • Internationally to war-torn countries,
  • 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:28.335
  • Into israel and to ukraine,
  • 00:26:28.335 --> 00:26:30.237
  • To come help strengthen the church there.
  • 00:26:30.237 --> 00:26:32.539
  • And with god's help and your help, we intend to respond.
  • 00:26:32.539 --> 00:26:35.376
  • Folks, it's a critical time, it's not just business as usual.
  • 00:26:35.376 --> 00:26:38.846
  • We can't gather in our churches and sing our hymns
  • 00:26:38.846 --> 00:26:41.115
  • And ignore what's happening in our world.
  • 00:26:41.115 --> 00:26:43.150
  • We have to take the biblical truth, the biblical worldview,
  • 00:26:43.150 --> 00:26:45.986
  • And share it with our culture, clearly
  • 00:26:45.986 --> 00:26:48.255
  • With determination, with courage.
  • 00:26:48.255 --> 00:26:50.991
  • We're creating tools to help you do that in your church,
  • 00:26:50.991 --> 00:26:53.527
  • In your home, in your community.
  • 00:26:53.527 --> 00:26:55.496
  • Together we're going to make an impact in this new year
  • 00:26:55.496 --> 00:26:57.998
  • Like we've never made before.
  • 00:26:57.998 --> 00:26:59.900
  • Will you make an investment in what we're doing?
  • 00:26:59.900 --> 00:27:02.336
  • Together we're going to join god in seeing the name of jesus
  • 00:27:02.336 --> 00:27:05.472
  • Elevated in the earth.
  • 00:27:05.472 --> 00:27:07.041
  • Will you pray?
  • 00:27:07.041 --> 00:27:08.375
  • Father, i ask for your anointing.
  • 00:27:08.375 --> 00:27:09.843
  • Give us a freedom to give and to serve like never before,
  • 00:27:09.843 --> 00:27:13.414
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:13.414 --> 00:27:15.816
  • God bless you and thank you.
  • 00:27:15.816 --> 00:27:17.284
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:17.284 --> 00:27:17.284