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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - The Power of Gratitude and Thanksgiving (Part 1)

December 13, 2025 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - The Power of Gratitude and Thanksgiving (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Gratitude #Thankfulness #Heart #Attitude #Victory #Blessing #Trials-HardTimes #Challenges #HandofGod #Honor #GlorifyGod #Praise #Worship #Joy #Rejoice #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - The Power of Gratitude and Thanksgiving (Part 1) | December 13, 2025
  • ...
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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.
  • 00:00:17.967 --> 00:00:20.937
  • 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 session and the next, the one for tomorrow
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  • Morning, are really two pieces.
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  • It's a two-part discussion so, at your leisure, you can hear
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  • The one that you may not be present for.
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  • We're gonna start with a discussion of the power of
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  • Gratitude and thanksgiving.
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  • It's thanksgiving week.
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  • I hope that's not a surprise, but i didn't want to miss that.
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  • It's such an important holiday.
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  • It's been a part of our nation since before we were formally
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  • A nation.
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  • The first thanksgiving was celebrated in the 1600s.
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  • If you're not a history person, the nation didn't get really
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  • Formal until the 1700s.
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  • But george washington proclaimed the first nationwide
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  • Thanksgiving celebration in america marking november 26th,
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  • 1789, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be
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  • Observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and
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  • Single favors of almighty god.
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  • What a wonderful heritage we have.
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  • You know, i'm always a bit amused when people say we're not
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  • A christian nation.
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  • Okay, we've never been an exclusively christian nation.
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  • I will readily acknowledge that, but we are very much a nation
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  • With a christian heritage.
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  • You know, if you say today that saudi arabia is not a muslim
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  • Nation, i suspect there are people in saudi arabia that are
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  • Not muslims.
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  • But it's a nation with a muslim worldview.
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  • And our nation is a nation that's had a christian worldview
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  • And because of that christian worldview we have been tolerant
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  • Of people who worshiped in other ways.
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  • So it's been a place of great diversity and opportunity.
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  • It made us--enabled us to be a melting pot.
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  • But the thing that bound us together was the values that
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  • Came from that judeo-christian worldview.
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  • And i don't know of a day where that's expressed with greater
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  • Clarity than thanksgiving day.
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  • There was a day when--there was a time when it wasn't about
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  • Gluttony and football.
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  • I'm not opposed to food or football, but the opportunity
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  • This week in the disrupting of our normal schedules and
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  • Routines is to pause to say thank you to god.
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  • So i wanna try to give you some tools.
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  • First, a couple of ideas, and i'm just gonna give you some
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  • Practical tools through this session and the next that
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  • Hopefully you can choose the one that fits your life or your
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  • Schedule or your personality the best.
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  • Maybe you can do all the ones suggested, i don't know, but i
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  • Wanna begin by trying to encourage you to protect a heart
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  • That's filled with gratitude.
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  • You know, gratitude's--it's not a formal word study, but it's
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  • Really about the attitude of your heart.
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  • Gratitude isn't about your circumstances.
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  • You can have a great deal and be grumpy.
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  • Or you can be destitute and be thankful.
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  • You know, you can have all the things going your way and never
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  • Be satisfied.
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  • Or you can be facing some tremendous challenges and be
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  • Thankful for the privilege of doing so.
  • 00:04:07.030 --> 00:04:09.632
  • Gratitude really starts with an attitude and the most single
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  • Important thing i know about your attitude is whatever your
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  • Attitude is, it's yours, you've chosen it.
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  • Nobody gave you an attitude.
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  • If yours is bad, you picked it up and carried it all on
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  • Your own.
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  • And if it's a good one, you've had to make an investment
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  • In that.
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  • It's so important.
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  • It changes your future.
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  • It changes your physical health, it changes the outcomes of your
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  • Spiritual life, if we can choose to be a grateful people.
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  • And i'm gonna just give you a couple of suggestions to add a
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  • Little momentum to that before i give you some practices for
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  • The week.
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  • The first is that you wanna make a purposeful intentional effort
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  • To celebrate the victories which god has provided in your life.
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  • And i don't mean just the recent ones.
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  • It's good to keep a journal of some description, and one of the
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  • Highlights of gathering with families and the older the
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  • People who gather, the more likely you're gonna get regaled
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  • With some stories, but to celebrate the places in your
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  • Journeys together where god has brought breakthroughs, where
  • 00:05:10.526 --> 00:05:14.897
  • There have been victories.
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  • Challenges come to every life and every family system, but god
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  • Is faithful.
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  • If we will give him the slightest opportunity, he will
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  • Move in our midst.
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  • I brought you one example from exodus 15.
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  • It's the familiar narrative where the slaves of egypt are
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  • Being set free by the power of god.
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  • Not by the united nations, not by political machinations, not
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  • Because the ngos got together and decided it was time, not
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  • Because the global media did, but god sovereignly intervened.
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  • I'm--if you don't know this, you should know that god
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  • Sovereignly intervenes in the course of nations.
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  • He does.
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  • The church has to believe that.
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  • You know, i was in a gathering, kathy and i were in a gathering
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  • Last week of state legislators from across the nation, from 35
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  • Different states, hundreds of them.
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  • And one of the things i came away with was i grieved the fact
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  • That the church is hardly even imagined to be an influence
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  • Any longer.
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  • Folks, if we don't believe god is--will intervene in the
  • 00:06:16.192 --> 00:06:18.728
  • Course of nations, exactly where do we think that idea will
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  • Come from?
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  • We have to stop apologizing for our faith, imagining it's a
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  • Diminished thing, a small thing.
  • 00:06:26.803 --> 00:06:29.505
  • The bible says god raises up leaders and he puts them down.
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  • The church has to believe that.
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  • We--somehow they convinced us to separate our faith from the
  • 00:06:34.444 --> 00:06:38.748
  • Authority over our lives, and that's a devastating deception
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  • To fall into.
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  • We don't want a theocracy, but we have to believe that god
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  • Governs the affairs of people.
  • 00:06:49.158 --> 00:06:52.595
  • And in exodus god has delivered the hebrew slaves from
  • 00:06:52.595 --> 00:06:56.532
  • Egyptian authority.
  • 00:06:56.532 --> 00:06:58.701
  • And he's done it in rather dramatic fashion, and he's
  • 00:06:58.701 --> 00:07:01.270
  • Finally parted the red sea and on the other side of the red
  • 00:07:01.270 --> 00:07:03.940
  • Sea, a party breaks out, led by miriam.
  • 00:07:03.940 --> 00:07:08.077
  • It says: "when--" it's exodus 15.
  • 00:07:08.077 --> 00:07:09.612
  • "when pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen went into
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  • The sea, the lord brought the waters of the sea back over
  • 00:07:11.981 --> 00:07:14.417
  • Them, but the israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.
  • 00:07:14.417 --> 00:07:17.987
  • And miriam the prophetess, aaron's sister, she took a
  • 00:07:17.987 --> 00:07:21.524
  • Tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with
  • 00:07:21.524 --> 00:07:24.093
  • Tambourines and dancing.
  • 00:07:24.093 --> 00:07:26.462
  • And miriam sang to them: 'sing to the lord, for he's
  • 00:07:26.462 --> 00:07:28.965
  • Highly exalted.
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  • The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.'"
  • 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:34.103
  • The women led the celebration.
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  • I look forward to a day ahead of us when the women will use their
  • 00:07:36.672 --> 00:07:40.209
  • Voices in unprecedented ways in giving honor and glory to god.
  • 00:07:40.209 --> 00:07:49.318
  • In a culture that doesn't value life, they had to target women.
  • 00:07:49.318 --> 00:07:53.756
  • And there's a lot of components to that.
  • 00:07:53.756 --> 00:07:55.191
  • I don't think the men were doing their job of providing the
  • 00:07:55.191 --> 00:07:57.927
  • Proper protection, or it would have never happened.
  • 00:07:57.927 --> 00:08:01.197
  • You know, i--they brought me a piece they were writing for
  • 00:08:01.197 --> 00:08:05.568
  • Something we were doing here about the garden of eden this
  • 00:08:05.568 --> 00:08:08.271
  • Last week.
  • 00:08:08.271 --> 00:08:09.705
  • And i didn't like the way they had worded it around eve.
  • 00:08:09.705 --> 00:08:13.476
  • And i had to stop--we stopped and looked at it for a minute,
  • 00:08:13.476 --> 00:08:16.112
  • When it says that god gave adam the assignment of being the
  • 00:08:16.112 --> 00:08:19.048
  • Keeper of the garden.
  • 00:08:19.048 --> 00:08:20.650
  • It's the modern hebrew word for--they use the modern hebrew
  • 00:08:20.650 --> 00:08:23.753
  • For a night watchman.
  • 00:08:23.753 --> 00:08:26.122
  • See, the tempter would have never been in the garden if adam
  • 00:08:26.122 --> 00:08:29.125
  • Had been doing his job appropriately.
  • 00:08:29.125 --> 00:08:33.029
  • So while we can talk--there's another sermon if you want that
  • 00:08:33.029 --> 00:08:40.636
  • One too, we could do the whole thing.
  • 00:08:40.636 --> 00:08:45.007
  • But miriam led the way, with the procession giving thanks to god.
  • 00:08:45.007 --> 00:08:48.878
  • I would point out just in passing that they've been slaves
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  • For 400 years.
  • 00:08:51.714 --> 00:08:54.617
  • That it had been a very, very difficult season of
  • 00:08:54.617 --> 00:08:57.553
  • Disengagement from egypt.
  • 00:08:57.553 --> 00:09:00.456
  • Every time there was a plague, moses would--pharaoh would
  • 00:09:00.456 --> 00:09:03.859
  • Increase the pressure on the slaves, the demands upon
  • 00:09:03.859 --> 00:09:06.295
  • The slaves.
  • 00:09:06.295 --> 00:09:07.663
  • They were mad at moses, they were angry at moses.
  • 00:09:07.663 --> 00:09:09.031
  • They wanted him to leave 'em alone.
  • 00:09:09.031 --> 00:09:11.033
  • It wasn't a simple season of disengagement.
  • 00:09:11.033 --> 00:09:13.169
  • And then even after pharaoh decided to release them, moses
  • 00:09:13.169 --> 00:09:15.805
  • Led them to the shores of the red sea, directed by god, but
  • 00:09:15.805 --> 00:09:18.441
  • They could--they understood moses led them to the shores of
  • 00:09:18.441 --> 00:09:20.843
  • The red sea where they seemed to be trapped, and they were
  • 00:09:20.843 --> 00:09:24.046
  • Complaining, "we want a different leader."
  • 00:09:24.046 --> 00:09:26.382
  • It wasn't a simple season.
  • 00:09:26.382 --> 00:09:28.884
  • Nothing about--it would have been much, much, much easier to
  • 00:09:28.884 --> 00:09:31.554
  • Have been embittered, "we've been slaves for so long."
  • 00:09:31.554 --> 00:09:35.191
  • And yet when god led them through the red sea, they led
  • 00:09:35.191 --> 00:09:38.427
  • A celebration.
  • 00:09:38.427 --> 00:09:39.962
  • So if you'll allow me, celebrate your victories.
  • 00:09:39.962 --> 00:09:43.799
  • Most of your victories are on the other end of a very
  • 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:46.836
  • Difficult season.
  • 00:09:46.836 --> 00:09:48.204
  • Do not give your emotions to the difficulties.
  • 00:09:48.204 --> 00:09:52.108
  • Don't build an altar to remember your suffering.
  • 00:09:52.108 --> 00:09:56.979
  • Don't institutionalize it.
  • 00:09:56.979 --> 00:09:59.515
  • Don't take those memories and fortify them by retelling them.
  • 00:09:59.515 --> 00:10:04.487
  • Celebrate the victories of god in your life.
  • 00:10:04.487 --> 00:10:08.157
  • He is good to us.
  • 00:10:08.157 --> 00:10:12.128
  • I'm working on a series, so i'll give you a little clue if you'll
  • 00:10:12.128 --> 00:10:15.064
  • Just pretend like you're--it's a new idea when you hear
  • 00:10:15.064 --> 00:10:16.899
  • It later.
  • 00:10:16.899 --> 00:10:18.267
  • It's gonna be called, "so far."
  • 00:10:18.267 --> 00:10:21.837
  • For as long as i can remember, i do--i gather with people who
  • 00:10:21.837 --> 00:10:25.408
  • Are new to the church and we'll talk about what they--they'll,
  • 00:10:25.408 --> 00:10:28.244
  • You know, they say, "pastor, we've been coming for 6 weeks
  • 00:10:28.244 --> 00:10:30.212
  • And we really like the sermons, so far."
  • 00:10:30.212 --> 00:10:35.618
  • "we've got three children and they've gotten involved in the
  • 00:10:35.618 --> 00:10:37.586
  • Children's activities and they really enjoy what you're doing
  • 00:10:37.586 --> 00:10:39.455
  • With the children, so far."
  • 00:10:39.455 --> 00:10:42.758
  • About the fourth one of those stories, i start to get a
  • 00:10:46.929 --> 00:10:48.764
  • Little tic.
  • 00:10:48.764 --> 00:10:50.766
  • And i wanna look at them and go, "you know, you've been here
  • 00:10:50.766 --> 00:10:52.768
  • About 2 months and you seem like nice people.
  • 00:10:52.768 --> 00:10:56.906
  • So far."
  • 00:10:56.906 --> 00:10:58.307
  • But i find we tend to tell our god stories like that: "god's
  • 00:11:01.577 --> 00:11:04.680
  • Been so faithful in my life.
  • 00:11:04.680 --> 00:11:07.616
  • So far."
  • 00:11:07.616 --> 00:11:09.585
  • So we're gonna do a whole series on "so far."
  • 00:11:09.585 --> 00:11:11.520
  • But the israelites didn't make that choice.
  • 00:11:11.520 --> 00:11:14.623
  • They celebrated their victories.
  • 00:11:14.623 --> 00:11:16.258
  • I'll give you, if you'll allow me, in addition to that,
  • 00:11:16.258 --> 00:11:18.627
  • Celebrate the god victories in the lives of other people
  • 00:11:18.627 --> 00:11:21.130
  • You know.
  • 00:11:21.130 --> 00:11:24.800
  • Allen: god is moving in the earth
  • 00:11:28.604 --> 00:11:30.139
  • And at allen jack ministries we're doing everything we can
  • 00:11:30.139 --> 00:11:33.008
  • To strengthen the church in our nation
  • 00:11:33.008 --> 00:11:34.977
  • And wherever god opens the door.
  • 00:11:34.977 --> 00:11:37.079
  • We don't intend to maintain the status quo
  • 00:11:37.079 --> 00:11:39.115
  • Or to gather at our churches for polite bible studies.
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  • We're going to engage our culture with biblical truth
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  • And give you the tools to do so.
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  • We want our children and grandchildren to inherit
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  • A church that's vibrant and vital.
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  • And to do that we've got to make an investment.
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  • Will you give generously to what we're doing
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  • At allen jackson ministries?
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  • Your partnership will make 2026 the most fruitful year
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  • We've ever known.
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  • Thank you.
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  • Female announcer: at allen jackson ministries
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  • We're committed to strengthening the church
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  • And sharing the truth of god's word.
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  • Give today at allenjackson.com or call...
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  • Allen: the second thing i would give you that will help you
  • 00:12:30.166 --> 00:12:32.401
  • Protect that grateful heart is to live with a sense of destiny.
  • 00:12:32.401 --> 00:12:37.740
  • Not just a sense of self-absorption.
  • 00:12:37.740 --> 00:12:39.308
  • Folks, we're here on purpose.
  • 00:12:39.308 --> 00:12:41.443
  • We're not some random collection of molecules.
  • 00:12:41.443 --> 00:12:43.813
  • We're not an accident of nature.
  • 00:12:43.813 --> 00:12:46.715
  • We're more than a statistical probability.
  • 00:12:46.715 --> 00:12:49.819
  • That's a secular perspective.
  • 00:12:49.819 --> 00:12:52.188
  • The bible says that god knows us when we're knit together in our
  • 00:12:52.188 --> 00:12:55.024
  • Mothers' wombs, that we're fearfully and wonderfully made,
  • 00:12:55.024 --> 00:12:57.526
  • That he's the author and the completer of our story.
  • 00:12:57.526 --> 00:13:01.330
  • There's nothing about us that's accidental or random.
  • 00:13:01.330 --> 00:13:03.799
  • You're more than the choice of human beings.
  • 00:13:03.799 --> 00:13:06.902
  • Almighty god, the creator of heaven and earth, designed you.
  • 00:13:06.902 --> 00:13:11.106
  • He doesn't make junk. no.
  • 00:13:11.106 --> 00:13:16.612
  • Live with a sense of destiny.
  • 00:13:16.612 --> 00:13:17.947
  • Philippians 3, paul said, "i don't consider myself to have
  • 00:13:17.947 --> 00:13:20.416
  • Taken hold of it.
  • 00:13:20.416 --> 00:13:21.750
  • But one thing i do: forgetting what is behind
  • 00:13:21.750 --> 00:13:24.186
  • And straining toward what is ahead, i press on toward the
  • 00:13:24.186 --> 00:13:26.755
  • Goal to win the prize for which god has called me heavenward."
  • 00:13:26.755 --> 00:13:31.160
  • He's got a remarkable education.
  • 00:13:31.160 --> 00:13:32.595
  • He's had a phenomenal career, a lot of good things you can say
  • 00:13:32.595 --> 00:13:34.897
  • About him.
  • 00:13:34.897 --> 00:13:36.265
  • But he said, "i don't consider myself to have taken hold of it.
  • 00:13:36.265 --> 00:13:38.734
  • I'm not done yet."
  • 00:13:38.734 --> 00:13:40.069
  • If i could make one adjustment to the majority of the people
  • 00:13:40.069 --> 00:13:43.672
  • That i bump into as i travel, we tend to think we have taken hold
  • 00:13:43.672 --> 00:13:46.876
  • Of it.
  • 00:13:46.876 --> 00:13:48.878
  • We got all the important stuff.
  • 00:13:48.878 --> 00:13:52.781
  • We do.
  • 00:13:52.781 --> 00:13:54.283
  • It's an idea that has so deeply engaged contemporary american
  • 00:13:54.283 --> 00:14:00.456
  • Christendom, we can't imagine that there's really significant
  • 00:14:00.456 --> 00:14:04.026
  • Things yet to be learned.
  • 00:14:04.026 --> 00:14:05.361
  • Everything we don't know is peripheral.
  • 00:14:05.361 --> 00:14:08.163
  • Folks, we serve an infinite god.
  • 00:14:08.163 --> 00:14:11.100
  • If we learned a hundred new things about god every day that
  • 00:14:11.100 --> 00:14:13.636
  • We lived, there'd be more to be learned at the end of our lives
  • 00:14:13.636 --> 00:14:16.372
  • Than at the beginning.
  • 00:14:16.372 --> 00:14:18.240
  • He's infinite.
  • 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:19.942
  • Paul said, "i don't think i've gotten hold of everything yet.
  • 00:14:19.942 --> 00:14:22.645
  • I press on to take hold of that for which--" he's living
  • 00:14:22.645 --> 00:14:26.649
  • On purpose.
  • 00:14:26.649 --> 00:14:27.983
  • I pray you are.
  • 00:14:27.983 --> 00:14:29.985
  • Not just on your purpose.
  • 00:14:29.985 --> 00:14:32.054
  • "god, i want to serve you."
  • 00:14:32.054 --> 00:14:34.056
  • In acts 26, it's paul again.
  • 00:14:34.056 --> 00:14:35.591
  • He's on trial for his life, but he's not begging for mercy.
  • 00:14:35.591 --> 00:14:38.694
  • He says to the king who holds his future in his hands, "i
  • 00:14:38.694 --> 00:14:41.730
  • Wasn't disobedient to the vision from heaven."
  • 00:14:41.730 --> 00:14:45.968
  • He's living with a vision from heaven.
  • 00:14:45.968 --> 00:14:48.671
  • Are you?
  • 00:14:48.671 --> 00:14:50.806
  • People say to me, "oh, you know, if i just knew what god--" it
  • 00:14:50.806 --> 00:14:52.808
  • Isn't that we don't know, folks.
  • 00:14:52.808 --> 00:14:55.678
  • It isn't that we don't know.
  • 00:14:55.678 --> 00:14:57.179
  • I mean, if you have a rudimentary knowledge of
  • 00:14:57.179 --> 00:14:59.014
  • Scripture, you know that he's told us to go into all the world
  • 00:14:59.014 --> 00:15:01.984
  • And preach the gospel to every creature.
  • 00:15:01.984 --> 00:15:03.319
  • He didn't say for the pastors to do it.
  • 00:15:03.319 --> 00:15:05.654
  • He says we're ambassadors.
  • 00:15:05.654 --> 00:15:07.156
  • All of us, i think, have some at least vague familiarity with
  • 00:15:07.156 --> 00:15:10.726
  • That ambassadorial role that we're to be lights in the
  • 00:15:10.726 --> 00:15:13.295
  • Darkness, salt in the world, we're to be difference-makers
  • 00:15:13.295 --> 00:15:15.864
  • For the kingdom of god.
  • 00:15:15.864 --> 00:15:18.467
  • Whether we're butchers or bakers or candlestick makers, we're
  • 00:15:18.467 --> 00:15:21.270
  • Ambassadors for a kingdom.
  • 00:15:21.270 --> 00:15:24.807
  • But it's easier to dismiss that because, "well, i don't know how
  • 00:15:24.807 --> 00:15:27.276
  • To do that."
  • 00:15:27.276 --> 00:15:29.345
  • Sure we do.
  • 00:15:29.345 --> 00:15:31.714
  • We don't have classes on how to be fans for the university
  • 00:15:31.714 --> 00:15:34.116
  • Of tennessee.
  • 00:15:34.116 --> 00:15:37.019
  • As far as i know, there's no seminars on that.
  • 00:15:37.019 --> 00:15:40.189
  • There's no motivational speakers out crisscrossing the state
  • 00:15:40.189 --> 00:15:42.891
  • Going, "you know, you're lousy fans.
  • 00:15:42.891 --> 00:15:44.393
  • Let me show you how to do this."
  • 00:15:44.393 --> 00:15:46.628
  • We have talk radio and chat rooms and all sorts of social
  • 00:15:46.628 --> 00:15:49.832
  • Media things and we institutionalize it in our homes
  • 00:15:49.832 --> 00:15:53.135
  • And we paint our homes orange and white and we have turf in
  • 00:15:53.135 --> 00:15:57.573
  • The man cave and we all, i mean, yeah.
  • 00:15:57.573 --> 00:16:01.410
  • It's the same way we learn how to honor the lord.
  • 00:16:01.410 --> 00:16:04.813
  • We got to live on purpose.
  • 00:16:04.813 --> 00:16:06.181
  • We know how to do this.
  • 00:16:06.181 --> 00:16:09.451
  • You know, often we say we don't have a sense of destiny, but i
  • 00:16:09.451 --> 00:16:11.854
  • Think it's because we don't like the invitations we have.
  • 00:16:11.854 --> 00:16:15.391
  • "well, i would accept the god destiny if he would let me speak
  • 00:16:15.391 --> 00:16:17.993
  • To stadiums filled with people."
  • 00:16:17.993 --> 00:16:19.328
  • Be careful what you ask for.
  • 00:16:19.328 --> 00:16:22.197
  • We want our own destiny.
  • 00:16:22.197 --> 00:16:24.867
  • And we're reluctant to serve the lord with gladness.
  • 00:16:24.867 --> 00:16:27.036
  • I would encourage you, psalm 100 says: "shout joyfully to the
  • 00:16:27.036 --> 00:16:29.705
  • Lord, all the earth.
  • 00:16:29.705 --> 00:16:31.073
  • Serve the lord with gladness."
  • 00:16:31.073 --> 00:16:32.908
  • If you want to cultivate gratitude and thankfulness in
  • 00:16:32.908 --> 00:16:36.345
  • Your heart, just begin to say to the lord, "god, thank you that i
  • 00:16:36.345 --> 00:16:38.614
  • Can serve you.
  • 00:16:38.614 --> 00:16:41.583
  • I may work on an assembly line, i may work on a construction
  • 00:16:41.583 --> 00:16:43.919
  • Site, i may pour concrete, i may work with ungrateful people all
  • 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:47.122
  • Day, i may work in a godless office, my supervisor may be
  • 00:16:47.122 --> 00:16:50.926
  • Immoral and ungodly and coarse in their attitudes and their
  • 00:16:50.926 --> 00:16:54.730
  • Language, but i thank you that i go into all those places to
  • 00:16:54.730 --> 00:16:58.133
  • Serve you.
  • 00:16:58.133 --> 00:17:00.969
  • God, i go in the name of jesus.
  • 00:17:00.969 --> 00:17:04.039
  • I go in the name of jesus."
  • 00:17:04.039 --> 00:17:08.210
  • It will change everything about your day.
  • 00:17:08.210 --> 00:17:12.281
  • It'll change everything about your day.
  • 00:17:12.281 --> 00:17:14.149
  • I want to take the balance of our time, and i've got a few
  • 00:17:18.153 --> 00:17:20.022
  • Minutes left.
  • 00:17:20.022 --> 00:17:21.356
  • Hot dog.
  • 00:17:21.356 --> 00:17:23.158
  • And i want to walk through 5 days of thanksgiving with you.
  • 00:17:23.158 --> 00:17:25.694
  • I want to give you five different ways you can
  • 00:17:25.694 --> 00:17:27.830
  • Approach thanksgiving.
  • 00:17:27.830 --> 00:17:29.932
  • Maybe you want to choose 5 days and take 1 each day.
  • 00:17:29.932 --> 00:17:32.835
  • I'm not talking about just thursday.
  • 00:17:32.835 --> 00:17:35.604
  • But a way to incorporate thanksgiving into a whole week.
  • 00:17:35.604 --> 00:17:40.242
  • And you don't have to limit to the week of the year when you
  • 00:17:40.242 --> 00:17:42.544
  • Have the holiday.
  • 00:17:42.544 --> 00:17:44.913
  • I know a very few things that unleash spiritual forces on your
  • 00:17:44.913 --> 00:17:48.717
  • Behalf more powerfully than cultivating a sense
  • 00:17:48.717 --> 00:17:53.188
  • Of gratitude.
  • 00:17:53.188 --> 00:17:55.491
  • And i think we get so trapped in the busyness and the muchness
  • 00:17:55.491 --> 00:17:58.427
  • And the demands and the responsibility and all the
  • 00:17:58.427 --> 00:18:00.562
  • Stuff, that we lose that.
  • 00:18:00.562 --> 00:18:01.930
  • We forget to be thankful.
  • 00:18:01.930 --> 00:18:04.867
  • We have more than any people that have ever lived on
  • 00:18:04.867 --> 00:18:06.702
  • The planet.
  • 00:18:06.702 --> 00:18:08.036
  • We do.
  • 00:18:08.036 --> 00:18:09.471
  • We have so much food, there's way too much of us.
  • 00:18:09.471 --> 00:18:13.308
  • We are, we're the most obese people on the--on the planet.
  • 00:18:13.308 --> 00:18:16.879
  • I mean, i'm--it's just--sorry.
  • 00:18:16.879 --> 00:18:19.615
  • We have so much stuff we have to rent places.
  • 00:18:19.615 --> 00:18:22.618
  • How many have empty closets at home?
  • 00:18:22.618 --> 00:18:27.756
  • Nah, i mean, we're just so blessed and yet we struggle to
  • 00:18:27.756 --> 00:18:32.661
  • Be grateful.
  • 00:18:32.661 --> 00:18:34.329
  • I saw a survey that said no matter where we are in the
  • 00:18:34.329 --> 00:18:38.233
  • Economic spectrum, we all want 25% more.
  • 00:18:38.233 --> 00:18:43.005
  • And it's a little true, you know, you'll sacrifice and save
  • 00:18:43.005 --> 00:18:45.574
  • To get a new car and on the way home, you see six more just like
  • 00:18:45.574 --> 00:18:49.211
  • It and you're already dreaming about the upgrade you want.
  • 00:18:49.211 --> 00:18:53.215
  • There's--contentment is difficult.
  • 00:18:53.215 --> 00:18:54.950
  • So i brought you five ways.
  • 00:18:54.950 --> 00:18:56.285
  • Day one is we're simply gonna focus on being thankful to god.
  • 00:18:56.285 --> 00:18:59.421
  • This is between you and the lord.
  • 00:18:59.421 --> 00:19:01.857
  • What we want to establish is the foundation of a habit of
  • 00:19:01.857 --> 00:19:05.160
  • Being thankful.
  • 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:06.929
  • This is just, "god, i'm grateful that i know you, there's a god
  • 00:19:06.929 --> 00:19:09.531
  • In heaven and he's known to me."
  • 00:19:09.531 --> 00:19:12.134
  • You know how unbelievable that is, that there's a god that
  • 00:19:12.134 --> 00:19:14.336
  • Created the heavens and the earth, and he's willing to
  • 00:19:14.336 --> 00:19:16.572
  • Reveal himself to you?
  • 00:19:16.572 --> 00:19:19.007
  • You shouldn't presume that's normal, folks.
  • 00:19:19.007 --> 00:19:22.511
  • There is a god, and he said he would like to have a
  • 00:19:22.511 --> 00:19:24.813
  • Relationship with you.
  • 00:19:24.813 --> 00:19:27.783
  • It's really, it's mind-boggling to me.
  • 00:19:27.783 --> 00:19:30.986
  • I've never quite gotten around that.
  • 00:19:30.986 --> 00:19:33.222
  • Why?
  • 00:19:33.222 --> 00:19:36.291
  • I mean, human beings, i earned a degree in history.
  • 00:19:36.291 --> 00:19:38.794
  • We're a rebellious lot.
  • 00:19:38.794 --> 00:19:42.598
  • I mean, the most religious amongst us are rebellious.
  • 00:19:42.598 --> 00:19:46.101
  • When god calls a people for himself, a church, or whomever
  • 00:19:46.101 --> 00:19:49.404
  • It is, we struggle with that.
  • 00:19:49.404 --> 00:19:51.940
  • God, there is a god, and we can--we should appreciate it.
  • 00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:54.243
  • In daniel chapter 6, do you know daniel's story?
  • 00:19:54.243 --> 00:19:56.545
  • He's a slave his whole life, his whole adult life.
  • 00:19:56.545 --> 00:20:00.882
  • He's mutilated, he suffers so much.
  • 00:20:00.882 --> 00:20:05.487
  • And in daniel 6 is the--the only thing they could find
  • 00:20:05.487 --> 00:20:08.156
  • Against daniel to criticize him for wasn't his integrity or
  • 00:20:08.156 --> 00:20:10.626
  • His character.
  • 00:20:10.626 --> 00:20:11.960
  • He was just a little--he led with his faith too much.
  • 00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:17.032
  • And so they finally got a law passed that said if you prayed
  • 00:20:17.032 --> 00:20:19.968
  • To anybody other than the king of babylon, you could be killed.
  • 00:20:19.968 --> 00:20:25.974
  • "when daniel learned that the decree had been published, he
  • 00:20:25.974 --> 00:20:27.943
  • Went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened
  • 00:20:27.943 --> 00:20:30.045
  • Towards jerusalem.
  • 00:20:30.045 --> 00:20:31.413
  • And three times a day he got down on his knees and he prayed,
  • 00:20:31.413 --> 00:20:35.851
  • Giving thanks to god, just as he'd done before."
  • 00:20:35.851 --> 00:20:40.222
  • It was the tone of his prayer that captured my attention.
  • 00:20:40.222 --> 00:20:43.158
  • Three times a day, what did he pray?
  • 00:20:43.158 --> 00:20:46.595
  • "god, i thank you."
  • 00:20:46.595 --> 00:20:48.563
  • He didn't pray curses down on his enemies.
  • 00:20:48.563 --> 00:20:51.633
  • They were godless, they were pagan.
  • 00:20:51.633 --> 00:20:55.804
  • They were the exact opposite of all the things that he knew and
  • 00:20:55.804 --> 00:20:59.041
  • Understood about worshiping god.
  • 00:20:59.041 --> 00:21:01.276
  • And the comment we're given of the commentary of his prayer
  • 00:21:01.276 --> 00:21:03.712
  • Life was he just thanked god.
  • 00:21:03.712 --> 00:21:07.115
  • Very clearly, daniel did not believe in the separation of
  • 00:21:07.115 --> 00:21:09.284
  • Church and state, because there was a state decree he couldn't
  • 00:21:09.284 --> 00:21:13.288
  • Do that and he went home and he opened his windows.
  • 00:21:13.288 --> 00:21:16.458
  • And he did it three times a day, just to thank god.
  • 00:21:16.458 --> 00:21:23.398
  • I wanna invite you to begin to say, "god, i just wanna thank
  • 00:21:23.398 --> 00:21:25.967
  • You that you care about me."
  • 00:21:25.967 --> 00:21:29.438
  • That the bible says jesus said that god--a sparrow doesn't
  • 00:21:29.438 --> 00:21:32.607
  • Fall to the ground without god knowing.
  • 00:21:32.607 --> 00:21:34.309
  • He--you know, he attends the funerals of the sparrows.
  • 00:21:34.309 --> 00:21:37.846
  • And he said you're a lot more valuable than the birds.
  • 00:21:37.846 --> 00:21:41.683
  • He said he clothed the lilies of the field in a beautiful
  • 00:21:41.683 --> 00:21:44.786
  • Splendorous way, but he cares a lot more about you.
  • 00:21:44.786 --> 00:21:49.291
  • He said you don't have to worry about what you'll eat or where
  • 00:21:49.291 --> 00:21:51.360
  • You'll live or what you'll--he didn't say you didn't have
  • 00:21:51.360 --> 00:21:52.828
  • To work.
  • 00:21:52.828 --> 00:21:54.162
  • He said, just don't be burdened with anxiety over that because--
  • 00:21:54.162 --> 00:21:57.366
  • But seek first, he said, the kingdom of god.
  • 00:21:57.366 --> 00:22:00.902
  • "god, i'd like to know you better."
  • 00:22:00.902 --> 00:22:04.473
  • Say, "well, i don't know how that's gonna help me.
  • 00:22:04.473 --> 00:22:07.109
  • I've got real problems."
  • 00:22:07.109 --> 00:22:08.443
  • I'm not saying that you don't.
  • 00:22:08.443 --> 00:22:09.811
  • I'm asking you to shift the focus of your attitude ever
  • 00:22:09.811 --> 00:22:13.315
  • So slightly.
  • 00:22:13.315 --> 00:22:15.417
  • Rather than to be consumed by the demands, and they can be
  • 00:22:15.417 --> 00:22:18.086
  • Real and pressing.
  • 00:22:18.086 --> 00:22:19.454
  • I'm not suggesting they're not legitimate.
  • 00:22:19.454 --> 00:22:21.056
  • I'm telling you there's something more powerful.
  • 00:22:21.056 --> 00:22:25.460
  • "god, i wanna thank you."
  • 00:22:25.460 --> 00:22:30.866
  • You know what the result of david's prayer of
  • 00:22:30.866 --> 00:22:32.601
  • Thanksgiving was?
  • 00:22:32.601 --> 00:22:35.337
  • He was condemned to death.
  • 00:22:35.337 --> 00:22:37.773
  • Oh, jeez.
  • 00:22:37.773 --> 00:22:40.342
  • And not like something simple or painless.
  • 00:22:40.342 --> 00:22:43.779
  • They were gonna throw him in a lion's den and then watch.
  • 00:22:43.779 --> 00:22:48.750
  • A tormented death.
  • 00:22:48.750 --> 00:22:51.019
  • Except the day they threw daniel in the lions's den, the
  • 00:22:51.019 --> 00:22:53.288
  • Lions weren't hungry.
  • 00:22:53.288 --> 00:22:55.724
  • So the watchers were curious.
  • 00:22:55.724 --> 00:22:58.493
  • And daniel got to explain to them about the god that he was
  • 00:22:58.493 --> 00:23:01.029
  • So thankful for.
  • 00:23:01.029 --> 00:23:03.231
  • And it impacted a whole empire.
  • 00:23:03.231 --> 00:23:06.435
  • So what i'm offering you isn't powerless.
  • 00:23:06.435 --> 00:23:08.537
  • You see, this isn't--we have this--we struggle with
  • 00:23:08.537 --> 00:23:11.339
  • Something that our faith is somehow not as legitimate, that
  • 00:23:11.339 --> 00:23:14.543
  • There's real expressions of power in the world, economic
  • 00:23:14.543 --> 00:23:17.679
  • Power, or military power, or political power, or the power of
  • 00:23:17.679 --> 00:23:21.183
  • Information or knowledge.
  • 00:23:21.183 --> 00:23:22.551
  • And they're all legitimate, but there's a greater power than all
  • 00:23:22.551 --> 00:23:25.654
  • Of those, and it's the power of almighty god.
  • 00:23:25.654 --> 00:23:29.758
  • And he's called us by name and welcomed us into his kingdom and
  • 00:23:29.758 --> 00:23:33.528
  • We want to be thankful to him.
  • 00:23:33.528 --> 00:23:36.765
  • Psalm 136, it was written to be a corporate worship.
  • 00:23:36.765 --> 00:23:42.904
  • In fact, we can do it together.
  • 00:23:42.904 --> 00:23:44.239
  • I'll read the part that's in bold and you'll do the, "his
  • 00:23:44.239 --> 00:23:46.241
  • Love endures forever."
  • 00:23:46.241 --> 00:23:48.176
  • Do you know your part?
  • 00:23:48.176 --> 00:23:50.145
  • We can do this.
  • 00:23:50.145 --> 00:23:51.513
  • "give thanks to the lord, for he is good."
  • 00:23:51.513 --> 00:23:53.815
  • Congregation: "his love endures forever."
  • 00:23:53.815 --> 00:23:55.951
  • Allen : "give thanks to the god of gods."
  • 00:23:55.951 --> 00:23:58.286
  • Congregation: "his love endures forever."
  • 00:23:58.286 --> 00:24:00.355
  • Allen: "give thanks to the lord of lords."
  • 00:24:00.355 --> 00:24:02.757
  • Congregation: "his love endures forever."
  • 00:24:02.757 --> 00:24:04.626
  • Allen: "give thanks to the god of heaven."
  • 00:24:04.626 --> 00:24:06.928
  • Congregation: "his love endures forever."
  • 00:24:06.928 --> 00:24:08.964
  • Allen: look at y'all.
  • 00:24:08.964 --> 00:24:11.766
  • If you get a group of christians together this week, you could do
  • 00:24:11.766 --> 00:24:14.369
  • That together.
  • 00:24:14.369 --> 00:24:16.938
  • They'll know you're weird.
  • 00:24:16.938 --> 00:24:19.274
  • "where'd you get that idea?"
  • 00:24:19.274 --> 00:24:20.609
  • "well, i went to church on saturday night."
  • 00:24:20.609 --> 00:24:21.977
  • "you go to church on saturday night?"
  • 00:24:21.977 --> 00:24:23.311
  • "yeah, i do.
  • 00:24:23.311 --> 00:24:24.679
  • You could come--go with me, there's a space or two."
  • 00:24:24.679 --> 00:24:30.986
  • We're gonna thank god in our lives.
  • 00:24:30.986 --> 00:24:32.654
  • Look at colossians 3:17: "whatever you do, whether in
  • 00:24:32.654 --> 00:24:36.725
  • Word or deed, do it all in the name of the lord jesus, giving
  • 00:24:36.725 --> 00:24:40.362
  • Thanks to god the father through him."
  • 00:24:40.362 --> 00:24:43.632
  • God, i just wanna say thank you.
  • 00:24:43.632 --> 00:24:46.001
  • Not for something.
  • 00:24:46.001 --> 00:24:48.270
  • Because you exist.
  • 00:24:48.270 --> 00:24:51.006
  • Thank you, god.
  • 00:24:51.006 --> 00:24:53.108
  • I could be alone.
  • 00:24:53.108 --> 00:24:55.977
  • I could be isolated.
  • 00:24:55.977 --> 00:24:57.345
  • I could be forgotten.
  • 00:24:57.345 --> 00:24:59.447
  • I could be nothing more than a collection of random molecules,
  • 00:24:59.447 --> 00:25:04.019
  • Hurtling through space with no purpose and no value, but you
  • 00:25:04.019 --> 00:25:08.056
  • Called me by name.
  • 00:25:08.056 --> 00:25:10.292
  • God, i thank you.
  • 00:25:10.292 --> 00:25:12.861
  • I thank you.
  • 00:25:12.861 --> 00:25:15.330
  • Yes, we suffer rejection.
  • 00:25:15.330 --> 00:25:17.032
  • Yes, we suffer disappointment.
  • 00:25:17.032 --> 00:25:19.034
  • Yes, but god, thank you.
  • 00:25:19.034 --> 00:25:22.571
  • Thank you.
  • 00:25:22.571 --> 00:25:23.972
  • It'll take a little discipline.
  • 00:25:26.975 --> 00:25:29.210
  • It'll take every bit as much discipline as a physical
  • 00:25:29.210 --> 00:25:32.581
  • Exercise program.
  • 00:25:32.581 --> 00:25:35.283
  • There are days you won't feel like it.
  • 00:25:35.283 --> 00:25:36.651
  • In fact, the days you feel the least like it are the days you
  • 00:25:36.651 --> 00:25:38.653
  • Need to use your words the most.
  • 00:25:38.653 --> 00:25:41.222
  • There's days that'll there'll be something in you that'll make
  • 00:25:41.222 --> 00:25:43.258
  • You angry when you say, "god, i thank you."
  • 00:25:43.258 --> 00:25:46.962
  • Those are the days i get louder.
  • 00:25:46.962 --> 00:25:49.631
  • Those are the days i go for a walk outside because i need to
  • 00:25:49.631 --> 00:25:51.499
  • Be outside.
  • 00:25:51.499 --> 00:25:53.301
  • I'll just let everything that's out there hear me.
  • 00:25:53.301 --> 00:25:55.870
  • "god, i'm gonna thank you today.
  • 00:25:55.870 --> 00:25:58.073
  • I feel like shaking my fist at you, but i'm gonna say thank
  • 00:25:58.073 --> 00:26:00.542
  • You today.
  • 00:26:00.542 --> 00:26:02.010
  • You're good to me."
  • 00:26:02.010 --> 00:26:03.545
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:26:03.612 --> 00:26:10.485
  • Allen: allen jackson ministries was created
  • 00:26:10.485 --> 00:26:12.454
  • To strengthen the church.
  • 00:26:12.454 --> 00:26:13.922
  • Your partnership has made this possible.
  • 00:26:13.922 --> 00:26:16.024
  • Thank you for your faithfulness and your generosity.
  • 00:26:16.024 --> 00:26:18.827
  • But the need is as significant as it's ever been.
  • 00:26:18.827 --> 00:26:21.730
  • Not simply in this nation, now we have invitations
  • 00:26:21.730 --> 00:26:23.798
  • Internationally to war-torn countries,
  • 00:26:23.798 --> 00:26:26.134
  • Into israel and to ukraine,
  • 00:26:26.134 --> 00:26:27.702
  • To come help strengthen the church there.
  • 00:26:27.702 --> 00:26:30.005
  • And with god's help and your help, we intend to respond.
  • 00:26:30.005 --> 00:26:32.841
  • Folks, it's a critical time, it's not just business as usual.
  • 00:26:32.841 --> 00:26:36.311
  • We can't gather in our churches and sing our hymns
  • 00:26:36.311 --> 00:26:38.413
  • And ignore what's happening in our world.
  • 00:26:38.413 --> 00:26:40.615
  • We have to take the biblical truth, the biblical worldview,
  • 00:26:40.615 --> 00:26:43.618
  • And share it with our culture, clearly
  • 00:26:43.618 --> 00:26:45.720
  • With determination, with courage.
  • 00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:48.456
  • We're creating tools to help you do that in your church,
  • 00:26:48.456 --> 00:26:50.959
  • In your home, in your community.
  • 00:26:50.959 --> 00:26:52.961
  • Together we're going to make an impact in this new year
  • 00:26:52.961 --> 00:26:55.463
  • Like we've never made before.
  • 00:26:55.463 --> 00:26:57.532
  • Will you make an investment in what we're doing?
  • 00:26:57.532 --> 00:26:59.901
  • Together we're going to join god in seeing the name of jesus
  • 00:26:59.901 --> 00:27:02.937
  • Elevated in the earth.
  • 00:27:02.937 --> 00:27:04.572
  • Will you pray?
  • 00:27:04.572 --> 00:27:05.907
  • Father, i ask for your anointing.
  • 00:27:05.907 --> 00:27:07.308
  • Give us a freedom to give and to serve like never before,
  • 00:27:07.308 --> 00:27:11.012
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:11.012 --> 00:27:13.281
  • God bless you and thank you.
  • 00:27:13.281 --> 00:27:14.783
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:16.217 --> 00:27:16.217