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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Preparing A People (Part 2)

January 1, 2026 | 28:35

Allen Jackson - Preparing A People (Part 2)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Preparation #MoveofGod #Revival #SeekGod #Church #KingdomofGod #Culture #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Preparing A People (Part 2) | January 1, 2026
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Allen jackson: we began allen jackson ministries to strengthen
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  • The church.
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  • Thank you for your partnership.
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  • Together, we made an impact in this nation.
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  • But we're not done, in fact, in many ways, i believe we're
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  • 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 darkness
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  • Increasing in the world around us.
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  • We have to have the courage to tell the truth to our culture, a
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  • Biblical worldview to engage current events in a way to make
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  • What we believe a part of the fabric of our schools, our
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  • Homes, our communities, our nation, and beyond.
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  • We have invitations now from war-torn countries, in israel
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  • And ukraine, to strengthen the churches there.
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  • I want to ask you to make an investment with us, in allen
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  • Jackson ministries, to make 2026 the most fruitful year we've
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  • Ever had together.
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  • God is moving in the earth.
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  • We want to keep 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: i think sometimes the invitations of this present age
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  • We hear with more clarity than we hear the invitations of god,
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  • And that's unfortunate.
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  • And the bible talks about the mystery of the church in
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  • Ephesians 5, "this is a profound mystery--i'm talking about
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  • Christ and the church," about the messiah and the church.
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  • The bible presents it as a mystery.
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  • We think of the church as an organization, an institution,
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  • Something recognized by the irs.
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  • I assure you, the church is far more than that.
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  • Look in ephesians 1:22, "god placed all things under jesus's
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  • Feet and appointed him to be the head over everything for
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  • The church."
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  • Jesus is the head of the church.
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  • The resurrected jesus is the head of the church, the one who
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  • Has a name above every name, that at the name of jesus, every
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  • Knee will bow on heaven and earth and under the earth.
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  • That jesus of nazareth, the conquering king, is the head of
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  • The church.
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  • If you imagine yourself to be a part of the church, you serve at
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  • His pleasure.
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  • It's his initiative, it isn't ours.
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  • We get way torqued up about how we like church.
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  • And god gave us preferences and emotions, and i don't think
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  • That's wrong or wicked until we elevate them above the purposes
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  • Of the head of the church.
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  • Church is not about my pleasure or my comfort or my convenience
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  • Or my ease.
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  • It just isn't.
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  • It isn't our initiative, we serve at his pleasure.
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  • If i'm allowed another breath, it's at his pleasure.
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  • And we've got to recalibrate, folks.
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  • We--we've been--we've kind of been herded like sheeple.
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  • I asked dr. carson, when i was with him one time, about some of
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  • The responses during covid and why we were doing some things
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  • And he said, "oh, allen, they're sheeple."
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  • And then i said, "no, dr. carson, it's really well
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  • Educated, influential, godly people."
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  • And he turned around to me, as harsh as i've ever heard dr.
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  • Carson, he's a little chill, and he said, "allen,
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  • They're sheeple!"
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  • I said, "yes, sir, sheeple it is."
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  • And i think that, unfortunately, in the way we've organized and
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  • Structured ourselves and the imagination that we can join the
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  • Right group or be amongst the right people or sit in the right
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  • Place or read from the right publishing house or read the
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  • Right translation or have the right size style worship or
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  • Whatever we think regulates us to be better than someone else.
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  • You know, at one time, not too long ago, in my lifetime,
  • 00:03:59.998 --> 00:04:02.434
  • Christianity was the predominant cultural influence in our
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  • Culture, particularly in this part of our nation.
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  • If you visit the downtown of any of the smaller southern cities,
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  • Even until today, even though they may have been repurposed,
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  • But you'll probably find a corner downtown where there's
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  • Three or four churches.
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  • Most likely there's a baptist and a methodist or a
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  • Presbyterian and a church of christ.
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  • And on sundays, not too many decades ago, you could find the
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  • People filing into their churches on sunday mornings,
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  • Looking across the street thinking, i'm better than you.
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  • We do it better than you do it.
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  • Because of the way we take communion or the way we sing, or
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  • Because of something we do.
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  • And in our pride and arrogance, we have forfeited almost all the
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  • Influence that we one time had.
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  • And i think all of that's happened because we had such a
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  • Diminished view of the head of the church.
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  • We forgot who we were serving, and we imagined it was about our
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  • Style or our little theological bubble or our preference.
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  • And again, i--i'm not opposed to preferences, i think they're
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  • Okay until we elevate them above our desire and determination to
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  • Serve the king.
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  • There's a mystery in the church.
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  • How does the church survive?
  • 00:05:14.039 --> 00:05:15.407
  • How did the church overcome the power of mighty rome?
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  • How did rome crumble and the church persevere?
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  • How did the church endure the hatred of the soviet union?
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  • When the churches were shuttered and the pastors were arrested
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  • And sent to the gulags and the hatred that was vested towards
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  • Those who believed in jesus.
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  • And all the wealth and the military power and the secret
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  • Police of the soviet union, and the soviet union collapsed and
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  • The church persevered.
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  • How did the church triumph over the hate of mao?
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  • I mean, it's a mystery.
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  • Of all the things that have happened and changed and
  • 00:05:51.209 --> 00:05:54.246
  • Emerged, and the church of jesus christ moves forward.
  • 00:05:54.246 --> 00:05:58.216
  • It's a remarkable story, it truly is.
  • 00:05:58.216 --> 00:06:01.486
  • In matthew 16 is the verse that changed my life.
  • 00:06:01.486 --> 00:06:04.689
  • Jesus said, "i'll build my church, and hell itself won't be
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  • Able to prevail against it."
  • 00:06:07.225 --> 00:06:09.394
  • And hell will try.
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  • Hell has tried and they're not done trying.
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  • But the church will prevail because who--because of who is
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  • The head of the church.
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  • I'm not ashamed for being an advocate for the church of
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  • Jesus christ.
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  • In all of the ways that we fail and we struggle--you know, i
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  • Don't know, how much time do i have?
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  • Not enough.
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  • I had a conversation with tim barton this week.
  • 00:06:35.420 --> 00:06:38.323
  • Do you know tim barton, the history guy?
  • 00:06:38.323 --> 00:06:42.093
  • When we went to class and slept, he paid attention.
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  • But we were talking about the awakenings in america, and he
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  • Said, "the difference between a revival and awakening," and it
  • 00:06:50.735 --> 00:06:53.138
  • Was his definition, you can--but he said, "you know, a revival is
  • 00:06:53.138 --> 00:06:56.208
  • When there's a regaining of religious fervor.
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  • It may be exemplified by repentance and baptisms."
  • 00:07:00.712 --> 00:07:03.815
  • And he said, "but when it emerges into an awakening, it
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  • Transforms culture."
  • 00:07:06.218 --> 00:07:08.687
  • And he used the first great awakening, which led to the
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  • American revolution.
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  • The moral courage to say to the british, "we will not yield to
  • 00:07:16.094 --> 00:07:20.232
  • Unfair taxation and ungodly principles," came from the
  • 00:07:20.232 --> 00:07:23.869
  • Pulpits of this nation.
  • 00:07:23.869 --> 00:07:26.638
  • And he has the documentation, and he referenced a couple of
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  • Books for me.
  • 00:07:29.574 --> 00:07:30.909
  • He said that the--almost line by line, the declaration of
  • 00:07:30.909 --> 00:07:34.546
  • Independence were ideas that had been preached from the pulpits
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  • Of this nation.
  • 00:07:37.983 --> 00:07:40.318
  • When the declaration of independence was put together
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  • And put forward, it wasn't a new idea, it'd been echoed around
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  • The colonies for a great season.
  • 00:07:46.458 --> 00:07:50.161
  • And the same was true, the second great awakening led to
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  • The civil war, when we said we will no longer tolerate the
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  • Abhorrent practice of slavery.
  • 00:07:55.767 --> 00:07:59.004
  • It was more than a revival, it led to significant
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  • Cultural change.
  • 00:08:01.172 --> 00:08:03.775
  • And the principles of scripture expressed through the church
  • 00:08:03.775 --> 00:08:07.846
  • Shape culture when we are vibrant and vital and directed
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  • By the spirit of god.
  • 00:08:12.284 --> 00:08:14.386
  • When we find ourselves being shaped by culture, it's a
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  • Church diminishing.
  • 00:08:17.622 --> 00:08:20.292
  • And for too long we've been a diminishing church, but i
  • 00:08:20.292 --> 00:08:23.328
  • Believe god is changing the order of that.
  • 00:08:23.328 --> 00:08:27.098
  • It's a mystery.
  • 00:08:27.098 --> 00:08:28.433
  • How can that happen?
  • 00:08:28.433 --> 00:08:29.801
  • When you think of the things arrayed against us and the
  • 00:08:29.801 --> 00:08:31.903
  • Forces presented against us, it seems like an impossibility.
  • 00:08:31.903 --> 00:08:35.473
  • I just started playing with some of the people i knew.
  • 00:08:38.643 --> 00:08:40.645
  • Jonathan edwards, one of the ministers who spoke into that
  • 00:08:40.645 --> 00:08:44.783
  • First great awakening.
  • 00:08:44.783 --> 00:08:48.086
  • In more contemporary history, there was a pastor, russell
  • 00:08:48.086 --> 00:08:51.222
  • Conwell, had a--planted a church in philadelphia that became
  • 00:08:51.222 --> 00:08:54.726
  • Temple university.
  • 00:08:54.726 --> 00:08:57.095
  • I mean, there are remarkable expressions of the church
  • 00:08:57.095 --> 00:08:59.931
  • Impacting cities, changing cultures.
  • 00:08:59.931 --> 00:09:02.267
  • It wasn't too long ago in our own history when on the monday
  • 00:09:02.267 --> 00:09:07.505
  • Edition of local newspapers carried the sermon from the
  • 00:09:07.505 --> 00:09:11.142
  • Leading pulpit of the city, in the paper.
  • 00:09:11.142 --> 00:09:16.414
  • Our faith shaped our educational system, our legal system.
  • 00:09:16.414 --> 00:09:20.819
  • It was the fabric that enabled us to become the most prosperous
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  • Nation in the history of nations.
  • 00:09:24.255 --> 00:09:28.226
  • And as that value set has deteriorated and trust has
  • 00:09:28.226 --> 00:09:31.229
  • Deteriorated and dishonesty and selfishness and greed have
  • 00:09:31.229 --> 00:09:35.133
  • Risen, we have lost our way.
  • 00:09:35.133 --> 00:09:40.005
  • And amongst the church, we've stopped having the conversation
  • 00:09:40.005 --> 00:09:42.874
  • And we've talked about our eternity.
  • 00:09:42.874 --> 00:09:45.310
  • And i'm grateful that we get our eternity sorted out, but i think
  • 00:09:45.310 --> 00:09:49.014
  • It's essential that we understand we have a role
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  • In time.
  • 00:09:51.683 --> 00:09:53.518
  • The mystery of the church.
  • 00:09:53.518 --> 00:09:56.721
  • And then paul understood the mystery of the gentiles
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  • And israel.
  • 00:09:59.024 --> 00:10:01.159
  • Gee, that's become a relevant conversation.
  • 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:03.895
  • Ephesians 3:6 says, "this mystery is that through the
  • 00:10:03.895 --> 00:10:07.132
  • Gospel the gentiles are heirs together with israel, members
  • 00:10:07.132 --> 00:10:11.403
  • Together of one body, and sharers together in the promise
  • 00:10:11.403 --> 00:10:15.573
  • In christ jesus."
  • 00:10:15.573 --> 00:10:18.543
  • Christ is the english equivalent of the greek word christos,
  • 00:10:18.543 --> 00:10:23.048
  • Which is the greek equivalent of the hebrew word mashiach.
  • 00:10:23.048 --> 00:10:26.685
  • So when you read christ jesus, it's simply saying jesus
  • 00:10:26.685 --> 00:10:29.688
  • The messiah.
  • 00:10:29.688 --> 00:10:31.890
  • That what's available to us is because jesus the messiah, a
  • 00:10:31.890 --> 00:10:35.627
  • Jewish messiah, came to the earth, the incarnate son of god,
  • 00:10:35.627 --> 00:10:39.297
  • And it rewrote our future.
  • 00:10:39.297 --> 00:10:42.367
  • These things are our birthright, they're not unfathomable.
  • 00:10:42.367 --> 00:10:46.538
  • They're not beyond us.
  • 00:10:46.538 --> 00:10:48.306
  • If abraham could understand these things, how much more
  • 00:10:48.306 --> 00:10:51.609
  • Should those of us in the new covenant understand?
  • 00:10:51.609 --> 00:10:55.447
  • We have not only the word of god, we have the indwelling
  • 00:10:55.447 --> 00:10:58.183
  • Spirit of god.
  • 00:10:58.183 --> 00:11:00.552
  • We've experienced the new birth.
  • 00:11:00.552 --> 00:11:02.220
  • We have changed kingdoms.
  • 00:11:02.220 --> 00:11:06.157
  • Again, i think we've had too small of an imagination.
  • 00:11:06.157 --> 00:11:08.960
  • We thought, well, you know, i'm born again, so i don't really
  • 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:11.596
  • Have to think much about the rest of it, it's
  • 00:11:11.596 --> 00:11:13.098
  • Just extracurricular.
  • 00:11:13.098 --> 00:11:14.833
  • Not really, if we're gonna fulfill the purposes of god.
  • 00:11:14.833 --> 00:11:17.302
  • Did i put romans 9 in your notes?
  • 00:11:20.705 --> 00:11:23.875
  • Yes, good, you got the deluxe version.
  • 00:11:23.875 --> 00:11:27.645
  • Paul's talking about--he said, "i could wish that i myself were
  • 00:11:27.645 --> 00:11:30.148
  • Cursed and cut off from christ for the sake of my brothers,
  • 00:11:30.148 --> 00:11:32.951
  • Those of my own race, the people of israel.
  • 00:11:32.951 --> 00:11:35.520
  • Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the
  • 00:11:35.520 --> 00:11:39.390
  • Covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and
  • 00:11:39.390 --> 00:11:42.427
  • The promises.
  • 00:11:42.427 --> 00:11:43.795
  • Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human
  • 00:11:43.795 --> 00:11:46.364
  • Ancestry of the messiah, who is god overall, forever praised!
  • 00:11:46.364 --> 00:11:51.503
  • Amen."
  • 00:11:51.503 --> 00:11:53.404
  • Would you please note he says, "theirs is," he doesn't say,
  • 00:11:53.404 --> 00:11:58.576
  • "theirs was."
  • 00:11:58.576 --> 00:12:01.780
  • He didn't render them in the past tense.
  • 00:12:01.780 --> 00:12:06.284
  • Abraham saw, when the glory of the lord appeared to him, what
  • 00:12:06.284 --> 00:12:11.356
  • God would do generations beyond him.
  • 00:12:11.356 --> 00:12:14.759
  • He saw it step by step.
  • 00:12:14.759 --> 00:12:18.363
  • And paul is reminding us that god's purposes haven't been
  • 00:12:18.363 --> 00:12:21.566
  • Diminished or changed.
  • 00:12:21.566 --> 00:12:25.303
  • There's a lot of cultural pressure.
  • 00:12:25.303 --> 00:12:26.938
  • There's a lot of voices coming out with some really bizarre
  • 00:12:26.938 --> 00:12:30.675
  • Approaches to scripture and the people of god and our purposes,
  • 00:12:30.675 --> 00:12:34.913
  • And most of them seem to me to be an accommodation to an
  • 00:12:34.913 --> 00:12:38.416
  • Increasingly secular voice in the church.
  • 00:12:38.416 --> 00:12:42.253
  • But jesus cautioned us about that multiple times.
  • 00:12:42.253 --> 00:12:46.791
  • When he talked about this age, as we approach the culmination
  • 00:12:46.791 --> 00:12:50.895
  • Of this age, he talked about the prevalence of deception and of
  • 00:12:50.895 --> 00:12:54.265
  • Falling away.
  • 00:12:54.265 --> 00:12:57.001
  • We're going to have to have a bigger heart, a
  • 00:12:57.001 --> 00:12:58.803
  • Broader understanding.
  • 00:12:58.803 --> 00:13:01.406
  • John understood the concept of a heavenly vision.
  • 00:13:01.406 --> 00:13:07.312
  • You know this, most of you have read the book of revelation.
  • 00:13:07.312 --> 00:13:10.849
  • I gave you a sample.
  • 00:13:10.849 --> 00:13:12.183
  • It's a bit of a longer passage, but i think it--it's worth
  • 00:13:12.183 --> 00:13:15.053
  • A moment.
  • 00:13:15.053 --> 00:13:16.387
  • John wrote, "one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls
  • 00:13:16.387 --> 00:13:19.023
  • Full of the seven last plagues came and said to me."
  • 00:13:19.023 --> 00:13:21.593
  • John's had a vision of the throne room of god, of heaven,
  • 00:13:21.593 --> 00:13:24.128
  • And he believed it enough that he wrote it down for us.
  • 00:13:27.365 --> 00:13:29.601
  • "'come, i'll show you the bride, the wife of the lamb.'
  • 00:13:29.601 --> 00:13:32.337
  • And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and
  • 00:13:32.337 --> 00:13:34.839
  • High, and showed me the holy city, jerusalem, coming down out
  • 00:13:34.839 --> 00:13:38.910
  • Of heaven from god.
  • 00:13:38.910 --> 00:13:40.845
  • And it shone with the glory of god, and its brilliance was like
  • 00:13:40.845 --> 00:13:43.548
  • That of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
  • 00:13:43.548 --> 00:13:48.553
  • It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve
  • 00:13:48.553 --> 00:13:51.956
  • Angels at the gates.
  • 00:13:51.956 --> 00:13:53.324
  • And on the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes
  • 00:13:53.324 --> 00:13:55.026
  • Of israel."
  • 00:13:55.026 --> 00:13:56.394
  • You can't even get into the new jerusalem without walking under
  • 00:13:56.394 --> 00:13:58.429
  • A gate that has a hebrew name in it.
  • 00:13:58.429 --> 00:14:01.532
  • It's gonna be a very awkward place for antisemites.
  • 00:14:01.532 --> 00:14:05.904
  • "there were three gates on the east, and three on the north,
  • 00:14:05.904 --> 00:14:07.939
  • And three on the south and three on the west.
  • 00:14:07.939 --> 00:14:09.707
  • And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them
  • 00:14:09.707 --> 00:14:12.277
  • Were the names of the twelve apostles of the lamb."
  • 00:14:12.277 --> 00:14:17.115
  • This was the city that abraham was seeking for.
  • 00:14:17.115 --> 00:14:21.452
  • This was why abraham left the ur of the chaldees.
  • 00:14:21.452 --> 00:14:26.824
  • He saw something beyond time.
  • 00:14:26.824 --> 00:14:30.061
  • He saw something that made the sacrifices of the moment
  • 00:14:30.061 --> 00:14:32.897
  • Insignificant, compared to the opportunity that was before him.
  • 00:14:32.897 --> 00:14:37.268
  • I don't believe you and i will complete our courses with
  • 00:14:37.268 --> 00:14:40.305
  • Excellence, unless we understand there is something before us
  • 00:14:40.305 --> 00:14:43.274
  • That is more precious than anything we could lay hold of
  • 00:14:43.274 --> 00:14:45.610
  • In time.
  • 00:14:45.610 --> 00:14:48.079
  • And i'm not just talking about escaping hell.
  • 00:14:48.079 --> 00:14:51.783
  • We're even trying to re-craft that so it's not
  • 00:14:51.783 --> 00:14:53.685
  • So intimidating.
  • 00:14:53.685 --> 00:14:56.721
  • Within this vision that john has, there's no--there's a city
  • 00:14:56.721 --> 00:15:00.091
  • With no middle wall of partition.
  • 00:15:00.091 --> 00:15:03.294
  • There's no longer the distinction of jew and gentile
  • 00:15:03.294 --> 00:15:05.596
  • Or gentile against jew.
  • 00:15:05.596 --> 00:15:08.299
  • In the language of the new testament, it's one new person.
  • 00:15:08.299 --> 00:15:11.602
  • And abraham saw it from afar.
  • 00:15:11.602 --> 00:15:13.471
  • We don't talk about abraham's in terms of being jewish, he
  • 00:15:13.471 --> 00:15:16.774
  • Precedes that.
  • 00:15:16.774 --> 00:15:18.543
  • He saw the whole counsel of god.
  • 00:15:18.543 --> 00:15:23.081
  • Is it possible that if you and i would open our hearts to the
  • 00:15:23.081 --> 00:15:26.718
  • Lord and listen?
  • 00:15:26.718 --> 00:15:29.120
  • Do you have the imagination that he would give us insight
  • 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:31.489
  • And understanding?
  • 00:15:31.489 --> 00:15:33.224
  • I'm not talking about new revelation.
  • 00:15:33.224 --> 00:15:35.526
  • I'm not talking about new rules or a changing of the boundaries
  • 00:15:35.526 --> 00:15:39.497
  • That you understand around holiness.
  • 00:15:39.497 --> 00:15:41.666
  • I'm talking about what it means to be engaged in the purposes
  • 00:15:41.666 --> 00:15:44.268
  • Of god.
  • 00:15:44.268 --> 00:15:49.407
  • Allen: god is moving in the earth and at allen jackson
  • 00:15:53.544 --> 00:15:55.980
  • Ministries, we're doing everything we can to strengthen
  • 00:15:55.980 --> 00:15:58.883
  • The church in our nation and wherever god opens the door.
  • 00:15:58.883 --> 00:16:02.120
  • We don't intend to maintain the status quo or to gather in our
  • 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:05.089
  • Churches for polite bible studies, we're gonna engage our
  • 00:16:05.089 --> 00:16:08.192
  • Culture with biblical truth and give you the tools to do so.
  • 00:16:08.192 --> 00:16:12.030
  • We want our children and grandchildren to inherit a
  • 00:16:12.030 --> 00:16:14.499
  • Church that's vibrant and vital, and to do that, we've got to
  • 00:16:14.499 --> 00:16:18.503
  • Make an investment.
  • 00:16:18.503 --> 00:16:19.871
  • Will you give generously to what we're doing at allen
  • 00:16:19.871 --> 00:16:21.906
  • Jackson ministries?
  • 00:16:21.906 --> 00:16:23.274
  • Your partnership will make 2026 the most fruitful year we've
  • 00:16:23.274 --> 00:16:26.244
  • Ever known, thank you.
  • 00:16:26.244 --> 00:16:28.279
  • Female announcer: at allen jackson ministries, we're
  • 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:30.181
  • Committed to strengthening the church and sharing the truth of
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  • God's word.
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  • When you support this ministry with a gift of $75 or more,
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  • We'll send you the lead with faith esv journaling bible.
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  • Your generosity will help us equip more people with the
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  • Biblical truth and encouragement they need for the year ahead.
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  • Give today at allenjackson.com or call ...
  • 00:16:48.733 --> 00:16:54.705
  • Allen: i mean, what was the one thing abraham is noted most for?
  • 00:16:57.708 --> 00:17:01.045
  • If you're gonna choose one thing about abram, who became abraham,
  • 00:17:01.045 --> 00:17:05.283
  • What would you say was his most sterling characteristic?
  • 00:17:05.283 --> 00:17:07.952
  • What did he do?
  • 00:17:07.952 --> 00:17:09.320
  • David killed goliath.
  • 00:17:09.320 --> 00:17:11.155
  • Daniel persevered as a slave in a foreign land.
  • 00:17:11.155 --> 00:17:17.295
  • Abraham waited, kind of.
  • 00:17:17.295 --> 00:17:23.234
  • We had a little impatient window, but abraham waited.
  • 00:17:23.234 --> 00:17:28.573
  • But god gave him insight and understanding.
  • 00:17:28.573 --> 00:17:30.341
  • See, i don't know that the assignment we've been given is
  • 00:17:30.341 --> 00:17:33.845
  • To be extraordinary or to be dramatic.
  • 00:17:33.845 --> 00:17:38.449
  • But to believe god, to listen, to care about the things of god
  • 00:17:38.449 --> 00:17:42.787
  • Coming in the earth, to have a longing to understand the
  • 00:17:42.787 --> 00:17:47.425
  • Purposes of god.
  • 00:17:47.425 --> 00:17:48.793
  • I'll close with those last two passages.
  • 00:17:51.996 --> 00:17:55.133
  • It describes this remarkable unity that god brings to all
  • 00:17:55.133 --> 00:17:59.036
  • People in christ.
  • 00:17:59.036 --> 00:18:00.505
  • Ephesians 2:14, "he himself is our peace, who has made the two
  • 00:18:00.505 --> 00:18:04.775
  • One," jew and gentile, "and has destroyed the barrier, the
  • 00:18:04.775 --> 00:18:09.347
  • Dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law
  • 00:18:09.347 --> 00:18:12.817
  • With its commandments and its regulations.
  • 00:18:12.817 --> 00:18:15.553
  • His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the
  • 00:18:15.553 --> 00:18:18.623
  • Two, thus making peace."
  • 00:18:18.623 --> 00:18:22.260
  • United by faith in jesus, a people for the purposes of god.
  • 00:18:22.260 --> 00:18:28.699
  • God has prepared a way, he has prepared a plan.
  • 00:18:28.699 --> 00:18:34.071
  • See, we have a great deal of difficulty believing god, he
  • 00:18:34.071 --> 00:18:37.308
  • Can--if god could prepare a way for our own lives, for our own
  • 00:18:37.308 --> 00:18:41.145
  • Dreams, for our own children, for our own aspirations.
  • 00:18:41.145 --> 00:18:44.382
  • And i believe god is inviting us to lift our eyes just a bit and
  • 00:18:44.382 --> 00:18:48.352
  • Say, "god, we would like to be a part of your plan."
  • 00:18:48.352 --> 00:18:52.823
  • Look in galatians 3, "you're all sons of god through faith in
  • 00:18:52.823 --> 00:18:55.726
  • Christ jesus."
  • 00:18:55.726 --> 00:18:57.628
  • How do you become children of god?
  • 00:18:57.628 --> 00:19:00.498
  • Through faith in christ jesus, there's no plan b, there's
  • 00:19:00.498 --> 00:19:03.000
  • No alternative.
  • 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:05.703
  • "for all of you who were baptized into christ have
  • 00:19:05.703 --> 00:19:08.139
  • Clothed yourselves with christ.
  • 00:19:08.139 --> 00:19:10.641
  • There's neither jew nor greek, slave nor free, male nor female,
  • 00:19:10.641 --> 00:19:14.378
  • For you are all one in christ jesus."
  • 00:19:14.378 --> 00:19:17.949
  • The 28th verse is sometimes used as a club to diminish
  • 00:19:17.949 --> 00:19:21.052
  • Other people.
  • 00:19:21.052 --> 00:19:25.289
  • It's saying that in christ, we have a status before god that
  • 00:19:25.289 --> 00:19:28.492
  • Isn't defined by our biological sex, our ethnicity.
  • 00:19:28.492 --> 00:19:32.530
  • But it's not denying the reality of those things, which is the
  • 00:19:32.530 --> 00:19:37.034
  • Way it is sometimes interpreted, that there's no longer jew
  • 00:19:37.034 --> 00:19:40.905
  • Nor gentile.
  • 00:19:40.905 --> 00:19:42.540
  • Well, if you believe that, then there's no longer male nor
  • 00:19:42.540 --> 00:19:44.475
  • Female, and now we're back to birthing people.
  • 00:19:44.475 --> 00:19:49.847
  • So it isn't denying the uniqueness of who we are and who
  • 00:19:49.847 --> 00:19:53.251
  • God created us to be and the distinctiveness of who god made
  • 00:19:53.251 --> 00:19:56.787
  • Us to be.
  • 00:19:56.787 --> 00:19:58.122
  • But he's saying that in christ, we've been unified before god by
  • 00:19:58.122 --> 00:20:01.492
  • Faith in jesus, we have all been given access whether we're male
  • 00:20:01.492 --> 00:20:05.162
  • Or female, or jew or greek, or slave or free.
  • 00:20:05.162 --> 00:20:10.134
  • Slavery isn't abolished in the earth until today, but in
  • 00:20:10.134 --> 00:20:13.804
  • Christ, we have access to almighty god.
  • 00:20:13.804 --> 00:20:18.709
  • It's a remarkable thing.
  • 00:20:18.709 --> 00:20:20.544
  • Think of all the things that divide us.
  • 00:20:20.544 --> 00:20:24.015
  • Our abilities, our iqs, our assets, our national, all the
  • 00:20:24.015 --> 00:20:28.719
  • Things that bring division amongst us, and the point that's
  • 00:20:28.719 --> 00:20:31.589
  • Being made is they've all been washed away by faith in jesus
  • 00:20:31.589 --> 00:20:34.959
  • Because the greatest invitation of our lives is to be included
  • 00:20:34.959 --> 00:20:38.296
  • In the family of god, to become the people of god.
  • 00:20:38.296 --> 00:20:42.033
  • God is building a people for himself.
  • 00:20:42.033 --> 00:20:45.403
  • I wanna be included with them.
  • 00:20:45.403 --> 00:20:48.105
  • I wanna be completely enraptured with the purposes of god in
  • 00:20:48.105 --> 00:20:51.776
  • The earth.
  • 00:20:51.776 --> 00:20:53.144
  • I want them to matter more than me, than all the other things
  • 00:20:53.144 --> 00:20:56.347
  • Around me, not easy.
  • 00:20:56.347 --> 00:21:00.184
  • But i have discovered something, if you don't have the intent,
  • 00:21:00.184 --> 00:21:02.887
  • It's highly improbable it will ever happen.
  • 00:21:02.887 --> 00:21:07.291
  • This is not the best time of year for dropping a few pounds.
  • 00:21:07.291 --> 00:21:12.063
  • In fact, i encourage you, i think we should behave like the
  • 00:21:12.063 --> 00:21:15.599
  • Animal kingdom.
  • 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:16.934
  • This is the time of year you need to lay on
  • 00:21:16.934 --> 00:21:18.469
  • A little extra for the winter, i'm kidding.
  • 00:21:18.469 --> 00:21:25.743
  • But before long, i think we would all probably wish we could
  • 00:21:25.743 --> 00:21:28.679
  • Shed a pound or two, but i'll tell you, it won't happen until
  • 00:21:28.679 --> 00:21:33.250
  • You have the intent for it to happen.
  • 00:21:33.250 --> 00:21:37.388
  • If you just kind of, you know, it'd be okay with me if
  • 00:21:37.388 --> 00:21:39.190
  • It happened, wouldn't it be nice?
  • 00:21:39.190 --> 00:21:42.093
  • In fact, i've been watching more ballgames thinking, if i could
  • 00:21:42.093 --> 00:21:44.095
  • Just watch some athletes, i could become more athletic
  • 00:21:44.095 --> 00:21:47.331
  • And perhaps a bit leaner.
  • 00:21:47.331 --> 00:21:50.968
  • I've watched cooking shows, healthy cooking shows, thinking,
  • 00:21:50.968 --> 00:21:53.604
  • Well, i can watch them cook healthy food while i eat pizza.
  • 00:21:53.604 --> 00:22:00.211
  • Without the intent, there is zero chance you're going to
  • 00:22:00.211 --> 00:22:03.013
  • Arrive at the outcome.
  • 00:22:03.013 --> 00:22:04.348
  • And i think what we have been lacking is the intent.
  • 00:22:04.348 --> 00:22:08.152
  • We say things like, "well, lord, you know, i'll do whatever
  • 00:22:08.152 --> 00:22:09.920
  • You want.
  • 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:11.255
  • I want whatever you want for me.
  • 00:22:11.255 --> 00:22:12.790
  • You know, i'll follow you wherever you lead, i--i'm all
  • 00:22:12.790 --> 00:22:15.292
  • In," but we don't really have the intent to make any changes.
  • 00:22:15.292 --> 00:22:22.600
  • And absent the intent, i don't imagine you have an opportunity.
  • 00:22:22.600 --> 00:22:29.473
  • So what i wanna ask you to begin to consider is, what would it
  • 00:22:29.473 --> 00:22:32.576
  • Look like to change the intent of my life?
  • 00:22:32.576 --> 00:22:36.514
  • What do you intend for the new year?
  • 00:22:36.514 --> 00:22:40.184
  • What do you intend for your spiritual formation?
  • 00:22:40.184 --> 00:22:44.422
  • Are you content?
  • 00:22:44.422 --> 00:22:46.557
  • Are you complacent?
  • 00:22:46.557 --> 00:22:49.560
  • The difference between a racehorse and a milk cow
  • 00:22:53.531 --> 00:22:56.167
  • Is complacency.
  • 00:22:56.167 --> 00:22:57.568
  • I want to be grateful for what god has done for me, but i don't
  • 00:23:00.938 --> 00:23:05.443
  • Want to stop my imagination that god is still extending
  • 00:23:05.443 --> 00:23:09.013
  • Invitations to me.
  • 00:23:09.013 --> 00:23:11.449
  • And i don't want you to do that either.
  • 00:23:11.449 --> 00:23:14.251
  • If god could give a revelation to abram of what he would do at
  • 00:23:14.251 --> 00:23:18.355
  • The end of the age.
  • 00:23:18.355 --> 00:23:20.324
  • If he could show the apostle john--from the isolation of
  • 00:23:20.324 --> 00:23:23.794
  • Exile on an island, when his peer group have been
  • 00:23:23.794 --> 00:23:29.266
  • Executed--if he could show to john the end of the age and the
  • 00:23:29.266 --> 00:23:32.269
  • Throne room of heaven and the unfolding purposes of god.
  • 00:23:32.269 --> 00:23:35.706
  • If he could show to saul of tarsus, a pharisee of the
  • 00:23:35.706 --> 00:23:38.542
  • Pharisees, and reveal to him the mystery of his purposes for the
  • 00:23:38.542 --> 00:23:44.381
  • Non-jewish world and make him the apostle to the gentiles,
  • 00:23:44.381 --> 00:23:49.119
  • Then i believe with all of my heart god could give to you or
  • 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:51.989
  • To me the understanding we need to make an impact in the
  • 00:23:51.989 --> 00:23:55.960
  • 21st century.
  • 00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:57.595
  • And i believe that will lead us to demonstrations of the spirit
  • 00:24:01.832 --> 00:24:05.035
  • Of god that aren't just limited to the introduction to
  • 00:24:05.035 --> 00:24:09.039
  • The kingdom.
  • 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:10.407
  • I don't wanna diminish that, it's important.
  • 00:24:10.407 --> 00:24:12.576
  • But i don't want to stop the invitations at that point.
  • 00:24:12.576 --> 00:24:16.914
  • I want the intent in my heart to know the lord as never before.
  • 00:24:16.914 --> 00:24:23.888
  • When i read the stories of the book of acts and what was
  • 00:24:23.888 --> 00:24:27.191
  • Happening in the lives of the believers, i think, lord, we
  • 00:24:27.191 --> 00:24:30.160
  • Desperately need that in our world today.
  • 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:32.930
  • We need whole cities stirred.
  • 00:24:32.930 --> 00:24:35.633
  • We need it to be such expressions of the spirit of
  • 00:24:35.633 --> 00:24:37.868
  • God, that there's demonic agitation stirred up and incites
  • 00:24:37.868 --> 00:24:42.673
  • Persecution because they're agitated at the inroads of what
  • 00:24:42.673 --> 00:24:46.143
  • God is doing in their communities, amen?
  • 00:24:46.143 --> 00:24:51.282
  • It's more than a bible study society, folks.
  • 00:24:51.282 --> 00:24:54.518
  • I brought you a prayer.
  • 00:24:54.518 --> 00:25:00.257
  • God is preparing a people.
  • 00:24:58.322 --> 00:25:03.160
  • He's moving as dramatically as he moved in bethlehem, in
  • 00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:06.564
  • Nazareth, as dramatically as when he sent gabriel to
  • 00:25:06.564 --> 00:25:10.434
  • See zechariah.
  • 00:25:10.434 --> 00:25:12.169
  • If you'll stand with me, we'll read this together.
  • 00:25:12.169 --> 00:25:16.974
  • You found it?
  • 00:25:20.377 --> 00:25:22.413
  • Heavenly father, thank you for revealing your purposes to
  • 00:25:22.413 --> 00:25:26.650
  • Your people.
  • 00:25:26.650 --> 00:25:28.018
  • Through many generations you have provided insight and
  • 00:25:28.018 --> 00:25:31.655
  • Understanding to those who seek you.
  • 00:25:31.655 --> 00:25:34.425
  • We ask now that you would open our hearts to understand that we
  • 00:25:34.425 --> 00:25:39.163
  • Might fulfill your purposes in this generation.
  • 00:25:39.163 --> 00:25:43.233
  • Grant us wisdom, insight, and boldness to take our place in
  • 00:25:43.233 --> 00:25:48.572
  • Your unfolding kingdom.
  • 00:25:48.572 --> 00:25:50.574
  • Holy spirit, we trust your direction, in jesus's
  • 00:25:50.574 --> 00:25:54.345
  • Name, amen.
  • 00:25:54.345 --> 00:25:56.614
  • Hallelujah, god bless you.
  • 00:25:56.614 --> 00:26:06.156
  • Allen: allen jackson ministries was created to strengthen
  • 00:26:10.294 --> 00:26:12.763
  • The church.
  • 00:26:12.763 --> 00:26:14.098
  • With your help, we've been able to take some steps in that
  • 00:26:14.098 --> 00:26:15.933
  • Direction, but we're more determined than ever to make an
  • 00:26:15.933 --> 00:26:18.802
  • Impact in our world.
  • 00:26:18.802 --> 00:26:20.537
  • We have some invitations internationally to step into
  • 00:26:20.537 --> 00:26:22.573
  • Some war-torn countries, into israel and ukraine, to help
  • 00:26:22.573 --> 00:26:25.342
  • Strengthen the church there.
  • 00:26:25.342 --> 00:26:26.877
  • We plan to respond to that.
  • 00:26:26.877 --> 00:26:28.912
  • But as importantly, in this nation, folks, business as usual
  • 00:26:28.912 --> 00:26:32.483
  • Isn't gonna get this done.
  • 00:26:32.483 --> 00:26:33.817
  • We can't be timid and sit in our churches and have polite bible
  • 00:26:33.817 --> 00:26:36.387
  • Studies and sing our favorite choruses.
  • 00:26:36.387 --> 00:26:38.989
  • We've got to take the truth into the public square, a biblical
  • 00:26:38.989 --> 00:26:42.192
  • Worldview back into the midst of our culture.
  • 00:26:42.192 --> 00:26:45.195
  • We're creating tools to help you do that in your home, in your
  • 00:26:45.195 --> 00:26:48.065
  • Church, in your community, bible studies, publishing books,
  • 00:26:48.065 --> 00:26:51.902
  • Content that we can share with you.
  • 00:26:51.902 --> 00:26:53.570
  • It's time for the church to be the church.
  • 00:26:53.570 --> 00:26:56.306
  • We have an advocacy for jesus of nazareth that has to be heard in
  • 00:26:56.306 --> 00:27:00.077
  • This season or our children and grandchildren will pay
  • 00:27:00.077 --> 00:27:02.746
  • The price.
  • 00:27:02.746 --> 00:27:04.114
  • Will you make an investment in this ministry to make 2026 the
  • 00:27:04.114 --> 00:27:07.117
  • Most fruitful year we've ever had together?
  • 00:27:07.117 --> 00:27:10.054
  • Thank you.
  • 00:27:10.054 --> 00:27:11.455
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:12.723 --> 00:27:12.723