Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - From Rejection to Acceptance (Part 2) | September 3, 2025
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- ♪♪♪
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- Allen jackson: hey, i sat down recently with my father to do a
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- Podcast for my "culture and christianity" podcast.
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- And it was so valuable to me.
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- I mean, it was stories that obviously i'm familiar with, but
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- As i heard him recount his faith, it ignited something in
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- Me about the faithfulness of god across generations.
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- Well, i encouraged my dad to put together a book about his
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- Experiences with the holy spirit.
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- It changed his life, my parents's life, ultimately,
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- My family's life.
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- I believe the book will be a real encouragement to you.
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- Now, i wanna make it available to you right along with
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- "unleashing the power of the holy spirit."
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- It's something i put together a while back that's been one of
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- The most effective tools we've ever had in the ministry.
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- Together, they'll open the doorway for you to not just have
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- Language around the holy spirit, but to have something to
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- Actually do to invite him into your life on a regular basis, to
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- Give you the wisdom you need to help you unlock the problems
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- That we face.
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- The spirit of god within us to help us, guide us, and direct
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- Us, that's invaluable.
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- And these books will help you understand.
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- ♪♪♪
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- Allen: we can't eliminate rejection from the journey, it's
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- A part of our journey in this present world order.
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- But rejection does not have the power to keep you from
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- God's best.
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- I'm gonna say it again: the rejection that touches your life
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- Does not have the power to keep you from god's best.
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- [congregation applauding]
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- Unless we allow it to, it can be overcome.
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- And this isn't just biblical.
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- You know, i can give you many illustrations from the people
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- Whose--i do life with that's not always the most comfortable.
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- It's easier to do it from my own life.
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- There are some responses i learned as a little fellow.
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- Long before i was emotionally mature or as mature as i got.
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- Keep praying, i'm still growing.
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- You know, when i was young, our family moved a bit, not a
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- Horrific lot, but i was in four schools by the time i got to the
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- Sixth grade in three states.
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- So i met a lot of different kids and students.
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- And you know, i learned responses.
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- How do you navigate those things in your life?
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- You don't have training for that yet.
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- For the first several years of my life, my dad was my barber.
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- You don't know my dad well enough, you know melo george.
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- He got his practice for being my barber on trimming horses.
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- So he had a clipper with a blade.
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- There was no art to it.
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- The art was not cutting my ears.
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- So i had a relatively short haircut, which is kinda cute
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- When you're a little fellow, but i grew to the point that it
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- Wasn't so fashionable.
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- And you're in a new school with a new group of people and kids
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- Being who kids are.
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- Some decided they'd make fun of your hair.
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- They didn't like your haircut.
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- "what's wrong with you?
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- Why does your hair look like that?"
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- Well, i couldn't explain to them george.
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- So i came up with my own response.
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- I don't care.
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- I don't care.
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- It's not true.
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- You'd rather they compliment you.
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- But the world being what it was, that doesn't always happen, so i
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- Formulated a response.
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- I processed a few more years and i liked athletics, so i went to
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- Play ball.
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- And so, through determination and hard work, i made the team,
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- But i--to get better you had to play people who were older than
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- You and stronger than you.
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- When i was a freshman, i got to play with the varsity, and they
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- Were bigger, and older, and stronger and two or three years
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- Difference in high school makes a big difference.
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- So we go to mtsu, and sneak into the gym, and get in pick-up
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- Games with college students.
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- And if you did very well, competitive being what
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- Competitive is, they'll start to punish you, physically.
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- Playing basketball, a non-contact sport.
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- I got my eye cut, my nose broken, my teeth knocked out.
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- Thank god it was not a contact sport.
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- [congregation laughing]
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- But i learned a new response.
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- That didn't hurt.
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- Somebody much bigger than me and far more physically gifted than
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- Me, get annoyed at me and launch an elbow or some such
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- Foolishness, i'd get up off the floor and grin.
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- Spit a little blood and go, "that didn't hurt."
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- Now, that's a lie, folks.
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- Somebody knocks your teeth out, it hurts.
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- But not me, i just took a handful of blood and smeared it
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- Across the jersey and grinned.
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- If they think you're half crazy, it gives you a slight advantage.
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- So, i pref--i chose a facade of some superficial happiness.
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- I kept growing.
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- I left home, i left middle tennessee.
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- I went to college.
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- I got into a degree program in college that was highly
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- Competitive and there was a high attrition rate.
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- The faculty's objective was to reduce the number of students.
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- They only wanted those who were willing to pay the price to be
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- In the degree program.
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- We started with several hundred of us and by my junior year
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- There was just a handful.
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- Two or three dozen of us left.
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- My best friends would come into my room--my dorm room.
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- They'd be crying and they say, "you know, this professor said
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- I'm too stupid to do this."
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- And i'd get in their face and i said, "you go tell that
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- Professor--" and i won't repeat.
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- It wasn't all biblically based.
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- It wasn't fair.
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- They didn't intend to be fair, they intended to
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- Create pressure.
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- Life's not fair.
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- And i learned another response:
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- I won't quit.
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- You're not gonna make me quit.
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- I don't care what you do.
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- I don't care how you lie, cheat, and steal, i'll be there the
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- Next day.
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- Now, you bundle all those together: i don't care, that
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- Didn't hurt, and i won't quit, all those got built into my
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- Little life.
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- Before i was really conscious, i was responding much.
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- But they all reflect all those responses can be summarized to
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- Something: rejection.
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- Not because of evil, just life.
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- And god puts some--you know, i can tell you the negative.
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- He put some remarkable people in my pathway.
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- He put a--i thought she was a little old lady.
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- She's probably younger than i am now, but that's--let's not dwell
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- On that.
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- And she rode back to college with me
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- And talked to me about forgiving and about
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- How much hatred i had in my heart 'cause see i needed the
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- Fuel of hatred to keep me from quitting.
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- I needed the resentment to keep me up late enough to study what
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- I needed to study, i thought.
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- And she heard all of that in me and she was--knew the lord well
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- Enough that--we happened to have an ice storm that day, so a trip
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- I could usually make in about 9 hours took 14.
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- So she had plenty of time.
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- And through god's grace i was able to hear and i could
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- Forgive and release.
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- And god set me free.
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- It changed the whole trajectory of my life.
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- If i hadn't had that car ride, i'd be a very different
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- Person today.
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- See, i'm convinced that rejection is universal.
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- It's a part of the journey through time.
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- But it doesn't have the power to define your future unless you
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- Give it that power.
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- Now, the opposite of rejection would be acceptance.
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- And that's where we started our discussion, that we've been
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- Accepted by god.
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- That we're--we've received his favor.
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- 'cause he said we were fearfully and wonderfully made.
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- So, against your life experiences, we're gonna set in
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- Contrast what god has said about us.
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- We're gonna unpack some other expressions of rejection and how
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- They come to us.
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- But the synonyms of rejection, the things that sound like
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- Rejection, that feel like rejection, is being excluded.
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- It's that feeling of being unwanted.
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- You don't really belong.
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- Somehow you're on the outside, but you don't know how to get on
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- The inside.
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- It's like everybody else got the manual, and nobody gave you
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- A copy.
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- They don't teach you the secret handshake.
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- You don't learn as quickly as they learn, or you don't see the
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- World in the same way they see the world, or you can't process
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- Information, or you sound different, or whatever.
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- It's not imaginary.
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- The first step in overcoming rejection is to recognize
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- The problem.
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- It's the reason i started this by telling you it's gonna be
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- Multiple sessions.
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- I can't finish this in this session.
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- It's not a trick to make you come to church more often.
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- But we'll do another section of this on wednesday and we'll do
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- Another section the following wednesday, but the first step in
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- Overcoming rejection is to recognize the problem.
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- But the goal of this little series is to move from rejection
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- To acceptance.
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- If god has accepted us, if god has shown us his favor, if god
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- Is pleased with us--what does romans 8 say?
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- "if god is for us, who can be against us?"
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- You want that in good tennessee southern?
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- If god picked you, do you really care who objects?
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- [congregation applauding]
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- Now, i've belabored the point a bit.
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- I've taken my time in walking through some of the
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- Biblical characters because i think there are
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- So many people affected.
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- And typically you're unaware.
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- And i don't want that to continue to flourish.
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- And it isn't just for yourself.
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- I want you to have the tools to help the people in your family
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- And your friends network.
- 00:11:35.176 --> 00:11:38.012
- You see, freedom is available to us.
- 00:11:38.012 --> 00:11:41.583
- And while we see needs for changes all around us, we
- 00:11:41.583 --> 00:11:44.652
- Typically have a very small imagination that it could be us.
- 00:11:44.652 --> 00:11:48.223
- And so, before you write on your notes the people that you think
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- Need to hear this lesson, let's just pause for a moment and
- 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:54.596
- Cross out all those names.
- 00:11:54.596 --> 00:11:56.831
- And say, "god, if there's any way any of this could apply to
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- Me, give me an understanding heart."
- 00:11:59.300 --> 00:12:02.170
- Cc by aberdeen captioning 1-800-688-6621 www.aberdeen.io
- 00:12:02.237 --> 00:12:07.942
- Allen: hey, i sat down with my father recently, did a podcast.
- 00:12:08.009 --> 00:12:11.146
- He told a story of how he came to faith, how god transformed
- 00:12:11.146 --> 00:12:13.715
- Our family.
- 00:12:13.715 --> 00:12:15.049
- They started a home bible study, all the way up to the beginning
- 00:12:15.049 --> 00:12:16.885
- Of this church that i've served now for decades.
- 00:12:16.885 --> 00:12:19.721
- As i listened, the heart of it was the work of the holy spirit
- 00:12:19.721 --> 00:12:22.457
- In his life and through his life.
- 00:12:22.457 --> 00:12:24.592
- I asked him to do a book around the topic, and we have it so
- 00:12:24.592 --> 00:12:28.029
- That you can invite the spirit of god to be the dynamic
- 00:12:28.029 --> 00:12:30.932
- Presence of the power of god to bring change, and life, and hope
- 00:12:30.932 --> 00:12:35.103
- No matter what the circumstances.
- 00:12:35.103 --> 00:12:36.905
- You'll enjoy the book.
- 00:12:36.905 --> 00:12:38.273
- Female announcer: experience the holy spirit in a deeper way with
- 00:12:38.273 --> 00:12:40.742
- This new book by pastor allen's dad, "the eternal
- 00:12:40.742 --> 00:12:43.611
- Breath of life."
- 00:12:43.611 --> 00:12:45.113
- Request your copy when you donate any amount today.
- 00:12:45.113 --> 00:12:48.183
- And when you give $50 or more, you can also request "unleashing
- 00:12:48.183 --> 00:12:52.153
- The power of the holy spirit."
- 00:12:52.153 --> 00:12:54.055
- It's a collection of pastor allen's sermons that will help
- 00:12:54.055 --> 00:12:56.758
- You understand the holy spirit in new ways.
- 00:12:56.758 --> 00:12:59.661
- Request yours today at allenjackson.com or
- 00:12:59.661 --> 00:13:02.697
- By calling...
- 00:13:02.697 --> 00:13:06.734
- Allen: i got a couple of minutes left.
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- There are some causes for rejection.
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- I'll give you just a sample list.
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- I told you, in my life i can recognize it started
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- Pretty early.
- 00:13:17.278 --> 00:13:18.613
- I think it often begins when we're children.
- 00:13:18.613 --> 00:13:20.215
- It's not limited to that, but it can.
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- There's a pregnancy that's unwanted.
- 00:13:21.950 --> 00:13:23.384
- There's just no room, or time, or space.
- 00:13:23.384 --> 00:13:25.920
- Circumstances aren't there.
- 00:13:25.920 --> 00:13:28.723
- You know, people say to me, "i don't believe a child in the
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- Womb could be affected."
- 00:13:31.159 --> 00:13:34.395
- Well, i understand in the culture of death how you could
- 00:13:34.395 --> 00:13:36.297
- Hold that idea.
- 00:13:36.297 --> 00:13:38.266
- But think with me just a moment--we can follow the
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- Science, if you will.
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- Most of us would agree that a baby in the womb could be
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- Affected by the behavior of the mother.
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- She could eat something, or take something, or make a choice that
- 00:13:49.043 --> 00:13:51.646
- Could damage the development of that child.
- 00:13:51.646 --> 00:13:55.083
- Well, if it's true physically, why would those of you who
- 00:13:55.083 --> 00:13:57.886
- Imagine yourself to be the people of god not believe it's
- 00:13:57.886 --> 00:14:00.588
- True as well spiritually?
- 00:14:00.588 --> 00:14:03.124
- It's illogical to reject that out of hand.
- 00:14:03.124 --> 00:14:07.795
- The spiritual impact upon an unborn child is very much a
- 00:14:07.795 --> 00:14:10.798
- Possibility, and it's not just negative, it can be positive.
- 00:14:10.798 --> 00:14:15.403
- You don't start parenting after you hold the little person for
- 00:14:15.403 --> 00:14:18.640
- The first time.
- 00:14:18.640 --> 00:14:21.609
- Imagine the impact in a nation where for decade upon decade,
- 00:14:21.609 --> 00:14:25.914
- We've had a public debate, saying it's about choice.
- 00:14:25.914 --> 00:14:32.220
- Imagine what that unleashes in the lives of children.
- 00:14:32.220 --> 00:14:40.028
- I believe when the story of our nation is told and it's looked
- 00:14:40.028 --> 00:14:43.398
- At a bit more objectively, that the sin of abortion will be far
- 00:14:43.398 --> 00:14:47.835
- Greater than the sin of slavery.
- 00:14:47.835 --> 00:14:50.004
- And slavery was heinous, unthinkable, inexcusable.
- 00:14:50.004 --> 00:14:58.046
- Sometimes children suffer 'cause parents are just not able to
- 00:15:00.615 --> 00:15:03.051
- Communicate their love for a child.
- 00:15:03.051 --> 00:15:05.453
- It's not always intentional, it's not always an expression of
- 00:15:05.453 --> 00:15:07.655
- Evil, sometimes parents don't have the capacity from some of
- 00:15:07.655 --> 00:15:10.692
- Their own scars or the demands in their own lives.
- 00:15:10.692 --> 00:15:12.860
- Maybe they have emotional limits or great stresses.
- 00:15:12.860 --> 00:15:15.897
- One of the things we'll have to do is release our parents from
- 00:15:15.897 --> 00:15:18.132
- The burden of meeting our expectations.
- 00:15:18.132 --> 00:15:22.437
- "well, they should have been better."
- 00:15:22.437 --> 00:15:24.038
- Perhaps they should be.
- 00:15:24.038 --> 00:15:26.674
- But we're still gonna be required to forgive them.
- 00:15:26.674 --> 00:15:30.812
- Not getting back in line for further abuse.
- 00:15:30.812 --> 00:15:32.547
- I'm not suggesting that at all.
- 00:15:32.547 --> 00:15:35.883
- Your parents may have had some very significant character
- 00:15:35.883 --> 00:15:38.619
- Failures, but you have to forgive them.
- 00:15:38.619 --> 00:15:41.889
- The bible says we have to honor our parents.
- 00:15:41.889 --> 00:15:43.291
- We don't have to honor what they did.
- 00:15:43.291 --> 00:15:45.860
- Your mom may have been a prostitute.
- 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:47.195
- You don't have to honor what she chose to do, but you have to
- 00:15:47.195 --> 00:15:49.897
- Honor her as your mom.
- 00:15:49.897 --> 00:15:55.703
- And we have broken marriages.
- 00:15:55.703 --> 00:15:58.573
- Let's not talk about the adults yet, let's
- 00:15:58.573 --> 00:15:59.974
- Talk about the children.
- 00:15:59.974 --> 00:16:01.309
- It has an enormous impact upon them.
- 00:16:01.309 --> 00:16:03.845
- They don't have the emotional maturity to process that.
- 00:16:03.845 --> 00:16:07.248
- It feels like the family that they're looking to to keep them
- 00:16:07.248 --> 00:16:09.851
- Safe, and strong, and protected is being broken apart and
- 00:16:09.851 --> 00:16:13.454
- Somehow if they could have been something else or done something
- 00:16:13.454 --> 00:16:15.590
- Different, perhaps they could have kept that from happening.
- 00:16:15.590 --> 00:16:20.695
- Divorce is so common amongst us.
- 00:16:20.695 --> 00:16:22.797
- I'm not throwing stones at that, i'm telling you there are
- 00:16:22.797 --> 00:16:24.832
- Consequences to that that go beyond what a judge or a court
- 00:16:24.832 --> 00:16:29.137
- Order can resolve.
- 00:16:29.137 --> 00:16:32.407
- It results in children being bitter towards a father.
- 00:16:32.407 --> 00:16:36.144
- Or it's whatever new relationships emerge or towards
- 00:16:36.144 --> 00:16:38.946
- A mother, it's common.
- 00:16:38.946 --> 00:16:42.650
- We live in a culture where fathers are--to a far too great
- 00:16:42.650 --> 00:16:46.154
- A degree are absent.
- 00:16:46.154 --> 00:16:48.322
- Absentee fathers in the home are one of the greatest sources of
- 00:16:48.322 --> 00:16:51.392
- Rejection in the lives of children.
- 00:16:51.392 --> 00:16:52.794
- Is it any wonder we have a whole new generation of children who
- 00:16:52.794 --> 00:16:55.730
- Are saying they're confused?
- 00:16:55.730 --> 00:16:58.633
- It's not surprising.
- 00:16:58.633 --> 00:17:00.601
- Folks, the church has an assignment.
- 00:17:00.601 --> 00:17:02.003
- We have work to be done.
- 00:17:02.003 --> 00:17:04.939
- We have a message that will bring hope to our world.
- 00:17:04.939 --> 00:17:09.143
- If you have brothers and sisters, it's
- 00:17:09.143 --> 00:17:10.578
- Not uncommon at all.
- 00:17:10.578 --> 00:17:11.913
- In fact, it's more the natural order than it isn't for siblings
- 00:17:11.913 --> 00:17:14.048
- To perceive unequal treatment from a parent 'cause we're all
- 00:17:14.048 --> 00:17:17.285
- Selfish little rascals, we want first place.
- 00:17:17.285 --> 00:17:20.755
- So we think somebody else is getting an advantage.
- 00:17:20.755 --> 00:17:23.424
- I had a conversation with a parent last week.
- 00:17:23.424 --> 00:17:26.194
- He said the oldest was--had become a teenager and the
- 00:17:26.194 --> 00:17:29.530
- Youngest was on the young end, then he said the two in the
- 00:17:29.530 --> 00:17:31.666
- Middle are just afraid they're not being treated fairly.
- 00:17:31.666 --> 00:17:36.037
- And we got this little inner button, like, "i
- 00:17:36.037 --> 00:17:38.406
- Want an opportunity," we all do.
- 00:17:38.406 --> 00:17:41.776
- And so, we tend to think there's some unequal treatment whether
- 00:17:41.776 --> 00:17:44.278
- We center it on birth order or there's a preferred gender in
- 00:17:44.278 --> 00:17:47.215
- Your family of origin.
- 00:17:47.215 --> 00:17:50.952
- There's a compounding factor in all of this.
- 00:17:50.952 --> 00:17:53.788
- If you'll accept it, there's spiritual influences that come
- 00:17:53.788 --> 00:17:56.224
- In where we have those emotional responses.
- 00:17:56.224 --> 00:17:59.093
- For every negative emotion that you and i can give expression
- 00:17:59.093 --> 00:18:01.963
- To, for every negative attitude or every negative reaction or
- 00:18:01.963 --> 00:18:06.067
- Behavior, there's a corresponding spirit with that.
- 00:18:06.067 --> 00:18:11.939
- You know, the church, we have a lot of language around the holy
- 00:18:11.939 --> 00:18:14.375
- Spirit and the good that the spirit of god can do.
- 00:18:14.375 --> 00:18:17.145
- We have very little awareness and very little conversation
- 00:18:17.145 --> 00:18:19.680
- About what unclean spirits, what unholy spirits can do.
- 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:26.988
- Behind jealousy there's a spirit of jealousy, and behind
- 00:18:26.988 --> 00:18:29.390
- Anger there's a spirit of anger, and behind fear there's
- 00:18:29.390 --> 00:18:32.527
- A spirit of fear.
- 00:18:32.527 --> 00:18:33.895
- And i'm not saying that everybody who's--struggles with
- 00:18:33.895 --> 00:18:36.497
- Fear has a spirit of fear.
- 00:18:36.497 --> 00:18:39.901
- I'm not delivering you absolutes.
- 00:18:39.901 --> 00:18:42.436
- But i can tell you that a person who fails to exercise
- 00:18:42.436 --> 00:18:44.939
- Self-control, or who habitually gives in to fear, or maybe has
- 00:18:44.939 --> 00:18:48.509
- Some frightening or terrifying experience as a child when
- 00:18:48.509 --> 00:18:51.679
- They're not emotionally mature enough to protect themselves,
- 00:18:51.679 --> 00:18:56.517
- Can open their lives to a spirit.
- 00:18:56.517 --> 00:18:59.187
- And i'll tell you, one good way to recognize that--we'll talk
- 00:18:59.187 --> 00:19:01.355
- About it a bit more is, you recognize that you don't have
- 00:19:01.355 --> 00:19:04.158
- The control that you should.
- 00:19:04.158 --> 00:19:06.894
- You know you're engaged in a behavior that's destructive or a
- 00:19:06.894 --> 00:19:09.497
- Response that's destructive and you would even grieve the damage
- 00:19:09.497 --> 00:19:14.302
- You're causing, but you feel powerless to stop it.
- 00:19:14.302 --> 00:19:17.972
- The holy spirit will never control you, never.
- 00:19:17.972 --> 00:19:21.142
- I hear people say to me, "you know, i didn't wanna do it, but
- 00:19:21.142 --> 00:19:23.010
- The lord told me."
- 00:19:23.010 --> 00:19:24.345
- Stop it, the holy spirit will not control you.
- 00:19:24.345 --> 00:19:29.217
- If the holy spirit were gonna control you, how many of you
- 00:19:29.217 --> 00:19:30.885
- Know he'd stopped us from sinning long before we had
- 00:19:30.885 --> 00:19:33.754
- Any inclination?
- 00:19:33.754 --> 00:19:37.592
- An unholy spirit will dominate, manipulate, control you.
- 00:19:37.592 --> 00:19:42.530
- I've sat with many, many people engaged in behaviors.
- 00:19:42.530 --> 00:19:45.032
- They say, "it's destroying my health, it's ruined my finances,
- 00:19:45.032 --> 00:19:48.336
- It's destroyed my family, and i seem powerless to stop."
- 00:19:48.336 --> 00:19:56.477
- We see all sorts of behaviors that are destroying us as
- 00:19:56.477 --> 00:19:58.946
- A people.
- 00:19:58.946 --> 00:20:01.983
- And we seem powerless to even address them because we're
- 00:20:01.983 --> 00:20:05.253
- Unwilling to have a spiritual conversation.
- 00:20:05.253 --> 00:20:09.423
- There's another contributor.
- 00:20:09.423 --> 00:20:10.791
- I am out of time.
- 00:20:10.791 --> 00:20:12.126
- I'm gonna finish this little bit.
- 00:20:12.126 --> 00:20:14.929
- There's another contributor to rejection, and it's betrayal
- 00:20:14.929 --> 00:20:17.431
- And shame.
- 00:20:17.431 --> 00:20:19.333
- Broken trust leads to betrayal.
- 00:20:19.333 --> 00:20:20.935
- So you're really looking for those places where trust is
- 00:20:20.935 --> 00:20:23.838
- Broken and often leads us to shame.
- 00:20:23.838 --> 00:20:26.274
- Maybe a broken marriage, maybe sexual or physical abuse in
- 00:20:26.274 --> 00:20:29.043
- Childhood, maybe you're fired from a job unjustly, unfairly.
- 00:20:29.043 --> 00:20:34.415
- If you're fired because you're lazy and you don't show up,
- 00:20:34.415 --> 00:20:37.585
- Don't call that rejection.
- 00:20:37.585 --> 00:20:44.091
- Maybe you're left off the sports team.
- 00:20:44.091 --> 00:20:47.461
- Oh, yeah, like i'm on the timeline for this session.
- 00:20:47.461 --> 00:20:51.799
- Maybe you didn't gain acceptance to a school you chose.
- 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:54.402
- Maybe you weren't included or welcomed into some social group
- 00:20:54.402 --> 00:20:56.804
- That you wanted to be a part of or some gathering.
- 00:20:56.804 --> 00:20:59.607
- Well, i brought you some scriptures 'cause there's a
- 00:20:59.607 --> 00:21:00.975
- Resolution to this.
- 00:21:00.975 --> 00:21:02.743
- I'll read these and then we're gonna say a prayer.
- 00:21:02.743 --> 00:21:05.680
- Isaiah 54 says, "don't be afraid; you'll not
- 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:08.249
- Suffer shame."
- 00:21:08.249 --> 00:21:10.484
- Well, if the statement is, "don't be afraid; you won't
- 00:21:10.484 --> 00:21:12.553
- Suffer shame," what are the people being challenged with?
- 00:21:12.553 --> 00:21:16.791
- Shame.
- 00:21:16.791 --> 00:21:18.492
- There's a sense of betrayal and they're ashamed.
- 00:21:18.492 --> 00:21:21.028
- "don't fear disgrace; you'll not be humiliated.
- 00:21:21.028 --> 00:21:23.964
- You'll forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the
- 00:21:23.964 --> 00:21:26.233
- Reproach of your widowhood.
- 00:21:26.233 --> 00:21:28.336
- Your maker is your husband--the lord almighty is his name--the
- 00:21:28.336 --> 00:21:30.938
- Holy one of israel is your redeemer; he's called the god of
- 00:21:30.938 --> 00:21:34.408
- All the earth.
- 00:21:34.408 --> 00:21:35.910
- The lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and
- 00:21:35.910 --> 00:21:38.713
- Distressed in spirit--a wife who married young, only to
- 00:21:38.713 --> 00:21:41.816
- Be rejected."
- 00:21:41.816 --> 00:21:43.184
- See, the promise god is offering his people is that you won't be
- 00:21:43.184 --> 00:21:46.987
- Overwhelmed by shame.
- 00:21:46.987 --> 00:21:49.590
- The disgrace and humiliation will not define your future.
- 00:21:49.590 --> 00:21:53.928
- Poor treatment that you have received does not have the power
- 00:21:53.928 --> 00:21:56.597
- To shape who god created you to be.
- 00:21:56.597 --> 00:21:59.166
- That is a message that should cause us to respond with an
- 00:21:59.166 --> 00:22:02.970
- Amazing sense of relief and joy.
- 00:22:02.970 --> 00:22:05.906
- We're gonna talk about how to walk into that, but look at
- 00:22:05.906 --> 00:22:07.842
- Isaiah chapter 61, "instead of their shame my people will
- 00:22:07.842 --> 00:22:11.345
- Receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will
- 00:22:11.345 --> 00:22:14.515
- Rejoice in their inheritance; so that they will inherit a double
- 00:22:14.515 --> 00:22:17.985
- Portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs."
- 00:22:17.985 --> 00:22:21.122
- That's the alternative.
- 00:22:21.122 --> 00:22:23.424
- The joy that's not based in our circumstances or the behaviors
- 00:22:23.424 --> 00:22:26.127
- Of the people around us.
- 00:22:26.127 --> 00:22:28.629
- Hebrews 12, "let's fix our eyes on jesus, the author and
- 00:22:28.629 --> 00:22:31.766
- Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured
- 00:22:31.766 --> 00:22:35.202
- The cross, scorning its shame."
- 00:22:35.202 --> 00:22:37.438
- The last public presentation of jesus was as a convicted
- 00:22:37.438 --> 00:22:41.375
- Criminal, hungry, thirsty, naked on a cross.
- 00:22:41.375 --> 00:22:48.015
- It's a very shameful presentation.
- 00:22:48.015 --> 00:22:49.750
- None of you would wish that on any member of your family.
- 00:22:49.750 --> 00:22:54.555
- And yet the commentary of jesus is he endured the cross, but he
- 00:22:54.555 --> 00:22:58.893
- Rejected the shame.
- 00:22:58.893 --> 00:23:02.263
- We don't have to be defined by the poor choices of
- 00:23:02.263 --> 00:23:04.965
- Other people.
- 00:23:04.965 --> 00:23:07.334
- And finally in isaiah 53, we read it a moment ago, "he was
- 00:23:07.334 --> 00:23:10.271
- Despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar
- 00:23:10.271 --> 00:23:14.241
- With suffering.
- 00:23:14.241 --> 00:23:15.576
- Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and
- 00:23:15.576 --> 00:23:18.312
- We esteemed him not."
- 00:23:18.312 --> 00:23:21.015
- One last thought and we will pray.
- 00:23:21.015 --> 00:23:23.317
- In our nation right now there is an epidemic not of rejection but
- 00:23:23.317 --> 00:23:26.654
- Of being a victim.
- 00:23:26.654 --> 00:23:29.323
- And there are many things that contribute to that, most of
- 00:23:29.323 --> 00:23:31.225
- Them ungodly.
- 00:23:31.225 --> 00:23:33.427
- But the victim mentality feeds off the idea that there's a
- 00:23:33.427 --> 00:23:38.165
- Uniqueness to your suffering.
- 00:23:38.165 --> 00:23:41.802
- That i have been unjustly targeted, that i've been
- 00:23:41.802 --> 00:23:44.672
- Treated inappropriately.
- 00:23:44.672 --> 00:23:47.374
- And i'm gonna hold that because it becomes the fuel to a better
- 00:23:47.374 --> 00:23:50.611
- Future for myself.
- 00:23:50.611 --> 00:23:53.180
- It is a very destructive attitude to hold.
- 00:23:53.180 --> 00:23:58.486
- Life is not fair.
- 00:23:58.486 --> 00:24:00.988
- We will endure things from our family systems, from the
- 00:24:00.988 --> 00:24:04.992
- Cultures in which we live, from the world in which we live
- 00:24:04.992 --> 00:24:07.695
- Because we live in a world that's still engaged in a
- 00:24:07.695 --> 00:24:10.164
- Tremendous spiritual conflict between good and evil.
- 00:24:10.164 --> 00:24:14.268
- And i would encourage you not to choose the role of a victim.
- 00:24:14.268 --> 00:24:19.507
- Why would we not choose the role of a triumphant child of a king?
- 00:24:19.507 --> 00:24:26.380
- [congregation applauding]
- 00:24:26.380 --> 00:24:31.886
- So, for a conclusion to this session--we've started
- 00:24:31.886 --> 00:24:33.854
- The journey, we'll complete it together.
- 00:24:33.854 --> 00:24:36.423
- But i brought you a prayer that addresses
- 00:24:36.423 --> 00:24:39.360
- The fundamentals of these.
- 00:24:39.360 --> 00:24:40.694
- It's a great prayer, you could begin to pray it daily.
- 00:24:40.694 --> 00:24:42.329
- In fact, if you're--if any of this touches a chord with you,
- 00:24:42.329 --> 00:24:45.799
- I'd begin to pray it morning, noon, and night.
- 00:24:45.799 --> 00:24:49.270
- We'll come back to it, but let's staying together.
- 00:24:49.270 --> 00:24:57.611
- Rejection didn't stop david from becoming a remarkable king, or
- 00:25:01.815 --> 00:25:06.086
- Moses from becoming a remarkable leader, or samuel from a
- 00:25:06.086 --> 00:25:09.924
- Remarkable future, or jesus from completing his assignment as the
- 00:25:09.924 --> 00:25:14.762
- Redeemer of all humanity.
- 00:25:14.762 --> 00:25:16.931
- And it doesn't have the power to keep you from becoming what god
- 00:25:16.931 --> 00:25:19.366
- Created you to be.
- 00:25:19.366 --> 00:25:21.602
- Hallelujah, let's pray together.
- 00:25:21.602 --> 00:25:25.339
- "heavenly father, i thank you that you love me, that you gave
- 00:25:25.339 --> 00:25:29.777
- Jesus to die on my behalf, that he bore my sin, that he took my
- 00:25:29.777 --> 00:25:34.848
- Rejection, that he paid my penalty, because i come to you
- 00:25:34.848 --> 00:25:39.520
- Through him.
- 00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:40.888
- I am not rejected, i am not unwanted, i am not excluded.
- 00:25:40.888 --> 00:25:46.193
- You really love me.
- 00:25:46.193 --> 00:25:47.895
- I am really your child.
- 00:25:47.895 --> 00:25:49.863
- You are really my father.
- 00:25:49.863 --> 00:25:51.932
- I belong in your family.
- 00:25:51.932 --> 00:25:54.101
- I belong to the best family in the universe.
- 00:25:54.101 --> 00:25:57.204
- Heaven is my home, amen.
- 00:25:57.204 --> 00:26:00.574
- Hallelujah, you better give the lord a thank offering.
- 00:26:00.574 --> 00:26:06.246
- Allen: hey, i got a question: what's the eternal breath
- 00:26:10.417 --> 00:26:12.853
- Of life?
- 00:26:12.853 --> 00:26:14.455
- Well, the answer is a new book my dad just wrote when i sat
- 00:26:14.455 --> 00:26:17.424
- Down to do a podcast with him and i was listening to his story
- 00:26:17.424 --> 00:26:20.394
- About how god had moved in his life and my family's life all
- 00:26:20.394 --> 00:26:23.464
- The way up to the beginning of the church that i've served now
- 00:26:23.464 --> 00:26:25.733
- For several decades.
- 00:26:25.733 --> 00:26:27.401
- I was so reminded of the purpose and the power of the spirit of
- 00:26:27.401 --> 00:26:30.337
- God in our lives, i asked him to put it in a book.
- 00:26:30.337 --> 00:26:33.173
- That's what we're sharing with you.
- 00:26:33.173 --> 00:26:34.842
- We all need god's help, we all face challenges.
- 00:26:34.842 --> 00:26:37.378
- Life's not easy no matter who you are, but the spirit of god
- 00:26:37.378 --> 00:26:40.381
- Is present within us to bring the power and purposes of god to
- 00:26:40.381 --> 00:26:44.852
- Bear in our lives.
- 00:26:44.852 --> 00:26:46.487
- I believe the book will be a blessing with--for you.
- 00:26:46.487 --> 00:26:49.189
- If you'll pair it with, "unleashing the power of the
- 00:26:49.189 --> 00:26:51.692
- Holy spirit," it's one of the most effective tools we have,
- 00:26:51.692 --> 00:26:54.294
- It'll give you a pathway that i believe will bring god's
- 00:26:54.294 --> 00:26:57.331
- Best into your family.
- 00:26:57.331 --> 00:26:58.699
- You may not plant a church, but you have been given the
- 00:26:58.699 --> 00:27:01.201
- Assignment as an ambassador for the kingdom of god, and we need
- 00:27:01.201 --> 00:27:04.304
- The help of the holy spirit.
- 00:27:04.304 --> 00:27:06.040
- Enjoy the book.
- 00:27:06.040 --> 00:27:07.374
- ♪♪♪
- 00:27:07.374 --> 00:27:28.062