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 - The Response Team (Part 1) | December 12, 2024
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- ♪♪♪
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- Allen jackson: i wanna continue the theme we picked up for the
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- Last couple of sessions, talking about leading with faith.
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- It's a very important principle.
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- All of you are leaders in a variety of arenas.
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- Some of you have great significance and great
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- Accomplishment and great confidence in those arenas.
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- Sometimes it's your professional arena.
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- Sometimes it's a hobby or a skill that you have, a passion
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- You've cultivated.
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- You have great expertise and great understanding and there
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- Are people who highly value your opinion.
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- Some of you can look at a pile of wood and know how to
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- Restructure that into a home or something that's very useful.
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- To me, it just looks like kindling.
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- I mean, you--some of you have amazing technological abilities.
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- I mean, an enormous set of skills and that same group of
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- People with all that confidence and all the ability.
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- So often when we talk about leading with our faith, we turn
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- Into quivering bowls of jello.
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- "well, you know, pastor, i don't, i don't, i don't--i
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- Don't feel comfortable doing that.
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- I don't--i'm not just--i'm, no, i don't."
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- Can't you do that?
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- Can't you help?
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- Won't you do something?
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- Can't you pray?
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- And i want us to grow in this.
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- This is so important.
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- This is more than a passing thing.
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- We're gonna have to learn to lead with our faith.
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- Everybody that imagines themselves to be a christ
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- Follower, i would pray would have the boldness, the courage,
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- And the ability to help somebody else become a christ follower,
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- To be able to make a case why reading your bible matters and
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- The value it brings to a human life to understand spiritual
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- Forces of freedom and bondage and how to help people find the
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- Blessings of god and be delivered from the curses
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- Of evil.
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- Those are not skill sets for the fanatical fringe.
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- They're the assignments of what it means for you and me to grow
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- Up in our faith.
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- We've got to learn to lead with our faith.
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- There are some expressions of this that are beyond bizarre.
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- I mean, we--we're just addled a little bit.
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- All this debate around books and illicit material and evil,
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- Wicked information that we want to subject our children to,
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- Folks, this isn't--this doesn't require months and months
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- Of debate.
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- If you're in favor of those books in the school system, just
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- Raise your hand.
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- We wanna know who you are.
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- I mean, stop with the conversations about banning
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- Books and "you're gonna take the bible out and [grumbling]."
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- Just tell the truth.
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- "i want to groom children."
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- We're gonna have to have the courage to lead with our faith.
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- I hear what comes out of us that, you know, "well, we're
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- Called to bring unity."
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- What bible do you read?
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- Jesus said, "i came to bring division."
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- I have no intention of being unified with people that deny
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- The authority of scripture.
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- I don't--that's not my goal.
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- I don't wanna be unified with people who deny the uniqueness
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- Of jesus.
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- I have compassion upon them.
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- I'll treat them with respect and dignity.
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- But my goal is not unity with wickedness and i would submit
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- Neither should yours be.
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- We gotta learn to lead with our faith.
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- I'm not sure what's happened to us, but we've lost our balance
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- A bit.
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- This session, i wanna talk about becoming the response team.
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- I don't like my titles very often, but i like this one.
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- And that we're in a season of at least imagined.
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- It isn't--we don't have any evidence yet, but we're in a
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- Season where there's a lot of discussion about
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- Sweeping changes.
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- You have to understand there are unimaginable forces moving to
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- Maintain the status quo.
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- Only god will initiate change, not the bluster of
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- Elected officials.
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- What they're pushing against is an immovable force without the
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- Help of almighty god.
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- I assure you that.
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- Lives have been lost, bodies buried, wars fought to keep
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- Change from happening.
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- And if there is any significant changes that is to occur, it
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- Will occur because the spirit of god opens the doors.
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- But in the midst of all of that change, i think we have this new
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- Imaginations, even expectations perhaps, of government leaders,
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- Things that we haven't seen before.
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- We're imagining we might see outcomes we haven't experienced,
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- That we're hoping to become a part of our reality.
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- Well, i would submit to you that those things will only follow
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- New imaginations of the people of god.
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- That we can't imagine we could just keep doing the same things
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- The way we've always done them and behaving in the same pattern
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- And then god will bring sweeping amazing changes.
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- That's illogical.
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- It's irrational.
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- It's certainly not biblically informed.
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- We're gonna have to choose responses we haven't made before
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- And outcomes that we haven't experienced.
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- We're watching it happen all around us.
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- All these people that are being nominated and chosen that are
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- Being debated and their lives are being exposed to scathing
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- Lights and evaluations and high levels of criticism.
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- They had busy lives before those calls came.
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- They had menus of responsibility that i assure you were
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- Overflowing before they got tapped with a new assignment.
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- So the question to those of us that are people of faith, are we
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- Willing to allow our schedules to be impacted?
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- It's an important question.
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- I've been asking it to you in this way for a couple of
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- Sessions now.
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- Would you be willing to accept a role in a significant
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- Change initiative?
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- When you say, "well, you know, if it was one of
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- Great prestige."
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- Well, oftentimes the most important roles aren't the ones
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- That get celebrated.
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- I promise you that.
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- You know, it's highly unlikely that i'm gonna be nominated by
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- President-elect trump for anything, or you.
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- But let me tell you who has chosen us.
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- The creator of all things, the king of all kings, the lord of
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- Heaven and earth.
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- He's chosen you and me and he's given us an assignment and
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- That's better than anything that could be issued from
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- Washington, d.c.
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- There's nothing i would rather do than use my life to make an
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- Impact for the eternal kingdom of almighty god.
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- There's no award that could be garnered, no resource that could
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- Be accumulated, no prize that could be distributed that
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- Matters to me nearly as much as making an impact for the kingdom
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- Of almighty god.
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- But that won't come with a modest effort, with a
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- Half-hearted attention.
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- I've been looking at some types and patterns with you, some
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- Examples of this.
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- I wanna introduce a new one.
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- It's in 2 samuel 23.
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- This is david, still a fugitive, hasn't secured the throne, still
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- Has very much an adversary who happens to be the king.
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- So he is standing in a position where there's a tremendous
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- Power inequity.
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- There are some people that have migrated to his side, but
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- They're the people who really weren't welcomed in the halls of
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- Power anywhere else.
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- 2 samuel 23 and verse 15, it says: "david longed for water.
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- 'oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well
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- Near the gate of bethlehem!'"
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- It's where he'd grown up.
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- "so the three mighty men broke through the philistine lines and
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- Drew water from the well near the gate of bethlehem, and they
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- Carried it back to david.
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- But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before
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- The lord."
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- It's a familiar behavior for an offering.
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- He's gonna offer the sacrifice that those men made before
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- The lord.
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- "'far be it from me, o lord, to do this!'
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- He said.
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- 'is it not the blood of men who were--went at the risk of
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- Their lives?'
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- And david wouldn't drink it.
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- Such were the exploits of the three mighty men."
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- A couple of observations just really quickly because i wanna
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- Move through this outline.
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- I wanna get to the last section of it.
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- But we--i think we have to know, we've got to register the
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- Reality that there is opposition to the purposes of god.
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- That is normal.
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- That's the expected response.
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- It isn't unusual.
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- So if you raise your hand and say, "i wanna serve the lord, i
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- Wanna make a difference for the kingdom of god.
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- I wanna take my place," you should understand that, as you
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- Do that, you have an adversary.
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- When you're birthed into the kingdom of god, you inherit
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- An adversary.
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- The second observation i would give you is there were many who
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- Heard david's lament, his expression of the sweetness of
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- The water from that well that he was so familiar with, but only
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- Three men said, "let's go."
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- Folks, we gotta have--we gotta decide what we're gonna do, what
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- We're gonna become.
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- I am weary with christians that give me their spiritual resume
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- And tell me they've been born again, 47 years ago.
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- And since then i've been on a self-absorbed journey.
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- That's not a report you really wanna give.
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- The mighty men, i didn't put it all in here, the verses that
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- Follow that.
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- At this point, we don't even know their names.
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- There's three mighty men and a whole camp filled with not so
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- Mighty men, the average guys.
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- I don't mean average in iq or average in physical stature.
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- It has more to do with the motor than it does the--one of these
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- Three mighty men's name was benaiah.
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- It explains it in a few verses.
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- It gives a couple of their exploits, some of the things
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- They did that caused them to gain this title of the
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- Mighty men.
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- They served david in a very unique way.
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- One of 'em, it says, on a snowy day saw a lion in a pit and he
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- Went down in the pit to get the lion.
- 00:10:29.045 --> 00:10:35.017
- Now, i like snowy days and i have seen some pits and i've
- 00:10:35.017 --> 00:10:41.357
- Even been places in the world where i've seen lions.
- 00:10:41.357 --> 00:10:45.828
- At one time, we did a pastors' conference in east africa and we
- 00:10:45.828 --> 00:10:48.831
- Had a day before we had to leave.
- 00:10:48.831 --> 00:10:50.433
- So we made our way out into the serengeti and we were in a range
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- Rover with lions.
- 00:10:54.770 --> 00:10:57.339
- And i kept saying to kathy, "if you'd get out of here and go
- 00:10:57.339 --> 00:10:59.241
- Stand next to that lion, i'll take your picture."
- 00:10:59.241 --> 00:11:05.214
- But it never occurred to me to go after the lion.
- 00:11:05.214 --> 00:11:11.353
- I was far more aware that lion might come after me.
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- And this guy climbed down in the pit.
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- I would like a little bit of that attitude for the kingdom of
- 00:11:21.464 --> 00:11:23.833
- God, which means i have to change how i think a little bit.
- 00:11:23.833 --> 00:11:32.541
- I gotta re-le--i have to re-message that internal
- 00:11:32.541 --> 00:11:36.312
- Programming when you recognize an opportunity where you could
- 00:11:36.312 --> 00:11:39.515
- Pray and your internal trigger goes, "oh, don't do that."
- 00:11:39.515 --> 00:11:43.452
- You might pray, and nothing would happen.
- 00:11:43.452 --> 00:11:46.489
- It would be far more intimidating if you prayed and
- 00:11:46.489 --> 00:11:48.324
- Something did.
- 00:11:48.324 --> 00:11:51.660
- Oh, when you hear somebody talking about something that's
- 00:11:51.660 --> 00:11:54.029
- Ungodly and you get a little message go, "you could
- 00:11:54.029 --> 00:11:56.265
- Speak up."
- 00:11:56.265 --> 00:11:57.633
- "oh, don't do that."
- 00:11:57.633 --> 00:12:01.437
- We gotta reimagine what it means to follow the lord.
- 00:12:01.437 --> 00:12:05.474
- We've been so smug and so arrogant and so self-righteous,
- 00:12:05.474 --> 00:12:09.879
- We point at our credentials or an experience at some point in
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- The past and fail to acknowledge that we are totally inert, no
- 00:12:13.048 --> 00:12:20.156
- Spiritual life whatsoever in the moment when it's needed.
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- I don't wanna be there.
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- Allen: i wanna take just a moment to say thank you in a
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- Year of political turmoil and confusion and wars and rumors
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- Of wars.
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- Because of your partnership, your generosity, your prayers,
- 00:12:43.112 --> 00:12:45.681
- Your encouragement, we have done more for the gospel than any
- 00:12:45.681 --> 00:12:49.285
- Year in our ministry so far.
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- We started a whole new genre of programming.
- 00:12:50.886 --> 00:12:53.222
- "allen jackson now" does a daily review of headlines from a
- 00:12:53.222 --> 00:12:56.325
- Biblical worldview.
- 00:12:56.325 --> 00:12:57.693
- We started a new podcast, "culture & christianity," to
- 00:12:57.693 --> 00:13:00.296
- Help stabilize god's people in the midst of all the confusion.
- 00:13:00.296 --> 00:13:04.333
- All of that because of your faithfulness, your generosity,
- 00:13:04.333 --> 00:13:07.269
- Your prayers.
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- Thank you so much.
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- As we come to the end of this year, i wanna ask you to
- 00:13:09.972 --> 00:13:11.841
- Prayerfully consider making a sacrificial investment in
- 00:13:11.841 --> 00:13:15.244
- What's next.
- 00:13:15.244 --> 00:13:16.579
- We wanna take those programs, share them in new places with
- 00:13:16.579 --> 00:13:19.715
- More people.
- 00:13:19.715 --> 00:13:21.050
- We wanna continue to be creative in how we share the good news of
- 00:13:21.050 --> 00:13:24.587
- Jesus christ.
- 00:13:24.587 --> 00:13:25.955
- A generous partner makes it possible.
- 00:13:25.955 --> 00:13:27.690
- Every gift you give will be matched, it doubles your gift
- 00:13:27.690 --> 00:13:30.326
- Between now and the end of the year.
- 00:13:30.326 --> 00:13:31.961
- Let me thank you in advance for what we've been doing and what
- 00:13:31.961 --> 00:13:34.763
- God's going to do with our lives and our partnership together
- 00:13:34.763 --> 00:13:38.367
- In 2025.
- 00:13:38.367 --> 00:13:39.835
- Thank you and god bless you.
- 00:13:39.835 --> 00:13:42.037
- Female announcer: god is moving in major ways in the ministry
- 00:13:42.037 --> 00:13:45.207
- And our world.
- 00:13:45.207 --> 00:13:46.842
- As we watched the 2024 election unfold, we witnessed a miracle.
- 00:13:46.842 --> 00:13:51.580
- God has heard our prayers.
- 00:13:51.580 --> 00:13:53.682
- He has shown us his mercy.
- 00:13:53.682 --> 00:13:55.985
- We're entering a new era with new leaders, but it's not a time
- 00:13:55.985 --> 00:14:00.289
- To rest.
- 00:14:00.289 --> 00:14:01.624
- Our assignment hasn't changed.
- 00:14:01.624 --> 00:14:03.626
- In fact, it's as urgent as ever.
- 00:14:03.626 --> 00:14:06.362
- You and i have been set apart by god for his purposes and there's
- 00:14:06.362 --> 00:14:10.199
- A lot for us to do.
- 00:14:10.199 --> 00:14:12.134
- Allen: i believe when god shows you mercy, he gives with it
- 00:14:12.134 --> 00:14:17.273
- An opportunity.
- 00:14:17.273 --> 00:14:19.141
- I want us to quietly say to the lord, "here am i.
- 00:14:19.141 --> 00:14:28.817
- Let me go.
- 00:14:28.817 --> 00:14:31.287
- Let me go back to where i work in the name of jesus.
- 00:14:31.287 --> 00:14:35.124
- Let me go back into my neighborhood in the name
- 00:14:35.124 --> 00:14:37.359
- Of jesus."
- 00:14:37.359 --> 00:14:39.094
- God himself has shown us grace and it will require of us
- 00:14:39.094 --> 00:14:47.102
- Greater strength and greater courage than we have ever had to
- 00:14:47.102 --> 00:14:51.440
- Attach to our faith before.
- 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:54.944
- Let's go.
- 00:14:54.944 --> 00:14:57.413
- Let's go.
- 00:14:57.479 --> 00:14:58.814
- Announcer: let's set our hearts on preparing for what's next
- 00:14:58.814 --> 00:15:01.617
- With pastor allen's brand-new 90-day devotional called "set
- 00:15:01.617 --> 00:15:05.454
- Apart for his purposes."
- 00:15:05.454 --> 00:15:07.656
- It will help us seek god so we can recognize his voice and
- 00:15:07.656 --> 00:15:10.893
- Consistently choose to follow him.
- 00:15:10.893 --> 00:15:12.828
- Each day includes scripture, a short teaching, and a prayer,
- 00:15:12.828 --> 00:15:16.532
- Followed by a journaling prompt and room to write and reflect.
- 00:15:16.532 --> 00:15:20.202
- Let's get ready for the season ahead.
- 00:15:20.202 --> 00:15:22.404
- Request your copy of "set apart for his purposes" when you
- 00:15:22.404 --> 00:15:25.541
- Donate $50 or more today at allenjackson.com or
- 00:15:25.541 --> 00:15:29.478
- By calling...
- 00:15:29.478 --> 00:15:33.515
- Allen: isaiah 6, we looked at this in a previous session.
- 00:15:35.351 --> 00:15:38.153
- Isaiah is a young man.
- 00:15:38.153 --> 00:15:41.090
- He's not a prophet at this point, maybe in god's
- 00:15:41.090 --> 00:15:44.059
- Understanding but not on the understanding of the people
- 00:15:44.059 --> 00:15:46.128
- Around him.
- 00:15:46.128 --> 00:15:47.463
- He's just a young man and he has a vision of the lord and the
- 00:15:47.463 --> 00:15:49.465
- Majesty of his throne room and he recognizes the great
- 00:15:49.465 --> 00:15:53.235
- Disparity between his own condition and the majesty of the
- 00:15:53.235 --> 00:15:56.038
- Throne room of god.
- 00:15:56.038 --> 00:15:57.406
- And he answers and he says, "woe is me!
- 00:15:57.406 --> 00:15:58.941
- I'm a man of unclean lips, and i live in the midst of a people of
- 00:15:58.941 --> 00:16:03.579
- Unclean lips."
- 00:16:03.579 --> 00:16:05.047
- God intervenes.
- 00:16:05.047 --> 00:16:06.382
- Supernaturally, god intervenes on isaiah's behalf.
- 00:16:06.382 --> 00:16:08.484
- And the question is posed in the throne room of god: "we need
- 00:16:08.484 --> 00:16:11.553
- Somebody, we need a representative, we--who will
- 00:16:11.553 --> 00:16:14.023
- Speak for us?"
- 00:16:14.023 --> 00:16:16.859
- And isaiah speaks up and said, "here i am.
- 00:16:16.859 --> 00:16:21.063
- Send me!"
- 00:16:21.063 --> 00:16:23.332
- Just like those three men.
- 00:16:23.332 --> 00:16:25.401
- "you need somebody to go?
- 00:16:25.401 --> 00:16:26.735
- I'm in. let's go."
- 00:16:26.735 --> 00:16:30.205
- We've looked at the passage in exodus 3.
- 00:16:30.205 --> 00:16:31.807
- It's moses's recruitment.
- 00:16:31.807 --> 00:16:33.308
- Moses is not a teenager.
- 00:16:33.308 --> 00:16:35.544
- He's not a young man.
- 00:16:35.544 --> 00:16:37.546
- Moses is an old man.
- 00:16:37.546 --> 00:16:38.914
- He's got gray hair and calluses.
- 00:16:38.914 --> 00:16:41.717
- His strength is already diminished some.
- 00:16:41.717 --> 00:16:44.920
- He's failed mightily, publicly, hugely.
- 00:16:44.920 --> 00:16:48.724
- He's a fugitive.
- 00:16:48.724 --> 00:16:51.026
- He's a sheep herder, the bible says, euphemistically, on the
- 00:16:51.026 --> 00:16:55.397
- Backside of the desert.
- 00:16:55.397 --> 00:16:56.732
- I think that's pretty close to murfreesboro.
- 00:16:56.732 --> 00:17:00.469
- I mean, i'm honored to be here, but this would be
- 00:17:00.469 --> 00:17:04.106
- Flyover country.
- 00:17:04.106 --> 00:17:07.810
- And god recruits him.
- 00:17:07.810 --> 00:17:09.178
- He says, "i have a job for you," and moses is most reluctant.
- 00:17:09.178 --> 00:17:15.184
- God said, "there's a huge need, a tremendous need, an
- 00:17:15.184 --> 00:17:17.786
- Overwhelming need.
- 00:17:17.786 --> 00:17:19.154
- My people are suffering, and they need--they need help, they
- 00:17:19.154 --> 00:17:22.224
- Need leadership, they need someone to confront pharaoh.
- 00:17:22.224 --> 00:17:25.227
- They deserve something better and i have come down to help
- 00:17:25.227 --> 00:17:28.163
- Them," and moses is going, "yes!"
- 00:17:28.163 --> 00:17:32.134
- And then god says, "and i'm sending you," and moses
- 00:17:32.134 --> 00:17:34.536
- Goes, "whoa, hang on now, let's pray about this."
- 00:17:34.536 --> 00:17:39.541
- And then god begins to present to moses the tools he will need,
- 00:17:39.541 --> 00:17:44.813
- Everything he will need to be effective in this assignment.
- 00:17:44.813 --> 00:17:48.584
- It's totally unexpected.
- 00:17:48.584 --> 00:17:49.918
- Moses hasn't been praying for it.
- 00:17:49.918 --> 00:17:51.286
- He hasn't been pursuing it.
- 00:17:51.286 --> 00:17:54.056
- One of the questions i would pose you, are you--are you
- 00:17:54.056 --> 00:17:55.991
- Willing to allow god to write a future for you that doesn't look
- 00:17:55.991 --> 00:17:59.294
- Like the one you've been asking him for?
- 00:17:59.294 --> 00:18:02.264
- See, we know what we want god to do.
- 00:18:02.264 --> 00:18:03.966
- We pray and fast for god to do what we want god to do.
- 00:18:03.966 --> 00:18:07.236
- And i'm not saying that's wrong.
- 00:18:07.236 --> 00:18:08.570
- I think seeking the lord has benefit.
- 00:18:08.570 --> 00:18:10.339
- I can tell you that my life experience is the more i've
- 00:18:10.339 --> 00:18:12.875
- Sought the lord, the more god walks me into pathways i didn't
- 00:18:12.875 --> 00:18:16.245
- Even imagine i was supposed to walk in.
- 00:18:16.245 --> 00:18:22.918
- And that's where moses is at.
- 00:18:22.918 --> 00:18:24.286
- He goes, "i wasn't planning on this."
- 00:18:24.286 --> 00:18:25.687
- But god provides moses in this recruitment episode with an
- 00:18:25.687 --> 00:18:30.058
- Introduction to all the tools that he's going to need.
- 00:18:30.058 --> 00:18:35.764
- And moses is doing his best to say, "no, i don't wanna do that.
- 00:18:35.764 --> 00:18:38.667
- I don't intend to do that. i'm not gonna do that.
- 00:18:38.667 --> 00:18:40.569
- You can't make me do that."
- 00:18:40.569 --> 00:18:41.904
- There's an old episode from andy griffith where barney's doing
- 00:18:41.904 --> 00:18:44.039
- That and barney does that.
- 00:18:44.039 --> 00:18:49.545
- You know, moses said, "what are--i'm gonna get back there
- 00:18:49.545 --> 00:18:51.914
- And they're gonna say, 'who sent you?'
- 00:18:51.914 --> 00:18:53.382
- And i'm gonna go, 'you know, i was at a bush.'"
- 00:18:53.382 --> 00:18:57.886
- And god said, "well, what's in your hand?"
- 00:18:57.886 --> 00:18:59.688
- And he throws down his staff and it becomes a snake.
- 00:18:59.688 --> 00:19:01.990
- It's an introduction to the miraculous power of god.
- 00:19:01.990 --> 00:19:04.626
- Moses is gonna need that.
- 00:19:04.626 --> 00:19:08.063
- It's an introduction for him, but he's gonna become dependent
- 00:19:08.063 --> 00:19:10.933
- Upon the miraculous power of god.
- 00:19:10.933 --> 00:19:13.202
- You see, we'll--when we stop having seminars and discussions
- 00:19:13.202 --> 00:19:17.206
- About whether god still does miracles and arguing for
- 00:19:17.206 --> 00:19:19.975
- Cessationism and understand that we are absolutely and totally
- 00:19:19.975 --> 00:19:24.846
- Dependent upon the supernatural power of god, or we will lose
- 00:19:24.846 --> 00:19:28.383
- Our freedom, our liberty, and our ability to
- 00:19:28.383 --> 00:19:30.519
- Support ourselves.
- 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:32.921
- Then we'll begin to change our responses to the cultures
- 00:19:32.921 --> 00:19:35.424
- Around us.
- 00:19:35.424 --> 00:19:37.993
- It's an introduction to the miraculous power of god, but the
- 00:19:37.993 --> 00:19:40.329
- Recruitment doesn't stop there.
- 00:19:40.329 --> 00:19:43.065
- Same chapter, same recruitment episode.
- 00:19:43.065 --> 00:19:45.234
- It's in your notes.
- 00:19:45.234 --> 00:19:46.602
- Now, exodus 4 and verse 6: "the lord said to moses, 'put your
- 00:19:46.602 --> 00:19:49.171
- Hand inside your cloak.'
- 00:19:49.171 --> 00:19:50.539
- And so moses puts his hand into his cloak, and when he took it
- 00:19:50.539 --> 00:19:53.208
- Out, it was leprous.
- 00:19:53.208 --> 00:19:55.944
- 'now put it back into your cloak,' and moses did and he put
- 00:19:55.944 --> 00:19:58.947
- His hand back and when he took it out, it was restored, like
- 00:19:58.947 --> 00:20:01.817
- The rest of his flesh."
- 00:20:01.817 --> 00:20:03.885
- He's getting a little micro lesson in a supernatural god who
- 00:20:03.885 --> 00:20:07.789
- Can heal your body or make it very sick.
- 00:20:07.789 --> 00:20:14.162
- God did both of those things.
- 00:20:14.162 --> 00:20:15.530
- You gotta read the whole story.
- 00:20:15.530 --> 00:20:17.299
- He made it leprous and he made it whole.
- 00:20:17.299 --> 00:20:20.435
- So i have a question.
- 00:20:20.435 --> 00:20:21.770
- It's important for you and me.
- 00:20:21.770 --> 00:20:23.105
- Do we imagine that god still heals?
- 00:20:23.105 --> 00:20:25.440
- Moses is going to need this lesson.
- 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:27.409
- He's going to lead a collection of hundreds of thousands of
- 00:20:27.409 --> 00:20:31.046
- People who have been enslaved for hundreds of years.
- 00:20:31.046 --> 00:20:35.384
- And he's leading them into a wilderness where the health care
- 00:20:35.384 --> 00:20:37.719
- System is not particularly adequate and he's gonna need to
- 00:20:37.719 --> 00:20:43.692
- Know that god heals or it's an impossible assignment.
- 00:20:43.692 --> 00:20:47.929
- They're all gonna die on the journey and god is introducing
- 00:20:47.929 --> 00:20:52.067
- Him to what he's going to need.
- 00:20:52.067 --> 00:20:53.435
- And i believe it's--it is a type, it's a preview.
- 00:20:53.435 --> 00:20:56.338
- It's a pulling back of the curtain of what you and i need
- 00:20:56.338 --> 00:20:59.308
- To understand.
- 00:20:59.308 --> 00:21:00.642
- We're not going to accomplish the assignment in ourselves.
- 00:21:00.642 --> 00:21:05.180
- We're going to need supernatural help and strength and insight
- 00:21:05.180 --> 00:21:08.984
- And power and authority and opportunities that when you see
- 00:21:08.984 --> 00:21:12.387
- Them, you'll think, "well, only god could have done that."
- 00:21:12.387 --> 00:21:20.095
- There's a--there's a fun comment on that exodus
- 00:21:20.095 --> 00:21:22.364
- Generation that affirms what god said to moses at the
- 00:21:22.364 --> 00:21:25.000
- Burning bush.
- 00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:26.368
- It's repeated several places in scripture, but i put one in
- 00:21:26.368 --> 00:21:28.337
- Your notes.
- 00:21:28.337 --> 00:21:29.705
- It's deuteronomy 8.
- 00:21:29.705 --> 00:21:31.440
- This is the report of that exodus generation.
- 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:33.208
- "it says your clothes didn't wear out and your feet didn't
- 00:21:33.208 --> 00:21:37.646
- Swell during those 40 years."
- 00:21:37.646 --> 00:21:39.448
- How healthy were they?
- 00:21:39.448 --> 00:21:41.750
- Even their feet didn't swell.
- 00:21:41.750 --> 00:21:44.720
- Folks, i dare to say the vast majority of us couldn't get to
- 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:47.823
- Israel right now without your feet swelling.
- 00:21:47.823 --> 00:21:52.227
- You take an 11-hour plane flight.
- 00:21:52.227 --> 00:21:57.332
- "well, not me."
- 00:21:57.332 --> 00:21:58.667
- Well, good.
- 00:21:58.667 --> 00:22:01.002
- Help the person next to you.
- 00:22:01.002 --> 00:22:03.071
- Even their feet--and it makes me smile, the detail that's
- 00:22:03.071 --> 00:22:06.308
- Included in scripture.
- 00:22:06.308 --> 00:22:08.443
- "how'd that group do?"
- 00:22:08.443 --> 00:22:09.778
- "they did pretty well; they didn't have swollen feet."
- 00:22:09.778 --> 00:22:14.015
- In exodus 15, same group of people.
- 00:22:14.015 --> 00:22:16.618
- Exodus 15 takes place 3 days after the red sea.
- 00:22:16.618 --> 00:22:21.623
- They still have dirt from the mud from the red sea on the
- 00:22:21.623 --> 00:22:25.026
- Bottoms of their sandals.
- 00:22:25.026 --> 00:22:26.928
- And 3 days later they get to a place and the water is such that
- 00:22:26.928 --> 00:22:30.365
- They can't drink it and they grumble.
- 00:22:30.365 --> 00:22:33.301
- This is what god says to them.
- 00:22:33.301 --> 00:22:34.636
- It's verse 26: "if you listen carefully to the voice of the
- 00:22:34.636 --> 00:22:37.239
- Lord your god and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay
- 00:22:37.239 --> 00:22:39.975
- Attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, i'll not
- 00:22:39.975 --> 00:22:42.577
- Bring on you any of the diseases i brought on the egyptians, for
- 00:22:42.577 --> 00:22:46.515
- I'm the lord, who heals you."
- 00:22:46.515 --> 00:22:48.884
- That last phrase, it's the modern-day--it's the modern
- 00:22:48.884 --> 00:22:51.019
- Hebrew word today for a physician.
- 00:22:51.019 --> 00:22:53.822
- God said, "i'll be your doctor.
- 00:22:53.822 --> 00:22:57.359
- I'll do such a good job, your feet even won't swell.
- 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:01.897
- If you'll listen to me," he said.
- 00:23:01.897 --> 00:23:04.699
- So i have a question.
- 00:23:04.699 --> 00:23:06.034
- Do you imagine that god is a healer?
- 00:23:06.034 --> 00:23:09.404
- I do.
- 00:23:09.404 --> 00:23:11.173
- I know it to be absolutely true.
- 00:23:11.173 --> 00:23:12.941
- Then christians, we start--we get really weird at this point.
- 00:23:12.941 --> 00:23:16.011
- It's like we lose our balance completely.
- 00:23:16.011 --> 00:23:17.813
- "well, are you saying we shouldn't go to the doctor?"
- 00:23:17.813 --> 00:23:19.481
- I didn't say that.
- 00:23:19.481 --> 00:23:21.516
- I said, "i believe god was a healer."
- 00:23:21.516 --> 00:23:24.886
- "well, i don't know what i should do."
- 00:23:24.886 --> 00:23:26.221
- "yes, you do.
- 00:23:26.221 --> 00:23:27.556
- You'd rather not go to the doctor.
- 00:23:27.556 --> 00:23:28.924
- It's cheaper to pray."
- 00:23:28.924 --> 00:23:33.228
- I mean, my god's a miracle worker too.
- 00:23:33.228 --> 00:23:35.197
- He can do anything.
- 00:23:35.197 --> 00:23:37.432
- He can do anything.
- 00:23:37.499 --> 00:23:38.834
- I know he can.
- 00:23:38.834 --> 00:23:40.168
- But when i'm out of gas in my car, i don't sit in the driveway
- 00:23:40.168 --> 00:23:42.804
- And pray until the tank's full.
- 00:23:42.804 --> 00:23:47.209
- I go to work with some opportunity that the
- 00:23:47.209 --> 00:23:50.812
- Lord provides.
- 00:23:50.812 --> 00:23:52.180
- And then i trust him to provide a place where somebody will
- 00:23:52.180 --> 00:23:54.816
- Exchange the money i've earned with the gasoline, the fuel, i
- 00:23:54.816 --> 00:23:58.920
- Need for my vehicle.
- 00:23:58.920 --> 00:24:01.156
- And i will gladly say, "god has provided so that i can drive."
- 00:24:01.156 --> 00:24:07.295
- So i don't feel like going to the doctor's office is any way a
- 00:24:07.295 --> 00:24:10.599
- Denial of my faith or a diminishment of my confidence
- 00:24:10.599 --> 00:24:13.368
- In god.
- 00:24:13.368 --> 00:24:14.736
- I pray before i go, i'll pray in the waiting room while i'm
- 00:24:14.736 --> 00:24:17.239
- Waiting to see the doctor,
- 00:24:17.239 --> 00:24:18.573
- And i'll thank god when i leave and i'm very grateful for the
- 00:24:18.573 --> 00:24:23.144
- People that have sacrificed and spent years of their lives,
- 00:24:23.144 --> 00:24:25.981
- Preparing and training in order to help me be better.
- 00:24:25.981 --> 00:24:31.119
- I feel the same way about a plumber that helps me with a hot
- 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:33.755
- Water heater.
- 00:24:33.755 --> 00:24:36.525
- Because if you leave that to me, we're probably gonna take cold
- 00:24:36.525 --> 00:24:38.894
- Showers for a while.
- 00:24:38.894 --> 00:24:42.330
- I'm very grateful.
- 00:24:42.330 --> 00:24:43.865
- "well, don't you believe in miracles?
- 00:24:43.865 --> 00:24:45.200
- Why would you call a plumber?"
- 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:47.869
- Well, because there are some people that have trained and
- 00:24:47.869 --> 00:24:49.704
- Know how to fix a hot water heater.
- 00:24:49.704 --> 00:24:53.108
- And i'll call it a miracle when they'll drive to my house with
- 00:24:53.108 --> 00:24:55.877
- The tools, fix my hot water heater, and i can take a hot
- 00:24:55.877 --> 00:25:00.282
- Shower--hallelujah!
- 00:25:00.282 --> 00:25:04.452
- We get weird or then we say things, "well, you know, like, i
- 00:25:04.452 --> 00:25:10.058
- Just don't think god heals anymore.
- 00:25:10.058 --> 00:25:11.593
- He gave us medicine."
- 00:25:11.593 --> 00:25:15.363
- Really?
- 00:25:15.363 --> 00:25:17.198
- You haven't taken very much, because sometimes it helps and
- 00:25:17.198 --> 00:25:21.803
- Sometimes it doesn't.
- 00:25:21.803 --> 00:25:25.340
- What do they--that thing doctors do, what do they
- 00:25:25.340 --> 00:25:27.409
- Call that?
- 00:25:27.409 --> 00:25:30.378
- Practice.
- 00:25:30.378 --> 00:25:35.183
- It's inexact.
- 00:25:35.183 --> 00:25:36.818
- "well, it's science."
- 00:25:36.818 --> 00:25:38.553
- Hm, you know, 100 years ago, doctors hardly washed their
- 00:25:38.553 --> 00:25:44.859
- Hands between patients.
- 00:25:44.859 --> 00:25:48.863
- They didn't understand germ theory.
- 00:25:48.863 --> 00:25:52.267
- The best trained, the smartest, the most clever, hadn't been
- 00:25:52.267 --> 00:25:56.605
- Much longer before that, if you had some conditions, they would
- 00:25:56.605 --> 00:26:00.675
- Attach leeches to you, the smart people, the health
- 00:26:00.675 --> 00:26:06.514
- Care providers.
- 00:26:06.514 --> 00:26:08.917
- If the lord tarries and we wait another 100 years and we
- 00:26:08.917 --> 00:26:11.219
- Maintain our freedom and liberty and we have the resources, third
- 00:26:11.219 --> 00:26:14.289
- Graders will laugh at what you consider to be science today.
- 00:26:14.289 --> 00:26:18.460
- I'm not denying science.
- 00:26:18.460 --> 00:26:19.794
- I'm all in favor of it.
- 00:26:19.794 --> 00:26:21.162
- I'm telling you, there are limits to it because it reflects
- 00:26:21.162 --> 00:26:23.164
- The collective knowledge of humanity.
- 00:26:23.164 --> 00:26:26.334
- And god's not limited to that.
- 00:26:26.334 --> 00:26:29.437
- Allen: i wanna pray with you before we go.
- 00:26:29.504 --> 00:26:31.106
- I'm gonna ask god to give us a new boldness to stand for jesus.
- 00:26:31.106 --> 00:26:35.810
- When jesus was on the earth, there was significant opposition
- 00:26:35.810 --> 00:26:38.913
- To who he was and to what he did.
- 00:26:38.913 --> 00:26:41.516
- And then he told us that that opposition would persist and
- 00:26:41.516 --> 00:26:44.886
- Impact our lives.
- 00:26:44.886 --> 00:26:46.354
- And yet we're surprised.
- 00:26:46.354 --> 00:26:47.922
- That's not helpful.
- 00:26:47.922 --> 00:26:49.290
- Jesus told us it was a reality.
- 00:26:49.290 --> 00:26:51.126
- We can see his response to it, that he was undeterred in his
- 00:26:51.126 --> 00:26:55.163
- Mission and his assignment, and we have to be the same.
- 00:26:55.163 --> 00:26:58.233
- Please don't let fear of someone else's opinion keep you from
- 00:26:58.233 --> 00:27:02.070
- Being who you should be for jesus.
- 00:27:02.070 --> 00:27:04.039
- Heavenly father, give us a boldness to stand for your truth
- 00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:07.242
- With courage and clarity wherever you open the door.
- 00:27:07.242 --> 00:27:11.246
- I thank you for what you're doing and i trust you in your
- 00:27:11.246 --> 00:27:14.416
- Protection, in jesus's name, amen.
- 00:27:14.416 --> 00:27:17.919
- ♪♪♪
- 00:27:17.919 --> 00:27:27.362