Allen Jackson - The Response Team (Part 1)

December 12, 2024 | S24:E5005

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
  • 00:10:23.606 --> 00:10:29.045
  • Went down in the pit to get the lion.
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • So we made our way out into the serengeti and we were in a range
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  • Rover with lions.
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  • 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.
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  • 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
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  • God, which means i have to change how i think a little bit.
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  • I gotta re-le--i have to re-message that internal
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  • Programming when you recognize an opportunity where you could
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  • Pray and your internal trigger goes, "oh, don't do that."
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  • You might pray, and nothing would happen.
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  • It would be far more intimidating if you prayed and
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  • Something did.
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  • Oh, when you hear somebody talking about something that's
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  • Ungodly and you get a little message go, "you could
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  • Speak up."
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  • "oh, don't do that."
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  • We gotta reimagine what it means to follow the lord.
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  • We've been so smug and so arrogant and so self-righteous,
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 00:12:45.681 --> 00:12:49.285
  • Year in our ministry so far.
  • 00:12:49.285 --> 00:12:50.886
  • We started a whole new genre of programming.
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  • "allen jackson now" does a daily review of headlines from a
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  • Help stabilize god's people in the midst of all the confusion.
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  • All of that because of your faithfulness, your generosity,
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  • 00:13:07.269 --> 00:13:08.637
  • Thank you so much.
  • 00:13:08.637 --> 00:13:09.972
  • 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
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  • What's next.
  • 00:13:15.244 --> 00:13:16.579
  • We wanna take those programs, share them in new places with
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  • More people.
  • 00:13:19.715 --> 00:13:21.050
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  • 00:13:21.050 --> 00:13:24.587
  • Jesus christ.
  • 00:13:24.587 --> 00:13:25.955
  • A generous partner makes it possible.
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  • Every gift you give will be matched, it doubles your gift
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  • 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."
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  • It will help us seek god so we can recognize his voice and
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  • Consistently choose to follow him.
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  • Each day includes scripture, a short teaching, and a prayer,
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  • Let's get ready for the season ahead.
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  • Request your copy of "set apart for his purposes" when you
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  • 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