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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - The Sovereignty of God (Part 1)

October 14, 2025 | 28:35

Allen Jackson - The Sovereignty of God (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Culture #Christianity #Sovereignty #WalkwithGod #Jesus #LightoftheWorld #Truth #Calling #Purpose #Faith #TrustGod #Obedience #Foolishness #Disciples #Discipleship

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - The Sovereignty of God (Part 1) | October 14, 2025
  • ...
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  • Allen jackson: you know, we're witnessing something of a
  • 00:00:06.756 --> 00:00:08.191
  • Crisis in our nation, something i never thought i would see:
  • 00:00:08.291 --> 00:00:11.561
  • Expressions of antisemitism, hatred for the jewish people
  • 00:00:11.694 --> 00:00:15.131
  • Coming from america, coming from the christian community,
  • 00:00:15.265 --> 00:00:16.299
  • The conservative side of the ideological spectrum to a degree
  • 00:00:18.701 --> 00:00:22.105
  • And scope i've never seen before.
  • 00:00:22.105 --> 00:00:24.407
  • Well, it's important enough that i stopped and put
  • 00:00:24.407 --> 00:00:26.209
  • Together a book.
  • 00:00:26.209 --> 00:00:27.544
  • The title of it is "supporting israel: how far is too far?"
  • 00:00:27.544 --> 00:00:31.614
  • It's an important concept.
  • 00:00:31.614 --> 00:00:33.016
  • It isn't political.
  • 00:00:33.016 --> 00:00:34.350
  • It's grounded in a biblical worldview.
  • 00:00:34.350 --> 00:00:36.453
  • I think we need to understand our responsibilities to the
  • 00:00:36.453 --> 00:00:39.055
  • Jewish people, to the modern state of israel,
  • 00:00:39.055 --> 00:00:41.891
  • Not from an ideological perspective,
  • 00:00:41.891 --> 00:00:43.660
  • Not from the perspective of nation states,
  • 00:00:43.660 --> 00:00:45.862
  • But as people of god.
  • 00:00:45.862 --> 00:00:47.831
  • It's important, it's an important season.
  • 00:00:47.831 --> 00:00:49.299
  • A lot of voices--you know, i know there's some fatigue with
  • 00:00:49.299 --> 00:00:52.035
  • The conflict in the middle east, but we can't afford to be
  • 00:00:52.035 --> 00:00:54.571
  • Fatigued with our assignments to honor god and the
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  • Responsibilities that come with that.
  • 00:00:57.173 --> 00:00:59.275
  • I believe the book will be a help to you.
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  • I believe it'll help you navigate the conversation with
  • 00:01:01.144 --> 00:01:03.413
  • Your family and your friends.
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  • Enjoy the read.
  • 00:01:05.248 --> 00:01:08.351
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:01:08.351 --> 00:01:24.033
  • Allen: as i mentioned, we've had a conference the last few
  • 00:01:27.904 --> 00:01:30.039
  • Days on "culture and christianity."
  • 00:01:30.039 --> 00:01:32.275
  • Our conviction is that the church should shape culture.
  • 00:01:32.275 --> 00:01:36.112
  • And so we invited some friends from across the country to be a
  • 00:01:36.112 --> 00:01:39.249
  • Part of that.
  • 00:01:39.249 --> 00:01:40.617
  • We talked about israel and christian support for israel and
  • 00:01:40.617 --> 00:01:44.053
  • Why we believe that's important.
  • 00:01:44.053 --> 00:01:46.156
  • You know, there are some heinous things being said about israel
  • 00:01:46.156 --> 00:01:48.691
  • And the jewish people these days.
  • 00:01:48.691 --> 00:01:50.026
  • In the last couple of weeks, i've read that the israelis were
  • 00:01:50.026 --> 00:01:52.962
  • Responsible for jeffrey epstein.
  • 00:01:52.962 --> 00:01:56.799
  • Wow.
  • 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:58.968
  • That it was a plot by the secret service in israel to blackmail
  • 00:01:58.968 --> 00:02:04.174
  • Global leaders.
  • 00:02:04.174 --> 00:02:06.109
  • I mean, there was no evidence, but there was that.
  • 00:02:06.109 --> 00:02:09.345
  • And then they said it was the israelis that killed
  • 00:02:09.345 --> 00:02:11.514
  • Charlie kirk.
  • 00:02:11.514 --> 00:02:14.751
  • So i did a little research.
  • 00:02:14.751 --> 00:02:16.119
  • I did--this is a deep dive on this.
  • 00:02:16.119 --> 00:02:17.453
  • I told 'em in the conference, i also discovered that the
  • 00:02:17.453 --> 00:02:18.955
  • Israelis have eliminated the easter bunny, that they've
  • 00:02:18.955 --> 00:02:22.625
  • Captured the tooth fairy, that they've got an expedition headed
  • 00:02:22.625 --> 00:02:25.061
  • To the north pole.
  • 00:02:25.061 --> 00:02:26.396
  • They're gonna put santa's elves in some form of...
  • 00:02:26.396 --> 00:02:31.734
  • The bible is really clear on that one, folks.
  • 00:02:31.734 --> 00:02:33.369
  • Without the jewish people, we have no story, we have no bible,
  • 00:02:33.369 --> 00:02:36.206
  • We have no scripture, we have no--we have no messiah, we have
  • 00:02:36.206 --> 00:02:41.077
  • No stories, so we pray for them.
  • 00:02:41.077 --> 00:02:43.947
  • We talked about the church in our culture and we had some
  • 00:02:43.947 --> 00:02:46.249
  • Pastors from across the country.
  • 00:02:46.249 --> 00:02:47.917
  • I'm gonna share some quotes from some of our speakers here with
  • 00:02:47.917 --> 00:02:50.086
  • You, but the quote of the week, the quote of the conference came
  • 00:02:50.086 --> 00:02:53.122
  • From rob mccoy, calvary chapel, pastor in california.
  • 00:02:53.122 --> 00:02:57.460
  • We're sitting and we're having a panel discussion on the stage
  • 00:02:57.460 --> 00:02:59.796
  • And he said, "i feel like a mule at the kentucky derby."
  • 00:02:59.796 --> 00:03:05.435
  • He said, "i may not win, but i'm in good company."
  • 00:03:05.435 --> 00:03:10.707
  • Next time you hear that, i'm gonna tell you it was my
  • 00:03:10.707 --> 00:03:12.775
  • Original thought.
  • 00:03:12.775 --> 00:03:14.143
  • So just i've attributed to him.
  • 00:03:14.143 --> 00:03:16.613
  • We had alex marlow from breitbart news, jason whitlock,
  • 00:03:16.613 --> 00:03:22.418
  • Sage steele.
  • 00:03:22.418 --> 00:03:23.786
  • We just had a remarkable collection of people who are
  • 00:03:23.786 --> 00:03:25.255
  • Providing leadership from a variety of perspectives in
  • 00:03:25.255 --> 00:03:27.857
  • Our country.
  • 00:03:27.857 --> 00:03:29.325
  • And i wanna share a bit of that with you.
  • 00:03:29.325 --> 00:03:31.327
  • Today, really is--i sat and listened most of the week and so
  • 00:03:31.327 --> 00:03:34.497
  • It's lessons from culture and christianity, but i wanna talk
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  • To you about the sovereignty of god.
  • 00:03:36.532 --> 00:03:38.201
  • But my real takeaway is i listened to everybody and
  • 00:03:38.201 --> 00:03:40.970
  • Engaged with them both in public and in private, was that god
  • 00:03:40.970 --> 00:03:44.340
  • Really is moving
  • 00:03:44.340 --> 00:03:46.843
  • But that he isn't moving in the ways that i would have expected
  • 00:03:46.843 --> 00:03:49.512
  • Or the way i've been trained to look for.
  • 00:03:49.512 --> 00:03:51.547
  • I've earned a degree in history, and beyond that i've studied
  • 00:03:51.547 --> 00:03:54.284
  • Church history and the history of the scripture and archaeology
  • 00:03:54.284 --> 00:03:57.654
  • And all those things and god is doing something, but it doesn't
  • 00:03:57.654 --> 00:04:00.056
  • Look just like a rinse and repeat of what he's done before.
  • 00:04:00.056 --> 00:04:04.594
  • And i think it's gonna require on my part and beyond some
  • 00:04:04.594 --> 00:04:07.697
  • Training to recognize that, oh, that could be god.
  • 00:04:07.697 --> 00:04:12.702
  • So most of us get that.
  • 00:04:12.702 --> 00:04:14.070
  • You've got an area of expertise and you're trained to see things
  • 00:04:14.070 --> 00:04:16.639
  • That people without your training don't see.
  • 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:19.809
  • You know, i have all sorts of friends and acquaintances that
  • 00:04:19.809 --> 00:04:21.744
  • Have expertise that i don't.
  • 00:04:21.744 --> 00:04:23.112
  • I've got one friend who's a real woodsman.
  • 00:04:23.112 --> 00:04:26.382
  • I mean he loves to hunt and fish.
  • 00:04:26.382 --> 00:04:28.151
  • If you drive down the street with him, you can drive down a
  • 00:04:28.151 --> 00:04:30.353
  • City street with him and he can spot wildlife.
  • 00:04:30.353 --> 00:04:34.057
  • You know, i can--most of the time i can spot traffic, but he
  • 00:04:34.057 --> 00:04:36.826
  • Can spot like critters.
  • 00:04:36.826 --> 00:04:39.395
  • And, you know, he's just--he sees things that i don't see,
  • 00:04:39.395 --> 00:04:43.533
  • And then he looks at me like i'm--"what's wrong with you?"
  • 00:04:43.533 --> 00:04:46.769
  • Well, i don't get up at 3 in the morning to go sit in the woods
  • 00:04:46.769 --> 00:04:49.005
  • And outsmart a turkey.
  • 00:04:49.005 --> 00:04:52.041
  • I go to kroger at noon.
  • 00:04:52.041 --> 00:04:53.843
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:04:53.843 --> 00:04:58.481
  • And i'm effective most of the time, it's like.
  • 00:04:58.481 --> 00:05:03.252
  • You know, i have other friends that have experts.
  • 00:05:03.252 --> 00:05:05.188
  • They're trained to see things and i think we're gonna have to
  • 00:05:05.188 --> 00:05:09.359
  • Recognize that god is moving, but he isn't doing it in the
  • 00:05:09.359 --> 00:05:11.694
  • Ways that we have expected or the way we've been acclimated to
  • 00:05:11.694 --> 00:05:14.397
  • Think of or maybe the way that we came to faith or our parents
  • 00:05:14.397 --> 00:05:17.066
  • Or our grandparents.
  • 00:05:17.066 --> 00:05:18.434
  • And it doesn't have to be the same way.
  • 00:05:18.434 --> 00:05:20.803
  • I was baptized in the atlantic ocean in fort lauderdale in
  • 00:05:20.803 --> 00:05:23.506
  • Front of the sheraton, but i don't believe, for you to have a
  • 00:05:23.506 --> 00:05:25.975
  • Legitimate baptism, we gotta load the plane and go to
  • 00:05:25.975 --> 00:05:27.910
  • Fort lauderdale.
  • 00:05:27.910 --> 00:05:31.514
  • It doesn't sound like a bad idea to me, but the people in the
  • 00:05:31.514 --> 00:05:35.551
  • Sheraton would complain.
  • 00:05:35.551 --> 00:05:37.487
  • Be bad for business, it's just all those crazy christians out
  • 00:05:37.487 --> 00:05:40.123
  • There on the beach.
  • 00:05:40.123 --> 00:05:41.924
  • But god is moving.
  • 00:05:41.924 --> 00:05:44.327
  • There's a verse i wanna read you.
  • 00:05:44.327 --> 00:05:45.661
  • I didn't put it in your notes 'cause i mean that way, but it's
  • 00:05:45.661 --> 00:05:48.097
  • Isaiah 43 and verse 18.
  • 00:05:48.097 --> 00:05:49.966
  • You can check me later.
  • 00:05:49.966 --> 00:05:51.300
  • It's something of a context.
  • 00:05:51.300 --> 00:05:52.935
  • It says, "forget the former things, don't dwell on the past.
  • 00:05:52.935 --> 00:05:56.072
  • See, i'm doing a new thing!
  • 00:05:56.072 --> 00:05:58.241
  • And now it springs up; do you not perceive it?"
  • 00:05:58.241 --> 00:06:00.943
  • It's a rhetorical question.
  • 00:06:00.943 --> 00:06:02.278
  • When those questions are there, the answer is, no, we
  • 00:06:02.278 --> 00:06:03.980
  • Really don't.
  • 00:06:03.980 --> 00:06:07.116
  • "i am making a way in the desert in streams in the wasteland."
  • 00:06:07.116 --> 00:06:10.119
  • Well, there is no way in the desert.
  • 00:06:10.119 --> 00:06:11.487
  • That's why it's a desert.
  • 00:06:11.487 --> 00:06:13.656
  • If there was a way through it, it wouldn't be a desert, it
  • 00:06:13.656 --> 00:06:16.492
  • Would be something else.
  • 00:06:16.492 --> 00:06:18.594
  • And i believe we are on the cusp, but i think it really
  • 00:06:18.594 --> 00:06:21.330
  • Started in 2020.
  • 00:06:21.330 --> 00:06:22.665
  • But god began a shaking, and out of that is coming an expression
  • 00:06:22.665 --> 00:06:27.336
  • Of god's purpose in the earth unlike anything in my lifetime,
  • 00:06:27.336 --> 00:06:31.641
  • And i'm determined to be a part of it,
  • 00:06:31.641 --> 00:06:34.710
  • Which means i'm gonna have to learn to see in some new ways,
  • 00:06:34.710 --> 00:06:37.013
  • And i would invite you to that.
  • 00:06:37.013 --> 00:06:39.015
  • I'm not saying that your experiences with god are wrong,
  • 00:06:39.015 --> 00:06:42.585
  • I mean, i'm telling you they're incomplete.
  • 00:06:42.585 --> 00:06:44.520
  • We serve an infinite god and we're finite creatures and we
  • 00:06:44.520 --> 00:06:47.290
  • Wanna keep growing.
  • 00:06:47.290 --> 00:06:49.625
  • So do we have the willingness to say to the lord, "i'll
  • 00:06:49.625 --> 00:06:52.395
  • Follow you"?
  • 00:06:52.395 --> 00:06:54.263
  • Now, that was my big picture takeaway, the balance of this,
  • 00:06:54.263 --> 00:06:56.866
  • I'm gonna share with you some things that i heard from
  • 00:06:56.866 --> 00:06:58.901
  • My friends.
  • 00:06:58.901 --> 00:07:00.336
  • John amanchukwu, who's a pastor, he's been here before.
  • 00:07:00.336 --> 00:07:02.572
  • He's a friend of the church.
  • 00:07:02.572 --> 00:07:04.273
  • He's been to more than 20 states standing up on behalf of
  • 00:07:04.273 --> 00:07:07.109
  • Children, standing before school boards to put smut in the
  • 00:07:07.109 --> 00:07:10.546
  • School libraries.
  • 00:07:10.546 --> 00:07:12.482
  • You really wouldn't think it would take an outside voice.
  • 00:07:12.482 --> 00:07:15.985
  • I would hope the parents in the community would say, "don't try
  • 00:07:15.985 --> 00:07:18.488
  • To sexualize my four and five year olds."
  • 00:07:18.488 --> 00:07:21.557
  • But absent that, john's been willing to take that mantle.
  • 00:07:21.557 --> 00:07:23.993
  • He played defensive end for north carolina state.
  • 00:07:23.993 --> 00:07:27.497
  • He's 6'4 and about 280, and when john speaks, i'm gonna
  • 00:07:27.497 --> 00:07:30.399
  • Pay attention.
  • 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:34.637
  • He made a statement.
  • 00:07:34.637 --> 00:07:36.005
  • He said, "we're called to places which make us appear foolish."
  • 00:07:36.005 --> 00:07:39.675
  • And when he said that, i wrote it down on my notes and i've
  • 00:07:39.675 --> 00:07:42.178
  • Been thinking about it ever since 'cause i don't like to
  • 00:07:42.178 --> 00:07:43.880
  • Be foolish.
  • 00:07:43.880 --> 00:07:45.448
  • I prefer to appear clever or accomplished or prepared
  • 00:07:45.448 --> 00:07:49.652
  • Or suave.
  • 00:07:49.652 --> 00:07:53.356
  • Doesn't happen very often, but it'd be good if it did.
  • 00:07:53.356 --> 00:07:55.491
  • It'd be all right with me.
  • 00:07:55.491 --> 00:07:57.426
  • But 1 corinthians chapter 4 and verse 10, i had to admit john
  • 00:07:57.426 --> 00:08:00.263
  • Was being somewhat biblical, which is not a bad idea.
  • 00:08:00.263 --> 00:08:02.765
  • He said, "we are fools for christ."
  • 00:08:02.765 --> 00:08:04.967
  • Paul's writing to a group of christians, to a group of people
  • 00:08:04.967 --> 00:08:07.169
  • He had helped shape the church that they're a part of, and
  • 00:08:07.169 --> 00:08:10.973
  • Someone's come into the church and now they're critical of paul
  • 00:08:10.973 --> 00:08:13.609
  • And his team and their input.
  • 00:08:13.609 --> 00:08:15.077
  • So paul's writing back to the people and he said, "we're
  • 00:08:15.077 --> 00:08:17.246
  • Fools for christ, but you are so wise!
  • 00:08:17.246 --> 00:08:20.316
  • We're weak, but you are strong!
  • 00:08:20.316 --> 00:08:21.651
  • You are honored, and we are dishonored!"
  • 00:08:21.651 --> 00:08:23.653
  • There's an awkward acknowledgment i think we have
  • 00:08:23.653 --> 00:08:25.821
  • To make and that's if you choose to believe there is a god and
  • 00:08:25.821 --> 00:08:28.324
  • That the bible is authoritative and you're gonna accept those
  • 00:08:28.324 --> 00:08:30.860
  • Definitions for crazy things like marriage.
  • 00:08:30.860 --> 00:08:35.531
  • Or if you say in public that god created us male and female and
  • 00:08:35.531 --> 00:08:38.568
  • You don't think there's 31 options.
  • 00:08:38.568 --> 00:08:41.604
  • I had a meeting with a psychiatrist from new york and
  • 00:08:41.604 --> 00:08:43.606
  • She said on the induction--the form for the facility that she
  • 00:08:43.606 --> 00:08:46.676
  • Worked at in new york state, there were 31 options.
  • 00:08:46.676 --> 00:08:52.515
  • I'd have to get an advanced degree.
  • 00:08:52.515 --> 00:08:56.185
  • God created us male and female--
  • 00:08:56.185 --> 00:08:59.255
  • That he defined human sexuality and he didn't leave it open to
  • 00:08:59.255 --> 00:09:02.158
  • Us to express our opinions about how that should be.
  • 00:09:02.158 --> 00:09:05.361
  • There's a lot of voices in our culture who'll say, "you're just
  • 00:09:05.361 --> 00:09:07.463
  • Foolish, you're naive, you're antiquated."
  • 00:09:07.463 --> 00:09:09.365
  • Well, if it means aligning myself with god means i'm
  • 00:09:09.365 --> 00:09:12.568
  • Perceived as foolish, put me in the fool's bucket.
  • 00:09:12.568 --> 00:09:16.072
  • I'll be okay with that.
  • 00:09:16.072 --> 00:09:18.374
  • Now i do not intend to be a fool in god's sight.
  • 00:09:18.374 --> 00:09:22.378
  • And there's some parameters around that.
  • 00:09:22.378 --> 00:09:24.080
  • We can talk about it, but when john said we're called to places
  • 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:27.850
  • That make us appear foolish.
  • 00:09:27.850 --> 00:09:31.287
  • I mean, years ago when i reordered my life to say i would
  • 00:09:31.287 --> 00:09:34.156
  • Serve the lord, the people closest to me said, "you're
  • 00:09:34.156 --> 00:09:36.158
  • Throwing your life away.
  • 00:09:36.158 --> 00:09:37.693
  • Why would you do that?
  • 00:09:37.693 --> 00:09:39.028
  • It's foolish."
  • 00:09:39.028 --> 00:09:40.396
  • And i didn't have a good answer 'cause the outcomes weren't
  • 00:09:40.396 --> 00:09:42.798
  • Clear and i really didn't know what i would do and it just
  • 00:09:42.798 --> 00:09:45.601
  • Wasn't a clear path to me.
  • 00:09:45.601 --> 00:09:46.969
  • I just said, "i don't--maybe."
  • 00:09:46.969 --> 00:09:50.506
  • And you'll bump into that.
  • 00:09:50.506 --> 00:09:51.874
  • You'll bump into people who think, well, you're
  • 00:09:51.874 --> 00:09:53.209
  • Being foolish.
  • 00:09:53.209 --> 00:09:54.977
  • Why would you deny yourself?
  • 00:09:54.977 --> 00:09:56.879
  • Why would you make a sacrifice?
  • 00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:58.381
  • Why would you do that when you don't have to?
  • 00:09:58.381 --> 00:10:01.317
  • Well, following the lord will put you in places where people
  • 00:10:01.317 --> 00:10:03.586
  • Who don't know him won't understand your choices.
  • 00:10:03.586 --> 00:10:06.555
  • Choose the lord anyway.
  • 00:10:06.555 --> 00:10:09.191
  • Choose the lord.
  • 00:10:09.191 --> 00:10:10.526
  • Now, weird doesn't make you spiritual.
  • 00:10:10.526 --> 00:10:11.894
  • I keep saying this, but christians can be so weird.
  • 00:10:11.894 --> 00:10:15.665
  • And i'm not impressed with you.
  • 00:10:15.665 --> 00:10:20.903
  • Now, don't confuse--don't conflate weird with loving
  • 00:10:20.903 --> 00:10:23.839
  • The lord.
  • 00:10:23.839 --> 00:10:25.808
  • You understand?
  • 00:10:25.808 --> 00:10:27.309
  • If you're out of gas, you don't need a word from the lord.
  • 00:10:27.309 --> 00:10:29.712
  • You need cash and a filling station.
  • 00:10:29.712 --> 00:10:34.383
  • Do you understand?
  • 00:10:34.383 --> 00:10:36.352
  • No--don't, you know, "pastor, do you believe in doctors
  • 00:10:36.352 --> 00:10:41.357
  • Or prayer?"
  • 00:10:41.357 --> 00:10:43.092
  • Yes, don't you?
  • 00:10:43.092 --> 00:10:47.763
  • You know, if you don't study for the exam, do you think prayer is
  • 00:10:47.763 --> 00:10:52.702
  • Gonna make the difference?
  • 00:10:52.702 --> 00:10:56.372
  • I mean, i've sat with people before that prayed over there.
  • 00:10:56.372 --> 00:10:58.674
  • I've got an outline.
  • 00:10:58.674 --> 00:11:00.009
  • I'll go back to it, but we're on weird for a minute.
  • 00:11:00.009 --> 00:11:02.378
  • I mean, i've done this.
  • 00:11:02.378 --> 00:11:03.779
  • I have met some weird people and they blame jesus and when they
  • 00:11:03.779 --> 00:11:07.483
  • See him, they're gonna say, he said, "i had nothing to do
  • 00:11:07.483 --> 00:11:09.351
  • With you."
  • 00:11:09.351 --> 00:11:10.786
  • I mean, they may be born again, but their weirdness was not
  • 00:11:10.786 --> 00:11:13.456
  • From jesus.
  • 00:11:13.456 --> 00:11:15.057
  • I've sat at the table with people that prayed over their
  • 00:11:15.057 --> 00:11:17.526
  • Meal trying to cast the calories out of it.
  • 00:11:17.526 --> 00:11:25.134
  • Now, i mean, i like me some dessert, but i understand the
  • 00:11:25.134 --> 00:11:29.672
  • Consequences if i indulge too; i'm not gonna blame god.
  • 00:11:29.672 --> 00:11:34.677
  • So don't conflate the two.
  • 00:11:34.677 --> 00:11:36.112
  • When i say that you'll be perceived as foolish, be foolish
  • 00:11:36.112 --> 00:11:39.148
  • Because you align yourself with those fundamental principles
  • 00:11:39.148 --> 00:11:42.685
  • Of god.
  • 00:11:42.685 --> 00:11:44.453
  • The rest of those things that are more personal to you, you
  • 00:11:44.453 --> 00:11:46.589
  • Don't have to broadcast those.
  • 00:11:46.589 --> 00:11:47.990
  • You don't have to broadcast the fact that you're spiritual.
  • 00:11:47.990 --> 00:11:50.025
  • Jesus said, "if you're fasting," which your non-christian friends
  • 00:11:50.025 --> 00:11:52.895
  • Will think you're weird if you skip a meal and pray.
  • 00:11:52.895 --> 00:11:56.232
  • And he said, "when you're fasting," he said, "don't
  • 00:11:56.232 --> 00:11:58.667
  • Disfigure, don't dishevel yourself, don't mess your
  • 00:11:58.667 --> 00:12:00.870
  • Hair up."
  • 00:12:00.870 --> 00:12:02.204
  • He said, "in fact, on the days you're fasting, make the best
  • 00:12:02.204 --> 00:12:03.939
  • Presentation you can make.
  • 00:12:03.939 --> 00:12:05.274
  • That's your business."
  • 00:12:05.274 --> 00:12:06.909
  • He said, "if you make that public, you'll lose any rewards
  • 00:12:06.909 --> 00:12:09.745
  • You would have for your effort to seek the lord."
  • 00:12:09.745 --> 00:12:13.149
  • And that's really what i'm suggesting to you--is that if
  • 00:12:13.149 --> 00:12:15.317
  • You think by presenting yourself as weird, you'll cause people to
  • 00:12:15.317 --> 00:12:18.354
  • Think you're more godly, you're not only causing people to have
  • 00:12:18.354 --> 00:12:21.490
  • A bad imagination of the kingdom, you're forfeiting the
  • 00:12:21.490 --> 00:12:24.527
  • Blessing that could be yours.
  • 00:12:24.527 --> 00:12:28.964
  • Allen: you know, how should we respond to the nation of
  • 00:12:33.135 --> 00:12:34.970
  • Israel and the jewish people?
  • 00:12:34.970 --> 00:12:37.173
  • It's a complex question in today's world.
  • 00:12:37.173 --> 00:12:39.375
  • Well, i've written a book, "supporting israel:
  • 00:12:39.375 --> 00:12:41.410
  • How far is too far?"
  • 00:12:41.410 --> 00:12:43.345
  • To help us establish a biblical perspective on what has become a
  • 00:12:43.345 --> 00:12:47.082
  • Complex question in contemporary culture.
  • 00:12:47.082 --> 00:12:50.519
  • We don't want to follow the guidance and the counsel of some
  • 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:53.422
  • Of the elite universities in this nation.
  • 00:12:53.422 --> 00:12:55.958
  • We want to form a perspective that's built from god's word.
  • 00:12:55.958 --> 00:12:58.694
  • If we'll do that, it'll bring his blessings to our lives.
  • 00:12:58.694 --> 00:13:01.730
  • Enjoy the book.
  • 00:13:01.730 --> 00:13:03.065
  • Female announcer: from the pages of scripture to the front
  • 00:13:03.065 --> 00:13:05.134
  • Lines of today's news, israel stands at the center
  • 00:13:05.134 --> 00:13:08.137
  • Of god's purposes.
  • 00:13:08.137 --> 00:13:09.471
  • Pastor allen's new booklet, "supporting israel:
  • 00:13:09.471 --> 00:13:12.641
  • How far is too far?"
  • 00:13:12.641 --> 00:13:14.076
  • Offers a quick way to gain a biblical perspective on israel,
  • 00:13:14.076 --> 00:13:17.546
  • Why israel matters to god, and why it should matter to us.
  • 00:13:17.546 --> 00:13:21.984
  • Request your copy with your gift of any amount today at
  • 00:13:21.984 --> 00:13:24.887
  • Allenjackson.com or by calling...
  • 00:13:24.887 --> 00:13:30.926
  • Allen: so there's a difference in being weird and
  • 00:13:33.662 --> 00:13:35.431
  • Being truthful.
  • 00:13:35.431 --> 00:13:37.466
  • If i hear someone denigrating being critical of my lord, i
  • 00:13:37.466 --> 00:13:41.270
  • Will use my voice.
  • 00:13:41.270 --> 00:13:44.273
  • Again, not in anger, not in a threat, but i'll say, "no,
  • 00:13:44.273 --> 00:13:47.309
  • That's not what i believe.
  • 00:13:47.309 --> 00:13:49.678
  • That's not how i think.
  • 00:13:49.678 --> 00:13:52.281
  • I think a different way, and this is why."
  • 00:13:52.281 --> 00:13:56.285
  • So i'm not suggesting you be silent, but i am suggesting that
  • 00:13:56.285 --> 00:14:00.256
  • You don't have to try to overwhelm people with the degree
  • 00:14:00.256 --> 00:14:03.525
  • Of your spirituality.
  • 00:14:03.525 --> 00:14:04.860
  • Do you understand the difference?
  • 00:14:04.860 --> 00:14:06.228
  • We'll work on that some more, but my friend john planted that
  • 00:14:06.228 --> 00:14:08.797
  • Seed and i haven't gotten out from under it yet.
  • 00:14:08.797 --> 00:14:10.299
  • In f--he also said that it's difficult to be a royal priest
  • 00:14:10.299 --> 00:14:14.403
  • And a victim at the same time, ah.
  • 00:14:14.403 --> 00:14:18.641
  • 1 peter 2:9, you've got it.
  • 00:14:18.641 --> 00:14:20.075
  • It said, "you're a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a
  • 00:14:20.075 --> 00:14:22.311
  • Holy nation, a people belonging to god, that you may declare the
  • 00:14:22.311 --> 00:14:25.147
  • Praises of him who called you out of darkness into his
  • 00:14:25.147 --> 00:14:27.316
  • Wonderful light."
  • 00:14:27.316 --> 00:14:28.684
  • A royal priesthood, kings and priests, the bible says, if you
  • 00:14:28.684 --> 00:14:31.420
  • Would be.
  • 00:14:31.420 --> 00:14:32.788
  • And john said, "if you're a christ follower, it's really
  • 00:14:32.788 --> 00:14:34.990
  • Hard to be a royal priest and a victim."
  • 00:14:34.990 --> 00:14:38.594
  • I mean, the king of kings and the lord of lords knows
  • 00:14:38.594 --> 00:14:40.629
  • Our names.
  • 00:14:40.629 --> 00:14:41.964
  • We get preferential treatment.
  • 00:14:41.964 --> 00:14:46.602
  • So we can't live as victims.
  • 00:14:46.602 --> 00:14:49.271
  • In fact, the new testament says we're being led in a triumphal
  • 00:14:49.271 --> 00:14:52.074
  • Procession in christ.
  • 00:14:52.074 --> 00:14:55.277
  • A triumph was not the winning of a victory, it's an expression.
  • 00:14:55.277 --> 00:14:58.380
  • It's a celebration of a victory that's already been won.
  • 00:14:58.380 --> 00:15:00.783
  • It's an application.
  • 00:15:00.783 --> 00:15:02.151
  • The first century audience when the new testament was written,
  • 00:15:02.151 --> 00:15:04.186
  • If a roman general had a great victory from time to time, the
  • 00:15:04.186 --> 00:15:07.089
  • Emperor would grant them a triumph through rome, a parade,
  • 00:15:07.089 --> 00:15:11.260
  • And the general would ride in a chariot with the conquered
  • 00:15:11.260 --> 00:15:14.830
  • People and the treasures and the whatever may have come from that
  • 00:15:14.830 --> 00:15:17.800
  • Place through the streets of rome.
  • 00:15:17.800 --> 00:15:19.134
  • So the triumph wasn't a battlefield victory, it was the
  • 00:15:19.134 --> 00:15:22.204
  • Celebration of a victory already won.
  • 00:15:22.204 --> 00:15:24.640
  • And we're being led in a triumphal procession in christ.
  • 00:15:24.640 --> 00:15:27.576
  • We're following behind our king.
  • 00:15:27.576 --> 00:15:29.645
  • We're the expression of his power and glory.
  • 00:15:29.645 --> 00:15:32.715
  • We're not victims.
  • 00:15:32.715 --> 00:15:34.750
  • We live in a world filled with evil and darkness.
  • 00:15:34.750 --> 00:15:37.252
  • Charlie kirk's not a victim today.
  • 00:15:37.252 --> 00:15:39.888
  • He triumphed over evil.
  • 00:15:39.888 --> 00:15:43.025
  • We're still in the arena.
  • 00:15:43.025 --> 00:15:46.128
  • It's really important to know that's how we can choose not
  • 00:15:46.128 --> 00:15:48.630
  • To hate.
  • 00:15:48.630 --> 00:15:49.999
  • John also said, "the gospel cuts you before it comforts you."
  • 00:15:49.999 --> 00:15:54.870
  • Ah, it's really biblical.
  • 00:15:54.870 --> 00:15:57.639
  • Remember acts chapter 2 on the day of pentecost?
  • 00:15:57.639 --> 00:15:59.641
  • Peter's telling the people in jerusalem, "you killed our
  • 00:15:59.641 --> 00:16:02.244
  • Messiah," and the response it says, "the people were cut
  • 00:16:02.244 --> 00:16:05.347
  • To the heart."
  • 00:16:05.347 --> 00:16:06.782
  • They weren't comforted by the truth.
  • 00:16:06.782 --> 00:16:09.318
  • They were disrupted by the truth.
  • 00:16:09.318 --> 00:16:11.153
  • I tell you that because the church has a misunderstanding.
  • 00:16:11.153 --> 00:16:14.256
  • We've got the wrong expectation.
  • 00:16:14.256 --> 00:16:15.624
  • We've been trying to give messages that comfort
  • 00:16:15.624 --> 00:16:18.260
  • Ungodly behavior.
  • 00:16:18.260 --> 00:16:21.030
  • That's not what the gospel does.
  • 00:16:21.030 --> 00:16:22.498
  • The gospel disrupts you.
  • 00:16:22.498 --> 00:16:23.866
  • It makes you uncomfortable with ungodly behavior.
  • 00:16:23.866 --> 00:16:29.938
  • And when you become uncomfortable with it, then
  • 00:16:29.938 --> 00:16:31.807
  • There's an invitation to comfort.
  • 00:16:31.807 --> 00:16:33.509
  • You can be comforted by the truth.
  • 00:16:33.509 --> 00:16:36.278
  • And the biblical mandate for that is repent and believe,
  • 00:16:36.278 --> 00:16:39.048
  • Change how you think, change how you behave, and you can know the
  • 00:16:39.048 --> 00:16:42.151
  • Comfort of god.
  • 00:16:42.151 --> 00:16:43.519
  • You can be forgiven, you can be cleansed, you can be made as if
  • 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:46.388
  • You've never sinned.
  • 00:16:46.388 --> 00:16:48.624
  • But first, you have to be told that that behavior will lead
  • 00:16:48.624 --> 00:16:51.760
  • To destruction.
  • 00:16:51.760 --> 00:16:53.862
  • And the church has been confused on that.
  • 00:16:53.862 --> 00:17:00.369
  • And all that came from a pastor.
  • 00:17:00.369 --> 00:17:01.837
  • These next quotes, they didn't come from a pastor.
  • 00:17:01.837 --> 00:17:03.739
  • They came from a sports journalist.
  • 00:17:03.739 --> 00:17:07.076
  • When i tell you i've got to learn to see in new ways, would
  • 00:17:07.076 --> 00:17:09.478
  • I have a sports journalist coaching me up on honoring
  • 00:17:09.478 --> 00:17:13.015
  • The lord,
  • 00:17:13.015 --> 00:17:15.217
  • Telling more truth than i hear from most of the churches and
  • 00:17:15.217 --> 00:17:18.053
  • Pastors that i listen to--and i listen to a lot.
  • 00:17:18.053 --> 00:17:21.590
  • Jason whitlock was here.
  • 00:17:21.590 --> 00:17:24.626
  • And he said that christianity demands of us a willingness to
  • 00:17:24.626 --> 00:17:27.463
  • Sacrifice our lives.
  • 00:17:27.463 --> 00:17:30.966
  • I'm thinking, well, what's a sports journalist doing
  • 00:17:30.966 --> 00:17:34.069
  • With that?
  • 00:17:34.069 --> 00:17:37.439
  • You know, and then he said, you know, the truth is, i've known
  • 00:17:37.439 --> 00:17:40.109
  • About christianity since i was a young person, but he said, "i
  • 00:17:40.109 --> 00:17:43.011
  • Lived a long time apart from god."
  • 00:17:43.011 --> 00:17:44.813
  • He said, "i guess you'd call me backslidden."
  • 00:17:44.813 --> 00:17:47.816
  • But he said, "i had to repent, i had to change my life."
  • 00:17:47.816 --> 00:17:51.653
  • Because he said, "i understood that to be a christ follower
  • 00:17:51.653 --> 00:17:55.023
  • Would require a sacrifice of my life," wow.
  • 00:17:55.023 --> 00:18:01.196
  • Then he looked at us.
  • 00:18:01.196 --> 00:18:02.531
  • I felt like he looked at me and he said, "and what sacrifices
  • 00:18:02.531 --> 00:18:04.566
  • Are you willing to make?"
  • 00:18:04.566 --> 00:18:06.902
  • Oh, jeez.
  • 00:18:06.902 --> 00:18:09.705
  • Most of us professional christians spend our time in
  • 00:18:09.705 --> 00:18:11.740
  • Front of people telling them all the benefits they'll get.
  • 00:18:11.740 --> 00:18:13.876
  • It's like we're salespeople.
  • 00:18:13.876 --> 00:18:16.445
  • And we're gonna oversell as if, you know, no payments needed for
  • 00:18:16.445 --> 00:18:19.615
  • 60 months.
  • 00:18:19.615 --> 00:18:22.651
  • I mean, don't you feel like that's the way the gospel
  • 00:18:22.651 --> 00:18:24.319
  • Gets presented?
  • 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:25.888
  • "come, come, you can get every--it's all free, it's all
  • 00:18:25.888 --> 00:18:29.925
  • Free, come on in!"
  • 00:18:29.925 --> 00:18:31.793
  • And i mean, it's true.
  • 00:18:31.793 --> 00:18:34.196
  • Everyone's welcome at the foot of the cross, but the cost is
  • 00:18:34.196 --> 00:18:40.435
  • You have to lay down your life.
  • 00:18:40.435 --> 00:18:43.805
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:18:43.805 --> 00:18:48.143
  • But he wasn't done.
  • 00:18:48.143 --> 00:18:49.511
  • I mean, he really messed with me.
  • 00:18:49.511 --> 00:18:50.846
  • I'm not gonna invite him back.
  • 00:18:50.846 --> 00:18:55.250
  • I mean, i listened to his sports stuff, but man, he got into my
  • 00:18:55.250 --> 00:18:58.120
  • Business with his--he said, "we have to be willing to sacrifice
  • 00:18:58.120 --> 00:19:02.157
  • Happiness for holiness."
  • 00:19:02.157 --> 00:19:04.726
  • Ah, aren't you glad you didn't pay for the conference?
  • 00:19:04.726 --> 00:19:11.667
  • Romans 12, he didn't bring all this.
  • 00:19:11.667 --> 00:19:13.635
  • He brought his bible out.
  • 00:19:13.635 --> 00:19:15.537
  • The sports journalist brought his bible out.
  • 00:19:15.537 --> 00:19:17.372
  • He said, "if you're not reading this, you got no shot."
  • 00:19:17.372 --> 00:19:22.844
  • Do you understand?
  • 00:19:22.844 --> 00:19:24.179
  • I can take you to theology schools within an hour's drive
  • 00:19:24.179 --> 00:19:26.215
  • Of us on christian university campuses, schools of theology.
  • 00:19:26.215 --> 00:19:30.819
  • I had a young woman stop me this week and she said, "i go to
  • 00:19:30.819 --> 00:19:33.722
  • A theology school in nashville, at a christian university.
  • 00:19:33.722 --> 00:19:37.526
  • And the faculty there tells us that the bible isn't
  • 00:19:37.526 --> 00:19:40.128
  • Trustworthy, it's filled with myth."
  • 00:19:40.128 --> 00:19:43.865
  • You wanna understand why we're struggling with leadership in
  • 00:19:43.865 --> 00:19:46.401
  • The church?
  • 00:19:46.401 --> 00:19:49.404
  • Because for decades now, we've been training them in
  • 00:19:49.404 --> 00:19:51.506
  • Ungodliness, pseudo intellectualism.
  • 00:19:51.506 --> 00:19:56.812
  • And then we give 'em leadership roles.
  • 00:19:56.812 --> 00:20:00.749
  • God's moving in a new way.
  • 00:20:00.749 --> 00:20:02.117
  • He's stirring the hearts of people that have the attention
  • 00:20:02.117 --> 00:20:04.686
  • Of other people, and they're standing up for biblical values
  • 00:20:04.686 --> 00:20:07.789
  • That we're gonna have to go, "wow, that sounds right to me."
  • 00:20:07.789 --> 00:20:11.927
  • We'll have to be willing to sacrifice happiness for holiness
  • 00:20:11.927 --> 00:20:15.897
  • If we're gonna serve the lord.
  • 00:20:15.897 --> 00:20:18.066
  • Doesn't mean you can't be happy, but it means happiness can't be
  • 00:20:18.066 --> 00:20:20.669
  • Your primary objective because all the things that make you
  • 00:20:20.669 --> 00:20:23.872
  • Happy may not be godly.
  • 00:20:23.872 --> 00:20:28.677
  • Yes, i said that in a church.
  • 00:20:28.677 --> 00:20:30.912
  • "well, doesn't god want me--"
  • 00:20:30.912 --> 00:20:32.247
  • He's not opposed to you being happy.
  • 00:20:32.247 --> 00:20:35.684
  • Well, i like ice cream.
  • 00:20:35.684 --> 00:20:38.487
  • I consider it an essential food group.
  • 00:20:38.487 --> 00:20:42.257
  • And if you left it to me, it would be the only thing in the
  • 00:20:42.257 --> 00:20:44.626
  • Food pyramid.
  • 00:20:44.626 --> 00:20:47.095
  • I'd have a little addendum over here for oreos.
  • 00:20:47.095 --> 00:20:50.399
  • Superfood, not beets.
  • 00:20:50.399 --> 00:20:58.240
  • And double stuff, that'd be like double superfood dipped in
  • 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:03.445
  • Fudge, triple superfood.
  • 00:21:03.445 --> 00:21:07.049
  • And, you know, i have the privilege.
  • 00:21:07.049 --> 00:21:08.417
  • I could--if it makes you happy, i could eat that.
  • 00:21:08.417 --> 00:21:11.119
  • If it made me happy, i could eat that.
  • 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:12.688
  • Probably wouldn't make you happy.
  • 00:21:12.688 --> 00:21:15.524
  • And i could destroy myself.
  • 00:21:15.524 --> 00:21:18.994
  • So we've got to introduce something else.
  • 00:21:18.994 --> 00:21:21.963
  • "well, i can't believe god wouldn't want me to do what made
  • 00:21:21.963 --> 00:21:24.266
  • Me happy."
  • 00:21:24.266 --> 00:21:25.600
  • The only reason you could say that is you're ignorant of the
  • 00:21:25.600 --> 00:21:27.336
  • Word of god.
  • 00:21:27.336 --> 00:21:30.872
  • Verses, scriptures, i told you i brought some, romans 12.
  • 00:21:30.872 --> 00:21:34.343
  • "i urge you, brothers, in view of god's mercy, to offer your
  • 00:21:34.343 --> 00:21:37.779
  • Bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to god."
  • 00:21:37.779 --> 00:21:43.552
  • To offer your bo--offer yourself.
  • 00:21:43.552 --> 00:21:46.154
  • Sacrificial language is really removed from us, but to a
  • 00:21:46.154 --> 00:21:50.058
  • Biblical audience, it was a part of their lives.
  • 00:21:50.058 --> 00:21:52.894
  • It was as familiar as us saying we went to a ballgame.
  • 00:21:52.894 --> 00:21:56.365
  • We went to the--we went to a starbucks.
  • 00:21:56.365 --> 00:21:58.133
  • I mean, it was a part of their routine.
  • 00:21:58.133 --> 00:21:59.501
  • They took animals and offered them, gave them to the priest
  • 00:21:59.501 --> 00:22:02.137
  • And the priest would offer them as a sacrifice.
  • 00:22:02.137 --> 00:22:04.206
  • But before the animal was sacrificed, it was slaughtered.
  • 00:22:04.206 --> 00:22:08.877
  • So any animal that went on the altar as a sacrifice had already
  • 00:22:08.877 --> 00:22:13.148
  • Forfeited any self-determination, it was dead.
  • 00:22:13.148 --> 00:22:17.486
  • So paul goes out of his way when he's writing to the church in
  • 00:22:17.486 --> 00:22:19.921
  • Rome, the church of the most powerful city of his day.
  • 00:22:19.921 --> 00:22:22.224
  • It'd be like writing a lesson to a major global city today--
  • 00:22:22.224 --> 00:22:25.160
  • A letter.
  • 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:26.495
  • And he said, "offer yourself as a living sacrifice."
  • 00:22:26.495 --> 00:22:31.166
  • While you're alive, offer yourself to the lord.
  • 00:22:31.166 --> 00:22:34.336
  • Empty yourself of self-determination.
  • 00:22:34.336 --> 00:22:36.338
  • "god, how could i serve you?"
  • 00:22:36.338 --> 00:22:38.907
  • See, we've got this perverted gospel and it's the reason the
  • 00:22:38.907 --> 00:22:41.410
  • Church is inert, inept, impotent--
  • 00:22:41.410 --> 00:22:45.680
  • Is we've spent so much of our time "how do we get what we want
  • 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.617
  • From god?"
  • 00:22:48.617 --> 00:22:49.951
  • We're mad at god 'cause he's not doing what we want.
  • 00:22:49.951 --> 00:22:52.854
  • How many of you are glad god doesn't come tell us how mad he
  • 00:22:52.854 --> 00:22:55.257
  • Is 'cause we're not doing what he wants?
  • 00:22:55.257 --> 00:22:59.995
  • Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice.
  • 00:22:59.995 --> 00:23:01.396
  • I gave you an example.
  • 00:23:01.396 --> 00:23:02.731
  • Genesis 4, i went back near the end of the--beginning of
  • 00:23:02.731 --> 00:23:04.332
  • The book.
  • 00:23:04.332 --> 00:23:05.667
  • Those first chapters of genesis introduced the big rock ideas of
  • 00:23:05.667 --> 00:23:07.903
  • The bible.
  • 00:23:07.903 --> 00:23:09.237
  • By the time you get to genesis 12 and you meet abram, god's
  • 00:23:09.237 --> 00:23:11.606
  • Gonna start forming a people for himself, but prior to genesis
  • 00:23:11.606 --> 00:23:14.409
  • 12, they're the big rock ideas of the bible and they're played
  • 00:23:14.409 --> 00:23:17.546
  • Out all the way through the bible.
  • 00:23:17.546 --> 00:23:19.414
  • "in the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth."
  • 00:23:19.414 --> 00:23:21.283
  • If you don't believe there's a creator of all things, the rest
  • 00:23:21.283 --> 00:23:23.485
  • Of the bible is nonsense.
  • 00:23:23.485 --> 00:23:26.721
  • Why would you take counsel if it's all a myth?
  • 00:23:26.721 --> 00:23:30.358
  • But if there is a creator and he created the heavens and earth,
  • 00:23:30.358 --> 00:23:32.894
  • Why wouldn't you listen?
  • 00:23:32.894 --> 00:23:35.730
  • Well, in genesis 4, there's two brothers--cain and abel.
  • 00:23:35.730 --> 00:23:39.501
  • And god has required of them sacrifices and he's told them
  • 00:23:39.501 --> 00:23:42.337
  • The sacrifices he wants, and abel cooperated and cain didn't.
  • 00:23:42.337 --> 00:23:46.975
  • It's in your notes.
  • 00:23:46.975 --> 00:23:48.310
  • "abel brought fat portions from some of the first born of
  • 00:23:48.310 --> 00:23:49.778
  • His flock.
  • 00:23:49.778 --> 00:23:51.146
  • And the lord looked with favor on abel and his offering, but on
  • 00:23:51.146 --> 00:23:53.415
  • Cain and his offering, he didn't look with favor, so cain was
  • 00:23:53.415 --> 00:23:56.084
  • Angry, and his face was downcast.
  • 00:23:56.084 --> 00:23:59.454
  • And god said to cain, 'why are you angry?
  • 00:23:59.454 --> 00:24:02.591
  • If you do what's right, won't you be accepted?
  • 00:24:02.591 --> 00:24:04.693
  • But if you don't do what's right, sin is crouching at your
  • 00:24:04.693 --> 00:24:07.062
  • Door; and it desires--you must master it."
  • 00:24:07.062 --> 00:24:10.632
  • You have to master sin, cain.
  • 00:24:10.632 --> 00:24:12.434
  • Your response is wrong.
  • 00:24:12.434 --> 00:24:13.768
  • You're angry and you shouldn't be angry.
  • 00:24:13.768 --> 00:24:15.437
  • Gee, that sounds a lot like contemporary culture.
  • 00:24:15.437 --> 00:24:19.374
  • "don't tell us there's a god with an opinion and expressed
  • 00:24:19.374 --> 00:24:22.344
  • Will, and that we should yield to it and offer ourselves."
  • 00:24:22.344 --> 00:24:25.447
  • Folks, the church's assignment is to say to our culture
  • 00:24:25.447 --> 00:24:28.116
  • There's a god and we have to choose to honor him.
  • 00:24:28.116 --> 00:24:31.887
  • Now, we don't always do it perfectly, we're a bunch of
  • 00:24:31.887 --> 00:24:33.922
  • Cracked pots.
  • 00:24:33.922 --> 00:24:35.257
  • It's how we got recruited.
  • 00:24:35.257 --> 00:24:37.325
  • We're so messed up and so inept and we've failed so frequently
  • 00:24:37.325 --> 00:24:40.495
  • And often so publicly that god said, "if i do something
  • 00:24:40.495 --> 00:24:43.598
  • Remarkable in your life, everybody will know it had to
  • 00:24:43.598 --> 00:24:46.167
  • Be me."
  • 00:24:46.167 --> 00:24:48.637
  • Like, look at the person on your right.
  • 00:24:48.637 --> 00:24:51.206
  • Say, "you look like a mess god could use."
  • 00:24:51.206 --> 00:24:58.046
  • Unless they live with you and then just don't say that
  • 00:24:58.046 --> 00:25:00.115
  • To them.
  • 00:25:00.115 --> 00:25:01.483
  • Say, "you look, you look lovely today, dear."
  • 00:25:01.483 --> 00:25:04.085
  • It'd be better, but.
  • 00:25:04.085 --> 00:25:06.988
  • Cain could have changed his sacrifice.
  • 00:25:06.988 --> 00:25:09.524
  • He could have changed his sa--
  • 00:25:09.524 --> 00:25:10.859
  • He knew what the request was, he knew what the direction was, but
  • 00:25:10.859 --> 00:25:13.261
  • He chose anger.
  • 00:25:13.261 --> 00:25:15.830
  • That's a very frequent response.
  • 00:25:15.830 --> 00:25:17.465
  • It's an ungodly response.
  • 00:25:17.465 --> 00:25:20.735
  • God said, "sin desires to have you."
  • 00:25:20.735 --> 00:25:22.771
  • That's a very interesting phrase and we'll explore it at another
  • 00:25:22.771 --> 00:25:25.974
  • Time, but i'm gonna suggest you think about sin as having a
  • 00:25:25.974 --> 00:25:29.044
  • Willful expression of intent.
  • 00:25:29.044 --> 00:25:32.113
  • That'll change your imagination.
  • 00:25:32.113 --> 00:25:33.448
  • Sin is not something you're invited towards that is neutral
  • 00:25:33.448 --> 00:25:36.718
  • And may be harmful or hurtful or diminishment.
  • 00:25:36.718 --> 00:25:39.254
  • Think of sin as something that has a personal intent.
  • 00:25:39.254 --> 00:25:41.756
  • Think of it as a person.
  • 00:25:41.756 --> 00:25:45.160
  • God said, "sin is crouching at your door and it desires to
  • 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:48.830
  • Have you."
  • 00:25:48.830 --> 00:25:52.434
  • Sin is the person who desires your complete destruction, but
  • 00:25:52.434 --> 00:25:56.671
  • Absent that opportunity, sin will accept any limit that it
  • 00:25:56.671 --> 00:26:00.442
  • Can force onto your life.
  • 00:26:00.442 --> 00:26:03.645
  • So don't dabble with it, don't entertain it, don't excuse it,
  • 00:26:03.645 --> 00:26:08.683
  • Don't justify it.
  • 00:26:08.683 --> 00:26:10.885
  • You know, we ask some silly questions sometimes.
  • 00:26:10.885 --> 00:26:14.255
  • You know, like, "well, pastor, how far is too far?"
  • 00:26:14.255 --> 00:26:16.157
  • Allen: you know, i used to believe that antisemitism was a
  • 00:26:17.926 --> 00:26:20.095
  • European problem or an issue in the islamic nations of the
  • 00:26:20.095 --> 00:26:23.865
  • World, but now we see it flourishing in our nation,
  • 00:26:23.865 --> 00:26:27.435
  • On elite college campuses, even amongst the political class,
  • 00:26:27.435 --> 00:26:31.172
  • And now on the conservative ideological spectrum.
  • 00:26:31.172 --> 00:26:35.010
  • It's troubling.
  • 00:26:35.010 --> 00:26:36.344
  • So i wrote a book, "supporting israel: how far is too far?"
  • 00:26:36.344 --> 00:26:40.448
  • You know, i know we've all got a little battle fatigue with the
  • 00:26:40.448 --> 00:26:42.784
  • Constant conflicts in the middle east and beyond,
  • 00:26:42.784 --> 00:26:45.987
  • But what we desperately need is a biblical perspective on how to
  • 00:26:45.987 --> 00:26:49.090
  • Navigate what's unfolding in our world,
  • 00:26:49.090 --> 00:26:52.027
  • And i believe the word of god gives that to us with clarity.
  • 00:26:52.027 --> 00:26:55.430
  • So we put this book together to help you find yourself in a
  • 00:26:55.430 --> 00:26:58.366
  • Place that will bring the blessings of god to your life.
  • 00:26:58.366 --> 00:27:01.336
  • I want to pray that we'll have his wisdom.
  • 00:27:01.336 --> 00:27:03.338
  • Father, you said when we lack wisdom,
  • 00:27:03.338 --> 00:27:05.073
  • We can ask and that you would give it to us without criticism.
  • 00:27:05.073 --> 00:27:08.009
  • We want to stand with you in what you're accomplishing in the
  • 00:27:08.009 --> 00:27:10.412
  • Earth so that your purposes can come forth.
  • 00:27:10.412 --> 00:27:13.348
  • Holy spirit, give us the discernment we need
  • 00:27:13.348 --> 00:27:15.850
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:15.850 --> 00:27:27.295