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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Two Tables That Shape Our Faith (Part 1)

March 9, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - Two Tables That Shape Our Faith (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#WordofGod #Foolishness #Character #Children #Angels #LoveofGod #Parable #Sin #Redemption #Sacrifice #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Two Tables That Shape Our Faith (Part 1) | March 9, 2026
  • ...
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  • Allen jackson: you know, around the world people are searching
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  • For truth, and together we're doing our very best to help them
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  • Find it.
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  • Who are committed to strengthening the church and
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  • Audiences and to take the hope of jesus to people who may never
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  • Have heard the gospel otherwise.
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  • Together we can stand firm in our faith and make god's truth
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  • Known right here at home and around the earth wherever god
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  • Opens the door.
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  • Let's keep gathering his people and building his church until
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  • The day our king returns.
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  • You can find more about becoming a ministry partner at
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  • Allenjackson.com/partner.
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Allen: i want to continue.
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  • Been working--we've been working through this series under the
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  • General theme of "let's eat."
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  • The idea is not complicated.
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  • It's related to some things we've done around here
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  • For a long time.
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  • We talked for many years about let's pray, taking prayer
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  • Outside the walls of the church, not leaving it as a part of
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  • Formal religious services or organized gatherings, but
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  • Integrating prayer into our lives at home, at work, and
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  • Our--with our friends, wherever it may be.
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  • Wherever there's a god opportunity, we want to extend
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  • To him an invitation.
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  • Well, "let's eat" has a similar application.
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  • We want to take our faith outside the walls of the church,
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  • And begin to recognize that the spiritual authority of our homes
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  • Is of the utmost importance.
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  • If we fail to establish god as the spiritual authority in our
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  • Homes, the consequences are dire.
  • 00:01:51.426 --> 00:01:55.097
  • The crumbling american family is not the result of poor political
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  • Policies or television or the social media.
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  • It's the result of a lack of awareness on god--the people of
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  • Faith on how to establish the authority of god in our homes,
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  • And so we've been talking about the kitchen table as a
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  • Centralized organizing principle for our family, and that there's
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  • A spiritual consequence to what happens at your kitchen table.
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  • I want to continue that in this session.
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  • In fact, this session and the previous one, what we did last
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  • Night, are really intended to go together.
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  • So if you missed that, i would encourage you to take a moment
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  • At your leisure and go back and listen because there's two
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  • Tables that change history, two tables that are introduced to us
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  • In scripture that initiate tremendous movements amongst the
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  • People of god.
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  • One is the passover table,
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  • 1,400 years before christ was born, the former slaves of egypt
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  • On their last night in egypt before god delivered them.
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  • In his own language, that he bore them on eagles's wings.
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  • Before he delivered them from hundreds of years of egyptian
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  • Slavery, he gave them very specific instructions for a
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  • Gathering around their tables, what to eat, how to prepare it,
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  • How to prepare their home, what to wear when they sat at the
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  • Table, and then the command was to--that they would--to revisit
  • 00:03:06.668 --> 00:03:10.906
  • That meal on an annual basis so that they would never forget,
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  • And from that day until this day, the jewish people
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  • Celebrate passover.
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  • It was at the passover table where jesus introduced his
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  • Closest friends and followers into what you and i have come to
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  • Known as the communion table.
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  • So those two tables change history, and we want to
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  • Understand the spiritual implications that they have for
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  • Our lives and how that's reflected in our own homes.
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  • That's our goal.
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  • I wanna start with a pretty simple premise, that wisdom is
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  • Available to all of us.
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  • It isn't a lack of knowledge, it's what we do with it, and i
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  • Think this is a particular challenge for those of us who
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  • Are people of faith in this nation because we have so much
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  • Access, you know, christian television, christian radio, the
  • 00:03:50.545 --> 00:03:53.115
  • Internet, all the platforms, all the influencers, all the ways.
  • 00:03:53.115 --> 00:03:57.919
  • You know, if you're an english speaker, you have such an
  • 00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:01.556
  • Advantage over the rest of the global population.
  • 00:04:01.556 --> 00:04:03.659
  • For decades now, the majority of christian literature has been
  • 00:04:03.659 --> 00:04:06.028
  • Printed in english.
  • 00:04:06.028 --> 00:04:08.297
  • I mean, we just have an abundance.
  • 00:04:08.297 --> 00:04:09.665
  • We have--we are educated way beyond our levels of obedience,
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  • But it's our obedience that is the transformational part.
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  • Do you think there was any of the hebrew slaves in egypt that
  • 00:04:16.405 --> 00:04:20.575
  • Didn't celebrate the passover meal?
  • 00:04:20.575 --> 00:04:24.112
  • Do you think there were any that didn't put the blood
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  • On the doorpost of their homes?
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  • Oh, i promise. i promise.
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  • It wasn't a lack of awareness.
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  • Maybe skepticism, maybe rebellion, maybe something,
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  • I don't know, and we still struggle with that.
  • 00:04:37.092 --> 00:04:40.395
  • I'll start with matthew 7 and verse 24.
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  • It's a very familiar parable.
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  • It's the--jesus said, "'everyone who hears these words of mine
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  • And puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his
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  • House on a rock.'"
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  • Then he describes a storm and the house withstanding the
  • 00:04:52.441 --> 00:04:55.877
  • Storm, and the alternative is in verse 26.
  • 00:04:55.877 --> 00:04:59.348
  • "'everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn't put them
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  • Into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on
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  • The sand.'"
  • 00:05:04.152 --> 00:05:05.687
  • Describes the same storm, except the house didn't survive.
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  • Two individuals, one's described as wise, one is described
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  • As foolish.
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  • One has their efforts sustained, even in the midst of storms.
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  • The other sees their efforts completely collapse, and the
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  • Distinguishing characteristic isn't iq, the way
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  • They--their appearance.
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  • The distinguishing characteristics is they hear the
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  • Word of god, and they do something with it.
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  • They're obedient with it.
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  • So i wanna give you an invitation.
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  • Let's not collect biblical information.
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  • Let's not be collectors of facts.
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  • Let's be people who choose to live out the truth that we know.
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  • Most of the people that i interact with these days share
  • 00:05:44.960 --> 00:05:47.896
  • On one level or another, they have a a deep desire, almost
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  • A desperate desire, to see godliness increase around us in
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  • Our schools, in our universities, in our homes, with
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  • Our children, with our grandchildren, wherever it
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  • May be.
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  • I hear those conversations on a frequent basis, and we carry
  • 00:05:59.975 --> 00:06:03.245
  • With that the angst that someone needs to change, and i say to
  • 00:06:03.245 --> 00:06:07.816
  • You repeatedly, and i mean it in the kindest of possible ways,
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  • Folks, we are the change agents.
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  • It's us.
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  • As we change, god will move in new ways.
  • 00:06:13.588 --> 00:06:16.391
  • Being angry at people who are ungodly is not the solution.
  • 00:06:16.391 --> 00:06:19.161
  • Turning our hearts more fully to god is the essence of what we
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  • Are all leaning towards.
  • 00:06:22.964 --> 00:06:25.834
  • We have this imagination that once we've established that
  • 00:06:25.834 --> 00:06:28.303
  • We're converted, born again, saved, whatever language you use
  • 00:06:28.303 --> 00:06:30.939
  • For that initiation into the kingdom, that whatever else is
  • 00:06:30.939 --> 00:06:33.775
  • After that's kind of secondary, tertiary, non-significant.
  • 00:06:33.775 --> 00:06:36.912
  • Like, nothing could be further from the truth.
  • 00:06:36.912 --> 00:06:40.315
  • God is moving in the earth, and he'll move through his people.
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  • I wanna be a part of that.
  • 00:06:43.752 --> 00:06:45.454
  • In john chapter 1 and verse 29 jesus is introduced to us in
  • 00:06:45.454 --> 00:06:49.624
  • John's gospel.
  • 00:06:49.624 --> 00:06:50.992
  • John the baptist is doing the introduction.
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  • He says, "'look, the lamb of god, who takes away the sin of
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  • The world!'"
  • 00:06:55.096 --> 00:06:56.998
  • I took just a minute with that because we're gonna talk about
  • 00:06:56.998 --> 00:06:58.934
  • The passover table and the communion table and this whole
  • 00:06:58.934 --> 00:07:02.237
  • Notion of a lamb that was roasted.
  • 00:07:02.237 --> 00:07:03.839
  • To the jewish people, they understood very much the imagery
  • 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:06.575
  • Of what john was saying to them.
  • 00:07:06.575 --> 00:07:09.778
  • The lamb of god that's going to remove your sin, not on an
  • 00:07:09.778 --> 00:07:12.414
  • Annual basis, not as a scapegoat, not just so the
  • 00:07:12.414 --> 00:07:16.785
  • Judgment of god will pass over you, but he'll take your
  • 00:07:16.785 --> 00:07:18.954
  • Sin away.
  • 00:07:18.954 --> 00:07:21.022
  • A very, very clear image was attached to jesus at his
  • 00:07:21.022 --> 00:07:25.026
  • Introduction in the gospel of john, and i'll add to that one
  • 00:07:25.026 --> 00:07:29.531
  • More passage.
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  • I think it's helpful.
  • 00:07:30.866 --> 00:07:32.234
  • In romans 10 and verse 4, paul writes and he says, "christ is
  • 00:07:32.234 --> 00:07:34.836
  • The end of the law for righteousness to everyone
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  • Who believes."
  • 00:07:40.475 --> 00:07:41.977
  • We wanna change the punctuation on that verse so often, and say,
  • 00:07:41.977 --> 00:07:44.312
  • "christ was the end of the law."
  • 00:07:44.312 --> 00:07:45.647
  • After jesus came we don't need the law anymore.
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  • Woohoo, we're under grace.
  • 00:07:47.115 --> 00:07:51.353
  • Come on, no boundaries.
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  • Do what you want.
  • 00:07:53.355 --> 00:07:54.689
  • Just say, "oops, i'm so sorry," and god will say, "oh, let's hug
  • 00:07:54.689 --> 00:07:58.827
  • It out.
  • 00:07:58.827 --> 00:08:00.195
  • Come on in."
  • 00:08:00.195 --> 00:08:01.663
  • But that's not really what that verse says.
  • 00:08:01.663 --> 00:08:03.198
  • It said, "christ was the end of the law for righteousness," that
  • 00:08:03.198 --> 00:08:08.803
  • Our righteousness is no longer--righteousness is your
  • 00:08:08.803 --> 00:08:11.072
  • Ability to stand in the presence of god without fear, guilt, or
  • 00:08:11.072 --> 00:08:13.608
  • Shame, that that isn't established by keeping a set of
  • 00:08:13.608 --> 00:08:17.279
  • Rules, that our righteousness comes from jesus, but god's
  • 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:22.651
  • Sense of purity and holiness, his character, that hasn't
  • 00:08:22.651 --> 00:08:26.988
  • Changed the tiniest fraction.
  • 00:08:26.988 --> 00:08:30.492
  • Do you think post jesus, god was like, good with adultery?
  • 00:08:30.492 --> 00:08:36.798
  • I promise, not.
  • 00:08:36.798 --> 00:08:40.068
  • Do you think god didn't care about all those boundaries
  • 00:08:40.068 --> 00:08:42.404
  • Any longer?
  • 00:08:42.404 --> 00:08:44.372
  • Folks, you know, we don't earn our way into the kingdom of god.
  • 00:08:44.372 --> 00:08:47.375
  • Eating kosher doesn't make you holier, but it'd make
  • 00:08:47.375 --> 00:08:49.978
  • You healthier.
  • 00:08:49.978 --> 00:08:53.915
  • There's a little arrogance that's flourished among
  • 00:08:53.915 --> 00:08:57.285
  • Contemporary christianity, that we don't really need all that
  • 00:08:57.285 --> 00:09:01.056
  • Stuff that's in the old testament.
  • 00:09:01.056 --> 00:09:02.424
  • You know, it's not right.
  • 00:09:02.424 --> 00:09:03.758
  • We got jesus, and we're all golden, but jesus makes no sense
  • 00:09:03.758 --> 00:09:09.164
  • Apart from the whole story.
  • 00:09:09.164 --> 00:09:12.000
  • Two tables that changed the world.
  • 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.269
  • They're still changing the world, and one makes no sense
  • 00:09:14.269 --> 00:09:17.906
  • Without the other, i promise.
  • 00:09:17.906 --> 00:09:21.643
  • I want to step into that.
  • 00:09:21.643 --> 00:09:22.978
  • Passover and communion.
  • 00:09:22.978 --> 00:09:24.346
  • Passover, 1,400 years or so bc.
  • 00:09:24.346 --> 00:09:28.249
  • For 2,000 years since jesus sat at the passover table with his
  • 00:09:28.249 --> 00:09:31.353
  • Disciples, his followers have been gathering at the
  • 00:09:31.353 --> 00:09:34.089
  • Communion table.
  • 00:09:34.089 --> 00:09:36.758
  • Please understand the essence of that.
  • 00:09:36.758 --> 00:09:38.193
  • God stepped into time and brought change to the unfolding
  • 00:09:38.193 --> 00:09:41.162
  • Narrative of his people, and both times the table was at the
  • 00:09:41.162 --> 00:09:45.834
  • Center of that preparation.
  • 00:09:45.834 --> 00:09:49.037
  • I don't believe i'm overstating the invitation that i've been
  • 00:09:49.037 --> 00:09:51.573
  • Giving to you for these past several sessions, that your
  • 00:09:51.573 --> 00:09:54.609
  • Kitchen table is a place of spiritual preparation for
  • 00:09:54.609 --> 00:09:58.480
  • Hundreds and hundreds of years across cultures, across all
  • 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:02.350
  • Sorts of changes.
  • 00:10:02.350 --> 00:10:03.685
  • The reason we have our lobby set up with all sorts of displays
  • 00:10:03.685 --> 00:10:05.820
  • From different periods of time is a reminder that our
  • 00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:08.523
  • Communications devices have changed, the tools we use to
  • 00:10:08.523 --> 00:10:11.760
  • Communicate have changed, our transportation changes, but the
  • 00:10:11.760 --> 00:10:14.763
  • Kitchen table has remained a constant in our homes and
  • 00:10:14.763 --> 00:10:16.998
  • Our families.
  • 00:10:16.998 --> 00:10:18.900
  • Until we got to the beginning of the 21st century, and then the
  • 00:10:18.900 --> 00:10:22.637
  • Significance of that kitchen table began to morph.
  • 00:10:22.637 --> 00:10:25.807
  • It began to diminish.
  • 00:10:25.807 --> 00:10:27.175
  • It began to step back into the shadows.
  • 00:10:27.175 --> 00:10:29.044
  • In many of our homes now, the kitchen table is the place where
  • 00:10:29.044 --> 00:10:31.146
  • We dump our junk.
  • 00:10:31.146 --> 00:10:33.515
  • We toss our backpacks or the mail that we haven't read or the
  • 00:10:33.515 --> 00:10:36.351
  • To do lists or the daily drop off from amazon or whatever it
  • 00:10:36.351 --> 00:10:45.293
  • May be, but it ceased in far too many cases to be the central
  • 00:10:45.293 --> 00:10:50.565
  • Location of nourishment, both physically and spiritually, and
  • 00:10:50.565 --> 00:10:55.236
  • I've been inviting you back to that imagination.
  • 00:10:55.236 --> 00:10:57.005
  • In fact, i've been asking you one time a week to gather at
  • 00:10:57.005 --> 00:10:59.407
  • Your kitchen table as a family, just those of you that live
  • 00:10:59.407 --> 00:11:03.078
  • Under the roof.
  • 00:11:03.078 --> 00:11:04.446
  • Not your extended family, just those of you under the roof one
  • 00:11:04.446 --> 00:11:06.448
  • Time a week at the table, no devices for a meal.
  • 00:11:06.448 --> 00:11:11.086
  • You don't have to go all "southern living" on us.
  • 00:11:11.086 --> 00:11:14.322
  • It doesn't have to be a photo op.
  • 00:11:14.322 --> 00:11:15.724
  • In fact, there's no devices, so you're not gonna show us what
  • 00:11:15.724 --> 00:11:17.759
  • You're having for dinner, okay.
  • 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:22.230
  • But it's an oper--it's a check-in.
  • 00:11:22.230 --> 00:11:23.598
  • It's a spiritual wellness check.
  • 00:11:23.598 --> 00:11:24.933
  • How have you been since we were together last?
  • 00:11:24.933 --> 00:11:27.335
  • It's where the values of the family are discussed, and what
  • 00:11:27.335 --> 00:11:30.972
  • You hope your children become is imprinted.
  • 00:11:30.972 --> 00:11:33.975
  • It's a very essential gathering point.
  • 00:11:33.975 --> 00:11:36.344
  • If you don't have the ability to do that, if your calendars are
  • 00:11:36.344 --> 00:11:38.713
  • Too crowded and your lives are too full, i have a
  • 00:11:38.713 --> 00:11:40.682
  • Follow-up question.
  • 00:11:40.682 --> 00:11:42.150
  • Who is the authority that is commanding your family to the
  • 00:11:42.150 --> 00:11:45.720
  • Degree that they can't be at the table once a week?
  • 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:50.859
  • Just exactly to whom have you given that authority?
  • 00:11:50.859 --> 00:11:55.764
  • Your table represents--is an expression of the spiritual
  • 00:11:55.764 --> 00:11:59.000
  • Authority in your home.
  • 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:03.838
  • So i don't have little children at home, this doesn't apply
  • 00:12:03.838 --> 00:12:05.607
  • To me.
  • 00:12:05.607 --> 00:12:06.975
  • Au contraire, mon ami.
  • 00:12:06.975 --> 00:12:09.244
  • You can't be a leader in the new testament, according to the
  • 00:12:09.244 --> 00:12:11.346
  • Descriptions that are given out in the new testament, unless you
  • 00:12:11.346 --> 00:12:13.615
  • Practice hospitality, unless your table is a part of the
  • 00:12:13.615 --> 00:12:17.685
  • Expression of the spiritual authority you recognize over
  • 00:12:17.685 --> 00:12:19.954
  • Your home.
  • 00:12:19.954 --> 00:12:22.056
  • Having a meeting with me at a table in this building is a
  • 00:12:22.056 --> 00:12:24.159
  • Vastly different experience than being invited to sit at my
  • 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:26.528
  • Kitchen table.
  • 00:12:26.528 --> 00:12:29.330
  • All of us, whether you're single, you're married, whether
  • 00:12:29.330 --> 00:12:31.633
  • You have children, you don't have children, whether you're an
  • 00:12:31.633 --> 00:12:33.535
  • Empty nester, whether you're a widow, a widower, your kitchen
  • 00:12:33.535 --> 00:12:36.504
  • Table is an opportunity for the kingdom of god.
  • 00:12:36.504 --> 00:12:41.376
  • I don't know what yours looks like.
  • 00:12:41.376 --> 00:12:42.777
  • Yours may be crowded with all the clutter of the week.
  • 00:12:42.777 --> 00:12:45.947
  • Yours may be a museum piece, you know, perfect.
  • 00:12:45.947 --> 00:12:49.651
  • I mean, you could compete--you--they put you
  • 00:12:49.651 --> 00:12:51.352
  • On television.
  • 00:12:51.352 --> 00:12:53.688
  • You know, martha stewart would weep when she saw your table.
  • 00:12:53.688 --> 00:12:57.125
  • She'd be jealous of you.
  • 00:12:57.125 --> 00:13:01.095
  • And then some of you have living tables where you nourish your
  • 00:13:01.095 --> 00:13:04.499
  • Family and your friends, and where god is invited.
  • 00:13:04.499 --> 00:13:07.635
  • See, this it's not a complicated idea.
  • 00:13:07.635 --> 00:13:09.437
  • When you get together with your friends i don't want you to
  • 00:13:09.437 --> 00:13:11.039
  • Have one of those gatherings and not mention jesus.
  • 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:14.576
  • If you're a christ follower, an ambassador for the kingdom of
  • 00:13:14.576 --> 00:13:17.212
  • God, i don't understand how you could gather with friends or
  • 00:13:17.212 --> 00:13:21.216
  • Coworkers or neighbors, and somewhere in the court of that,
  • 00:13:21.216 --> 00:13:25.320
  • That jesus wouldn't come up.
  • 00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:28.256
  • Imagine if you had dinner with part of the coaching staff from
  • 00:13:28.256 --> 00:13:33.461
  • The university of tennessee football team.
  • 00:13:33.461 --> 00:13:37.065
  • What do you think the chances are that somewhere during dinner
  • 00:13:37.065 --> 00:13:38.766
  • Football would come up?
  • 00:13:38.766 --> 00:13:41.603
  • They could be alabama football, florida, georgia.
  • 00:13:41.603 --> 00:13:47.642
  • Get behind me, satan, right?
  • 00:13:47.642 --> 00:13:49.010
  • I know.
  • 00:13:49.010 --> 00:13:51.312
  • Well, how can it be as christ followers, where we say the
  • 00:13:51.312 --> 00:13:55.149
  • Primary allegiance of our life is the lord, and you gather at a
  • 00:13:55.149 --> 00:13:58.353
  • Table for a meal with people and your faith never makes its way
  • 00:13:58.353 --> 00:14:01.823
  • Into the conversation?
  • 00:14:01.823 --> 00:14:04.993
  • What's happened to us?
  • 00:14:04.993 --> 00:14:08.463
  • Well, it begins in our homes with that weekly gathering.
  • 00:14:08.463 --> 00:14:11.165
  • We gain courage.
  • 00:14:11.165 --> 00:14:12.533
  • We normalize it.
  • 00:14:12.533 --> 00:14:13.868
  • It becomes routinized.
  • 00:14:13.868 --> 00:14:15.203
  • It's how we get together.
  • 00:14:15.203 --> 00:14:16.571
  • We invite god at the beginning of the meal.
  • 00:14:16.571 --> 00:14:17.906
  • I hope before you leave, you'll invite him in.
  • 00:14:17.906 --> 00:14:19.540
  • You've listened to the opportunities and the challenges
  • 00:14:19.540 --> 00:14:23.177
  • Of the week ahead.
  • 00:14:23.177 --> 00:14:24.512
  • You'll invite him to help you with that.
  • 00:14:24.512 --> 00:14:25.880
  • It's a sentence prayer.
  • 00:14:25.880 --> 00:14:27.215
  • God, we need your help.
  • 00:14:27.215 --> 00:14:28.549
  • Help us with those tests, with those games, with the challenges
  • 00:14:28.549 --> 00:14:30.718
  • At work, with whatever it may be.
  • 00:14:30.718 --> 00:14:33.888
  • It'll become so normal you wouldn't imagine getting
  • 00:14:33.888 --> 00:14:36.157
  • Together with your friends.
  • 00:14:36.157 --> 00:14:38.893
  • When god wanted to deliver a group of people who'd been
  • 00:14:38.893 --> 00:14:40.929
  • Slaves in egypt for 400 years, their last night under the
  • 00:14:40.929 --> 00:14:46.234
  • Tyranny of pharaoh he said, "battle positions are around
  • 00:14:46.234 --> 00:14:50.438
  • The table.
  • 00:14:50.438 --> 00:14:52.840
  • Here's your menu.
  • 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:54.342
  • Here's your dress code.
  • 00:14:54.342 --> 00:14:56.044
  • Here's what i want you to do with your front door.
  • 00:14:56.044 --> 00:15:00.014
  • Now get together every year from here forward and remember."
  • 00:15:00.014 --> 00:15:05.053
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:15:05.053 --> 00:15:10.658
  • Allen: hey, i have a suggestion.
  • 00:15:11.626 --> 00:15:12.961
  • Let's stop waiting for somebody else to be a better leader.
  • 00:15:12.961 --> 00:15:15.430
  • Let's determine this year to lead with faith.
  • 00:15:15.430 --> 00:15:17.899
  • I've written a book to help.
  • 00:15:17.899 --> 00:15:19.233
  • It's a practical collection of tools that you and i can use the
  • 00:15:19.233 --> 00:15:22.704
  • Influence of our lives faith first in the marketplace, in our
  • 00:15:22.704 --> 00:15:26.507
  • Homes, with our friends.
  • 00:15:26.507 --> 00:15:27.842
  • Folks, it's time for us to stop waiting for somebody else to
  • 00:15:27.842 --> 00:15:30.611
  • Step forward.
  • 00:15:30.611 --> 00:15:31.980
  • Let's determine to lead with faith.
  • 00:15:31.980 --> 00:15:33.514
  • We can do that, and i believe we can change our homes, our
  • 00:15:33.514 --> 00:15:36.617
  • Neighborhoods, our churches, maybe even our nation.
  • 00:15:36.617 --> 00:15:39.721
  • Female announcer: choosing to lead with faith starts with a
  • 00:15:39.721 --> 00:15:41.956
  • Simple decision, to be intentional right where you are.
  • 00:15:41.956 --> 00:15:45.593
  • In his new book "lead with faith," pastor allen shares
  • 00:15:45.593 --> 00:15:48.663
  • Biblical insight and practical tools to help you live out your
  • 00:15:48.663 --> 00:15:51.933
  • Faith in meaningful ways every day.
  • 00:15:51.933 --> 00:15:54.869
  • This book will encourage you to stand for truth with wisdom,
  • 00:15:54.869 --> 00:15:58.039
  • Clarity, and courage, without waiting for someone else to
  • 00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:01.009
  • Go first.
  • 00:16:01.009 --> 00:16:02.377
  • Request "lead with faith" with your gift of $30 or more at
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  • Allenjackson.com or call...
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  • Female announcer: getting the latest messages from pastor
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  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:17:05.773 --> 00:17:10.812
  • Allen: well, i wanna take the balance of our time.
  • 00:17:12.747 --> 00:17:14.148
  • We're gonna step into the table event with jesus.
  • 00:17:14.148 --> 00:17:18.119
  • It's in luke 22.
  • 00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:19.487
  • I put the whole passage there.
  • 00:17:19.487 --> 00:17:20.822
  • It's a long passage.
  • 00:17:20.822 --> 00:17:22.190
  • Don't panic.
  • 00:17:22.190 --> 00:17:23.791
  • I mean, the doors open for the event tonight at 5:30.
  • 00:17:23.791 --> 00:17:26.294
  • We'll give you 30 minutes to clear the room before we come
  • 00:17:26.294 --> 00:17:28.496
  • Back in. [laughs]
  • 00:17:28.496 --> 00:17:32.834
  • I'm gonna warn you before we read this passage, there is
  • 00:17:32.834 --> 00:17:35.436
  • A lot of activity at this table.
  • 00:17:35.436 --> 00:17:38.739
  • I mean, i know it's the last supper, and it's, you know, it's
  • 00:17:38.739 --> 00:17:41.209
  • A holy event, and you can hear the flutter of the angel's
  • 00:17:41.209 --> 00:17:45.146
  • Wings, but i'm telling you, this is a rowdy table.
  • 00:17:45.146 --> 00:17:48.249
  • I mean, it's a passover meal, so it's grounded in over a thousand
  • 00:17:48.249 --> 00:17:51.452
  • Years of remembering and faith and god stories, and jesus
  • 00:17:51.452 --> 00:17:58.159
  • Is gonna introduce the elements of communion.
  • 00:17:58.159 --> 00:18:01.229
  • He's also going to announce that he'll be--he's about to be
  • 00:18:01.229 --> 00:18:03.664
  • Betrayed by somebody at the table.
  • 00:18:03.664 --> 00:18:06.734
  • That's off-putting.
  • 00:18:06.734 --> 00:18:09.637
  • A dispute is going to break out amongst the rest of the crew
  • 00:18:09.637 --> 00:18:12.273
  • Over which one of them is the greatest.
  • 00:18:12.273 --> 00:18:15.409
  • That's a happy notion, and jesus is going to extend the
  • 00:18:15.409 --> 00:18:19.347
  • Kingdom invitation.
  • 00:18:19.347 --> 00:18:20.681
  • He's also going to warn them of an impending attack from satan,
  • 00:18:20.681 --> 00:18:24.085
  • That without his intercession, it seems would have totally
  • 00:18:24.085 --> 00:18:26.654
  • Shipwrecked their faith, and then he's gonna give them some
  • 00:18:26.654 --> 00:18:30.258
  • Last minute preparations for what to do in his absence.
  • 00:18:30.258 --> 00:18:32.360
  • It's a busy table.
  • 00:18:32.360 --> 00:18:34.662
  • Luke doesn't record it, but jesus begins the evening by
  • 00:18:34.662 --> 00:18:37.365
  • Washing the feet of those--of his friends gathered around
  • 00:18:37.365 --> 00:18:40.101
  • The table.
  • 00:18:40.101 --> 00:18:41.435
  • Some of them object to that.
  • 00:18:41.435 --> 00:18:42.803
  • I mean, it's a rowdy, rowdy evening.
  • 00:18:42.803 --> 00:18:44.572
  • So you and i think our table should be these peaceful,
  • 00:18:44.572 --> 00:18:46.841
  • Angelic, sweet.
  • 00:18:46.841 --> 00:18:51.345
  • Look, i grew up with two younger brothers, our tables weren't,
  • 00:18:51.345 --> 00:18:54.182
  • And my dad was a veterinarian, that was the compounding factor,
  • 00:18:54.182 --> 00:18:57.618
  • 'cause in the middle of dinner, inevitably the phone would ring.
  • 00:18:57.618 --> 00:18:59.554
  • It was a small business, we had to answer the phone, and some
  • 00:18:59.554 --> 00:19:01.622
  • Cow was trying to have a calf and she wasn't
  • 00:19:01.622 --> 00:19:05.493
  • Completely successful.
  • 00:19:05.493 --> 00:19:07.328
  • So we get the description of the progress report of the calves
  • 00:19:07.328 --> 00:19:10.064
  • Birth right in the middle of dinner, and my poor mother
  • 00:19:10.064 --> 00:19:13.568
  • Trying to impose some sense of discipline on three young boys,
  • 00:19:13.568 --> 00:19:17.271
  • And we'd start listening to my dad's description and start
  • 00:19:17.271 --> 00:19:19.440
  • Laughing and making fun, and talking about what was on the
  • 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:21.609
  • Table and how it related to what was happening with the cow, and
  • 00:19:21.609 --> 00:19:28.082
  • My mother would just retreat momentarily.
  • 00:19:28.082 --> 00:19:32.253
  • Tables aren't perfect.
  • 00:19:32.253 --> 00:19:33.621
  • Mine isn't, yours isn't.
  • 00:19:33.621 --> 00:19:35.723
  • That's not what i'm suggesting.
  • 00:19:35.723 --> 00:19:37.091
  • I'm suggesting the intentional invitation to god into
  • 00:19:37.091 --> 00:19:40.328
  • Our homes.
  • 00:19:40.328 --> 00:19:42.163
  • I'm tired of having the meet--i read--i meet every week with
  • 00:19:42.163 --> 00:19:45.032
  • Families, every week, who are struggling with the spiritual
  • 00:19:45.032 --> 00:19:49.270
  • Authority of their homes.
  • 00:19:49.270 --> 00:19:51.839
  • This isn't something theoretical.
  • 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:53.441
  • There's a battle waging across our country.
  • 00:19:53.441 --> 00:19:55.977
  • I'm not attaching blame or shame.
  • 00:19:55.977 --> 00:19:57.712
  • I'm telling you we need to know how to establish the authority
  • 00:19:57.712 --> 00:20:00.014
  • Of our homes.
  • 00:20:00.014 --> 00:20:01.382
  • Luke 22, let's read.
  • 00:20:01.382 --> 00:20:02.717
  • "they left and found things just as jesus had told them.
  • 00:20:02.717 --> 00:20:04.986
  • So they prepared the passover.
  • 00:20:04.986 --> 00:20:07.755
  • And when the hour came, jesus and his apostles reclined at
  • 00:20:07.755 --> 00:20:11.025
  • The table."
  • 00:20:11.025 --> 00:20:13.761
  • This is the last time the disciples are gonna be together
  • 00:20:13.761 --> 00:20:16.030
  • As a group before jesus's betrayal and arrest, and they
  • 00:20:16.030 --> 00:20:21.502
  • Gather at a table.
  • 00:20:21.502 --> 00:20:22.837
  • Please don't imagine tables are insignificant.
  • 00:20:22.837 --> 00:20:27.141
  • "he said to them, 'i have eagerly desired to eat this
  • 00:20:27.141 --> 00:20:29.477
  • Passover with you before i suffer.
  • 00:20:29.477 --> 00:20:33.281
  • For i tell you, i--it will--i will not eat it again until it
  • 00:20:33.281 --> 00:20:36.851
  • Finds fulfillment in the kingdom of god.'
  • 00:20:36.851 --> 00:20:38.552
  • And after taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, 'take this
  • 00:20:38.552 --> 00:20:41.055
  • And divide it among you.
  • 00:20:41.055 --> 00:20:42.990
  • For i tell you i'll not drink again of the fruit of the vine
  • 00:20:42.990 --> 00:20:45.259
  • Until the kingdom of god comes.'"
  • 00:20:45.259 --> 00:20:47.662
  • It's the passover meal.
  • 00:20:47.662 --> 00:20:48.996
  • The disciples have prepared it.
  • 00:20:48.996 --> 00:20:50.364
  • Jesus is at the table.
  • 00:20:50.364 --> 00:20:51.699
  • It's as familiar to them--it's an annual holiday.
  • 00:20:51.699 --> 00:20:55.503
  • It's an annual observation.
  • 00:20:55.503 --> 00:20:57.505
  • They know the preparation that is necessary.
  • 00:20:57.505 --> 00:21:02.743
  • I mean, the word seder, the seder meal is attached
  • 00:21:02.743 --> 00:21:04.879
  • To passover.
  • 00:21:04.879 --> 00:21:06.247
  • It means order in hebrew.
  • 00:21:06.247 --> 00:21:07.581
  • It's just a transliteration of a hebrew word.
  • 00:21:07.581 --> 00:21:09.050
  • There's a whole order that goes with the meal.
  • 00:21:09.050 --> 00:21:12.186
  • All the pieces are in place so that they don't ever forget the
  • 00:21:12.186 --> 00:21:14.488
  • Great deliverance that god brought to them from slavery
  • 00:21:14.488 --> 00:21:18.693
  • In egypt.
  • 00:21:18.693 --> 00:21:20.061
  • It's a reminder that almighty god is our protector, our
  • 00:21:20.061 --> 00:21:22.496
  • Deliverer, and jesus begins the meal by saying, "i have longed
  • 00:21:22.496 --> 00:21:27.134
  • To eat this meal with you," some of the older
  • 00:21:27.134 --> 00:21:29.036
  • English translations.
  • 00:21:29.036 --> 00:21:31.339
  • "i've looked forward to it," "i've longed for it," and then
  • 00:21:31.339 --> 00:21:35.676
  • Verse 19, words that are more familiar to you perhaps, "he
  • 00:21:35.676 --> 00:21:38.279
  • Took bread, and gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them,
  • 00:21:38.279 --> 00:21:40.648
  • Saying, 'this is my body given for you; do this in remembrance
  • 00:21:40.648 --> 00:21:44.018
  • Of me.'
  • 00:21:44.018 --> 00:21:45.386
  • In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'this cup
  • 00:21:45.386 --> 00:21:47.588
  • Is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'"
  • 00:21:47.588 --> 00:21:51.792
  • Those are the words very familiar to those of you that
  • 00:21:51.792 --> 00:21:53.961
  • Are regular--frequent flyers in the christian church.
  • 00:21:53.961 --> 00:21:57.598
  • You hear them attached to our communion services.
  • 00:21:57.598 --> 00:22:01.001
  • Did you know that they had been delivered by jesus at the
  • 00:22:01.001 --> 00:22:04.638
  • Passover table, that our communion isn't separate from
  • 00:22:04.638 --> 00:22:09.009
  • That heritage, that understanding jesus is the lamb
  • 00:22:09.009 --> 00:22:11.445
  • Of god that takes away the sin of the world is dependent upon
  • 00:22:11.445 --> 00:22:15.916
  • The story that precedes matthew's gospel.
  • 00:22:15.916 --> 00:22:20.221
  • Jesus didn't say, "i came to eradicate," though.
  • 00:22:20.221 --> 00:22:22.623
  • He said, "i came to fulfill it."
  • 00:22:22.623 --> 00:22:24.625
  • The law is a means--it's the end of a means of righteousness, but
  • 00:22:24.625 --> 00:22:27.528
  • It's not the men--the end of god's holiness and purity and
  • 00:22:27.528 --> 00:22:31.732
  • His demand for character formation in his people.
  • 00:22:31.732 --> 00:22:37.872
  • Then the tone of the table changes dramatically in verse
  • 00:22:37.872 --> 00:22:40.408
  • 21, "'the hand of him who's gonna betray me is with mine on
  • 00:22:40.408 --> 00:22:43.911
  • The table.
  • 00:22:43.911 --> 00:22:45.746
  • And the son of man will go as it's been decreed, but woe to
  • 00:22:45.746 --> 00:22:48.149
  • That man who betrays him.'
  • 00:22:48.149 --> 00:22:49.483
  • And they began to question among themselves which of them it
  • 00:22:49.483 --> 00:22:51.786
  • Might be who would do this."
  • 00:22:51.786 --> 00:22:53.154
  • Don't you know that's true?
  • 00:22:53.154 --> 00:22:54.622
  • This crowd's argued about everything.
  • 00:22:54.622 --> 00:22:57.758
  • I mean, jesus fed a multitude, and they fed 5,000 one day, and
  • 00:22:57.758 --> 00:23:00.895
  • 4,000 another day, and jesus with a little bit of food, and
  • 00:23:00.895 --> 00:23:03.798
  • Jesus said one day, "'beware of the yeast of the pharisees,'"
  • 00:23:03.798 --> 00:23:06.233
  • And they started arguing.
  • 00:23:06.233 --> 00:23:07.601
  • They thought jesus was mad at 'em, 'cause they didn't
  • 00:23:07.601 --> 00:23:08.936
  • Have enough bread.
  • 00:23:08.936 --> 00:23:11.038
  • Two of their brothers come, they bring their mom.
  • 00:23:11.038 --> 00:23:14.074
  • They bring their mama to say, "will you give my boys special
  • 00:23:14.074 --> 00:23:19.647
  • Treatment in your kingdom?"
  • 00:23:19.647 --> 00:23:21.916
  • Don't you know that made 'em popular with the rest of
  • 00:23:21.916 --> 00:23:23.918
  • The gang?
  • 00:23:23.918 --> 00:23:26.854
  • Really, you had to bring your mom?
  • 00:23:26.854 --> 00:23:32.460
  • Oh come on, that's pretty funny.
  • 00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:39.733
  • In verse 24 it gets more rowdy.
  • 00:23:39.733 --> 00:23:42.536
  • "also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was
  • 00:23:42.536 --> 00:23:46.040
  • Considered to be the greatest."
  • 00:23:46.040 --> 00:23:48.275
  • You know, i would think at a table where jesus said, "listen,
  • 00:23:48.275 --> 00:23:50.611
  • One of you is about to betray me," that that would capture
  • 00:23:50.611 --> 00:23:53.647
  • The conversation.
  • 00:23:53.647 --> 00:23:56.183
  • I'm pretty much thinking that would carry us through till
  • 00:23:56.183 --> 00:23:58.219
  • Dessert, but oh no, this group, the ego--their egos are so alive
  • 00:23:58.219 --> 00:24:03.924
  • And well that, yeah, yeah, one of us is a betrayer, but which
  • 00:24:03.924 --> 00:24:06.460
  • One of us is the greatest?
  • 00:24:06.460 --> 00:24:12.500
  • You know, it could have been discouraging to jesus.
  • 00:24:12.500 --> 00:24:16.136
  • Three years, this is the team that's going to carry the
  • 00:24:16.136 --> 00:24:19.607
  • Message to the far corners of the globe.
  • 00:24:19.607 --> 00:24:22.776
  • He's about done, his betrayal is at hand, his suffering is about
  • 00:24:22.776 --> 00:24:27.414
  • To begin, he's gonna step out of time, and this group of people
  • 00:24:27.414 --> 00:24:32.520
  • Are going to be tasked with the message of his kingdom and what
  • 00:24:32.520 --> 00:24:35.222
  • He's done for them, and they can't hold it together for
  • 00:24:35.222 --> 00:24:39.560
  • A last meal.
  • 00:24:39.560 --> 00:24:43.097
  • And, "jesus said to them," verse 25, "'the kings of the gentiles
  • 00:24:43.097 --> 00:24:45.733
  • Lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them
  • 00:24:45.733 --> 00:24:48.135
  • Call them benefactors.
  • 00:24:48.135 --> 00:24:49.770
  • But you're not to be like that.
  • 00:24:49.770 --> 00:24:52.172
  • Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and
  • 00:24:52.172 --> 00:24:54.408
  • The one who rules like the one who serves.
  • 00:24:54.408 --> 00:24:55.976
  • For who's greater, the one at the table or the one who serves?
  • 00:24:55.976 --> 00:24:59.213
  • Is it not the one who's at the table?
  • 00:24:59.213 --> 00:25:02.016
  • But i'm as among you as one who serves.'"
  • 00:25:02.016 --> 00:25:05.085
  • He's already washed their feet.
  • 00:25:05.085 --> 00:25:09.523
  • "'you are those who have stood by me in my trials.
  • 00:25:09.523 --> 00:25:11.325
  • And i confer on you a kingdom, just as my father conferred one
  • 00:25:11.325 --> 00:25:17.865
  • On me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom
  • 00:25:17.865 --> 00:25:21.402
  • And sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of israel.'"
  • 00:25:21.402 --> 00:25:25.573
  • The invitation is to be seated at his table in his kingdom.
  • 00:25:25.573 --> 00:25:28.909
  • It's an expression of authority.
  • 00:25:28.909 --> 00:25:31.579
  • It's used that way throughout scripture.
  • 00:25:31.579 --> 00:25:34.548
  • The authority over your life, one way of understanding it in
  • 00:25:34.548 --> 00:25:37.051
  • Scripture is knowing which table you sit at.
  • 00:25:37.051 --> 00:25:40.354
  • We're told that there were over 800 prophets that sat at jezebel
  • 00:25:40.354 --> 00:25:43.490
  • And ahab's table.
  • 00:25:43.490 --> 00:25:46.360
  • They were not under the spirit of almighty god.
  • 00:25:46.360 --> 00:25:50.197
  • When david wanted to establish jonathan's surviving son
  • 00:25:50.197 --> 00:25:53.000
  • Mephibosheth as having protected status in his kingdom, that his
  • 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:56.737
  • Life wasn't in peril, he brought him to sit at his table.
  • 00:25:56.737 --> 00:26:03.077
  • Your table establishes the spiritual authority of
  • 00:26:03.077 --> 00:26:06.013
  • Your home.
  • 00:26:06.013 --> 00:26:07.414
  • It gives expression to it.
  • 00:26:07.414 --> 00:26:11.018
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:26:11.018 --> 00:26:17.291
  • Allen: i have a question.
  • 00:26:17.925 --> 00:26:19.259
  • Have you ever said, i wish my pastor would lead with more
  • 00:26:19.259 --> 00:26:22.162
  • Courage, or i wish my pastor would address what's happening
  • 00:26:22.162 --> 00:26:25.099
  • In the world with greater boldness?
  • 00:26:25.099 --> 00:26:27.601
  • Folks, we can't change other people.
  • 00:26:27.601 --> 00:26:29.069
  • The only person we can ultimately change is ourselves.
  • 00:26:29.069 --> 00:26:31.505
  • I have a suggestion.
  • 00:26:31.505 --> 00:26:32.906
  • What if you and i begin to lead with faith in our own arenas
  • 00:26:32.906 --> 00:26:36.343
  • Of influence?
  • 00:26:36.343 --> 00:26:37.678
  • Well, i've written a book to help with that.
  • 00:26:37.678 --> 00:26:39.046
  • If that seems beyond you or intimidating to you, i believe
  • 00:26:39.046 --> 00:26:42.049
  • This book will help.
  • 00:26:42.049 --> 00:26:43.417
  • It'll give you some practical ways that you and i can begin to
  • 00:26:43.417 --> 00:26:46.053
  • Lead with faith in the marketplace, in our homes, with
  • 00:26:46.053 --> 00:26:48.989
  • Our friends, wherever that may be.
  • 00:26:48.989 --> 00:26:51.492
  • We have help in this.
  • 00:26:51.492 --> 00:26:52.960
  • The spirit of god will help us if we have the willingness to
  • 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:55.863
  • Use our influence for the kingdom of god.
  • 00:26:55.863 --> 00:26:58.532
  • You can get a copy of the book at allenjackson.com.
  • 00:26:58.532 --> 00:27:00.834
  • You can go get your own today, but i wanna pray.
  • 00:27:00.834 --> 00:27:02.903
  • I wanna ask the spirit of god to help you and me lead with faith
  • 00:27:02.903 --> 00:27:06.907
  • This year as never before.
  • 00:27:06.907 --> 00:27:08.876
  • Let's pray.
  • 00:27:08.876 --> 00:27:10.244
  • Heavenly father, we ask for your help.
  • 00:27:10.244 --> 00:27:12.246
  • You have given us strengths and abilities and influence.
  • 00:27:12.246 --> 00:27:14.515
  • May we use it for the glory of your kingdom.
  • 00:27:14.515 --> 00:27:17.084
  • In jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:17.084 --> 00:27:19.520
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:19.520 --> 00:27:29.563