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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Welcoming Jesus as Lord (Part 1)

April 19, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - Welcoming Jesus as Lord (Part 1)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#WordofGod #Joy #Miracles #Rejection #Prayer #BibleHistory #Enemy #TrustGod #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Welcoming Jesus as Lord (Part 1) | April 19, 2026
  • ...
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  • Allen jackson: hey, would you like to make an impact for
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  • The kingdom of god in this generation?
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  • I have an idea and oh by the way, it's biblical.
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  • Let's practice hospitality.
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  • I know it doesn't sound very complicated, but imagine your
  • 00:00:09.626 --> 00:00:12.328
  • Kitchen table as an expression of the hope and the love of god.
  • 00:00:12.328 --> 00:00:16.266
  • We've all got the ability to do this.
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  • You don't have to be martha stewart.
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  • You don't have to be a gourmet chef, let's just invite, open
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  • Our home, invite people to our kitchen table, and then watch
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  • What god will do as we live out the assignment of being
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  • Ambassadors for his kingdom.
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  • God's moving in the earth.
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  • Let's go with him.
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  • Female announcer: welcoming people to a meal around the
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  • Kitchen table is one of the easiest ways to share life and
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  • Your faith.
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  • Our tools for hospitality set will help you get started.
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  • It includes a custom kitchen towel, three of pastor allen's
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  • Favorite family recipes, and a short booklet with
  • 00:00:46.796 --> 00:00:49.365
  • Practical encouragement.
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  • Request the tools for hospitality set with your gift
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  • Of $25 or more at allenjackson.com or call...
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  • Allen: this is palm sunday weekend.
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  • Christians celebrate jesus's triumphal entry into the city
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  • Of jerusalem.
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  • He was welcomed by a large crowd of people filled with joy,
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  • Overflowing with joy that he'd come to jerusalem in
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  • A public way.
  • 00:01:22.165 --> 00:01:23.500
  • His life was under great enough threat that his entrance into
  • 00:01:23.500 --> 00:01:25.535
  • Jerusalem for the past previous visits had been more secretive.
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  • But on this particular passover season, he comes into jesus
  • 00:01:30.507 --> 00:01:34.010
  • Openly--into jerusalem openly, riding a donkey down the mount
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  • Of olives.
  • 00:01:37.881 --> 00:01:39.215
  • The mount of olives is a little hill immediately adjacent to
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  • That eastern side of jerusalem and jesus descends that little
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  • Hill into the kidron valley and then up to the temple mount with
  • 00:01:46.089 --> 00:01:50.527
  • Hundreds and hundreds, thousands of people shouting joyfully to
  • 00:01:50.527 --> 00:01:55.265
  • The lord because jesus has come back to the city.
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  • It's a remarkable scene and we've celebrated, the christian
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  • Church has celebrated it for many, many centuries.
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  • So our theme today is "welcoming jesus as lord."
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  • We don't wanna just be historians.
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  • I'm grateful that there were thousands and thousands of the
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  • Jewish community in the 1st century that welcomed jesus to
  • 00:02:09.546 --> 00:02:12.015
  • Jerusalem, but you didn't know that.
  • 00:02:12.015 --> 00:02:14.484
  • It's more fashionable these days to say that the jews hated
  • 00:02:14.484 --> 00:02:17.053
  • Jesus, not the majority of them.
  • 00:02:17.053 --> 00:02:20.223
  • Some of them did.
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  • But not the majority.
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  • But it's not enough to be a historian.
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  • The real question on the table is how do you and i know jesus?
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  • What role does he play in your life?
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  • He's very much alive.
  • 00:02:33.603 --> 00:02:35.071
  • That's the story of easter.
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  • We don't have a dead king.
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  • We serve a living king. [congregation applauding]
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  • So i'm gonna start with a couple of questions.
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  • We processed them in the previous session outdoors, but
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  • They're relevant to this discussion as well.
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  • And the first one's pretty obvious is how do you know
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  • Jesus personally?
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  • I mean.
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  • Not as a religious character, not as denominational
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  • Affiliation, not as a part of your family system and how they
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  • Choose to worship and the boundaries, but i mean, how do
  • 00:03:03.566 --> 00:03:05.635
  • You personally know jesus?
  • 00:03:05.635 --> 00:03:08.137
  • And there's aspect, do you know him as a healer?
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  • Do you know him as a miracle worker?
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  • Do you know him to be a teacher?
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  • Maybe you know him as a disruptor.
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  • You know, he's very disruptive.
  • 00:03:15.745 --> 00:03:17.547
  • Ask saul of tarsus.
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  • I mean, like saul was on the fast track for a career that was
  • 00:03:21.117 --> 00:03:23.920
  • Gonna make him tremendously influential and successful, and
  • 00:03:23.920 --> 00:03:28.157
  • He met jesus and he got a whole new assignment.
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  • That's disruptive.
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  • Some of you don't want to talk to jesus 'cause you intuitively
  • 00:03:31.794 --> 00:03:34.197
  • Understand he's disruptive.
  • 00:03:34.197 --> 00:03:36.165
  • And you have momentum in some ways that you know he's not
  • 00:03:36.165 --> 00:03:38.301
  • Gonna bless and so you don't wanna talk, you don't wanna know
  • 00:03:38.301 --> 00:03:40.470
  • Him as a disruptor.
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  • You wanna go to heaven, you just don't wanna know
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  • A disruptive jesus.
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  • Do you know that's awkward, right?
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  • Have the courage to deal with that.
  • 00:03:48.077 --> 00:03:51.581
  • Yeah.
  • 00:03:51.581 --> 00:03:52.949
  • I mean, you can sit in church and not wanna know
  • 00:03:52.949 --> 00:03:54.417
  • A disruptive jesus.
  • 00:03:54.417 --> 00:03:56.152
  • You got patterns and habits and thoughts and behaviors and
  • 00:03:56.152 --> 00:03:58.921
  • Hobbies that you don't want jesus even engaged with.
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  • I mean, we'll go to heaven so you act like he can't,
  • 00:04:01.891 --> 00:04:03.626
  • Doesn't notice.
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  • It's mine.
  • 00:04:09.098 --> 00:04:12.001
  • How do you know jesus?
  • 00:04:12.001 --> 00:04:13.536
  • Maybe he's an outsider.
  • 00:04:13.536 --> 00:04:15.905
  • You know, many people rejected him because he came from the
  • 00:04:15.905 --> 00:04:17.940
  • Wrong place.
  • 00:04:17.940 --> 00:04:19.309
  • He spoke with the wrong accent.
  • 00:04:19.309 --> 00:04:20.643
  • He's from galilee.
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  • Nobody significant comes from galilee.
  • 00:04:22.011 --> 00:04:25.014
  • Some of you think, you know, i'm with the in crowd.
  • 00:04:25.014 --> 00:04:28.318
  • If i got to know jesus very well, i wouldn't be chic.
  • 00:04:28.318 --> 00:04:33.022
  • Well, bless your heart.
  • 00:04:33.022 --> 00:04:35.992
  • Some of you know jesus as a criminal instigator.
  • 00:04:35.992 --> 00:04:39.195
  • You're part of the establishment.
  • 00:04:39.195 --> 00:04:40.530
  • Your future is secured by your connections and your power and
  • 00:04:40.530 --> 00:04:43.599
  • Your contact list and your resource base and jesus, you
  • 00:04:43.599 --> 00:04:49.238
  • Know, he's an instigator.
  • 00:04:49.238 --> 00:04:50.606
  • The people that follow jesus, they're out there on the
  • 00:04:50.606 --> 00:04:52.709
  • Periphery, they're the lunatic fringe.
  • 00:04:52.709 --> 00:04:55.945
  • I mean, i'll tolerate a little christianity, you know, i mean,
  • 00:04:55.945 --> 00:04:58.781
  • Kind of a formal observance and, but i don't intend for it to
  • 00:04:58.781 --> 00:05:01.951
  • Like touch my thoughts or my emotions.
  • 00:05:01.951 --> 00:05:04.053
  • How do you know jesus?
  • 00:05:04.053 --> 00:05:06.356
  • It's an important question.
  • 00:05:06.356 --> 00:05:08.725
  • Let me amplify it a little bit.
  • 00:05:08.725 --> 00:05:10.059
  • Maybe i asked the question in a slightly different way.
  • 00:05:10.059 --> 00:05:12.061
  • Your relationship with jesus, what's that like?
  • 00:05:12.061 --> 00:05:15.064
  • Now that's different than knowing about jesus.
  • 00:05:15.064 --> 00:05:16.699
  • You can know him as a historical figure, a religious figure, a
  • 00:05:16.699 --> 00:05:19.302
  • Teacher, all those things, but personally, your relationship,
  • 00:05:19.302 --> 00:05:22.872
  • How do you engage with him?
  • 00:05:22.872 --> 00:05:24.807
  • This is a very important question.
  • 00:05:24.807 --> 00:05:28.177
  • For some, jesus is an antagonist.
  • 00:05:28.177 --> 00:05:31.381
  • He's a threat.
  • 00:05:31.381 --> 00:05:33.383
  • For some, he's just an outright adversary.
  • 00:05:33.383 --> 00:05:35.051
  • We don't intend to cooperate with him.
  • 00:05:35.051 --> 00:05:36.786
  • We think he's a mind virus.
  • 00:05:36.786 --> 00:05:38.187
  • We hear that.
  • 00:05:38.187 --> 00:05:41.724
  • For some, he's an opponent.
  • 00:05:41.724 --> 00:05:43.926
  • Some of you are just skeptical.
  • 00:05:43.926 --> 00:05:47.029
  • You know, you're like the man that the king that interviewed
  • 00:05:47.029 --> 00:05:49.465
  • Paul and he said, you've almost persuaded me.
  • 00:05:49.465 --> 00:05:51.801
  • Do you really think you could persuade me?
  • 00:05:51.801 --> 00:05:53.269
  • I'm a king and you're in chains, skeptics.
  • 00:05:53.269 --> 00:05:59.809
  • Folks, skepticism does not make you smart.
  • 00:05:59.809 --> 00:06:03.446
  • It makes you an outsider.
  • 00:06:03.446 --> 00:06:07.650
  • Truth divorced from experience always dwells in the realm of
  • 00:06:07.650 --> 00:06:10.887
  • A doubt.
  • 00:06:10.887 --> 00:06:12.922
  • You wanna have an experience with jesus, it will change
  • 00:06:12.922 --> 00:06:16.225
  • Your future.
  • 00:06:16.225 --> 00:06:18.961
  • It's okay to be skeptical, just don't buy the seat.
  • 00:06:18.961 --> 00:06:24.267
  • Some of you are curious, you're a kind of a, you know, those big
  • 00:06:24.267 --> 00:06:27.170
  • Crowds that welcome jesus into the city.
  • 00:06:27.170 --> 00:06:28.971
  • They're the curious observers.
  • 00:06:28.971 --> 00:06:30.339
  • They're not necessarily disciples.
  • 00:06:30.339 --> 00:06:32.375
  • Some of them may shout in a few hours, "crucify him," but on
  • 00:06:32.375 --> 00:06:35.178
  • That particular day, they're going with the crowd.
  • 00:06:35.178 --> 00:06:38.915
  • Some of you are kind of curious and you're rolling with
  • 00:06:38.915 --> 00:06:40.917
  • The crowd.
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  • Jesus will invite you out of the crowd.
  • 00:06:42.251 --> 00:06:43.586
  • He knows you by name.
  • 00:06:43.586 --> 00:06:46.255
  • Some of you are disciples.
  • 00:06:46.255 --> 00:06:47.723
  • You've accepted the discipline of serving the king.
  • 00:06:47.723 --> 00:06:52.128
  • Can't be a disciple without discipline.
  • 00:06:52.128 --> 00:06:54.530
  • Discipleship is not primarily about information, it's
  • 00:06:54.530 --> 00:06:56.933
  • About discipline.
  • 00:06:56.933 --> 00:06:58.734
  • Oh, jesus will bring discipline to your life.
  • 00:06:58.734 --> 00:07:03.072
  • Some of you know him as a friend, that's
  • 00:07:03.072 --> 00:07:04.540
  • Entirely different.
  • 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:06.509
  • Friends can make calls on your calendar.
  • 00:07:06.509 --> 00:07:08.644
  • Friends can make calls on your energy.
  • 00:07:08.644 --> 00:07:10.446
  • Friends can make calls on your resources.
  • 00:07:10.446 --> 00:07:13.916
  • Friends aren't convenient.
  • 00:07:13.916 --> 00:07:17.119
  • Friends walk with you through troubled places.
  • 00:07:17.119 --> 00:07:21.691
  • Friends don't always have the solutions, but they'll often
  • 00:07:21.691 --> 00:07:23.826
  • Weep when you weep and celebrate when you're joyful.
  • 00:07:23.826 --> 00:07:26.629
  • Do you know jesus that way?
  • 00:07:26.629 --> 00:07:29.832
  • Some of you have actually received ministry from jesus.
  • 00:07:29.832 --> 00:07:33.436
  • You know, like that widow whose son had died and he interrupted
  • 00:07:33.436 --> 00:07:35.771
  • The funeral procession, there's no connection, there was no
  • 00:07:35.771 --> 00:07:38.074
  • Request made.
  • 00:07:38.074 --> 00:07:39.442
  • Jesus just raised the son from the dead and gave
  • 00:07:39.442 --> 00:07:40.877
  • Him back to his mom.
  • 00:07:40.877 --> 00:07:42.512
  • Some of you have known jesus's ministry.
  • 00:07:42.512 --> 00:07:44.180
  • He's brought health to your body.
  • 00:07:44.180 --> 00:07:46.716
  • For some of you he's brought forgiveness.
  • 00:07:46.716 --> 00:07:49.285
  • You've received mercy.
  • 00:07:49.285 --> 00:07:50.620
  • That was when you had a season in your life where you deserved
  • 00:07:50.620 --> 00:07:52.488
  • Judgment and you escaped judgment.
  • 00:07:52.488 --> 00:07:56.425
  • You didn't just escape.
  • 00:07:56.425 --> 00:07:57.760
  • God showed you mercy.
  • 00:07:57.760 --> 00:07:59.896
  • I didn't even know god was involved.
  • 00:07:59.896 --> 00:08:01.230
  • I know he's that kind of guy.
  • 00:08:01.230 --> 00:08:05.301
  • Some of you who've received deliverance.
  • 00:08:05.301 --> 00:08:07.770
  • Some have found god's provision.
  • 00:08:07.770 --> 00:08:09.138
  • You've had outcomes to your life that are disproportionate to
  • 00:08:09.138 --> 00:08:13.342
  • Your intellect or even your effort.
  • 00:08:13.342 --> 00:08:14.877
  • You have been blessed in a way that there's really no way of
  • 00:08:14.877 --> 00:08:18.214
  • Even understanding other than saying, "you know, god has
  • 00:08:18.214 --> 00:08:20.283
  • Blessed me."
  • 00:08:20.283 --> 00:08:23.619
  • And that takes a bit of god awareness, it takes
  • 00:08:23.619 --> 00:08:25.454
  • Some humility.
  • 00:08:25.454 --> 00:08:27.423
  • Sometimes we'll say, "well, you know, i've worked hard."
  • 00:08:27.423 --> 00:08:28.758
  • Folks, you can work hard all of your life to survive or you can
  • 00:08:28.758 --> 00:08:33.162
  • Work and have the blessings of god.
  • 00:08:33.162 --> 00:08:35.298
  • That's god's provision.
  • 00:08:35.298 --> 00:08:39.869
  • Allen: you know, around the world people are searching for
  • 00:08:44.073 --> 00:08:46.208
  • Truth and together we're doing our very best to help them
  • 00:08:46.208 --> 00:08:49.312
  • Find it.
  • 00:08:49.312 --> 00:08:50.646
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  • 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:25.815
  • Let's keep gathering his people and building his church until
  • 00:09:25.815 --> 00:09:28.985
  • The day our king returns.
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  • Here with allen jackson ministries.
  • 00:10:09.191 --> 00:10:11.594
  • Allen: so the question today is welcoming jesus.
  • 00:10:15.297 --> 00:10:18.167
  • Will you welcome him or you reject him?
  • 00:10:18.167 --> 00:10:20.569
  • You say, "well, i would never reject him."
  • 00:10:20.569 --> 00:10:21.971
  • Well, that is the majority position, and i can show it
  • 00:10:21.971 --> 00:10:24.306
  • To you.
  • 00:10:24.306 --> 00:10:25.675
  • On palm sunday, we're gonna look at two passages, two of the--the
  • 00:10:25.675 --> 00:10:28.210
  • Entry is recorded in multiple gospels.
  • 00:10:28.210 --> 00:10:29.945
  • We're gonna look at john, john chapter 12, and then luke 19.
  • 00:10:29.945 --> 00:10:33.082
  • They're both the triumphal entry chapters.
  • 00:10:33.082 --> 00:10:35.584
  • We'll start in luke 19, in verse 37, "when jesus came near the
  • 00:10:35.584 --> 00:10:39.021
  • Place where the road goes down the mount of olives, the whole
  • 00:10:39.021 --> 00:10:42.591
  • Crowd of disciples began to joyfully praise god in loud
  • 00:10:42.591 --> 00:10:45.327
  • Voices for all the miracles they had seen."
  • 00:10:45.327 --> 00:10:47.063
  • Luke is a physician.
  • 00:10:47.063 --> 00:10:49.031
  • He wrote the gospel that bears his name in the book of acts,
  • 00:10:49.031 --> 00:10:51.300
  • And he often writes with that eye of a diagnostician.
  • 00:10:51.300 --> 00:10:55.471
  • He slips in some details and the perspectives is not present in
  • 00:10:55.471 --> 00:10:58.374
  • The other gospels.
  • 00:10:58.374 --> 00:10:59.742
  • And he said, "the whole crowd of disciples began to joyfully
  • 00:10:59.742 --> 00:11:02.478
  • Praise god in loud voices for the miracles they had seen.
  • 00:11:02.478 --> 00:11:06.015
  • 'blessed is the king who comes in the name of the lord.'
  • 00:11:06.015 --> 00:11:08.217
  • 'peace in heaven and glory in the highest.'"
  • 00:11:08.217 --> 00:11:11.387
  • They're having church.
  • 00:11:11.387 --> 00:11:14.356
  • Well, they're at least having a public celebration like out in
  • 00:11:14.356 --> 00:11:16.625
  • The open, forgotten everybody.
  • 00:11:16.625 --> 00:11:20.162
  • "but some of the pharisees in the crowd said to jesus,
  • 00:11:22.665 --> 00:11:25.935
  • 'teacher, rebuke your disciples.'"
  • 00:11:25.935 --> 00:11:30.306
  • You know, the living translation of that is you arrogant rascal.
  • 00:11:30.306 --> 00:11:34.610
  • You better shut down these ignorant people.
  • 00:11:34.610 --> 00:11:39.482
  • Watch what jesus said.
  • 00:11:39.482 --> 00:11:40.816
  • "i tell you."
  • 00:11:40.816 --> 00:11:42.184
  • You know by now when you see that phrase, right?
  • 00:11:42.184 --> 00:11:43.986
  • Buckle up.
  • 00:11:43.986 --> 00:11:45.554
  • "i tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."
  • 00:11:45.554 --> 00:11:51.494
  • Now i'm just honored enough.
  • 00:11:51.494 --> 00:11:52.828
  • At that point i'd have looked at the crowd and gone, "i wanna
  • 00:11:52.828 --> 00:11:57.166
  • Hear the rocks."
  • 00:11:57.166 --> 00:11:59.902
  • 'cause i believe it.
  • 00:11:59.902 --> 00:12:02.471
  • See, on this day, within a week, jesus is gonna be tortured
  • 00:12:02.471 --> 00:12:06.442
  • To death.
  • 00:12:06.442 --> 00:12:08.444
  • And this day all of heaven is leaning forward.
  • 00:12:08.444 --> 00:12:11.413
  • I mean that.
  • 00:12:11.413 --> 00:12:12.782
  • If you think the sky outside of bethlehem was filled on the
  • 00:12:12.782 --> 00:12:14.817
  • Night of jesus's birth with the heavenly hosts, what do you
  • 00:12:14.817 --> 00:12:17.086
  • Think the heavenly host is doing as he's descending the mount of
  • 00:12:17.086 --> 00:12:19.455
  • Olives, knowing what he's headed into, but the hillside is filled
  • 00:12:19.455 --> 00:12:23.793
  • With people praising god.
  • 00:12:23.793 --> 00:12:26.262
  • You know, one day the praises of god will rise from the city
  • 00:12:26.262 --> 00:12:29.265
  • Of jerusalem.
  • 00:12:29.265 --> 00:12:32.835
  • Come on.
  • 00:12:32.835 --> 00:12:35.104
  • It's the same event.
  • 00:12:35.104 --> 00:12:37.173
  • I mean, we have--this is the same event.
  • 00:12:37.173 --> 00:12:39.108
  • The cameras are panning the crowd and what we see is very
  • 00:12:39.108 --> 00:12:43.212
  • Different responses.
  • 00:12:43.212 --> 00:12:44.647
  • Some are joyful, some are celebratory, some are filled
  • 00:12:44.647 --> 00:12:48.017
  • With gratitude, and some are offended and refuse
  • 00:12:48.017 --> 00:12:51.153
  • To participate.
  • 00:12:51.153 --> 00:12:52.488
  • They wanna shut it down.
  • 00:12:52.488 --> 00:12:54.757
  • You need to grapple with that 'cause i think we imagine that
  • 00:12:54.757 --> 00:12:57.459
  • When god moves, everybody's gonna applaud and everybody's
  • 00:12:57.459 --> 00:13:00.729
  • Gonna be yes and no, they're not.
  • 00:13:00.729 --> 00:13:04.633
  • Let's stay in luke 19, same chapter.
  • 00:13:04.633 --> 00:13:06.535
  • It's the same event.
  • 00:13:06.535 --> 00:13:07.870
  • It's just a later in the day.
  • 00:13:07.870 --> 00:13:09.338
  • It's verse 47.
  • 00:13:09.338 --> 00:13:10.673
  • "every day jesus was teaching at the temple.
  • 00:13:10.673 --> 00:13:13.542
  • But the chief priest and the teachers of law and the leaders
  • 00:13:13.542 --> 00:13:15.911
  • Among the people were trying to kill him."
  • 00:13:15.911 --> 00:13:18.347
  • Kill him.
  • 00:13:21.684 --> 00:13:24.186
  • "yet they couldn't find any way to do it, because all the people
  • 00:13:24.186 --> 00:13:29.258
  • Hung on his words."
  • 00:13:29.258 --> 00:13:31.994
  • All the people, the broad crowds, the large numbers, the
  • 00:13:31.994 --> 00:13:36.899
  • Unwashed masses are hanging on his every word.
  • 00:13:36.899 --> 00:13:42.404
  • But there's an elite few.
  • 00:13:44.907 --> 00:13:47.943
  • They need to shut him down.
  • 00:13:47.943 --> 00:13:50.246
  • They're threatened by him again.
  • 00:13:50.246 --> 00:13:52.114
  • It's the same event, but luke is panning the crowd for us and you
  • 00:13:52.114 --> 00:13:55.718
  • Get to see both reactions.
  • 00:13:55.718 --> 00:13:59.054
  • Some trying to kill him and large crowds enthralled with
  • 00:13:59.054 --> 00:14:03.926
  • His teaching.
  • 00:14:03.926 --> 00:14:06.896
  • Look at john 12, same triumphal entry, different author,
  • 00:14:06.896 --> 00:14:09.665
  • Different gospel, different camera angles.
  • 00:14:09.665 --> 00:14:14.370
  • "now the crowd that was with him when he called lazarus from the
  • 00:14:14.370 --> 00:14:16.805
  • Tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread
  • 00:14:16.805 --> 00:14:18.974
  • The word."
  • 00:14:18.974 --> 00:14:20.643
  • There's a group of people that day when lazarus walked out of
  • 00:14:20.643 --> 00:14:22.778
  • The cemetery, that'd be hard to shut down.
  • 00:14:22.778 --> 00:14:26.749
  • You know, when they opened that, they used to do burials in
  • 00:14:26.749 --> 00:14:30.486
  • Caves, whether they were man-made, natural or they carved
  • 00:14:30.486 --> 00:14:33.222
  • Them out of the rock, and then they would seal the entrance to
  • 00:14:33.222 --> 00:14:36.258
  • The cave with like a wheel of stone.
  • 00:14:36.258 --> 00:14:41.330
  • And lazarus has been buried long enough that when jesus said to
  • 00:14:41.330 --> 00:14:43.799
  • Open the tomb to remove that wheel of stone, they said,
  • 00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:46.502
  • "lord, there'll be an odor."
  • 00:14:46.502 --> 00:14:50.472
  • And then lazarus said, you know the story.
  • 00:14:50.472 --> 00:14:52.007
  • "lazarus come here," and he comes walking out.
  • 00:14:52.007 --> 00:14:54.643
  • I think the people that were there that you would like
  • 00:14:54.643 --> 00:14:56.612
  • Remember, right?
  • 00:14:56.612 --> 00:15:00.382
  • And they said, "you know, there was this horrible odor.
  • 00:15:00.382 --> 00:15:02.084
  • He'd been dead a while."
  • 00:15:02.084 --> 00:15:04.753
  • And dude came staggering out of that tomb.
  • 00:15:04.753 --> 00:15:08.524
  • I bet they told that story.
  • 00:15:08.524 --> 00:15:09.892
  • You can bet they told that story, and john is reminding us
  • 00:15:09.892 --> 00:15:12.261
  • Of that, that "they continued to spread the word about jesus and
  • 00:15:12.261 --> 00:15:16.131
  • Many people because they'd heard that he'd given this miraculous
  • 00:15:16.131 --> 00:15:18.934
  • Sign, went out to meet him."
  • 00:15:18.934 --> 00:15:22.404
  • So that's what fueled the drama on the hillside that day.
  • 00:15:22.404 --> 00:15:25.808
  • Well, lazarus lived right there on the mount of olives, and
  • 00:15:25.808 --> 00:15:28.877
  • Jesus is coming out and the people that were there at the
  • 00:15:28.877 --> 00:15:30.946
  • Cemetery right there on that same hill, they've said to
  • 00:15:30.946 --> 00:15:33.482
  • Everybody, you know, "the one that brought lazarus out of the
  • 00:15:33.482 --> 00:15:35.784
  • Tomb, he's coming back to town.
  • 00:15:35.784 --> 00:15:37.586
  • We should go see him," and there's a crowd.
  • 00:15:37.586 --> 00:15:41.023
  • Verse 19, "so the pharisees said to one another, 'this is getting
  • 00:15:42.992 --> 00:15:47.129
  • Us nowhere.'"
  • 00:15:47.129 --> 00:15:49.064
  • They could care less about raising people from the dead or
  • 00:15:49.064 --> 00:15:51.433
  • Miracles or the supernatural.
  • 00:15:51.433 --> 00:15:55.437
  • They could have cared less about the messaging of jesus.
  • 00:15:55.437 --> 00:15:59.375
  • "this is getting us nowhere," they said.
  • 00:15:59.375 --> 00:16:01.143
  • "he's an antagonist.
  • 00:16:01.143 --> 00:16:03.846
  • He's an adversary.
  • 00:16:03.846 --> 00:16:06.982
  • So what if he can raise the dead?
  • 00:16:06.982 --> 00:16:08.517
  • He's not helping us."
  • 00:16:08.517 --> 00:16:11.687
  • See, how you know jesus matters.
  • 00:16:11.687 --> 00:16:15.758
  • It doesn't change jesus, it changed the opportunities of
  • 00:16:15.758 --> 00:16:19.161
  • Your life.
  • 00:16:19.161 --> 00:16:21.997
  • It's no different in the 21st century than in the 1st century.
  • 00:16:21.997 --> 00:16:25.634
  • "this is getting us nowhere.
  • 00:16:25.634 --> 00:16:27.002
  • Look how the whole world has gone after him."
  • 00:16:27.002 --> 00:16:28.771
  • Well, knucklehead, baby, you should check it out.
  • 00:16:28.771 --> 00:16:32.508
  • Do you talk to your bible when you read it?
  • 00:16:32.508 --> 00:16:34.176
  • I do.
  • 00:16:34.176 --> 00:16:36.578
  • There's a crowd of witnesses affirming jesus, who he is and
  • 00:16:38.947 --> 00:16:42.351
  • What he's done.
  • 00:16:42.351 --> 00:16:43.685
  • There's many curious people that go out to meet him, and then
  • 00:16:43.685 --> 00:16:45.821
  • There's those who oppose him present and plotting.
  • 00:16:45.821 --> 00:16:51.093
  • I mean, it takes some hubris to plot the execution of someone
  • 00:16:51.093 --> 00:16:55.631
  • Who raises people from the dead.
  • 00:16:55.631 --> 00:16:59.468
  • Right?
  • 00:16:59.468 --> 00:17:01.003
  • I mean, they look stone cold stupid.
  • 00:17:01.003 --> 00:17:06.008
  • Same chapter, john 12, "even after jesus had done all these
  • 00:17:06.008 --> 00:17:09.211
  • Miraculous signs in their presence, they still wouldn't
  • 00:17:09.211 --> 00:17:13.048
  • Believe him.
  • 00:17:13.048 --> 00:17:16.318
  • This was to fulfill the word of isaiah the prophet: 'lord, who
  • 00:17:16.318 --> 00:17:18.620
  • Has believed our message and to whom is the arm of the lord
  • 00:17:18.620 --> 00:17:21.023
  • Been revealed?'
  • 00:17:21.023 --> 00:17:22.357
  • For this reason, they couldn't believe, because, as isaiah says
  • 00:17:22.357 --> 00:17:25.527
  • Elsewhere: 'he's blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts,
  • 00:17:25.527 --> 00:17:28.730
  • So they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with
  • 00:17:28.730 --> 00:17:30.732
  • Their hearts, nor turn--and i would heal them.'"
  • 00:17:30.732 --> 00:17:33.836
  • Isaiah said this because he saw jesus's glory and spoke
  • 00:17:33.836 --> 00:17:36.905
  • About him.
  • 00:17:36.905 --> 00:17:38.273
  • I know it's kind of a long passage, but i think
  • 00:17:38.273 --> 00:17:39.808
  • It's instructive for this topic.
  • 00:17:39.808 --> 00:17:41.176
  • It'll help us.
  • 00:17:41.176 --> 00:17:42.711
  • 'cause i think, can we have just an honest moment?
  • 00:17:42.711 --> 00:17:44.546
  • How many of you know people that believe in jesus?
  • 00:17:44.546 --> 00:17:48.117
  • About a third of you.
  • 00:17:48.117 --> 00:17:50.819
  • You should look around the room.
  • 00:17:50.819 --> 00:17:52.154
  • All of you know somebody that believes in jesus.
  • 00:17:52.154 --> 00:17:54.756
  • How many of you know people that don't want anything
  • 00:17:54.756 --> 00:17:56.325
  • To do with him?
  • 00:17:56.325 --> 00:17:58.460
  • See, this isn't like history.
  • 00:17:58.460 --> 00:18:00.896
  • This is our life.
  • 00:18:00.896 --> 00:18:03.132
  • And you've got to decide, and i have to decide what our
  • 00:18:03.132 --> 00:18:05.634
  • Relationship with jesus is gonna be like and how much we'll allow
  • 00:18:05.634 --> 00:18:08.170
  • It to be affected by people who said they don't wanna know him.
  • 00:18:08.170 --> 00:18:13.575
  • And how readily we are willing to be identified with those that
  • 00:18:13.575 --> 00:18:16.645
  • Are like over the top crazy zealots for him.
  • 00:18:16.645 --> 00:18:20.382
  • Or do you try to stand in the middle ground and go, "well, you
  • 00:18:20.382 --> 00:18:22.351
  • Know, i'm for him, but i'm not one of them."
  • 00:18:22.351 --> 00:18:25.754
  • It's important how you know him and john's just giving us
  • 00:18:27.923 --> 00:18:30.826
  • This invitation.
  • 00:18:30.826 --> 00:18:32.194
  • John is perhaps the more gentle of the presenters.
  • 00:18:32.194 --> 00:18:34.897
  • "yet at the same time there were many, even among the leaders who
  • 00:18:34.897 --> 00:18:38.167
  • Believed in jesus.
  • 00:18:38.167 --> 00:18:40.035
  • But because of the pharisees they wouldn't confess their
  • 00:18:40.035 --> 00:18:42.237
  • Faith for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue."
  • 00:18:42.237 --> 00:18:45.240
  • They didn't wanna lose their place in the country club.
  • 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:48.744
  • They wanted to be fashionable.
  • 00:18:48.744 --> 00:18:50.078
  • They liked the brunch.
  • 00:18:50.078 --> 00:18:52.681
  • It was good for business.
  • 00:18:52.681 --> 00:18:55.250
  • They didn't want their kids to be shunned.
  • 00:18:55.250 --> 00:18:56.985
  • They wanted them to be able to play on the best travel teams.
  • 00:18:56.985 --> 00:18:59.454
  • And if they're like hanging out with the crazy fanatical
  • 00:18:59.454 --> 00:19:02.858
  • Believer people, they might lose some opportunities.
  • 00:19:02.858 --> 00:19:07.896
  • So i mean, privately, i believe in jesus, but publicly, you
  • 00:19:07.896 --> 00:19:10.532
  • Know, i can't be on that palm sunday thing.
  • 00:19:10.532 --> 00:19:14.503
  • And then john explains it to us.
  • 00:19:16.138 --> 00:19:18.740
  • "for they loved the praise from men more than the praise
  • 00:19:18.740 --> 00:19:21.076
  • From god."
  • 00:19:21.076 --> 00:19:23.845
  • They had a problem with valuation.
  • 00:19:23.845 --> 00:19:27.282
  • They were fully invested in something that was temporary
  • 00:19:27.282 --> 00:19:29.484
  • That they couldn't keep, but they weren't willing to invest
  • 00:19:29.484 --> 00:19:33.522
  • In the eternal.
  • 00:19:33.522 --> 00:19:35.424
  • "then jesus cried out, 'when a man believes in me, he doesn't
  • 00:19:35.424 --> 00:19:40.195
  • Believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.'
  • 00:19:40.195 --> 00:19:42.164
  • And when he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me."
  • 00:19:42.164 --> 00:19:45.834
  • So if you believe in me, he said, you believe in god.
  • 00:19:45.834 --> 00:19:49.137
  • How many of you think that could be offensive to an audience?
  • 00:19:49.137 --> 00:19:54.977
  • It wasn't less offensive to them.
  • 00:19:54.977 --> 00:19:56.411
  • In fact, it was more offensive.
  • 00:19:56.411 --> 00:19:59.581
  • "i have come into the world as a light, so that no one who
  • 00:19:59.581 --> 00:20:02.884
  • Believes in me should stay in the darkness."
  • 00:20:02.884 --> 00:20:06.321
  • Do you know that today in america, a very significant
  • 00:20:06.321 --> 00:20:10.325
  • Percentage of those who sit in churches are unwilling to say
  • 00:20:10.325 --> 00:20:14.096
  • That jesus is unique.
  • 00:20:14.096 --> 00:20:17.032
  • That he is "the way, the truth, and the life.
  • 00:20:17.032 --> 00:20:19.835
  • That no one comes to the father except through him"?
  • 00:20:19.835 --> 00:20:23.639
  • And those are fundamental precepts of scripture.
  • 00:20:23.639 --> 00:20:27.175
  • We have drifted so far that even those of us who gather in
  • 00:20:27.175 --> 00:20:31.780
  • Churches are embracing biblical or embracing worldviews that are
  • 00:20:31.780 --> 00:20:38.954
  • Not scripture.
  • 00:20:38.954 --> 00:20:42.157
  • This passage is a study in contrast, there are those who
  • 00:20:42.157 --> 00:20:45.027
  • Would not believe.
  • 00:20:45.027 --> 00:20:47.596
  • John introduced it that way in verse 37, he said, "even after
  • 00:20:47.596 --> 00:20:51.733
  • Jesus had done all of these miraculous signs in their
  • 00:20:51.733 --> 00:20:55.237
  • Presence, they still would not believe."
  • 00:20:55.237 --> 00:20:59.741
  • See, belief is a choice.
  • 00:20:59.741 --> 00:21:01.476
  • It's a decision.
  • 00:21:01.476 --> 00:21:02.811
  • It's an investment of your confidence.
  • 00:21:02.811 --> 00:21:04.880
  • And there's a group of people that says like, "i am not
  • 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:07.816
  • Looking at the reality.
  • 00:21:07.816 --> 00:21:09.484
  • I'm not believing."
  • 00:21:09.484 --> 00:21:13.021
  • They're rejecting an invitation to believe.
  • 00:21:16.925 --> 00:21:18.960
  • You see, every time we say, "i won't believe," you understand
  • 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:22.197
  • You're rejecting an invitation, right?
  • 00:21:22.197 --> 00:21:25.167
  • You're either saying, "i will believe, i'll receive that
  • 00:21:25.167 --> 00:21:27.536
  • Invitation" or you're saying, "no, not me.
  • 00:21:27.536 --> 00:21:32.741
  • Not me.
  • 00:21:32.741 --> 00:21:34.109
  • I'm not gonna believe like that.
  • 00:21:34.109 --> 00:21:35.444
  • I'm not gonna be one of those people.
  • 00:21:35.444 --> 00:21:38.046
  • I don't believe there's a consequence to sin.
  • 00:21:38.046 --> 00:21:40.048
  • I reject that invitation to obedience."
  • 00:21:40.048 --> 00:21:42.984
  • 'cause when we say we don't believe there's a consequence,
  • 00:21:42.984 --> 00:21:45.120
  • What we really don't want is the responsibility of obedience.
  • 00:21:45.120 --> 00:21:51.593
  • Well, that's not how i believe.
  • 00:21:51.593 --> 00:21:54.429
  • I mean, i know what the bible says, but that's not how
  • 00:21:54.429 --> 00:21:56.164
  • I believe.
  • 00:21:56.164 --> 00:21:58.433
  • This is not a new thing, folks.
  • 00:21:58.433 --> 00:21:59.801
  • There's a whole crowd of people.
  • 00:21:59.801 --> 00:22:01.136
  • They said the evidence is not gonna convince us.
  • 00:22:01.136 --> 00:22:03.605
  • We will not believe.
  • 00:22:03.605 --> 00:22:05.173
  • But john goes on to make this point, and it's not a fine
  • 00:22:05.173 --> 00:22:08.210
  • Point, it's an uncomfortable point that if you persist in refusing belief, god will grant you a deadened heart.
  • 00:22:08.210 --> 00:22:11.179
  • He quotes isaiah on that.
  • 00:22:14.916 --> 00:22:17.419
  • And we're so perverse.
  • 00:22:17.419 --> 00:22:21.022
  • Our hearts are so hard that we take what john said and we turn
  • 00:22:21.022 --> 00:22:25.594
  • It and go, "those wicked jewish people, look at their
  • 00:22:25.594 --> 00:22:32.401
  • Dead hearts."
  • 00:22:32.401 --> 00:22:35.303
  • Oh, that's very, very prevalent.
  • 00:22:35.303 --> 00:22:38.039
  • Jesus didn't say that.
  • 00:22:38.039 --> 00:22:40.342
  • In fact, the majority of the people who were gathered that
  • 00:22:40.342 --> 00:22:42.878
  • Day on the hillside were rejoicing at jesus's presence
  • 00:22:42.878 --> 00:22:46.281
  • And his entry into the city.
  • 00:22:46.281 --> 00:22:47.616
  • We've already read it together.
  • 00:22:47.616 --> 00:22:48.984
  • The majority of the crowds hung on his every word.
  • 00:22:48.984 --> 00:22:53.255
  • It's not a group rejection.
  • 00:22:53.255 --> 00:22:55.624
  • Well, how have we adopted an idea like that?
  • 00:22:55.624 --> 00:22:57.793
  • How has it taken such deep root in the christian community?
  • 00:22:57.793 --> 00:23:01.430
  • How can it be so prevalent on tiktok?
  • 00:23:01.430 --> 00:23:05.066
  • Well, if we don't intend to be obedient, if we think we can
  • 00:23:06.735 --> 00:23:11.306
  • Define what godly means, we can be sexually immoral according to
  • 00:23:11.306 --> 00:23:15.644
  • Biblical principles and say, "no, we're still good christ
  • 00:23:15.644 --> 00:23:18.113
  • Followers," then we got to pervert the rest of the story.
  • 00:23:18.113 --> 00:23:22.684
  • I believe what john said is true for you and me, that if we
  • 00:23:22.684 --> 00:23:25.053
  • Persist in refusing belief, god will give us deadened hearts.
  • 00:23:25.053 --> 00:23:31.693
  • It's not that we're incapable, we just refused belief so long
  • 00:23:31.693 --> 00:23:35.330
  • We got calloused.
  • 00:23:35.330 --> 00:23:38.266
  • We said, "i'm not believing in that.
  • 00:23:38.266 --> 00:23:39.701
  • I'm gonna do what i wanna do the way i wanna do it.
  • 00:23:39.701 --> 00:23:41.937
  • I don't have to believe in all that stuff.
  • 00:23:41.937 --> 00:23:44.406
  • I'm not engaging with the holy spirit.
  • 00:23:44.406 --> 00:23:46.274
  • I'm not engaging with generosity.
  • 00:23:46.274 --> 00:23:47.943
  • I'm not serving.
  • 00:23:47.943 --> 00:23:49.277
  • I don't have to sit in a building.
  • 00:23:49.277 --> 00:23:50.645
  • It doesn't matter where i sit.
  • 00:23:50.645 --> 00:23:51.980
  • I don't have to fellowship with those people.
  • 00:23:51.980 --> 00:23:53.315
  • I don't like those people, they're hypocrites."
  • 00:23:53.315 --> 00:23:56.551
  • And there's some truth in that, but we'll squeeze in, make room
  • 00:23:56.551 --> 00:23:58.620
  • For one more.
  • 00:23:58.620 --> 00:23:59.955
  • Come on.
  • 00:23:59.955 --> 00:24:03.525
  • We've refused belief so long we get calloused hearts,
  • 00:24:03.525 --> 00:24:06.394
  • Deadened hearts.
  • 00:24:06.394 --> 00:24:07.762
  • I love the contrast john gives us, and it's not by accident in
  • 00:24:07.762 --> 00:24:11.166
  • Verse 42.
  • 00:24:11.166 --> 00:24:12.534
  • Did you catch it?
  • 00:24:12.534 --> 00:24:13.869
  • He said, "isaiah said this."
  • 00:24:13.869 --> 00:24:15.237
  • He's been quoting the prophet isaiah, the same one that's in
  • 00:24:15.237 --> 00:24:17.372
  • Your old testament, the hebrew bible.
  • 00:24:17.372 --> 00:24:19.808
  • "isaiah said this because he, isaiah, saw jesus's glory and he
  • 00:24:19.808 --> 00:24:24.913
  • Spoke about him."
  • 00:24:24.913 --> 00:24:26.281
  • You may not know the history.
  • 00:24:26.281 --> 00:24:27.616
  • Isaiah has been dead for hundreds of years.
  • 00:24:27.616 --> 00:24:32.954
  • More than 500 years before jesus was born, isaiah was a prophet
  • 00:24:32.954 --> 00:24:37.025
  • In jerusalem.
  • 00:24:37.025 --> 00:24:40.095
  • And john says, "isaiah saw the glory of jesus."
  • 00:24:40.095 --> 00:24:48.169
  • He believed.
  • 00:24:48.169 --> 00:24:50.739
  • He didn't see jesus do miracles.
  • 00:24:50.739 --> 00:24:53.775
  • You see, some of you have maintained your skepticism
  • 00:24:53.775 --> 00:24:55.944
  • Thinking, "well, if i saw god do x or y, i would believe."
  • 00:24:55.944 --> 00:25:00.649
  • I doubt it.
  • 00:25:00.649 --> 00:25:03.585
  • My experience is our circumstances don't change
  • 00:25:03.585 --> 00:25:05.921
  • Our belief.
  • 00:25:05.921 --> 00:25:07.289
  • It starts with our hearts.
  • 00:25:07.289 --> 00:25:09.791
  • Some of you say, "well, i would be more generous if i had more."
  • 00:25:09.791 --> 00:25:12.227
  • Probably not.
  • 00:25:12.227 --> 00:25:14.162
  • The people who are most careful to give are typically the people
  • 00:25:14.162 --> 00:25:16.565
  • With the least.
  • 00:25:16.565 --> 00:25:18.833
  • The more we have, the more we feel like brokers.
  • 00:25:18.833 --> 00:25:22.904
  • We should distribute our significance.
  • 00:25:22.904 --> 00:25:26.875
  • No, i think the tithe belongs to the lord.
  • 00:25:26.875 --> 00:25:30.879
  • "well, what would he do with it?"
  • 00:25:30.879 --> 00:25:32.247
  • He'll figure something out.
  • 00:25:32.247 --> 00:25:34.849
  • He'll work it out.
  • 00:25:34.849 --> 00:25:36.184
  • It isn't about him at the end of the day.
  • 00:25:36.184 --> 00:25:40.388
  • John also points out that there were many leaders that believed
  • 00:25:40.388 --> 00:25:42.591
  • In jesus, not all the leaders.
  • 00:25:42.591 --> 00:25:45.694
  • Some of them are afraid of the pressure.
  • 00:25:45.694 --> 00:25:48.129
  • The fear of reprisal left them speechless.
  • 00:25:48.129 --> 00:25:50.632
  • Boy, that seems contemporary.
  • 00:25:50.632 --> 00:25:53.301
  • "well, you know, i'd be more of an advocate for jesus, but it
  • 00:25:53.301 --> 00:25:55.337
  • Would have implications in my business and not everywhere i
  • 00:25:55.337 --> 00:25:57.539
  • Work is a christ follower and why should they suffer because
  • 00:25:57.539 --> 00:25:59.874
  • Of my faith?"
  • 00:25:59.874 --> 00:26:02.010
  • Well, they're suffering because of your cowardice 'cause you're
  • 00:26:02.010 --> 00:26:03.812
  • Not turning the light up when they're working in the darkness.
  • 00:26:03.812 --> 00:26:11.453
  • Allen: you know, i've often said that what happens in the white
  • 00:26:15.657 --> 00:26:17.626
  • House is not more important than what happens in your house.
  • 00:26:17.626 --> 00:26:20.528
  • I have an assignment if you'll accept it.
  • 00:26:20.528 --> 00:26:22.530
  • Imagine your kitchen table as an expression of the love of god to
  • 00:26:22.530 --> 00:26:26.134
  • Our generation.
  • 00:26:26.134 --> 00:26:27.469
  • Let's start to practice hospitality from the inside out,
  • 00:26:27.469 --> 00:26:29.904
  • From our kitchen table to our neighbors, our friends.
  • 00:26:29.904 --> 00:26:33.341
  • God will meet us in that place as we take those simple steps of
  • 00:26:33.341 --> 00:26:36.344
  • Obedience, honor him at our kitchen table, and we can join
  • 00:26:36.344 --> 00:26:39.781
  • With what god is doing in the earth.
  • 00:26:39.781 --> 00:26:41.716
  • Now that is an opportunity.
  • 00:26:41.716 --> 00:26:44.586
  • Announcer: some of life's most meaningful moments happen around
  • 00:26:44.586 --> 00:26:47.055
  • A kitchen table.
  • 00:26:47.055 --> 00:26:48.390
  • That's where stories are shared and faith is passed from one
  • 00:26:48.390 --> 00:26:51.359
  • Generation to the next.
  • 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:52.861
  • To help you welcome others for a meal, we've created a tools for
  • 00:26:52.861 --> 00:26:55.830
  • Hospitality set.
  • 00:26:55.830 --> 00:26:57.165
  • It includes a custom kitchen towel, three of pastor allen's
  • 00:26:57.165 --> 00:27:00.035
  • Favorite recipes, and some simple tips you can use to help
  • 00:27:00.035 --> 00:27:02.971
  • Your guests feel at home.
  • 00:27:02.971 --> 00:27:05.774
  • Request your tools for hospitality set with your gift
  • 00:27:05.774 --> 00:27:08.309
  • Of $25 or more at allenjackson.com.
  • 00:27:08.309 --> 00:27:27.362