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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Welcoming Jesus as Lord (Part 2)

April 20, 2026 | 27:29

Allen Jackson - Welcoming Jesus as Lord (Part 2)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Jesus #Lord #IdentityinChrist #Believe #Belief #Unbelief #Obedience #Faith #TrustGod #Rejection #Rebellion #Doubt #PresenceofGod #LoveofGod #WalkwithGod #Journey #Redemption #Criticism #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Welcoming Jesus as Lord (Part 2) | April 20, 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.
  • 00:00:05.764 --> 00:00:05.898
  • When you become a ministry partner with allen jackson
  • 00:00:06.999 --> 00:00:08.934
  • Ministries, you're joining a growing community of believers
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  • Who are committed to strengthening the church and
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  • Sharing god's word through every available channel: television,
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  • Radio, podcast, books, bible studies, digital
  • 00:00:18.844 --> 00:00:22.247
  • Resources, conferences.
  • 00:00:22.247 --> 00:00:24.349
  • Your monthly partnership helps us equip believers to reach new
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  • Audiences and to take the hope of jesus to people who may never
  • 00:00:27.686 --> 00:00:31.557
  • Have heard the gospel otherwise.
  • 00:00:31.557 --> 00:00:33.725
  • Together we can stand firm in our faith and make god's truth
  • 00:00:33.725 --> 00:00:37.629
  • 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.
  • 00:00:50.709 --> 00:01:02.955
  • Allen: you see, how you know jesus matters.
  • 00:01:06.892 --> 00:01:11.263
  • It doesn't change jesus, it changed the opportunities of
  • 00:01:11.263 --> 00:01:14.666
  • Your life.
  • 00:01:14.666 --> 00:01:17.536
  • It's no different in the 21st century than in the 1st century.
  • 00:01:17.536 --> 00:01:21.106
  • This is getting us nowhere.
  • 00:01:21.106 --> 00:01:22.474
  • Look how the whole world has gone after him.
  • 00:01:22.474 --> 00:01:24.276
  • "well, knucklehead, maybe you should check it out."
  • 00:01:24.276 --> 00:01:28.013
  • Do you talk to your bible when you read it?
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  • I do.
  • 00:01:29.681 --> 00:01:34.453
  • There's a crowd of witnesses affirming jesus, who he is and
  • 00:01:34.453 --> 00:01:37.856
  • What he's done.
  • 00:01:37.856 --> 00:01:39.191
  • There's many curious people that go out to meet him, and then
  • 00:01:39.191 --> 00:01:41.326
  • There's those who oppose him present and plotting.
  • 00:01:41.326 --> 00:01:46.632
  • I mean, it takes some hubris to plot the execution of someone
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  • Who raises people from the dead.
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  • Right?
  • 00:01:54.973 --> 00:01:56.508
  • I mean, they look stone cold stupid.
  • 00:01:56.508 --> 00:02:01.513
  • Same chapter, john 12: "even after jesus had done all these
  • 00:02:01.513 --> 00:02:04.716
  • Miraculous signs in their presence, they still wouldn't
  • 00:02:04.716 --> 00:02:08.554
  • Believe in him.
  • 00:02:08.554 --> 00:02:11.757
  • This was to fulfill the word of isaiah the prophet: "lord, who
  • 00:02:11.757 --> 00:02:14.126
  • Has believed our message and to whom is the arm of the lord
  • 00:02:14.126 --> 00:02:16.528
  • Been revealed."
  • 00:02:16.528 --> 00:02:17.863
  • For this reason they couldn't believe, because isaiah says
  • 00:02:17.863 --> 00:02:20.165
  • Elsewhere: "he has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts,
  • 00:02:20.165 --> 00:02:24.236
  • So they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with
  • 00:02:24.236 --> 00:02:26.238
  • Their hearts, nor turn-- and i would heal them."
  • 00:02:26.238 --> 00:02:29.408
  • Isaiah said this because he saw jesus' glory and spoke
  • 00:02:29.408 --> 00:02:32.411
  • About him."
  • 00:02:32.411 --> 00:02:33.779
  • I know it's kind of a long passage, but i think
  • 00:02:33.779 --> 00:02:35.314
  • It's instructive for this topic.
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  • It'll help us.
  • 00:02:36.682 --> 00:02:38.183
  • Because i think, can we have just an honest moment?
  • 00:02:38.183 --> 00:02:40.052
  • How many of you know people that believe in jesus?
  • 00:02:40.052 --> 00:02:43.622
  • About a third of you.
  • 00:02:43.622 --> 00:02:46.291
  • You should look around the room.
  • 00:02:46.291 --> 00:02:47.659
  • All of you know somebody that believes in jesus.
  • 00:02:47.659 --> 00:02:50.262
  • How many of you know people that don't want anything to do
  • 00:02:50.262 --> 00:02:51.863
  • With him?
  • 00:02:51.863 --> 00:02:53.999
  • See, this isn't like history.
  • 00:02:53.999 --> 00:02:56.435
  • This is our life.
  • 00:02:56.435 --> 00:02:58.637
  • And you've got to decide, and i have to decide what our
  • 00:02:58.637 --> 00:03:01.139
  • Relationship with jesus is gonna be like and how much we'll allow
  • 00:03:01.139 --> 00:03:03.675
  • It to be affected by people who said they don't wanna know him.
  • 00:03:03.675 --> 00:03:09.047
  • And how readily we are willing to be identified with those that
  • 00:03:09.047 --> 00:03:12.150
  • Are like over the top crazy zealots for him.
  • 00:03:12.150 --> 00:03:15.887
  • Or do you try to stand in the middle ground and go, "well, you
  • 00:03:15.887 --> 00:03:17.856
  • Know, i'm for him, but i'm not one of them."
  • 00:03:17.856 --> 00:03:23.395
  • It's important how you know him, and john's just giving us
  • 00:03:23.395 --> 00:03:26.331
  • This invitation.
  • 00:03:26.331 --> 00:03:27.666
  • John is perhaps the more gentle of the presenters.
  • 00:03:27.666 --> 00:03:30.402
  • "yet at the same time there were many even among the leaders who
  • 00:03:30.402 --> 00:03:33.672
  • Believed in jesus.
  • 00:03:33.672 --> 00:03:35.540
  • But because of the pharisees they would not confess their
  • 00:03:35.540 --> 00:03:37.743
  • Faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue."
  • 00:03:37.743 --> 00:03:40.746
  • They didn't want to lose their place in the country club.
  • 00:03:40.746 --> 00:03:44.249
  • They wanted to be fashionable.
  • 00:03:44.249 --> 00:03:45.584
  • They liked the brunch.
  • 00:03:45.584 --> 00:03:48.186
  • It was good for business.
  • 00:03:48.186 --> 00:03:50.789
  • They didn't want their kids to be shunned.
  • 00:03:50.789 --> 00:03:52.457
  • They wanted them to be able to play on the best travel teams.
  • 00:03:52.457 --> 00:03:54.960
  • And if they're like hanging out with the crazy fanatical
  • 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:58.363
  • Believer people, they might lose some opportunities.
  • 00:03:58.363 --> 00:04:03.402
  • "so, i mean, privately, i believe in jesus, but publicly,
  • 00:04:03.402 --> 00:04:06.004
  • You know, i can't be on that palm sunday thing."
  • 00:04:06.004 --> 00:04:11.643
  • And then john explains it to us.
  • 00:04:11.643 --> 00:04:14.246
  • "for they love the praise from men more than the praise
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  • From god."
  • 00:04:16.581 --> 00:04:19.351
  • They had a problem with valuation.
  • 00:04:19.351 --> 00:04:22.754
  • They were fully invested in something that was temporary
  • 00:04:22.754 --> 00:04:24.956
  • That they couldn't keep, but they weren't willing to invest
  • 00:04:24.956 --> 00:04:29.027
  • In the eternal.
  • 00:04:29.027 --> 00:04:30.896
  • "then jesus cried out, "when a man believes in me, he does not
  • 00:04:30.896 --> 00:04:35.634
  • Believe in me only, but in the one who sent me, and when he
  • 00:04:35.634 --> 00:04:38.036
  • Looks at me, he sees the one who sent me."
  • 00:04:38.036 --> 00:04:41.306
  • "so if you believe in me," he said, "you believe in god."
  • 00:04:41.306 --> 00:04:44.876
  • I mean, you think that could be offensive to an audience.
  • 00:04:44.876 --> 00:04:50.482
  • It wasn't less offensive to them.
  • 00:04:50.482 --> 00:04:51.917
  • In fact, it was more offensive.
  • 00:04:51.917 --> 00:04:55.087
  • "i have come into the world as a light, so that no one who
  • 00:04:55.087 --> 00:04:58.390
  • Believes in me should stay in the darkness."
  • 00:04:58.390 --> 00:05:01.827
  • Do you know that today in america, a very significant
  • 00:05:01.827 --> 00:05:05.831
  • Percentage of those who sit in churches are unwilling to say
  • 00:05:05.831 --> 00:05:09.601
  • That jesus is unique, that he is "the way, the truth, and the
  • 00:05:09.601 --> 00:05:14.106
  • Life," that no one comes to the father except through him?
  • 00:05:14.106 --> 00:05:19.144
  • And those are fundamental precepts of scripture.
  • 00:05:19.144 --> 00:05:22.714
  • We have drifted so far that even those of us who gather in
  • 00:05:22.714 --> 00:05:27.285
  • Churches are embracing biblical or embracing world views that
  • 00:05:27.285 --> 00:05:34.292
  • Are not scripture.
  • 00:05:34.292 --> 00:05:37.662
  • This passage is a study in contrast: there are those who
  • 00:05:37.662 --> 00:05:40.532
  • Would not believe.
  • 00:05:40.532 --> 00:05:43.101
  • John introduced it that way in verse 37.
  • 00:05:43.101 --> 00:05:45.370
  • He said, "even after jesus had done all of these miraculous
  • 00:05:45.370 --> 00:05:49.040
  • Signs in their presence, they still would not believe."
  • 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:55.213
  • See, belief is a choice.
  • 00:05:55.213 --> 00:05:56.982
  • It's a decision.
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  • It's an investment of your confidence.
  • 00:05:58.316 --> 00:06:00.385
  • And there's a group of people that says like, "i am not
  • 00:06:00.385 --> 00:06:03.321
  • Looking at the reality.
  • 00:06:03.321 --> 00:06:04.990
  • I'm not believing."
  • 00:06:04.990 --> 00:06:12.431
  • They're rejecting an invitation to believe.
  • 00:06:12.431 --> 00:06:14.466
  • You see, every time we say "i won't believe," you understand
  • 00:06:14.466 --> 00:06:17.669
  • You're rejecting an invitation, right?
  • 00:06:17.669 --> 00:06:20.672
  • You are either saying, "i will believe, i'll receive
  • 00:06:20.672 --> 00:06:22.874
  • That invitation."
  • 00:06:22.874 --> 00:06:24.476
  • Oh you're saying, "no.
  • 00:06:24.476 --> 00:06:26.945
  • Not me.
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  • No, i mean, i'm not gonna believe like that.
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  • I'm not gonna be one of those people.
  • 00:06:30.982 --> 00:06:33.552
  • I don't believe there's a consequence to sin.
  • 00:06:33.552 --> 00:06:35.554
  • I reject that invitation to obedience."
  • 00:06:35.554 --> 00:06:38.490
  • Because when we say we don't believe there's a consequence,
  • 00:06:38.490 --> 00:06:40.625
  • What we really don't want is the responsibility of obedience.
  • 00:06:40.625 --> 00:06:47.132
  • "well, that's not how i believe.
  • 00:06:47.132 --> 00:06:49.935
  • I mean, i know what the bible says, but that's not how
  • 00:06:49.935 --> 00:06:51.703
  • I believe."
  • 00:06:51.703 --> 00:06:53.972
  • This is not a new thing, folks.
  • 00:06:53.972 --> 00:06:55.307
  • There's a whole crowd of people.
  • 00:06:55.307 --> 00:06:56.641
  • They said, "the evidence is not going to convince us.
  • 00:06:56.641 --> 00:06:59.110
  • We will not believe."
  • 00:06:59.110 --> 00:07:00.679
  • But john goes on to make this point, and it's not a fine
  • 00:07:00.679 --> 00:07:03.715
  • Point, it's an uncomfortable point that if you persist in
  • 00:07:03.715 --> 00:07:06.685
  • Refusing belief, god will grant you a deadened heart.
  • 00:07:06.685 --> 00:07:10.455
  • He quotes isaiah on that.
  • 00:07:10.455 --> 00:07:13.024
  • And we're so perverse.
  • 00:07:13.024 --> 00:07:16.528
  • Our hearts are so hard that we take what john said and we turn
  • 00:07:16.528 --> 00:07:21.066
  • It and go, "those wicked jewish people.
  • 00:07:21.066 --> 00:07:27.272
  • Look at their dead hearts."
  • 00:07:27.272 --> 00:07:30.809
  • Oh, that's very, very prevalent.
  • 00:07:30.809 --> 00:07:33.545
  • Jesus didn't say that.
  • 00:07:33.545 --> 00:07:35.847
  • In fact, the majority of the people who were gathered that
  • 00:07:35.847 --> 00:07:38.383
  • Day on the hillside were rejoicing at jesus's presence
  • 00:07:38.383 --> 00:07:41.853
  • And his entry into the city.
  • 00:07:41.853 --> 00:07:43.221
  • We've already read it together.
  • 00:07:43.221 --> 00:07:44.556
  • The majority of the crowds hung on his every word.
  • 00:07:44.556 --> 00:07:48.793
  • It's not a group rejection.
  • 00:07:48.793 --> 00:07:51.129
  • Well, how have we adopted an idea like that?
  • 00:07:51.129 --> 00:07:53.298
  • How has it taken such deep root in the christian community?
  • 00:07:53.298 --> 00:07:56.902
  • How can it be so prevalent on tiktok?
  • 00:07:56.902 --> 00:08:02.240
  • Well, if we don't intend to be obedient, if we think we can
  • 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:06.811
  • Define what godly means, we can be sexually immoral according to
  • 00:08:06.811 --> 00:08:11.149
  • Biblical principles and say, "no, we're still good
  • 00:08:11.149 --> 00:08:13.285
  • Christ followers."
  • 00:08:13.285 --> 00:08:15.587
  • Then we got to pervert the rest of the story.
  • 00:08:15.587 --> 00:08:18.189
  • I believe what john said is true for you and me, that if we
  • 00:08:18.189 --> 00:08:20.592
  • Persist in refusing belief, god will give us deadened hearts.
  • 00:08:20.592 --> 00:08:27.198
  • It's not that we're incapable, we just refused belief so long,
  • 00:08:27.198 --> 00:08:30.835
  • We got calloused.
  • 00:08:30.835 --> 00:08:33.705
  • We said, "i'm not believing in that.
  • 00:08:33.705 --> 00:08:35.206
  • I'm gonna do what i wanna do the way i wanna do it.
  • 00:08:35.206 --> 00:08:37.442
  • I don't have to believe in all that stuff.
  • 00:08:37.442 --> 00:08:39.911
  • I'm not engaging with the holy spirit.
  • 00:08:39.911 --> 00:08:41.813
  • I'm not engaging with generosity.
  • 00:08:41.813 --> 00:08:43.448
  • I'm not serving.
  • 00:08:43.448 --> 00:08:44.783
  • I don't have to sit in a building.
  • 00:08:44.783 --> 00:08:46.151
  • It doesn't matter where i sit.
  • 00:08:46.151 --> 00:08:47.485
  • I don't have to fellowship with those people.
  • 00:08:47.485 --> 00:08:48.853
  • I don't like those people, they're hypocrites."
  • 00:08:48.853 --> 00:08:52.057
  • And there's some truth in that, but we'll squeeze in, make room
  • 00:08:52.057 --> 00:08:54.125
  • For one more.
  • 00:08:54.125 --> 00:08:55.493
  • Come on.
  • 00:08:55.493 --> 00:08:59.030
  • We've refused belief so long, we get calloused hearts,
  • 00:08:59.030 --> 00:09:01.933
  • Deadened hearts.
  • 00:09:01.933 --> 00:09:03.268
  • I love the contrast john gives us, and it's not by accident in
  • 00:09:03.268 --> 00:09:06.671
  • Verse 42.
  • 00:09:06.671 --> 00:09:08.039
  • Did you catch it?
  • 00:09:08.039 --> 00:09:09.374
  • He said, isaiah said this.
  • 00:09:09.374 --> 00:09:10.742
  • He's been quoting the prophet isaiah, the same one that's in
  • 00:09:10.742 --> 00:09:12.877
  • Your old testament, the hebrew bible.
  • 00:09:12.877 --> 00:09:15.313
  • Isaiah said this because he, isaiah, saw jesus's glory and he
  • 00:09:15.313 --> 00:09:20.452
  • Spoke about him.
  • 00:09:20.452 --> 00:09:21.786
  • You may not know the history.
  • 00:09:21.786 --> 00:09:23.154
  • Isaiah has been dead for hundreds of years.
  • 00:09:23.154 --> 00:09:28.460
  • More than 500 years before jesus was born, isaiah was a prophet
  • 00:09:28.460 --> 00:09:32.530
  • In jerusalem.
  • 00:09:32.530 --> 00:09:35.600
  • And john says, isaiah saw the glory of jesus.
  • 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:43.508
  • He believed.
  • 00:09:43.508 --> 00:09:46.277
  • He didn't see jesus do miracles.
  • 00:09:46.277 --> 00:09:49.247
  • You see, some of you have maintained your skepticism
  • 00:09:49.247 --> 00:09:51.449
  • Thinking, "well, if i saw god do x or y, i would believe."
  • 00:09:51.449 --> 00:09:56.154
  • I doubt it.
  • 00:09:56.154 --> 00:09:59.090
  • My experience is our circumstances don't change
  • 00:09:59.090 --> 00:10:01.426
  • Our belief.
  • 00:10:01.426 --> 00:10:02.794
  • It starts with our hearts.
  • 00:10:02.794 --> 00:10:05.296
  • Some of you say, "well, i would be more generous if i had more."
  • 00:10:05.296 --> 00:10:07.732
  • Probably not.
  • 00:10:07.732 --> 00:10:09.668
  • The people who are most careful to give are typically the people
  • 00:10:09.668 --> 00:10:12.037
  • With the least.
  • 00:10:12.037 --> 00:10:14.372
  • The more we have, the more we feel like brokers.
  • 00:10:14.372 --> 00:10:18.443
  • We should distribute our significance.
  • 00:10:18.443 --> 00:10:22.380
  • No, i think the tithe belongs to the lord.
  • 00:10:22.380 --> 00:10:26.384
  • Well, what would he do with it?
  • 00:10:26.384 --> 00:10:27.752
  • He'll figure something out.
  • 00:10:27.752 --> 00:10:30.355
  • He'll work it out.
  • 00:10:30.355 --> 00:10:31.690
  • It isn't about him at the end of the day.
  • 00:10:31.690 --> 00:10:35.894
  • John also points out that there were many leaders that believed
  • 00:10:35.894 --> 00:10:38.096
  • In jesus, not all the leaders.
  • 00:10:38.096 --> 00:10:41.199
  • Some of them are afraid of the pressure.
  • 00:10:41.199 --> 00:10:43.601
  • The fear of reprisal left them speechless.
  • 00:10:43.601 --> 00:10:46.137
  • Boy, that seems contemporary.
  • 00:10:46.137 --> 00:10:48.840
  • "well, you know, i'd be more of an advocate for jesus, but it
  • 00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:50.842
  • Would have implications in my business, and not everywhere i
  • 00:10:50.842 --> 00:10:53.078
  • Work is a christ follower, and why should they suffer because
  • 00:10:53.078 --> 00:10:55.380
  • Of my faith?"
  • 00:10:55.380 --> 00:10:57.482
  • Look, they're suffering because of your cowardice, because
  • 00:10:57.482 --> 00:10:59.150
  • You're not turning the light up, when they're working
  • 00:10:59.150 --> 00:11:00.785
  • In the darkness.
  • 00:11:00.785 --> 00:11:06.091
  • Allen: i have a childhood memory i wanna share with you.
  • 00:11:10.195 --> 00:11:12.063
  • It was our kitchen table.
  • 00:11:12.063 --> 00:11:13.431
  • I've got two younger brothers.
  • 00:11:13.431 --> 00:11:15.200
  • I gathered around the table, and my parents were consistently,
  • 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:18.436
  • Persistently inviting guests to dinner, you know, practicing
  • 00:11:18.436 --> 00:11:22.040
  • That notion of hospitality.
  • 00:11:22.040 --> 00:11:23.842
  • My brothers and i weren't always excited about it, but i realized
  • 00:11:23.842 --> 00:11:26.711
  • That we had a front row seat for expressions of the kingdom
  • 00:11:26.711 --> 00:11:29.914
  • Of god.
  • 00:11:29.914 --> 00:11:31.282
  • We can still do the same.
  • 00:11:31.282 --> 00:11:32.617
  • Imagine your kitchen table as an expression of god's love in
  • 00:11:32.617 --> 00:11:35.754
  • This generation.
  • 00:11:35.754 --> 00:11:37.122
  • God's moving in the earth.
  • 00:11:37.122 --> 00:11:38.456
  • Let's join him.
  • 00:11:38.456 --> 00:11:39.824
  • Female announcer: hospitality doesn't have to be complicated.
  • 00:11:39.824 --> 00:11:42.560
  • Sometimes it begins with inviting someone to your
  • 00:11:42.560 --> 00:11:44.496
  • Kitchen table.
  • 00:11:44.496 --> 00:11:46.197
  • To help you get started, we've created a "tools for
  • 00:11:46.197 --> 00:11:48.566
  • Hospitality" set.
  • 00:11:48.566 --> 00:11:50.101
  • It includes a custom kitchen towel that reminds you sweet
  • 00:11:50.101 --> 00:11:52.704
  • Tea, pecan pie, and your god-story make a difference.
  • 00:11:52.704 --> 00:11:55.974
  • It also has three favorite recipes from pastor allen and
  • 00:11:55.974 --> 00:11:59.010
  • Some tips that will help make hospitality a little bit easier.
  • 00:11:59.010 --> 00:12:02.480
  • Request the "tools for hospitality" set with your gift
  • 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:04.849
  • Of $25 or more at allenjackson.com
  • 00:12:04.849 --> 00:12:08.186
  • Or call...
  • 00:12:08.186 --> 00:12:10.955
  • Allen: my time's gonna go.
  • 00:12:13.091 --> 00:12:14.459
  • I wanna finish this.
  • 00:12:14.459 --> 00:12:16.094
  • I'll do it quickly.
  • 00:12:16.094 --> 00:12:17.462
  • If you'll listen quick, i'll talk quick.
  • 00:12:17.462 --> 00:12:20.298
  • So that's the 1st century scenario, but the same set of
  • 00:12:20.298 --> 00:12:24.803
  • Circumstances is filling our lives because god is moving in
  • 00:12:24.803 --> 00:12:28.173
  • The earth.
  • 00:12:28.173 --> 00:12:29.541
  • We're coming to the climax of the ages, and there are many
  • 00:12:29.541 --> 00:12:31.743
  • Parallels between this age and the age when jesus ministered,
  • 00:12:31.743 --> 00:12:36.347
  • Because the spirit of god is moving in profound ways.
  • 00:12:36.347 --> 00:12:39.284
  • So what can we expect?
  • 00:12:39.284 --> 00:12:40.618
  • It's a very important question.
  • 00:12:40.618 --> 00:12:43.354
  • Or maybe he said another way: what can we know?
  • 00:12:43.354 --> 00:12:45.523
  • What can we know from the certainty of scripture, the same
  • 00:12:45.523 --> 00:12:47.892
  • Way that isaiah knew jesus hundreds of years before he drew
  • 00:12:47.892 --> 00:12:50.962
  • A breath on earth.
  • 00:12:50.962 --> 00:12:53.231
  • Well, i'll give you four simple things.
  • 00:12:53.231 --> 00:12:54.699
  • The first we can know is that god is present in the earth and
  • 00:12:54.699 --> 00:12:57.869
  • He loves people.
  • 00:12:57.869 --> 00:13:01.105
  • He loves you more than he's angry.
  • 00:13:01.105 --> 00:13:04.242
  • He hates sin, but he loves people.
  • 00:13:04.242 --> 00:13:07.512
  • You know, john 3:16, for many, many years, we saw it in the end
  • 00:13:07.512 --> 00:13:10.215
  • Zone of football games.
  • 00:13:10.215 --> 00:13:11.549
  • That's before the nfl scrubbed it.
  • 00:13:11.549 --> 00:13:13.818
  • Remember the crazy people with the rainbow wig, before that had
  • 00:13:13.818 --> 00:13:16.020
  • Other implications, holding up "john 3:16."
  • 00:13:16.020 --> 00:13:18.857
  • Some of you young people have no idea what i'm talking about.
  • 00:13:18.857 --> 00:13:22.427
  • There were crazy people in the end zones of almost every nfl
  • 00:13:22.427 --> 00:13:25.063
  • Game with a "john 3:16" sign and a rainbow wig for a long time.
  • 00:13:25.063 --> 00:13:29.434
  • Means a whole different set of things today.
  • 00:13:29.434 --> 00:13:31.903
  • That "god so loved the world that he gave his one and only
  • 00:13:31.903 --> 00:13:34.105
  • Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
  • 00:13:34.105 --> 00:13:37.775
  • Eternal life.
  • 00:13:37.775 --> 00:13:39.110
  • God didn't send his son into the world to condemn the world,
  • 00:13:39.110 --> 00:13:40.712
  • But to save the world through him."
  • 00:13:40.712 --> 00:13:42.413
  • God loves the world, not this ball of mass hurtling
  • 00:13:42.413 --> 00:13:45.250
  • Through space.
  • 00:13:45.250 --> 00:13:46.584
  • Human beings, we're his image bearers.
  • 00:13:46.584 --> 00:13:48.219
  • He created the whole place for us.
  • 00:13:48.219 --> 00:13:51.723
  • What's the second thing we can know that god provides a path
  • 00:13:51.723 --> 00:13:54.092
  • Of redemption?
  • 00:13:54.092 --> 00:13:55.426
  • There's a way to navigate this present evil age.
  • 00:13:55.426 --> 00:13:57.595
  • You don't have to be overwhelmed with it.
  • 00:13:57.595 --> 00:13:59.597
  • Evil will touch your life without question.
  • 00:13:59.597 --> 00:14:01.499
  • We live in a broken world.
  • 00:14:01.499 --> 00:14:02.834
  • We live in a fallen world.
  • 00:14:02.834 --> 00:14:04.202
  • Evil things will happen.
  • 00:14:04.202 --> 00:14:06.938
  • You all know that.
  • 00:14:06.938 --> 00:14:08.273
  • If you don't, you will.
  • 00:14:08.273 --> 00:14:09.641
  • It's a part of the journey.
  • 00:14:09.641 --> 00:14:10.975
  • You're not unique, you're not special.
  • 00:14:10.975 --> 00:14:14.746
  • Well, we suffer in different ways.
  • 00:14:14.746 --> 00:14:17.015
  • Some seem more horrific than others, but we live in a broken
  • 00:14:17.015 --> 00:14:20.118
  • Evil world, but god has made a way through it.
  • 00:14:20.118 --> 00:14:22.120
  • Look, in 1 colossians: "he has rescued us from the dominion
  • 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:25.323
  • Of darkness."
  • 00:14:25.323 --> 00:14:26.758
  • Not from the arena of darkness, but darkness doesn't have to
  • 00:14:26.758 --> 00:14:29.460
  • Have dominion over your life.
  • 00:14:29.460 --> 00:14:32.363
  • The dominion of darkness over your life can be broken.
  • 00:14:32.363 --> 00:14:36.434
  • Your family system of origin may have been dark.
  • 00:14:36.434 --> 00:14:39.304
  • God can break the authority of that darkness.
  • 00:14:39.304 --> 00:14:42.573
  • Your academic system, there are people who may have spoken dark
  • 00:14:42.573 --> 00:14:45.043
  • Things over you.
  • 00:14:45.043 --> 00:14:46.411
  • There's a power present in the earth to break the dominion of
  • 00:14:46.411 --> 00:14:48.780
  • Darkness over your life.
  • 00:14:48.780 --> 00:14:52.684
  • But there's more: he'll bring us into the kingdom of the son he
  • 00:14:52.684 --> 00:14:55.820
  • Loves, in whom we have redemption.
  • 00:14:55.820 --> 00:14:58.122
  • Redemption has kind of a technical meaning.
  • 00:14:58.122 --> 00:14:59.924
  • It's to be bought back.
  • 00:14:59.924 --> 00:15:01.926
  • It's like you redeem a pawn ticket: you pawn something, you
  • 00:15:01.926 --> 00:15:05.263
  • Take something that you value, but you exchange it for some
  • 00:15:05.263 --> 00:15:07.999
  • Ready cash.
  • 00:15:07.999 --> 00:15:09.367
  • But if you wanna redeem it, you gotta buy it back, and jesus
  • 00:15:09.367 --> 00:15:12.303
  • Redeemed us from the dominion of darkness so that we could be
  • 00:15:12.303 --> 00:15:16.674
  • Brought into his kingdom.
  • 00:15:16.674 --> 00:15:19.277
  • He paid the price.
  • 00:15:19.277 --> 00:15:20.611
  • We couldn't.
  • 00:15:20.611 --> 00:15:21.980
  • So no matter how intense the darkness you've had to face,
  • 00:15:21.980 --> 00:15:26.718
  • Redemption is available to you in the person of jesus.
  • 00:15:26.718 --> 00:15:29.854
  • That is wonderful news.
  • 00:15:29.854 --> 00:15:33.091
  • That's why we celebrate easter.
  • 00:15:33.091 --> 00:15:36.361
  • That's why we'll park a little ways and walk a little ways and
  • 00:15:36.361 --> 00:15:38.963
  • We'll welcome the crowd like we're glad they're here.
  • 00:15:38.963 --> 00:15:44.135
  • I'm told, i don't remember it.
  • 00:15:44.135 --> 00:15:45.503
  • I'm told when they brought my brother home from the hospital,
  • 00:15:45.503 --> 00:15:47.271
  • I'm the oldest, that i walked in and said, "you know, i liked it
  • 00:15:47.271 --> 00:15:49.941
  • Better when there were three of us."
  • 00:15:49.941 --> 00:15:53.411
  • I learned to love him, but initially it was kind of
  • 00:15:53.411 --> 00:15:55.446
  • An intrusion.
  • 00:15:55.446 --> 00:15:58.149
  • But i mean, if we tell the truth, ah, never mind, i did
  • 00:15:58.149 --> 00:16:00.551
  • That already.
  • 00:16:00.551 --> 00:16:01.886
  • Number three: god is present.
  • 00:16:01.886 --> 00:16:03.855
  • He loves people.
  • 00:16:03.855 --> 00:16:05.223
  • He'll provide a path of redemption.
  • 00:16:05.223 --> 00:16:06.624
  • Three, some will accept it.
  • 00:16:06.624 --> 00:16:08.860
  • Some will.
  • 00:16:08.860 --> 00:16:10.395
  • John 1: "that he was in the world, and though the the world
  • 00:16:10.395 --> 00:16:14.165
  • Was made through him, the world didn't recognize him.
  • 00:16:14.165 --> 00:16:17.201
  • He came to that which was his own, but his own didn't
  • 00:16:17.201 --> 00:16:19.404
  • Receive him.
  • 00:16:19.404 --> 00:16:20.738
  • Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name,
  • 00:16:20.738 --> 00:16:24.542
  • He gave the right to become children of god--"
  • 00:16:24.542 --> 00:16:27.078
  • If you'll believe, if you'll believe.
  • 00:16:27.078 --> 00:16:31.082
  • Can you believe that's all?
  • 00:16:31.082 --> 00:16:33.885
  • That's amazing, isn't it?
  • 00:16:33.885 --> 00:16:35.353
  • It's a free gift.
  • 00:16:35.353 --> 00:16:36.721
  • It will--the gift is free, but it's not cheap.
  • 00:16:36.721 --> 00:16:39.857
  • You'll have to lay down your life.
  • 00:16:39.857 --> 00:16:43.461
  • But there will be some who will accept.
  • 00:16:43.461 --> 00:16:46.497
  • But i have to tell you the other side of the equation because
  • 00:16:46.497 --> 00:16:48.399
  • This is important.
  • 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:49.734
  • It'll help you frame what you're seeing, and if you don't
  • 00:16:49.734 --> 00:16:51.469
  • Understand it, you'll be confused.
  • 00:16:51.469 --> 00:16:54.605
  • Many will ignore god's invitations.
  • 00:16:54.605 --> 00:16:57.508
  • Look at hebrews 2: "we must pay careful attention."
  • 00:16:57.508 --> 00:16:59.577
  • This is written to believers.
  • 00:16:59.577 --> 00:17:01.045
  • "we must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we
  • 00:17:01.045 --> 00:17:03.347
  • Have heard, so that we do not drift away."
  • 00:17:03.347 --> 00:17:05.950
  • Language matters, folks.
  • 00:17:05.950 --> 00:17:07.285
  • We live in a time, when language is being manipulated and
  • 00:17:07.285 --> 00:17:09.787
  • Coarsened, because the more coarse the language, the less
  • 00:17:09.787 --> 00:17:12.290
  • Specific and the less directional, the less helpful.
  • 00:17:12.290 --> 00:17:15.526
  • It says, we have to pay careful attention or we will drift away.
  • 00:17:15.526 --> 00:17:18.863
  • You don't drift intentionally.
  • 00:17:18.863 --> 00:17:22.433
  • You drift from a lack of attention.
  • 00:17:22.433 --> 00:17:26.104
  • Drifting isn't steering, drifting is you're just caught
  • 00:17:26.104 --> 00:17:29.574
  • With the flow.
  • 00:17:29.574 --> 00:17:31.843
  • And the author of hebrews writing to believers said, "we
  • 00:17:31.843 --> 00:17:33.845
  • Have to pay really careful attention or we will
  • 00:17:33.845 --> 00:17:35.513
  • Drift away."
  • 00:17:35.513 --> 00:17:37.081
  • And then he said, "if the message spoken by angels was
  • 00:17:37.081 --> 00:17:38.950
  • Binding, and every violation of disobedience received its
  • 00:17:38.950 --> 00:17:41.419
  • Punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a
  • 00:17:41.419 --> 00:17:43.788
  • Great salvation?"
  • 00:17:43.788 --> 00:17:45.123
  • There will be people who choose to ignore it.
  • 00:17:45.123 --> 00:17:49.160
  • I've come to the best description i have for the
  • 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:51.129
  • People who choose not to believe is that they try to ignore it.
  • 00:17:51.129 --> 00:17:55.833
  • They try to discredit it.
  • 00:17:55.833 --> 00:17:57.201
  • They just, they don't want to be bothered with it.
  • 00:17:57.201 --> 00:17:59.904
  • And they, so they mock it.
  • 00:17:59.904 --> 00:18:01.606
  • "you mean you believe there's like, what is there, like a
  • 00:18:01.606 --> 00:18:03.808
  • White-haired man sitting on a cloud that's controlling
  • 00:18:03.808 --> 00:18:06.377
  • Everything like marionettes?
  • 00:18:06.377 --> 00:18:07.712
  • You mean you really believe that?"
  • 00:18:07.712 --> 00:18:10.448
  • That's not what i believe at all.
  • 00:18:10.448 --> 00:18:13.751
  • I do believe almighty god created the heavens and the
  • 00:18:13.751 --> 00:18:15.820
  • Earth and everything that's in them.
  • 00:18:15.820 --> 00:18:18.823
  • And that you'll give an account to him one day, dustball.
  • 00:18:18.823 --> 00:18:23.828
  • Well, i mean, we're all kind of elaborate balls of dust.
  • 00:18:23.828 --> 00:18:27.798
  • Don't drift away, folks.
  • 00:18:27.798 --> 00:18:29.167
  • The majority of the people are probably not going to accept
  • 00:18:29.167 --> 00:18:31.702
  • The invitation.
  • 00:18:31.702 --> 00:18:33.538
  • John 12, we've already read it.
  • 00:18:33.538 --> 00:18:34.872
  • It's that triumphal entry sequence in john's gospel, and
  • 00:18:34.872 --> 00:18:38.676
  • They're having a celebratory dinner party at the home of mary
  • 00:18:38.676 --> 00:18:41.779
  • And martha and lazarus, and it's described: "one of his disciples
  • 00:18:41.779 --> 00:18:45.950
  • Was at the table, judas iscariot, who was later to
  • 00:18:45.950 --> 00:18:48.252
  • Betray him."
  • 00:18:48.252 --> 00:18:49.620
  • He objected.
  • 00:18:49.620 --> 00:18:50.955
  • Mary has anointed jesus with some expensive perfume.
  • 00:18:50.955 --> 00:18:53.758
  • And judas, he's been with jesus for three years.
  • 00:18:53.758 --> 00:18:57.295
  • He watches him walk on the water.
  • 00:18:57.295 --> 00:18:58.696
  • He's watched him raise the dead and seen him open blind eyes.
  • 00:18:58.696 --> 00:19:02.967
  • He's been eating with him and traveling with him.
  • 00:19:02.967 --> 00:19:05.169
  • He was there in caesarea philippi, when peter says,
  • 00:19:05.169 --> 00:19:08.306
  • "you're the messiah, the anointed son of god."
  • 00:19:08.306 --> 00:19:10.408
  • I mean, he's had multiple examples of the sovereignty of
  • 00:19:10.408 --> 00:19:16.080
  • God through jesus's life and ministry.
  • 00:19:16.080 --> 00:19:19.083
  • He's heard all the behind-the-scenes explanations,
  • 00:19:19.083 --> 00:19:21.352
  • He helped feed a multitude with a little boy's happy meal, and
  • 00:19:21.352 --> 00:19:24.555
  • He helped--picked up basket fills of leftovers.
  • 00:19:24.555 --> 00:19:27.758
  • And he's at the table when they're celebrating with jesus
  • 00:19:27.758 --> 00:19:30.361
  • And lazarus, who was raised from the dead, and mary is
  • 00:19:30.361 --> 00:19:33.164
  • Celebrating jesus.
  • 00:19:33.164 --> 00:19:35.967
  • And judah speaks up and says, "that's just wrong.
  • 00:19:35.967 --> 00:19:43.574
  • That's wasteful, wasteful, wasteful.
  • 00:19:43.574 --> 00:19:47.044
  • How dare you do that?
  • 00:19:47.044 --> 00:19:49.780
  • The extravagance of that is unacceptable.
  • 00:19:49.780 --> 00:19:52.149
  • It's a year's wages."
  • 00:19:52.149 --> 00:19:56.454
  • If you read it and you listen carefully, you can hear the
  • 00:19:56.454 --> 00:19:59.523
  • Condemnation ringing out from judas.
  • 00:19:59.523 --> 00:20:07.098
  • And you can see the confusion on mary's face.
  • 00:20:07.098 --> 00:20:10.735
  • And the awkwardness of the other people gathered around the
  • 00:20:10.735 --> 00:20:12.536
  • Table: "what do we do?"
  • 00:20:12.536 --> 00:20:14.205
  • Judas is not an outsider.
  • 00:20:14.205 --> 00:20:15.573
  • He's not a pharisee or a scribe.
  • 00:20:15.573 --> 00:20:17.708
  • He's the inner circle, behind-the-curtain group.
  • 00:20:17.708 --> 00:20:21.946
  • Now jesus answers: "you should leave her alone."
  • 00:20:21.946 --> 00:20:29.186
  • But john gives us the rest of the story.
  • 00:20:29.186 --> 00:20:31.389
  • He said judas didn't speak up because he had any concern.
  • 00:20:31.389 --> 00:20:36.494
  • About the extravagance, he spoke up because he was the keeper of
  • 00:20:36.494 --> 00:20:39.497
  • The money bag.
  • 00:20:39.497 --> 00:20:41.899
  • And he kept putting his hand in it.
  • 00:20:41.899 --> 00:20:45.136
  • You know what i've concluded about critics?
  • 00:20:45.136 --> 00:20:48.506
  • They have a behavior that causes them to be a critic and not
  • 00:20:48.506 --> 00:20:51.509
  • A believer.
  • 00:20:51.509 --> 00:20:53.878
  • Don't count your critics, weigh them.
  • 00:20:53.878 --> 00:20:59.350
  • What strikes me is that out of the group that was closest to
  • 00:20:59.350 --> 00:21:03.187
  • Jesus, not everybody believed.
  • 00:21:03.187 --> 00:21:07.958
  • Judas drifted.
  • 00:21:07.958 --> 00:21:10.361
  • Think of all the opportunities he had to deal with
  • 00:21:10.361 --> 00:21:12.430
  • His character.
  • 00:21:12.430 --> 00:21:14.799
  • Think of all the opportunities he had to and humility to repent
  • 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:18.002
  • And say, "you know, i've loved money more than the things
  • 00:21:18.002 --> 00:21:20.071
  • Of god."
  • 00:21:20.071 --> 00:21:23.140
  • Think of all the opportunities he had.
  • 00:21:23.140 --> 00:21:27.111
  • And he kept--what's the language he read, he kept
  • 00:21:27.111 --> 00:21:29.180
  • Stubbornly refusing to believe.
  • 00:21:29.180 --> 00:21:31.782
  • "well, i don't wanna be that.
  • 00:21:31.782 --> 00:21:34.719
  • I don't wanna be the skeptic.
  • 00:21:34.719 --> 00:21:38.889
  • I don't want to leave my character unaddressed.
  • 00:21:38.889 --> 00:21:42.693
  • I don't want to imagine that i'm in such close proximity.
  • 00:21:42.693 --> 00:21:46.497
  • I've got access."
  • 00:21:46.497 --> 00:21:49.233
  • You see, some of us have imagined we've been on the
  • 00:21:49.233 --> 00:21:50.935
  • Journey so long, we know so much, we've read our--we got
  • 00:21:50.935 --> 00:21:53.270
  • All the stuff.
  • 00:21:53.270 --> 00:21:54.638
  • We don't have to deal with our character anymore.
  • 00:21:54.638 --> 00:21:56.674
  • We've got a story to tell.
  • 00:21:56.674 --> 00:21:58.042
  • We got a curriculum vitae, and it's impressive.
  • 00:21:58.042 --> 00:22:01.312
  • We better allow the spirit of god to deal with us.
  • 00:22:01.312 --> 00:22:04.448
  • You're not too old.
  • 00:22:04.448 --> 00:22:07.318
  • You're not too mature, you're not too senior, and that's not
  • 00:22:07.318 --> 00:22:10.488
  • About age, folks.
  • 00:22:10.488 --> 00:22:16.794
  • Let's cultivate the will to be different.
  • 00:22:16.794 --> 00:22:18.262
  • Let's get to know the truth.
  • 00:22:18.262 --> 00:22:20.898
  • You see, deception is not an excuse.
  • 00:22:20.898 --> 00:22:23.667
  • Did you know that?
  • 00:22:23.667 --> 00:22:25.736
  • If you're doing the reading with us, we just read 2 corinthians,
  • 00:22:25.736 --> 00:22:28.205
  • It's in galatians.
  • 00:22:28.205 --> 00:22:30.307
  • Says that eve was deceived in the garden, you know, back in
  • 00:22:30.307 --> 00:22:33.277
  • The day.
  • 00:22:33.277 --> 00:22:34.645
  • There's a difference in eve and adam.
  • 00:22:34.645 --> 00:22:35.980
  • Eve was deceived. adam wasn't deceived.
  • 00:22:35.980 --> 00:22:39.717
  • Adam's assignment was to be the guardian of the garden.
  • 00:22:39.717 --> 00:22:41.852
  • He was the--it's the hebrew word is the modern day word for,
  • 00:22:41.852 --> 00:22:45.122
  • Like a night watchman, a guard.
  • 00:22:45.122 --> 00:22:47.558
  • Adam was the guard of the garden and he let the serpent in.
  • 00:22:47.558 --> 00:22:51.429
  • Eve was deceived, but her deception and the behavior that
  • 00:22:51.429 --> 00:22:55.232
  • Emanated from the deception did not protect her from
  • 00:22:55.232 --> 00:22:57.935
  • The consequence.
  • 00:22:57.935 --> 00:23:00.938
  • So in an age of deception, you can't just say, "well, it's not
  • 00:23:00.938 --> 00:23:03.774
  • Easy to know the truth."
  • 00:23:03.774 --> 00:23:06.444
  • You have to choose to believe.
  • 00:23:06.444 --> 00:23:09.747
  • One more thing i think that we can know for certain, and that's
  • 00:23:09.747 --> 00:23:12.416
  • That the best is yet to come. [congregation applauding]
  • 00:23:12.416 --> 00:23:17.922
  • My time's gone.
  • 00:23:17.922 --> 00:23:19.256
  • Look at ephesians 1: "i pray that the eyes of your heart may
  • 00:23:19.256 --> 00:23:21.192
  • Be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he's
  • 00:23:21.192 --> 00:23:23.527
  • Called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance to
  • 00:23:23.527 --> 00:23:26.397
  • The saints."
  • 00:23:26.397 --> 00:23:27.765
  • What is before us, as christ followers, exceeds in value,
  • 00:23:27.765 --> 00:23:31.936
  • Impact, and consequence anything that's available to us in this
  • 00:23:31.936 --> 00:23:36.307
  • Present age.
  • 00:23:36.307 --> 00:23:38.542
  • You think of whomever you think of as the most whatever:
  • 00:23:38.542 --> 00:23:42.179
  • Successful, talented, accumulated, whatever.
  • 00:23:42.179 --> 00:23:46.584
  • What awaits us, as christ followers, exceeds anything
  • 00:23:46.584 --> 00:23:50.688
  • That's available to us in the present age.
  • 00:23:50.688 --> 00:23:52.790
  • How do you know?
  • 00:23:52.790 --> 00:23:54.124
  • Because i choose to believe it.
  • 00:23:54.124 --> 00:23:56.293
  • Don't you? don't you?
  • 00:23:56.293 --> 00:23:59.530
  • Don't try to stand with a foot in both arenas.
  • 00:23:59.530 --> 00:24:02.366
  • It's a miserable way to travel.
  • 00:24:02.366 --> 00:24:07.571
  • 1 corinthians says, "now we just see a poor reflection."
  • 00:24:07.571 --> 00:24:10.975
  • Now the best you can see is like a mirror that's fogged up.
  • 00:24:10.975 --> 00:24:13.444
  • You can tell there's something in it, but you can make out
  • 00:24:13.444 --> 00:24:15.346
  • No details.
  • 00:24:15.346 --> 00:24:17.014
  • There's a time coming we will have clarity.
  • 00:24:17.014 --> 00:24:20.317
  • I'm looking forward to that.
  • 00:24:20.317 --> 00:24:23.087
  • And i intend in the interim to be a believer.
  • 00:24:23.087 --> 00:24:26.790
  • I'm gonna stand on the hillside and say, "that's jesus.
  • 00:24:26.790 --> 00:24:28.926
  • I'm glad he's in town, don't you?
  • 00:24:28.926 --> 00:24:31.962
  • Do you know him?
  • 00:24:31.962 --> 00:24:33.297
  • Would you like to get to know him?"
  • 00:24:33.297 --> 00:24:36.867
  • I brought you a prayer.
  • 00:24:36.867 --> 00:24:38.202
  • I took it out of that same passage in ephesians.
  • 00:24:38.202 --> 00:24:40.905
  • I messed with the pronouns.
  • 00:24:40.905 --> 00:24:43.774
  • So, like, if you're a king james purist, forgive me.
  • 00:24:43.774 --> 00:24:49.446
  • Let me restate that: wilt thou forgive me?
  • 00:24:49.446 --> 00:24:54.985
  • I didn't change it.
  • 00:24:54.985 --> 00:24:56.320
  • You can check my--i even left the reference numbers in there
  • 00:24:56.320 --> 00:24:58.188
  • Because i wanted you to be able to check, but i made
  • 00:24:58.188 --> 00:24:59.790
  • The pronouns personal.
  • 00:24:59.790 --> 00:25:01.191
  • Let's stand together.
  • 00:25:01.191 --> 00:25:02.526
  • We're gonna read this prayer.
  • 00:25:02.526 --> 00:25:03.994
  • It's our declaration of belief.
  • 00:25:03.994 --> 00:25:10.601
  • You're ready?
  • 00:25:10.601 --> 00:25:11.936
  • You got it at home? say it with us.
  • 00:25:11.936 --> 00:25:13.304
  • We can hear you right through those screens.
  • 00:25:13.304 --> 00:25:16.941
  • "i pray that out of his glorious riches god may strengthen us
  • 00:25:16.941 --> 00:25:21.245
  • With power through his spirit in our inner being, so that christ
  • 00:25:21.245 --> 00:25:25.983
  • May dwell in our hearts through faith.
  • 00:25:25.983 --> 00:25:29.053
  • And i pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
  • 00:25:29.053 --> 00:25:33.657
  • May have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide
  • 00:25:33.657 --> 00:25:38.295
  • And long and high and deep is the love of christ, and to know
  • 00:25:38.295 --> 00:25:42.967
  • This love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be
  • 00:25:42.967 --> 00:25:46.503
  • Filled to the measure of all the fullness of god.
  • 00:25:46.503 --> 00:25:50.240
  • Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we
  • 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:54.244
  • Ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
  • 00:25:54.244 --> 00:25:59.683
  • To him be glory in the church and in christ jesus through all
  • 00:25:59.683 --> 00:26:04.855
  • Generations, for ever and ever!
  • 00:26:04.855 --> 00:26:07.324
  • Amen."
  • 00:26:07.324 --> 00:26:08.892
  • Hallelujah.
  • 00:26:08.892 --> 00:26:10.227
  • God bless you.
  • 00:26:10.227 --> 00:26:13.564
  • Allen: you know, i've often said that what happens in the white
  • 00:26:17.768 --> 00:26:19.703
  • House is not more important than what happens in your house.
  • 00:26:19.703 --> 00:26:22.606
  • I have an assignment if you'll accept it.
  • 00:26:22.606 --> 00:26:24.642
  • Imagine your kitchen table as an expression of the love of god
  • 00:26:24.642 --> 00:26:28.212
  • To our generation.
  • 00:26:28.212 --> 00:26:29.546
  • Let's start to practice hospitality from the inside out,
  • 00:26:29.546 --> 00:26:32.016
  • From our kitchen table to our neighbors, our friends.
  • 00:26:32.016 --> 00:26:35.452
  • God will meet us in that place, as we take those simple steps of
  • 00:26:35.452 --> 00:26:38.455
  • Obedience, honor him at our kitchen table, and we can join
  • 00:26:38.455 --> 00:26:41.892
  • With what god is doing in the earth.
  • 00:26:41.892 --> 00:26:43.827
  • Now that is an opportunity.
  • 00:26:43.827 --> 00:26:46.630
  • Female announcer: some of life's most meaningful moments happen
  • 00:26:46.697 --> 00:26:48.932
  • Around a kitchen table.
  • 00:26:48.932 --> 00:26:50.401
  • That's where stories are shared and faith is passed from one
  • 00:26:50.401 --> 00:26:53.470
  • Generation to the next.
  • 00:26:53.470 --> 00:26:54.938
  • To help you welcome others for a meal, we've created a "tools for
  • 00:26:54.938 --> 00:26:57.941
  • Hospitality" set.
  • 00:26:57.941 --> 00:26:59.309
  • It includes a custom kitchen towel, three of pastor allen's
  • 00:26:59.309 --> 00:27:02.179
  • Favorite recipes, and some simple tips you can use to help
  • 00:27:02.179 --> 00:27:05.115
  • Your guests feel at home.
  • 00:27:05.115 --> 00:27:07.818
  • Request your "tools for hospitality" set with your gift
  • 00:27:07.885 --> 00:27:10.421
  • Of $25 or more at allenjackson.com.
  • 00:27:10.421 --> 00:27:26.370