1. TBN
  2. Programs
  3. Allen Jackson Ministries
  4. Episodes
  5. George Jackson - A Father's Faith (Part 2)
Allen Jackson Ministries

George Jackson - A Father's Faith (Part 2)

July 14, 2026 | 27:29

George Jackson - A Father's Faith (Part 2)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Father #Fathering #Parents #Parenting #Faith #Family #PersonalStory #Testimony #Cancer #Healing #Miracles #Salvation #Change #Transformation #SeekGod #AllenJackson

Closed captions

Show Timecode
Allen Jackson Ministries | George Jackson - A Father's Faith (Part 2) | July 14, 2026
  • ...
  • 00:00:00.633 --> 00:00:01.450
  • Allen jackson: we have a new resource for you.
  • 00:00:01.884 --> 00:00:03.118
  • I'm really excited about this. it's a book, it's a booklet.
  • 00:00:03.252 --> 00:00:05.154
  • It's a small book called "your identity in christ."
  • 00:00:05.287 --> 00:00:08.590
  • It was derived from years of teaching and leading in the
  • 00:00:08.724 --> 00:00:09.725
  • Context of the church.
  • 00:00:11.427 --> 00:00:12.928
  • We're walking through a season, folks, when there's so much
  • 00:00:12.928 --> 00:00:14.630
  • Confusion about our identity.
  • 00:00:14.630 --> 00:00:16.532
  • We put this together to help you understand who you are in
  • 00:00:16.532 --> 00:00:19.268
  • Christ, not just about your salvation, but so that you can
  • 00:00:19.268 --> 00:00:22.204
  • Lead a triumphant, victorious, overcoming life.
  • 00:00:22.204 --> 00:00:25.774
  • We built it for an individual read.
  • 00:00:25.774 --> 00:00:27.209
  • It's great for a small group.
  • 00:00:27.209 --> 00:00:28.677
  • It's a great resource for your kitchen table time as a family,
  • 00:00:28.677 --> 00:00:31.814
  • With children or grandchildren.
  • 00:00:31.814 --> 00:00:33.682
  • If you know who you are in christ, it changes everything
  • 00:00:33.682 --> 00:00:37.086
  • About the landscape of your life.
  • 00:00:37.086 --> 00:00:39.054
  • "i'm righteous in the sight of god.
  • 00:00:39.054 --> 00:00:41.757
  • I can stand before god without fear, guilt, or condemnation."
  • 00:00:41.757 --> 00:00:45.394
  • Those are such important foundational principles to get
  • 00:00:45.394 --> 00:00:48.564
  • Secure in your heart, around your table with the people you
  • 00:00:48.564 --> 00:00:51.967
  • Care about, in your small groups, with your friends.
  • 00:00:51.967 --> 00:00:54.536
  • "your identity in christ," it's a game changer.
  • 00:00:54.536 --> 00:00:57.172
  • I believe it will add momentum to your spiritual growth in
  • 00:00:57.172 --> 00:01:00.075
  • This season.
  • 00:01:00.075 --> 00:01:04.580
  • Allen: so two more boys, phillip's born, and then doyle
  • 00:01:08.717 --> 00:01:14.089
  • Is born, and you're just finishing up vet school, getting
  • 00:01:14.089 --> 00:01:17.392
  • Ready to take your national boards.
  • 00:01:17.392 --> 00:01:19.828
  • And mom goes to the hospital to deliver.
  • 00:01:19.828 --> 00:01:23.065
  • She had to have a c-section for doyle.
  • 00:01:23.065 --> 00:01:25.501
  • And while she's in the hospital, she's diagnosed with cancer.
  • 00:01:25.501 --> 00:01:30.005
  • And we go to church every sunday.
  • 00:01:30.005 --> 00:01:31.673
  • I remember--by now, i can remember, i'm seven.
  • 00:01:31.673 --> 00:01:34.743
  • And church was not optional.
  • 00:01:34.743 --> 00:01:36.278
  • I tried.
  • 00:01:36.278 --> 00:01:38.480
  • And you had to have a doctor's excuse.
  • 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:43.719
  • And so we went to church every week, but we weren't christians
  • 00:01:43.719 --> 00:01:46.522
  • Because when mom--when they told her she had six months to live,
  • 00:01:46.522 --> 00:01:50.192
  • And that becomes a pivot point because they wanted to do
  • 00:01:50.192 --> 00:01:54.696
  • Dramatic surgery at the same time they did the c-section, and
  • 00:01:54.696 --> 00:01:57.599
  • You said no.
  • 00:01:57.599 --> 00:01:59.568
  • Actually, the line i've been told is you said, "i wouldn't do
  • 00:01:59.568 --> 00:02:01.703
  • That to a cow."
  • 00:02:01.703 --> 00:02:04.039
  • So you go to mayo clinic a few days after that, and it's
  • 00:02:04.039 --> 00:02:08.076
  • At mayo clinic where the doctors come in.
  • 00:02:08.076 --> 00:02:11.914
  • My mom prayed a prayer on the way.
  • 00:02:11.914 --> 00:02:13.282
  • You're reading a book on laminitis, lameness in horses.
  • 00:02:13.282 --> 00:02:16.585
  • George: mhm. or adam.
  • 00:02:16.585 --> 00:02:19.121
  • Allen: and my mom prays that if there's a god, she can know the
  • 00:02:19.121 --> 00:02:21.857
  • Truth before she dies, so she can tell my brothers and i,
  • 00:02:21.857 --> 00:02:27.162
  • Because she didn't know what that was.
  • 00:02:27.162 --> 00:02:28.764
  • She didn't know if it meant to be baptist or jewish
  • 00:02:28.764 --> 00:02:30.499
  • Or catholic.
  • 00:02:30.499 --> 00:02:32.234
  • The minister came to visit her when she was in the hospital in
  • 00:02:32.234 --> 00:02:35.204
  • Columbia, missouri, in the '60s, and he didn't believe in heaven
  • 00:02:35.204 --> 00:02:38.173
  • Or hell.
  • 00:02:38.173 --> 00:02:39.575
  • Folks, the challenges in our churches are not new.
  • 00:02:39.575 --> 00:02:42.811
  • The seeds of those have been growing for decades.
  • 00:02:42.811 --> 00:02:45.547
  • We moved from columbia to hollywood, florida, and went to
  • 00:02:45.547 --> 00:02:47.883
  • The most fashionable methodist church there, and the pastor
  • 00:02:47.883 --> 00:02:51.220
  • Didn't believe in the divinity of jesus.
  • 00:02:51.220 --> 00:02:54.056
  • So the challenges we face in contemporary christendom
  • 00:02:54.056 --> 00:02:56.992
  • Aren't new.
  • 00:02:56.992 --> 00:02:58.393
  • We've spent decades walking away from the lord.
  • 00:02:58.393 --> 00:03:01.196
  • But anyway, you get to mayo clinic, and the doctor says he
  • 00:03:01.196 --> 00:03:03.665
  • Can't find the cancer.
  • 00:03:03.665 --> 00:03:05.334
  • And so you have a whole new future now, because you were
  • 00:03:05.334 --> 00:03:07.502
  • Looking at a future with three little boys and no wife
  • 00:03:07.502 --> 00:03:11.106
  • Or mother.
  • 00:03:11.106 --> 00:03:12.574
  • George: right, the hope that i didn't know at the time is, the
  • 00:03:12.574 --> 00:03:20.182
  • Man that was head of clinics in veterinary school, they didn't
  • 00:03:20.182 --> 00:03:24.453
  • Have children, ed and hazel ebert.
  • 00:03:24.453 --> 00:03:29.157
  • But they came into our life, kind of as parents,
  • 00:03:29.157 --> 00:03:34.730
  • Surrogate parents.
  • 00:03:34.730 --> 00:03:36.465
  • They would come over to the house, because i was older when
  • 00:03:36.465 --> 00:03:39.568
  • I went back to school.
  • 00:03:39.568 --> 00:03:40.902
  • There were three of us guys in a class of thirty that were older
  • 00:03:40.902 --> 00:03:45.574
  • Than the rest of them.
  • 00:03:45.574 --> 00:03:47.209
  • And they would come over, we'd play bridge with them.
  • 00:03:47.209 --> 00:03:51.780
  • I've got pictures of allen sitting on the couch with
  • 00:03:51.780 --> 00:03:55.083
  • Dr. ebert.
  • 00:03:55.083 --> 00:03:57.252
  • They'd had that place in her life to where he wasn't just a
  • 00:03:57.252 --> 00:04:01.189
  • Professor that i knew from a distance, and the day that they
  • 00:04:01.189 --> 00:04:04.826
  • Diagnosed betty and gave her her prognosis, i walked back
  • 00:04:04.826 --> 00:04:09.798
  • To school.
  • 00:04:09.798 --> 00:04:11.133
  • It was just about 2, 2 1/2 blocks from the hospital.
  • 00:04:11.133 --> 00:04:15.103
  • I went to dr. ebert's office, and i told him the situation.
  • 00:04:15.103 --> 00:04:21.243
  • And he swiveled around in his chair, looked out the window,
  • 00:04:21.243 --> 00:04:29.351
  • Lifted his arm and he said, "george, there's someone bigger
  • 00:04:29.351 --> 00:04:33.522
  • Than us."
  • 00:04:33.522 --> 00:04:34.990
  • And that's all he said to me.
  • 00:04:34.990 --> 00:04:37.159
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:04:37.159 --> 00:04:41.196
  • I thought, "man, dr. ebert, i need more help than that."
  • 00:04:41.196 --> 00:04:45.934
  • But i got up, left, walked back to the hospital, and that's when
  • 00:04:45.934 --> 00:04:51.073
  • I made the decision, i wouldn't let them do more than
  • 00:04:51.073 --> 00:04:54.976
  • The c-section.
  • 00:04:54.976 --> 00:04:56.645
  • We would give her time to heal, gain some strength, and we would
  • 00:04:56.645 --> 00:05:02.317
  • Know what to do next.
  • 00:05:02.317 --> 00:05:04.386
  • I've told you, god's ahead of you, even when you're not
  • 00:05:04.386 --> 00:05:08.957
  • Following him.
  • 00:05:08.957 --> 00:05:10.325
  • He's ahead of you, and will help you if your heart's looking in
  • 00:05:10.325 --> 00:05:14.196
  • The right direction.
  • 00:05:14.196 --> 00:05:15.931
  • So we went home, we stayed in the hospital seven days.
  • 00:05:15.931 --> 00:05:21.536
  • In those days, they stayed till you pass the hebrews seven-day
  • 00:05:21.536 --> 00:05:27.609
  • Test, and went home.
  • 00:05:27.609 --> 00:05:31.513
  • First day betty was home, i was at school.
  • 00:05:31.513 --> 00:05:35.117
  • My stepmother gave her a call to see how she was, and betty told
  • 00:05:35.117 --> 00:05:40.422
  • Her what they had told her at the hospital, and mom abruptly
  • 00:05:40.422 --> 00:05:46.027
  • Said, "well, i've got to go."
  • 00:05:46.027 --> 00:05:47.829
  • She hung the phone up.
  • 00:05:47.829 --> 00:05:49.731
  • My dad had been to mayo clinic previously with some cardiac
  • 00:05:49.731 --> 00:05:55.036
  • Problems, and she called mayo clinic to see if there was a
  • 00:05:55.036 --> 00:05:59.541
  • Possibility for us to get there.
  • 00:05:59.541 --> 00:06:02.043
  • There was, and that's where we--that was on like a friday.
  • 00:06:02.043 --> 00:06:07.616
  • We were on an airplane sunday, headed to mayo clinic.
  • 00:06:07.616 --> 00:06:12.554
  • Our life began to change, take a whole new direction.
  • 00:06:12.554 --> 00:06:17.092
  • Allen: so the mayo clinic, they said, "you had cancer.
  • 00:06:17.092 --> 00:06:19.461
  • We have pictures of it.
  • 00:06:19.461 --> 00:06:20.862
  • It wasn't a blown diagnosis."
  • 00:06:20.862 --> 00:06:22.597
  • George: we had pathology, we had x-rays, we had
  • 00:06:22.597 --> 00:06:26.268
  • Laboratory reports.
  • 00:06:26.268 --> 00:06:29.204
  • Allen: "but we can't find the cancer.
  • 00:06:29.204 --> 00:06:30.772
  • Go home and raise your babies."
  • 00:06:30.772 --> 00:06:32.874
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:06:32.874 --> 00:06:37.612
  • I'll add my commentary before he jumps in.
  • 00:06:37.612 --> 00:06:39.714
  • We were pagans.
  • 00:06:39.714 --> 00:06:41.283
  • I knew him bc.
  • 00:06:41.283 --> 00:06:44.352
  • You know, you can go to church and not be a christian, and
  • 00:06:44.352 --> 00:06:47.389
  • We did.
  • 00:06:47.389 --> 00:06:48.990
  • And god intervened in our family, because i know it was a
  • 00:06:48.990 --> 00:06:51.693
  • Miracle for my mom and i'm sure it was a miracle for my dad.
  • 00:06:51.693 --> 00:06:54.296
  • It was a miracle for my brothers and i, and god intervened, not
  • 00:06:54.296 --> 00:06:59.034
  • Because we knew the lord or we knew how to pray.
  • 00:06:59.034 --> 00:07:01.736
  • It was the grace and mercy of god.
  • 00:07:01.736 --> 00:07:05.574
  • So what are you thinking when you hear at mayo clinic that she
  • 00:07:05.574 --> 00:07:09.211
  • Doesn't have cancer?
  • 00:07:09.211 --> 00:07:12.581
  • George: well, i knew we could go on with the life we had planned
  • 00:07:12.581 --> 00:07:17.352
  • Ahead of us, we--as a family.
  • 00:07:17.352 --> 00:07:20.489
  • I was trying to figure out what i was going to do at the place i
  • 00:07:20.489 --> 00:07:28.530
  • Was in my life professionally with three little boys, no wife.
  • 00:07:28.530 --> 00:07:35.070
  • I was afloat in a rapid river, didn't know where i was headed.
  • 00:07:35.070 --> 00:07:42.544
  • Allen: so you get a whole new lease on life.
  • 00:07:42.544 --> 00:07:45.514
  • And you graduate from vet school and we moved to miami.
  • 00:07:45.514 --> 00:07:48.650
  • George: right, we graduated, and the trailer was already backed
  • 00:07:48.650 --> 00:07:53.989
  • Up, loaded, and we left that very next day to go to miami.
  • 00:07:53.989 --> 00:08:01.730
  • Allen: we were so organized, you left doyle in the infant seat in
  • 00:08:01.730 --> 00:08:05.267
  • The house and we were driving away.
  • 00:08:05.267 --> 00:08:07.903
  • George: yeah, yeah.
  • 00:08:07.903 --> 00:08:10.539
  • We were getting loaded up and betty said,
  • 00:08:10.539 --> 00:08:12.841
  • "well, where's doyle?"
  • 00:08:12.841 --> 00:08:15.977
  • So we went back in the house and got him.
  • 00:08:15.977 --> 00:08:17.779
  • It didn't work.
  • 00:08:17.779 --> 00:08:21.249
  • Allen: phillip and i had hidden him.
  • 00:08:21.249 --> 00:08:22.584
  • We almost made it, so.
  • 00:08:22.584 --> 00:08:24.019
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:08:24.019 --> 00:08:27.522
  • So we get to miami, you go to work on the thoroughbred tracks,
  • 00:08:27.522 --> 00:08:30.125
  • On the horses, and you go back to church because it's what good
  • 00:08:30.125 --> 00:08:33.395
  • People do.
  • 00:08:33.395 --> 00:08:35.330
  • And the sunday school teacher was born again.
  • 00:08:35.330 --> 00:08:38.400
  • George: right.
  • 00:08:38.400 --> 00:08:39.734
  • Allen: and that's really the next kind of seismic shift.
  • 00:08:39.734 --> 00:08:42.571
  • George: i think this is a place to tell you to pay attention in
  • 00:08:42.571 --> 00:08:46.007
  • Your life.
  • 00:08:46.007 --> 00:08:47.642
  • You know more than you think you do.
  • 00:08:47.642 --> 00:08:50.412
  • You can spot people when you're out, wherever you are, that they
  • 00:08:50.412 --> 00:08:55.183
  • Need to know what you know.
  • 00:08:55.183 --> 00:08:57.986
  • And bud cobb, i send allen's outlines to his daughter every
  • 00:08:57.986 --> 00:09:02.891
  • Time we have a service.
  • 00:09:02.891 --> 00:09:04.259
  • We're still in contact with the man that led betty and i to the
  • 00:09:04.259 --> 00:09:09.164
  • Lord through his daughter, sandy.
  • 00:09:09.164 --> 00:09:13.068
  • She's probably about a little older than your age?
  • 00:09:13.068 --> 00:09:15.737
  • Your age? and--
  • 00:09:15.737 --> 00:09:18.540
  • Allen: she's young.
  • 00:09:18.540 --> 00:09:20.008
  • [congregation laughing]
  • 00:09:20.008 --> 00:09:21.476
  • George: but bud recognized, because betty got aggravated and
  • 00:09:21.476 --> 00:09:26.514
  • Left the sunday school class after our first time because bud
  • 00:09:26.514 --> 00:09:30.852
  • Was absent our first time, a good friend of ours
  • 00:09:30.852 --> 00:09:34.422
  • Was teaching it.
  • 00:09:34.422 --> 00:09:35.890
  • But the pastor's daughter and husband were in the class.
  • 00:09:35.890 --> 00:09:40.161
  • And in the conversation in the class, the pastor's daughter
  • 00:09:40.161 --> 00:09:44.165
  • Said, "well, we don't believe the bible."
  • 00:09:44.165 --> 00:09:46.868
  • And so with that, betty made the decision, "i'm going down and
  • 00:09:46.868 --> 00:09:51.773
  • Help where phillip is in a class.
  • 00:09:51.773 --> 00:09:54.476
  • They need help down there.
  • 00:09:54.476 --> 00:09:56.011
  • I'm not coming back to this class."
  • 00:09:56.011 --> 00:09:58.413
  • But bud somehow saw something in me that he knew he could talk to
  • 00:09:58.413 --> 00:10:04.519
  • Us and make a difference in our life.
  • 00:10:04.519 --> 00:10:07.455
  • You see people you can talk to and make a difference in
  • 00:10:07.455 --> 00:10:11.660
  • Their life.
  • 00:10:11.660 --> 00:10:13.728
  • Just let the spirit of god that's in you pay attention.
  • 00:10:13.728 --> 00:10:20.035
  • They need to know what you know, and it'll make a difference.
  • 00:10:20.035 --> 00:10:25.040
  • That's what bud did for us.
  • 00:10:25.040 --> 00:10:26.741
  • He said, "george, could you all stop by our house after church?"
  • 00:10:26.741 --> 00:10:31.279
  • So, allen knows the story.
  • 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:33.314
  • He can tell it from there.
  • 00:10:33.314 --> 00:10:39.487
  • Allen: i do know the time frame.
  • 00:10:39.487 --> 00:10:42.123
  • I mean, i ignore it regularly, but i know what it is, so.
  • 00:10:42.123 --> 00:10:45.794
  • No, but we stopped by their house on a sunday after church,
  • 00:10:45.794 --> 00:10:50.665
  • And you and mom went in and knelt in their living room and
  • 00:10:50.665 --> 00:10:54.703
  • Accepted the lord.
  • 00:10:54.703 --> 00:10:56.037
  • So you started your journey as christ followers.
  • 00:10:56.037 --> 00:10:57.839
  • You left three boys in the car in south florida.
  • 00:10:57.839 --> 00:11:00.875
  • George: lovingly.
  • 00:11:00.875 --> 00:11:03.478
  • Boy, they were hard to get rid of.
  • 00:11:03.478 --> 00:11:05.146
  • [congregation laughing, applauding]
  • 00:11:05.146 --> 00:11:12.454
  • Allen: and you started your addiction to bible studies,
  • 00:11:14.989 --> 00:11:17.926
  • Because my memory is you went to bible study about eight nights a
  • 00:11:17.926 --> 00:11:21.029
  • Week someplace.
  • 00:11:21.029 --> 00:11:23.064
  • George: well, bud had bible study every monday night, and we
  • 00:11:23.064 --> 00:11:26.568
  • Actually hired babysitters to come be with the boys, but that
  • 00:11:26.568 --> 00:11:32.474
  • Was a problem because we had this disease we'd picked up on,
  • 00:11:32.474 --> 00:11:36.945
  • And every time we'd have a babysitter, a couple'd come,
  • 00:11:36.945 --> 00:11:40.548
  • We'd lead them to the lord and they'd quit being a babysitter
  • 00:11:40.548 --> 00:11:43.785
  • And come to the bible study.
  • 00:11:43.785 --> 00:11:46.921
  • But we also went to lauderdale every time we'd heard about a
  • 00:11:46.921 --> 00:11:52.393
  • Meeting somewhere, because that's where we first knew about
  • 00:11:52.393 --> 00:11:57.098
  • Full gospel.
  • 00:11:57.098 --> 00:11:58.466
  • And there was another organization that had seminars,
  • 00:11:58.466 --> 00:12:02.437
  • And so when we heard about one, we went.
  • 00:12:02.437 --> 00:12:06.040
  • Allen: so we lived in florida for two years, and you had this
  • 00:12:06.040 --> 00:12:09.444
  • Genius idea to leave miami
  • 00:12:09.444 --> 00:12:16.351
  • And move to murfreesboro.
  • 00:12:16.351 --> 00:12:19.521
  • [congregation laughing]
  • 00:12:19.521 --> 00:12:21.489
  • George: i'd done reconnaissance.
  • 00:12:21.489 --> 00:12:23.525
  • [congregation laughing]
  • 00:12:23.525 --> 00:12:25.293
  • The first time i brought allen in 1960, i'm gonna tell his age,
  • 00:12:25.293 --> 00:12:31.866
  • To a horse show, i came down here, didn't know what i was
  • 00:12:31.866 --> 00:12:34.702
  • Coming to.
  • 00:12:34.702 --> 00:12:36.204
  • I stood because there weren't seats available, held him in my
  • 00:12:36.204 --> 00:12:40.241
  • Arms while we watched the horse show.
  • 00:12:40.241 --> 00:12:43.511
  • He wasn't very big.
  • 00:12:43.511 --> 00:12:45.814
  • But i'd begun scoping this place out since 1960.
  • 00:12:45.814 --> 00:12:51.419
  • We moved here in 1967, june 10, on our anniversary.
  • 00:12:51.419 --> 00:12:57.358
  • Allen: so you came here, you're christians two years, and you're
  • 00:12:57.358 --> 00:13:00.862
  • Here a few months and you start a bible study in your home.
  • 00:13:00.862 --> 00:13:05.066
  • You weren't like grizzled veterans with great experience,
  • 00:13:05.066 --> 00:13:08.002
  • Or your lives weren't perfect, i can testify to that part.
  • 00:13:08.002 --> 00:13:13.041
  • George: actually, what happened was through our relationships in
  • 00:13:13.041 --> 00:13:17.011
  • Florida, we'd met derek and lydia prince, and i invited them
  • 00:13:17.011 --> 00:13:22.250
  • To come--i'll make the story shorter--to come if they ever
  • 00:13:22.250 --> 00:13:26.855
  • Were going back to florida from chicago, spend the night with
  • 00:13:26.855 --> 00:13:31.359
  • Us, which they did one, and one of their trips through here,
  • 00:13:31.359 --> 00:13:36.631
  • Derek said to me, "i took your pastor to breakfast and i told
  • 00:13:36.631 --> 00:13:40.735
  • Him you were starting a bible study on thursday night."
  • 00:13:40.735 --> 00:13:44.305
  • Lydia said, "it's good you told him.
  • 00:13:44.305 --> 00:13:45.974
  • You'd about forgot."
  • 00:13:45.974 --> 00:13:47.775
  • And so then next thursday night we started a bible study.
  • 00:13:47.775 --> 00:13:52.113
  • I was highly educated.
  • 00:13:52.113 --> 00:13:53.648
  • I had a cd player--a cassette player.
  • 00:13:53.648 --> 00:13:56.618
  • And i put the cassette player on the kitchen table, pushed
  • 00:13:56.618 --> 00:14:00.722
  • P-l-a-y, and we listened to a cassette.
  • 00:14:00.722 --> 00:14:05.059
  • That's how we began.
  • 00:14:05.059 --> 00:14:09.731
  • Allen: hey, i wanna ask you a question.
  • 00:14:13.635 --> 00:14:15.336
  • How do you identify?
  • 00:14:15.336 --> 00:14:16.704
  • Male, female, southerner, educated, housewife?
  • 00:14:16.704 --> 00:14:20.141
  • How do you identify?
  • 00:14:20.141 --> 00:14:21.743
  • Well, i wanna suggest knowing your identity in christ is the
  • 00:14:21.743 --> 00:14:24.746
  • Most significant component of your person for both time
  • 00:14:24.746 --> 00:14:28.349
  • And eternity.
  • 00:14:28.349 --> 00:14:29.684
  • We put together a resource.
  • 00:14:29.684 --> 00:14:31.052
  • It's a new booklet.
  • 00:14:31.052 --> 00:14:32.387
  • It'll help you understand who you are in christ, your identity
  • 00:14:32.387 --> 00:14:34.789
  • In the kingdom of god, and what the implications of that are for
  • 00:14:34.789 --> 00:14:37.692
  • Your life today.
  • 00:14:37.692 --> 00:14:39.160
  • It's a game changer.
  • 00:14:39.160 --> 00:14:40.595
  • I believe it'll be a blessing to you and to your family.
  • 00:14:40.595 --> 00:14:44.198
  • Female announcer: every day, the world tries to define who we
  • 00:14:44.198 --> 00:14:46.701
  • Are, what we should believe, and whether we're enough.
  • 00:14:46.701 --> 00:14:49.771
  • But god's word tells a different story.
  • 00:14:49.771 --> 00:14:52.140
  • In pastor allen's new book, "your identity in christ: 12
  • 00:14:52.140 --> 00:14:55.777
  • Truths about who you are," he shares biblical truths that will
  • 00:14:55.777 --> 00:14:59.047
  • Help you recognize who you are in christ.
  • 00:14:59.047 --> 00:15:01.683
  • Request your book and free companion card today with your
  • 00:15:01.683 --> 00:15:04.552
  • Gift of any amount at allenjackson.com, or
  • 00:15:04.552 --> 00:15:07.956
  • Call 800-880-5102.
  • 00:15:07.956 --> 00:15:11.159
  • Allen: but there were some principles that were kind of
  • 00:15:14.295 --> 00:15:17.098
  • Baked in back in the day that are still present today, because
  • 00:15:17.098 --> 00:15:21.402
  • Of mom's healing and how you came to faith, kind of outside
  • 00:15:21.402 --> 00:15:26.240
  • The structure of organized church.
  • 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:30.178
  • You had a conviction that god would change lives, whether he
  • 00:15:30.178 --> 00:15:33.314
  • Would heal a body or heal a marriage, or put a family back
  • 00:15:33.314 --> 00:15:37.952
  • On course, because what we had, you had achieved some academic
  • 00:15:37.952 --> 00:15:41.823
  • Success and some professional success.
  • 00:15:41.823 --> 00:15:44.625
  • There was still room for some course correction.
  • 00:15:44.625 --> 00:15:47.795
  • And i think those things are still--they are the story that's
  • 00:15:47.795 --> 00:15:51.499
  • Still told in the lives of the people here.
  • 00:15:51.499 --> 00:15:53.935
  • They may not know your story, but they're still
  • 00:15:53.935 --> 00:15:55.636
  • Telling--extending those invitations to people to be
  • 00:15:55.636 --> 00:15:58.506
  • Changed by the power of the gospel, which feels like the dna
  • 00:15:58.506 --> 00:16:02.610
  • From the kingdom that you--god put into your life
  • 00:16:02.610 --> 00:16:07.081
  • Once upon a time.
  • 00:16:07.081 --> 00:16:10.485
  • George: well, by the grace of god, we cared for people, and
  • 00:16:10.485 --> 00:16:14.222
  • That was the bottom line for world outreach.
  • 00:16:14.222 --> 00:16:17.325
  • I mean, if we had that other two hours allen's talking about, he
  • 00:16:17.325 --> 00:16:22.597
  • Could tell you some of the stories of the people that were
  • 00:16:22.597 --> 00:16:25.733
  • In that initial 29 people.
  • 00:16:25.733 --> 00:16:29.270
  • They all had a story.
  • 00:16:29.270 --> 00:16:31.239
  • Now, there's one lady, still comes to the church, comes to
  • 00:16:31.239 --> 00:16:34.242
  • Bible study, that came to the motel where we met first, that's
  • 00:16:34.242 --> 00:16:40.715
  • Still in the church.
  • 00:16:40.715 --> 00:16:42.850
  • I won't embarrass him, but there's--here this morning, i
  • 00:16:42.850 --> 00:16:46.220
  • Saw him already, a horse trainer who was the son of a horse
  • 00:16:46.220 --> 00:16:51.292
  • Trainer that i had an interaction with, his dad.
  • 00:16:51.292 --> 00:16:58.332
  • He knew what i believed.
  • 00:16:58.332 --> 00:16:59.801
  • And betty and i were out, i've heard, traveling to missouri or
  • 00:16:59.801 --> 00:17:04.772
  • Someplace one time, and i got a phone call.
  • 00:17:04.772 --> 00:17:09.644
  • And it was from this guy's dad that's here today.
  • 00:17:09.644 --> 00:17:14.182
  • He was traveling across southern texas.
  • 00:17:14.182 --> 00:17:18.753
  • He said, "doc, i just want you to know i've come to know jesus,
  • 00:17:18.753 --> 00:17:24.525
  • And he's real in my life."
  • 00:17:24.525 --> 00:17:26.994
  • And so, we just cared for the people that were involved in
  • 00:17:26.994 --> 00:17:32.433
  • Our lives.
  • 00:17:32.433 --> 00:17:33.768
  • We didn't go out and try and reach beyond where we lived, but
  • 00:17:33.768 --> 00:17:38.840
  • There's enough people in your life that need to know what you
  • 00:17:38.840 --> 00:17:44.278
  • Already know that it'll make a difference.
  • 00:17:44.278 --> 00:17:48.416
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:17:48.416 --> 00:17:53.387
  • Allen: there's one more piece and then i'm gonna ask you to
  • 00:17:53.387 --> 00:17:55.656
  • Pray for the dads.
  • 00:17:55.656 --> 00:17:57.959
  • But your childhood wasn't simple.
  • 00:17:57.959 --> 00:18:00.228
  • Your mom died when you were two weeks old, and you lived for a
  • 00:18:00.228 --> 00:18:03.664
  • While with grandparents, and then your dad remarried, and you
  • 00:18:03.664 --> 00:18:06.400
  • Had a stepmom and two stepbrothers, and so there was
  • 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:09.770
  • More trauma in that season than would be preferred.
  • 00:18:09.770 --> 00:18:14.308
  • But because of that, you have always had a compassion for
  • 00:18:14.308 --> 00:18:16.577
  • Children and families, even when the church was small, that was,
  • 00:18:16.577 --> 00:18:22.183
  • Whatever the space--whatever the best resources we had, and when
  • 00:18:22.183 --> 00:18:25.620
  • The church was small, there weren't very many resources, we
  • 00:18:25.620 --> 00:18:28.756
  • Would direct those towards the children and those
  • 00:18:28.756 --> 00:18:30.691
  • Young families.
  • 00:18:30.691 --> 00:18:32.493
  • You know, i think you still carry that passion today.
  • 00:18:32.493 --> 00:18:35.029
  • I watch you, when you're around this place, there's usually kids
  • 00:18:35.029 --> 00:18:38.766
  • And young families, and you wanted to bring two up here
  • 00:18:38.766 --> 00:18:41.836
  • This morning.
  • 00:18:41.836 --> 00:18:43.237
  • George: yeah, yeah, i've got several young people of multiple
  • 00:18:43.237 --> 00:18:49.577
  • Ages that call me grandpa george, and that's what you got
  • 00:18:49.577 --> 00:18:55.416
  • To get in your life: people.
  • 00:18:55.416 --> 00:19:01.255
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:19:01.255 --> 00:19:08.362
  • Allen: i think if i could--i guess i have to.
  • 00:19:08.362 --> 00:19:12.233
  • But the bow around it really is what he's said to you several
  • 00:19:12.233 --> 00:19:16.070
  • Times now, is people matter.
  • 00:19:16.070 --> 00:19:18.739
  • And then the part that's easy to miss--it's fun to, you know, you
  • 00:19:18.739 --> 00:19:21.342
  • Tell the story today with a church filled with people and
  • 00:19:21.342 --> 00:19:25.179
  • All those things that you can see, but along the way, it
  • 00:19:25.179 --> 00:19:27.882
  • Didn't feel fun.
  • 00:19:27.882 --> 00:19:30.384
  • I won't speak for my brothers.
  • 00:19:30.384 --> 00:19:32.486
  • I can speak for myself.
  • 00:19:32.486 --> 00:19:33.854
  • I was not always thrilled at the people they kept making
  • 00:19:33.854 --> 00:19:36.057
  • Time for.
  • 00:19:36.057 --> 00:19:37.925
  • They would bring them in our home.
  • 00:19:37.925 --> 00:19:40.628
  • We would wake up in the morning and there were people sleeping
  • 00:19:40.628 --> 00:19:42.663
  • On the sofa that we didn't know, and weapons laying on the
  • 00:19:42.663 --> 00:19:45.299
  • Kitchen table that didn't belong to any of us.
  • 00:19:45.299 --> 00:19:49.837
  • And, you know, it was like the island of misfit toys.
  • 00:19:49.837 --> 00:19:55.509
  • And when it was holidays, they would want to invite all those
  • 00:19:55.509 --> 00:19:57.945
  • People to the holidays to have thanksgiving with us.
  • 00:19:57.945 --> 00:20:02.183
  • You know, they would always introduce you in such a positive
  • 00:20:02.183 --> 00:20:04.785
  • Way, "wouldn't you like to have...?"
  • 00:20:04.785 --> 00:20:07.722
  • And the answer was, "no, we wouldn't like to have."
  • 00:20:07.722 --> 00:20:13.127
  • But we would usually find some way to--
  • 00:20:13.127 --> 00:20:16.397
  • But through that, we did learn that people matter.
  • 00:20:16.397 --> 00:20:20.468
  • And then we saw people's lives change, and it was that passion
  • 00:20:20.468 --> 00:20:25.306
  • In them that affected my brothers and myself and our
  • 00:20:25.306 --> 00:20:28.976
  • Families, and have really given expression through your lives in
  • 00:20:28.976 --> 00:20:34.181
  • This community.
  • 00:20:34.181 --> 00:20:35.783
  • When you volunteer and you come to character quest and you serve
  • 00:20:35.783 --> 00:20:38.653
  • Those students, or you help on the weekends with the nurseries
  • 00:20:38.653 --> 00:20:42.256
  • And the children, or you do all the things that a church is
  • 00:20:42.256 --> 00:20:44.558
  • About, you know, i stand on the side and i watch and i think, i
  • 00:20:44.558 --> 00:20:49.630
  • Still sometimes inside of me think, "no!"
  • 00:20:49.630 --> 00:20:55.036
  • And i realize the spirit of god is still moving through your
  • 00:20:55.036 --> 00:20:58.072
  • Life, so i think my encouragement to you would be,
  • 00:20:58.072 --> 00:21:01.876
  • It isn't because your family's perfect.
  • 00:21:01.876 --> 00:21:04.178
  • And it isn't because everybody in your home is cheering.
  • 00:21:04.178 --> 00:21:07.548
  • Parents, teach your kids to seek god.
  • 00:21:07.548 --> 00:21:11.185
  • We have to be different from a secular culture.
  • 00:21:11.185 --> 00:21:14.555
  • And that difference isn't about where you sit on the weekend.
  • 00:21:14.555 --> 00:21:16.590
  • We sat in church every weekend, and i couldn't have spelled god
  • 00:21:16.590 --> 00:21:19.493
  • If you'd have given me a g and an o, but once my parents got to
  • 00:21:19.493 --> 00:21:25.700
  • Know the lord, our home changed so dramatically that it began to
  • 00:21:25.700 --> 00:21:30.438
  • Reframe how we all understood the world we lived in.
  • 00:21:30.438 --> 00:21:34.775
  • And i would encourage you to seek the lord in your homes, a
  • 00:21:34.775 --> 00:21:38.846
  • Meal a week at your table.
  • 00:21:38.846 --> 00:21:40.915
  • Read your bibles, pray.
  • 00:21:40.915 --> 00:21:43.751
  • Your families aren't perfect, your family systems
  • 00:21:43.751 --> 00:21:46.153
  • Aren't perfect.
  • 00:21:46.153 --> 00:21:47.822
  • We've shared the polite part of ours that wasn't perfect.
  • 00:21:47.822 --> 00:21:52.693
  • But in the midst of all of our brokenness, god moves, and he
  • 00:21:52.693 --> 00:21:55.963
  • Still is, amen?
  • 00:21:55.963 --> 00:21:58.299
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:21:58.299 --> 00:22:00.368
  • I fully expect what you can see to be woc today to be the seed
  • 00:22:00.368 --> 00:22:06.607
  • Of what god will do next, because he's gonna use
  • 00:22:06.607 --> 00:22:10.177
  • Your lives.
  • 00:22:10.177 --> 00:22:12.113
  • We're not coming in here to do the right thing and be polite.
  • 00:22:12.113 --> 00:22:15.850
  • We're coming because we believe god changes lives, and we want
  • 00:22:15.850 --> 00:22:18.419
  • To see that extended to another generation, amen?
  • 00:22:18.419 --> 00:22:23.023
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:22:23.023 --> 00:22:25.793
  • If he'll do this because a veterinarian, you know, in
  • 00:22:25.793 --> 00:22:29.764
  • Between chasing horses and cows through the field.
  • 00:22:29.764 --> 00:22:32.466
  • You wanna see somebody lose the love of jesus, watch him chase a
  • 00:22:32.466 --> 00:22:34.969
  • Cow through the field.
  • 00:22:34.969 --> 00:22:36.404
  • [congregation laughing]
  • 00:22:36.404 --> 00:22:41.575
  • If there would have been cell phones and we could have
  • 00:22:41.575 --> 00:22:43.611
  • Recorded that, you'd have never been a pastor.
  • 00:22:43.611 --> 00:22:45.346
  • [congregation laughing]
  • 00:22:45.346 --> 00:22:48.516
  • George: yeah, phillip can remember the time we were in a
  • 00:22:48.582 --> 00:22:52.186
  • Catch pen and we were trying to catch him.
  • 00:22:52.186 --> 00:22:57.057
  • I think with our cows, we'd run up, but anyway, i hit a moist,
  • 00:22:57.057 --> 00:23:01.228
  • Slick place, and i don't know why he would laugh, but--
  • 00:23:01.228 --> 00:23:10.604
  • But no, what i wanna tell you, what you're doing will last,
  • 00:23:10.604 --> 00:23:15.509
  • Because there is a god.
  • 00:23:15.509 --> 00:23:17.912
  • And the truth is a spiritual realm, don't think of it--of
  • 00:23:17.912 --> 00:23:22.082
  • What you can think through with your head.
  • 00:23:22.082 --> 00:23:24.251
  • There is a spiritual realm.
  • 00:23:24.251 --> 00:23:26.587
  • The first couple that came to our house the night we said we
  • 00:23:26.587 --> 00:23:30.958
  • Would have a bible study, and i played a cassette tape, his son
  • 00:23:30.958 --> 00:23:37.698
  • Has been working in this church with youth since genesis was
  • 00:23:37.698 --> 00:23:43.471
  • First built, and he was in the motel with his parents also.
  • 00:23:43.471 --> 00:23:48.843
  • But there are people here that you'll see, you'll change their
  • 00:23:48.843 --> 00:23:53.180
  • Life, they'll stay with it for years and years and years.
  • 00:23:53.180 --> 00:23:58.352
  • You have no idea the difference you'll make.
  • 00:23:58.352 --> 00:24:01.255
  • But your kids are only gonna be probably what they see you--i'm
  • 00:24:01.255 --> 00:24:05.926
  • Talking to you younger folks, all the old ones huddled down
  • 00:24:05.926 --> 00:24:09.296
  • Here in the front.
  • 00:24:09.296 --> 00:24:13.467
  • What they see you do, that's what they're gonna become.
  • 00:24:13.467 --> 00:24:18.606
  • Forget trying to tell them.
  • 00:24:18.606 --> 00:24:20.174
  • I've tried it, it doesn't work.
  • 00:24:20.174 --> 00:24:24.311
  • Be what you want them to be.
  • 00:24:24.311 --> 00:24:27.248
  • Show them what it is to be a man of god.
  • 00:24:27.248 --> 00:24:29.884
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:24:29.884 --> 00:24:33.854
  • Allen: well, thank you.
  • 00:24:33.854 --> 00:24:35.189
  • Thank you for your vision and the sacrifices you made to let
  • 00:24:35.189 --> 00:24:38.225
  • This place get a good start.
  • 00:24:38.225 --> 00:24:41.395
  • Can you pray for us? why don't you stand with us.
  • 00:24:41.395 --> 00:24:44.999
  • You wanna pray for the fathers and families?
  • 00:24:44.999 --> 00:24:48.369
  • George: okay.
  • 00:24:48.369 --> 00:24:49.703
  • Allen: i asked him if he'd pray for fathers and families.
  • 00:24:49.703 --> 00:24:51.171
  • Does that seem appropriate?
  • 00:24:51.171 --> 00:24:53.340
  • If you're here with family, you want to join hands?
  • 00:24:53.340 --> 00:24:55.876
  • Yeah, you don't have to hold a stranger's hand today.
  • 00:24:55.876 --> 00:24:58.445
  • You're forgi--you're released from that.
  • 00:24:58.445 --> 00:25:01.515
  • But if you're family--they'll at least hold your hand while we
  • 00:25:01.515 --> 00:25:04.752
  • Pray at church.
  • 00:25:04.752 --> 00:25:06.120
  • It'll be okay.
  • 00:25:06.120 --> 00:25:10.324
  • George: heavenly father, we come in the name of your son, jesus,
  • 00:25:10.324 --> 00:25:14.562
  • Our messiah.
  • 00:25:14.562 --> 00:25:16.564
  • And may he always be the lord of our lives.
  • 00:25:16.564 --> 00:25:21.001
  • Lord, each one of us knows what we need, but more than that, we
  • 00:25:21.001 --> 00:25:27.308
  • Receive what you have for us.
  • 00:25:27.308 --> 00:25:29.710
  • In the days ahead, we choose to follow you, we choose obedience.
  • 00:25:29.710 --> 00:25:35.816
  • Lord, we move forward without fear, but with confidence,
  • 00:25:35.816 --> 00:25:39.620
  • Knowing of the reality and the power of the holy spirit.
  • 00:25:39.620 --> 00:25:45.292
  • May we be sensitive to follow your leading.
  • 00:25:45.292 --> 00:25:51.298
  • May our lives reflect the truth of the scripture, the power of
  • 00:25:51.298 --> 00:25:58.172
  • The holy spirit, and the love of god, in jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:25:58.172 --> 00:26:05.145
  • Allen: thank you. happy father's day.
  • 00:26:05.145 --> 00:26:07.181
  • [congregation applauding]
  • 00:26:07.181 --> 00:26:12.052
  • God bless you and happy father's day.
  • 00:26:12.052 --> 00:26:17.825
  • Announcer: everywhere we turn, someone is telling us who we
  • 00:26:22.029 --> 00:26:24.565
  • Should be, how we should look, and what we should believe.
  • 00:26:24.565 --> 00:26:28.335
  • It's no wonder so many of us feel isolated, uncertain,
  • 00:26:28.335 --> 00:26:32.339
  • Confused, and like we're not enough.
  • 00:26:32.339 --> 00:26:35.242
  • But god has a different message.
  • 00:26:35.242 --> 00:26:37.544
  • You are chosen, loved, accepted, and redeemed.
  • 00:26:37.544 --> 00:26:42.016
  • And as you more fully understand how god sees you, it will change
  • 00:26:42.016 --> 00:26:45.753
  • How you see yourself, how you see god, and how you live
  • 00:26:45.753 --> 00:26:49.156
  • Your life.
  • 00:26:49.156 --> 00:26:50.524
  • In "your identity in christ: 12 truths about who you are,"
  • 00:26:50.524 --> 00:26:54.194
  • Pastor allen jackson shares the unchanging truth of god's word.
  • 00:26:54.194 --> 00:26:58.532
  • From isolation to belonging, from doubt to confidence,
  • 00:26:58.532 --> 00:27:03.003
  • Discover your identity in him.
  • 00:27:03.003 --> 00:27:05.773
  • You or someone you know needs the encouragement, truth, and
  • 00:27:05.773 --> 00:27:09.677
  • Freedom found in this book.
  • 00:27:09.677 --> 00:27:13.814
  • Request yours today when you donate any amount at
  • 00:27:13.814 --> 00:27:16.250
  • Allenjackson.com, or call 800-880-5102.
  • 00:27:16.250 --> 00:27:26.894