Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
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#Matthew 13:36-41
#Ecclesiates 2:10-11
#Psalm 84:10
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Allen Jackson Ministries | Lest We Forget Part 2 | November 13, 2021
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- Allen Jackson: It's good to be with you again.
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- We're working on this series about America, the church in
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- America, and in this session particularly, we can't afford to
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- forget our heritage.
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- We have a wonderful heritage of faith, from the people who
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- founded our nation, to the great reforms that have come to our
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- nation around children's rights, and women's rights, and
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- civil rights.
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- The world has benefited from the impact of Christianity upon us
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- as a people.
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- Now, our story is not perfect, but no nation has a
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- perfect story.
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- It's not to excuse our shortcomings, they need to be
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- addressed and improved, and we have to be honest about them,
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- but I believe we have to respect the blessings that God has
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- brought to us and be grateful for those, or we'll forfeit
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- our future.
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- It's also important that we be aware of that heritage.
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- If we're not, we're easily manipulated by people with an
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- agenda that would deny it or set it aside.
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- We have a heritage as a Christian people, and I refuse
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- to give it up, and I don't want you to yield on that, either.
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- Grab your Bible and a notepad, let's listen to what God has
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- for us.
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- Allen: Well, God's instructions are very plain.
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- They haven't been changed.
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- I gave you the passage from Deuteronomy chapter 5. In verse
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- 6, the Lord said, "I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of
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- Egypt, out of the land of slavery," and then he begins to
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- list the decalogue, the Ten Commandments.
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- Now, I won't read you all those verses, but I didn't bring you
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- the summary of the Ten Commandments.
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- They're all spelled out in those verses with a little more
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- detail, a little bit of commentary.
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- It's worth your time to read at your leisure.
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- The first commandment, "You shall have no other gods
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- before me."
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- I don't believe it's an accident that's where God began.
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- He said he's a jealous God.
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- He will tolerate no pretenders.
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- He will not accept the place in the pantheon, in a collection
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- of gods.
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- It's a very important principle.
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- The Christian faith was very sorely challenge when it was
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- just emerging in the first century.
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- The Romans were not exclusive, they had a whole collection
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- of gods.
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- Roman culture was adopted from Greek culture, and the Greeks, I
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- suspect you know a bit about that, but as the Romans
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- conquered other peoples, they would simply incorporate the
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- gods of those people into the Roman collection.
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- It became to be known as the pantheon.
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- And when Christianity began to emerge from amongst Judaism,
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- Christianity began as a sect within Judaism, a subset of
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- Judaism, and as that happened, then it made its way into the
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- awareness of the Roman leaders.
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- The early Christians were given a choice.
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- This Jesus that you worship can be included in our pantheon.
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- There would've been no persecution.
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- When they had the first church council and the leaders came
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- from the various cities around the empire, when they showed up
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- for the council, most of them showed up physically maimed.
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- They'd either had their Achilles tendons cut, or an eye put out,
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- a common form of persecution if you said you were Christian.
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- They could have avoided all of that.
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- They could have avoided the martyrdom.
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- They could've avoided their time in the Coliseum being eaten by
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- wild animals.
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- All they would've had to have done is said yes, absolutely,
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- just put Jesus in the group.
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- But they understood if they had conceded to that request, that
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- we wouldn't be worshiping on weekends today.
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- The second commandment, "You shall not make for yourself
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- an idol.
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- You shall not bow down to them and you shall not worship them."
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- Now, most of us wouldn't think of bowing down to something
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- carved out of wood or formed out of metal, but worship is about
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- more than bending the knee to a physical statue.
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- Worship is really about priority.
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- I can tell you what you worship if you give me a little time
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- with your calendar and your cash flow.
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- It'll be very apparent what you worship.
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- And God's very clear.
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- He said, "You cannot make for yourself an idol.
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- You can't worship anything before me."
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- I've said to you many times we're not hyphenated
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- Christ followers.
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- We don't put anything before that.
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- We are Christ followers first and then every other distinction
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- of our lives comes after that.
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- The New Testament says in Christ we're neither male nor female,
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- slave nor free, Jew nor Greek.
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- All those labels are secondary.
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- We are in Christ first.
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- I don't want to try to imagine Jesus in my image, I want to try
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- to become more like him.
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- It's a distraction to try to imagine him in your image.
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- I've got to let him be formed in me.
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- The third commandment is, "You shall not misuse the name of the
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- Lord Your God," and that's a lot more than profanity.
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- That we will use the authority of our words to give honor
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- to God.
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- We just finished reading the book of Job together, not
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- everybody in that book did well on that assignment, and God took
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- 'em to task for it.
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- The fourth commandment is, "Observe the Sabbath day by
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- keeping it holy."
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- It was a challenge when Jesus came, because they'd taken that
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- commandment and they had used it to bring control to the people
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- of God.
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- Jesus said it wasn't made to control the people, you've
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- perverted it.
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- You'll help your ox or a donkey on the Sabbath because you've
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- got a financial investment in them, but you won't help people.
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- And he was constantly challenging their Sabbath rules
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- as being off target.
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- It's easy for us to drift off target.
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- We're not the first generation to be here.
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- So I don't want you to be offended, I don't want there to
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- be a sense of shame or embarrassment.
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- It's like a sense of relief when the Spirit of God begins to
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- gently nudge us, to shake us, to say you've lost your way, let me
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- help you back on the path.
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- We don't wanna stubbornly, like belligerent children, ball our
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- fist, and clench our teeth, and say I'm not listening.
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- We want to cooperate with the Lord, say thank you that you
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- would help us.
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- We weren't paying attention.
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- We haven't been watching over our schools.
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- We haven't been watching over the unborn.
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- We haven't been watching over marriage.
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- We haven't been watching over our culture.
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- We haven't been teaching our children to work.
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- We've been interested in other things.
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- God, we're sorry.
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- Thank you that you would help us.
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- Let's not be stubborn.
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- Let's not become entrenched.
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- That's a very dangerous place.
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- When God begins to invite us, gently, to convict us, and to
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- draw us to himself, we wanna be tender of heart.
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- Observe the Sabbath day, keep it holy.
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- Number five, "Honor your father and mother."
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- Honor your father and mother.
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- They're not the government's responsibility.
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- It's not about age.
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- It's not about them being perfect.
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- All of our families are a little torqued, admittedly some more
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- than others, but the truth is God is sovereign over that
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- decision, too.
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- And I trust that his grace and his power is sufficient to lead
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- us through whatever brokenness has touched our families.
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- Our assignment is to give honor to our parents.
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- That doesn't age out.
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- If they're already gone, if they've stepped into eternity,
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- you still have an assignment to honor them.
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- Number six, "You shall not murder."
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- Number seven, "You shall not commit adultery."
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- I don't believe God's changed his mind.
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- Do you know how far we've drifted?
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- I've been thinking about this for weeks, and I'll tell you,
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- it's troubling to me, the messaging that comes to us that
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- has a presentation of morality apart from a biblical worldview.
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- An attitude towards human sexuality apart from a
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- biblical worldview.
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- The number of programs we watch, the music that we listen to, the
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- things that we're told that introduce sexual activity
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- outside of the biblical presentation of that.
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- Whether it's premarital sexual activity, the big biblical word
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- for that's fornication, or it's sexual activity beyond your
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- marriage, adultery.
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- The number of messages that comes to us, we've become
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- anesthetized to it.
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- You have heroes, and programs you're watching, things we
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- listen to, we've just totally--it's as if it's not
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- happening around us.
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- Do you understand the impact that has upon us and
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- our children?
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- I don't have a simple solution, but I'm telling you
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- it's destructive.
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- We have drifted, folks, we have forgotten God.
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- We've done exactly what we were warned about, not just
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- in Deuteronomy.
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- Solzhenitsyn tried to get our attention.
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- He said 60 million of us died because we'd forgotten God.
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- "You shall not steal."
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- You can't steal, folks.
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- I'm concerned about our attitude as the government is
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- our provider.
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- The government doesn't have resources.
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- They don't make money.
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- They print a lot, but they're expecting us to pay it back.
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- They don't create value, people do that, and we take those
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- resources that somebody else has earned and working for.
- 00:10:03.958 --> 00:10:11.032
- "You shall not give false testimony against
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- your neighbor."
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- It's not spinning, it's not an opinion, you can't lie about one
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- another, it's important.
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- "You shall not covet," and it says specifically, "Your
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- neighbor's wife, your neighbor's house, your neighbor's land,
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- your neighbor's livestock."
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- We can't look at what other people have and go, "I
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- want that.
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- I deserve that.
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- They must have done something wrong to have that, because I'm
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- certainly as deserving as they are.
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- I want one of those."
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- God said we can't do that.
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- This list isn't about somebody else, this is about us.
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- And again, I want you--it's important, we're not the first
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- generation to lose our bearings.
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- But not every generation will correct their course.
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- We want to be one of those generations.
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- We wanna be Gideon's generation, where Gideon went out and cut
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- down the altars in the high places, and the Asherah poles,
- 00:11:11.425 --> 00:11:14.962
- and God gave him a tremendous victory.
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- We want to be like the Ninevites when Jonah walked through the
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- city and said in 40 days, you're toast, and they humbled
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- themselves before the Lord, amen?
- 00:11:23.871 --> 00:11:31.312
- Allen: Hey, this is Pastor Allen, and we're living through
- 00:11:35.449 --> 00:11:37.618
- a storm season.
- 00:11:37.618 --> 00:11:38.953
- We have hurricanes in the Gulf, we have abandoned Americans in
- 00:11:38.953 --> 00:11:42.823
- Afghanistan, we have wildfires in California.
- 00:11:42.823 --> 00:11:44.859
- It seems everywhere you look across our nation or around the
- 00:11:44.859 --> 00:11:48.329
- world, there's a storm of some sort.
- 00:11:48.329 --> 00:11:50.865
- We've put some tools together that I believe will be a
- 00:11:50.865 --> 00:11:53.501
- tremendous resource for you in this season.
- 00:11:53.501 --> 00:11:56.337
- It begins with our book, "Intentional Faith."
- 00:11:56.337 --> 00:11:58.806
- It's a very simple premise, but it's a very powerful tool in
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- our lives.
- 00:12:02.476 --> 00:12:03.811
- If we don't intend for an outcome, it's very improbable
- 00:12:03.811 --> 00:12:06.447
- we'll achieve it.
- 00:12:06.447 --> 00:12:07.782
- You know, most of us would be happy if we lost five pounds,
- 00:12:07.782 --> 00:12:10.251
- but unless we intend to do something about it, I'm not
- 00:12:10.251 --> 00:12:12.119
- gonna wake up thinner tomorrow.
- 00:12:12.119 --> 00:12:13.988
- I have to change my diet and my exercise habits.
- 00:12:13.988 --> 00:12:16.690
- Well, we would probably like more spiritual freedom, or more
- 00:12:16.690 --> 00:12:19.560
- spiritual stability, or freedom from worry or anxiety, but we
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- need a pathway to get there.
- 00:12:23.731 --> 00:12:25.766
- Well, that's the point of this book, ten simple ideas that if
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- you'll implement in your life will help cultivate a set of
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- patterns that will bring us to a place of stability and freedom
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- in the Lord.
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- We'll do it together.
- 00:12:37.745 --> 00:12:39.079
- I even built a tool to go along with it, its 100 days of faith,
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- videos and emails.
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- It's 100-day devotional, I will join you.
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- We'll spend a few moments together every day taking
- 00:12:45.920 --> 00:12:48.289
- another step to secure God's best and his blessings for
- 00:12:48.289 --> 00:12:52.259
- our lives.
- 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:53.594
- We even added a journal to it, so you can keep a record of what
- 00:12:53.594 --> 00:12:56.163
- God is doing in your life.
- 00:12:56.163 --> 00:12:58.365
- Here's the notion, we can't keep doing the thing we've always
- 00:12:58.365 --> 00:13:01.068
- been doing and expect a better outcome, that's insanity, and we
- 00:13:01.068 --> 00:13:04.205
- all understand it.
- 00:13:04.205 --> 00:13:05.573
- We can't wish evil away.
- 00:13:05.573 --> 00:13:07.942
- I talk to lots of people and everybody says the same thing
- 00:13:07.942 --> 00:13:10.344
- to me.
- 00:13:10.344 --> 00:13:11.679
- What can I do in the midst of this crazy season with COVID and
- 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:14.682
- all the manipulation we see from so many places?
- 00:13:14.682 --> 00:13:17.718
- Well, we can make a decision to intentionally seek God as
- 00:13:17.718 --> 00:13:20.621
- never before.
- 00:13:20.621 --> 00:13:21.956
- Get a copy of "Intentional Faith," make a journey of 100
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- days of faith with me, keep a journal of what God is doing,
- 00:13:25.226 --> 00:13:29.029
- and we'll be in a new place in the season ahead.
- 00:13:29.029 --> 00:13:32.299
- God bless you.
- 00:13:32.299 --> 00:13:34.101
- female announcer: Discover a deeper level of hope and freedom
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- faith, your relationships, your community, and your life.
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- Together, we are making a difference.
- 00:14:32.259 --> 00:14:36.163
- Allen: Jesus told a parable about the wheat and the tares.
- 00:14:36.230 --> 00:14:40.200
- I think you'll remember the story.
- 00:14:40.200 --> 00:14:41.535
- It's about a man that had a field planted with wheat, and
- 00:14:41.535 --> 00:14:44.738
- when the crop came up, both the wheat and the weeds were in
- 00:14:44.738 --> 00:14:48.208
- the field.
- 00:14:48.208 --> 00:14:49.710
- And while they looked similar, the primary difference was the
- 00:14:49.710 --> 00:14:52.513
- weeds didn't bear fruit.
- 00:14:52.513 --> 00:14:55.549
- And when they were alone, when the disciples asked for the
- 00:14:55.549 --> 00:14:57.918
- explanation of that.
- 00:14:57.918 --> 00:15:00.287
- It's in Matthew 13.
- 00:15:00.287 --> 00:15:01.655
- "The crowd left and they went into the house.
- 00:15:01.655 --> 00:15:03.324
- The disciples said, 'Explain the parable of the weeds in
- 00:15:03.324 --> 00:15:06.427
- the field.'
- 00:15:06.427 --> 00:15:08.028
- And Jesus said," many of you remember this.
- 00:15:08.028 --> 00:15:10.297
- "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man and the field
- 00:15:10.297 --> 00:15:13.267
- is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of
- 00:15:13.267 --> 00:15:15.569
- the kingdom.
- 00:15:15.569 --> 00:15:16.904
- The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows
- 00:15:16.904 --> 00:15:20.074
- them is the devil.
- 00:15:20.074 --> 00:15:21.542
- And the harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters
- 00:15:21.542 --> 00:15:23.911
- are angels.
- 00:15:23.911 --> 00:15:25.245
- As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will
- 00:15:25.245 --> 00:15:27.748
- be at the end of the age.
- 00:15:27.748 --> 00:15:29.516
- The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out
- 00:15:29.516 --> 00:15:32.119
- of his kingdom everything that causes sin, and all who
- 00:15:32.119 --> 00:15:34.455
- do evil."
- 00:15:34.455 --> 00:15:36.623
- It's a pretty simple parable.
- 00:15:36.623 --> 00:15:38.158
- It's not overly complicated.
- 00:15:38.158 --> 00:15:40.027
- It's a parable of the end of the age.
- 00:15:40.027 --> 00:15:43.530
- At a casual glance at humanity and it'll look very similar.
- 00:15:43.530 --> 00:15:48.569
- Both the wheat and the weeds, the godly and the ungodly, it'll
- 00:15:48.569 --> 00:15:51.338
- take the angels to have the discernment to recognize
- 00:15:51.338 --> 00:15:54.441
- the difference.
- 00:15:54.441 --> 00:15:55.776
- The difference is one bear the fruit of the Spirit and
- 00:15:55.776 --> 00:15:57.911
- one don't.
- 00:15:57.911 --> 00:16:00.748
- This is not optional.
- 00:16:00.748 --> 00:16:02.116
- So, Jesus is giving us a snapshot of the end of the age.
- 00:16:02.116 --> 00:16:05.986
- That there is a prevailing message that there'll be very
- 00:16:05.986 --> 00:16:08.222
- little visible difference between godliness
- 00:16:08.222 --> 00:16:10.190
- and ungodliness.
- 00:16:10.190 --> 00:16:11.959
- It's a warning to us.
- 00:16:11.959 --> 00:16:14.628
- It's not just a warning about ultimate judgment, it's a
- 00:16:14.628 --> 00:16:16.964
- warning about living at the end of the age.
- 00:16:16.964 --> 00:16:20.134
- It's the prevailing model within the church, I would submit to
- 00:16:20.134 --> 00:16:23.437
- you right now.
- 00:16:23.437 --> 00:16:24.972
- Little significance to ungodliness.
- 00:16:24.972 --> 00:16:27.541
- If something makes me happy it can't be wrong.
- 00:16:27.541 --> 00:16:32.813
- After all, I can say I'm sorry.
- 00:16:32.813 --> 00:16:36.850
- Quick repentance is presented as a means of
- 00:16:36.850 --> 00:16:39.219
- canceling consequences.
- 00:16:39.219 --> 00:16:42.523
- Not significant grief over disobedience, not a brokenness
- 00:16:42.523 --> 00:16:45.993
- because of our stubborn, unrepentant hearts, just kind of
- 00:16:45.993 --> 00:16:49.363
- a catch.
- 00:16:49.363 --> 00:16:50.697
- Oh, you know, I'm sorry, and we treat the sacrifice of Jesus in
- 00:16:50.697 --> 00:16:53.767
- such a casual way, it concerns me.
- 00:16:53.767 --> 00:16:57.905
- Again, we're not the first generation with the struggle.
- 00:16:57.905 --> 00:17:00.974
- The question in the balance is what will be said of
- 00:17:00.974 --> 00:17:03.477
- this generation?
- 00:17:03.477 --> 00:17:04.845
- What is our future to be?
- 00:17:04.845 --> 00:17:06.914
- Who are we becoming?
- 00:17:06.914 --> 00:17:08.949
- And the weight of this messaging is almost crushing.
- 00:17:08.949 --> 00:17:14.121
- That there's really not that big a difference between the Christ
- 00:17:14.121 --> 00:17:16.890
- followers and everybody else.
- 00:17:16.890 --> 00:17:18.625
- Not that big a difference which religion, how you wanna worship,
- 00:17:18.625 --> 00:17:21.662
- what moral boundaries you put around it.
- 00:17:21.662 --> 00:17:23.497
- People say to me, "Well, you know, it's really hard."
- 00:17:23.497 --> 00:17:27.401
- Announcement, godliness is not easy.
- 00:17:27.401 --> 00:17:34.808
- Jesus came to earth with a God assignment.
- 00:17:34.808 --> 00:17:38.679
- Anybody think it was easy?
- 00:17:38.679 --> 00:17:41.582
- I certainly don't.
- 00:17:41.582 --> 00:17:43.417
- He recruited James, and John, and Peter, and the whole crew,
- 00:17:43.417 --> 00:17:46.687
- asked them to follow him.
- 00:17:46.687 --> 00:17:48.021
- It doesn't look like to me their life assignment was easy.
- 00:17:48.021 --> 00:17:51.258
- When he recruited Saul of Tarsus, he sent somebody to his
- 00:17:51.258 --> 00:17:54.094
- house to tell him how difficult the journey was gonna be.
- 00:17:54.094 --> 00:17:59.066
- Again, we've had kind of a bad, you know, I want to say the
- 00:17:59.066 --> 00:18:01.702
- sinners prayer, but after that, you need to make me comfortable.
- 00:18:01.702 --> 00:18:08.675
- King Solomon, one of the most celebrated of all the Israelite
- 00:18:08.675 --> 00:18:12.980
- kings, he's David's son.
- 00:18:12.980 --> 00:18:15.983
- I'm out of time, I can't read you those Scriptures.
- 00:18:15.983 --> 00:18:19.153
- Well, I could.
- 00:18:19.153 --> 00:18:25.759
- You know the story.
- 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:27.227
- You know the story and you have the Scriptures.
- 00:18:27.227 --> 00:18:29.062
- Solomon is King David's son, and he assumes the throne with
- 00:18:29.062 --> 00:18:37.171
- David's blessing.
- 00:18:37.171 --> 00:18:38.739
- Imagine that, having King David be your trainer.
- 00:18:38.739 --> 00:18:43.410
- And Solomon has the most remarkable run.
- 00:18:43.410 --> 00:18:47.848
- Gold and silver became so plentiful in Jerusalem during
- 00:18:47.848 --> 00:18:50.350
- Solomon's reign, they were treated like common stones.
- 00:18:50.350 --> 00:18:56.256
- But Solomon lost his way.
- 00:18:56.256 --> 00:18:58.692
- He veered off course.
- 00:18:58.692 --> 00:19:00.360
- There should be a warning to us, folks.
- 00:19:00.360 --> 00:19:02.663
- This story of Scripture is so consistent, time, after time,
- 00:19:02.663 --> 00:19:06.567
- after time, after time, after time.
- 00:19:06.567 --> 00:19:09.169
- Every generation has to make a choice.
- 00:19:09.169 --> 00:19:12.506
- Again, I'm not angry, I'm not condemning, I'm not saying we
- 00:19:12.506 --> 00:19:16.143
- have done something so egregious it's never happened before.
- 00:19:16.143 --> 00:19:19.680
- I'm telling you that the messaging of Scripture is a
- 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:22.182
- warning, flashing warning light to us.
- 00:19:22.182 --> 00:19:24.685
- Pay attention, don't forget.
- 00:19:24.685 --> 00:19:28.789
- We have to give attention to this.
- 00:19:28.789 --> 00:19:33.727
- We're reading the book of Ecclesiastes right now if you're
- 00:19:33.727 --> 00:19:37.464
- doing the Bible reading with us.
- 00:19:37.464 --> 00:19:39.433
- In Ecclesiastes 2 in verse 10, this is what Solomon says.
- 00:19:39.433 --> 00:19:42.269
- "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired.
- 00:19:42.269 --> 00:19:45.239
- I refused my heart no pleasure.
- 00:19:45.239 --> 00:19:47.774
- My heart took delight in all of my work, and this was the reward
- 00:19:47.774 --> 00:19:50.577
- for all of my labor.
- 00:19:50.577 --> 00:19:52.713
- Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done, and what I had
- 00:19:52.713 --> 00:19:55.148
- toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless.
- 00:19:55.148 --> 00:19:58.585
- A chasing after the wind.
- 00:19:58.585 --> 00:20:00.120
- Nothing was gained under the sun."
- 00:20:00.120 --> 00:20:04.057
- It sounds a whole lot like a contemporary American
- 00:20:04.057 --> 00:20:06.059
- success story.
- 00:20:06.059 --> 00:20:08.195
- Now, the phrase that defines the book of Ecclesiastes is "under
- 00:20:08.195 --> 00:20:11.965
- the sun."
- 00:20:11.965 --> 00:20:14.701
- Because as Solomon drifted further and further away from
- 00:20:14.701 --> 00:20:18.639
- the attitude of his father, he came to think of his life only
- 00:20:18.639 --> 00:20:21.842
- in terms of what was gonna happen under the sun, his days
- 00:20:21.842 --> 00:20:24.978
- on the earth.
- 00:20:24.978 --> 00:20:26.513
- He lost his God perspective.
- 00:20:26.513 --> 00:20:28.649
- He said, "I denied myself no pleasure."
- 00:20:28.649 --> 00:20:32.185
- And I had enough power that I accumulated a great deal.
- 00:20:32.185 --> 00:20:35.989
- I took delight in all the things I could build, and achieve and,
- 00:20:35.989 --> 00:20:38.892
- accomplish, but he said I have arrived at the conclusion that
- 00:20:38.892 --> 00:20:41.962
- it's just meaningless.
- 00:20:41.962 --> 00:20:44.197
- I can't take it with me.
- 00:20:44.197 --> 00:20:46.199
- Pleasure won't be satisfied, he said.
- 00:20:46.199 --> 00:20:49.736
- Now, he's the son of King David.
- 00:20:49.736 --> 00:20:51.238
- He inherited great wealth and power.
- 00:20:51.238 --> 00:20:53.874
- He began with tremendous momentum, but he drifted farther
- 00:20:53.874 --> 00:20:57.377
- and farther away from God.
- 00:20:57.377 --> 00:21:00.180
- Again, he's a warning to us.
- 00:21:00.180 --> 00:21:04.017
- Don't spend your years chasing things that won't bring
- 00:21:04.017 --> 00:21:06.653
- fulfillment, the Scriptures told us.
- 00:21:06.653 --> 00:21:11.591
- David had a very different perspective on life.
- 00:21:11.591 --> 00:21:14.261
- Psalm 84 in verse 10, he said, "Better is one day in your
- 00:21:14.261 --> 00:21:17.130
- courts than a thousand elsewhere.
- 00:21:17.130 --> 00:21:21.068
- I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell
- 00:21:21.068 --> 00:21:23.704
- in the tents of the wicked."
- 00:21:23.704 --> 00:21:26.773
- Folks, we've lost our way.
- 00:21:26.773 --> 00:21:29.609
- We have, not the ungodly, not the immoral, those of us that
- 00:21:29.609 --> 00:21:33.180
- gather in churches.
- 00:21:33.180 --> 00:21:34.548
- Solomon lost his perspective.
- 00:21:34.548 --> 00:21:36.083
- He became focused on life under the sun.
- 00:21:36.083 --> 00:21:39.619
- He thought it would bring fulfillment to him,
- 00:21:39.619 --> 00:21:41.254
- satisfaction, contentment, peace.
- 00:21:41.254 --> 00:21:45.726
- God made the world and everything that's in it for us.
- 00:21:45.726 --> 00:21:48.161
- I'm not opposed to those things, but I'm not confused.
- 00:21:48.161 --> 00:21:51.064
- We have a temporary assignment under the sun, and an eternity
- 00:21:51.064 --> 00:21:55.202
- in the kingdom of our God.
- 00:21:55.202 --> 00:21:59.139
- There's some essential things, and I'm done.
- 00:21:59.139 --> 00:22:01.808
- You have to be born again.
- 00:22:01.808 --> 00:22:06.980
- It's not about joining a church, or being religious, or where you
- 00:22:04.878 --> 00:22:09.149
- sit on the weekends.
- 00:22:09.149 --> 00:22:10.684
- It's choosing Jesus of Nazareth as Lord of your life.
- 00:22:10.684 --> 00:22:14.154
- You don't have to have a preacher to do that.
- 00:22:14.154 --> 00:22:16.690
- It's real easy, Father, I'm a sinner and I need a Savior.
- 00:22:16.690 --> 00:22:22.496
- Forgive me of my sins.
- 00:22:22.496 --> 00:22:23.830
- I forgive everyone who sins against me.
- 00:22:23.830 --> 00:22:25.465
- Jesus, be Lord of my life.
- 00:22:25.465 --> 00:22:28.735
- I can lead you in that.
- 00:22:28.735 --> 00:22:30.070
- People come up to me all the time and say, "You know, why
- 00:22:30.070 --> 00:22:31.438
- don't you give an altar call at every service?"
- 00:22:31.438 --> 00:22:33.306
- Do you give an altar call to every person you meet?
- 00:22:33.306 --> 00:22:38.445
- I'm an advocate for altar calls, but I'm far more an advocate for
- 00:22:38.445 --> 00:22:41.081
- every person that's a Christ follower knowing how and being
- 00:22:41.081 --> 00:22:44.151
- engaged in leading people to the Lord.
- 00:22:44.151 --> 00:22:47.921
- We can't relegate that to an event once a week, the need's
- 00:22:47.921 --> 00:22:50.490
- too great.
- 00:22:50.490 --> 00:22:52.225
- This has to grow in a viral way.
- 00:22:52.225 --> 00:22:54.161
- We know a lot about viral spread now, huh?
- 00:22:54.161 --> 00:22:58.498
- We need that kind of a viral spread of being born again.
- 00:22:58.498 --> 00:23:02.569
- The only solution to the corruption that's in the human
- 00:23:02.569 --> 00:23:05.005
- character, the only thing that will--nothing will
- 00:23:05.005 --> 00:23:08.308
- reverse corruption.
- 00:23:08.308 --> 00:23:09.676
- You can't turn it back.
- 00:23:09.676 --> 00:23:11.011
- You can slow it down, you can diminish its acceleration, but
- 00:23:11.011 --> 00:23:15.515
- you can't.
- 00:23:15.515 --> 00:23:16.850
- That's why we have to be born again.
- 00:23:16.850 --> 00:23:18.218
- We've got to be a totally new creature, and that's why we have
- 00:23:18.218 --> 00:23:21.788
- to take that old carnal nature within us and execute it,
- 00:23:21.788 --> 00:23:24.958
- crucify it, 'cause it longs for the wrong set of stuff.
- 00:23:24.958 --> 00:23:29.963
- And even when we're born again, we've still got to deal with
- 00:23:29.963 --> 00:23:31.832
- that old carnal, selfish nature.
- 00:23:31.832 --> 00:23:35.368
- You gotta be born again, it's essential.
- 00:23:35.368 --> 00:23:37.170
- Then serve the Lord with your whole heart, mind, and body.
- 00:23:37.170 --> 00:23:41.241
- Just lean into it, day after day, month after month, growing
- 00:23:41.241 --> 00:23:45.378
- in what it means to serve the Lord.
- 00:23:45.378 --> 00:23:47.781
- I want to serve the Lord with more abandon, more fullness,
- 00:23:47.781 --> 00:23:50.150
- more creativity, more energy than I did a year ago.
- 00:23:50.150 --> 00:23:54.421
- I don't imagine I know him fully.
- 00:23:54.421 --> 00:23:55.956
- What a goofy idea.
- 00:23:55.956 --> 00:23:58.558
- I'm a beginner in so many ways.
- 00:23:58.558 --> 00:24:01.027
- I need the discipline of holiness, the discipline of
- 00:24:01.027 --> 00:24:03.396
- fruitfulness, the discipline of serving, the discipline
- 00:24:03.396 --> 00:24:06.233
- of giving.
- 00:24:06.233 --> 00:24:09.703
- And understand this, if you make room for sin, it's both
- 00:24:09.703 --> 00:24:13.640
- addictive and progressive.
- 00:24:13.640 --> 00:24:17.310
- You can't contain it.
- 00:24:17.310 --> 00:24:19.713
- If you willfully practice sin, you may think, "Oh, I'm
- 00:24:19.713 --> 00:24:23.984
- just--it's just for a short time.
- 00:24:23.984 --> 00:24:25.318
- I'm going to get to some point right there, and I'm
- 00:24:25.318 --> 00:24:27.320
- gonna stop."
- 00:24:27.320 --> 00:24:28.655
- No, it doesn't work that way.
- 00:24:28.655 --> 00:24:34.060
- It's a dangerous thing.
- 00:24:34.060 --> 00:24:36.630
- I love our nation.
- 00:24:36.630 --> 00:24:38.431
- There's no place on earth quite like it.
- 00:24:38.431 --> 00:24:40.934
- The freedoms we have, and the liberties we have, and the
- 00:24:40.934 --> 00:24:44.204
- blessings we have, the abundance we have, but they haven't come
- 00:24:44.204 --> 00:24:48.475
- because of our natural resources, or the
- 00:24:48.475 --> 00:24:50.110
- industriousness of our people, or the leaders we've had,
- 00:24:50.110 --> 00:24:53.680
- they've come from the hand of God.
- 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:56.917
- I don't expect the ungodly to understand that.
- 00:24:56.917 --> 00:24:59.085
- I don't even expect them to value that.
- 00:24:59.085 --> 00:25:01.755
- But we have to tell one another that until we begin to believe
- 00:25:01.755 --> 00:25:06.126
- it again.
- 00:25:06.126 --> 00:25:07.460
- We've got to say it to one another more frequently than
- 00:25:07.460 --> 00:25:09.095
- we've watched the immorality that is cascaded over us.
- 00:25:09.095 --> 00:25:13.767
- We've become numb to it.
- 00:25:13.767 --> 00:25:15.135
- It's so abundant, so prevalent.
- 00:25:15.135 --> 00:25:18.772
- It interacts with us so frequently.
- 00:25:18.772 --> 00:25:21.575
- We've lost our balance.
- 00:25:21.575 --> 00:25:24.511
- But I believe God in his mercy is inviting us back, and I want
- 00:25:24.511 --> 00:25:29.316
- to say yes to him.
- 00:25:29.316 --> 00:25:31.651
- I believe you do, too.
- 00:25:31.651 --> 00:25:33.520
- I brought you a prayer, why don't you stand with me?
- 00:25:33.520 --> 00:25:36.856
- We're gonna pray this prayer together.
- 00:25:36.856 --> 00:25:42.996
- I think they'll put it on the screens for us.
- 00:25:42.996 --> 00:25:45.699
- Heavenly Father, you are the author of life and the sustainer
- 00:25:45.699 --> 00:25:49.536
- of all things.
- 00:25:49.536 --> 00:25:51.071
- Your light Illumines our path and dispels the darkness
- 00:25:51.071 --> 00:25:54.307
- before us.
- 00:25:54.307 --> 00:25:55.642
- Awaken your people in this generation.
- 00:25:55.642 --> 00:25:58.345
- Confirm your word in our midst with great demonstrations of
- 00:25:58.345 --> 00:26:01.581
- your power.
- 00:26:01.581 --> 00:26:03.016
- May our hearts be turned to you in humility and great reverence.
- 00:26:03.016 --> 00:26:07.153
- Open doors of opportunity before us and grant us the wisdom,
- 00:26:07.153 --> 00:26:10.890
- boldness, and courage to move through them.
- 00:26:10.890 --> 00:26:13.927
- Comfort your people.
- 00:26:13.927 --> 00:26:15.428
- Strengthen the weary, deliver the oppressed, and lead
- 00:26:15.428 --> 00:26:18.598
- us forward.
- 00:26:18.598 --> 00:26:19.966
- May the name of Jesus be exalted through the whole earth,
- 00:26:19.966 --> 00:26:23.370
- amen, hallelujah.
- 00:26:23.370 --> 00:26:26.640
- male announcer: Join us every week for another exciting
- 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:28.708
- message from Pastor Allen Jackson.
- 00:26:28.708 --> 00:26:30.910
- And until then, visit us online and discover remarkable
- 00:26:30.910 --> 00:26:34.447
- information and resources to help take your Christian life to
- 00:26:34.447 --> 00:26:38.051
- the next level.
- 00:26:38.051 --> 00:26:39.552
- And if you're visiting the Nashville area, we'd love to see
- 00:26:39.552 --> 00:26:42.288
- you at World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro.
- 00:26:42.288 --> 00:26:45.091
- We're easy to find, so look us up when you're
- 00:26:45.091 --> 00:26:46.926
- traveling through.
- 00:26:46.926 --> 00:26:48.261
- And don't forget to connect with Pastor Jackson every day through
- 00:26:48.261 --> 00:26:50.830
- social media.
- 00:26:50.830 --> 00:26:52.699
- Thanks so much for joining us and being a part of
- 00:26:52.699 --> 00:26:54.901
- this ministry.
- 00:26:54.901 --> 00:26:56.269
- We'll see you again next time for another encounter with
- 00:26:56.269 --> 00:26:58.304
- Pastor Allen Jackson.
- 00:26:58.304 --> 00:27:02.308
- ♪♪♪
- 00:27:02.375 --> 00:27:28.999