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Allen Jackson NOW

Alen Jackson: Global Contractions | Allen Jackson Now

December 3, 2025 | 22:34

Alen Jackson: Global Contractions | Allen Jackson Now
Allen Jackson sits down to talk about current events.
#News #Media #Racism #Theology #Israel #Truth #Christianity #Church #Culture #Government #Politics #AllenJackson

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Allen Jackson NOW | Alen Jackson: Global Contractions | Allen Jackson Now | December 3, 2025
  • We're just back from israel's first time.
  • 00:00:03.662 --> 00:00:05.297
  • I think i have talked
  • 00:00:05.297 --> 00:00:06.431
  • With you in this format since i got back from israel,
  • 00:00:06.431 --> 00:00:09.334
  • And it's it's really still startling to me
  • 00:00:09.334 --> 00:00:12.237
  • To see the anti-semitism,
  • 00:00:12.237 --> 00:00:14.306
  • Those battles raging across conservative
  • 00:00:14.306 --> 00:00:16.775
  • Ideological spectrum and thought leaders.
  • 00:00:16.775 --> 00:00:20.178
  • I don't need to get into the names.
  • 00:00:20.912 --> 00:00:22.280
  • I'm sure you're familiar with them,
  • 00:00:22.280 --> 00:00:23.548
  • And i'm not trying to pick a new fight with anybody, but
  • 00:00:23.548 --> 00:00:26.618
  • There's some really, really bad theology out there.
  • 00:00:26.618 --> 00:00:30.622
  • The book of romans makes it really clear
  • 00:00:31.490 --> 00:00:33.859
  • We have an obligation to the jewish people, and,
  • 00:00:33.859 --> 00:00:37.362
  • Not to fight all their wars, but to be advocates for them
  • 00:00:38.497 --> 00:00:41.266
  • In the face of the kind of hatred we see.
  • 00:00:41.266 --> 00:00:43.401
  • And everybody should understand the hatred
  • 00:00:43.401 --> 00:00:45.070
  • For the jewish peoples coming for you.
  • 00:00:45.070 --> 00:00:46.605
  • It's the same spirit.
  • 00:00:46.605 --> 00:00:48.440
  • So if you see the jewish people being marginalized
  • 00:00:48.440 --> 00:00:51.176
  • And accused of everything from jeffrey epstein to
  • 00:00:51.176 --> 00:00:54.946
  • Controlling the global media
  • 00:00:55.547 --> 00:00:56.882
  • Narrative to whatever it may be,
  • 00:00:56.882 --> 00:01:00.652
  • That same hatred coming for you as if you're a christ follower
  • 00:01:01.820 --> 00:01:05.357
  • And it will be just as illogical and irrational
  • 00:01:05.357 --> 00:01:08.527
  • If we're going to give a topic to this session,
  • 00:01:08.527 --> 00:01:10.295
  • I think it would be first time.
  • 00:01:10.295 --> 00:01:12.364
  • But we don't have to be afraid.
  • 00:01:12.364 --> 00:01:14.533
  • And so i'm going to take a minute and tell you why.
  • 00:01:14.533 --> 00:01:16.535
  • I think the times are fierce,
  • 00:01:16.535 --> 00:01:18.270
  • And then we can talk a bit about why i think we don't
  • 00:01:18.270 --> 00:01:20.839
  • Have to be afraid.
  • 00:01:20.839 --> 00:01:21.973
  • Matthew 24 jesus is speaking.
  • 00:01:21.973 --> 00:01:24.876
  • It's a prophetic discourse from jesus.
  • 00:01:24.876 --> 00:01:27.045
  • Of all the hebrew prophets, jesus is the greatest,
  • 00:01:27.045 --> 00:01:29.581
  • Greater than isaiah, greater than jeremiah, whomever.
  • 00:01:29.581 --> 00:01:33.718
  • And in matthew 24, it's his longest prophetic message.
  • 00:01:33.718 --> 00:01:37.189
  • He gives some prophetic words, some statements, some glimpses,
  • 00:01:37.189 --> 00:01:40.659
  • But this is a long, cohesive dissertation.
  • 00:01:40.659 --> 00:01:44.729
  • Matthew 24, luke 21.
  • 00:01:44.729 --> 00:01:46.498
  • Parallel accounts of the same message,
  • 00:01:46.498 --> 00:01:49.067
  • And at the beginning of that in luke, in matthew 24
  • 00:01:49.067 --> 00:01:52.337
  • And verse eight, jesus uses this phrase.
  • 00:01:52.337 --> 00:01:55.240
  • He said, all of these things are the beginning of birth pains.
  • 00:01:55.240 --> 00:01:58.543
  • He's just listed about a dozen signs
  • 00:01:58.543 --> 00:02:01.246
  • That are going to characterize the end of the age.
  • 00:02:01.246 --> 00:02:03.348
  • And he said, they're the beginning of birth pains.
  • 00:02:03.348 --> 00:02:05.550
  • That's a very meaningful image to me.
  • 00:02:05.550 --> 00:02:07.986
  • My dad was a veterinarian, and as you've heard me
  • 00:02:07.986 --> 00:02:10.322
  • Say many times, i've seen lots of things be born.
  • 00:02:10.322 --> 00:02:13.525
  • Calves, foals, baby horses,
  • 00:02:14.125 --> 00:02:16.995
  • Puppies, kittens, some odd other things.
  • 00:02:16.995 --> 00:02:21.166
  • I'm not a,
  • 00:02:21.466 --> 00:02:24.436
  • I don't identify as a birthing person,
  • 00:02:24.436 --> 00:02:27.939
  • So i haven't given birth, but i've watched it a lot of times.
  • 00:02:27.939 --> 00:02:31.576
  • And once those birth process is start,
  • 00:02:31.576 --> 00:02:34.412
  • There's some things that are
  • 00:02:34.412 --> 00:02:35.180
  • Consistent across all the species.
  • 00:02:35.180 --> 00:02:37.415
  • So i think they would be consistent with jesus message
  • 00:02:37.415 --> 00:02:40.385
  • That once the birth pains begin, they're going to continue
  • 00:02:40.385 --> 00:02:42.721
  • To increase in frequency and in intensity
  • 00:02:42.721 --> 00:02:46.992
  • Until there is a birth, until there's a delivery.
  • 00:02:46.992 --> 00:02:50.095
  • So when jesus said there's a beginning of birth pains,
  • 00:02:50.095 --> 00:02:52.931
  • I believe
  • 00:02:52.931 --> 00:02:54.099
  • It's a realistic expectation that those those tremors,
  • 00:02:54.099 --> 00:02:57.168
  • Those contractions are going to increase in intensity
  • 00:02:57.168 --> 00:03:01.706
  • And frequency until the arrival of the kingdom of god.
  • 00:03:01.706 --> 00:03:05.510
  • So whatever your theology allows you to imagine
  • 00:03:06.511 --> 00:03:09.481
  • About the end of the age, and i believe we are,
  • 00:03:09.481 --> 00:03:12.217
  • Approaching the end of the age,
  • 00:03:12.851 --> 00:03:14.953
  • Then i think there's going to be these birth pains continue,
  • 00:03:14.953 --> 00:03:18.690
  • And they're going to increase in frequency,
  • 00:03:18.690 --> 00:03:21.559
  • Meaning they're going to happen
  • 00:03:21.559 --> 00:03:22.460
  • More often, identifiable contractions,
  • 00:03:22.460 --> 00:03:26.164
  • And they're going to be more and more intense.
  • 00:03:26.164 --> 00:03:28.967
  • I think 2020, we had a contraction,
  • 00:03:28.967 --> 00:03:32.971
  • We had a tremor with the wuhan virus that came to us.
  • 00:03:32.971 --> 00:03:36.841
  • You know, there was so much unknown
  • 00:03:37.642 --> 00:03:39.044
  • About it, a
  • 00:03:39.044 --> 00:03:39.844
  • Tremendous disruption of our lives
  • 00:03:39.844 --> 00:03:41.346
  • That is still disruptive to our lives.
  • 00:03:41.346 --> 00:03:43.481
  • Just this year, government
  • 00:03:43.481 --> 00:03:44.949
  • Employees were called back to the office to go to work.
  • 00:03:44.949 --> 00:03:48.887
  • 2020 changed healthcare as we know it.
  • 00:03:48.887 --> 00:03:51.022
  • 2020 changed the church as we have known it in america.
  • 00:03:51.022 --> 00:03:54.559
  • In my lifetime.
  • 00:03:54.559 --> 00:03:56.961
  • A third of the church didn't come back.
  • 00:03:56.961 --> 00:03:59.664
  • I mean,
  • 00:03:59.664 --> 00:04:00.565
  • Our congregation has grown, but we're
  • 00:04:00.565 --> 00:04:01.599
  • Something of an anomaly across the united states.
  • 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:05.470
  • About a third of the church didn't return.
  • 00:04:05.470 --> 00:04:07.405
  • And we can talk about live stream and alternative things.
  • 00:04:07.405 --> 00:04:10.008
  • But the reality is, it was a tremendous disruption.
  • 00:04:10.008 --> 00:04:13.211
  • So 2020 was a tremor.
  • 00:04:13.211 --> 00:04:16.247
  • I think october the 7th, that hamas attack in
  • 00:04:17.182 --> 00:04:19.551
  • Israel was another contraction.
  • 00:04:19.551 --> 00:04:22.821
  • I wasn't prepared for that.
  • 00:04:23.421 --> 00:04:24.656
  • I understand terrorism and terrorist attacks.
  • 00:04:24.656 --> 00:04:26.958
  • I've been in and out of the middle east for 40 years.
  • 00:04:26.958 --> 00:04:30.528
  • What i wasn't prepared
  • 00:04:30.528 --> 00:04:31.763
  • For the to me, that one of the characteristics of these tremors
  • 00:04:31.763 --> 00:04:35.567
  • Is there's an event, but it's the unanticipated consequences.
  • 00:04:35.567 --> 00:04:39.437
  • The shaking that god initiates reveals to us
  • 00:04:39.437 --> 00:04:42.540
  • Something that we didn't see previously.
  • 00:04:42.540 --> 00:04:45.009
  • I didn't understand how fragile our institutions were in 2020.
  • 00:04:45.009 --> 00:04:49.881
  • I thought the cdc was trustworthy.
  • 00:04:49.881 --> 00:04:51.649
  • I thought the fbi was trustworthy.
  • 00:04:51.649 --> 00:04:54.052
  • I thought pulpits were more trustworthy.
  • 00:04:54.052 --> 00:04:56.821
  • The shaking proved those things to be false.
  • 00:04:56.821 --> 00:04:59.391
  • They weren't.
  • 00:04:59.391 --> 00:05:00.992
  • October the 7th.
  • 00:05:00.992 --> 00:05:03.561
  • I wasn't surprised by a hamas attack on israel.
  • 00:05:03.561 --> 00:05:06.097
  • That's part of hamas's charter.
  • 00:05:06.097 --> 00:05:08.433
  • What i didn't anticipate, what i wasn't prepared for
  • 00:05:08.433 --> 00:05:11.603
  • Was the cauldron of anti-semitism that began
  • 00:05:11.603 --> 00:05:14.239
  • Bubbling on the most celebrated college campuses in america
  • 00:05:14.239 --> 00:05:18.176
  • Columbia, brown, harvard.
  • 00:05:18.176 --> 00:05:20.578
  • And now it spilled way over beyond that.
  • 00:05:21.379 --> 00:05:24.916
  • And it's it's being expressed across the conservative spectrum
  • 00:05:24.916 --> 00:05:28.219
  • In many ways. i didn't anticipate that coming.
  • 00:05:28.219 --> 00:05:30.588
  • And it hasn't diminished. it isn't apologetic.
  • 00:05:30.588 --> 00:05:33.057
  • It's not going away.
  • 00:05:33.057 --> 00:05:34.192
  • It's become a part of the landscape
  • 00:05:34.192 --> 00:05:36.327
  • In the same way that so many of those things
  • 00:05:36.327 --> 00:05:38.263
  • That became a part of the landscape in 2020.
  • 00:05:38.263 --> 00:05:41.299
  • And i think these tremors and contractions
  • 00:05:42.200 --> 00:05:43.935
  • Are going to continue.
  • 00:05:43.935 --> 00:05:44.969
  • I think they're going to come more frequently.
  • 00:05:44.969 --> 00:05:46.571
  • I think they're going to be intense.
  • 00:05:46.571 --> 00:05:49.541
  • I think it's a part of the world we live in.
  • 00:05:49.541 --> 00:05:51.142
  • Not frightening to me.
  • 00:05:51.142 --> 00:05:52.010
  • Kind of exciting things
  • 00:05:52.010 --> 00:05:53.645
  • That i didn't see are being made visible.
  • 00:05:53.645 --> 00:05:55.313
  • I'd rather know the circumstances. you can't.
  • 00:05:55.313 --> 00:05:57.582
  • And if you go to the doctor and you get a good diagnosis
  • 00:05:57.582 --> 00:05:59.584
  • And you can make a plan to get healthier
  • 00:05:59.584 --> 00:06:01.519
  • Without the diagnosis,
  • 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:02.620
  • You're just being ravaged by a disease process.
  • 00:06:02.620 --> 00:06:05.390
  • And i think god in his mercy is shaking the earth,
  • 00:06:05.390 --> 00:06:07.659
  • And he's making things visible so that the people of god
  • 00:06:07.659 --> 00:06:10.395
  • Can make the necessary course adjustments and their responses.
  • 00:06:10.395 --> 00:06:13.064
  • We can take our place.
  • 00:06:13.064 --> 00:06:14.632
  • It's not nearly as frightening to me as it is.
  • 00:06:14.632 --> 00:06:16.568
  • I'm aware that we're in an intense season
  • 00:06:16.568 --> 00:06:18.837
  • In new york city's, the largest city in america.
  • 00:06:18.837 --> 00:06:21.639
  • They had a historic turnout for the election of,
  • 00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:24.943
  • They had more people participating in the election,
  • 00:06:24.943 --> 00:06:26.711
  • And they'd had participate in more than 40 years.
  • 00:06:26.711 --> 00:06:29.814
  • And the
  • 00:06:30.048 --> 00:06:30.882
  • Choice of the people, not surprisingly,
  • 00:06:30.882 --> 00:06:32.350
  • I think we all knew it was coming.
  • 00:06:32.350 --> 00:06:34.385
  • All the polling suggested it was coming,
  • 00:06:34.385 --> 00:06:36.154
  • But the citizens of new york chose
  • 00:06:36.154 --> 00:06:38.490
  • Someone who is a very open, muslim, socialist, communist,
  • 00:06:38.490 --> 00:06:44.562
  • Depending on how you want to parse his public speech.
  • 00:06:44.562 --> 00:06:47.999
  • So the largest city in america, about a 10th of our national
  • 00:06:47.999 --> 00:06:51.236
  • Economy, is represented in the in what comes through.
  • 00:06:51.236 --> 00:06:54.439
  • New york city is now under the leadership,
  • 00:06:54.439 --> 00:06:58.343
  • The requested leadership, the selected leadership,
  • 00:06:58.343 --> 00:07:01.880
  • The intentional leadership of someone who identifies
  • 00:07:01.880 --> 00:07:05.617
  • Proudly as a muslim and the socialist.
  • 00:07:05.617 --> 00:07:09.220
  • Well, there are two ideologies, two political ideologies
  • 00:07:09.220 --> 00:07:12.657
  • Prevalent in our world
  • 00:07:12.657 --> 00:07:14.259
  • That are
  • 00:07:14.259 --> 00:07:14.926
  • Committed to the diminishment,
  • 00:07:14.926 --> 00:07:16.160
  • If not the destruction of america.
  • 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:18.830
  • They would be islam
  • 00:07:18.830 --> 00:07:21.332
  • And socialism, not a surprise.
  • 00:07:21.332 --> 00:07:23.868
  • Stated goals pretty apparent.
  • 00:07:23.868 --> 00:07:26.538
  • I mean, you could probably find some arguments
  • 00:07:26.538 --> 00:07:29.807
  • On the other side, but
  • 00:07:29.807 --> 00:07:31.209
  • I mean, we just bombed iran, a leader
  • 00:07:32.010 --> 00:07:34.579
  • Of about a half of the muslim world.
  • 00:07:34.579 --> 00:07:37.315
  • And ron, for multiple decades has said
  • 00:07:37.315 --> 00:07:40.485
  • As soon as they were able to formulate nuclear capabilities,
  • 00:07:40.485 --> 00:07:44.222
  • They intended to use them to destroy america.
  • 00:07:44.222 --> 00:07:47.392
  • And we bombed iran's nuclear reactors.
  • 00:07:47.392 --> 00:07:50.862
  • And now the largest city in america has a muslim mayor.
  • 00:07:50.862 --> 00:07:54.532
  • There should be something
  • 00:07:55.099 --> 00:07:56.267
  • A little unsettling about that to all of us.
  • 00:07:56.267 --> 00:08:00.238
  • And i think the most unsettling part is the most of us
  • 00:08:00.238 --> 00:08:02.807
  • Don't care.
  • 00:08:02.807 --> 00:08:04.542
  • I think, well, i mean, i can still go to
  • 00:08:04.542 --> 00:08:05.710
  • New york to see a play on broadway,
  • 00:08:05.710 --> 00:08:07.579
  • Or i can go at christmastime
  • 00:08:07.579 --> 00:08:09.380
  • Because i like to see the christmas decorations
  • 00:08:09.380 --> 00:08:12.383
  • Or i want to go shop.
  • 00:08:12.383 --> 00:08:13.785
  • It's a certainly a center of much of fashion.
  • 00:08:13.785 --> 00:08:16.454
  • And so it still suits my social calendar.
  • 00:08:16.454 --> 00:08:19.123
  • And it won't bother me if i'm just in and out for a few days.
  • 00:08:19.123 --> 00:08:22.660
  • Well, i believe that's beyond naive.
  • 00:08:22.660 --> 00:08:25.897
  • If the largest city in america is under the influence of islam
  • 00:08:25.897 --> 00:08:29.000
  • And socialism,
  • 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:30.535
  • It's going to have repercussions for all of us.
  • 00:08:30.535 --> 00:08:32.604
  • How many of us believe the cultural trends
  • 00:08:32.604 --> 00:08:34.272
  • Of new york affect our lives?
  • 00:08:34.272 --> 00:08:37.342
  • All of us should.
  • 00:08:37.775 --> 00:08:39.477
  • They may not affect them
  • 00:08:39.477 --> 00:08:40.478
  • In the first
  • 00:08:40.478 --> 00:08:40.979
  • 30 days of the changes
  • 00:08:40.979 --> 00:08:42.480
  • Or the trends being revealed in new york.
  • 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:45.083
  • But they trickle down
  • 00:08:45.083 --> 00:08:47.251
  • And the ideas and the values that are going to be expressed
  • 00:08:47.251 --> 00:08:50.655
  • And given a place in new york city are coming to all of us.
  • 00:08:50.655 --> 00:08:55.226
  • And so i think there's a willful ignorance
  • 00:08:56.094 --> 00:08:59.664
  • On the part of the people of god, just as people,
  • 00:08:59.664 --> 00:09:03.368
  • As christians, as christ followers, as church folk.
  • 00:09:03.368 --> 00:09:06.471
  • It should make us a little uncomfortable
  • 00:09:07.305 --> 00:09:09.374
  • That the largest city in america says,
  • 00:09:09.374 --> 00:09:11.976
  • We don't want to be led by someone
  • 00:09:11.976 --> 00:09:13.511
  • Who has a biblical worldview.
  • 00:09:13.511 --> 00:09:15.413
  • We want to be led by someone
  • 00:09:15.413 --> 00:09:18.383
  • Who worships a false god.
  • 00:09:18.383 --> 00:09:21.019
  • As christians, that has to be of a fundamental
  • 00:09:21.019 --> 00:09:24.589
  • Concern to us are we're we should be questioned
  • 00:09:24.589 --> 00:09:28.826
  • In about our fidelity to the first two commandments.
  • 00:09:28.826 --> 00:09:32.096
  • You know, this isn't about mom, donnie.
  • 00:09:32.096 --> 00:09:34.132
  • To me, this isn't about an individual.
  • 00:09:34.132 --> 00:09:36.701
  • It's about the values that he represents
  • 00:09:36.701 --> 00:09:39.737
  • And the choices we've made.
  • 00:09:39.737 --> 00:09:41.406
  • He may be a sterling fellow,
  • 00:09:42.006 --> 00:09:44.609
  • But his life choices and his values are such
  • 00:09:44.609 --> 00:09:48.179
  • That we are not only entitled to an opinion,
  • 00:09:48.179 --> 00:09:51.115
  • I think it's incumbent upon us to have an opinion
  • 00:09:51.115 --> 00:09:54.385
  • And the the indifference
  • 00:09:54.919 --> 00:09:58.089
  • Of the people of god
  • 00:09:58.556 --> 00:10:01.626
  • Is going to bring the judgment of god.
  • 00:10:01.626 --> 00:10:04.862
  • We have to change.
  • 00:10:04.862 --> 00:10:13.004
  • We have to change.
  • 00:10:13.004 --> 00:10:16.742
  • And it isn't just new york city.
  • 00:10:17.376 --> 00:10:19.878
  • The the mayor of chicago, the governor of illinois,
  • 00:10:19.878 --> 00:10:23.549
  • Which is a matched set,
  • 00:10:23.549 --> 00:10:25.551
  • Are doing everything in their power to ensure
  • 00:10:25.551 --> 00:10:27.853
  • That chicago remains a sanctuary city,
  • 00:10:27.853 --> 00:10:30.522
  • Meaning people who've come to our nation illegally,
  • 00:10:30.522 --> 00:10:33.759
  • Many of them who have been violent
  • 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:35.360
  • Criminals, have been migrated to chicago.
  • 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:39.098
  • They're being protected by the mayor of the city
  • 00:10:39.098 --> 00:10:41.366
  • And the governor of the state.
  • 00:10:41.366 --> 00:10:43.368
  • They're doing everything in their power to keep federal
  • 00:10:43.368 --> 00:10:45.938
  • Law enforcement from removing those people.
  • 00:10:45.938 --> 00:10:49.308
  • They started with the people
  • 00:10:49.308 --> 00:10:50.375
  • Who are the most violent criminals,
  • 00:10:50.375 --> 00:10:52.978
  • And they've done everything in their power to protect them.
  • 00:10:52.978 --> 00:10:56.081
  • Meanwhile, chicago has murders by the dozen.
  • 00:10:56.081 --> 00:11:00.152
  • It is not a safe place for the citizens of chicago.
  • 00:11:00.152 --> 00:11:03.422
  • But you don't hear that anxiety being expressed by the
  • 00:11:03.422 --> 00:11:06.325
  • The mayor of the city or the governor of the state.
  • 00:11:06.325 --> 00:11:09.828
  • They're
  • 00:11:10.062 --> 00:11:11.230
  • Far more interested in opposing what ice is trying to do
  • 00:11:11.230 --> 00:11:14.233
  • To remove the most violent criminals.
  • 00:11:14.233 --> 00:11:18.370
  • It's difficult to imagine.
  • 00:11:18.937 --> 00:11:20.806
  • And our response this isn't new.
  • 00:11:20.806 --> 00:11:22.541
  • This has been happening for weeks and months.
  • 00:11:22.541 --> 00:11:24.676
  • It's in the news.
  • 00:11:24.676 --> 00:11:25.544
  • You don't hear it from the pulpits.
  • 00:11:25.544 --> 00:11:27.112
  • You don't hear churches saying anything because we say
  • 00:11:27.112 --> 00:11:29.081
  • We don't want to be political because this isn't politics.
  • 00:11:29.081 --> 00:11:33.051
  • This is about yielding to authority.
  • 00:11:33.819 --> 00:11:35.621
  • We are a nation who we have lived.
  • 00:11:35.621 --> 00:11:37.990
  • We have flourished under the authority of law,
  • 00:11:37.990 --> 00:11:41.627
  • And those laws have been suspended,
  • 00:11:41.627 --> 00:11:43.395
  • Intentionally suspended and broken and violated
  • 00:11:43.395 --> 00:11:47.166
  • By millions and tens of millions of people
  • 00:11:47.166 --> 00:11:50.469
  • With the aid and support
  • 00:11:50.469 --> 00:11:52.337
  • Of the most powerful leaders in our nation.
  • 00:11:52.337 --> 00:11:55.507
  • It's continuing in our cities.
  • 00:11:56.108 --> 00:11:57.876
  • I described chicago, los angeles is is no different.
  • 00:11:57.876 --> 00:12:02.080
  • The mayor of los angeles
  • 00:12:02.614 --> 00:12:03.849
  • Is doing everything
  • 00:12:03.849 --> 00:12:05.017
  • In their power to maintain their sanctuary city status
  • 00:12:05.017 --> 00:12:07.886
  • With the full support of the governor of
  • 00:12:07.886 --> 00:12:10.455
  • California, gavin newsom,
  • 00:12:10.455 --> 00:12:12.457
  • Doing everything in their power
  • 00:12:13.091 --> 00:12:14.493
  • In the governor's language to trump proof the state
  • 00:12:14.493 --> 00:12:18.430
  • In a blatant, open resistance to the president
  • 00:12:18.430 --> 00:12:21.867
  • Of the united states and federal law.
  • 00:12:21.867 --> 00:12:24.636
  • So you've got new york, chicago, los angeles.
  • 00:12:24.636 --> 00:12:27.306
  • You can roll a portland into that.
  • 00:12:27.306 --> 00:12:29.808
  • You can roll seattle into that.
  • 00:12:29.808 --> 00:12:31.877
  • There's along the major cities, the most celebrated cities,
  • 00:12:31.877 --> 00:12:34.913
  • San francisco, some of the most beautiful cities in america,
  • 00:12:36.081 --> 00:12:39.551
  • Ignoring federal law, harboring violent criminals,
  • 00:12:39.551 --> 00:12:43.689
  • Doing their best to diminish,
  • 00:12:44.323 --> 00:12:46.658
  • To make vulnerable federal law enforcement
  • 00:12:46.658 --> 00:12:49.895
  • Celebrating every sort of ungodliness and immorality.
  • 00:12:50.896 --> 00:12:54.366
  • I read just today about a medical school
  • 00:12:54.366 --> 00:12:57.369
  • In the northwest
  • 00:12:57.369 --> 00:12:58.904
  • That had put a curriculum in place to help train the
  • 00:12:58.904 --> 00:13:01.807
  • The physicians that were being educated
  • 00:13:01.807 --> 00:13:04.142
  • To better deal with people dealing with gender
  • 00:13:04.142 --> 00:13:06.912
  • Dysphoria, not just promote it, not just to participate in it,
  • 00:13:06.912 --> 00:13:10.449
  • Not just to provide hormone therapy or surgical mutilation,
  • 00:13:10.449 --> 00:13:14.553
  • But to actually engage it,
  • 00:13:14.553 --> 00:13:16.054
  • Bringing a bit more of a biblical worldview to it.
  • 00:13:16.054 --> 00:13:19.558
  • And there was such an outcry from the activist groups,
  • 00:13:19.558 --> 00:13:22.394
  • The pro, lgbtq two plus whatever they've added today,
  • 00:13:22.394 --> 00:13:27.032
  • There was such an outcry that the medical school
  • 00:13:27.032 --> 00:13:29.001
  • Was forced to remove it from their curriculum.
  • 00:13:29.001 --> 00:13:32.571
  • So the people that are advocating
  • 00:13:33.272 --> 00:13:34.740
  • For ungodliness and immorality
  • 00:13:34.740 --> 00:13:36.675
  • And the mutilation of our children
  • 00:13:36.675 --> 00:13:38.944
  • And perversion are far more vocal.
  • 00:13:38.944 --> 00:13:42.547
  • They're far more engaged, therefore more committed
  • 00:13:42.547 --> 00:13:46.051
  • Than those of us who file into our churches
  • 00:13:46.051 --> 00:13:48.186
  • Typically, you know, i've spent my life, my
  • 00:13:48.186 --> 00:13:50.389
  • My professional life serving the local church. so
  • 00:13:50.389 --> 00:13:54.159
  • I know there are exceptions.
  • 00:13:54.760 --> 00:13:55.994
  • There are notable exceptions. i'm grateful for that.
  • 00:13:55.994 --> 00:13:58.497
  • There are god honoring churches across our country.
  • 00:13:58.497 --> 00:14:01.533
  • But but there are far too many
  • 00:14:01.533 --> 00:14:03.702
  • That are too willing to be caught up in the
  • 00:14:03.702 --> 00:14:06.972
  • The temptation to say, we don't engage
  • 00:14:06.972 --> 00:14:08.907
  • What's happening in our world.
  • 00:14:08.907 --> 00:14:10.275
  • We just talk about scripture.
  • 00:14:10.275 --> 00:14:12.577
  • Well, the point of reading scripture
  • 00:14:12.577 --> 00:14:14.112
  • Is to take those biblical truths and give expression to them.
  • 00:14:14.112 --> 00:14:17.482
  • In the midst of the 21st century culture in which we live.
  • 00:14:17.482 --> 00:14:21.253
  • If we aren't doing
  • 00:14:21.687 --> 00:14:22.688
  • That, we're historians.
  • 00:14:22.688 --> 00:14:25.757
  • And i don't believe jesus died on the cross
  • 00:14:25.757 --> 00:14:27.559
  • So we could be theological historians.
  • 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:30.262
  • I believe the whole point of being salt and light
  • 00:14:30.262 --> 00:14:32.230
  • Is to make a difference in the communities where we live.
  • 00:14:32.230 --> 00:14:35.167
  • You'll say, well, i don't have any influence in new york.
  • 00:14:35.167 --> 00:14:37.069
  • I don't vote in new york,
  • 00:14:37.069 --> 00:14:38.170
  • I don't vote in chicago, i don't vote in la.
  • 00:14:38.170 --> 00:14:40.706
  • No, but you do where you live.
  • 00:14:40.706 --> 00:14:43.241
  • How are you doing with removing the smut
  • 00:14:43.241 --> 00:14:44.743
  • From the libraries where you live?
  • 00:14:44.743 --> 00:14:46.178
  • Or are you advocating for biblical morality
  • 00:14:46.178 --> 00:14:49.014
  • With the people who teach in your schools,
  • 00:14:49.014 --> 00:14:50.682
  • The administrators in your schools?
  • 00:14:50.682 --> 00:14:53.085
  • Are you using your voice?
  • 00:14:53.085 --> 00:14:54.252
  • Your holidays are coming up.
  • 00:14:54.252 --> 00:14:55.654
  • Are you going to use it around your holiday table
  • 00:14:55.654 --> 00:14:57.756
  • To talk to your family
  • 00:14:57.756 --> 00:14:58.991
  • And the people you love about leading moral, godly lives?
  • 00:14:58.991 --> 00:15:02.427
  • Are we going to continue to wink
  • 00:15:02.427 --> 00:15:03.695
  • At fornication and encourage our kids
  • 00:15:03.695 --> 00:15:05.364
  • When they go off to college to show their wild oats
  • 00:15:05.364 --> 00:15:08.033
  • And to live like the devil and say,
  • 00:15:08.033 --> 00:15:09.434
  • But i took him to sunday school, so it'll be okay.
  • 00:15:09.434 --> 00:15:11.870
  • That's a terrifying position to me.
  • 00:15:11.870 --> 00:15:16.541
  • We got to unpack this in a little bit more detail.
  • 00:15:17.576 --> 00:15:20.812
  • The reason i believe our major cities are in trouble
  • 00:15:20.812 --> 00:15:24.483
  • Is the immune system that the local church represents
  • 00:15:24.483 --> 00:15:27.686
  • Hasn't truly been leading into a biblical worldview.
  • 00:15:27.686 --> 00:15:31.323
  • I think what we've seen in new york
  • 00:15:31.323 --> 00:15:32.691
  • Is going to take deeper root.
  • 00:15:32.691 --> 00:15:35.193
  • There are loud voices crying for that to be implemented
  • 00:15:35.193 --> 00:15:37.662
  • In broader ways in our nation.
  • 00:15:37.662 --> 00:15:39.064
  • What you see in chicago, in l.a.
  • 00:15:39.064 --> 00:15:40.665
  • And portland and seattle and san francisco,
  • 00:15:40.665 --> 00:15:43.702
  • I think we see the foreshadowing of that in tennessee.
  • 00:15:43.702 --> 00:15:48.407
  • I mean, i think nashville has taken huge steps down that road
  • 00:15:48.407 --> 00:15:52.077
  • Towards progressive worldviews
  • 00:15:52.077 --> 00:15:53.678
  • And morality, and nashville was imagined
  • 00:15:53.678 --> 00:15:56.014
  • To be the buckle of the bible belt for decades.
  • 00:15:56.014 --> 00:15:59.251
  • For a long time, it was called the athens of the south.
  • 00:15:59.251 --> 00:16:02.120
  • It was the center of learning in the south, and it's home
  • 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:05.424
  • To many christian universities who have renounced biblical
  • 00:16:05.424 --> 00:16:08.427
  • World issues.
  • 00:16:08.427 --> 00:16:10.095
  • They've
  • 00:16:10.328 --> 00:16:11.496
  • Embraced biblical issues that are ungodly and immoral.
  • 00:16:11.496 --> 00:16:14.166
  • They're science still, say, christian universities,
  • 00:16:14.166 --> 00:16:16.802
  • But they're not embracing christian values,
  • 00:16:16.802 --> 00:16:18.804
  • Or they're encompassing values that are non-christian.
  • 00:16:18.804 --> 00:16:21.840
  • We don't have that privilege.
  • 00:16:22.474 --> 00:16:25.077
  • We can't imagine ourselves to be christ followers and then
  • 00:16:25.077 --> 00:16:27.846
  • Redefine what the boundaries are of obedience to god.
  • 00:16:27.846 --> 00:16:31.216
  • You see our silence in the face of ungodliness.
  • 00:16:32.217 --> 00:16:36.621
  • I don't understand.
  • 00:16:37.089 --> 00:16:37.956
  • I don't imagine that to be tolerance.
  • 00:16:37.956 --> 00:16:39.658
  • I understand it to be capitulation.
  • 00:16:39.658 --> 00:16:42.227
  • I don't have to be angry.
  • 00:16:42.227 --> 00:16:43.195
  • We don't have to be violent for certain.
  • 00:16:43.195 --> 00:16:44.830
  • When i've even be belligerent.
  • 00:16:44.830 --> 00:16:46.598
  • But we have to have the courage to tell the truth.
  • 00:16:46.598 --> 00:16:49.668
  • You know,
  • 00:16:49.668 --> 00:16:50.435
  • I live in the state of tennessee,
  • 00:16:50.435 --> 00:16:51.636
  • And if you're an advocate for the university of tennessee
  • 00:16:51.636 --> 00:16:54.539
  • And their athletic programs, you don't care
  • 00:16:54.539 --> 00:16:56.108
  • If it makes the people in alabama mad.
  • 00:16:56.108 --> 00:16:58.710
  • You wear your orange and white and you you lead with that.
  • 00:16:58.710 --> 00:17:02.013
  • You make it a defining part of yourself.
  • 00:17:02.013 --> 00:17:03.548
  • You probably got a room in your house that
  • 00:17:03.548 --> 00:17:06.151
  • Has a
  • 00:17:06.384 --> 00:17:07.619
  • Great expression of orange and white, so i'm okay with that.
  • 00:17:07.619 --> 00:17:10.422
  • But how can we imagine that as christ followers, we are less
  • 00:17:10.422 --> 00:17:13.225
  • Committed to the preeminence of our lord
  • 00:17:13.225 --> 00:17:16.528
  • And savior than we are to our culture?
  • 00:17:16.528 --> 00:17:19.598
  • It's really a confusing point.
  • 00:17:19.598 --> 00:17:22.467
  • So if those are the first times i want to,
  • 00:17:22.467 --> 00:17:24.069
  • My time is going to run out here.
  • 00:17:24.069 --> 00:17:25.937
  • They're going to get worse.
  • 00:17:25.937 --> 00:17:26.738
  • There's going to be more tremors,
  • 00:17:26.738 --> 00:17:27.839
  • They're going to intensify.
  • 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:29.174
  • They're going to come more frequently.
  • 00:17:29.174 --> 00:17:30.408
  • Why? jesus said they would.
  • 00:17:30.408 --> 00:17:32.577
  • That's not a bad confession.
  • 00:17:32.577 --> 00:17:34.079
  • It's not a lack of faith.
  • 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:35.747
  • It's the season we're in.
  • 00:17:35.747 --> 00:17:44.001
  • It's the season we're in.
  • 00:17:44.001 --> 00:17:48.057
  • Start to live
  • 00:17:48.424 --> 00:17:50.059
  • Every day with a very purposeful,
  • 00:17:50.059 --> 00:17:53.129
  • Intentional, watchful care of the lord.
  • 00:17:53.129 --> 00:17:55.265
  • Stop ignoring what's happening.
  • 00:17:55.265 --> 00:17:56.866
  • Mom domini being elected in new york
  • 00:17:56.866 --> 00:17:59.102
  • Has enormous implications for you.
  • 00:17:59.102 --> 00:18:01.871
  • Chicago's protecting of illegal,
  • 00:18:02.505 --> 00:18:05.108
  • Murderous thugs with the help of their governor pritzker,
  • 00:18:05.108 --> 00:18:08.545
  • Has enormous implications for you.
  • 00:18:08.545 --> 00:18:11.881
  • La, san francisco
  • 00:18:12.315 --> 00:18:15.318
  • Rejecting federal law and embracing newsom's
  • 00:18:15.318 --> 00:18:19.355
  • Determination to promote ungodliness has tremendous
  • 00:18:19.355 --> 00:18:23.726
  • Implications for those of us who live in tennessee.
  • 00:18:23.726 --> 00:18:25.795
  • We're not separate from this.
  • 00:18:25.795 --> 00:18:29.432
  • But all of those things pale in comparison
  • 00:18:29.432 --> 00:18:32.035
  • To what it means to align yourself with jesus.
  • 00:18:32.035 --> 00:18:35.605
  • It isn't just going to church.
  • 00:18:35.605 --> 00:18:37.974
  • It isn't just a morality play.
  • 00:18:37.974 --> 00:18:41.244
  • There are spiritual forces, principalities, and power
  • 00:18:41.244 --> 00:18:45.215
  • At work in the earth, far more powerful
  • 00:18:45.215 --> 00:18:47.784
  • Than nuclear weapons or economic forces.
  • 00:18:47.784 --> 00:18:57.000
  • Nuclear
  • 00:18:57.000 --> 00:18:57.830
  • Weapons and economic forces are powerful,
  • 00:18:57.830 --> 00:19:00.399
  • But they're not as powerful as the spiritual forces
  • 00:19:00.399 --> 00:19:02.602
  • That are being unleashed.
  • 00:19:02.602 --> 00:19:04.370
  • You take a step closer to the lord.
  • 00:19:04.370 --> 00:19:06.072
  • It's an exciting time, and i'll close with this.
  • 00:19:06.072 --> 00:19:08.975
  • The part
  • 00:19:08.975 --> 00:19:09.775
  • That is the most remarkable to me
  • 00:19:09.775 --> 00:19:11.277
  • Is that when god looked across the span of human history,
  • 00:19:11.277 --> 00:19:14.780
  • He didn't select you and i to be a part
  • 00:19:15.648 --> 00:19:18.451
  • Of the first century when jesus walked the hills of galilee.
  • 00:19:18.451 --> 00:19:21.787
  • How fun would that have been to set on the hillside
  • 00:19:21.787 --> 00:19:24.357
  • On the northern shore of the sea of galilee,
  • 00:19:24.357 --> 00:19:26.158
  • And listen to the sermon on the mount?
  • 00:19:26.158 --> 00:19:29.195
  • How cool would it have been to been in the room
  • 00:19:29.195 --> 00:19:30.930
  • On resurrection day,
  • 00:19:30.930 --> 00:19:32.031
  • When jesus stepped into the room with the disciples?
  • 00:19:32.031 --> 00:19:34.934
  • How much fun would it have been to the eli valley
  • 00:19:34.934 --> 00:19:37.003
  • When david walked and picked up five smooth stones from a brook
  • 00:19:37.003 --> 00:19:40.106
  • And said to goliath,
  • 00:19:40.573 --> 00:19:42.541
  • You know, i'm going to take your head today.
  • 00:19:42.541 --> 00:19:45.945
  • We didn't.
  • 00:19:46.245 --> 00:19:46.912
  • God didn't choose us for that.
  • 00:19:46.912 --> 00:19:48.814
  • He chose us for the
  • 00:19:48.814 --> 00:19:50.082
  • Beginning of the 21st century and the culmination of the ages,
  • 00:19:50.082 --> 00:19:53.619
  • When there's this cataclysmic struggle
  • 00:19:53.619 --> 00:19:55.755
  • Taking place on the earth, when the jewish people
  • 00:19:55.755 --> 00:19:57.757
  • Are being regathered to the land that he promised them,
  • 00:19:57.757 --> 00:20:01.460
  • And he's purifying his church, a bride without spot or wrinkle.
  • 00:20:01.460 --> 00:20:05.398
  • I don't know what he saw in you or me that caused him
  • 00:20:05.398 --> 00:20:08.768
  • To choose us for this season, but he did,
  • 00:20:08.768 --> 00:20:12.471
  • And he'll enable us to be as triumphant as he did
  • 00:20:12.471 --> 00:20:15.074
  • David or paul or peter or any of other of our heroes.
  • 00:20:15.074 --> 00:20:20.713
  • From the scripture, you don't have to be afraid.
  • 00:20:20.713 --> 00:20:24.050
  • Begin to treat fear like a person without a body.
  • 00:20:24.050 --> 00:20:26.986
  • You say you go in jesus name.
  • 00:20:26.986 --> 00:20:29.422
  • You're not welcome here. you're not welcome in my thoughts.
  • 00:20:29.422 --> 00:20:31.624
  • You're not welcome in my home.
  • 00:20:31.624 --> 00:20:33.192
  • You're not going to write my future.
  • 00:20:33.192 --> 00:20:34.727
  • My future is being written by the spirit of the living god
  • 00:20:34.727 --> 00:20:37.863
  • And the authority of jesus of nazareth.
  • 00:20:37.863 --> 00:20:39.899
  • You go from here, we will wrestle with fear.
  • 00:20:39.899 --> 00:20:42.935
  • We'll grapple with fear.
  • 00:20:42.935 --> 00:20:44.070
  • But we're still going to live with a courageous faith
  • 00:20:44.070 --> 00:20:47.740
  • In the midst of this season
  • 00:20:47.740 --> 00:20:49.241
  • That's going to become increasingly intense,
  • 00:20:49.241 --> 00:20:52.278
  • Because the one we call lord is triumphant.
  • 00:20:52.278 --> 00:20:55.581
  • He holds the keys.
  • 00:20:55.581 --> 00:20:57.817
  • You don't have to be afraid,
  • 00:20:57.817 --> 00:20:59.752
  • But it's time to choose the lord with your whole heart.
  • 00:20:59.752 --> 00:20:59.752