Allen Jackson: Coach Prays After Every Game | Allen Jackson Now

March 27, 2025 | 19:56

Allen Jackson NOW is a lifeline for a struggling and anxious nation. A guiding hand for those who are not ready to give up, and for those who want to find a way past the negativity before things get worse. Americans still have hope, they are searching for the wisdom embedded in a Christian World View.

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Allen Jackson NOW | Allen Jackson: Coach Prays After Every Game | Allen Jackson Now | March 27, 2025
  • Well.
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  • Good evening.
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  • I'm allen jackson, and welcome to nashville.
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  • And welcome to our guest coach joe kennedy.
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  • Just another regular guy who coached a high school
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  • Football team.
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  • Except that
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  • This was the coach who had a habit
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  • Of saying a prayer after every game.
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  • A very brief, private moment at the 50 yard line
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  • Until the authorities in his district told him to stop.
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  • Well, it turns out they were messing with the wrong guy.
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  • Joe kennedy was a marine and a man with a deep faith.
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  • You may have listened to advice about calling a play,
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  • But he was never going to listen
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  • To anyone messing with his faith.
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  • Welcome to nashville, coach.
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  • Thank you.
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  • What a journey you've had.
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  • And now the full story is out in your new book, average joe.
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  • Everybody needs to read this.
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  • It's one man's faith in the fight to change a nation.
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  • It's certainly one of
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  • The more inspirational stories that i've read in years.
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  • I want people to get to know your story in the time
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  • We've got.
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  • Before you were a high school coach
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  • And before you made it to the supreme court,
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  • You actually got expelled from school more than once.
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  • Can we start back at the beginning
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  • And tell us a little bit about that? yeah. from, unwanted,
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  • Unwanted child.
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  • I was put up for adoption and i was became an angry kid.
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  • And yeah,
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  • The first time i was kicked out, i was expelled in third grade.
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  • So about age nine.
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  • So i was a pretty bad kid.
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  • And things didn't get better until i joined the military.
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  • So in and out of group homes, foster homes, boys homes,
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  • I was a mess, a complete disaster.
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  • Well, i'm a pastor, so i hear a lot of people's stories.
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  • You were actually adopted,
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  • And then your adoptive family circumstances changed and they
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  • Put you back in the system? yes, sir.
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  • Which fueled the rejection and the anger even more.
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  • Yeah. confused. angry kid.
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  • That's what i was all this time.
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  • Well, let's go back to that moment
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  • When you decided to kneel at the 50 yard line
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  • And pray on the field.
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  • What was going through your mind when you decided to do that?
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  • Well, the very last time
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  • You're talking about was, i didn't know what i was doing.
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  • I was just believing in the lord
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  • That he's called me to do this,
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  • And i believed i was doing the right thing.
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  • I knew that the last time i prayed on the 50 yard line,
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  • It was going to cost me everything in my job
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  • The first time.
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  • Didn't even bat an eye
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  • Because praying in public, praying and anywhere.
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  • This is america, you could pray wherever you want.
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  • God doesn't care.
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  • But some obviously somebody did
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  • And ultimately cost me everything.
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  • And, i just did it because it was the right thing to do, and i
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  • That was my my,
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  • My thing with god is that i my covenant was to give them
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  • Thanks after every game, win or lose.
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  • Well, it seems like to me, with 20 years
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  • In the marine corps, you had invested your life
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  • In fighting for the privilege of having a prayer.
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  • You know, the constitution really meant something to me.
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  • It wasn't just something that i.
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  • I read at one time.
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  • And when i take the oath of enlistment,
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  • It still makes the hair in the back of my head stand up,
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  • To support and defend the constitution.
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  • So the first amendment was very clear,
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  • So simply wrote and so eloquently wrote that
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  • Anybody can understand that the freedom of our religion
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  • And the freedom of expression,
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  • These are things that people can't take away from us.
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  • And that's what they were trying to do.
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  • So tell us how you got word
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  • That the local authorities wanted you to stop.
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  • What did they say? and what did you tell them?
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  • They sat down with,
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  • The whole group, the superintendent and the rest
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  • Of the school board.
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  • And we sat there and they said,
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  • Just stop praying with the kids.
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  • And i think everything will be fine.
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  • And i said, well, that's unfortunate
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  • Because this is what what was so great about it
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  • And why they learned about it in the first place.
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  • They got a compliment from it.
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  • So this all started from a compliment.
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  • And so i stopped praying with the kids.
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  • I said, i don't want to have a fight,
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  • I just want to coach football. and that's what i did.
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  • I ended up just telling them
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  • That i've stopped praying with the kids.
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  • I never prayed with another
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  • One of my players again, and but that wasn't good enough.
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  • They could still see me in public doing it.
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  • And that's where we came to the impasse.
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  • And they said,
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  • You need to choose between your faith and your job.
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  • And that was an easy one for me.
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  • So you were praying
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  • On the field, but you weren't bringing the students in.
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  • You were just having a prayer.
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  • Yes. at the end, that's exactly what i was doing.
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  • And they objected to that.
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  • They objected to that
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  • Because i could be seen in public at a public school.
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  • Can you believe that?
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  • I probably can, which is unfortunate.
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  • Do you ever consider doing anything other than praying?
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  • I did, i, i this was a huge battle for me
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  • Because nowhere in our church,
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  • In the groups, bible
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  • Studies that i've ever been to, did they prep me for this?
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  • What do you do when you're confronted with this?
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  • Do you do what do your bosses telling you, or do you do what
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  • Your god's telling you?
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  • And i didn't know which way to go.
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  • The fighter, i mean, the american in the
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  • Marine and me was like, no, this is wrong.
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  • It's dead wrong.
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  • The christian in me was very well,
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  • I didn't know what to do.
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  • So i spent a lot of time praying and asking and saying, god,
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  • Am i supposed to go along with this?
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  • Or stand up and fight for what i believe in.
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  • What the people say,
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  • What the fans say when they found out
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  • About the debate around you, praying.
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  • That they were really great.
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  • Of course, you're going to have the 1
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  • Or 2%, but you should have seen it.
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  • We had it was incredible.
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  • We had the entire stadium filled and they came
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  • Running out onto the field and they all joined me.
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  • Imagine 5000 people praying on a football
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  • Field up in this little town in washington state.
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  • It was the most awesomest thing i've ever seen.
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  • It just god is moving in some incredible ways.
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  • And this was more than praying in public.
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  • This got personal because your wife worked
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  • For the school board in charge of hr.
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  • She was the hr director. yeah.
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  • So this was very close to home.
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  • This was a
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  • And we had two kids in the school. we had,
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  • Two kids in the high school, one in the middle school.
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  • So this was very much involved in every aspect of her life.
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  • So your wife had to fire you?
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  • Yeah.
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  • And i had to sue her and returned it.
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  • Great thing is, is that
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  • Her name
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  • Did not have to go on to the letter,
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  • But she was the one who did deliver to me.
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  • That said, my my time of coaching was over.
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  • So we had some intense fellowship
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  • Over this entire thing.
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  • Well, i think that's an important piece of the story.
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  • This wasn't just something that was lived out in a courtroom.
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  • This came inside the house.
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  • I mean, you had to live with the pressure in the community.
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  • It affected the people you all worked with in your family.
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  • And it was on the news every single day.
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  • We can go to the story. you can go out in public.
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  • This is a small town in a military town.
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  • We grew up with these people. our kids all grew up together.
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  • We all go to church together and it goes to the same church.
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  • So you can imagine this small community
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  • Being disrupted like this.
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  • It's playing on every single thing from,
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  • From fox news to cnn to espn.
  • 00:07:01.702 --> 00:07:05.606
  • It was everywhere, and it infiltrated
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  • Every aspect of our life, and it turned our life upside down.
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  • My wife wasn't happy about it, and she she just wanted like me.
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  • I just wanted to coach football and wanted to live my life.
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  • I didn't want any of this nonsense that was going on.
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  • Well, coach kennedy, we're going to take a quick timeout.
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  • So please stay with us for another segment, if you will.
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  • Absolutely.
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  • And if you want to write an email
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  • And jump in on this discussion,
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  • You can send it to comments at allen jackson now.com.
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  • We'll be right back.
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  • We'll be right back.
  • 00:07:43.995 --> 00:07:47.382
  • We're back now with coach joe kennedy.
  • 00:07:48.149 --> 00:07:50.618
  • The average joe, as he's referred to in his new book.
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  • Of course, he's anything but your average joe.
  • 00:07:53.755 --> 00:07:56.357
  • You were a former marine.
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  • No one should try to mess with the marine.
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  • Tell me how you're the training that you got in the corps.
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  • Prepared you for the seven year journey
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  • With the school officials in the courts.
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  • Well, you know,
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  • I was a really bad kid, so i needed to put all
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  • That anger into something.
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  • And the marine corps was a perfect place.
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  • I learned a lot about discipline and self-control
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  • And being able to utilize these skills
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  • That were bottled up inside of me for something good.
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  • And the great thing was that the constitution
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  • Actually came to life, and i was standing for something
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  • That that meant more than myself.
  • 00:08:27.956 --> 00:08:30.358
  • So really, it took me right into the perfect.
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  • I didn't even realize that that god's fingerprints
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  • Were on this because you couldn't remember.
  • 00:08:35.997 --> 00:08:37.865
  • I was an atheist all throughout my time in the marine corps.
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  • There was there was no god to me.
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  • So when god got a hold of me, he did pick the right guy
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  • Who'd love to fight and i'm a scrapper.
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  • So god knew what he was doing
  • 00:08:50.912 --> 00:08:52.080
  • When he was designing this whole thing.
  • 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:54.115
  • Well, i was smiling as i'm reading your story
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  • Because i think the school board
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  • Probably thought they had somebody
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  • That was kind of a quiet, reluctant christian
  • 00:08:58.219 --> 00:09:00.822
  • Having a little prayer, and they tapped the shoulder
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  • Of a 20 year marine vet
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  • That had already overcome a troubled childhood.
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  • So god put you in that place for that moment?
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  • Yeah,
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  • I heard that a lot of what i thought you were a christian.
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  • And i'm like, well, i'm sorry,
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  • I'm not that kind of a christian.
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  • Well share it.
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  • You shared a story in the book that i want you to share
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  • With the viewers,
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  • Though it's the one time you did
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  • Have some apprehension as a marine.
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  • It was during your
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  • First deployment that began with a seriously overweight jet,
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  • And you ended up coaching a flight attendant
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  • Who was afraid you might not even get off the ground.
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  • Yeah, that was terrifying moment.
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  • We were just packed up.
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  • The iraq just took over in kuwait,
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  • And we were out into the country and we had no military jet.
  • 00:09:40.128 --> 00:09:43.765
  • So we were on this jumbo 747 or whatever it was.
  • 00:09:43.765 --> 00:09:47.869
  • And we are fully loaded.
  • 00:09:47.869 --> 00:09:49.804
  • We have grenades, we have rounds in our rifles.
  • 00:09:49.804 --> 00:09:52.874
  • We're expecting to get off and engage the enemy.
  • 00:09:52.874 --> 00:09:56.544
  • And we were so heavy we started taking off
  • 00:09:56.544 --> 00:09:59.313
  • And the stewardess started strapping in.
  • 00:09:59.313 --> 00:10:02.884
  • And she's got this look and she's white
  • 00:10:02.884 --> 00:10:04.585
  • Knuckling it and i'm like, what's going on?
  • 00:10:04.585 --> 00:10:08.389
  • She says, and we never been this heavy
  • 00:10:08.389 --> 00:10:10.391
  • When we started taking off, they went full throttle
  • 00:10:10.391 --> 00:10:12.894
  • And we didn't even even start moving.
  • 00:10:12.894 --> 00:10:14.495
  • Usually you get pushed back in your seat.
  • 00:10:14.495 --> 00:10:16.431
  • We just sat there and the guy comes on
  • 00:10:16.431 --> 00:10:19.200
  • And says, we're going to give this a try.
  • 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:20.802
  • We'll see if it goes.
  • 00:10:20.802 --> 00:10:22.070
  • And man, we barely cleared.
  • 00:10:22.070 --> 00:10:24.639
  • And when we came down into germany,
  • 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:26.574
  • We broke a landing gear.
  • 00:10:26.574 --> 00:10:28.209
  • So we were we were heavy and it was a terrifying
  • 00:10:28.209 --> 00:10:31.579
  • I don't like flying to begin with.
  • 00:10:31.579 --> 00:10:33.114
  • And here i am thinking
  • 00:10:33.114 --> 00:10:34.382
  • Not man, i'm not even going to get to the combat.
  • 00:10:34.382 --> 00:10:36.317
  • I'm going to die on the stupid plane.
  • 00:10:36.317 --> 00:10:38.519
  • Well, this whole event,
  • 00:10:39.020 --> 00:10:40.688
  • I mean, from the beginning to the end,
  • 00:10:40.688 --> 00:10:42.256
  • Takes more than seven years. yes.
  • 00:10:42.256 --> 00:10:44.258
  • So this wasn't like a microwave prayer answer
  • 00:10:44.258 --> 00:10:47.295
  • Where you just prayed a simple prayer
  • 00:10:47.295 --> 00:10:48.863
  • And you got the answer you wanted.
  • 00:10:48.863 --> 00:10:51.032
  • How do you walk through seven years of turmoil
  • 00:10:51.032 --> 00:10:53.668
  • In your family and your community?
  • 00:10:53.668 --> 00:10:55.970
  • That's not a simple thing. yeah.
  • 00:10:55.970 --> 00:10:58.306
  • I don't know how we did it.
  • 00:10:58.306 --> 00:11:00.208
  • I really i look back all the time, and it took
  • 00:11:00.208 --> 00:11:04.378
  • Nine football seasons for me to get back onto the field
  • 00:11:04.378 --> 00:11:07.415
  • That in seven times we lost in court.
  • 00:11:07.415 --> 00:11:10.418
  • That was the longest time in my life that i just kept
  • 00:11:10.418 --> 00:11:13.888
  • Questioning god. is this the right thing?
  • 00:11:13.888 --> 00:11:15.723
  • Am i doing the right thing?
  • 00:11:15.723 --> 00:11:17.191
  • My family,
  • 00:11:17.191 --> 00:11:18.059
  • We were at such odds with each other,
  • 00:11:18.059 --> 00:11:20.461
  • And when you hear you
  • 00:11:20.461 --> 00:11:21.562
  • That no, you're wrong and that you can't have prayer
  • 00:11:21.562 --> 00:11:24.866
  • In the public square.
  • 00:11:24.866 --> 00:11:26.234
  • If you hear this enough in the separation
  • 00:11:26.234 --> 00:11:28.202
  • Of church and state and all this nonsense
  • 00:11:28.202 --> 00:11:30.104
  • That's been going on
  • 00:11:30.104 --> 00:11:31.205
  • For the past 50 years, you kind of it does keep ending.
  • 00:11:31.205 --> 00:11:35.042
  • You do think that maybe i am not doing the right thing,
  • 00:11:35.042 --> 00:11:39.013
  • But i just knew that god called me for a reason,
  • 00:11:39.013 --> 00:11:43.217
  • And i even if i was hanging on by my fingernails,
  • 00:11:43.217 --> 00:11:46.154
  • I was going to stay true.
  • 00:11:46.154 --> 00:11:47.488
  • And sometimes that's all i had was at night,
  • 00:11:47.488 --> 00:11:50.224
  • Just on my knees praying, going, god,
  • 00:11:50.224 --> 00:11:52.326
  • Just get me through one more day of this.
  • 00:11:52.326 --> 00:11:54.962
  • Know it strikes me as a bit odd.
  • 00:11:55.596 --> 00:11:57.632
  • I go to
  • 00:11:57.632 --> 00:11:58.533
  • High school football games in college
  • 00:11:58.533 --> 00:11:59.700
  • And watch some professional stuff.
  • 00:11:59.700 --> 00:12:01.936
  • It's not unusual to hear profanity at a football game
  • 00:12:01.936 --> 00:12:05.506
  • And you're a marine.
  • 00:12:05.973 --> 00:12:07.008
  • You've probably heard one of those words.
  • 00:12:07.008 --> 00:12:08.576
  • I'm sure you've never used it. never known.
  • 00:12:08.576 --> 00:12:11.279
  • But you end up in front of the
  • 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:12.814
  • United states supreme court for a 15 second
  • 00:12:12.814 --> 00:12:16.050
  • Prayer, not profanity.
  • 00:12:16.050 --> 00:12:19.053
  • How have we gotten to this place in our nation.
  • 00:12:19.053 --> 00:12:22.156
  • That i still wonder that i take a look around our country,
  • 00:12:22.156 --> 00:12:25.693
  • And i guess the 20 years while i was in the marine corps,
  • 00:12:25.693 --> 00:12:28.963
  • I lived in a different, different society
  • 00:12:28.963 --> 00:12:32.567
  • Where i didn't see it all coming unglued.
  • 00:12:32.567 --> 00:12:34.702
  • I always assumed everybody was red blooded
  • 00:12:34.702 --> 00:12:37.104
  • American and were fighters and wanted to stand up for,
  • 00:12:37.104 --> 00:12:40.441
  • You know, uncle sam, apple pie and baseball
  • 00:12:40.441 --> 00:12:43.277
  • And all of those things.
  • 00:12:43.277 --> 00:12:44.345
  • And i was under the illusion that this is where
  • 00:12:44.345 --> 00:12:46.514
  • All americans were.
  • 00:12:46.514 --> 00:12:47.849
  • So 20 years while i was serving to protect our constitution,
  • 00:12:47.849 --> 00:12:51.619
  • I didn't realize how was being eroded away.
  • 00:12:51.619 --> 00:12:54.755
  • So when i got out,
  • 00:12:54.755 --> 00:12:55.990
  • It was this huge culture shock to me thinking,
  • 00:12:55.990 --> 00:12:59.126
  • This is not the america that i've been
  • 00:12:59.126 --> 00:13:01.562
  • Supporting and defending, and it's because of the apathy,
  • 00:13:01.562 --> 00:13:04.465
  • And we just let this little stuff creep in
  • 00:13:04.465 --> 00:13:06.767
  • And it slowly erodes our society.
  • 00:13:06.767 --> 00:13:09.070
  • It didn't happen overnight.
  • 00:13:09.070 --> 00:13:10.404
  • This has happened to over the past 50 years.
  • 00:13:10.404 --> 00:13:12.874
  • And now
  • 00:13:12.874 --> 00:13:14.108
  • We now we're trying to catch up and trying to come back around
  • 00:13:14.108 --> 00:13:17.211
  • To where we're supposed to be.
  • 00:13:17.211 --> 00:13:19.580
  • You know, we talked a little bit before the program and,
  • 00:13:19.580 --> 00:13:22.783
  • You know, you said you were better
  • 00:13:22.783 --> 00:13:23.951
  • At living your bible than you were quoting it.
  • 00:13:23.951 --> 00:13:27.154
  • And i love that image because i'm responsible
  • 00:13:27.154 --> 00:13:30.224
  • For a little bit of both.
  • 00:13:30.224 --> 00:13:31.759
  • And we all know the verse about turning the other cheek.
  • 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:34.428
  • But when you're confronted with evil,
  • 00:13:34.428 --> 00:13:36.931
  • It seems to me we also have a biblical assignment to stand up.
  • 00:13:36.931 --> 00:13:40.434
  • And somehow you grasp that and you were willing
  • 00:13:40.434 --> 00:13:43.404
  • To stand even in the midst of the stress it brought.
  • 00:13:43.404 --> 00:13:46.607
  • So there's people watching this that are trying decide
  • 00:13:46.607 --> 00:13:49.310
  • Whether they should capitulate to a school board
  • 00:13:49.310 --> 00:13:51.112
  • That wants to put smut in a library, or
  • 00:13:51.112 --> 00:13:53.714
  • If we should stand.
  • 00:13:53.714 --> 00:13:55.216
  • What's your counsel to those people that are watching?
  • 00:13:55.216 --> 00:13:58.052
  • It goes back to the very basics of things that we're taught
  • 00:13:58.052 --> 00:14:01.555
  • As human beings. god's put an imprint on our life.
  • 00:14:01.555 --> 00:14:04.458
  • And even if, you know, if you're not an american, which
  • 00:14:04.458 --> 00:14:08.629
  • There's right and
  • 00:14:09.063 --> 00:14:10.331
  • Wrong in the world and we all could put our finger on that.
  • 00:14:10.331 --> 00:14:13.734
  • It's just we have let things come and just
  • 00:14:13.734 --> 00:14:17.071
  • Infiltrate our life.
  • 00:14:17.538 --> 00:14:18.673
  • And i my my big motto is, is my bible verse
  • 00:14:18.673 --> 00:14:22.310
  • Second timothy four seven of fighting the good fight
  • 00:14:22.310 --> 00:14:24.946
  • To finish the race and remaining faithful.
  • 00:14:24.946 --> 00:14:26.981
  • Nowhere in there does it say we have to win,
  • 00:14:26.981 --> 00:14:28.983
  • But we are called to be fighters and warriors.
  • 00:14:28.983 --> 00:14:32.620
  • We're not called to be this loving
  • 00:14:32.620 --> 00:14:35.923
  • Christianity softness
  • 00:14:36.424 --> 00:14:38.526
  • That that the church has been portraying all this time.
  • 00:14:38.526 --> 00:14:41.562
  • That that's not the way the world is.
  • 00:14:41.562 --> 00:14:43.297
  • God gave us dominion over this world
  • 00:14:43.297 --> 00:14:45.700
  • And we made a mess of it.
  • 00:14:45.700 --> 00:14:46.968
  • So we need to be the ones to clean it up.
  • 00:14:46.968 --> 00:14:49.337
  • And it starts with each one of us in our own homes.
  • 00:14:49.337 --> 00:14:52.606
  • I've got one more quick question before we go.
  • 00:14:52.606 --> 00:14:54.542
  • The point of coaching is the kids. yes, sir.
  • 00:14:54.542 --> 00:14:56.477
  • So what was the impact of all of this on your players
  • 00:14:56.477 --> 00:14:58.946
  • And those folks you were actually coaching?
  • 00:14:58.946 --> 00:15:01.215
  • I got to be the living example of what i've always
  • 00:15:01.215 --> 00:15:03.951
  • Preached to them.
  • 00:15:03.951 --> 00:15:05.219
  • I've wanted to be leadership by example,
  • 00:15:05.219 --> 00:15:07.488
  • And this was
  • 00:15:07.488 --> 00:15:08.689
  • Of the best way to show it that even they didn't understand
  • 00:15:08.689 --> 00:15:11.692
  • Why i was doing what i was doing.
  • 00:15:11.692 --> 00:15:13.294
  • But there's right and there's wrong.
  • 00:15:13.294 --> 00:15:15.229
  • And if you don't stand up for what is right,
  • 00:15:15.229 --> 00:15:17.064
  • Even if it costs you everything,
  • 00:15:17.064 --> 00:15:18.866
  • You're going to end up losing everything.
  • 00:15:18.866 --> 00:15:21.002
  • And but you got to fight for what you believe in and stand up
  • 00:15:21.002 --> 00:15:24.038
  • For what is right.
  • 00:15:24.038 --> 00:15:25.172
  • My guys, they get to see that every single day now.
  • 00:15:25.172 --> 00:15:27.508
  • Well, coach kennedy, thank you for your time today.
  • 00:15:27.508 --> 00:15:30.077
  • The book can be purchased everywhere
  • 00:15:30.077 --> 00:15:32.380
  • Though we like suggested
  • 00:15:32.380 --> 00:15:33.581
  • You try to support your local bookstore.
  • 00:15:33.581 --> 00:15:35.316
  • It's called average joe and it's a winner.
  • 00:15:35.316 --> 00:15:38.119
  • When we come back, i have some thoughts of my own
  • 00:15:38.119 --> 00:15:40.221
  • To share after this inspiring visit with joe kennedy.
  • 00:15:40.221 --> 00:15:43.457
  • And later in the show, your emails.
  • 00:15:43.457 --> 00:15:45.593
  • I'll be right back.
  • 00:15:45.593 --> 00:15:52.990
  • I'll be right back.
  • 00:15:52.990 --> 00:15:55.337
  • In his farewell address to the nation.
  • 00:15:56.104 --> 00:15:58.040
  • President ronald reagan
  • 00:15:58.040 --> 00:15:59.207
  • Called america the shining city on a hill.
  • 00:15:59.207 --> 00:16:02.544
  • Well, unfortunately,
  • 00:16:02.544 --> 00:16:03.478
  • Our nation has been on the wrong trajectory
  • 00:16:03.478 --> 00:16:05.447
  • For a long time now.
  • 00:16:05.447 --> 00:16:07.115
  • You know, growing up, i never imagined that
  • 00:16:07.115 --> 00:16:08.850
  • In this great nation of ours, there would be a day
  • 00:16:08.850 --> 00:16:11.453
  • When a person would be forbidden to quietly pray.
  • 00:16:11.453 --> 00:16:14.790
  • The churches would be
  • 00:16:14.790 --> 00:16:15.957
  • Told to close their doors because they were nonessential
  • 00:16:15.957 --> 00:16:18.660
  • And they'd cooperate,
  • 00:16:18.660 --> 00:16:20.429
  • Or that a college biology professor would be fired
  • 00:16:20.429 --> 00:16:22.931
  • For teaching basic biology, that it takes
  • 00:16:22.931 --> 00:16:25.734
  • The union of a male and a female to create life.
  • 00:16:25.734 --> 00:16:28.837
  • We live in an age of political correctness run amuck.
  • 00:16:28.837 --> 00:16:31.973
  • One of the tenets of political correctness
  • 00:16:31.973 --> 00:16:33.909
  • Is that you aren't supposed to state an opinion
  • 00:16:33.909 --> 00:16:36.344
  • That would make someone else
  • 00:16:36.344 --> 00:16:37.379
  • Feel uncomfortable about their opinion.
  • 00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:40.048
  • We're frequently told that faith is a personal, private matter.
  • 00:16:40.048 --> 00:16:42.851
  • We shouldn't let our convictions about it
  • 00:16:42.851 --> 00:16:44.386
  • Press on anyone else's choices.
  • 00:16:44.386 --> 00:16:46.521
  • Well, i'm sure that the
  • 00:16:47.022 --> 00:16:48.123
  • Apostle paul would have found that notion laughable.
  • 00:16:48.123 --> 00:16:50.725
  • Listen to what he said in acts 20.
  • 00:16:50.725 --> 00:16:52.928
  • I consider my life worth nothing to me, only.
  • 00:16:52.928 --> 00:16:55.497
  • My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task.
  • 00:16:55.497 --> 00:16:58.500
  • The lord jesus has given me
  • 00:16:58.500 --> 00:16:59.901
  • The task of testifying to the good news of god's grace.
  • 00:16:59.901 --> 00:17:03.805
  • Paul have been called away from persecuting believers
  • 00:17:03.805 --> 00:17:06.708
  • And toward telling everyone he met
  • 00:17:06.708 --> 00:17:08.276
  • What jesus had done and how he had changed his life.
  • 00:17:08.276 --> 00:17:11.580
  • And it seems that literally everyone he met
  • 00:17:11.580 --> 00:17:13.248
  • Got to hear the story.
  • 00:17:13.248 --> 00:17:14.716
  • Paul went from being the persecutor of faith
  • 00:17:14.716 --> 00:17:17.119
  • To being persecuted for his faith.
  • 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:19.254
  • Yet his goal never changed
  • 00:17:19.254 --> 00:17:20.822
  • To testify to the good news of god's grace.
  • 00:17:20.822 --> 00:17:23.825
  • Folks, that's our assignment.
  • 00:17:23.825 --> 00:17:25.327
  • God's blessed us and we get to tell others about it.
  • 00:17:25.327 --> 00:17:28.029
  • And if they don't like it, we'll smile.
  • 00:17:28.029 --> 00:17:29.698
  • We'll be kind.
  • 00:17:29.698 --> 00:17:30.866
  • But we're going to keep telling the story.
  • 00:17:30.866 --> 00:17:33.001
  • We've been called to be salt and light.
  • 00:17:33.001 --> 00:17:34.669
  • If we'll do that, there's more reasons for hope than despair.
  • 00:17:34.669 --> 00:17:38.006
  • I promise we'll be right back with some of your emails.
  • 00:17:38.006 --> 00:17:46.995
  • I promise we'll be right back with some of your emails.
  • 00:17:46.995 --> 00:17:49.885
  • Thank you for taking the time
  • 00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:51.853
  • To send your emails, your thoughts and perspectives.
  • 00:17:51.853 --> 00:17:54.890
  • They're important to us.
  • 00:17:54.890 --> 00:17:56.758
  • Nancy commented on the steve moore
  • 00:17:56.758 --> 00:17:58.960
  • Youtube episode, i get angry about what is happening
  • 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:02.497
  • In our nation's government.
  • 00:18:02.497 --> 00:18:03.765
  • I'm trying to lose that anger by praying
  • 00:18:03.765 --> 00:18:05.734
  • For the people who are making me angry.
  • 00:18:05.734 --> 00:18:08.170
  • Can anger be both good and bad or is there
  • 00:18:08.170 --> 00:18:11.006
  • No place in our lives as a christian for anger?
  • 00:18:11.006 --> 00:18:14.976
  • That's a really important question.
  • 00:18:15.710 --> 00:18:17.145
  • You know, the bible tells us that god gets angry.
  • 00:18:17.145 --> 00:18:19.648
  • There were things that angered jesus.
  • 00:18:19.648 --> 00:18:21.983
  • So it isn't that anger is a forbidden emotion.
  • 00:18:21.983 --> 00:18:25.320
  • I think there are some things that we see or experience
  • 00:18:25.320 --> 00:18:27.656
  • That should elicit a righteous indignation.
  • 00:18:27.656 --> 00:18:30.091
  • That's the fancy word for getting angry.
  • 00:18:30.091 --> 00:18:33.128
  • It's what you do when you're angry that matters.
  • 00:18:33.128 --> 00:18:35.797
  • You know, we can't allow anger
  • 00:18:35.797 --> 00:18:37.265
  • To deteriorate into resentment and bitterness and hatred.
  • 00:18:37.265 --> 00:18:40.802
  • We've got to offload it.
  • 00:18:41.336 --> 00:18:42.370
  • Ultimately, we have to forgive.
  • 00:18:42.370 --> 00:18:43.605
  • But there are some things that we see
  • 00:18:43.605 --> 00:18:45.440
  • That elicit a response of anger, because we're called to
  • 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:48.109
  • To engage, to make a difference.
  • 00:18:48.109 --> 00:18:50.312
  • In coach's case, he had to stand up against an
  • 00:18:50.312 --> 00:18:52.914
  • Illegitimate demand that he not pray in public.
  • 00:18:52.914 --> 00:18:56.685
  • And i think we have been surrendering for too long.
  • 00:18:56.685 --> 00:18:59.921
  • It's time for us to respond with a bit of anger.
  • 00:18:59.921 --> 00:19:03.058
  • Not belligerence, certainly not violence.
  • 00:19:03.058 --> 00:19:05.694
  • We can't accept the dictates of evil to surrender our faith,
  • 00:19:05.694 --> 00:19:10.165
  • Or we're giving up the generations who follow us.
  • 00:19:10.165 --> 00:19:12.901
  • And finally, bob from tennessee wrote,
  • 00:19:13.735 --> 00:19:16.137
  • I think the reason that the pigs are squealing
  • 00:19:16.137 --> 00:19:18.807
  • So loudly is they're afraid that if dodge digs deep enough,
  • 00:19:18.807 --> 00:19:23.211
  • Some of the fraud will be traced back to them.
  • 00:19:23.211 --> 00:19:26.815
  • Well, bob, i live in tennessee and i understand the comment.
  • 00:19:26.815 --> 00:19:30.218
  • And you're right, the pigs are squealing.
  • 00:19:30.218 --> 00:19:32.654
  • I hope elon and his team keep digging.
  • 00:19:32.654 --> 00:19:36.057
  • Truth will set us free.
  • 00:19:36.057 --> 00:19:37.926
  • That's biblical.
  • 00:19:37.926 --> 00:19:40.195
  • If you haven't yet, take a moment
  • 00:19:40.195 --> 00:19:42.030
  • To send your emails to comments at allen jackson now.com.
  • 00:19:42.030 --> 00:19:45.800
  • Your feedback and questions.
  • 00:19:45.800 --> 00:19:47.102
  • I do a lot to shape our show.
  • 00:19:47.102 --> 00:19:49.037
  • I'm allen jackson.
  • 00:19:49.037 --> 00:19:50.272
  • You have a wonderful evening.
  • 00:19:50.272 --> 00:19:50.272