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Allen Jackson: Moral Confusion | Allen Jackson Now

July 13, 2026 | 22:29

Allen Jackson breaks down current events.

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Allen Jackson NOW | Allen Jackson: Moral Confusion | Allen Jackson Now | July 13, 2026

Thank you for spending a few minutes with us.
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I really come to look forward to this time.
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It's like we get to have a cup of tea and a conversation
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Without the pressure
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Of a fully aligned sermon or complete alignment of all.
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And so there's a bit of randomness in it.
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But, you know, we live in a, in a season
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Where there's this
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Tremendous conflict unfolding, if you haven't noticed,
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And it's expressed in so many ways, it's expressed
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Between nation states, between china and the us
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And russia and ukraine and iran and
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And it's expressed between ideologies,
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Between socialism and communism and capitalism.
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It's expressed between political parties,
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Republican and democrat and alone around the world,
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But in reality,
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Built beneath that veneer of all those labels
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That we can identify.
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It really is a spiritual conflict
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Between the principles of god and his kingdom and satan,
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Who stands in opposition to god and his kingdom.
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But if you allow that conflict to become a part of the filter
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Through which you engage the world,
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It seems to me that things become a great deal
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With a lot more clarity.
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And one of the challenges is
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There's things happening that are just,
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Unbridled expressions of evil in ways
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That we're not accustomed to.
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They haven't been a part
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Of western civilization in the last several decades.
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And now they're being celebrated, normalized, held up.
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Our children are being preyed upon.
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All the things we go through that punch list
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Pretty frequently, and it's easy to get discouraged
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Or dissuaded or or you start grasping at false hopes
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And imaginary revivals because somebody shows you,
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A group of people who were baptized
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Or the god moved into some pocket of people.
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And all those things are great, folks.
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When there are widespread moves of the spirit of god,
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They correspond with dramatic changes in cultural behavior.
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And i don't think we're seeing that
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In those broad spread ways yet.
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I'm grateful for every life that's changed
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For every generation that's impacted.
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But so we're left in kind of this cauldron
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Where we feel the conflict, whether you see it or not,
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You feel it on a very regular basis.
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And i'm very aware
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That many families that gather with us in worship
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Struggle with the lgbtq issues.
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Our families aren't exempt from that.
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We've arrived at this place where we are, have men
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Participating in women's sports and supreme court justices
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That are unwilling to define what a woman is,
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And all the corporate shenanigans around
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Transgender confusion.
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In reality, those things aren't confusing at all.
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It's an ideology that has been,
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Put front and center in our culture.
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Fortunately, there's been a reversal of that
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With the current administration,
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But we arrived at that place because of the capitulation
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Of the church, you know, 2 or 3 decades ago.
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We winked at sex outside of marriage.
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You know, boys will be boys, and we don't want the women
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To have any less opportunities than the men do.
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And, you know, so it was just kind of a wink
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And a nod and locker room talk and,
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And we really didn't imagine there was any consequence.
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We thought we could ignore
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God's boundaries and god's parameters,
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Live any way we wanted to live.
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And we would do that free of any consequence.
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Because if we were christians,
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We just kind of casually go, oh, i'm sorry, god,
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And we can be forgiven
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In the blood of jesus and its efficacy in our lives.
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And there's no consequence
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For the bible's equally clear that god is unmarked.
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And so we walk through that, and we really didn't say much.
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We walk through seasons where we just biblical marriage
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In general was kind of set aside.
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We saw all the statistics that said the
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That marriage was less of a value,
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And people were living together
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Because you needed to understand
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That the relationship was really durable enough.
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And i can't tell you how many families i engaged with that
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They gave one version or another of that
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Where they gave their blessing to that.
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The covertly is not overtly and you know what?
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They're going to get married anyway.
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They're not.
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I'm grateful for that.
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I'm grateful that they have that intent.
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But i think any time
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We flaunt god's boundaries and live in disobedience,
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We open our lives up to consequences.
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Forgiveness of sin does
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Not eliminate all the consequences of sin.
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And we watched what
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That more open attitude towards marriage brought.
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We moved marriage for the most part outside of churches.
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Now we all want venues and unique events.
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Again, i think that's evil,
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That we kind of diminish
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The centrality of god in the midst of those things.
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And marriage became more about a party with our friends
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And a celebration and an expression of our individuality
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And our creativity,
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And less of a covenant that was made between
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A man and a woman in the sight of god.
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The end of the day, that's what a wedding, a marriage is.
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Or it's the beginning of a marriage.
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And we moved right through those boundaries
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As christians with really very little angst.
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We didn't talk about it much in our churches,
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Good families, families that participated in church.
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And i would have these conversations with them
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And they'd say, well, you know, alan, if i,
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I got three kids
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And they're all living with
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Their most of their boyfriends or their girlfriends,
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Would you know, if we say something
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About it, it's going to disrupt thanksgiving.
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And that's the only time
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We all get together and, you know, on and on.
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And we were really casual with the boundaries that god gave us.
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And then we added into that, you know, kind of rejecting
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Any gender roles from scripture.
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We didn't want to be a
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And we get caught into those discussions.
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So, you know, we were saying men can do anything women can do
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And women can do everything men can do.
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Now, folks were fundamentally different
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That lesser or greater, but we're different.
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That's just a biological reality.
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And so that all got blurred.
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And as
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And now we find ourselves where we don't have the courage
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To say what a man or a woman is.
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And we have men competing in women's sports
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Not because they are able to typically dominate
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In men's sports, but because they can't.
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They're looking for a venue where they can participate.
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So they identify as a woman.
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And because we deconstructed those boundaries decades ago,
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We forfeit a lot of the moral authority to come back and say,
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Wait a minute, this is absurd.
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Do you? do.
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Do you? do.
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God's moral boundaries haven't been reduced.
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God didn't say, oh, just steal when it's in your best interest
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Or commit adultery if it's more fulfilling to you,
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You know, and jesus made that very clear in his teaching.
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You know, he said,
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According to the law of moses, if you're angry enough to it
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And you murder someone, you're guilty.
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But i say to you, if you're angry enough
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That you want to commit murder, that you're guilty.
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You said, moses said, that if you commit adultery,
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You're guilty.
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I say to you
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That if you look at a woman and with lust in your heart,
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That you have committed adultery, jesus, was it
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Diminishing the standards he was raising them?
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So it's just nonsense to suggest
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That jesus was advocating
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For some sexual boundary.
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Family boundary differ from what's been introduced to us,
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And i think we've got to have the courage to walk
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This back, for we're not in anger, not in belligerence,
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Not filled with resentment, and certainly not with violence.
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But we got to use our voices.
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Folks, i want to turn this a little different way.
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I had a conversation with some friends over the weekend
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That i'm in a small group with,
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And we were processing some choices and life changes and,
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You know, kind of these decisions
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About how we learn to follow the lord
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And how we work that out in our lives. and,
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You know, the practical part of following god is more difficult
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Than i would like it to be.
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In fact, life in general
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Is more difficult than i would like it to be.
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And god is a good god,
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And our lives are lived between those two statements.
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The fact that life's more difficult
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Than i would like to be in no way
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Diminishes the fact that god is good.
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But i got to figure out how to live
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Between these two realities
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And so we're having this convers
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Talk about another season in my life.
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I left home when i was 17 to go to college,
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And i had
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I made the announcement when i was
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Before i ever started school at all.
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Before i started elementary school,
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I made the announcement i was going to be a doctor.
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My dad was a veterinarian.
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He went back to vet school when i was
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Because i was five when he started vet school.
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So i have memories of him going through vet school
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And his studying and so i made the announcement
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Somewhere along the way that i was going to be a doctor,
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But i wouldn't go to the school like my dad did.
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And so my whole academic life was pointed
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Towards that objective.
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I used to shadow doctors and i'd go to other states
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And do that.
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I'd work in. i worked in a microbiology
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Laboratory into a lab one summer.
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My academic career in college began in the basic sciences.
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I mean, that was just my ambition.
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And i like to. the challenge, i still do.
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I like the challenge of medicine.
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There's always, like, a puzzle with me.
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My dad, when i lived at home, was an equine veterinary.
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You only treated horses,
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Which meant most of the time you went to see the patient.
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You had to get in the car and go wherever the horses were.
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And so i developed a habit really early on.
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Usually my dad would give me some part of the paraphernalia
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He would need to do the exam,
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And i'd be carrying that along
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And we'd be going to see the horse.
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And then i would hold the horse while he did the exam.
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He'd listen to the farmer or the owner
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Or the horse trainer, whoever give the symptoms,
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And then he'd do an exam.
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And then we walked back to his car, his vehicle,
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To get whatever the treatment was.
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He would usually explain to me what he was going to do.
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So i started this game in my head.
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I'd try to make the diagnosis before he told me, and i'd
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See if my diagnosis lined up with the real doctor.
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And i did that for years and got pretty good
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At imitating a veterinarian.
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Not in practice, just in my head.
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So i go off to college, doctor, and i'm working through that.
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And, when i left home,
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I had made a commitment to the lord.
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I when i lived at home as a young person, i honored god.
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But i really didn't do it
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Because of my relationship with god.
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I did it out of respect for my parents.
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So they'd been kind to me.
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They're given me food and shelter and clothing,
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And it helped me get an education.
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And i felt like, out of respect to them,
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I needed to honor their christian faith.
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But i also understood when i left home,
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I wasn't sure i was going to hold that.
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And so i made an agreement with the lord
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Before i left tennessee that,
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I do my best while i went through
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Undergraduate school to figure out who he was,
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And if i got to the end of that, i thought he was real.
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Then i'd be a christian.
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But if i didn't, i wanted them to leave me alone
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Because i was tired of feeling convicted.
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Arrogant is the word you're searching for. but that was
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That was the bargain i had put on the table.
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And so as i'm going through undergraduate work
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And punching through all my classes and
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And getting ready to go to medical school,
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I began to get this sense of discomfort on the inside of me
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That god was inviting me to something other than medicine,
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And i didn't want to hear it.
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I wasn't interested, i didn't want to do anything else.
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I had a plan.
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I had a lifestyle.
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I knew what i wanted to do,
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And it didn't come to me simply, it took
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It was christmas of my junior year, really, before i ever
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Really got to the crisis point.
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And it's a longer story than i'll drag you through today.
00:11:30.515 --> 00:11:33.918
I'll come back and tell you the rest of it another time,
00:11:33.918 --> 00:11:35.753
Because i couldn't get to the point of freedom.
00:11:35.753 --> 00:11:38.089
I couldn't get to the point of making any changes
00:11:38.089 --> 00:11:40.525
Until i dealt with the hatred.
00:11:40.525 --> 00:11:50.006
Until i dealt with the hatred.
00:11:50.006 --> 00:11:54.607
There were hundreds and hundreds of us
00:11:55.441 --> 00:11:56.709
That were pre-med when i started,
00:11:56.709 --> 00:11:58.812
And the department's objectives
00:11:58.812 --> 00:12:00.914
Were to create as much attrition as possible.
00:12:00.914 --> 00:12:03.249
So by the time we got to our junior year or so,
00:12:03.249 --> 00:12:05.151
There were only those people that were
00:12:05.151 --> 00:12:06.186
Really committed to the process.
00:12:06.186 --> 00:12:08.021
They would do the hard work
00:12:08.021 --> 00:12:09.189
And to to make it on through graduate programing.
00:12:09.189 --> 00:12:13.026
So there was an enormous attrition rate.
00:12:13.860 --> 00:12:15.395
My friends are dropping out and they'd come to my room
00:12:15.395 --> 00:12:17.297
And they'd cry and say,
00:12:17.297 --> 00:12:18.932
Professor so-and-so says i'm too stupid to be a doctor.
00:12:18.932 --> 00:12:22.235
And i'd look at him.
00:12:22.702 --> 00:12:23.670
So you go back and tell professor so-and-so to
00:12:23.670 --> 00:12:26.172
Kiss your ring.
00:12:26.172 --> 00:12:28.808
And he got very personal to me.
00:12:28.808 --> 00:12:30.977
You know, i made up my mind that so they couldn't make me quit.
00:12:30.977 --> 00:12:34.848
It just didn't matter how unfair it was or
00:12:34.848 --> 00:12:37.383
How they manage the schedule, or how much pressure
00:12:37.383 --> 00:12:39.285
They put on us, or how many exams
00:12:39.285 --> 00:12:40.553
They would stack, or whatever they did
00:12:40.553 --> 00:12:42.589
Because they did some crazy things and,
00:12:42.589 --> 00:12:45.625
And, but but what that became for me,
00:12:45.625 --> 00:12:47.994
My motivational edge was hatred
00:12:47.994 --> 00:12:51.831
And resentment.
00:12:52.198 --> 00:12:54.634
They were a barrier between where i was
00:12:54.634 --> 00:12:56.769
And where i wanted to go.
00:12:56.769 --> 00:12:58.338
And i wasn't going to let them win.
00:12:58.338 --> 00:13:00.240
And so if i needed to study late or work through a weekend or
00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:03.676
There was some sacrifice demanded of me,
00:13:03.676 --> 00:13:05.378
I'd use the resentment and the bitterness as my leverage.
00:13:05.378 --> 00:13:07.714
And i thought, i won't let them win.
00:13:08.481 --> 00:13:11.417
And through a variety of circumstances, god put this
00:13:11.417 --> 00:13:14.854
Godly person in my life that had been a missionary
00:13:14.854 --> 00:13:18.057
To cuba at the time. i thought she was a thousand years old.
00:13:18.057 --> 00:13:21.027
She probably is my age, but
00:13:21.027 --> 00:13:23.296
At my current age.
00:13:23.296 --> 00:13:25.598
But, i got in a space
00:13:25.598 --> 00:13:28.935
Where i had to spend some time with her,
00:13:28.935 --> 00:13:30.203
And she was asking me about my academics
00:13:30.203 --> 00:13:31.804
And what i was doing, and i told her,
00:13:31.804 --> 00:13:34.307
She very kindly said to me at the end of the conversation,
00:13:34.307 --> 00:13:37.343
You were a very angry young man.
00:13:37.977 --> 00:13:41.581
And i said, yeah, but is helpful.
00:13:41.581 --> 00:13:44.851
And she said, well,
00:13:44.851 --> 00:13:46.019
You know, if you'd be willing, you could be free of that.
00:13:46.019 --> 00:13:49.656
And i remember thinking, i'm not sure
00:13:50.456 --> 00:13:52.058
I want to be free of that.
00:13:52.058 --> 00:13:53.159
But long story short, i'll tell the rest of it another time.
00:13:54.327 --> 00:13:57.363
Perhaps. but she she she stayed with me.
00:13:57.363 --> 00:14:00.266
She was persistent enough in that conversation
00:14:00.266 --> 00:14:03.403
That she helped me acknowledge it was wrong.
00:14:03.403 --> 00:14:06.172
I repented, she showed me how to get free,
00:14:06.172 --> 00:14:10.176
How to take those things to the lord and really not just
00:14:10.176 --> 00:14:13.079
Casually say that.
00:14:13.079 --> 00:14:14.247
But i got emotionally free from the hatred
00:14:14.247 --> 00:14:17.016
And the resentment and the bitterness and
00:14:17.016 --> 00:14:20.219
And when i did that, all of a sudden
00:14:20.219 --> 00:14:23.523
I realized it was like my hearing got restored,
00:14:23.523 --> 00:14:26.025
You know, for the last few days, or my voice has been
00:14:26.025 --> 00:14:27.994
All messed up, my ears have been stopped up.
00:14:27.994 --> 00:14:30.697
And when you can't quite hear as well as you want to.
00:14:30.697 --> 00:14:33.166
And, well, i was that way as a young person.
00:14:33.166 --> 00:14:35.535
I couldn't hear god very well because my hearing was impeded
00:14:35.535 --> 00:14:39.672
By my own disobedience and ungodliness.
00:14:39.672 --> 00:14:43.443
Again, there's consequences when you choose to ignore the lord.
00:14:43.443 --> 00:14:47.046
And when i got to that freedom,
00:14:47.046 --> 00:14:49.482
You know, i remember sitting and saying to the lord, listen.
00:14:50.650 --> 00:14:52.952
And i
00:14:52.952 --> 00:14:54.253
At that time, i grew up in the church
00:14:54.253 --> 00:14:55.755
Where all the ministers were
00:14:55.755 --> 00:14:56.923
Black robes, investments, and i knew i couldn't do that.
00:14:56.923 --> 00:14:59.625
I knew if i got that job, i would get
00:14:59.625 --> 00:15:01.127
I get fired in 48 hours.
00:15:01.127 --> 00:15:03.629
So i said, god, you know, i don't know what to do.
00:15:03.629 --> 00:15:05.465
I don't know how to serve you.
00:15:05.465 --> 00:15:07.433
I know i couldn't be a pastor.
00:15:07.433 --> 00:15:08.835
I don't like church.
00:15:08.835 --> 00:15:09.869
I don't really like christians all that much, but
00:15:09.869 --> 00:15:12.705
But, you know, maybe if there's something i can do.
00:15:12.705 --> 00:15:15.475
And i'd had lunch one day in the cafeteria
00:15:15.475 --> 00:15:17.377
That i had a few minutes before my afternoon
00:15:17.377 --> 00:15:18.911
Classes started, and went back to my dorm room,
00:15:18.911 --> 00:15:21.547
And i was leaning against day, where i was sitting on the bed.
00:15:21.547 --> 00:15:24.584
And really, for
00:15:24.951 --> 00:15:26.052
About the second time in my life,
00:15:26.052 --> 00:15:27.286
I heard the lord on the inside of me
00:15:27.286 --> 00:15:30.056
And i heard the voice of
00:15:30.590 --> 00:15:31.958
God say, you can go.
00:15:31.958 --> 00:15:35.294
And i knew exactly what he meant.
00:15:35.995 --> 00:15:38.164
I knew he meant that the doors that i needed
00:15:38.164 --> 00:15:40.199
To get on to graduate school, and what i wanted to do next
00:15:40.199 --> 00:15:43.569
Would swing the rest of the way open.
00:15:43.569 --> 00:15:45.038
I thought they were already pretty much open, but,
00:15:45.038 --> 00:15:47.974
I knew that the future i wanted
00:15:47.974 --> 00:15:50.410
Was completely available to me.
00:15:50.410 --> 00:15:53.746
And you should understand, in my desire to honor the lord,
00:15:53.746 --> 00:15:56.115
I've been.
00:15:56.115 --> 00:15:57.316
I've been called in scripture to god.
00:15:57.316 --> 00:15:58.885
I've fasted and prayed.
00:15:58.885 --> 00:16:00.053
You know, i was trying to twist cod's arm with his word.
00:16:00.053 --> 00:16:02.789
And so i hear god say to me, okay,
00:16:02.789 --> 00:16:05.658
You go.
00:16:05.658 --> 00:16:08.261
And for the first time in my life,
00:16:08.261 --> 00:16:10.897
You gave me these
00:16:10.897 --> 00:16:11.898
Really cold chills because i understood something
00:16:11.898 --> 00:16:14.967
That i'd been throwing a fit to get my way.
00:16:14.967 --> 00:16:17.470
I had never one time,
00:16:17.970 --> 00:16:19.739
The one time that i ever said to the lord,
00:16:19.739 --> 00:16:22.341
You know, what would you have for my life?
00:16:22.341 --> 00:16:23.976
Because i didn't want to know.
00:16:23.976 --> 00:16:25.745
I didn't care.
00:16:25.745 --> 00:16:27.647
I wanted god to bless me and what i wanted to do
00:16:27.647 --> 00:16:29.682
And the way i wanted to do it, and the timeline i had for it.
00:16:29.682 --> 00:16:33.052
And, you know, i was willing to be godly and pay my tithes
00:16:33.052 --> 00:16:36.255
And read my bible and comply with the moral boundaries.
00:16:36.255 --> 00:16:39.192
I was willing to do my part to be a good christ follower,
00:16:39.192 --> 00:16:42.862
But i had no intention of saying to god,
00:16:42.862 --> 00:16:44.464
What would you have for me to do? you?
00:16:44.464 --> 00:16:53.773
I finally said to the lord, lord, i'll do
00:16:53.773 --> 00:16:55.444
Whatever you want me to do.
00:16:55.444 --> 00:16:57.412
And i still didn't have any
00:16:58.013 --> 00:16:58.947
Idea about ministry or being a pastor or.
00:16:58.947 --> 00:17:02.150
But i knew i couldn't stay in that lane.
00:17:02.150 --> 00:17:05.053
I knew that if i didn't do something,
00:17:05.053 --> 00:17:07.656
That the inertia
00:17:07.656 --> 00:17:10.058
Would pull me right into that graduate program.
00:17:10.058 --> 00:17:12.527
And so i went and found my advisor and said,
00:17:12.527 --> 00:17:16.465
I can't go to the next level.
00:17:16.465 --> 00:17:19.534
I at least have to interrupt.
00:17:20.168 --> 00:17:24.239
And that was the beginning of putting my feet on a new path.
00:17:24.239 --> 00:17:28.443
There were a lot of versions of that and variations
00:17:28.443 --> 00:17:31.179
And some good news and some really difficult news
00:17:31.179 --> 00:17:34.049
Is i walked through all of that.
00:17:34.049 --> 00:17:36.485
But as we were having the conversation
00:17:36.485 --> 00:17:37.920
In our small group over the weekend, back to the story.
00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:41.256
What i realized is that pattern that got put in place
00:17:41.256 --> 00:17:44.326
When i was 20 years old.
00:17:44.860 --> 00:17:47.296
I'm still living with
00:17:47.296 --> 00:17:48.797
Of trying to do what i can to stay as clean
00:17:49.665 --> 00:17:52.334
As i know how to stay with the lord,
00:17:52.334 --> 00:17:54.703
And that requires consistent attention.
00:17:54.703 --> 00:17:57.739
You know, i had a shower this morning.
00:17:57.739 --> 00:17:59.107
I'll probably have another one tomorrow.
00:17:59.107 --> 00:18:01.910
It wasn't that i wasn't practicing good hygiene today,
00:18:01.910 --> 00:18:04.513
But tomorrow's a new day,
00:18:04.513 --> 00:18:06.415
And you and i have to practice spiritual hygiene.
00:18:06.415 --> 00:18:09.785
And i
00:18:10.018 --> 00:18:11.253
Still have to give attention to that in my heart, in my life.
00:18:11.253 --> 00:18:14.256
But i also have to be willing to lay down
00:18:14.256 --> 00:18:18.060
My demands that god perform my will.
00:18:18.060 --> 00:18:21.530
I knew how much money i wanted to make.
00:18:22.397 --> 00:18:24.032
I remember wrestling with this at 20.
00:18:24.032 --> 00:18:25.701
I was like, god, i can't choose a career
00:18:25.701 --> 00:18:29.404
That would limit my earning capacity.
00:18:29.404 --> 00:18:32.774
Nobody does that.
00:18:32.774 --> 00:18:34.543
I'd be foolish to do that.
00:18:34.543 --> 00:18:35.777
And i'm not foolish. i'll be generous with you.
00:18:35.777 --> 00:18:38.714
You know, you bribe god with your stuff. and.
00:18:38.714 --> 00:18:41.717
And i find myself now
00:18:41.717 --> 00:18:43.051
Decades on the other side of that decision.
00:18:43.051 --> 00:18:45.754
And i'm so grateful because i can make choices today
00:18:45.754 --> 00:18:48.156
For the lord
00:18:48.156 --> 00:18:49.791
That i couldn't have made it 20
00:18:50.425 --> 00:18:52.894
And there, because of the track record
00:18:52.894 --> 00:18:55.230
And those patterns, those little simple decisions
00:18:55.230 --> 00:18:57.833
That i began to wrestle with
00:18:57.833 --> 00:18:59.801
And i don't know where you are in your journey.
00:18:59.801 --> 00:19:01.370
I don't know what the challenges are.
00:19:01.370 --> 00:19:03.372
I don't know what you think is going to bring
00:19:03.372 --> 00:19:04.673
You fulfillment and contentment and joy.
00:19:04.673 --> 00:19:06.541
And, you know, it may maybe you've segmented
00:19:06.541 --> 00:19:08.910
Your life and compartmentalized your life.
00:19:08.910 --> 00:19:10.512
And, you know, you go to church and you sing the choruses
00:19:10.512 --> 00:19:12.914
And you do
00:19:12.914 --> 00:19:14.182
All the god things at church, but then you go live for you.
00:19:14.182 --> 00:19:17.052
And i'm not telling you that your christianity is in
00:19:17.052 --> 00:19:19.488
Jeopardy.
00:19:19.488 --> 00:19:20.522
I'm telling you, that is such a diminished life.
00:19:20.522 --> 00:19:23.492
I think i think the grandest life you can live
00:19:24.393 --> 00:19:26.395
Is a life to honor.
00:19:26.395 --> 00:19:27.629
The lord put the practice in play of saying yes to the lord.
00:19:27.629 --> 00:19:31.666
And i want to be who you want me to be.
00:19:31.666 --> 00:19:33.568
I want to do what you want me to do.
00:19:33.568 --> 00:19:35.937
You see what i discovered?
00:19:35.937 --> 00:19:36.905
I was terrified to say that to the lord,
00:19:36.905 --> 00:19:38.340
Because i thought he was going to make me go down the amazon
00:19:38.340 --> 00:19:41.076
And live in the jungle and eat bugs.
00:19:41.076 --> 00:19:43.678
You know, i, god, wanted to do something
00:19:43.678 --> 00:19:44.913
That was punitive to me that would be sacrificial.
00:19:44.913 --> 00:19:47.649
And, decades on the other side of that.
00:19:47.649 --> 00:19:49.184
And the lord has been so good to me.
00:19:49.184 --> 00:19:51.053
He has been so good to me.
00:19:51.053 --> 00:19:53.688
You know, he's let me travel the world.
00:19:53.688 --> 00:19:55.657
He's given me the privilege of learning things that help
00:19:55.657 --> 00:19:57.793
People's lives be transformed by the power of god.
00:19:57.793 --> 00:20:00.862
He's given me the opportunity to serve
00:20:00.862 --> 00:20:02.864
With some of the most remarkable men and women of faith,
00:20:02.864 --> 00:20:05.567
And in my generation, i mean, he's been so gracious to me.
00:20:05.567 --> 00:20:10.138
He's met all of my needs.
00:20:10.138 --> 00:20:12.107
You know, i
00:20:12.441 --> 00:20:13.675
Thought i was turning my back on a life of self-sufficiency.
00:20:13.675 --> 00:20:16.278
And i have learned
00:20:16.278 --> 00:20:17.045
That the
00:20:17.045 --> 00:20:17.712
God's faithfulness in my life,
00:20:17.712 --> 00:20:18.647
Not i've had to learn to trust the lord.
00:20:18.647 --> 00:20:21.783
Little.
00:20:21.783 --> 00:20:22.484
I'm more comfortable trusting
00:20:22.484 --> 00:20:24.052
Allen if we just get real honest about it.
00:20:24.052 --> 00:20:26.955
You know, jesus taught us to pray that
00:20:26.955 --> 00:20:29.191
Give us this day our daily bread.
00:20:29.191 --> 00:20:30.525
That's not the prayer i like to pray.
00:20:30.525 --> 00:20:31.626
I want to pray for all the bread
00:20:31.626 --> 00:20:32.594
I'm ever going to need in the warehouse.
00:20:32.594 --> 00:20:34.529
And the key to the warehouse.
00:20:34.529 --> 00:20:36.832
But i've learned that god is faithful.
00:20:36.832 --> 00:20:39.568
And so today, i'm making decisions that at 20
00:20:39.568 --> 00:20:41.970
Would have been impossible for me
00:20:41.970 --> 00:20:43.171
To make trust the lord in ways on scopes and magnitudes and
00:20:43.171 --> 00:20:47.609
That come from learning to know the lord in those ways.
00:20:47.609 --> 00:20:51.346
So wherever you are in your journey,
00:20:51.346 --> 00:20:53.615
Do the things you need to do to be clean with the lord.
00:20:53.615 --> 00:20:57.052
Stop carrying the resentment and the bitterness and the hatred.
00:20:57.052 --> 00:20:59.287
Stop excusing your sin.
00:20:59.287 --> 00:21:00.789
You'll never make a case to god that's
00:21:00.789 --> 00:21:02.624
So convincing that he'll agree with you
00:21:02.624 --> 00:21:04.159
That you were justified in your sin.
00:21:04.159 --> 00:21:06.461
You can't hold your bitterness
00:21:06.461 --> 00:21:07.429
And your anger and resentment in your hatred.
00:21:07.429 --> 00:21:09.664
You got to forgive.
00:21:09.664 --> 00:21:11.233
You got to release the people. you got to turn loose.
00:21:11.233 --> 00:21:13.468
He'll bring healing to the rejection
00:21:14.236 --> 00:21:17.339
To when god accepts you, it doesn't
00:21:17.339 --> 00:21:18.807
Really matter who else doesn't vote you onto their team.
00:21:18.807 --> 00:21:21.910
We belong to the best family in the universe,
00:21:21.910 --> 00:21:24.946
And so i pray that helps you.
00:21:24.946 --> 00:21:26.715
It was a we had a really fruitful discussion
00:21:26.715 --> 00:21:29.084
In my small group about learning to trust the lord, and
00:21:29.084 --> 00:21:32.821
What came out was how many of us in the conversation
00:21:33.855 --> 00:21:36.057
Really were reluctant to say to the lord,
00:21:36.057 --> 00:21:37.759
Or never occurred to us to say to the lord,
00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:40.195
What would you have me to do with my life?
00:21:40.195 --> 00:21:42.430
We just want god to bless us,
00:21:42.430 --> 00:21:44.766
And that's not a bad thing.
00:21:44.766 --> 00:21:46.134
You know, most kids start out and think that the adults
00:21:46.134 --> 00:21:48.069
In their life exist to make their life better,
00:21:48.069 --> 00:21:50.672
Which is pretty much
00:21:51.139 --> 00:21:51.907
The a normal childish response.
00:21:51.907 --> 00:21:54.943
But if you ever get to 25 years old
00:21:54.943 --> 00:21:56.745
And you still think the adults in your life
00:21:56.745 --> 00:21:58.079
Only exist to make your life better,
00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:00.949
That's a pretty broken response to the adults in your life.
00:22:00.949 --> 00:22:04.252
And some god is still searching the earth for men and women
00:22:04.252 --> 00:22:07.289
Whose hearts are turned towards him, and he will help us.
00:22:07.289 --> 00:22:11.693
He'll help bring the cleansing we need
00:22:11.693 --> 00:22:13.628
And the freedom we need and the direction we need.
00:22:13.628 --> 00:22:16.064
He'll write a story for you that will exceed any imagination
00:22:16.064 --> 00:22:20.402
You hold.
00:22:20.402 --> 00:22:20.402

Allen Jackson: Moral Confusion | Allen Jackson Now

July 13, 2026 | 22:29

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