Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
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Allen Jackson Ministries | Seeing & Understanding Part 1 | May 19, 2022
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- CC by Aberdeen Captioning 1-800-688-6621 aberdeen.io
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- Allen Jackson: It's good to be with you again.
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- Our topic is "Seeing and Understanding."
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- Now, when it comes to spiritual things,
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- I think for the most part we haven't even looked.
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- We're not necessarily closed to them.
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- We're not disinterested.
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- I don't even think we're aware that there's anything
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- to be seen.
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- It isn't really that complicated.
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- If you want to catch fish, you've gotta go where to look
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- for fish.
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- If you're going--if you need vegetables at the grocery store,
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- you need to know where to look for those.
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- Well, if you want to see God moving,
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- you need to know where to look.
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- And what would you--would you recognize it if you saw it?
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- Unfortunately, we think of the expressions of God in our world
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- as the formulation of a worship service,
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- a specific time in the week, a specific location.
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- We stop and we have our little God moment,
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- and if there's anything for God to be done or said or
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- accomplished, it needs to fit into that
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- point on the calendar.
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- The rest of the week is ours.
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- That is a very deficient way to imagine God's involvement
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- in our lives.
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- God has more for us than that.
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- I don't want you to be a fanatic or bizarre.
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- I don't want you to check your brain
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- or your emotions at the door.
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- I want you to use all the gifts God has given you.
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- But I want to ask you to begin to open your heart to seeing
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- what God is doing in our world with new eyes and understanding
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- and with a new heart.
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- Get your Bible and a notepad.
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- But most of all, let's say yes to the Lord.
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- Allen: We're working through this little series around the
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- idea visions of the future, a God perspective.
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- And in this particular session, I want to spend some time
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- exploring with you a bit how we can improve our spiritual
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- vision, how we can see and understand with greater clarity
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- beyond our five physical senses.
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- I'm not in opposition to those.
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- God gave them to us. They're important.
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- But we need a perspective, we need a screen.
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- We need a context for understanding our world beyond
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- our five senses, or we're really denying our faith,
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- because the Scripture says that those who worship God must
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- worship him in spirit, and that means it's beyond
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- your sensory apparatus.
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- They're wonderful tools God gave us,
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- but he didn't intend for them to dominate us.
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- They're intended to enrich our lives.
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- We are witnesses to a most remarkable time
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- in human history.
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- The Spirit of God is moving in the earth in some very
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- unprecedented ways, certainly in any time in my life experience.
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- I'm seeing God do things that I never imagined he would,
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- the way he's gathering people on a typical weekend.
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- We gather for more than 60 different Christian traditions.
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- And when I say tradition, I mean denomination or labels of one
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- sort or another.
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- That idea would've been totally impossible just
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- a few decades ago.
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- You couldn't have kept the peace.
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- We were so determined that we were right about some subset of
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- our faith, and it was hard for us to extend a hand of
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- fellowship to one another.
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- And God has broken down so many barriers so that we could stand
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- together under the headship of Jesus.
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- And the authority of his Words, filled with his Spirit,
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- that we can celebrate the things that bring us together and not
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- the things that separate us.
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- The Spirit of God is moving in the earth
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- in the most remarkable ways.
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- I was--able to participate in a Zoom call this week with some
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- pastors and church leaders from Ukraine,
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- and Belarus, and the Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia.
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- And they were sharing what God was doing,
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- and it was not an easy call.
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- There was a woman--
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- she was taking the call from her automobile.
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- And she said, "I am on the front lines."
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- And another person spoke up and said,
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- "I'm no hero. I'm afraid."
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- And another pastor spoke up and said,
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- "We haven't had water for more than a week now."
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- But they weren't complaining.
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- Most of them had sent their families to other places.
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- The church in Czechoslovakia--
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- wow, say that three times really quickly.
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- In the Czech Republic, they had more than 150 people from the
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- Ukraine that were living in their church,
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- until they could find homes for them to stay,
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- until they could go back home safely.
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- And in the midst of that, they had hope,
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- and faith, and confidence that God was moving.
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- They understood it is more than a political conflict
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- or a military conflict.
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- They understood there were spiritual consequences to that.
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- It was humbling to me. It was sobering to me.
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- It certainly wasn't about parties.
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- But they said, "We're trusting God to secure our futures."
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- We need a different kind of vision,
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- a different kind of awareness.
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- And it is unusual for a week to slip past us here without
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- multiple reports of God's supernatural involvement in the
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- lives of those around us.
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- In fact, it happens with such frequency,
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- I'm concerned sometimes we take it for granted.
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- You know, we baptized hundreds of people last weekend.
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- We baptized 40 or more last night.
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- And we act as if that's normal.
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- That's not. That's, like, weird.
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- I mean, godly weird, but that's not normal.
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- I've done ministry a long time, and people don't travel from
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- multiple states to say, "I'm beginning a spiritual journey in
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- a new way, and I wanted to make a special effort
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- to honor God in my life."
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- The miracle stories that come, people whose lives are changed,
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- whose physical bodies are healed,
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- week after week, we hear those stories.
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- God is moving in the earth.
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- You have to make a determined, intentional choice to focus your
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- attention on that, to share their stories.
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- When you have your talk moments, don't just complain about what's
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- happening in the earth.
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- Share those good news of what God is doing.
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- It doesn't have the same platforms that some of the other
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- information does.
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- It's not as popular.
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- Good news doesn't travel as quickly as bad news.
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- You know that.
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- Gossip travels far more quickly than compliments.
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- I didn't call your name. I'm just observing a fact.
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- Okay, you can relax.
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- But you have to purposefully focus your attention.
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- Stop on a daily basis to give thanks to God for what he's
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- doing in the earth.
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- It will help you. It'll break the heaviness.
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- It will dispel some of the darkness.
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- We need the hope that comes from the conversations around what we
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- see God doing.
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- It's true.
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- Now, it's equally true--now, I don't want to deny it nor do I
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- want to in any way suggest it isn't true,
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- that there are growing expressions of evil.
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- It's certainly more rampant, more brazen,
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- more aggressive than any time that I can remember.
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- I mean, you know, one example.
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- Recently, it's become very apparent that our children
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- are not being targeted.
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- They have been targeted in some very aggressive ways.
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- And for all the things that COVID was not,
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- one of the benefits out of that is because parents were engaged
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- in the educational process in some new ways.
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- It uncovered the degree to which education
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- had yielded to indoctrination.
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- And not in every school and not in every classroom.
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- You can't make those blanket statements.
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- But it certainly came far more aware.
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- It's been living in the higher educational levels for decades.
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- To be honest, when I was completing some graduate-level
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- education, some very fine, celebrated institutions,
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- they were filled with the most ungodly,
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- wicked things in the midst of theological studies.
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- It was so bizarre, we'd think, "Well,
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- that'll never make it to the mainstream."
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- I was wrong 'cause now they're teaching it
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- to our elementary children.
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- And the shocking part, as you watch all that happen is when
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- it's been uncovered or made public,
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- the perpetrators have defended their intent to shape the
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- worldview of our children.
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- They're arguing it's their prerogative and the parents
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- should stand on the sidelines.
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- Please don't yield to that.
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- God entrusted those children to your care.
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- They're your responsibility.
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- You will give an account for them.
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- It's important.
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- In fact, I would put it this way.
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- Church leaders, nor educators, nor the medical community should
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- be influencing children towards
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- embracing gender confusion or homosexuality.
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- That's not their assignment.
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- But this all fits in to this discussion around what we see
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- and how we understand our world.
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- Our presentation of Christianity hasn't been wrong,
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- but it's been incomplete.
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- We have had an extraordinary focus on conversion and being
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- born again, which is a necessity.
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- I don't want to diminish that, but we haven't
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- talked a lot beyond that.
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- We've had these polite debates about whether God still does
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- miracles, or they ended with the last of the apostles,
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- or some other goofy conversation.
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- Folks, our heroes in the Bible, almost without exception,
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- didn't simply lead their lives for the outcome that it would
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- have upon their time under the sun,
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- while they were in an earth suit.
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- They led their lives with the perspective of the larger
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- purposes of God, and their decisions were informed by the
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- imaginations that their lives were one component of what God
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- was doing through the generations,
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- and they wanted to hold their space.
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- It was certainly true of Abram.
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- He left his home, reoriented his entire life,
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- changed all of his relationships,
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- because God promised something that was far beyond his own
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- journey under the sun.
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- It was true with Joseph, it was true with Moses,
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- it was true with King David, it was true with Daniel.
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- We are still reading Daniel's writings to understand what's
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- ahead of us.
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- And Daniel spent his entire life as a slave in Babylon,
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- so his faith wasn't focused on just happiness,
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- and comfort, and convenience.
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- Much of Daniel's life was difficult,
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- and yet God said he was highly esteemed.
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- And it carries right into the New Testament with the disciples
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- that Jesus recruited.
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- They didn't just get a bigger fishing business because they
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- got to know Jesus.
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- They didn't have the best boats on the lake because Jesus was
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- their friend.
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- I'm not opposed to your boat.
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- Don't start a new rumor.
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- I do well enough on my own.
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- It's okay.
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- But they understood that the purpose of the intersection of
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- their lives with Jesus and the kingdom of God brought a totally
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- different perspective to them.
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- It's true with Paul.
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- It's true with John.
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- It's true with all of our heroes.
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- How have we missed this?
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- How is it we have accepted the routine of faith?
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- Attend a worship service, have a polite little prayer.
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- Perhaps you read your Bible a bit,
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- and then we just kind of fold our arms,
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- and it's my life.
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- No.
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- That's a very deficient, incomplete perspective of faith.
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- So, how do we learn to see more? How can we open our hearts?
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- I'm not trying to raise the bar on you.
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- I'm telling you God has more for us than we've talked about.
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- And maybe it's taken some of the disruptions.
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- Maybe it's taken the comfort and convenience that was our
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- lives not too far in the past, being put in the blender for us
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- to begin to say, "Lord, is it possible we have not listened as
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- carefully as we might have?
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- Is it possible that we've preferred the perspective of the
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- people around us to be cheering for us more than you cheering
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- for us?"
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- Folks, I want the Lord to be pleased with me.
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- ♪♪♪
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- Allen: You see, prayer is not passive.
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- Men, I think, are often reluctant to
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- really give themselves to prayer.
- 00:11:52.026 --> 00:11:53.361
- We think it's some sort of a passive response.
- 00:11:53.361 --> 00:11:56.030
- It's quite the opposite.
- 00:11:56.030 --> 00:11:57.632
- Prayer is an assertion of spiritual intent.
- 00:11:57.632 --> 00:12:01.236
- Prayer is inviting God to bring his resolutions into our lives.
- 00:12:01.236 --> 00:12:05.974
- When we pray, all heaven moves.
- 00:12:05.974 --> 00:12:09.310
- Angels are dispatched.
- 00:12:09.310 --> 00:12:11.179
- The courses of nations are changed.
- 00:12:11.179 --> 00:12:13.748
- The destiny of your children is altered.
- 00:12:13.748 --> 00:12:17.886
- We can't afford not to pray.
- 00:12:17.886 --> 00:12:20.622
- Allen: I want to share an idea with you that'll help you
- 00:12:20.622 --> 00:12:22.357
- take prayer outside the church and outside those places you
- 00:12:22.357 --> 00:12:26.294
- expect to find a prayer, you know,
- 00:12:26.294 --> 00:12:27.929
- just before a meal, or before bed,
- 00:12:27.929 --> 00:12:29.531
- or in the middle of a crisis, or in a hospital.
- 00:12:29.531 --> 00:12:32.367
- Prayer needs to be integrated into our lives 24/7.
- 00:12:32.367 --> 00:12:36.070
- Let's call it let's pray.
- 00:12:36.070 --> 00:12:37.472
- You know, we're social creatures.
- 00:12:37.472 --> 00:12:38.807
- I live in the South, and we're polite,
- 00:12:38.807 --> 00:12:40.441
- so we ask questions that we don't really
- 00:12:40.441 --> 00:12:42.043
- care about the answer to.
- 00:12:42.043 --> 00:12:43.378
- How are you feeling today?
- 00:12:43.378 --> 00:12:45.046
- You know, we're not really listening.
- 00:12:45.046 --> 00:12:46.381
- We just ask to be nice.
- 00:12:46.381 --> 00:12:47.715
- But if you'll listen, people give you a lot of information.
- 00:12:47.715 --> 00:12:50.685
- "Well, I don't feel great, today.
- 00:12:50.685 --> 00:12:52.020
- We just changed to Daylight Savings Time,
- 00:12:52.020 --> 00:12:53.888
- and I haven't had much sleep," or "My kids have been sick,
- 00:12:53.888 --> 00:12:56.958
- and life's been really hectic," or "My car broke down,"
- 00:12:56.958 --> 00:12:59.260
- or whatever.
- 00:12:59.260 --> 00:13:00.595
- But in that moment of sharing, there's an opportunity.
- 00:13:00.595 --> 00:13:02.931
- You can commiserate with them, or you can say,
- 00:13:02.931 --> 00:13:05.867
- "Let's pray."
- 00:13:05.867 --> 00:13:07.202
- Now, here's my suggestion.
- 00:13:07.202 --> 00:13:08.536
- When you hear that moment, don't ask for permission.
- 00:13:08.536 --> 00:13:10.438
- Don't say, "May I pray with you?
- 00:13:10.438 --> 00:13:12.407
- I feel led to pray with you."
- 00:13:12.407 --> 00:13:14.442
- Just say, "Let's pray."
- 00:13:14.442 --> 00:13:16.945
- And after you say that, close your eyes and offer a
- 00:13:16.945 --> 00:13:19.514
- one-sentence prayer, only one sentence.
- 00:13:19.514 --> 00:13:22.016
- Don't quote a verse of Scripture.
- 00:13:22.016 --> 00:13:23.685
- Don't tell them your favorite pastor's name.
- 00:13:23.685 --> 00:13:25.820
- Don't give them a sermon reference.
- 00:13:25.820 --> 00:13:27.155
- One sentence.
- 00:13:27.155 --> 00:13:28.489
- "Lord, help my friend, they're tired,
- 00:13:28.489 --> 00:13:29.824
- give them strength, amen."
- 00:13:29.824 --> 00:13:32.293
- "Lord, I pray you'll make clarity in the confusion, amen."
- 00:13:32.293 --> 00:13:35.129
- Whatever, one sentence.
- 00:13:35.129 --> 00:13:36.464
- And after you've prayed, say amen and move on.
- 00:13:36.464 --> 00:13:38.666
- Don't wait for affirmation, don't wait for encouragement.
- 00:13:38.666 --> 00:13:41.736
- Invite God into your world. It'll change it.
- 00:13:41.736 --> 00:13:44.505
- Let's pray.
- 00:13:44.505 --> 00:13:46.441
- female announcer: Those "Let's pray" moments provide a
- 00:13:46.441 --> 00:13:48.877
- simple and easy way to pray for others.
- 00:13:48.877 --> 00:13:51.646
- And today, we're offering a tool to help focus your prayer time
- 00:13:51.646 --> 00:13:55.149
- at home.
- 00:13:55.149 --> 00:13:56.651
- Pastor Allen's book "Let's Pray" provides 30 foundational
- 00:13:56.651 --> 00:14:00.655
- prayers that can help fuel your prayer life.
- 00:14:00.655 --> 00:14:04.325
- It also has Scripture, inspiring quotes,
- 00:14:04.325 --> 00:14:07.362
- and helpful questions for each day.
- 00:14:07.362 --> 00:14:10.164
- Remember, the time we spend praying can change the course of
- 00:14:10.164 --> 00:14:13.868
- nations and clear the way for God's will to be done on earth
- 00:14:13.868 --> 00:14:18.473
- as it is in heaven.
- 00:14:18.473 --> 00:14:19.974
- It's your generosity that enables Allen Jackson Ministries
- 00:14:19.974 --> 00:14:23.945
- to continue broadcasting messages like these,
- 00:14:23.945 --> 00:14:27.448
- and we'd like to send you the "Let's Pray" book as a thank you
- 00:14:27.448 --> 00:14:30.952
- for your donation of $10 or more today.
- 00:14:30.952 --> 00:14:34.856
- Request your copy by going to ALLENJACKSON.COM or by calling
- 00:14:34.856 --> 00:14:39.327
- ...
- 00:14:39.327 --> 00:14:43.965
- Allen: This notion of cultivating spiritual
- 00:14:47.835 --> 00:14:49.404
- awareness--I will get to your outline,
- 00:14:49.404 --> 00:14:50.872
- I promise you.
- 00:14:50.872 --> 00:14:52.573
- I may not finish it, but I'll at least get there,
- 00:14:52.573 --> 00:14:55.310
- which is better than I did on Easter, right?
- 00:14:55.310 --> 00:14:58.146
- I just gave you one and then did something else.
- 00:14:58.146 --> 00:15:04.953
- Jesus, the Scripture very clearly tells us
- 00:15:04.953 --> 00:15:08.423
- about Jesus's life.
- 00:15:08.423 --> 00:15:10.425
- We read that in the Gospels.
- 00:15:10.425 --> 00:15:12.627
- From the point of his conception to the point of his
- 00:15:12.627 --> 00:15:15.630
- resurrection, we have Jesus's story for that 33-year window
- 00:15:15.630 --> 00:15:19.934
- when he walked around with an earth suit.
- 00:15:19.934 --> 00:15:22.937
- But that's not all we know about Jesus.
- 00:15:22.937 --> 00:15:25.473
- Jesus is all over the Old Testament.
- 00:15:25.473 --> 00:15:29.110
- It says he gave--we read it in an earlier session that he
- 00:15:29.110 --> 00:15:31.779
- accompanied the Hebrew slaves when they left Egypt,
- 00:15:31.779 --> 00:15:35.416
- that he was with them in their journey through the wilderness.
- 00:15:35.416 --> 00:15:39.053
- Multiple places in the New Testament tell us that our New
- 00:15:39.053 --> 00:15:41.789
- Testament friends would take the books of the Old Testament and
- 00:15:41.789 --> 00:15:45.593
- tell the Jesus story to their contemporaries.
- 00:15:45.593 --> 00:15:47.895
- Jesus was engaged with Adam's descendants
- 00:15:47.895 --> 00:15:51.165
- long before Bethlehem.
- 00:15:51.165 --> 00:15:54.435
- And then it's equally clear that after he ascended back to heaven
- 00:15:54.435 --> 00:15:57.305
- in Acts chapter 1 that he was still engaged with the unfolding
- 00:15:57.305 --> 00:16:01.876
- story of his people in the earth.
- 00:16:01.876 --> 00:16:03.711
- In Acts chapter 9, he steps onto the road in Damascus and grabs
- 00:16:03.711 --> 00:16:07.181
- one Saul of Tarsus by the back of the neck and says,
- 00:16:07.181 --> 00:16:09.484
- "Just what do you think you're doing?"
- 00:16:09.484 --> 00:16:12.887
- And in the same chapter, he's in Ananias's home saying,
- 00:16:12.887 --> 00:16:15.289
- "I've got an assignment for you."
- 00:16:15.289 --> 00:16:17.025
- Jesus before Bethlehem, after the ascension.
- 00:16:17.025 --> 00:16:22.497
- Now here's the challenge.
- 00:16:22.497 --> 00:16:23.831
- I want to ask you to think about your life in time,
- 00:16:23.831 --> 00:16:27.735
- the days you get under the sun with an earth suit,
- 00:16:27.735 --> 00:16:31.305
- and your life beyond that.
- 00:16:31.305 --> 00:16:34.108
- If you only think about your life in time,
- 00:16:34.108 --> 00:16:36.544
- you have a very limited spiritual awareness.
- 00:16:36.544 --> 00:16:41.949
- 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 19 says,
- 00:16:41.949 --> 00:16:45.686
- "If only for this life we have hope in Christ,
- 00:16:45.686 --> 00:16:48.489
- we're to be pitied more than all men."
- 00:16:48.489 --> 00:16:50.958
- That's pretty plain.
- 00:16:50.958 --> 00:16:52.794
- If our faith is only for this life,
- 00:16:52.794 --> 00:16:54.829
- it's a pitiful place.
- 00:16:54.829 --> 00:16:57.231
- Do I believe that your faith has merit,
- 00:16:57.231 --> 00:16:59.200
- impact in time?
- 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:00.868
- Absolutely I do. We talk about that a good bit.
- 00:17:00.868 --> 00:17:05.139
- But it's only, it's the tip of the iceberg.
- 00:17:05.139 --> 00:17:08.342
- Look at Psalm 139, verse 13.
- 00:17:08.342 --> 00:17:11.212
- "You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my
- 00:17:11.212 --> 00:17:13.981
- mother's womb.
- 00:17:13.981 --> 00:17:15.683
- I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully
- 00:17:15.683 --> 00:17:17.919
- made; your works are wonderful.
- 00:17:17.919 --> 00:17:19.253
- I know that full well."
- 00:17:19.253 --> 00:17:20.721
- God knew you before your parents saw you.
- 00:17:20.721 --> 00:17:24.559
- He wrote your story before your parents had a gender reveal.
- 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:32.266
- It's important, it is very important
- 00:17:32.266 --> 00:17:35.803
- to let that settle within you.
- 00:17:35.803 --> 00:17:37.138
- It'll clarify for you the debate and discussion
- 00:17:37.138 --> 00:17:40.274
- about when life begins.
- 00:17:40.274 --> 00:17:42.977
- It will help you.
- 00:17:42.977 --> 00:17:44.312
- It'll help you sort through some of the challenges that we're
- 00:17:44.312 --> 00:17:46.514
- facing as a culture.
- 00:17:46.514 --> 00:17:48.783
- It really isn't unclear or confusing.
- 00:17:48.783 --> 00:17:52.453
- You have a life beyond the life
- 00:17:52.453 --> 00:17:55.156
- that you will lead under the sun.
- 00:17:55.156 --> 00:17:57.892
- But your opportunities to impact outcomes and rewards are
- 00:17:57.892 --> 00:18:03.231
- determined with your days under the sun.
- 00:18:03.231 --> 00:18:07.735
- And you only get one time.
- 00:18:07.735 --> 00:18:10.004
- There's no do-overs, grasshopper.
- 00:18:10.004 --> 00:18:13.441
- Look in Philippians chapter 1.
- 00:18:13.441 --> 00:18:15.576
- This is Paul. He's writing to a church.
- 00:18:15.576 --> 00:18:17.245
- He said, "To me to live is Christ,
- 00:18:17.245 --> 00:18:20.915
- and to die is gain."
- 00:18:20.915 --> 00:18:22.416
- He said, "If I continue in my earth suit,
- 00:18:22.416 --> 00:18:24.919
- there's some benefit for my Jesus assignment.
- 00:18:24.919 --> 00:18:28.723
- But it's better for me to get out of this suit."
- 00:18:28.723 --> 00:18:32.460
- He said, "There's something better for me than the frailty
- 00:18:32.460 --> 00:18:34.962
- of a human body and the limits that come with that."
- 00:18:34.962 --> 00:18:38.099
- Again, he has an understanding and insight that for most of us
- 00:18:38.099 --> 00:18:41.636
- it's just right on the periphery, the edge
- 00:18:41.636 --> 00:18:44.238
- of what's even credible.
- 00:18:44.238 --> 00:18:46.908
- "To live is Christ and to die is gain.
- 00:18:46.908 --> 00:18:48.743
- If I'm to go on living in the body,
- 00:18:48.743 --> 00:18:50.411
- this will mean fruitful labor for me.
- 00:18:50.411 --> 00:18:53.447
- Yet, what shall I choose?
- 00:18:53.447 --> 00:18:55.183
- I don't know.
- 00:18:55.183 --> 00:18:56.851
- I'm torn between the two.
- 00:18:56.851 --> 00:18:59.253
- I desire to depart and be with Christ,
- 00:18:59.253 --> 00:19:02.156
- which is better by far, but it's more necessary for you that I
- 00:19:02.156 --> 00:19:06.260
- remain in the body."
- 00:19:06.260 --> 00:19:08.396
- Again, Paul's suggestion is that his life isn't finished when the
- 00:19:08.396 --> 00:19:12.700
- pump in the middle of his body stops beating.
- 00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:16.971
- It's a seamless thing.
- 00:19:16.971 --> 00:19:18.306
- He said, "I have an existence that is not determined by my
- 00:19:18.306 --> 00:19:21.042
- physical strength or lack thereof,
- 00:19:21.042 --> 00:19:24.478
- and what's ahead of me is better than anything I'm going to
- 00:19:24.478 --> 00:19:26.847
- experience in my physical body.
- 00:19:26.847 --> 00:19:29.717
- But there is a purpose. There is an assignment.
- 00:19:29.717 --> 00:19:32.286
- There's a benefit for me staying in this present condition."
- 00:19:32.286 --> 00:19:35.656
- You have a life beyond time.
- 00:19:35.656 --> 00:19:42.930
- So, what's our response?
- 00:19:42.930 --> 00:19:44.398
- If that's true--and I believe it is--what's the appropriate
- 00:19:44.398 --> 00:19:47.501
- response from us?
- 00:19:47.501 --> 00:19:49.103
- Romans 12 says, "I urge you, brothers,
- 00:19:49.103 --> 00:19:50.972
- in view of God's mercy, offer your body as a living sacrifice,
- 00:19:50.972 --> 00:19:56.377
- holy and pleasing to God--
- 00:19:56.377 --> 00:19:57.979
- this is your spiritual act of worship."
- 00:19:57.979 --> 00:20:00.114
- We understand the words in that sentence,
- 00:20:00.114 --> 00:20:02.383
- but the meaning of it I think is a little obscure to us.
- 00:20:02.383 --> 00:20:05.686
- It was written to an audience for whom the animal sacrificial
- 00:20:05.686 --> 00:20:08.422
- system was normal.
- 00:20:08.422 --> 00:20:10.658
- They were still taking animals to the priests.
- 00:20:10.658 --> 00:20:13.160
- If you visited Jerusalem for one of the annual festivals,
- 00:20:13.160 --> 00:20:17.932
- the sacrifices were a very significant part of that visit.
- 00:20:17.932 --> 00:20:21.469
- In fact, the aroma of the daily sacrifices--the animal was laid
- 00:20:21.469 --> 00:20:25.940
- on the altar, and then the fire that consumed it--you've all
- 00:20:25.940 --> 00:20:29.877
- smelled the--no disrespect, but you've smelled the grill when
- 00:20:29.877 --> 00:20:33.748
- there's something on that.
- 00:20:33.748 --> 00:20:35.182
- Imagine that aroma lifting over Jerusalem to remind you every
- 00:20:35.182 --> 00:20:37.985
- day of the significance of that sacrifice.
- 00:20:37.985 --> 00:20:41.389
- And before an animal was put on the altar,
- 00:20:41.389 --> 00:20:43.824
- it was slaughtered, and the blood was captured.
- 00:20:43.824 --> 00:20:47.328
- There were some rather specific instructions for how to do that.
- 00:20:47.328 --> 00:20:50.131
- By the time that animal was placed on the altar,
- 00:20:50.131 --> 00:20:52.366
- it was emptied of any self-determination.
- 00:20:52.366 --> 00:20:54.769
- No animal ever jumped off the altar.
- 00:20:54.769 --> 00:20:57.705
- That was addressed before they got there.
- 00:20:57.705 --> 00:20:59.907
- So, Paul is borrowing on that broad experience of his
- 00:20:59.907 --> 00:21:03.010
- audience, and he says "Offer yourself as a living sacrifice.
- 00:21:03.010 --> 00:21:08.249
- Offer your body," he says, "as a living sacrifice."
- 00:21:08.249 --> 00:21:11.319
- Lord, I'm yours.
- 00:21:11.319 --> 00:21:14.889
- I had a plan, and I had a dream, and I had a set of agendas,
- 00:21:14.889 --> 00:21:18.326
- and I'm tempted just to ask you to bless those.
- 00:21:18.326 --> 00:21:20.461
- But is there anything I might do for you?
- 00:21:20.461 --> 00:21:23.931
- And I know we're in church.
- 00:21:23.931 --> 00:21:25.266
- We'll go, "That's very good, Pastor."
- 00:21:25.266 --> 00:21:28.369
- But in the reality of our lives, down there where we really live
- 00:21:28.369 --> 00:21:31.706
- and think and dream and have aspirations,
- 00:21:31.706 --> 00:21:35.509
- this takes a lifetime of incremental work.
- 00:21:35.509 --> 00:21:39.814
- It does.
- 00:21:39.814 --> 00:21:41.982
- In fact, it takes the Spirit of God to help us gain any momentum
- 00:21:41.982 --> 00:21:45.419
- in this direction at all.
- 00:21:45.419 --> 00:21:47.655
- But then we have to choose to say to that old carnal,
- 00:21:47.655 --> 00:21:51.292
- selfish part of me--and you, too--I have to say,
- 00:21:51.292 --> 00:21:55.463
- "You will not dominate the agenda.
- 00:21:55.463 --> 00:21:59.900
- Look at Ephesians 4 and verse 1.
- 00:21:59.900 --> 00:22:01.402
- "As a prisoner for the Lord, I urge you to live a life worthy
- 00:22:01.402 --> 00:22:05.773
- of the calling you have received."
- 00:22:05.773 --> 00:22:08.743
- We've taken that, and we've twisted this into some sort of a
- 00:22:08.743 --> 00:22:11.312
- confining observance of rules.
- 00:22:11.312 --> 00:22:14.181
- You know what I've learned about religious rules?
- 00:22:14.181 --> 00:22:16.751
- Your rules make sense to you, and my rules are stupid.
- 00:22:16.751 --> 00:22:22.123
- We grew up in many different traditions,
- 00:22:22.123 --> 00:22:23.758
- and there are some things that come from that tradition.
- 00:22:23.758 --> 00:22:26.260
- You may not be as engaged in it as you once were,
- 00:22:26.260 --> 00:22:28.496
- but I assure you it has some residual impact upon you.
- 00:22:28.496 --> 00:22:31.899
- The kind of music we should sing,
- 00:22:31.899 --> 00:22:35.102
- how communion should be observed,
- 00:22:35.102 --> 00:22:36.637
- or when communion should be observed,
- 00:22:36.637 --> 00:22:39.306
- what the presentation of the gospel should look like,
- 00:22:39.306 --> 00:22:41.509
- the wardrobe of the person presenting,
- 00:22:41.509 --> 00:22:43.277
- or the people who were there, all sorts of things.
- 00:22:43.277 --> 00:22:46.547
- And while they all have some connection to Scripture,
- 00:22:46.547 --> 00:22:49.283
- very few of those things would keep us out of the kingdom of
- 00:22:49.283 --> 00:22:51.719
- God, but they make great sense to us.
- 00:22:51.719 --> 00:22:54.688
- They're important to us. They have value to us.
- 00:22:54.688 --> 00:22:58.692
- And I've observed, you know, when you meet somebody and their
- 00:22:58.692 --> 00:23:00.461
- rules are different than you, that's just the dumbest thing
- 00:23:00.461 --> 00:23:02.129
- I've ever heard.
- 00:23:02.129 --> 00:23:04.565
- I've told this story before, but I went to India some years ago,
- 00:23:04.565 --> 00:23:06.801
- and there was a group of us traveling.
- 00:23:06.801 --> 00:23:08.135
- And when we came off the plane, our host met us,
- 00:23:08.135 --> 00:23:11.772
- and there was clearly some problem.
- 00:23:11.772 --> 00:23:13.240
- They were uncomfortable with us, and they took us aside and said,
- 00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:17.111
- "Your women."
- 00:23:17.111 --> 00:23:19.380
- "Yeah?"
- 00:23:19.380 --> 00:23:20.848
- "They have on lipstick and jewelry."
- 00:23:20.848 --> 00:23:27.988
- I mean, we'd flown forever.
- 00:23:27.988 --> 00:23:29.623
- Really, what most of them had on were wedding rings.
- 00:23:29.623 --> 00:23:31.525
- So, we had a little meeting and said,
- 00:23:31.525 --> 00:23:32.960
- "They've requested that we lose the lipstick and the jewelry."
- 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:37.364
- And we had like--we had a major theological crisis.
- 00:23:37.364 --> 00:23:44.672
- And I wasn't sure which was more important,
- 00:23:44.672 --> 00:23:46.474
- but clearly it was all important.
- 00:23:46.474 --> 00:23:49.510
- So, we managed to work through that,
- 00:23:49.510 --> 00:23:50.945
- and we showed up for our first public session when our hosts
- 00:23:50.945 --> 00:23:55.449
- all arrived, and some of them came in traditional clothing
- 00:23:55.449 --> 00:23:59.286
- with their stomachs exposed.
- 00:23:59.286 --> 00:24:05.793
- Well, clearly, on our side of the aisle,
- 00:24:05.793 --> 00:24:09.363
- we had some rules we wanted to talk about.
- 00:24:09.363 --> 00:24:12.466
- And my takeaway was your rules make sense,
- 00:24:12.466 --> 00:24:15.336
- and my rules are stupid.
- 00:24:15.336 --> 00:24:18.305
- It's so easy.
- 00:24:18.305 --> 00:24:19.640
- So, what I think Paul is saying, "to live a life worthy of the
- 00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:22.209
- calling you have received," I don't think he's talking about
- 00:24:22.209 --> 00:24:24.512
- just adherence to rules, but to yield your life
- 00:24:24.512 --> 00:24:27.948
- to the lordship of Jesus.
- 00:24:27.948 --> 00:24:29.283
- To offer yourself as a living sacrifice.
- 00:24:29.283 --> 00:24:30.885
- Look at 1 Peter.
- 00:24:30.885 --> 00:24:32.219
- "I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world,
- 00:24:32.219 --> 00:24:35.022
- abstain from sinful desires.
- 00:24:35.022 --> 00:24:36.657
- They war against your soul."
- 00:24:36.657 --> 00:24:37.992
- War is a harsh word.
- 00:24:37.992 --> 00:24:39.326
- You've been watching pictures of war lately.
- 00:24:39.326 --> 00:24:42.463
- You know, they show us the horrors of war,
- 00:24:42.463 --> 00:24:45.332
- and we're aghast.
- 00:24:45.332 --> 00:24:46.667
- Folks, war is horrible.
- 00:24:46.667 --> 00:24:51.071
- When the outcomes really matter, people don't play fair.
- 00:24:51.071 --> 00:24:55.476
- Have we forgotten?
- 00:24:55.476 --> 00:24:59.313
- Have you forgotten those conflicts where we bombed major
- 00:24:59.313 --> 00:25:01.815
- population centers, everybody involved in the process?
- 00:25:01.815 --> 00:25:06.053
- War is horrific, it's evil, it's wicked.
- 00:25:06.053 --> 00:25:08.155
- It's why we try to avoid it. It's not sports.
- 00:25:08.155 --> 00:25:11.659
- We use lots of war language in our sports.
- 00:25:11.659 --> 00:25:13.360
- And I like sports, but it's not war.
- 00:25:13.360 --> 00:25:18.599
- The participants are making multiple millions of dollars.
- 00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:21.168
- There are celebrities that are endorsing soup.
- 00:25:21.168 --> 00:25:24.939
- They may pull a muscle or need surgery to repair an injury.
- 00:25:24.939 --> 00:25:29.510
- We all go home at the end of the day.
- 00:25:29.510 --> 00:25:31.211
- War is different.
- 00:25:31.211 --> 00:25:33.080
- He says, "Live your lives as aliens and strangers in the
- 00:25:33.080 --> 00:25:35.449
- world, to abstain from the desires
- 00:25:35.449 --> 00:25:37.217
- which war against your souls.
- 00:25:37.217 --> 00:25:40.854
- We're told to abstain from something, and it's not easy.
- 00:25:40.854 --> 00:25:44.124
- It's a war.
- 00:25:44.124 --> 00:25:46.527
- And most of us go, "Well, I just choose not to engage."
- 00:25:46.527 --> 00:25:49.229
- I believe in grace and the God of love.
- 00:25:49.229 --> 00:25:54.602
- I like to read the New Testament.
- 00:25:54.602 --> 00:25:57.471
- Good, read Revelation.
- 00:25:57.471 --> 00:25:59.306
- Allen: I don't like to deliver religious lectures.
- 00:26:01.075 --> 00:26:02.910
- If I wanted to do that, I'd stay in the university.
- 00:26:02.910 --> 00:26:05.579
- I love making a journey with people and
- 00:26:05.579 --> 00:26:07.781
- getting to know the Lord better.
- 00:26:07.781 --> 00:26:09.116
- I want to pray with you.
- 00:26:09.116 --> 00:26:10.451
- Let's offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God.
- 00:26:10.451 --> 00:26:13.220
- We want his best in our lives. Let's pray.
- 00:26:13.220 --> 00:26:16.323
- Father, I thank you that you love us,
- 00:26:16.323 --> 00:26:17.658
- that you have a purpose for us.
- 00:26:17.658 --> 00:26:19.560
- I pray that you'll give us understanding hearts and eyes to
- 00:26:19.560 --> 00:26:22.563
- see what you've called us to be.
- 00:26:22.563 --> 00:26:24.565
- We offer ourselves to you today.
- 00:26:24.565 --> 00:26:25.966
- We want to serve you with all that we are
- 00:26:25.966 --> 00:26:27.935
- and all that we have.
- 00:26:27.935 --> 00:26:29.269
- In Jesus's name, amen.
- 00:26:29.269 --> 00:26:30.871
- God bless you.
- 00:26:30.871 --> 00:26:32.206
- ♪♪♪
- 00:26:32.206 --> 00:26:38.145
- announcer: Join us every week for another exciting message
- 00:26:38.145 --> 00:26:40.447
- from Pastor Allen Jackson.
- 00:26:40.447 --> 00:26:42.383
- And until then, visit us online and discover remarkable
- 00:26:42.383 --> 00:26:45.819
- information and resources to help take your Christian life to
- 00:26:45.819 --> 00:26:49.390
- the next level.
- 00:26:49.390 --> 00:26:51.025
- And if you're visiting the Nashville area,
- 00:26:51.025 --> 00:26:52.860
- we'd love to see you at World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro.
- 00:26:52.860 --> 00:26:56.563
- We're easy to find, so look us up when you're traveling
- 00:26:56.563 --> 00:26:58.465
- through, and don't forget to connect with Pastor Jackson
- 00:26:58.465 --> 00:27:01.368
- every day through social media.
- 00:27:01.368 --> 00:27:03.671
- Thanks so much for joining us and being
- 00:27:03.671 --> 00:27:05.806
- a part of this ministry.
- 00:27:05.806 --> 00:27:07.408
- We'll see you again next time for another encounter with
- 00:27:07.408 --> 00:27:09.677
- Pastor Allen Jackson.
- 00:27:09.677 --> 00:27:27.027
