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Allen Jackson Ministries

Allen Jackson - Culture Builders (Part 2)

March 31, 2025 | S25:E93

Allen Jackson - Culture Builders (Part 2)
Pastor Allen Jackson's mission is to help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
#Faith #Church #Religion #Culture #Education #WordofGod #inActive #AllenJacksonMinistries #AllenJackson #Restoration #Redemption #Temple #Romans12:2 #Tabernacle #Dominion

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Allen Jackson Ministries | Allen Jackson - Culture Builders (Part 2) | March 31, 2025
  • ...
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Allen jackson: at the very end of creation,
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  • God created human beings.
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  • He created us male and female in the language of genesis 1.
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  • As christ followers, i'm going to submit to you that we have a
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  • Biblical mandate to be culture builders.
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  • We can't simply ask for the blessing of heaven to make our
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  • Lives convenient, and then seek to avoid the responsibility of
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  • Our faith.
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  • It's not biblical.
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  • The scriptural justification for culture building starts
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  • With genesis.
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  • At the dawn of creation, the earth is unformed, it's empty,
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  • Dark, and chaotic.
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  • Then in a series of steps, god establishes the basic creational
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  • Distinctives, "light and dark", "above the expanse, below the
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  • Expanse", "sea and land", and so on.
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  • You know the story.
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  • But then god changes his strategy right there in that
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  • First chapter.
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  • Until the sixth day, god has done the work of
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  • Creation directly.
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  • But then he creates the first human beings, and he orders them
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  • To carry on where he leaves off.
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  • They are to reflect his image and to have dominion.
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  • From then on, the development of creation will be primarily
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  • Social and cultural.
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  • It will be the work of humans as they obey god's command to fill
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  • And subdue the earth.
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  • Jesus said it in a different way, he said we're to be salt
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  • And light.
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  • God's command is the culmination of creation.
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  • The curtain has risen on the stage, and the director gives
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  • The characters their opening cue in the drama of history.
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  • Through the creation itself, is very good, but the task of
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  • Exploring and developing its powers and potentials, the task
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  • Of building civilization, god turns over to his image bearers.
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  • "well i just want to go to heaven."
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  • It's because we've been given an incomplete gospel.
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  • The same command is still binding on us today.
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  • The fall introduced sin and evil into human history, but it
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  • Didn't erase the cultural mandate.
  • 00:02:11.314 --> 00:02:14.484
  • The generation since adam and eve still bear children and
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  • Have families.
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  • We still spread across the earth.
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  • We still tend animals and plant fields.
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  • We still construct cities and governments.
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  • We still make music and works of art.
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  • When we are redeemed, we're not only freed from the sinful
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  • Motivations that drive us, but we're also restored to fulfill
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  • Our original purpose, empowered to do what we were created to
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  • Do, to build societies and to create culture.
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  • And in so doing, we restore the created order.
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  • If you wanted to render the church impotent, you might
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  • Convince them they shouldn't talk about current events, that
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  • We should withdraw from culture and study history and talk about
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  • What god used to do.
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  • It's my contention that the lord's cultural commission is
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  • Inseparable from the great commission.
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  • Now, i understand in some settings, that's a bit jarring
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  • For many christians, who through much of the 20th century,
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  • Shunned the notion of reforming culture.
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  • We associate it with a liberal social gospel.
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  • The only task of the church many fundamentalists and evangelicals
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  • Have believed and loudly declared, is to save as many
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  • Lost souls as possible from a world that's literally going
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  • To hell.
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  • Not saying that doesn't have a role of significance, but this
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  • Implicit denial of a christian worldview is unbiblical.
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  • It's the reason we've lost so much of our influence in
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  • The world.
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  • Salvation does not consist only or simply of freedom from sin.
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  • Salvation also means being restored to the task we were
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  • Given in the beginning, the job of creating culture.
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  • Jesus, after all, taught us to pray, "your kingdom come and
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  • Your will be done on earth."
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  • Christians are saved, not only from something, sin, but also to
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  • Something, christ's lordship over all of our lives.
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  • The christian life begins with spiritual restoration, which god
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  • Works through the preaching of his word, through prayer,
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  • Sacraments, worship, and the exercise of spiritual gifts
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  • Within the church.
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  • But this is the indispensable beginning, for only the redeemed
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  • Person is filled with god's spirit and can genuinely know
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  • And fulfill god's plan.
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  • But then we're meant to proceed to the restoration of all god's
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  • Creation, which includes: private and public virtue,
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  • Individual and family life, education and community work,
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  • Politics and law, science and medicine, literature,
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  • Art, music.
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  • The redemptive goal permeates everything we do.
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  • There's no invisible dividing line between sacred and secular.
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  • We've drawn that for our own personal convenience, so we
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  • Could be ungodly when it was profitable and then step back
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  • Into church and say praise the lord.
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  • We're going to bring all things under the lordship of christ: in
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  • The home, in the school, and the workshop, and the corporate
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  • Boardroom, on the movie screen, in the concert studio, in the
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  • City council, the legislative chamber.
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  • The biblical presentation of this, the word's big, but
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  • It's simple.
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  • You'll understand that it's transcendent truth.
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  • Good old plain tennessee language, there is right
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  • And wrong.
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  • Everything is not subjective.
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  • The point has to be pressed, because most people today
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  • Operate on a fact value distinction, believing that
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  • Science uncovers facts which they believe to be reliable
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  • And true.
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  • While morality and religion are based on values, which they
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  • Believe to be subjective and relative to the individual.
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  • And here's where the church has taken some serious missteps.
  • 00:06:05.448 --> 00:06:09.419
  • Christians have often mirrored this secular attitude.
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  • We tend to be confident about god's laws for nature, such as
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  • Gravity or motion or heredity.
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  • But we seem far less confident about god's laws for the family,
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  • For education, or for the state.
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  • Yet a truly christian worldview draws no such distinction.
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  • It insists that god's laws govern all of creation.
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  • And just as we have to learn to live in accord with the law of
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  • Gravity, so we have to learn to live in accord with god's norms
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  • For society.
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  • We've been reluctant on this point.
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  • We've lacked the courage to bring our biblical values into
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  • The public square, so we've taken them out of corporate
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  • Settings, we've taken them out of public education.
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  • If our nation really is to ever regain strength, it will be
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  • Because the church has the courage to bring our biblical
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  • Worldview back into play.
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  • See, we choose truth or we choose the consequences of
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  • Rejecting it.
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  • And here's the good news and the wonder of creation, god has
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  • Given us the choice.
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  • We don't just operate on instinct, we have choices.
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  • There are a lot of factors that feed our choices: our emotions,
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  • Our thoughts, our circumstances; but we have a choice and our
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  • Choices, don't misunderstand, make a difference.
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  • How do we redeem a culture?
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  • How do we rise to the opportunity before us at the
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  • Start of this new millennia?
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  • Well, i would suggest to you the answer is simple.
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  • We have echoed it very often.
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  • It's from the inside out; from the individual, to the family,
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  • To the community, and then outward and ever
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  • Widening circles.
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  • That empowers every one of us.
  • 00:08:04.600 --> 00:08:07.203
  • Now i understand the most difficult place to bring that
  • 00:08:07.203 --> 00:08:09.238
  • Worldview to bears in our family, it has implications.
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  • We all understand.
  • 00:08:14.443 --> 00:08:16.546
  • We must begin by understanding what it means to live christian
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  • Worldview principles in our own behavior and our own choices.
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  • Unless we do, we'll interpret the biblical commands according
  • 00:08:23.419 --> 00:08:25.821
  • To the spirit of the age, and we'll be conformed to the world
  • 00:08:25.821 --> 00:08:29.258
  • Rather than to god's word.
  • 00:08:29.258 --> 00:08:31.394
  • Again, this is not a new issue.
  • 00:08:31.394 --> 00:08:33.029
  • It follows us right through the hebrew bible, right into the
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  • Challenges of the gospels and the letters to the churches of
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  • The new testament.
  • 00:08:38.668 --> 00:08:40.236
  • This is not a 21st century problem that's unique to us
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  • Because it's the end of the age.
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  • It represents the challenge of human character and what it
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  • Means to be transformed through the shed blood of jesus christ,
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  • To become culture builders.
  • 00:08:53.549 --> 00:08:55.818
  • It's a message we haven't heard frequently enough.
  • 00:08:55.818 --> 00:09:00.156
  • There's a warning in romans 12:2, i gave you the passage.
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  • I gave it to you in two translations; the first is from
  • 00:09:02.959 --> 00:09:05.161
  • The message, but i know some of you don't like the message, so
  • 00:09:05.161 --> 00:09:07.997
  • I'm going to give it to you in a more traditional translation,
  • 00:09:07.997 --> 00:09:10.132
  • But we'll read both, "don't become so well-adjusted to your
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  • Culture that you fit into it without even thinking.
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  • Instead, fix your attention on god.
  • 00:09:19.108 --> 00:09:21.744
  • You'll be changed from the inside out.
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  • Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond
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  • To it.
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  • Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its
  • 00:09:29.218 --> 00:09:31.821
  • Level of immaturity, god brings the best out of you, develops
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  • Well-formed maturity in you."
  • 00:09:38.027 --> 00:09:41.797
  • And maybe the more familiar words from the new international
  • 00:09:41.797 --> 00:09:44.033
  • Version, it says, "do not conform any longer to the
  • 00:09:44.033 --> 00:09:46.669
  • Pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
  • 00:09:46.669 --> 00:09:50.740
  • Your mind."
  • 00:09:50.740 --> 00:09:52.408
  • Definitions will help here, "do not be conformed to the pattern
  • 00:09:52.408 --> 00:09:57.146
  • Of this world."
  • 00:09:57.146 --> 00:09:58.514
  • To conform is to adapt to the standards of, "do not adapt to
  • 00:09:58.514 --> 00:10:02.985
  • The standards of this world."
  • 00:10:02.985 --> 00:10:05.755
  • Don't allow them to dictate to you what success is, failure is,
  • 00:10:05.755 --> 00:10:08.991
  • What fashion is, what moral or immoral is, "do not conform to
  • 00:10:08.991 --> 00:10:15.631
  • The standards of this world, but be transformed."
  • 00:10:15.631 --> 00:10:18.034
  • To transform is to change in potential, "but be changed in
  • 00:10:18.034 --> 00:10:22.738
  • Potential by the renewing of your mind."
  • 00:10:22.738 --> 00:10:27.009
  • See, one of the tremendous benefits of your daily reading
  • 00:10:27.009 --> 00:10:29.578
  • Of scripture, is it begins to help you become familiar with
  • 00:10:29.578 --> 00:10:32.381
  • The character of god.
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  • It'll begin to change your thoughts.
  • 00:10:33.816 --> 00:10:35.985
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:10:36.052 --> 00:10:40.389
  • Female announcer: it's going to be an amazing spring at world
  • 00:10:42.358 --> 00:10:44.560
  • Outreach church, and you're invited to be part of it all.
  • 00:10:44.560 --> 00:10:47.963
  • Join us in tennessee for easter weekend and our spring festival,
  • 00:10:47.963 --> 00:10:51.634
  • Kicking off saturday, april 12 and running through sunday,
  • 00:10:51.634 --> 00:10:54.603
  • April 27.
  • 00:10:54.603 --> 00:10:56.405
  • Worship with musical guest artists crowder, charity gayle,
  • 00:10:56.405 --> 00:10:59.942
  • Matthew west, franni cash, and the katinas.
  • 00:10:59.942 --> 00:11:02.344
  • Hear special messages from pastor allen jackson, enjoy fun
  • 00:11:02.344 --> 00:11:06.482
  • Activities for the whole family, food trucks and more.
  • 00:11:06.482 --> 00:11:10.119
  • Services will take place both indoors and outdoors.
  • 00:11:10.119 --> 00:11:12.855
  • Invite your friends and family to come celebrate our risen king
  • 00:11:12.855 --> 00:11:16.058
  • This spring.
  • 00:11:16.058 --> 00:11:17.393
  • Allen: hey, this is pastor allen.
  • 00:11:17.393 --> 00:11:18.761
  • I want to give you a personal invitation to join us on our
  • 00:11:18.761 --> 00:11:20.863
  • Campus here in murfreesboro for our spring festival and our
  • 00:11:20.863 --> 00:11:24.366
  • Easter celebration.
  • 00:11:24.366 --> 00:11:26.068
  • It's a wonderful time to be with people of faith and celebrate
  • 00:11:26.068 --> 00:11:29.839
  • This most remarkable time of the year.
  • 00:11:29.839 --> 00:11:32.208
  • Female announcer: find all the details
  • 00:11:32.208 --> 00:11:33.576
  • At allenjackson.com/spring.
  • 00:11:33.576 --> 00:11:35.978
  • We can't wait to see you there.
  • 00:11:35.978 --> 00:11:38.147
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:11:38.147 --> 00:11:41.016
  • Allen: i believe god is moving in the earth in an unprecedented
  • 00:11:42.418 --> 00:11:45.354
  • Way, and at the heart of that is an awakening, it's a shaking.
  • 00:11:45.354 --> 00:11:49.291
  • And in that shaking, there's a sifting; there are people
  • 00:11:49.291 --> 00:11:51.494
  • Falling through the cracks and there are people becoming more
  • 00:11:51.494 --> 00:11:53.662
  • Alert and aware of what god is doing.
  • 00:11:53.662 --> 00:11:56.198
  • At the heart of that is the acknowledgment, the realization
  • 00:11:56.198 --> 00:11:59.769
  • That spiritual forces shape our lives.
  • 00:11:59.769 --> 00:12:02.805
  • Folks, this isn't for the lunatic fringe.
  • 00:12:02.805 --> 00:12:05.040
  • This isn't for the hyper-spiritual people.
  • 00:12:05.040 --> 00:12:08.244
  • This is the stuff of the bible and it better be the stuff of
  • 00:12:08.244 --> 00:12:10.646
  • Our lives or we are in a tremendous deficit position.
  • 00:12:10.646 --> 00:12:15.184
  • Well, i've written a book, "angels, demons & you," simply a
  • 00:12:15.184 --> 00:12:18.320
  • Biblical review of those spiritual forces that are
  • 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:21.123
  • Impacting us today.
  • 00:12:21.123 --> 00:12:22.458
  • There's a battle in the earth and it's not between armies
  • 00:12:22.458 --> 00:12:25.227
  • Wearing the labels of nations or terrorist groups.
  • 00:12:25.227 --> 00:12:28.063
  • It's a spiritual battle.
  • 00:12:28.063 --> 00:12:29.632
  • If you don't understand, if you don't understand the equipment
  • 00:12:29.632 --> 00:12:32.234
  • And the authority you've been given, you are in a tremendous
  • 00:12:32.234 --> 00:12:35.838
  • Position of forfeiture.
  • 00:12:35.838 --> 00:12:38.073
  • Don't live that way.
  • 00:12:38.073 --> 00:12:39.441
  • "angels, demons & you," you need the solution.
  • 00:12:39.441 --> 00:12:42.978
  • Female announcer: loneliness, depression, despair, they all
  • 00:12:42.978 --> 00:12:46.282
  • Have a spiritual origin.
  • 00:12:46.282 --> 00:12:47.883
  • We're in a spiritual battle, and the forces of evil stand
  • 00:12:47.883 --> 00:12:51.153
  • Against us.
  • 00:12:51.153 --> 00:12:52.488
  • But we don't need to be afraid, we need to prepare.
  • 00:12:52.488 --> 00:12:55.457
  • Allen: jesus said the children have angels assigned to them,
  • 00:12:55.457 --> 00:12:58.027
  • That have the father's attention.
  • 00:12:58.027 --> 00:12:59.562
  • It's safe to say that in the kingdom of god there are
  • 00:12:59.562 --> 00:13:02.665
  • Spiritual beings in significant number.
  • 00:13:02.665 --> 00:13:07.269
  • And they're ministering spirits, the bible says, sent forth to
  • 00:13:07.269 --> 00:13:10.406
  • Help us.
  • 00:13:10.406 --> 00:13:12.074
  • They're messengers, they fill the pages of scripture.
  • 00:13:12.074 --> 00:13:14.777
  • And yet we tend to kind of imagine as if it's peripheral,
  • 00:13:14.777 --> 00:13:18.147
  • Secondary; that you could be a christ follower, not really be
  • 00:13:18.147 --> 00:13:21.083
  • Engaged or have to imagine spiritual forces.
  • 00:13:21.083 --> 00:13:23.919
  • We believe in organization.
  • 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:26.589
  • Well, so do i. i like a good plan and i like an organization
  • 00:13:26.589 --> 00:13:30.993
  • That is run well, but i don't want to--it's not an either
  • 00:13:30.993 --> 00:13:33.963
  • Or equation.
  • 00:13:33.963 --> 00:13:35.331
  • And i certainly don't want to exchange the power of god and
  • 00:13:35.331 --> 00:13:38.934
  • The spiritual help that he's made available to us, for the
  • 00:13:38.934 --> 00:13:41.637
  • Imagination that we can not organize evil.
  • 00:13:41.637 --> 00:13:43.973
  • Female announcer: pastor allen's new book, "angels, demons & you"
  • 00:13:43.973 --> 00:13:46.842
  • Offers compelling biblical evidence about angels and
  • 00:13:46.842 --> 00:13:50.012
  • Demons, and the rules in the heavens, on earth and in
  • 00:13:50.012 --> 00:13:53.949
  • Our lives.
  • 00:13:53.949 --> 00:13:55.317
  • It answers the questions you want to know.
  • 00:13:55.317 --> 00:13:58.087
  • Learn what the bible has to say about angels, demons and
  • 00:13:58.087 --> 00:14:01.357
  • Spiritual warfare.
  • 00:14:01.357 --> 00:14:02.825
  • Gain helpful insight that will help you identify and remove
  • 00:14:02.825 --> 00:14:06.528
  • Evil from your life.
  • 00:14:06.528 --> 00:14:08.397
  • Find practical tools and biblical truth that will help
  • 00:14:08.397 --> 00:14:11.367
  • You align your beliefs more fully with god's word.
  • 00:14:11.367 --> 00:14:14.570
  • "angels, demons, & you" will help you recognize the spiritual
  • 00:14:14.570 --> 00:14:17.940
  • Battle around you, so you can live without fear and stand firm
  • 00:14:17.940 --> 00:14:21.310
  • In your faith.
  • 00:14:21.310 --> 00:14:22.678
  • Allen: this is our season in time to be a difference maker
  • 00:14:22.678 --> 00:14:25.147
  • For the kingdom of god, and that's a spiritual assignment.
  • 00:14:25.147 --> 00:14:29.084
  • Announcer: request your copy when you donate $30 or more
  • 00:14:29.084 --> 00:14:31.887
  • At allenjackson.com, or by calling ...
  • 00:14:31.887 --> 00:14:38.394
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:14:38.394 --> 00:14:41.363
  • Allen: if we want to transform our pagan culture, we must start
  • 00:14:43.098 --> 00:14:46.235
  • With ourselves understanding what christian worldview means
  • 00:14:46.235 --> 00:14:49.872
  • For our own moral and lifestyle choices.
  • 00:14:49.872 --> 00:14:54.743
  • I would submit to you this is more important today than ever,
  • 00:14:54.743 --> 00:14:57.880
  • Because individual moral choices determine the health of the
  • 00:14:57.880 --> 00:15:01.016
  • Entire society.
  • 00:15:01.016 --> 00:15:03.619
  • The top down approach, while it may be encouraging, it's not
  • 00:15:03.619 --> 00:15:06.689
  • Sustainable unless there's a greater change at the
  • 00:15:06.689 --> 00:15:09.425
  • Grassroots level.
  • 00:15:09.425 --> 00:15:12.294
  • An attitude has emerged which suggests that my personal life
  • 00:15:12.294 --> 00:15:15.064
  • Is no one else's business.
  • 00:15:15.064 --> 00:15:17.466
  • "i'm free to make whatever choices i may desire."
  • 00:15:17.466 --> 00:15:21.570
  • That is an epidemic.
  • 00:15:21.570 --> 00:15:24.006
  • However, this goes right along with that notion, someone else
  • 00:15:24.006 --> 00:15:27.776
  • Is responsible, if not obligated to help resolve the consequences
  • 00:15:27.776 --> 00:15:31.413
  • Of my choices.
  • 00:15:31.413 --> 00:15:35.684
  • We're watching an uncovering of hundreds of billions of dollars
  • 00:15:35.684 --> 00:15:39.421
  • That have been spent to try to resolve the ills that have come
  • 00:15:39.421 --> 00:15:42.591
  • From our pagan behaviors.
  • 00:15:42.591 --> 00:15:46.528
  • Sexual behavior is a prime example.
  • 00:15:46.528 --> 00:15:48.263
  • The scripture is pretty clear, god created sex.
  • 00:15:48.263 --> 00:15:51.200
  • It was his idea.
  • 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:53.535
  • It didn't begin in some smut-based pornography place.
  • 00:15:53.535 --> 00:15:57.973
  • Sex was god's idea.
  • 00:15:57.973 --> 00:15:59.341
  • He put it in a context, in marriage.
  • 00:15:59.341 --> 00:16:02.244
  • He said, in that context, it's holy and beautiful.
  • 00:16:02.244 --> 00:16:06.382
  • Beyond that, we're warned that sexual involvement
  • 00:16:06.382 --> 00:16:08.417
  • Is destructive.
  • 00:16:08.417 --> 00:16:10.786
  • Sexual relationships outside of marriage are responsible for the
  • 00:16:10.786 --> 00:16:14.189
  • Spread of a great deal of harm: sexually transmitted diseases
  • 00:16:14.189 --> 00:16:17.826
  • For most abortions, for fatherless homes, for chronic
  • 00:16:17.826 --> 00:16:20.496
  • Welfare dependency.
  • 00:16:20.496 --> 00:16:23.465
  • With the social wreckage that we have watched now for decades,
  • 00:16:23.465 --> 00:16:30.305
  • Has it caused our educators to teach young people to refrain
  • 00:16:30.305 --> 00:16:33.876
  • From sex outside of marriage?
  • 00:16:33.876 --> 00:16:37.546
  • Not so much.
  • 00:16:37.546 --> 00:16:39.481
  • And when the inevitable consequence followed, these same
  • 00:16:39.481 --> 00:16:41.950
  • Educators pressed for government solutions to bandage over the
  • 00:16:41.950 --> 00:16:44.887
  • Negative effects.
  • 00:16:44.887 --> 00:16:46.855
  • To avoid stds, the government supplied condoms in the schools.
  • 00:16:46.855 --> 00:16:50.926
  • When homosexual promiscuity led to fatal diseases, the
  • 00:16:50.926 --> 00:16:53.495
  • Government was blamed and shamed into picking up the tab for
  • 00:16:53.495 --> 00:16:57.166
  • More research.
  • 00:16:57.166 --> 00:16:58.967
  • When sex led to pregnancy, the government was expected to pay
  • 00:16:58.967 --> 00:17:01.470
  • For abortions or supply welfare support to fatherless families.
  • 00:17:01.470 --> 00:17:05.874
  • And in the face of all of these things, the church has said very
  • 00:17:05.874 --> 00:17:08.277
  • Little, because our behavior has differed very little from the
  • 00:17:08.277 --> 00:17:12.014
  • Secular culture.
  • 00:17:12.014 --> 00:17:16.552
  • This is not new, folks.
  • 00:17:16.552 --> 00:17:17.920
  • This has been growing for a long time.
  • 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:19.254
  • It was the 60's when this new concept of public morality
  • 00:17:19.254 --> 00:17:22.424
  • Really seemed to take hold.
  • 00:17:22.424 --> 00:17:24.526
  • It was stated in the words of a sociologist to
  • 00:17:24.526 --> 00:17:26.829
  • Christopher jenks.
  • 00:17:26.829 --> 00:17:28.163
  • He was discussing fatherless families and he argued this,
  • 00:17:28.163 --> 00:17:30.632
  • That if people truly prefer a family consisting of a mother,
  • 00:17:30.632 --> 00:17:34.069
  • Children, and a series of transient males, and it's hardly
  • 00:17:34.069 --> 00:17:37.973
  • The federal government's proper business to try to alter this
  • 00:17:37.973 --> 00:17:40.976
  • Choice, he went on to say that the government ought to invent
  • 00:17:40.976 --> 00:17:44.613
  • Ways of providing such families with the same physical and
  • 00:17:44.613 --> 00:17:47.916
  • Psychic necessities of life available to other kinds
  • 00:17:47.916 --> 00:17:50.586
  • Of families.
  • 00:17:50.586 --> 00:17:53.055
  • And we watched what was at one time so like an idea that was an
  • 00:17:53.055 --> 00:17:55.924
  • Outlier, become the normal of how we see culture these days.
  • 00:17:55.924 --> 00:18:01.296
  • That ideology has become widespread and crystal clear.
  • 00:18:01.296 --> 00:18:03.899
  • The government must not seek to help shape the nation's moral
  • 00:18:03.899 --> 00:18:06.635
  • Climate or to discourage irresponsible behavior.
  • 00:18:06.635 --> 00:18:11.006
  • Instead, it's job is to invent ways to compensate for any
  • 00:18:11.006 --> 00:18:13.876
  • Disadvantages created by the bad choices people make.
  • 00:18:13.876 --> 00:18:19.448
  • And the attitude isn't confined to government, the church has
  • 00:18:19.448 --> 00:18:21.783
  • Joined in on that chorus.
  • 00:18:21.783 --> 00:18:24.186
  • Churches avoid conversations about sin and its consequences.
  • 00:18:24.186 --> 00:18:27.856
  • It's been more fashionable to speak about grace and mercy
  • 00:18:27.856 --> 00:18:30.325
  • And diversity.
  • 00:18:30.325 --> 00:18:33.495
  • I would submit to you that the question remaining is more about
  • 00:18:33.495 --> 00:18:36.031
  • Courage and convictions.
  • 00:18:36.031 --> 00:18:38.367
  • We make the sacrifices in order to be a part of a
  • 00:18:38.367 --> 00:18:40.769
  • Cultural transformation.
  • 00:18:40.769 --> 00:18:45.274
  • Are we willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be a
  • 00:18:45.274 --> 00:18:48.377
  • Part of a cultural transformation?
  • 00:18:48.377 --> 00:18:51.313
  • Or will we choose the path of least resistance and
  • 00:18:51.313 --> 00:18:54.449
  • Economic expediency.
  • 00:18:54.449 --> 00:18:57.386
  • There's a current political debate which is raging, you may
  • 00:18:57.386 --> 00:19:00.656
  • Have noticed.
  • 00:19:00.656 --> 00:19:02.324
  • And the primary discussions are about economic choices which
  • 00:19:02.324 --> 00:19:04.993
  • Are available.
  • 00:19:04.993 --> 00:19:06.995
  • I would suggest that for the christ follower, there are
  • 00:19:06.995 --> 00:19:09.131
  • Weightier issues to wrestle with.
  • 00:19:09.131 --> 00:19:11.700
  • You're familiar with the list.
  • 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:13.035
  • You don't need me to highlight them any longer.
  • 00:19:13.035 --> 00:19:14.469
  • We've talked about them a great deal; abortion, terminating the
  • 00:19:14.469 --> 00:19:19.074
  • Lives of children because they're inconvenient; partial
  • 00:19:19.074 --> 00:19:23.111
  • Birth abortion, a heinous behavior.
  • 00:19:23.111 --> 00:19:27.115
  • We're told ultimately its about choice.
  • 00:19:27.115 --> 00:19:30.352
  • I agree we have many choices in life.
  • 00:19:30.352 --> 00:19:32.588
  • When we choose to have sexual intercourse, the choice has
  • 00:19:32.588 --> 00:19:35.123
  • Been made.
  • 00:19:35.123 --> 00:19:38.894
  • The redefinition of marriage and family.
  • 00:19:38.894 --> 00:19:42.331
  • God gave us those definitions.
  • 00:19:42.331 --> 00:19:45.067
  • He hasn't given us the authority to override them.
  • 00:19:45.067 --> 00:19:54.276
  • Greed, fraud, and stealing right now, is painfully uncomfortable,
  • 00:19:54.276 --> 00:19:58.213
  • The degree to which that's been normalized and celebrated, to
  • 00:19:58.213 --> 00:20:02.684
  • The point that people who are exposing it are shouted down.
  • 00:20:02.684 --> 00:20:05.087
  • Their lives are being threatened, "stop telling us
  • 00:20:05.087 --> 00:20:07.990
  • About our bad behavior.
  • 00:20:07.990 --> 00:20:09.358
  • We don't want to know."
  • 00:20:09.358 --> 00:20:10.692
  • Some would say there's no historical evidence that a
  • 00:20:10.692 --> 00:20:14.796
  • Culture can be transformed, that my individual choice
  • 00:20:14.796 --> 00:20:18.667
  • Is unimportant.
  • 00:20:18.667 --> 00:20:20.369
  • That's the answer i hear most frequently from christians,
  • 00:20:20.369 --> 00:20:22.337
  • "well, i'm just one voice.
  • 00:20:22.337 --> 00:20:24.706
  • I'm just a small person with a southern accent and nobody cares
  • 00:20:24.706 --> 00:20:27.442
  • About what i think."
  • 00:20:27.442 --> 00:20:29.411
  • Well, i would disagree most vehemently.
  • 00:20:29.411 --> 00:20:32.748
  • Our own national history resonates with the courage of
  • 00:20:32.748 --> 00:20:35.584
  • Generations of men and women who have made enormous sacrifices,
  • 00:20:35.584 --> 00:20:39.354
  • So that we might enjoy the freedom and liberty which define
  • 00:20:39.354 --> 00:20:41.690
  • Us today.
  • 00:20:41.690 --> 00:20:44.626
  • The question that's on the table is what will be said of
  • 00:20:44.626 --> 00:20:46.762
  • This generation?
  • 00:20:46.762 --> 00:20:48.730
  • What will we do?
  • 00:20:48.730 --> 00:20:51.099
  • We want to pretend that our economic well-being is the
  • 00:20:51.099 --> 00:20:53.368
  • Obvious choice for first priority.
  • 00:20:53.368 --> 00:20:56.905
  • I want to thank god, and for decades and for centuries, there
  • 00:20:56.905 --> 00:21:01.777
  • Have been men and women who had more courage than that.
  • 00:21:01.777 --> 00:21:05.747
  • And i pray that when history looks back upon us, it will be
  • 00:21:05.747 --> 00:21:08.884
  • Said of this generation that we chose to be culture builders for
  • 00:21:08.884 --> 00:21:12.954
  • A biblical worldview.
  • 00:21:12.954 --> 00:21:21.129
  • For the skeptics to say nobody would sacrifice, there are so
  • 00:21:21.129 --> 00:21:26.401
  • Many ways to approach that.
  • 00:21:26.401 --> 00:21:27.736
  • I chose one that reflects a bit of our local history.
  • 00:21:27.736 --> 00:21:32.207
  • We have a battlefield in our community from a war that ripped
  • 00:21:32.207 --> 00:21:34.776
  • Our nation apart over the heinous practice of slavery, a
  • 00:21:34.776 --> 00:21:40.682
  • Practice for which far too long the church was silent.
  • 00:21:40.682 --> 00:21:44.720
  • And as abhorrent as that has been and as grateful as i am for
  • 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:47.556
  • Every place the church found the courage to tell the truth, i
  • 00:21:47.556 --> 00:21:50.692
  • Would remind all of us that on our watch we've lost 60 million
  • 00:21:50.692 --> 00:21:54.029
  • Children, and for the most part the church has been silent.
  • 00:21:54.029 --> 00:22:00.068
  • But the casualties in the civil war, for those who would say
  • 00:22:00.068 --> 00:22:02.337
  • We've never done anything, in antietam, there were
  • 00:22:02.337 --> 00:22:06.742
  • 23,000 casualties.
  • 00:22:06.742 --> 00:22:09.044
  • In chattanooga, there were 12,000.
  • 00:22:09.044 --> 00:22:11.580
  • At chickamauga, there were 35,000.
  • 00:22:11.580 --> 00:22:14.649
  • At fort donaldson, there were 17,000.
  • 00:22:14.649 --> 00:22:17.686
  • In gettysburg, there were 40,000.
  • 00:22:17.686 --> 00:22:20.489
  • In manassas, 22,000.
  • 00:22:20.489 --> 00:22:23.091
  • In shiloh, 24,000.
  • 00:22:23.091 --> 00:22:26.261
  • Stones river, in this county, there were 24,000 casualties.
  • 00:22:26.261 --> 00:22:29.731
  • I've read the reports.
  • 00:22:29.731 --> 00:22:31.133
  • It said that the river was pink from the blood of those fallen.
  • 00:22:31.133 --> 00:22:36.738
  • At vicksburg, there was over 19,000.
  • 00:22:36.738 --> 00:22:40.008
  • The civil war cost more than 600,000 lives.
  • 00:22:40.008 --> 00:22:44.012
  • Don't tell me there haven't been courageous generations that
  • 00:22:44.012 --> 00:22:46.848
  • Stood up and said we have to make a difference.
  • 00:22:46.848 --> 00:22:50.152
  • I'm not encouraging violence.
  • 00:22:50.152 --> 00:22:52.721
  • I'm asking you to reflect upon your faith and to reject the
  • 00:22:52.721 --> 00:22:56.224
  • Notion of a personal salvation that is void of a responsibility
  • 00:22:56.224 --> 00:23:00.128
  • To our families, our communities, and our culture.
  • 00:23:00.128 --> 00:23:05.434
  • I'll close with the passage from psalms, it says, "if my people
  • 00:23:05.434 --> 00:23:11.706
  • Would but listen to me, if israel would follow my ways,"
  • 00:23:11.706 --> 00:23:16.945
  • Again, for this, what we're facing is not something new.
  • 00:23:16.945 --> 00:23:20.315
  • See, when we don't want to pick up the assignment, we act,
  • 00:23:20.315 --> 00:23:22.384
  • "well, this is extraordinary."
  • 00:23:22.384 --> 00:23:24.586
  • Nobody's ever seen anything quite as dark as this.
  • 00:23:24.586 --> 00:23:29.057
  • And somehow in that, we were giving an excuse to ourselves
  • 00:23:29.057 --> 00:23:31.993
  • That the cost is too high, the price is too great.
  • 00:23:31.993 --> 00:23:35.230
  • "can't i just go on spring break now?"
  • 00:23:35.230 --> 00:23:39.534
  • And the psalmist is reminding us.
  • 00:23:39.534 --> 00:23:42.137
  • God said, "if my people would listen to me, if israel would
  • 00:23:42.137 --> 00:23:44.639
  • Just follow my ways, how quickly would i subdue their enemies and
  • 00:23:44.639 --> 00:23:48.276
  • Turn my hand against their foes!
  • 00:23:48.276 --> 00:23:50.912
  • Those who hate the lord would cringe before him, and their
  • 00:23:50.912 --> 00:23:54.082
  • Punishment would last forever.
  • 00:23:54.082 --> 00:23:56.551
  • But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from
  • 00:23:56.551 --> 00:24:00.422
  • The rock i would satisfy you."
  • 00:24:00.422 --> 00:24:05.193
  • Don't watch the news and feel despair.
  • 00:24:05.193 --> 00:24:08.196
  • Watch the news and be filled with hope.
  • 00:24:08.196 --> 00:24:11.399
  • Every time you hear the truth told at the public square,
  • 00:24:11.399 --> 00:24:14.336
  • Determine that you will tell it more persistently in your sphere
  • 00:24:14.336 --> 00:24:18.673
  • Of influence.
  • 00:24:18.673 --> 00:24:20.609
  • Every time you see something that you can celebrate is right
  • 00:24:20.609 --> 00:24:23.945
  • Or godly or holy, be more determined to let that be
  • 00:24:23.945 --> 00:24:28.783
  • Reflected in your life and in your choices.
  • 00:24:28.783 --> 00:24:30.685
  • We are not powerless; we are citizens of the kingdom of
  • 00:24:30.685 --> 00:24:33.788
  • Almighty god.
  • 00:24:33.788 --> 00:24:35.824
  • We are on assignment.
  • 00:24:35.824 --> 00:24:40.428
  • We will talk about the values that shape us as a community of
  • 00:24:40.428 --> 00:24:43.765
  • Faith, but before we get to that, we have to understand our
  • 00:24:43.765 --> 00:24:46.868
  • Role in this world.
  • 00:24:46.868 --> 00:24:48.870
  • Or else we will devolve into a selfish, self-absorbed group of
  • 00:24:48.870 --> 00:24:53.341
  • People, with a me first mentality, and we will miss our
  • 00:24:53.341 --> 00:24:56.578
  • Opportunities in the kingdom of god.
  • 00:24:56.578 --> 00:25:00.582
  • God help us, we do not intend to do that.
  • 00:25:00.582 --> 00:25:04.319
  • I want to pray, if you'll stand with me, that we'll have
  • 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:08.056
  • Understanding hearts and the wisdom to recognize the spirit
  • 00:25:08.056 --> 00:25:12.561
  • Of god.
  • 00:25:12.561 --> 00:25:20.869
  • You know, they say the world war ii generation was the
  • 00:25:20.869 --> 00:25:22.804
  • Greatest generation.
  • 00:25:22.804 --> 00:25:25.173
  • I don't know what they'll say about us.
  • 00:25:25.173 --> 00:25:27.742
  • But it'd certainly be a point to celebrate if they called us a
  • 00:25:27.742 --> 00:25:30.145
  • Godly generation, or that we were transformed by our faith.
  • 00:25:30.145 --> 00:25:36.751
  • I could think of a lot of things to be said.
  • 00:25:36.751 --> 00:25:39.754
  • Most of them are not leading the discussion right now.
  • 00:25:39.754 --> 00:25:43.959
  • Let's pray, father, thank you for your word, for its truth
  • 00:25:43.959 --> 00:25:46.394
  • And authority.
  • 00:25:46.394 --> 00:25:47.762
  • I thank you for your people.
  • 00:25:47.762 --> 00:25:49.364
  • Lord, our desire is to be pleasing to you.
  • 00:25:49.364 --> 00:25:52.801
  • Forgive us, father, for our indifference.
  • 00:25:52.801 --> 00:25:56.304
  • If we've been distracted, father, or confused, or for
  • 00:25:56.304 --> 00:26:02.277
  • Whatever reason, lord, we come tonight and ask that you would
  • 00:26:02.277 --> 00:26:05.580
  • Give us understanding hearts.
  • 00:26:05.580 --> 00:26:08.416
  • May the fear of god be more real to us than the fear of
  • 00:26:08.416 --> 00:26:12.053
  • Any person.
  • 00:26:12.053 --> 00:26:14.623
  • Holy spirit, give us a desire to be pleasing to almighty god.
  • 00:26:14.623 --> 00:26:20.562
  • Give us an awareness of spiritual things beyond anything
  • 00:26:20.562 --> 00:26:23.131
  • We've known up to this point.
  • 00:26:23.131 --> 00:26:26.901
  • Open our eyes and unstop our ears.
  • 00:26:26.901 --> 00:26:30.071
  • Bring insight and understanding to our hearts.
  • 00:26:30.071 --> 00:26:33.008
  • Teach us to encourage one another, to strengthen one
  • 00:26:33.008 --> 00:26:35.110
  • Another, to help one another.
  • 00:26:35.110 --> 00:26:37.078
  • And give us the boldness to speak your truth.
  • 00:26:37.078 --> 00:26:41.583
  • And we thank you for outcomes, for lives transformed, for
  • 00:26:41.583 --> 00:26:44.486
  • Families transformed, that the power of god will be on display
  • 00:26:44.486 --> 00:26:47.989
  • In our generation in an unprecedented way.
  • 00:26:47.989 --> 00:26:52.260
  • Let your kingdom come and your will be done on the earth as it
  • 00:26:52.260 --> 00:26:54.829
  • Is in heaven.
  • 00:26:54.829 --> 00:26:57.165
  • Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
  • 00:26:57.165 --> 00:27:01.736
  • May your kingdom come, in jesus's name, amen.
  • 00:27:01.736 --> 00:27:07.008
  • Hallelujah, god bless you.
  • 00:27:07.008 --> 00:27:09.644
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:27:10.245 --> 00:27:10.245