Allen Jackson Ministries

This week, Pastor Allen sits down with Christian artist Jason Crabb, before he performs at the World Outreach Summer Festival. Jason talks about how 2020 has been a year of lessons for him and his family, and they discuss some of the things they are taking away from this year. Listen to Jason Crabb wherever you get your music. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Though we live in the flesh, the battles set before us are in the Spiritual Realm. Our futures are in the balance and we need the encouragement, safe-guarding, and empowerment of the Spirit of the Living God. Pastor Allen Jackson opens the discussion of how we are called and equipped to stand for the Kingdom of God in times of great conflict. There is change surging through the earth, and we must rely on the Authority of God the Father to bring great outcomes. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

This week, Pastor Allen sits down for a conversation with Christian artist Jordan Feliz, before he leads worship at the World Outreach Summer Festival. They discuss Jordan's journey to Nashville, his upbringing, and how the Lord has led him through his career in the Christian music industry. Jordan's new single "Glorify" is available wherever you get your music. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

The condition of this time has changed almost day by day. With the beginning of a virus, this season has unfolded into bordering anarchy and chaos. But we have the guidance of an all-knowing Father to lead us through and out of this season. Pastor Allen Jackson shares an encouraging message in how we can finish well in uncertain times. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

This week, Pastor Allen sits down for a conversation with Christian artist Zach Williams before his performance at the World Outreach Summer Festival. They talk about his music, his journey to faith, and a few of his recent projects. Zach's latest album Rescue Story is available wherever you get your music. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Within this season of shaking, we have seen unprecedented manipulation and deception - but we have also witnessed immense movements of the Spirit of God. Pastor Allen Jackson brings this to our attention, but then asks the question, "What are we to do?" We have a role to play in the unfolding of the Church of Jesus Christ, and we have the tools to bring great hope into our world. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

This week, Pastor Allen sits down with Christian artist Matthew West for a conversation about his music, his faith, and the lessons he has taken from this unique season. Matthew's latest album, Brand New, is available wherever music is sold. Visit https://www.matthewwest.com/ for more information. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Even when the times of this world are filled with fear, confusion, dissension, and unrest – we still have a God who is on the throne and wants to help us. Through the persons of God, we receive the help of the Holy Spirit to guide us through these times with righteousness. Pastor Allen Jackson shares the notion of how we have a helper in the Holy Spirit, who was modeled after the person of Jesus Christ, who was sent by God the Father. We have an almighty God who has never abandoned us, and we need to recognize our dependence in Him to lead triumphant and victorious lives. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

This week, Pastor Allen has the opportunity to sit down with Mike Weaver of Big Daddy Weave for a conversation about his music, his faith, and how this unique season has impacted the band. Big Daddy Weave has been a mainstay of the Christian music industry for over twenty years, with 9 studio albums and multiple awards and nominations. Their most recent album, When the Light Comes, is available wherever music is sold. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

We have great freedoms and liberties within our nation - yet we forget where they come from. We believe that it is through our own intellect, but the ideals we enjoy are from the foundation of Jesus Christ. Pastor Allen Jackson shares this historically packed message and invites us back to humility. As the Church of Jesus Christ, we must come humbly before the Lord to see the change we seek in the world. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

For the United States of America, our heritage is rich with the ideals and beliefs of the Christian faith; yet we tarnish and forget the very scriptures that are carved in revered buildings within our own communities. Pastor Allen Jackson dives into a great discussion of our history as a Nation and invites us to see the foundation of our society. That we should not be afraid to look back in our history for its short comings, but to lean into the idea that a Judeo-Christian worldview constructed this great nation and will deliver us out of a time of great uncertainty.

We have an opportunity to respond to what is going on in the world today, and it starts with a prayer. Turning our hearts in obedience and using the tools the Lord has given us is the gateway to seeing mountains move. Pastor Allen Jackson opens the discussion of obedience and our supernatural intercession with the Lord. Our prayers are not simple words – they are battle that rage in the spiritual realm for the hearts of God's people. We have a role to play. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

This week, Pastor Allen sits down with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Look for Gov. Huckabee's new book, The 3 C's That Made America Great, this fall. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

In order to fully be freed from a problem, we must first recognize there is an issue and from where our help truly comes. We can find places or things that may help in aiding the problem of sin, but we will not be fully delivered apart from the Power of God. Pastor Allen Jackson unpacks this idea with us to see the very root of our sinful nature is carnal, but we have the tools and a Heavenly Father who will guide us to living clean lives. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

We are living in a world that is filled with expressions of sin. Even within our own nature, we are wired as rebels and creatures of sin - but there is hope for our salvation. With the redemption and passion that Jesus played out for us cross, along with our own personal cooperation with our Heavenly Father – we can live clean lives. Pastor Allen Jackson shares this idea and invites us to a place of humility to repents and begin living clean lives. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

This week, Pastor Allen has the opportunity to sit down for a conversation with Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin. Gen. Boykin's book, Man to Man: Rediscovering Masculinity in a Challenging World, is available wherever books are sold. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

We're going to have to change the way we think about the spiritual forces at work around us, Pastor Allen Jackson says. We've acted as if ignoring them would remove us from their influence. But that is a naïve and unhelpful response, because Satan rules a kingdom that flourishes in the midst of deception, lies, and partial truths. Jesus won the battle on the cross, and the victory is ours; but Satan has not been banished from this realm yet, so we're still on assignment to be salt and light in the midst of the conflict with the unseen forces of evil. Ours should not be a passive response of hiding in our homes and church buildings; we are called to actively and intentionally engage and resist the evil in our world. When we stand firm in our faith and make a difference for God's Kingdom, we are declaring the victory that is ours through the redemptive work of Jesus. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

The two primary characteristics of the people of God are that they listen and obey. It's not enough just to listen, or even to recognize that God has said something; we must obey. We are in desperate need of listening to God and perceiving what He is doing, Pastor Allen Jackson says, and that is more about the attributes of our hearts than it is about our physical ability to hear. It is possible, he says, to be the people of God, and engaged in all kinds of religious activity, yet still be oblivious to what God is saying and doing. How does a person become a spiritual listener? First, we must put off the old self. Next, we must be made new in the attitudes of our heart and mind. Finally, we have to intentionally put on a new self. When we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us, our hearts will remain tender toward the Lord and we will recognize what He is doing and will be able to participate in His purposes in the earth. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Unlike Peter the unschooled fisherman, Paul was well educated, sophisticated, and an emerging leader among his people. These sound like compliments, Pastor Allen Jackson says, but until Paul met Jesus, the force of his intellect and personality was used to persecute anyone who would call on the name of Jesus or even suggest that He could be the Messiah. Like Paul, our greatest strengths have the potential to be our greatest weaknesses if we are not yielded to the lordship of Jesus. But when we do come before Him in humility, and repent and lay our lives at the foot of the cross, we are released from our bondage to sin and transformed into people who are fit for joyful service in God's Kingdom. Finally, Pastor Jackson describes the signs that we are experiencing a spiritual struggle for the heart and soul of our nation that is far more serious than a virus. This enemy will not be overcome by the scientists or politicians, he says, but only by the redemptive work of Jesus of Nazareth. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

As we follow Paul during his travels and ministry in the book of Acts, he faced beating, stoning, and assassination plots even as people were believing the Jesus-message by the thousands and the Church was growing in extraordinary ways. What did Paul say that caused the people to be so angry that they were willing to see him publicly executed? His message was simple and unambiguous: Every human being is a prisoner of sin. But if you will believe in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah and serve Him as Lord, you are a child of God and an heir to all that He has promised. Pastor Allen Jackson leads us through the bullet points of Paul's consistent message and reminds us of the privileges we receive and the responsibilities we bear when we choose to follow Jesus. "I believe with all my heart that we are in a struggle for the heart and soul of our nation," he says. "And the Church has an essential role to play, more essential than it has ever been in my lifetime." To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

As the book of Luke closes and the book of Acts begins, remarkable, miraculous things were happening in Jerusalem. Even as the gospel was being proclaimed and the Church was growing by thousands of people, Jesus' followers were faced with internal struggles and persecution from within their own Jewish community. Pastor Allen Jackson tells us that Luke recorded all of these events—the triumphs as well as the challenges—so that we will be prepared to face similar things in our lives. He says that moving forward we should be prepared for change in order to meet new opportunities, be ready to participate in a great move of the Holy Spirit, be ready to stand for the truth without hesitation, and be eager to tell the Jesus-story at every opportunity. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

The holidays of Passover and Pentecost are at the center of this lesson. As the book of Luke ends, the frailty of humanity is on display. Jesus' disciples are bickering over petty things during their last meal with their Lord, even as He is blessing them for their steadfastness and describing the new covenant that His death and resurrection will usher in. As the book of Acts opens, Jesus tells His disciples that they will receive power as they are filled with the Holy Spirit and then goes back to heaven. We witness a new kind of harvest beginning as the Spirit of God is poured out not only on the Jewish people but their Gentile neighbors as well. Pastor Allen Jackson tells us that the harvest time that began in Acts is continuing today. He then urges us to cooperate with the Holy Spirit more than we ever have and focus on speaking God's truth in the public square and advocating for Jesus at every opportunity.

Luke's training as a physician allowed him to observe and report with a different perspective than any other biblical writer. His account of the angel telling Mary, "Nothing is impossible with God," is the theme of his writing and the reason he oriented his life around understanding God and having a relationship with Jesus. Pastor Allen Jackson challenges us to explore our own beliefs about the relationship of science and faith. "I believe that faith and belief are every bit as precise as science because the God in whom I believe is the one who brought order to my physical person and the world in which I live. When faith and science seem to collide, it means we are at the edge of what we understand, and we're about to learn again." To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Luke writes to help us understand Jesus and His Father—their characteristics, their words, and their priorities. Luke wants us to know what causes their presence in our lives to increase and decrease. This is vital information for a Jesus-follower so that we can live in a way that is pleasing to Him and accomplish the purposes for which we have been created. Luke teaches us that God is kind and merciful, He bestows His power upon us so that we can complete His assignments, and He wants us to live today with our eyes focused on eternity. Pastor Allen Jackson closes with a reminder that we should learn to listen with not only our ears, but our hearts, because that is where we will hear the things of God. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

As Peter writes his second letter, he is an old man with the shadow of death hanging over him. He has spent decades serving the Lord, traveling and telling his Jesus-story. Peter has been an eyewitness to the life and ministry of Jesus, and he wants to share what he has learned about his Lord and life in His Kingdom. He begins by coaching us on the skills we will need in order to live in such a way that honors Jesus. Then he warns us about the marks of the false church and gives us a window into what will happen before Jesus returns. Finally, he cautions us to be on guard against error and encourages us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Ezra is a priest, and what commends him to us is his devotion to the things of God. It was more than a casual thing; it defined his life. Because of that the hand of God was on him, and Ezra was allowed to lead the exiled Hebrews back to Jerusalem. Even though they faced opposition from the neighboring peoples, they understood that God had done something on their behalf and were determined to honor Him. "Let's take Ezra's lead and devote ourselves to the Lord in a new way," Pastor Allen Jackson says. "Let's give God a greater place in our lives. Let's honor God in the season ahead in ways we've never honored Him before." To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

God has given us a free will; it's a fundamental tenet of Scripture. He won't force us to worship Him, or serve Him, or be generous toward Him—we get to choose those things. But make no mistake: "God will be honored in the earth," Pastor Allen Jackson says. "You need to remember that when there are belligerent expressions of antagonism, when there are those who oppose the purposes of God, when they deny His existence and try to thwart those who would be advocates for Him." While hearing about some of the ways God led His people in the book of Exodus, we see that He is a God who wants to deliver us, a God who wants to have our trust, and a God who wants to have a relationship with us. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

"I want to ask you to live with a heightened awareness that a sovereign God has something to say to you and me," Pastor Allen Jackson says. "That He isn't removed. That He has an opinion, that He cares, that He is interested. That if we will accept it, He will be directional. That the almighty, the omnipotent, omniscient Creator of heaven and earth has something to say to you and me." Teaching from the story of Gideon, Pastor Jackson says that like Gideon, we may feel that we are insignificant people from insignificant families. But God in His sovereignty has a plan and a purpose for each of our lives. When we recognize that the condition of our heart is what matters most and submit to His loving discipline, we will grow in Him and learn to trust Him with the future. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

This is not the first crisis that God's people have walked through. For the people who believed in Jesus, the Easter narrative is a full-on crisis...until they get to resurrection morning. That evening launched a unique season in Jesus' life and in the lives of His followers. We know very little about that forty-day window except that Jesus met with His closest followers and taught them about the Kingdom of God. Then Pentecost came, and they were Spirit-filled with a new boldness to speak the truth about their Lord. Easter, and the lesson of this season's shaking, is far more about the person of Jesus than about a virus. Pastor Allen Jackson says, "We are walking through a crisis, but God is delivering us. His Spirit will be poured out in the season that we have seen beginning. The question is about your response and mine. What will we do? Will we cooperate with Him?" To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

In this season of disruption, we're all wondering, "Is God paying attention? Does He know what we're going through? Does He care?" If there is any day in the history of the Church that provides those answers, it's Palm Sunday, when Jesus came into Jerusalem fully aware of what was ahead of Him. He would be betrayed and abandoned by those who claimed to support Him. He would be tortured and killed by those who opposed Him. Yet He set His face to enter the city of Jerusalem, and He did it for you and me. Palm Sunday is like a dress rehearsal for Jesus' return to the earth, when His friends will rejoice and His enemies will gnash their teeth. Pastor Allen Jackson reminds us that this is an important season to take stock and be sure that our hearts are aligned with the heart and purposes of God. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

"I think we are socially distancing these days because we have so effectively spiritually distanced," Pastor Allen Jackson says. "We've stepped so far away from the Lord that we had to have a rather substantive reminder that He is our Provider and Protector, the one who watches over us." After assuring us that this virus will not hold us captive forever because God will provide the solutions we need, Pastor Jackson implores us to use this time in an intentional and purposeful way in order to come through prepared for a totally new response to the Lord and His invitations.

As World Outreach Church and other congregations in the United States are not meeting together physically because of the coronavirus pandemic, Pastor Allen Jackson reminds us that some things have not changed: We serve the same God. Jesus is sitting on the same throne. The Word of God is still the authority in our lives. The Spirit of God is still resident within us. And we will come through! In an encouraging and challenging message, Pastor Jackson shows from the life of Daniel how God blesses abundantly in circumstances that are not ideal and reminds us of the necessity of staying in God's Word and praying diligently for our leaders. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Join Pastor Allen for a special episode this week. In the midst of the Coronavirus crisis in our nation and throughout the earth, the people of God need to rally together in prayer. Throughout history, individuals have turned their faces towards God to repent and have experienced supernatural outcomes. We are inviting you to pray every hour, on the hour, for every hour that you are awake. Pray that the virus would be turned back, that its effectiveness would be diminished, that the sick would get well, and that the president and our leadership would be granted wisdom, direction, and guidance in this difficult time. Find daily updates from Pastor Allen at allenjackson.com. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

On this National Day of Prayer called by President Trump because of the coronavirus epidemic, Pastor Allen Jackson speaks about our hope in Christ as well as our responsibility to pray for our nation. He then interviews Robert J. Morgan, pastor and author of 100 Bible Verses That Made America, to discuss specific Bible passages that have impacted critical moments and influenced the American way of life. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

In the last of the Beatitudes, Jesus says that while we can expect to be persecuted, insulted, and lied about, we also can expect a great reward in heaven when we stand firm in the face of adversity for His name's sake. When we receive Christ as Savior and are birthed into His Kingdom, Satan becomes our lifelong adversary, and none of us is strong enough to face him with our own strength and intellect. We will inevitably be defeated, Pastor Allen Jackson teaches, unless we recognize the victory that is ours in Jesus and His power that has been displayed on our behalf. And there will be times when our beliefs in our Lord will put us in conflict with the kingdom of this world. At that point we have a decision to make: will we capitulate to maintain our acceptance in the present kingdom, or will we hold to our advocacy for Jesus because we believe there is a greater reward in His Kingdom? To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Jesus lays out the fundamentals of the kingdom of God with the values in the beatitudes. If we intend to participate in the Kingdom of God, we would do well to take these values seriously and apply them to our own lives. God has good things for us, and wants the best for us. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Our culture tends to attach more value to being an agitator, but Jesus said there is a blessing attached to being a peacemaker. The peace Jesus speaks about is not merely an absence of strife or keeping silent in the face of an accusation; it is actively engaging to bring goodwill. Jesus came to establish a covenant of peace—peace with God and peace with one another—and if we are going to find peace and unity and cooperation as a people, it will be around a biblical world view, not a political ideology. The Church of Jesus Christ is the greatest force for peace that has ever been unleashed in the world, says Pastor Allen Jackson, not because we are passive, but because we are advocates and ambassadors for a Kingdom whose principles transcend the temporary principles of this world. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

This week, Pastor Allen has the opportunity to sit down with Lt. Col. Oliver North. Col. North is a retired combat marine, a Vietnam War veteran, and the former host of War Stories With Oliver North on Fox News. He is an author and a speaker, and an advocate for the kingdom of God. His newest book, The Rifleman, is now available at amazon.com and Riflemanbook.com. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

This week on Allen Jackson Ministries, Pastor Allen shares an overview of the Beatitudes during his series "Unbelievable Blessings". Listen to the previous sermons in this serious in episodes 39 through 43. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

We have a special episode for you this week! Pastor Allen has just completed his new book entitled "Intentional Faith". It is currently available for pre-order as a paperback or an audiobook on Amazon, but we'd like to share the first two chapters with you here on the podcast. We hope you enjoy! To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

We can learn to construct façades so that we have different faces we show to family, friends, and other people we encounter. But fundamentally, we are what is in our hearts. Unfortunately, our culture does not attach a high value to a pure heart because we see other attributes as more valuable. Pureness of heart is a very valuable quality, however, because it allows us to see and cooperate with God in ways that we would not be able to otherwise. Pastor Allen Jackson points out that Jesus addressed the legalism of His day because it had directed people toward their external behaviors and away from their heart condition. Then and now, Jesus calls us to examine our hearts and seek a life of purity that will honor the Lord and open the door for His blessings. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

We think showing mercy is a good thing, and something other people should do—we just don't want to do it ourselves. Our culture doesn't attach much value to showing mercy, and it doesn't take much discernment to see that. In the way we parent, do business, and speak of others, we make it seem that taking advantage of another's weakness is a wise decision that will benefit us. But Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful," and Pastor Allen Jackson reminds us that there is a spiritual Kingdom with benefits and blessings that will be reaped far beyond our days in the earth. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Pastor Allen continues his series on the unbelievable blessings we can receive from God when we seek His truth. When we are diligent to seek the Lord and His truth, blessings will overtake our life, in a very real way. This episode explores what it means to thirst and hunger for righteous, and the blessings that accompanies. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Most of us avoid sorrow and only engage in mourning when it is forced upon us. But mourning as Jesus described it in the Beatitudes is not a temporary grief but the sorrow that emerges in our lives when we realize our alienation from God—and there is a blessing attached to it. When we realize our brokenness and our helplessness apart from Christ, we are eager to fall on our knees before Him and seek His forgiveness, His healing, and His blessings. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

We've all prayed for blessing, but what does it mean to be blessed? We may have used the word so casually in our culture that we have lost its biblical meaning, which is of something conferred or bestowed upon you by God that has consequences in time and often for eternity. Pastor Allen Jackson tells us what the Bible says about the extravagant blessings of God, and how they are distinct from the promises of God. "God has directed blessings toward us that are so remarkable, so unexpected, and so far-reaching that if His Word didn't guarantee them, the logical response would be to dismiss them as unbelievable," he says. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

The word "Church" is used to describe those who choose to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah and will acknowledge Him as Lord of their lives, and serve Him as King. The Church was Jesus' idea, and He is at the heart of it today. We gather together for worship and do life together, maturing as followers of Jesus and learning to cooperate with the Spirit of God more fully. It is not hard to find weaknesses in a church, Pastor Allen Jackson says, because churches are made up of people, and people are imperfect. But we are a people in transition; we are being transformed from the inside out to be more like Jesus.

The God we worship does amazing things in the earth. Remarkably, He has chosen to involve us in that. He doesn't do the amazing apart from us, but in us, through us, and around us. God doesn't just make the impossible possible, Pastor Allen Jackson teaches. He gives us the Holy Spirit so that we can live in a way that the probability and expectation of our future is that the impossible is part of it. When we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, it changes the dynamic of our lives. It's no longer just the busyness that we have to keep up with, or the challenges we face, or the routine of our days. It puts every day in the category of the sacred.

God is watching over His people in the earth and opening doors for the proclamation of the gospel as never before. But we also are seeing greater antagonism toward Jesus than we have ever seen and in many ways feel as if the world is shaking around us. Pastor Allen Jackson reminds us that in our own strength we are frail and limited, but in God's strength we are more than conquerors over whatever obstacles and opposition we face. In order to thrive during this season and complete the course for which we were created, we need to know how to worship Almighty God, have His Word established in our hearts, and be aware of the challenges and opportunities we will face during these days. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Teaching from Matthew 2, Pastor Allen Jackson shows how the "wise men from the east" responded to a prompting from the Spirit of God that would disrupt their lives and send them on a two-year journey that was costly in both time and treasure. In spite of all they would step away from and all they would leave undone, they disregarded popular opinion and followed the star toward Bethlehem. Wise people still pursue God. What are you in pursuit of? Are you willing to say yes to the invitations of the Holy Spirit, in spite of the disruption it may cause the plans you have for your life? To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Mary is not in the Christmas story because she was smarter, or stronger, or kept the rules better than some other girl. She is in the Christmas story because the Spirit of God was able to do something remarkable through her life. God intruded on the hopes and dreams Mary had for herself and completely changed the life journey she would take as the mother of God's Son. Pastor Allen Jackson shows how Mary was yielded to the purposes of God across the years—from the angel's visit, to the manger, to the foot of the cross, and beyond—then reminds us of the outcomes when our own lives are lived in the Spirit. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate