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I think any time you present yourself for help and you get an outcome that is acceptable, that brings restoration and renewal, you should be wise enough to say God was involved in that. If it's a trip to the doctor's office or a trip to the mechanic, if you get a favorable outcome, I hope you have the wisdom and experience to take a step back and say, God, thank you.
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We're so glad you're here to listen. Today's program is part one of Pastor Allen's message called Breakthrough When God Intervenes. Tune tomorrow to hear part two. I put a little paradigm at the top of your outline. We really began using that during COVID in the midst of some of the craziness that began to emerge in that season. Really as a means of avoiding deception,
so that we can fulfill God's purposes. And it's proved useful far beyond the COVID narrative. I think it's helpful. One of the most consistent warnings Jesus gave us about this time in history was about the prevalence, the increase of deception. And that little tool will help a great deal. If you'll cultivate the habit of watching and listening, not just being present, but actually watch and listen and then think
But then don't stop there. Then you have to be willing to act. You wanna watch and listen and think and act. We're gonna talk about that a bit more as we moved through the end of this year and begin a new year. I had the radio on this week in my car and I didn't catch the introduction of the person who was being interviewed, but he was some sort of a highly celebrated economist.
very well-educated, very well-respected, you could tell by the tone of the interview, it just happened to be foolish, in my opinion. But I grew up in a barn, so you can watch and listen and think for yourself. But the premise that he kept asserting repeatedly over and over and over again was that economically, he would say, he would have economically
There's really absolutely no difference whatsoever between legal and illegal immigration. Oh, don't heckle. But I suppose he made the assertion more than a dozen times, and he would implement economically. I start talking to my radio, which is really not a good practice. They're one way that Google can hear you, but your radio can't.
And I said, you know, if I use that theory, if I use your premise as far as purchasing power, there's no difference in the money I earned and if I robbed the bank. I mean, if we're just talking purchasing power, there's no difference. I mean, there's that little inconvenience of one's legal and one's illegal.
And if you want to set aside the law and you want to give complete license to lawlessness, then there's really no difference than earning something and stealing something. Well, if you're just kind of sort of not paying attention and you're not really listening and you're not watching and you're not thinking, you'll be deceived by knuckleheads.
people who have an agenda that they don't fully disclose, and we don't have a tremendous number of places where the truth is celebrated. So you have to be a bit more wary as a consumer. I want to encourage you to continue to watch and to listen to think and to act on the truth that you can see.
If you'll combine that with reading your Bible and learning to listen to the Spirit of God, I believe the Lord will lead us through no matter how confusing or deceiving the messaging around us. If you're not doing that, you will be deceived because the messaging is confusing. I don't think we have to be frightened. In fact, it's kind of exciting. God's preparing a people for, I believe, the greatest
in experiencing the kingdom of God that the world has ever seen. I believe we'll see more people come to faith in the season ahead than any time the world has ever known. Now some of that has to do with the population growth in all fairness, but it also has to do with an explosion of technology that makes it affordable for a little country church in Tennessee to turn on the lights and we can talk to people in anywhere on the planet, which is truly remarkable.
Now we will also see the greatest opposition to the gospel that the world has ever known. And that will grow in intensity. So you don't want to allow the fact that there's opposition to be the component that would cause you to stand for the truth or not. We'll be advocates for the truth where it seems to be celebrated and we'll be advocates for the truth where it is less so. We have chosen to be advocates for the truth.
Amen, so watch, listen, think, and act. You've got the tools now. We'll keep taking some looks through that window and see if somebody else shows up with something absurd. They are still releasing productions on a very regular basis from the theater of the absurd in case you have forgotten. I want to start a new series with you under the general theme of breakthroughs, those places in our lives where God intervenes.
And this really has come out of a portion of my own journey in these last few weeks and even months. I've got a good friend and we touch base from time to time in another state. And we had agreed for some breakthroughs, particularly in some initiatives that he was walking through. And it's led to several conversations about what breakthroughs would look like and how that would feel and how we would know.
And so as I've been thinking and praying and living with that, I want to just walk through some of that with you. And the Christmas season seemed like a perfect time to do that. And in my head, a breakthrough are those places where there's an intervention where God intervenes in our lives.
where there's an outcome that could really only adequately be understood by acknowledging that God was involved in what was happening. It's something beyond a very well organized something, or something that was really well thought through, or something that really expressed the creativity that God had given us. A breakthrough to me represents something far beyond that, where people look at that and go, you know, only God.
And I'm not saying we didn't plan, and it didn't require creativity, and it didn't require diligence, but God was involved. In Galatians 4 and verse 4, it says, when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under the law that we might receive the full rights of sons. When the time was just right, one of the translations says, God sent His Son, that we might become children of God. Folks, we didn't initiate that.
That was not the result of a planning committee that said, you know, we're early in deep weeds and we need some help. God initiated it that whoever would choose could be a part of his eternal kingdom. So for those Christians that are kind of on the spectrum where miracles are infrequent and maybe relegated to some point in the distant past, I would remind you there is no entrance into the kingdom of God without the supernatural involvement of God.
A new birth is more than a rational choice. It's an expression of the power of God where we're delivered from a kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the sun. And that was God initiated. So we've all experienced a breakthrough if you're a Christ follower.
When I say breakthroughs and we're going to talk about this a good bit, we're going to look at some different individuals and breakthroughs that they've had and what components we could learn from that. But when I think of a breakthrough, it represents many things. It could be a point of deliverance. It could be a time of great revelation, of insight, of understanding. It could be a time of redirection. It could be a place where God's purposes and plans are initiated in a completely new way.
Sometimes it's a completion of something that we're not capable of completing on our own and God brings it to a finality. It can be the purposes of God being advanced or revealed or welcomed or understood. Now, I think in most of the conversations I have with folks and we're talking and praying about breakthroughs that we're searching for,
The ideal breakthrough is when there's a problem or a challenge or some deficit that we will acknowledge and we invite God into that. And in the ideal circumstance, God responds with a complete solution in the completely intact, imagined future. Boom. That's the way we want it. Oh, don't look innocent.
I've listened to thousands of people present prayer requests, and the one we want is what we want, the way we want, when we want. Now we'll be acceptable. Yesterday was better. Tomorrow was questionable. That would be our breakthrough. And sometimes the Lord does that. But my observation is that life has seldom ideal. And while God is busy with breakthroughs, they come in many different packages.
In fact, I find that we are frequently delivered out of something, but we're not brought into something different immediately. Sometimes the Lord delivers us out of a place, but what's next is not as immediately apparent, and we have to continue to follow the Lord, which causes a significant groaning. Or sometimes we're delivered from something. But the adversary that we've perceived isn't just annihilated.
They're not totally removed from the arena. God's delivered us from that place, but our adversary still stands there intact, and we think, well, I thought God would melt them. Or sometimes it's physical, and we pray for healing. And God brings healing and restoration through the medical community. And we think, well, I don't want to have to go to the doctor. Dooley noted.
I don't want to stop at the filling station either. But it's better than pushing a car that's running out of gas. Sometimes we're healed through a combination of prayer and medicine. Sometimes God brings healing, but there's still doctors involved, or there's a diagnosis that we didn't want, and then the diagnosis is walked back. And somebody said, well, you know, I guess they missed, I don't think they missed anything. I think somewhere between the beginning and the end, God was involved. I don't think any time you present yourself
For help and you get an outcome that is acceptable, that brings restoration and renewal, you should be wise enough to say God was involved in that. If it's a trip to the doctor's office or a trip to the mechanic, if you get a favorable outcome, I hope you have the wisdom and experience to take a step back and say, God, thank you. Then you'll pay your bills with joy.
Thank you for listening to Alan Jackson Ministries. We'll be back to the message in just a moment. But first, Pastor Allen wants to tell you about his new devotional, set apart for his purposes.
2024 has almost slipped past us. Thank you for your partnership this year. It's been the most remarkable season we've ever known together. And I thank you for your faithful investment of time, energy, and prayers in our ministry. Change is taking place in the earth. We're seeing in our own nation, God responded to us with tremendous mercy and grace.
We have leaders that are headed to Washington, D.C. to enact changes to restore a set of values that are brought strength to our nation. It's a time of great optimism and hope and anticipation. And I believe that's true in the church as well. Folks, we can't stand on the sidelines and expect somebody else to be the change. We need the presence of God to emerge in our schools, on our college campuses, back in our churches.
And so I think it's a critical time that we bring the message of the truth of Jesus Christ. It's a hopeful message. It's a message of wholeness and healing and deliverance and freedom that we desperately need in our cities, in our communities, wherever God's people gather. Let's be a part of what God is doing in the earth, and we will celebrate His faithfulness to the people of our generation. Thank you for being a part.
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Donate today at alanjaxon.com or by calling 855-5772255. That's 855-5772255. Now, let's get back to Pastor Allen as he wraps up part one of his message called Breakthrough when God intervenes. Tune in tomorrow to hear part two. God's interventions in our lives. I want to look at two. They're a part of the
the Jesus story, the birth narrative in the Luke's gospel. Not so much the stable in Bethlehem, but they have a very significant message to be delivered for both the reader and the audience in the first century. Simeon and Anna, you know them, many of you know them rather well, I suspect. The challenge they faced wouldn't be the typical challenge. It wasn't the challenge of Elizabeth and Zechariah who were childless in the biological clock was not encouraging.
Simeon and Anna have a different kind of a challenge. God has made a promise to them. And they're aware of that. They're conscious of that. It's expressed to us in the text. But their clock is ticking. In fact, Luke says, of Anna, she was very old. And I've introduced lots of people in my life, but I don't know that I've ever introduced somebody saying they are very old.
I just like to make the book as being very old. I mean, that's kind of like hopelessly decrepit beyond the pale. But they've approached the time in their life and the promise of God has not been fulfilled. I don't even think that could be a battle. Ooh, I promise. Lord, we've honored you. And you've told us you would do something and
Our peer group is just about gone. I promise you, I assure you there was a battle in their minds. They needed a breakthrough. We'll start in Luke chapter two, says there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon. He was righteous and devout. That would be a good way to make the book. I'd just like to be recorded in heaven, not next to your name, righteous and devout.
Wow. Are you striving for that? It's highly improbable. It would ever be addressed towards you if you don't intend it. There's a righteousness. It's a gift. You receive that as a free gift, but then you choose to lead a righteous life. That choice really isn't about the gift you've received. We've had a lot of conversations and contemporary American Christian about the gift of righteousness. I believe in that. I'm the beneficiary of that.
But then it is incumbent upon us to choose to lead a righteous life. And instead of Simeon, he was both righteous and devout, focused, disciplined, purposeful. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. He'd been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he wouldn't die before he'd seen the Lord's Messiah.
Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was the custom of the law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God. Male children were required to be presented to the priest for circumcision. So it's highly probable Jesus was not the only child being presented that day. This is Jerusalem. This is the temple in Jerusalem.
This would be, if you visit Jerusalem today, the bar mitzvahs, the celebrations they have for young men, when they're moving into adulthood, people from the Jewish community all over the world will take their families to Jerusalem so they can have their bar mitzvah in Jerusalem. It doesn't take any imagination for me to imagine that there were children from around the country being brought to Jerusalem for this. But in the midst of all those children, Simeon,
We're told that the Holy Spirit was upon him, and it was revealed to him that he wouldn't die before he'd seen the Messiah. And on this day, out of all the children, he goes and takes Jesus in his arms. Verse 29, Sovereign Lord, as you promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you've prepared on the side of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.
The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, this child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul too. Simeon stepped onto the stage of Scripture there for a few lines. An old man, full of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit was upon him, we're told.
If you'll allow me just a few observations, these have something to do with opinion and something to do with just a reading and a text. I'd say it's a highly probable that Simeon and Anna knew one another. We're going to be introduced to both of them in consecutive verses here, consecutive passages, as Luke presents the narrative to us, two people in the temple waiting for the revelation to identify the Messiah.
In fact, it's that first statement that I would call your attention to that says that Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not a great waiter. If someone needs patience, I pray the Lord gives it to you. I mean, to be just completely honest, I think microwaves are terribly slow.
I mean, I'm old enough to remember when they were introduced, at least into the general public, and you could have one in your home. And, you know, whatever that was 100, 120 years ago, it was a pretty good breakthrough. And there's something we can do to improve on that. Does it really take what five minutes to make a potato still? Can't we get that down to like 90 seconds? I mean, for real, yield signs on the highway.
You know the true meaning of them, right? It means hurry, because if you can get to the intersection ahead of those other people, you go first. Don't practice everything I preach. And Simeon made the book, and almost the first thing we're told about him is he was waiting to see Israel consoled.
Israel's living under great stress. They're an occupied country. There's occupying armies. They're paying taxes to a pagan king. It's a daily point of humiliation, not just spiritually. There was physical humiliation for their wives and their children. And he's waiting to see Israel consoled. Look at Isaiah 40 and verse 31, those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength.
They'll mount up with wings like eagles and they'll run and not get tired and they'll walk and not become weary. Some of you have been asked to wait for your breakthrough. We're not told how long Simeon's been waiting. We're just told he's no longer young and he's waiting. He's not very old and is very old. But the promise of scripture is that if you will wait for the Lord, you'll gain new strength.
He won't just renew your strength. He'll give you new strength. You pack on new muscle. You'll gain new capacity. That there's a benefit spiritually sometimes in waiting. And again, this one's not easy for me. But that's not all we know about Simeon. It says the Holy Spirit was upon him. And then Luke gives us some additional insights. He said some things had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. That he wouldn't die until he'd seen the Messiah. That's a pretty significant revelation.
Simeon is familiar enough with the person, the voice, the direction, the interaction of the Spirit of God. The understand that has implications for the timeline of his life journey. That he trusts the Holy Spirit enough that he looks at a, we do baby dedications around here and we'll put 30 babies in their siblings up here at the front of the church. And Simeon's comfortable enough, he could look at that group of kids and go, that's the one. Cause he took that little baby in his arms and began to speak about him.
Wow. So I'm going to submit you and we're going to look at it from a variety of perspectives that an engagement, an understanding, an awareness of the person of the Holy Spirit and what it would mean to recognize his voice is an essential component of breakthrough.
We're ready to take God's word and our biblical worldview every place the Lord opens a door. Will you stand with us as He continues to grow this ministry? When you donate $50 or more today, you can request a copy of Pastor Allen's new 90-day devotional called, set apart for His purposes. Plus, your investment will be matched, doubling its impact.
Donate today at AlanJackson.com or by calling 855-5772255. That's 855-5772255. That's all for today on Alan Jackson Ministries. Thanks for listening. Tune in next time for another encouraging message. This program is sponsored by Alan Jackson Ministries.