Allen Jackson Ministries

"Freedom is not getting to do whatever you want. Freedom is getting to do what God wants you to do," said Pastor Rob McCoy, lead pastor of Calvary Chapel and former mayor of Thousand Oaks, California. In this interview, Pastor Allen Jackson and Pastor McCoy discuss the vital role the Church is called to play in our nation. Liberty can only be found in God, so we must guide our country's conscience in order to preserve our freedom. We may be told that Christians have no place in politics, but the opposite is true. By being an advocate for Jesus Christ, we can win hearts for His Kingdom and defeat the darkness of our culture.

Our world tells us that love should always be easy and stress-free, but is it possible that God's love for us—true love—could lead to disruption and discomfort? In this sermon, Pastor Allen Jackson discusses love, the theme of Advent's fourth week. We have a variety of mistaken notions about love, but we can go to God's Word to understand the truth about this topic. Pastor Allen teaches from three stories—humanity's fall in the Garden of Eden, Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, and Jesus' death on the cross—to show how our Lord's best for us can often look like boundaries, disappointment, and hardship. But through our obedience and by His love, God will faithfully transform us into something better.

Our attitudes and outlooks can impact our lives significantly, so maintaining our God-given joy is essential. But how do we maintain joy? In this sermon covering the third week of Advent, Pastor Allen Jackson shares three steps we can take to keep our joy intact, and he teaches about the impacts joy has on perseverance, especially through suffering. Like hope that needs a foundation to rest on, joy requires upkeep, and we can practice that through familiarity with God's Word, listening to God's voice, and being in godly community. Holidays can be painful, but we can have lasting joy even through suffering, because our joy is made complete through our willingness to persevere in faith.

In the Christmas narrative, angels came to deliver "good news of great joy" to us. Good news of great joy doesn't mean everything is going to be easy, but it does mean our assignments will be meaningful and well-rewarded. In this sermon, Pastor Allen Jackson teaches about the theme for the third week of Advent: joy. We may be tempted to grumble when facing trials, but God calls us to endure with joy. It's counterintuitive to our human natures, but with the Holy Spirit's help, we can find true joy in the midst of hardship. God is moving in the earth, and we want to be a part of what He's doing in His Kingdom, so let's choose to cultivate joy—sustaining, eternal, and supernatural joy.

We will need the joy of the Lord and the strength that comes with it to complete our God-assignments. In this sermon, Pastor Allen Jackson discusses joy, the theme for the third week of Advent. Joy is a spiritual fuel that enables us to endure and overcome, and Pastor Allen shares examples from Nehemiah and Daniel, who flourished in hardship, to model how we, too, can rely on God to supply us with the strength we need. Our world seems to be darker day by day, but this Christmas season, let's overcome evil with the joy that comes from celebrating the birth of our Savior and King.