It took courage and determination and a fearless response from those early

believers in Jesus to give us the privilege of being Christ followers today.

And if we don't engage that battle for ourselves and stand together and encourage one another,

we will strip the opportunity from the generations following us from our children and our grandchildren.

If you capitulate to the culture that says, why would you believe in God?

I can't believe you're so backward.

We will forfeit the heritage for our children and our grandchildren.

Hey guys, this is Alan Jackson Ministries. You can get the outlines for this episode at

Alan Jackson.com slash podcast. If these messages help build you up or encourage you

to be a more fully devoted Christ follower, leave us one of those five star ratings.

Hopefully that will help others find out about them as well.

Now it's on to Pastor Allen.

Be blessed.

We're doing a little series under the general theme of Don't Be Surprised, and today's session is about a mental battle.

And to be honest, we're going to do a little bit of history.

We're going to take that first 400 years of the church

is kind of the undergirding for this discussions

on not being surprised. The battles of the church faced in those early

centuries were significant. They threatened its survival and its existence. And I'm

going to take a minute with you because those same battles face us today and the responses

of our brothers and sisters in Christ as the church was beginning are important for us to understand

so we'll know how to respond today.

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