WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.840 Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim 2 00:00:05.840 --> 00:00:09.140 truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. 3 00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:12.420 And God might be speaking to some of you today saying, listen, you need to start 4 00:00:12.420 --> 00:00:15.920 hoping in God and stop putting your hope in people. You need to understand that 5 00:00:15.920 --> 00:00:18.920 the people that you're hoping in, they're hoping in something else as well. 6 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:20.560 Hoping Him! 7 00:00:23.560 --> 00:00:29.760 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 8 00:00:30.080 --> 00:00:35.280 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in 9 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:41.200 Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying, 10 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:47.680 amen or yes. Then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now, open your hearts to what God's 11 00:00:47.680 --> 00:00:55.040 word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. Look at Ezekiel, chapter 44. He says here, but the 12 00:00:55.040 --> 00:01:02.720 Levitical priesthood, the sons of Zodak, who kept the charge of my sanctuary. When the people of 13 00:01:02.720 --> 00:01:08.960 Israel, those are the Jews, when a stray from me, shall come near to me, to minister to me. 14 00:01:09.600 --> 00:01:17.120 And they shall stand before me. To offer me the fat and the blood declares the Lord God. 15 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:24.640 They shall enter my sanctuary. They shall approach my table to minister to me. And they shall keep 16 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:34.080 my charge. Verse 17, when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. 17 00:01:34.080 --> 00:01:42.800 Hang on with me. This is cool. They shall have nothing of wool on them. While they minister at the 18 00:01:42.800 --> 00:01:49.040 gates of the inner court and within, they shall have linen turbines on their heads and linen 19 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:56.800 undergarments or linen underwear around their waist. They shall not bind themselves with anything that 20 00:01:56.800 --> 00:02:03.680 causes, what's that word? Sweat. Did you know that was in the Bible? God says those who represent me 21 00:02:04.800 --> 00:02:16.480 are not allowed to sweat. And to be safe, don't wear wool. And the priests literally put cotton 22 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:22.480 in their armpits and in their crotchy areas so that they wouldn't sweat because they wouldn't 23 00:02:22.480 --> 00:02:27.360 want to violate the word of God. And any moment, according to the scriptures, that when God's 24 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:32.880 ministers begin to sweat at ministering for God, we've gotten into the flesh. We're doing the wrong 25 00:02:32.880 --> 00:02:39.200 thing. And how many times, as believers, we think it's such a big burden to serve God. Oh my goodness, 26 00:02:39.200 --> 00:02:44.800 do you want to be a Christian like me? It's really awesome to serve God. It's such a 27 00:02:44.880 --> 00:02:50.480 burden of the Lord, the burden of the Lord. God says, can you not talk like that? Makes me look 28 00:02:50.480 --> 00:02:57.680 like a bad leader or some sort of a tyrant. We're going to be learning a lot about today regarding 29 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:04.400 the joy that God would have for us in this walk as believers. And so when God says in His word, 30 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:10.240 don't sweat. Just take that to this modern age. It's still true as believers, if we are 31 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:15.520 sweating out our Christianity, we're doing it wrong. We need to be more dependent upon the Holy 32 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:22.560 Spirit in living out Christianity in our lives. The number one thing you and I need is for us to be 33 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:27.920 yielded to the moving of the Holy Spirit. And you'll always move in your life based on the word of 34 00:03:27.920 --> 00:03:33.520 God, the Bible. God's Spirit will never violate the scriptures. He's a gentleman. He's holy. 35 00:03:34.480 --> 00:03:37.040 And he's the one that dwells within you if you're a believer today. 36 00:03:37.760 --> 00:03:44.640 Now, listen, Matthew chapter 28, we jump all the way to the New Testament. Jesus is speaking. 37 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:51.200 And he's speaking to all of us. And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been 38 00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:58.080 given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in 39 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:03.200 the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things 40 00:04:03.200 --> 00:04:10.720 that I have commanded you. This is the word of the Lord. All of this is God speaking in 41 00:04:10.720 --> 00:04:15.200 conjunction with you and I being his representative from Genesis to Revelation. 42 00:04:16.880 --> 00:04:21.760 The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 2, and this is where you're going to identify immediately. 43 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:30.000 Chapter 2 verses 5 and verses 9, you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house. 44 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:36.080 Here it comes a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through 45 00:04:36.080 --> 00:04:43.120 Jesus Christ. Verse 9, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 46 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:49.760 his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness 47 00:04:49.760 --> 00:04:57.280 into his marvelous lights. Folks, listen, you just heard earlier, God's call to the Jewish people 48 00:04:57.280 --> 00:05:03.440 to be a priesthood and you're reading Peter, writing to the church to be a holy priesthood 49 00:05:03.440 --> 00:05:08.240 that God has called us out of the world to represent him. And here's the beautiful thing. 50 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:13.120 The Bible tells us in another place that there is neither June or Gentile, right? There's 51 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:20.880 neither bond or free, male, female, but all are one in Christ. And so that absolute common 52 00:05:20.960 --> 00:05:27.680 denominator is that Jesus Christ is our Messiah. Look, the Gentile, I'm a Gentile. I've been 53 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:33.280 grafted into the commonwealth of Israel, the Bible says. Now, you can be a Jew and not know Jesus 54 00:05:33.280 --> 00:05:39.600 as Messiah and be completely out of bounds regarding his salvation. You must come to him knowing that 55 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:45.840 he's Yeshua, Hamashia, that Jesus is Messiah. He's the one that the Old Testament has written all 56 00:05:46.080 --> 00:05:53.040 out. And so the Jew has been the custodian of the Bible to give it to the world. But we all must 57 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:58.160 all come the same way. We must all. What did Jesus say in John 3? We must all be born again. 58 00:05:59.280 --> 00:06:06.720 But listen, those of us who are God's children, Jew or Gentile, we are a holy nation of royal priesthood 59 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:12.080 the Scripture says. Isn't that amazing to think? How does that all work out? Well church, listen, 60 00:06:12.080 --> 00:06:17.840 we dive in now to the third argument and it is this together. It is number three versus 12 to 61 00:06:17.840 --> 00:06:23.520 13. I'll review the first part in a moment versus 12 to 13 is this. Walking and talking all the way 62 00:06:23.520 --> 00:06:32.400 to heaven means this that we go where we are now or from this starting point we go. Why? How? 63 00:06:32.400 --> 00:06:37.120 Because we learned this last time. We learned first of all that in verse nine that who we are now 64 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:44.160 in Christ is that we're brand new creations. We've been made new and he's changed the way that we 65 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:50.480 think. He's changed our goals. He has changed our desires. And on top of that he's put his spirit 66 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:55.920 in us and the Bible says in the book of Ephesians he has sealed us under the day of redemption. I 67 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:01.440 love that. I'm old enough. I feel sorry for young people today. They don't have the fun stuff 68 00:07:01.440 --> 00:07:10.240 that us oldies got to enjoy. I remember putting stuff on layaway. Anybody remember that? I 69 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:15.440 love layaway. That was awesome. What a country. You could go into a store and you can't afford that 70 00:07:15.440 --> 00:07:20.720 thing. But you said I want that. And they would say, listen, you got to put a nickel on this or you 71 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:25.600 put your name on it. They take it off the shelf. You got the satisfaction. You can see them take that 72 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:30.880 Tonka truck off the shelf. And they carried in the back room. And they put on a shelf and then 73 00:07:30.880 --> 00:07:35.600 they tore the thing off with a number and they walked over and they gave it to your mom, my mom. 74 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:39.760 And then my mom gave it to me and she said, no, lose this. And I would look at that thing every day 75 00:07:39.760 --> 00:07:46.080 because listen, you put it on layaway until it was time to pick it up. And it's the exact same 76 00:07:46.080 --> 00:07:50.720 word in the book of Ephesians that you and I who are believers, God has sealed us with the Holy 77 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:56.000 Spirit unto the day of redemption. It's even called a redemption store. Do you remember those 78 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:03.200 stores? Blue, blue, uh, wait, blue chip and then green stamps. Remember those things? 79 00:08:04.640 --> 00:08:10.480 Remember those things? You'd look the pages and the book and the stamps. It's like so awesome. 80 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:18.080 You wait for the day of redemption. Listen, you might find this rather interesting. Before you go 81 00:08:18.080 --> 00:08:23.920 to the ends of the earth, you read a moment ago that Jesus said, go to Jerusalem first. And can I 82 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:28.560 argue with you this morning that this is your Jerusalem right here first? I mean, isn't it our 83 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:34.400 local city where we live? Of course it is. But it all starts right here. What does that look like? 84 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:39.760 If you and I are people that are walking and talking with God all the way to heaven, what does 85 00:08:39.760 --> 00:08:44.480 that look like now? And so mark this down if you would in verse 12, we learn this that you and I 86 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:50.640 go through this life right now with joy. It is a commandment. I love this with joy. Can you write 87 00:08:50.640 --> 00:08:55.200 that down? It's actually a marching order given in scripture. You and I are to have joy. 88 00:08:56.640 --> 00:09:04.400 Now, I'd love saying that because imagine, or maybe you don't have to imagine, you know, I remember 89 00:09:04.400 --> 00:09:11.040 at least when we went camping with our daughters to Zion National Park in Utah. So beautiful. 90 00:09:11.040 --> 00:09:15.840 And we had a great week and we're getting in the car and we're coming back home and 91 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:20.480 they're all their hair. You know, we're camping, but Lisa took the time. Their hair was done up 92 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:24.960 all cute and they're in the back of the car. And those days, seriously, there's just the back of 93 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:29.920 the car and there's no seat belts, there's pillows and your land back, they're all stripped out. 94 00:09:29.920 --> 00:09:35.600 They're all having a great time. And then they start, don't cross, don't cross this part. This is my 95 00:09:35.680 --> 00:09:41.600 part. Don't put your foot down, her foot's on my side. And I'm driving, stop it. And it's like this, 96 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:46.960 knock it off. And then if I have to pull over, you know the stuff that you all said, but I'm confessing 97 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:53.040 up here for you, you know all that kind of stuff. And then after a while, it's at work, pull it over. 98 00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:03.760 Because this is not going well. And what happens? We're all joyous and it was great time. And 99 00:10:03.760 --> 00:10:09.760 then you get in to the drive back home and these attitudes start popping up in it affects your 100 00:10:09.760 --> 00:10:17.600 happiness. I'm not happy right now. We are pulling over to make sure that the two of you in the back 101 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:26.320 are as unhappy as I am. And so what is that based on? What's happening? Happen stance. We always say, 102 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:31.840 hey, what's happening then? Like that's really something legit to ask somebody. Because the answer 103 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:37.120 is, well, you really want to know what's happening. It's all based on happenstance. This is what's 104 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:43.840 happening now. This is what happened yesterday. I was happy yesterday, but now I'm not. And the 105 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:51.200 Bible tells us that we need joy, not happiness. Think about this for a moment. I always stress this 106 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:57.360 in a wedding service is God wants you to operate and joy. Because on one day you'll be happy, 107 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:02.000 the next day you won't be happy and didn't God create her to make me happy? No. 108 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:09.920 As a believer, we're to walk in joy and it's not a feeling, it's a decision. And it's not only a 109 00:11:09.920 --> 00:11:15.120 decision. It's one of the very manifestations of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 110 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:21.600 Joy. And so we're to have a life of joy. What do we get that from? Look at verse 12, rejoicing in hope. 111 00:11:21.760 --> 00:11:29.840 So there's three key elements that are here. Rejoicing, patient, continuing. Actually, the word in 112 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:35.840 the Greek, continuing steadfast is one Greek word. So it's rejoicing, it's patient and steadfast. 113 00:11:36.640 --> 00:11:42.960 Number one, rejoicing in hope. This is amazing. Notice the meaning of this word, to be glad, 114 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:49.680 to be glad. It can be translated to be greeted. I actually love that, to be greeted, 115 00:11:50.400 --> 00:11:58.640 to be animated. So to be glad because of joy, to be greeted by joy, to be animated by joy. What 116 00:11:58.640 --> 00:12:08.160 about activated by joy? To be moved under the influence of joy. Rejoicing in one author wrote in 117 00:12:08.160 --> 00:12:15.680 the word meaning, joy. That's the way we're to live our lives. Why? Because listen up, as believers, 118 00:12:15.760 --> 00:12:20.640 this world is going to go up and down. This world is going to have hardship, pain, death, and sorrow. 119 00:12:20.640 --> 00:12:26.320 In the midst of all of it, the Christian has joy even when we're weeping. Did you know that? 120 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:32.480 Even when the baby dies, or even when we bury our loved one, or even when we lose that job, or 121 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:37.680 this thing happens, and the world would implode, and you're standing there, and you're taking it, 122 00:12:37.680 --> 00:12:44.160 not because you're strong. No sweat. It's because your God is strong, and He's saying, 123 00:12:44.160 --> 00:12:49.440 here's what you do. You give it to me. You give it to me. And we can joy in the hardest 124 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:59.360 situations when we have Him as that focal point. Him as the target for our souls. I read something 125 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:07.520 this week. It was a study on psychology and the issue regarding suicide and depression. 126 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:15.200 And if I wasn't a Christian, I would have gotten depressed reading it. And did you know this? 127 00:13:16.800 --> 00:13:24.960 That the moment somebody loses hope, we're to be rejoicing in hope. The moment somebody loses hope 128 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:29.680 they die. That's what the statement said. I found that kind of shocking. The moment somebody loses 129 00:13:29.680 --> 00:13:37.440 hope they die. And so if you think about cancer, you realize how merciful cancer is? 130 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:44.720 You know, if somebody tells you tomorrow you have cancer. As a believer, you have time to get your 131 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:49.280 house in order. As a non-believer, you better start thinking some forever thoughts. 132 00:13:51.520 --> 00:13:58.400 The doctor says you've got this blood disease, or you've got this sickness. There's a mercy in that. 133 00:14:00.640 --> 00:14:06.480 Rather than crossing the street and the guy driving the mat truck fails to stop at the stop sign. 134 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:14.480 And you're gone. In a moment, in due eternity, that's not merciful. Is it? Think about it. 135 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:19.440 You see, where are you going with this? This is where I'm going with it. The fact of the matter is 136 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:26.080 that you and I can rejoice in the fact that God's Word tells us that we can rejoice in hope, 137 00:14:26.800 --> 00:14:33.120 because the hope that God gives is an eternal hope. It's a forever hope and it cannot be molested. 138 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:38.960 It cannot be manipulated. It cannot be taken away from you. You're the only one. I'm the only one 139 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:44.960 who can fail to tap into what God has given us. I cannot have hope for you. I cannot have joy 140 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:51.200 for you. You've got to live that in him on your own. I wish I could. Or when I'm down or when I'm 141 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:56.720 drained, I wish you could kind of give me an IV, right? Infusion of hope. And joy doesn't work 142 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:03.840 that way. In all of life's difficulties, we can either choose to give up or we can look to God 143 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:14.560 and have hope. And joy and hope are inseparable. And I want you to know that joy, it might feel. You 144 00:15:14.560 --> 00:15:22.240 might feel as though joy is so far away and not able to be experienced. And it's the exact opposite. 145 00:15:23.040 --> 00:15:31.200 It's you today saying God's Word is his will and he wants me to rejoice in hope. Now what is hope? 146 00:15:32.560 --> 00:15:42.080 Hope is expectancy. Hope is what you have put into a promise. And I don't want to upset anybody. 147 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:49.200 I don't want to ran on anybody's parade. But I always take the promises of man with a grain of 148 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:56.240 salt. It's not because I have anything against anybody who makes me a promise, but they're human. 149 00:15:56.240 --> 00:16:03.200 They don't have the capability to keep promises. You may try all you want. You may fail. I can tell you, 150 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:09.120 I'll pick you up at 10 a.m. tomorrow and my car blows up on the way there. I had no power to 151 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:15.680 fulfill it. I had no power over the situation. But what's happened? Expectancy is now dashed. 152 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:18.960 Friends, when people lose hope, that's when they pull the trigger. 153 00:16:21.920 --> 00:16:25.920 When people lose hope, that's when they kick the chair out from underneath their feet. 154 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:31.920 Are you hearing me? According to all of the studies that the most dangerous thing in life is for you 155 00:16:31.920 --> 00:16:41.360 to lose hope. And your life will end. Suicide by cop. Drink yourself into oblivion. Put the 156 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:46.880 gun to your head. Why? Because you've lost all hope. You might be here today and you're saying, 157 00:16:46.880 --> 00:16:52.240 well, my life's been miserable. I can't take it anymore. And this is my last effort. I'm coming to 158 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:56.000 church today and I'm going to see if God's going to speak to you. God's speaking to you right now. 159 00:16:56.640 --> 00:17:02.320 If you were thinking this is the end, I can't take it anymore. God is saying, you come to the 160 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:10.720 right place. He's here to tell you, hoping God. He can be trusted friends. The Bible, by the way, 161 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:17.600 tells us in Romans 5, verse 5, this is a breath of fresh air. Now hope does not disappoint. God's hope 162 00:17:17.600 --> 00:17:27.920 does not disappoint. I'm so disappointed. Well, let's be honest, we all get disappointed when we 163 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:37.120 put too much on others to make us happy. The whole premise is wrong. The Psalmist writes in Psalm 43, 164 00:17:37.120 --> 00:17:44.240 this is beautiful, vindicate me, oh God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation or people. 165 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:51.600 Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. Wow. Are you being attacked unjustly? 166 00:17:52.560 --> 00:17:59.840 This is the Psalm you want to pray. For you are the God of my strength. Why do you cast me off? 167 00:17:59.840 --> 00:18:05.440 That's emotion speaking. God says, I'll never cast you off, but emotions will tell you, otherwise, 168 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:12.480 will they not? Why do I go morning because of the oppression of the enemy? Oh, send out your 169 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:19.120 light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your tabernacle. 170 00:18:19.120 --> 00:18:27.040 Then I will go to the altar of God to God, my exceeding, there it is, joy. And on the harp, 171 00:18:27.040 --> 00:18:34.640 I will praise you. Notice that joy, suffering, then eyes on God leads to heartfelt worship. 172 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:39.520 Verse 5, why is it so cute? Look, it's almost like he goes like this with his robe. 173 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:45.520 It's like he looks inside himself. It's like he looks inside his t-shirt. You pull out your t-shirt, 174 00:18:45.520 --> 00:18:50.080 you look inside, and you say something like this. Why are you cast down on my soul? 175 00:18:51.600 --> 00:18:58.080 Why are you disquieted within me, hoping God? For I shall yet praise him, the help of my countenance 176 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:05.840 and my God. He'll fix my face, you know, your face, your face, where is your feelings many times? 177 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:10.640 And God might be speaking to some of you today, saying, listen, you need to start hoping in God and 178 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:15.680 stop putting your hope in people. You need to understand that the people that you're hoping in, 179 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:23.200 they're hoping in something else as well, hoping him. Listen, when you hope in the Lord and you 180 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:28.480 do not put your hope in people, there is a sense of divine resiliency that you cannot buy, 181 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:35.040 you cannot read in a book, you cannot get anywhere but from him. Because the Holy Spirit that is 182 00:19:35.040 --> 00:19:40.960 inside you, the believer, the moment you say, Lord, I want this joy in my life and I want this hope. 183 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:50.240 You are asking him the exact request he wants you to ask. He wants this for your life, joy and hope. 184 00:19:55.280 --> 00:19:59.680 This Jack Kemp's podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are 185 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:04.160 listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? 186 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:10.560 Go to jackhibs.com to learn more and stay connected.