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 --> 00:00:10.280 truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. Hey how many times have you 3 00:00:10.280 --> 00:00:14.400 heard a verse quoted or said or maybe somebody just blurt one out there like 4 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:18.920 it's a bandaid onto something and it actually is not even the right verse 5 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:23.480 regarding the issue or it's something being used from the Word of God that 6 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:27.760 doesn't really apply. You need to know how to use the word because the words 7 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:31.560 is very specific. So grab your bibles, we're going to get into a quick time 8 00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:35.360 short time but I think it's going to be pretty cool as we look at how to use 9 00:00:35.360 --> 00:00:38.400 the word of God and apply it appropriately. 10 00:00:41.880 --> 00:00:47.960 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 11 00:00:48.440 --> 00:00:53.200 Today if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled 12 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:57.360 life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. 13 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:03.120 To us, that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to 14 00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:08.640 listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack 15 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:09.240 Hibbs. 16 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:14.600 We're everybody welcome to this edition of the Jack Hibbs podcast show. We're 17 00:01:14.600 --> 00:01:18.440 glad that you're with us. We are encouraging you as always. The best thing that 18 00:01:18.440 --> 00:01:23.000 you can do for us is to encourage us by letting other people know. Give us a 19 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:29.280 rating. Give us a thumbs up. Pass it along. Let others know that this was a 20 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:32.600 blessing to you. And we do want to hear from you. We're not asking for your 21 00:01:32.600 --> 00:01:35.680 money. We're asking you to say, Hey, I'd like to hear more about this or I'd 22 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:40.280 like to hear more about the other or, you know, what about this topic? What 23 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:44.360 happens to somebody when they, you know, they're a Christian and they get bit 24 00:01:44.360 --> 00:01:48.440 by a shark and die and their body goes out into the water and the rapture 25 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:55.080 happens and how does God ring all that out? Whatever we believe, I believe that 26 00:01:55.080 --> 00:02:00.000 the answers to everything in life are actually found in scripture. I've often 27 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.680 said before that life, I believe, is rigged to the scriptures because of God's 28 00:02:04.680 --> 00:02:08.560 eternal word is always the answer. Father, we pray that you bless our fun time 29 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:11.800 together right now. Lord, we pray that you would just give us your, your 30 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:15.560 insight in your understanding by the power of your Holy Spirit. And thank you, 31 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:23.400 Father God, that your word is anything but stale. It's anything but dry. Lord 32 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:28.440 help us to never make the word of God stale or dry. That would be us, as 33 00:02:28.440 --> 00:02:34.840 Tozer said, that would be the word of God dying in the hands of its friends. 34 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:40.600 Lord, may we not be guilty of having the word of God die in our hands, even 35 00:02:40.600 --> 00:02:45.240 though we are friends to the word, may we not do it any injustice. Bless our 36 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:51.840 time together. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. So you guys, we're just at a time 37 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:58.760 right now where it's pretty cool where by the time you see this podcast, the 38 00:02:58.760 --> 00:03:07.320 staff, the campus, the church where I'm pasturing everything that's around us 39 00:03:07.320 --> 00:03:11.800 is getting into the the Holy day. I want to say Holy day mode because 40 00:03:11.800 --> 00:03:15.840 Holy, this is another topic for some other time, but I don't want you to miss 41 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:21.640 this. There's a lot of holidays. Okay. And then there's a Holy day in 42 00:03:21.640 --> 00:03:27.200 America in the United States. We have one Holy day in America that's truly 43 00:03:27.200 --> 00:03:35.200 American. And that is Thanksgiving day is a truly holy day on the American 44 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:41.240 calendar. It's the one and only it's it's solely reserved for us as Americans to 45 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:45.600 give thanks for the founding of our nation. And we recognize the fact that the 46 00:03:45.600 --> 00:03:50.120 Pilgrim fathers celebrated that they survived their first year, their first 47 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:58.400 winter. And they did that with the Indians, the natives. And it was about a 48 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:04.480 seven day long Thanksgiving day Thanksgiving week period. And it's a holy day. 49 00:04:04.640 --> 00:04:08.240 America's only holy day, technically. So listen, here's where we're going to 50 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:14.040 have some fun today. And I want to address some scriptures that are often 51 00:04:14.040 --> 00:04:19.360 misunderstood. And we're going to start with this one. This is a biggie. 52 00:04:20.280 --> 00:04:25.600 Matthew chapter 18. So number one, the book of Matthew is written by Matthew 53 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:32.200 Levi, Matthew levy is how the Hebrews would say it. And much of the gospel 54 00:04:32.200 --> 00:04:38.800 of Matthew, Matthew being the first in a biblical order, Matthew's gospel is 55 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:46.120 not the first in chronological order. The first gospel written is actually 56 00:04:46.440 --> 00:04:51.720 want to see if you can catch this. It's actually known as Peter's gospel 57 00:04:51.760 --> 00:04:57.360 technically. So I never heard of Peter's gospel before. I know. Listen, the 58 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:05.920 first gospel in chronological order is Mark's gospel. Mark's gospel. And that 59 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:13.640 is Mark in the scripture, the young man Mark John Mark Mark was a very, very 60 00:05:13.640 --> 00:05:17.480 young man. He's the one that at their rest of Jesus in the Garden of 61 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:23.400 Gethsemane. It tells us that Mark or a disciple fled. They grabbed him and he 62 00:05:23.520 --> 00:05:28.120 fled naked from the Garden of Gethsemane. Who was that young man that took off 63 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:34.960 running? It was Mark. And Mark, it is understood in church history, Mark interviewed 64 00:05:34.960 --> 00:05:40.160 Peter in the writing of Mark's gospel. So the Holy Spirit possess as we know 65 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:46.200 from scripture, Mark and Peter, they sat down and Mark interviewed Peter and 66 00:05:46.320 --> 00:05:54.080 wrote Mark's gospel and it's the shortest gospel with the most record of miracles. 67 00:05:55.640 --> 00:06:00.440 Shortest gospel, Mark, but it records the most miracles, fascinating. 68 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:05.680 That's Mark's gospel. We're going to talk though about a different gospel that 69 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:10.600 came along later than that and later than Mark and that is Matthew's gospel. 70 00:06:10.880 --> 00:06:19.480 This is important. A very, very popular scripture passage quoted but 71 00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:24.280 greatly misunderstood. It's Matthew chapter 18. If you have your Bible, you 72 00:06:24.280 --> 00:06:33.800 ought to grab it and we'll look at it together. It says Matthew 18, let's start in 73 00:06:33.800 --> 00:06:43.960 about verse 15. Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his 74 00:06:43.960 --> 00:06:51.040 fault between you and him alone. Wouldn't it be great if this was actually obeyed by 75 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:57.320 believers instead of talking about it in Facebook first? Christian, if somebody, 76 00:06:57.320 --> 00:07:01.440 if a brother offends you or you offend a brother, you're, you guys are supposed to take care 77 00:07:01.520 --> 00:07:08.560 of that by yourself. Not tell Susie about it. It's a terrible sin that we commit in this 78 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:13.840 area, all because we fail to obey the word. So more of if your brother sins against you, 79 00:07:13.840 --> 00:07:20.160 go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained 80 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:24.320 your brother. In other words, you guys have been reconciled. You don't tell other people 81 00:07:24.320 --> 00:07:28.480 about it. Keep it private. It's between you and him. Why? Because you sinned against him or 82 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:32.800 he sinned against you. You guys have settled it and you move on. You leave it. Do you leave 83 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:39.920 it at the cross? But, verse 16, if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more 84 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:47.040 that's brothers or sisters, that quote now Old Testament verse by the mouth of two or three witnesses, 85 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:54.880 every word may be established. Okay? So you keep, you minimize, you minimize the exposure of the 86 00:07:54.880 --> 00:08:01.920 sin. Why? The more people know about the sin, the harder it is to make reconciliation. 87 00:08:02.960 --> 00:08:08.160 We've got to get a holder ourselves people. We need to get a grip on our mouth. When somebody 88 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:14.320 upsets us, we need to shut our mouth and go to that person and obey the word of God and tell them, 89 00:08:14.320 --> 00:08:17.920 you know what? You broke my heart when you said that man, did I understand you right? 90 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:22.960 Were you slandering me? Because I need to know the truth on this. You don't talk about that to 91 00:08:22.960 --> 00:08:28.960 anybody else. In fact, your sin, if you do, is worse than the sin that the brother committed 92 00:08:28.960 --> 00:08:35.920 against you. You now become what God hates is a tale bearer that says, I hate gossips. So this 93 00:08:35.920 --> 00:08:41.920 is very, very important. But look, we're building up to an often misunderstood portion of scripture. 94 00:08:42.880 --> 00:08:52.800 And if he refuses you, but if he refuses to hear them, that's you and the two, 95 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:58.080 tell it to the church. That doesn't mean you stand up on Sunday morning and say, hey, 96 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:02.880 did you know that Wilbur over here is a dork? This guy's an idiot. Let me tell you what he did. 97 00:09:02.880 --> 00:09:09.520 That's not what it means. It implies church leadership. It implies after you've gone to, 98 00:09:09.520 --> 00:09:14.160 with two him, with two or three witnesses. Now, at least three of you have talked to him. 99 00:09:14.160 --> 00:09:19.520 If he won't not, if he won't hear you, go to trusted church leadership. That's what you do. 100 00:09:20.160 --> 00:09:28.240 Tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear, for the church to hear, let him be to you 101 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:35.440 like one who is a heathen and a tax collector. In other words, cut off fellowship from this believer 102 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:41.920 who's continuing to live in sin in this matter. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on 103 00:09:41.920 --> 00:09:47.280 earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you lose on earth will be lost in heaven. 104 00:09:48.400 --> 00:09:54.160 Oh my goodness. Have you ever heard somebody say, we bind this in Jesus name. 105 00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:00.560 We, we claim it. We bind it. We lose it. I lose that word. 106 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:13.440 Wrong air stop. You are misusing the word of God. That's not what it's for. It's not what it means. 107 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:21.280 He's going to tell us what it means. Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth 108 00:10:21.280 --> 00:10:32.240 concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven. 109 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:38.480 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. 110 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:46.480 Then Peter came and said to him, Lord, how often shall I, how often shall my brother 111 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:53.600 sin against me? And I forgive him up to seven times. And Jesus said, do not say, I do not say 112 00:10:53.600 --> 00:11:01.600 to you up to seven times, but 70 times seven. When someone says, losing or binding, it's in the 113 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:08.880 context of dealing with church discipline. When someone says to you that two of you come together 114 00:11:08.880 --> 00:11:14.080 in a grain on any matter, Jesus said, there I am in the midst of you, it's regarding church 115 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:20.640 discipline. It's regarding dealing with an error in the fellowship of believers. And Peter, 116 00:11:20.640 --> 00:11:27.280 God bless. Thank you, Peter. Peter even helps us out by saying, wait a minute. Are you saying, 117 00:11:27.280 --> 00:11:34.560 Jesus, that if somebody sins against me seven times, I'm to forgive him? Jesus said, no, 118 00:11:35.280 --> 00:11:43.280 70 times seven. What does that mean? 490. What does that mean? If you're Jewish, you know exactly 119 00:11:43.280 --> 00:11:50.720 what that means. 490, it's not the number. It means God was faithful to pardon Israel's sin 120 00:11:51.360 --> 00:12:00.720 for 490 years. How about this? 490 sins or infractions. Jesus is saying, it's not the number. 121 00:12:01.680 --> 00:12:08.320 Whenever someone repents, if it's a thousand million, zillion times, you are required to forgive them. 122 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:13.680 But what's the prerequisite? Listen up, everybody. Do you just go around issuing forgiveness to 123 00:12:13.680 --> 00:12:20.560 everybody? The answer is no. No, you don't. Pastor, I can't believe you said that. No, we're not 124 00:12:20.560 --> 00:12:27.760 supposed to do that. We're supposed to issue forgiveness based upon them repenting. If a brother 125 00:12:27.760 --> 00:12:34.800 or a sister sins against you and others and refuses to repent of their sin and make amends, 126 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:40.960 if it's a sin against you personally, or now you had to bring in one or two more witnesses. 127 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:45.760 Now it's three. He still won't listen. She still won't listen. Now you tell it to the church 128 00:12:45.760 --> 00:12:52.880 leadership. They won't listen. They still won't listen. Then treat them as an unbeliever. 129 00:12:52.880 --> 00:12:58.720 Cut them out of the fellowship. Why? Because they need to learn a lesson at church discipline. 130 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:03.920 So when Jesus comes along and says, I'm telling you right now that if you guys do that, I will be 131 00:13:03.920 --> 00:13:10.480 right in the midst of you. I will be your authority, your eyewitness to this church discipline, 132 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:15.520 and I will execute that. You don't have to do it. You just bring it to my attention. 133 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:23.280 And as it escalates and the church leadership is even brought in, I'm telling you this. I'm 134 00:13:23.280 --> 00:13:31.760 there. And I am going to deal with my church. I will take care of this. People will often say, 135 00:13:31.760 --> 00:13:37.840 oh, praise the Lord. We know we're together and Lord we're praying. And your Bible says that 136 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:44.480 wherever two or more are gathered together, I know that you've heard that. Use that way. 137 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:52.640 But technically, theologically, it's a discipline verse. It's a verse that is to be used in church 138 00:13:52.640 --> 00:13:59.040 discipline. That whenever two or three are gathered together on this matter, God promises to be 139 00:13:59.040 --> 00:14:08.400 there to execute His judgment, His discipline on this wayward brother. I know I can just hear 140 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:15.440 minds blowing up right now. I know that we've often passionately used that, but we've used it 141 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:23.920 the wrong way. I'm picking on these things. Here's another one. And I have it marked here somewhere 142 00:14:24.640 --> 00:14:31.600 that I can find it quickly. And I'm not mean to quick about it. Here it comes. 143 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:42.480 It's Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Listen to this. I'll just, I'll just start to the top. Start at the top 144 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:48.880 of the verse. Do not fret because of evil doers nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. 145 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:58.240 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as a green herb. Trust in the Lord and do 146 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:06.720 good, dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness. Delight, here it is. Delight yourself also 147 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:14.560 in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Verse 5. Commit your way to the Lord. 148 00:15:14.560 --> 00:15:20.480 Trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass. I want to point out two things before we dive 149 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:29.520 into this. Verse 3. Proverbs 37. Verse 3 says, trust in the Lord. And Proverbs 37. Verse 5 says, 150 00:15:29.520 --> 00:15:36.000 commit your way to the Lord. Okay? Trust also in Him. Trust. Trust the Lord. Here's the deal. 151 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:41.120 We often hear, they'll like yourself in the Lord and you'll give you the desires of your heart, 152 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:48.960 like it's a Santa Claus verse in the Bible. Like, but God, you didn't give me what I wanted. 153 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:54.240 I prayed that verse. I delighted myself in the Lord and He gave me the desires of my heart. Lord, 154 00:15:54.240 --> 00:16:00.640 that was my prayer and you didn't do it. You failed me. Note the truth is that we actually failed 155 00:16:00.640 --> 00:16:08.560 ourselves. We actually failed ourselves. Why? What did we do? We approached the Word of God with 156 00:16:08.560 --> 00:16:16.400 a prerequisite. We came to Him to see what we can get out of Him and we used that verse 157 00:16:16.400 --> 00:16:24.800 to almost hold Him hostage to His Word. Our motive was wrong. Our approach was wrong. The intent 158 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:33.840 was wrong. Rather, the verse means this. Trust God. He's going to deal with the evil doers. 159 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:42.880 Trust Him. He'll mow them down like grass in His good time. That's up to Him. What we're supposed 160 00:16:42.880 --> 00:16:50.960 to do instead is to trust God. And in trusting God, we are to do this. We are to delight ourselves 161 00:16:50.960 --> 00:17:00.400 in the Lord. In the Lord is the qualifier. To delight in what? To delight in money, you can 162 00:17:00.400 --> 00:17:04.960 delight in money. Go ahead. It's fine. Go ahead and delight in money. Just prepare yourself 163 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:11.040 for a big letdown because it's going to eventually run out or it's going to fail you. You can 164 00:17:11.040 --> 00:17:16.880 delight yourself in being healthy. We should all be healthy. We should eat better because our bodies 165 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:21.120 are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We should take care of these temples because God wants to use 166 00:17:21.120 --> 00:17:26.000 us. In other words, every one of us have an expiration date. We're all going to die on a certain day. 167 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:31.920 I think this is the key that we should be as healthy as we possibly can until we drop dead. 168 00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:38.800 So God can use us. If we're sitting around eating cupcakes for breakfast and potato chips for lunch 169 00:17:38.800 --> 00:17:45.840 and twinkies for dinner, you're going to have a miserable sick life and you're going to die on 170 00:17:45.840 --> 00:17:51.120 on that date that's already been set. But you're going to be so messed up that God will scarcely be 171 00:17:51.120 --> 00:17:56.880 able to use you because you've abused the temple. So you want to be wise about that. 172 00:17:57.600 --> 00:18:02.160 That's still trusting God and to delight yourself from the Lord is to do this. 173 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:08.800 Lord, it's you that I delight in. It's not my health. It's not my wealth. It's not my time. 174 00:18:09.520 --> 00:18:16.400 It's not my location. It's not anything else. It's not my name or heritage or blue blood 175 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:25.760 access to royalty. That's not it. None of those things are it. The prerequisite is 176 00:18:27.600 --> 00:18:34.560 in the Lord, I'm going to delight myself. I like to reverse the verse. Delight yourself in the Lord. 177 00:18:34.560 --> 00:18:44.320 How about this? In the Lord, delight. He's your answer. He's your purpose. He's your meaning. He's 178 00:18:44.320 --> 00:18:52.480 the reason. And of course, that would require you and I to know him. So delight yourself in the 179 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:58.160 Lord. And he shall give you the desires of your heart. And he goes on to say, commit your waste 180 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:04.960 him and trust in him. Here's here's the key. When I find out who God is through the pages of 181 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:12.720 his word, then the more this word gets inside of me, the more I'm delighting myself in him, 182 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:24.480 that when I now pray or talk with God, this word is going to bring up bad images, but I can't 183 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:35.680 think of a better word. If his Bible is in me, when I regurgitate his word, it comes out. Listen, 184 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:46.000 I don't mean to gross you out, but if somebody throws up, if your little kid throws up, you 185 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:53.040 could tell they just had a pepperoni pizza. Why? That's what came out. Gosh, mom and dad would say, 186 00:19:53.040 --> 00:19:59.040 I guess, listen, I guess pepperoni pizza and cheese doesn't suit him. We won't be doing that again. 187 00:19:59.760 --> 00:20:06.000 Why? What came in came out. Same is true for the believer. What comes out of the heart, the mouth 188 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:14.720 speaks. So when someone speaks in a certain way, certain tone, certain spirit as it were, 189 00:20:15.600 --> 00:20:22.240 it reveals what's in their heart. And so when the word is filled up the heart of the person, 190 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:27.840 then you will supernaturally, naturally be delighting yourself in the Lord. 191 00:20:28.560 --> 00:20:34.960 The Lord has become your delight so that when you pray, when you ask him, 192 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:40.960 guess what? You are regurgitating in the request that which was already put in place. 193 00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:48.000 In other words, Lord, I want to do what you want to do. I want to do whatever you want. 194 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:55.520 Thy will be done is the greatest commentary on this Psalm 37 verse. Lord, thy will be done. 195 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:04.400 It's so liberating and so so free. So keep that in mind. Think about that. How about this one? 196 00:21:05.600 --> 00:21:11.040 Is Romans some of you're going to cringe? No, no, don't say it. Yep. I'm going to say it. 197 00:21:11.040 --> 00:21:17.360 Romans, chapter 28, Romans, chapter 8, verse 28. Don't say it. This is my favorite verse. 198 00:21:17.360 --> 00:21:22.640 It's my favorite verse too, as well as some others. But listen, we have to understand it. 199 00:21:23.360 --> 00:21:29.040 How many times have you heard this? Oh, you know what, my friend? Don't worry about it. 200 00:21:29.040 --> 00:21:33.600 All things work together for good. Have you ever heard that? All things work together for good. 201 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:44.960 That's when we use the Bible wrongly, where we could actually hurt somebody. 202 00:21:46.800 --> 00:21:53.840 We can mislead somebody with the word of God. The truth is, if that's how you use it, 203 00:21:53.840 --> 00:21:57.440 all things work together for good, brother, just cheer up. It's going to turn out okay. 204 00:21:58.080 --> 00:22:03.600 You just misled that brother and you used the word of God. I know you didn't mean to, 205 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:10.960 but you need to be careful. When the scripture says that, and we know that all things work 206 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:19.360 together for good, the qualifier is to those who love God. Number two, to those who are called 207 00:22:19.360 --> 00:22:25.680 according to his purposes. So when we quote that verse, we need to say, you know, my friend, 208 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:32.000 all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called 209 00:22:32.800 --> 00:22:38.160 according to his purposes. Reverse it. Those who are called according to God's purposes 210 00:22:39.120 --> 00:22:48.240 are the ones who are called. Those are the ones who love the Lord. And those who love the Lord, 211 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:54.160 you can be rest assured confidently that everything that's going on in your life, good, 212 00:22:54.160 --> 00:23:00.720 bad or ugly, it's going to work together for good. You don't throw the verse out there like 213 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:09.840 it's some bandaid, some triage moment to slap it on a crisis. Oh, just say this, pray this. 214 00:23:09.840 --> 00:23:19.440 You remember this. There's some qualifiers here. And we know that all things work together for 215 00:23:19.520 --> 00:23:26.080 good to those who love God, to those who are called and according to his purposes. 216 00:23:27.600 --> 00:23:33.760 In fact, he even strengthens that in verse 29, for whom he for new. I love that. 217 00:23:35.120 --> 00:23:38.880 He for new. What does that mean? It means God knows everything before it ever happens. 218 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:45.760 He can't learn anything. In fact, those he for new, these he also predestined. 219 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:53.200 And of course, he goes into that beautiful doxology about us being 220 00:23:55.440 --> 00:24:00.800 really glorified in Christ and brought forth in Christ. The beauty is this that 221 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:07.600 all things work together for good to those who are loving God, called by God, 222 00:24:07.600 --> 00:24:11.680 and are living their lives for the purposes of God. So friends, listen, if you're going to 223 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:17.360 quote a verse, quote it in its fullness. And then I think we have we have space and time for 224 00:24:17.360 --> 00:24:28.640 a couple more. What about this one? It's it's Philippians. Sorry, my fingers are all dry 225 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:47.360 up here. Philippians 4 verse 13, listen to this, Philippians 4 13, I can do all things through 226 00:24:47.360 --> 00:24:57.600 Christ who strengthens me. You heard that verse before. So what does that mean? I'm going to 227 00:24:57.760 --> 00:25:05.680 hate me for this, but it's okay. I'd rather have the truth prevail. If you're going to 228 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:12.720 go miniature golfing with your friends and you really want to win, or if you want to 229 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:21.040 get ready to go out there and make your NFL debut on the field, and you say to yourself, 230 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:26.960 I can do all things through Christ. You strengthens me. So we're going to win today. We're going to 231 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:34.480 we're going to win. Again, that's not what that verse means and it's not what it's for. 232 00:25:35.840 --> 00:25:40.000 When the scripture tells us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, 233 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:48.320 the context of chapter four is all that glorifies God in the situation of the life that you're 234 00:25:48.320 --> 00:25:56.000 living out. I'm not saying that you shouldn't trust God to protect you and lead you and guide you 235 00:25:57.040 --> 00:26:06.240 on the field or at the meat or at the track and field event. I'm not saying that you can't call 236 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:11.600 out to God for that, but what I am saying is that's not a verse that guarantees that we're going 237 00:26:11.600 --> 00:26:18.320 to win the lotto. Hello, that's ridiculous. It's really a verse that announces to us, 238 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:28.480 Lord, the situation that's in front of me, how about this? Just before doing this podcast, 239 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:33.040 I had a pastor come up to me and say, hey, can I ask you something personally privately? 240 00:26:34.560 --> 00:26:40.880 Something's going on in my life, man. Every time I get alone with God, it's just a lot of static. 241 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:46.400 It's a lot of noise and he said, I feel like I'm just losing. I feel like I'm sinking. This seems 242 00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:55.840 like there's tons of fuzz, static. In my alone time with God has been totally unprofitable. 243 00:26:55.840 --> 00:27:01.520 It's been a war. Do you know what I'm talking about, Pastor Jack? I said, brother, do I know what 244 00:27:01.520 --> 00:27:07.360 you're talking about? I said, look, you're a young man. I'm an old man. That ain't going to go away. 245 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:13.760 You got to fight through that. How do I do that? He said, I said, well, I'll tell you something 246 00:27:13.760 --> 00:27:21.440 personally. The only relief I've been able to find when those times hit me is watch this. This is 247 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:32.560 actually the fulfillment of I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me is do this, 248 00:27:32.560 --> 00:27:38.480 I told him. And this is what I did. You want me to do it? I'll do it right now. This is for real. 249 00:27:38.560 --> 00:27:47.760 This just happened an hour an hour ago. We were outside. I got on my knees. I don't know if you can 250 00:27:47.760 --> 00:27:54.080 tell or not, but I'm on my knees. I see a get on your knees and you're alone time. And this is what 251 00:27:54.080 --> 00:28:00.960 I want you to do. Lord, I'm coming before you right now and I've been having a horrendous time 252 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:06.160 struggling. You know, I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know, but I'm saying 253 00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:12.480 that Lord for the benefit of my own ears, I'm on my knees right now with your word open because 254 00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:18.880 every time I try to get alone with you, there's just this static. And I know that Satan is the author 255 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:26.640 of confusion. You're not. And I know that you want to connect with me. This is a difficult time. 256 00:28:27.360 --> 00:28:38.880 So Lord, I offer this prayer, but I rejoice to the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me 257 00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:45.840 has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in 258 00:28:45.840 --> 00:28:53.200 regard to need for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. Lord, that is Paul's prayer 259 00:28:53.280 --> 00:28:58.960 to the Philippians. And I'm making it my prayer right now. Jesus, I'm praying the word of God. 260 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:04.640 I'm asking you to make my heart content and whatever condition I'm in, including this. And 261 00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:10.400 Father, I pray that you would open up my heart and my mind to see the generosity that you share 262 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:16.160 toward me through your people. Lord, I know that the Philippians were willing to even give of their 263 00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:23.440 own life to bless the Apostle Paul. Lord, may I return that love upon the flock that you've put 264 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:29.840 in my trust may they know that I love them. And Lord, God, I ask you right now to help me 265 00:29:30.800 --> 00:29:37.600 to flourish in every situation, including this one that I'm struggling in. And Lord, I just pray 266 00:29:37.600 --> 00:29:42.720 that you'd bring my heart to a place of great contentment, even in this difficult hour. 267 00:29:43.600 --> 00:29:49.680 That's what I told the guy. And he said, well, how long do you do that? And I said, until you break 268 00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:54.160 through, there's a sense, there's a moment that you're going to know you're going to break through. 269 00:29:54.800 --> 00:30:06.880 What's the point? I know that all things, all things, barring from Romans will work together. 270 00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:14.800 We touched on that a moment ago if I do this. I know this, that if I'm praying, seeking his glory, 271 00:30:14.800 --> 00:30:21.920 he's going to answer. I know this, that what I'm discussing here before you right now in Philippians, 272 00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:30.720 that I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. This is how he strengthens me. 273 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:36.480 When we are weak, we are, say it, strong. 274 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:44.800 Scripture tells us, we're not sufficient for these things. That's right, we're not, but he is. 275 00:30:45.840 --> 00:30:53.680 This is so important. So when we talk about, I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me, 276 00:30:54.640 --> 00:31:02.080 what's so important is to realize that I can do all things that he wants to do in my life that 277 00:31:02.080 --> 00:31:08.480 glorify him, but I don't often know what to do. How to do it? Answer, pray the Bible, 278 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:16.880 pray Scripture. Try that, do that. Watch what happens. And it's funny because he did ask me, 279 00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:22.400 you know, how long, how long should you do that? How long? And the answer is true. What I said 280 00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:26.960 earlier, until you get breakthrough, you say, well, do you really have to get on your knees? 281 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:34.480 Yeah, I'm going to tell you why. Yeah, it has nothing to do with policy or procedure, 282 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:41.840 it has nothing to do with tradition or religion. You want to know why it's very important when 283 00:31:41.840 --> 00:31:46.400 you're going through a tough time spiritually, a dry season, and it seems like the heavens are 284 00:31:46.400 --> 00:31:53.440 brass and you're not getting through to get on your knees because it hurts. What does that matter 285 00:31:54.320 --> 00:32:01.120 because guess what happens? And as soon as I said this to him, he went, oh man, yeah, that's right. 286 00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:09.200 When you are on your knees, you start to feel 287 00:32:09.840 --> 00:32:21.440 pain up the back of your legs, hamstring up toward your bum, B-U-M. Then the next thing you 288 00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:27.840 start feeling is that your knee caps start hurting. See, Jack, why are you telling me this? Because 289 00:32:27.840 --> 00:32:36.880 listen, those things that distracted you before, they're gone, they disappear. And the longer you're 290 00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:46.160 in that position, the more pain, physical pain, there is. And the more focused you are on the Lord 291 00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:53.600 in that topic or that issue and his face and his ears, it's amazing. It's amazing. 292 00:32:55.680 --> 00:33:00.480 But we just can't go around getting on our knees everywhere. No, no, no, of course not. But 293 00:33:00.560 --> 00:33:06.400 that's how maybe you should try starting your day. Watch what happens. Watch what happens. 294 00:33:07.600 --> 00:33:14.160 So listen, I just wanted to hit on these often misunderstood verses. These are just a few, obviously. 295 00:33:15.040 --> 00:33:20.960 But think about these things. Read the chapter in which the verse appears. It will give you better 296 00:33:20.960 --> 00:33:29.280 understanding because context is everything when reading a text. You'll get its biblical meaning 297 00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:35.440 when you read it through rather than pulling it out of its place. So I hope that helps. 298 00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:41.760 And so got this, we'd love to hear from you guys. If you have any comments, if you have anything 299 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:47.200 in this area where you'd like to hear more about this kind of stuff, I know this is super practical. 300 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:52.080 At least it is for me and it's very down to earth. But if it could help you in your walk and 301 00:33:52.080 --> 00:33:57.440 focusing and also understand scripture a little bit better, then we're all together stronger for it. 302 00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:05.120 So God bless you guys. I hope you have an awesome, awesome, holy day season and an awesome new year 303 00:34:05.120 --> 00:34:10.080 that is upon us very shortly and that you stand firm in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and 304 00:34:10.080 --> 00:34:17.840 Savior Jesus Christ. As always, always, it's time for us to live out what we believe in. It's time 305 00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:20.800 for real life and that's what we're all about. God bless.