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 --> 00:00:11.480 truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. Let's be honest, God's people got 3 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:16.000 troubles. You got troubles, you got troubles, we all got troubles. Just because 4 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:18.360 you're Christian doesn't mean you're not gonna have any trouble. Maybe you have 5 00:00:18.360 --> 00:00:22.820 the Christian, you have more trouble. Let's thank God this isn't our home. We're 6 00:00:22.820 --> 00:00:26.980 getting out of here. That's good news. 7 00:00:29.260 --> 00:00:35.620 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 8 00:00:35.620 --> 00:00:40.980 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled 9 00:00:40.980 --> 00:00:45.860 life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, 10 00:00:45.860 --> 00:00:51.460 that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. 11 00:00:51.940 --> 00:00:56.900 Now, open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 12 00:00:58.100 --> 00:01:03.060 Look at the book of Nehemiah chapter 8. This is very interesting by the way. Go your way, 13 00:01:04.580 --> 00:01:12.740 eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this 14 00:01:12.740 --> 00:01:19.860 day is holy to the Lord. Do not sorrow. For the joy of the Lord is your strength. That's an 15 00:01:19.860 --> 00:01:24.980 awesome verse. And what's amazing about all of this, Nehemiah is doing something here to the 16 00:01:24.980 --> 00:01:29.940 people of God. He's saying, listen, what God has done in your life and our lives as a nation, 17 00:01:29.940 --> 00:01:35.620 as a people. He said, this is the day to celebrate. Watch, I'm not joking. So much so Nehemiah 18 00:01:35.620 --> 00:01:40.900 tells the people and you can even eat the fat. Did you know the fat of the sacrifice 19 00:01:40.900 --> 00:01:45.780 was reserved solely for God? Did you know that you were not allowed to eat fat in the Old Testament? 20 00:01:46.340 --> 00:01:54.500 You don't know why? For two reasons. Number one, it tasted really good. The taste is spectacular, 21 00:01:55.300 --> 00:02:01.540 but it's not healthy for you. Remember what Moses says, sin is pleasurable for a season? Remember that? 22 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:09.380 When God says, I get first all the fat that's burnt on the altar. Did you know that when you burn fat, 23 00:02:09.380 --> 00:02:15.140 it's carcinogenic. It smells great. When you have a barbecue, your neighbors are smelling the fat. 24 00:02:16.740 --> 00:02:20.900 Oh, their barbecue ain't gonna get it. It smells so good. But God doesn't want you to eat it because 25 00:02:20.900 --> 00:02:27.460 it'll kill you. You don't eat the fat. But God says, I'll kick the fat. Always give me the fat. 26 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:32.740 In this case, there's a breaking of the rule. Nehemiah says, this time for us to rejoice is so 27 00:02:32.740 --> 00:02:38.740 amazing that today, it's like today and today, today only. You can eat the sweet or drink the sweet 28 00:02:38.740 --> 00:02:44.740 and eat the fat. What is God saying? Because the joy of the Lord is your strength. 29 00:02:46.100 --> 00:02:53.140 We are to be people of God representing him in this world as a kingdom of priests, of leaders, 30 00:02:53.140 --> 00:02:58.580 of lovers of God in such a way that people are actually bothered by our level of joy. 31 00:03:00.100 --> 00:03:06.580 Because we can have joy when everything goes wrong. Will you be happy? No, that's silly. But can you 32 00:03:06.580 --> 00:03:17.060 have joy? Absolutely. God is at work in all these things. The Bible tells us, this is kind of fun. 33 00:03:17.060 --> 00:03:22.900 I think it's fun anyway. The Bible tells us in Joshua, chapter 6, how it says, 34 00:03:22.900 --> 00:03:28.900 and Joshua rose early in the morning and the priest, notice the priest took up the ark of the Lord, 35 00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:35.700 the ark of the Lord. You've seen Indiana Jones, right? That ark of the covenant, that's what they're 36 00:03:35.700 --> 00:03:40.580 talking about. So the priest are carrying, can I put it this way? This is what it means. The priest 37 00:03:40.580 --> 00:03:47.060 are carrying the presence of the Lord. That's what that signifies. Then seven priests varying seven 38 00:03:47.060 --> 00:03:54.020 trumpets of rams, horns, those are shofar's, before the ark of the Lord went on continually and 39 00:03:54.020 --> 00:04:01.540 blew with the trumpets and the armed men, the warriors, the commandos, went before them. But the 40 00:04:01.540 --> 00:04:07.140 rear guard came after the ark of the Lord while the priest continued blowing the trumpets. What's 41 00:04:07.140 --> 00:04:16.740 the deal? It's a mix of warfare and worship. Quite awesome. Verse 20, and the people shouted when 42 00:04:16.740 --> 00:04:21.300 the priest blew the trumpets and it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and 43 00:04:21.300 --> 00:04:26.740 the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat. We're talking about Jericho. 44 00:04:27.620 --> 00:04:35.700 Worship and warfare, spiritually speaking, are also inseparable. And we need to remember that. You 45 00:04:35.700 --> 00:04:42.020 may be going through warfare right now in your home. What's going on? Listen, worship. I have to 46 00:04:42.020 --> 00:04:51.220 make, I have to be clear about this. If you're under demonic attack or emotional mental, it doesn't 47 00:04:51.220 --> 00:04:59.620 matter. If your life is being stressed and challenged with God, putting on a Christian artist, 48 00:04:59.620 --> 00:05:04.900 album is not going to help you all that much. Okay, so for example, I'm a big Danny Goki fan. I 49 00:05:04.900 --> 00:05:09.140 love Danny. I love Danny. I tell Danny all the time. I text him all the time. I love you. 50 00:05:11.300 --> 00:05:18.820 Love his music. Worship, there's praise and there's worship. There's a time. Listen, praise is 51 00:05:18.820 --> 00:05:25.220 more exuberant and it's more, it's more joyful and loud and it's more expressive. Worship sometimes 52 00:05:25.220 --> 00:05:30.340 comes when you're on your, it doesn't have to be, but it can come on your knees when you don't know 53 00:05:30.340 --> 00:05:36.580 which ways up or down, which ways left or right. And you say, Lord, naked, I came into this world and 54 00:05:36.580 --> 00:05:41.140 naked, I'll depart if that's the deal. But Lord, I'm going to trust you even though I don't feel 55 00:05:41.140 --> 00:05:48.100 like it. I choose God to put my life in your hands because I don't know what's going to happen 56 00:05:48.100 --> 00:05:56.020 next and you are worshiping and doing warfare at the exact same time. Worship, you want to know 57 00:05:56.020 --> 00:06:04.260 why worship is such a big deal in the Bible and in your life. Watch even if it's not. It's because 58 00:06:04.260 --> 00:06:11.700 it's such a big deal. Worship, really? What? What is it? Some people come here, I hear it all the 59 00:06:11.700 --> 00:06:18.340 time. Well, I visited your church. Okay, first of all, it's not my church. It's a good little note. 60 00:06:20.500 --> 00:06:26.900 I came and only three people said hi to me. I always want to say, how many people did you say 61 00:06:27.780 --> 00:06:34.660 but I try to control my Christian self. And then they say, and the music, did you know, are you aware 62 00:06:34.660 --> 00:06:43.700 of Asker? There's drums in your church. Yeah, because the Psalm 150, every church has to have drums. 63 00:06:46.420 --> 00:06:50.340 Well, the songs, the songs I really didn't like the songs, they were not to my liking. 64 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:56.740 We didn't sing them to you. Were you thinking that they have people who are here for you? 65 00:06:57.860 --> 00:07:03.380 They're not here for you. They were here for him and you're supposed to get caught up in the 66 00:07:03.380 --> 00:07:07.380 direction of where they're taking you. So think of these worship guys when they go like this, 67 00:07:07.380 --> 00:07:15.300 don't you love that? They're guitar. Man, I see. And they sing and that's going out there and the 68 00:07:15.300 --> 00:07:22.740 angels are rejoicing and hell shutters. Listen, there's nothing more damaging to the kingdom of 69 00:07:22.740 --> 00:07:29.140 darkness than a joyous Christian, even in the midst of difficult times. And let's be honest, 70 00:07:29.140 --> 00:07:33.700 God's people got troubles. You got troubles. You got troubles. We all got troubles. 71 00:07:34.340 --> 00:07:37.780 Just because you're Christian doesn't mean you're not going to have any trouble. Maybe as a Christian 72 00:07:37.780 --> 00:07:42.420 you need to have more trouble. But thank God this isn't our home. We're getting out of here. 73 00:07:43.300 --> 00:07:50.020 And that's good news. Maybe today, I hope so. We're going to be patient. I'm going to run through 74 00:07:50.020 --> 00:07:54.740 these four words very quick. Verse 12, we're going to be patient. That means we're supposed to stay 75 00:07:54.740 --> 00:08:00.340 behind Jesus because he's leaning. The word implies that we want to run ahead. Do you want to run ahead 76 00:08:00.340 --> 00:08:06.180 of God? Think about it. You want to get it? I got it, Jesus. I know what to do or listen. We don't 77 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:09.940 admit it. But this is what we do. When we don't pray and ask for God's guidance, we're running 78 00:08:09.940 --> 00:08:15.700 ahead of him. When we think I got it, I know what to do. She said this to me. He said that to me. 79 00:08:15.700 --> 00:08:20.180 Well, I'm going to I know what to do. You know what you're doing? You're getting ahead of him. 80 00:08:20.180 --> 00:08:24.020 That's not the patience. Look, let's be honest. We don't like the word patient. We're you even 81 00:08:24.020 --> 00:08:30.500 have patience for the word patient? God says this regarding the word patient. Just stay behind me. 82 00:08:32.100 --> 00:08:35.700 It implies that we want to get ahead of him. Don't we? Emotionally we want to get it. I'll 83 00:08:35.700 --> 00:08:42.260 take care of a God. No need. I got it. And God says, excuse me, stay back. It's like a little kid 84 00:08:42.260 --> 00:08:46.820 wanting to run ahead. Like you take your kid to Disneyland and you're waiting in line and the 85 00:08:46.820 --> 00:08:51.540 little kid wants to run in there because he sees Mickey. Dude, wait. You have to wait. You have to 86 00:08:51.540 --> 00:08:55.860 wait. Stay behind me because who's going to pay a thousand dollars a ticket? You can't do it. 87 00:08:56.820 --> 00:09:11.540 We have that in us. We want to run ahead. God says, wait. And then tribulation is just the hardships of life. 88 00:09:13.140 --> 00:09:18.100 Be patient in tribulations. Why? Because we have a nest tendency to try to jump out of the 89 00:09:18.100 --> 00:09:26.420 frying pan and go right into the fire. And then look at the word steadfast. So rejoice in 90 00:09:26.420 --> 00:09:31.700 and hope. Patient in tribulation. And here it is, continuing steadfast in your Greek Bible. There's 91 00:09:31.700 --> 00:09:38.940 only one word. English has two words. Continuing steadfast is just one word. And word to continue 92 00:09:38.940 --> 00:09:43.140 steadfast in prayer, the Bible tells us. And that word prayer is an opportunity to talk to your 93 00:09:43.140 --> 00:09:48.660 Heavenly Father who loves you. And you can do that steadfastly because it's not an order. You 94 00:09:48.660 --> 00:09:55.860 will pray to me steadfastly. No, we get to pray to him all the time because he's always listening. 95 00:09:57.460 --> 00:10:04.100 Always listening. And then we also see this in verse 13 that you and I go through this life now 96 00:10:04.100 --> 00:10:11.460 with love, with love. It says, distribute into the needs of the saints. We not only have that 97 00:10:11.460 --> 00:10:17.300 opportunity every day here at church, which I'm very grateful for for all of you as you love on 98 00:10:17.300 --> 00:10:23.300 each other. But it's one of the great reasons why you should be involved in a church. And we can all 99 00:10:23.300 --> 00:10:27.940 agree that there's no perfect church. I think it's one of the weird things that says, if you think 100 00:10:27.940 --> 00:10:35.140 you found the perfect church, it's no longer perfect because you're there. Isn't that true? 101 00:10:35.780 --> 00:10:44.340 We're to be loving on each other throughout this life as believers. Okay, you guys, listen, 102 00:10:44.340 --> 00:10:49.140 if you're going to be, if you're prone to fainting, you might want to leave now because the next 103 00:10:49.140 --> 00:10:54.100 couple of verses are a shocker runny. Okay, how do we know we're real believers? How do we know 104 00:10:54.100 --> 00:11:00.740 that we're real Christians? God doesn't want us to talk about it. And first, John chapter 3, verse 16, 105 00:11:00.740 --> 00:11:08.500 it starts here by this we know love because he laid down his life for us. We also ought to 106 00:11:08.500 --> 00:11:16.180 lay down our lives for our brethren. But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need 107 00:11:16.180 --> 00:11:22.020 and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in you? It implies it doesn't. It 108 00:11:22.020 --> 00:11:28.340 means that you are a false believer. What does that mean? When a Christian brother or sister is in 109 00:11:28.340 --> 00:11:36.260 need and you know about it, you know what happened? Oh, my car ran out of gas or 110 00:11:38.500 --> 00:11:45.940 this situation, that event took place and this is where I'm at now. I have no place to live. 111 00:11:47.940 --> 00:11:53.540 Oh, man, that's a bummer. Let me pray for you. Lord, help this guy and all this stuff. 112 00:11:53.540 --> 00:11:59.300 Boy, this is empty and God, you provide your amazing Jesus, you know, you're so good. You see 113 00:11:59.300 --> 00:12:06.580 my brother suffering in Jesus name, amen. Amen. I'll be praying for you. And you walk away. 114 00:12:08.020 --> 00:12:15.780 John would say, excuse me, if you knew God, you would help this person in their hurt. 115 00:12:15.780 --> 00:12:26.020 Okay, you made it through that verse. Here's the next one. It's James. James is the guy. When 116 00:12:26.020 --> 00:12:29.860 you read the book of James, he rolls up his sleeves and James, he has no problem doing this. 117 00:12:29.860 --> 00:12:35.300 He grabs you by the collar and he punches you a few times. James is amazing. James is the book of 118 00:12:35.300 --> 00:12:41.700 James is the book that he says, so you said you're a Christian, huh? I'm going to move in your house. 119 00:12:42.340 --> 00:12:47.940 I'm going to live with you for 30 days. I'm not going to say a word. And at the end of 30 days, 120 00:12:47.940 --> 00:12:53.060 I'm going to tell you if you're a Christian or not. That's James. What does it profit my brother 121 00:12:53.060 --> 00:12:59.940 and if someone says he has faith, but does not have works, can faith save him? That is, can faith 122 00:12:59.940 --> 00:13:06.180 save him alone? If a brother or a sister is naked in destitute of daily food and you and one of 123 00:13:06.180 --> 00:13:12.580 you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which 124 00:13:12.580 --> 00:13:19.780 are needed for the body. What does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, 125 00:13:19.780 --> 00:13:29.780 is dead. Listen, you can come to Christ right down today and be born again and drop dead and go 126 00:13:29.780 --> 00:13:35.940 straight to heaven. Boom, done deal. But if you accept Jesus Christ today and you live three more 127 00:13:35.940 --> 00:13:43.700 days or 30 more years, your life is supposed to be a life that backs up your actual original decision. 128 00:13:45.380 --> 00:13:51.220 Works do not save you. Works proves that you're saved. Does that make sense, everybody? 129 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:58.340 So when we have the opportunity to do good, we should get excited about it as believers and say, 130 00:13:58.340 --> 00:14:03.780 oh my goodness, this is great. That's why a church family is so wonderful. We've got the Lord 131 00:14:03.780 --> 00:14:07.700 in our heart. We know His Word, but what do I do with this? You love one another. You lay down 132 00:14:07.700 --> 00:14:11.860 your life for the other. By the way, it starts in marriage first, everybody. Hello, husbands. 133 00:14:12.660 --> 00:14:18.820 It starts in marriage first. Yeah, Pastor, show me the way. Tell me, how do I save the world? Sit down. 134 00:14:20.020 --> 00:14:25.380 Let's see how, let's see what your wife and kids think about your Christian witness first, okay? 135 00:14:26.340 --> 00:14:32.820 Let's start there first. Let's be for real. That's settled. Lord, what do you want me to do? 136 00:14:32.820 --> 00:14:39.780 And a church, look, when there's a little church, then there's opportunities to serve. When there's 137 00:14:39.780 --> 00:14:46.260 a big church, there's opportunities to serve, just some are bigger than others. But every one of us 138 00:14:46.340 --> 00:14:57.060 have needs, every single one of us. And then finally, it's this, verse 13, given to hospitality. Oh, 139 00:14:57.060 --> 00:15:04.340 I like this. You and I are to go through life now with faith. That is, we put all of this into 140 00:15:04.340 --> 00:15:09.700 practice. Faith is a verb. It's what we do. And so when the Bible here tells us given to 141 00:15:09.700 --> 00:15:16.340 hospitality, this is pretty epic because real quick, the word hospitality is frankly simply 142 00:15:16.340 --> 00:15:23.140 making someone feel extremely welcome. Some of you, listen, there's people who are hospitable, 143 00:15:23.140 --> 00:15:27.700 but did you know that a pastor, it says in the book of first and second timidity, that a pastor 144 00:15:27.700 --> 00:15:33.860 has to be someone who is given to hospitality? Did you know that? It's one of the requirements for 145 00:15:33.860 --> 00:15:40.420 ordination. Has the individual proven his life to be hospitable among other things? But there's 146 00:15:40.420 --> 00:15:46.020 a general hospitality that we share among one another as brothers and sisters because we love one 147 00:15:46.020 --> 00:15:52.580 another. And that's a genuine church. Your first encounter with this church is the parking lot. 148 00:15:54.660 --> 00:15:59.940 This country, a popular belief, they're not wearing orange vests for you to target them. That vest 149 00:16:00.020 --> 00:16:07.380 is to keep them safe. They're not targets. They're there to help you. And they hear it all. They're 150 00:16:07.380 --> 00:16:17.700 actually like the Christian barometers. They like, okay, car, car 29. You know, use extra grace 151 00:16:17.700 --> 00:16:24.260 because this guy's fired up. People come in, we're in the blank as my parking spot and we're in 152 00:16:24.740 --> 00:16:32.180 like, hello. They get it all up front, but here's their deal. They're there to smile. God bless you. 153 00:16:32.180 --> 00:16:36.900 Can you please move this way? We've got parking over here. Just keep coming this way and the people, 154 00:16:36.900 --> 00:16:46.660 some people are like, and then the greeters are here and they're welcoming you in, smiling. 155 00:16:47.860 --> 00:16:53.140 And it's awesome. And then I hope you come in and you sit or you find that you're in your 156 00:16:53.140 --> 00:17:02.180 here and somebody says, hi, what's your name? And you're safe. But even if you weren't safe, 157 00:17:03.460 --> 00:17:07.780 you're loving. Church, let's stand right now if you would. And we're going to go through a quick 158 00:17:07.780 --> 00:17:16.260 checklist before we lift off. This is our pre-flight checklist. In fact, Bogum aboard, Romans flight 12-9-13. 159 00:17:17.140 --> 00:17:23.300 From verses 9-13, these are all of the exhortations, like you would in an airplane. Flaps, 160 00:17:23.300 --> 00:17:31.380 right? And then you check or whatever it might be. In this love without hypocrisy, got it, evil, 161 00:17:31.380 --> 00:17:40.980 abhor it, abhor evil, got it. Good. I'm clinging to it, right? Next under checklist, affectionate, 162 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:46.580 kindly. Remember we talked about that lady in Tennessee who said, thank you kindly, 163 00:17:47.620 --> 00:17:55.940 that was so sweet. I'll never forget it. Brotherly love doing it, preference towards others, given 164 00:17:57.540 --> 00:18:03.460 diligence. I'm not going to be lazy about this. Spirit, hot hearts, fervent. 165 00:18:03.540 --> 00:18:11.540 The Lord Himself serving Him. He's the one I'm serving. When I'm loving you, I'm actually serving Him. 166 00:18:12.580 --> 00:18:19.220 I mean, I love you, but I love Him more. Nothing, sorry, but Him I know. I don't know. I'm not sure if 167 00:18:19.220 --> 00:18:28.100 I know you. Him I know. But His love wants to love through me. Hope I'm rejoicing in it. Tribulation, 168 00:18:28.100 --> 00:18:34.740 I can be patient in it. God's on the throne. Prayer, I'm going to make it an ongoing dialogue 169 00:18:34.740 --> 00:18:40.740 of conversation. Needs distributing to the saints. Just show me somebody who needs help. 170 00:18:41.540 --> 00:18:48.660 I want to help. Hospitality, exactly that. How can I help? What a beautiful thing for us as 171 00:18:48.660 --> 00:18:54.580 believers to practice in our life. Father God, we pray right now, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit would 172 00:18:54.580 --> 00:18:59.460 descend upon us. We need the strength to do this. We need the power to do this. We need the 173 00:18:59.460 --> 00:19:05.540 reminder, Lord, of Your Spirit to do this. And so, Lord, I pray that our Christian experience 174 00:19:05.540 --> 00:19:16.100 would be exactly that, an experience, lively, active doing. Faith that is so rooted and grounded 175 00:19:16.100 --> 00:19:24.260 in Christ Jesus, that we get to do all these things. We get to love on others. We get to find out 176 00:19:24.260 --> 00:19:33.620 what the needs are. We get to pray. We get to be involved. And Lord, we get to hang on to you 177 00:19:33.620 --> 00:19:40.260 because you're hanging on to us, even in the darkest hours. Thank You, Lord, for loving us. 178 00:19:41.140 --> 00:19:45.300 We pray in Jesus' name and all God's people said, Amen. God bless your church. 179 00:19:45.380 --> 00:19:54.580 This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are 180 00:19:54.580 --> 00:20:02.260 listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com 181 00:20:02.260 --> 00:20:05.460 to learn more and stay connected.