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Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim

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truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. The Bible says our hope is so

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assured and certain we can rejoice in hope. The Bible says patient

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intribulation. That means all the hearts ship, all the difficulty, all the

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stuff we're going through. God's going to get us through this. He's got to

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purpose. I don't know what it means. He does. I'm hanging on.

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You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to Jack Hibbs.com slash

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podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a

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more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five

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star ratings. To us, that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will

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encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to

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you. Here is Jack Hibbs. See, you and I get confused. We think people can lose

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their salvation because we heard about some talk or we listened to some person

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or some denominational theology or we knew somebody who walked, walked with

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Jesus for 30 years and then abandoned everything crashed and burned and then

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we conclude because of ignorant theology, they must have lost their

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salvation. Note Jesus said that as time goes on, there's going to be people who

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look just like us, act like us, smell like us, do like us, but in time, he says

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they eventually give up. He says these are they who believe for a while, but

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when all these difficulties and persecutions come, they quit and they were

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never saved. Their belief never brought them to faith. There's a lot of people in

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the world today that believe, but they have no faith and that's why there's

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trials friends. That's why there has to be difficulties. Trials shake the tree

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so to speak and all the ripe fruit is harvested while the others are left

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behind. You need to understand that. You need to know that. Well, my friend lost

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his salvation. No, he didn't. He never had it. You assume that. Well, they went

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forward. Listen to this stuff. This is the stuff we have to listen to. Well, they

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went forward after crusade. I like Chinese food. That doesn't change me. Are you

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hearing me? Well, they got baptized. If they're not saved, they got wet. Are you

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born again? Do you know it? Listen, those who are born again either know it or they

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need to be encouraged that they are. We're not talking religion. Forget it. Is your

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heart beating? With the heart beat of God because you're long for him. You've read

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his book and you think you've concluded he's awesome. I want to be with him. The

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Bible is his love letter to you. And when you read him, you find out I want to be

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with him. And heaven is where he lives. And that's where we want to go. Remarkable. The

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existence of this hope. Heaven's existence is our hope. But hope that is seen is

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not hope. You don't hope for something that you're holding. For why does one still

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hope for what he sees? This is stressing the fact that the remarkable characteristic

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of the Christian is that we live for heaven. We talk about heaven. We study about

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heaven. We act upon heaven. But we're ultimately going to have it. And it governs the way

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that we are right now. And listen, you get the reality of heaven cooking in your heart.

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And that's going to change things. I'm going to give you proof right now. It's beautiful

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by the way. I can't read this verse without thinking about Charles Stanley. Charles

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Stanley, who's better off today than ever has been, now having transitioned out of this

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world and into the presence of God. You want to talk about transition? That's a transition.

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He was transformed at the moment of his death. Charles Stanley's in heaven with God today.

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And I remember years ago him teaching this verse and he had his suit on, but look what

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he did. He said this verse demands that you preach to yourself. We should all learn

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how to do that by the way. Take the Bible and preach it to yourself. Psalm 42 verse 5.

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Why are you cast down, O my soul? Charles Stanley looked inside of his shirt and looked

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down to his chest. He's talking to a soul. Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you

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discarded within me? Hoping God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance,

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announced to yourself the Bible, friends, you take the truth of God and you announce

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it to yourself. There's days when you're not feeling just right. God, I just feel

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odd. I feel odd. My thoughts are wandering. It's weird. And you preach to yourself. God,

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you sit in the Bible to bring every thought under your captivity, under your authority.

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And I'm doing that right now. Jesus, I just feel depressed right now. I feel down and

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I can't explain it. Or maybe I can't explain it. I'm still tempted to feel down. Hope

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down in God. Why are you cast down, O my soul? In the scripture there says that his countenance

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brings help. I don't know how to explain this. I don't think I rightly can. And I'm

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glad about it. Because maybe if I could explain it, it would be too frail. I do not know,

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nor can I articulate what it is in the midst of life when God in that moment, when it's

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least expected, smiles or puts His countenance upon your life. It's like somebody walks

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in the door and lights up the room of your soul, gives you a thumbs up and walks away.

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The smile of God. It's native to the believer. We're in the family. And if insecurity is

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something that is in the family of God, I don't want anything to do with that family.

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If I have to have insecurity regarding does God love me or not? Did Jesus forgive me

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or not? I don't want anything to do with them. Why? Because if that's the case, then the

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Bible's a lie. No where does he say guess? Hope for it. Maybe these things have been written

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that you might know you have eternal life. And every true child of God is very aware of

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their frailty and sin as a human being. But this we know. God is forgiving and gracious.

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He dwells within us. And if we could be perfect, we would do it right now. And you know,

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you wake up in the morning and you start out perfect, don't you? Think about it. You'll

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wake up. God, it's a new day. What are we doing today? What are we doing? And you start

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heading to the shower and you step on the cat or sometimes going on and you get an attitude

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and you got, oh, God, forgive me for that bad attitude. I was awake for seven minutes

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and I just flew off the handle and bit the cat. God's grace is there for that. But listen,

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God's inside the heart of the believer is, Lord, I want to be perfect. And then when

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you're not, you say, Lord Jesus, forgive me. You are faithful to forgive me of my sins.

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If I confess my sins, you're faithful and just to cleanse me of my sins and of all unrighteousness

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first on one nine says, we would take perfect if we could. At this time, we have these bodies

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we're dragging around. And that's the battle. First Peter, chapter one, verse three, first

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Peter one three says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according

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to his abundant mercy, has, this is the born against statement, has begotten us again

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to what? To a living hope. What's it based on? Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

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from the dead. Is Jesus Christ risen from the dead? Yep. Then my hope is secured and

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my hope is anchored in the existence of heaven itself. Can't wait to get there. Looking

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forward to it. In the meantime, let's be busy about our father's business. And here it

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is, verse four, describing heaven. And to an inheritance incorruptible undefiled that

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does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through

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faith for salvation. Notice this. This is regarding the totality of us. That's, this includes

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our bodies, referring ultimately to our body as well for salvation, ready to be revealed

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in the last time. When Christ comes back for us, remember, we talked about last week,

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our bodies are going to be changed. Okay. And if you, if you die and we bury you, your

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body is still going to get changed at the come end of Christ. But the Bible here says,

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reserved. I am so, listen, I am so grateful. The existence of our presence in heaven is

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based upon God because he, he books the reservation. Lisa and I landed in Colorado Springs, went

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to the car rental place that we had in a reservation with. All I need is my confirmation number.

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You understand this, everybody? Hi. Yep. Here's a confirmation number.

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I'm serious. In fact, I'm making it short for you guys.

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Well, you can, you're going to have to wait an hour, hour and 15 minutes for a car because

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they're just changing things over and, and I am, I'm sorry, I have to go speak some place

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by then. And I'm serious. And I said, I have a confirmation number. Confirmation number.

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I mean, that means something, doesn't it? You walk up and you say, it's my confirmation number.

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I mean, that empowers you, you know? Excuse me, sir, do you have a confirmation number?

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Yes, I do. And here it comes. We're sorry. We just issue those like candy.

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We don't even know what it reserved for nothing. No car.

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Heaven does not work like that. Yes.

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No, God reserves. Man, the confirmation number is not a number. It's a name.

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Yes, can you imagine? I die. I show up. Hello. What's your name? Jack.

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Oh, here you are right here. Can you imagine?

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The Bible also says that you're going to die and they're going to say, what's your name?

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Wilbur.

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No Wilbur here. But I thought I had my confirmation number. I got confirmed.

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I gave a million dollars. I changed diapers in the children's ministry. What's your answer?

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If it's other than Jesus in His blood, you're in trouble, man. No reservation for you.

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No confirmation number for you. Are you trusting in Christ to get to heaven?

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Romans 15, verse 4, for whatever things were written before, we're written for our learning

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that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

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It's all based on the scriptures, Romans 12, 12. Rejoice and hope. That's awesome.

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That's the opposite of the world. The world is worried why you hope.

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Oh, I hope. Oh, I hope. Nope. The Bible says our hope is so assured and certain we can rejoice and hope.

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The Bible says patient intribulation. That means all the hardship, all the difficulty, all the stuff we're going through.

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God's going to get us through this. He's got a purpose. I don't know what it means. He does. I'm hanging on.

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And it says continuing steadfast and prayer. Let me put it to you this way. If your intribulation, you will be praying.

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So the key to Christianity is keep yourself in trouble. Always be in trouble. You'll always be praying.

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And then finally, church, we look at this. It's in verse 25. We'll end here today and that's heaven's expectation is our hope.

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Heaven's expectation, that glorious, awesome sense of eagerness. And it says, but if we hope for what we do not see,

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we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. In other words, heaven, you've never seen heaven.

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I wrote a book about it. I don't want to hear it. I had a dream and I went up and floated in the corner of the operating room.

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I don't want to hear it. It's not what it's talking about. It's talking about the fact that you haven't seen heaven.

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And so you eagerly wait for it because you take God at his word. This is the big takeaway for this.

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You take God at his word. What does he say? Now look, let's do this in the reverse.

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You know as I know that people have said things to us with words that have broken our hearts.

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So you cannot say words do not matter. They do matter. When God says something, it's never endowed.

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And when you hang onto what he says, that's called persevering. We don't need to make the word bigger than what it is.

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It is an amazing word. The word perseverance, listen to this. It means to endure patiently or patient enduring.

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It means steadfastness or being steadfast. It means hanging on. So if you need to hang on, I can't take it anymore.

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We don't feel like that at times. Sometimes even more as we get into these later years of this bizarre time of life.

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Yes, I can't take it. Yes, you can. Just calm down. Now God loves you.

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And going through these things of life, you've got your decision making process or you can have the expectation of heaven God's way.

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And listen, we eagerly wait. The word eagerly wait is awesome. It means to be waiting with full confidence.

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Isn't that beautiful? So what we've been talking about, full confidence to be without doubt anticipation, totally unlike the rental car company.

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Anticipating the moment, the events, the promised word coming of the full redemption.

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Oh my goodness, the promised word. We as Christians walk around, we should be absolutely like ticker.

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If you're a fan of wind of the poo, if you're not, you should be. Great theology and that stuff.

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Nothing gets ticker down. People insult him, poo insults him. I mean, E or insults him. Everybody insults ticker and he's just so happy.

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Listen, the Christians say, what? What's going on? Oh, I'm sad. Oh, really? Well, Psalm 42 says, hope now and God. Why still cast down on my soul?

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We've got the answer. It's absolutely remarkable. It's precious. The expectation of heaven will transform our lives.

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And that perseverance is hanging on. Someone wrote that in that meaning of steadfastness, the perseverance, the steadfastness is to be firmly fixed in place, to be immovable.

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Listen to this. Not subject to change. Isn't this some beautiful to you? Listen, a firm or to affirm or to be firm in belief, the adherence to what is known, loyalty to the evidence.

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Psalm 121 verse, Psalm 121 verse 2 says, my hope comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

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If God made heaven and earth, can he not help you in your relationship? Can he not help you with your sickness and your disease or your issue?

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Can he not help? Yes, you know what he loves. And he's amazing because he could just dole it all out, you know, like welfare. Just here it goes.

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He doesn't do that though. He's got all of these benefits right here, and he's waiting for somebody to ask him.

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Charles Spurgeon, I don't remember the title of the book exactly, but it's something like God's checkbook, and it's a checkbook of promises that you can write.

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You can look it up later. It's a blessing. That's all I remember. It's a blessing and it's about God's checkbook, and you can write yourself a deposit in this promise of God in your life.

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So I end with this Revelation chapter 22 verse 17, the spirit and the bride say, come, notice this. If you're not familiar with the context, let me put it to you this way.

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The Holy Spirit and the bride of Christ, the church, by the way, the church is in heaven by this time, say, come, and let him who hears say, come, and let him who thirst, come, whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

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For I testify to everyone who hears the words, listen carefully, the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to these words, God will add to him, the plagues that are written in this book, and if any man takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the book of life. Why? Because you don't mess with the promises of God.

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You don't mess with what he has said. And listen, we might say, I'm not missing with it. Do you believe him? If you don't believe him, you're messing with it.

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Verse 20 says, he who testifies to these things says, surely I'm coming quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. That is absolutely spectacular.

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This Jack Hibbs podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.