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 --> 00:00:11.360 truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. What the world offers is all 3 00:00:11.360 --> 00:00:17.040 glitter and when you bite into it there's nothing substantial there. You might 4 00:00:17.040 --> 00:00:21.520 wake up quickly to that or you might take an entire lifetime to wake up to that. 5 00:00:21.520 --> 00:00:27.760 It doesn't matter when you wake up to it as long as you wake up to it. 6 00:00:28.720 --> 00:00:35.920 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 7 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:41.440 Today if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in 8 00:00:41.440 --> 00:00:46.560 Christ then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us that's 9 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:52.240 like saying amen or yes then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now 10 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:56.880 open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 11 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:03.440 It's remarkable to realize that Paul the Apostle is speaking. I love this. Listen Paul, 12 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:14.880 one of the most zealous and powerful witnesses of the Jewish religion Judaism in the first century 13 00:01:15.520 --> 00:01:22.880 who was a combatant to Christianity. It's well documented both in the Bible and in extra 14 00:01:22.880 --> 00:01:29.360 biblical writings is that he was very zealous for his nation and for his brethren and for the law 15 00:01:29.360 --> 00:01:38.080 and for the regulations and Paul or Saul of Tarsus was this very zealous man who was out with letters 16 00:01:38.080 --> 00:01:43.760 of authority from Jerusalem and in the council to hunt down Christians and destroy them. 17 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:50.720 Some of them were held captive. Some of them were arrested. Some of them were tried in courts. 18 00:01:50.720 --> 00:01:57.280 Some of them were killed on the spot. It's legendary. It's historic and Saul of Tarsus was the chief 19 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:07.520 and yet God had a plan and interrupted his antics and his persecution as he was heading up north 20 00:02:07.600 --> 00:02:17.280 to the Damascus region on the King's highway that is right between Jordan and Syria today and 21 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:22.160 Israel today. The King's highway. It's in a valley. It's still there today and he was on his 22 00:02:22.160 --> 00:02:27.360 way to Damascus to hunt down Christians there and the Bible tells us in the book of Acts that 23 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:35.520 Jesus Christ interrupted his plans and visited his life and you can read about his life in the book 24 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:45.120 of Acts but he was absolutely transformed and when he understood, listen, when he understood, 25 00:02:46.480 --> 00:02:53.440 the Old Testament scriptures to say that they were teaching about the Messiah. Well that's obvious 26 00:02:54.160 --> 00:03:02.160 but that the Messiah had come. That's not so obvious. So when he studied the Old Testament 27 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:12.320 scriptures, he came to the conclusion that Jesus, we say Yeshua, Yeshua, Joshua, we would say that 28 00:03:12.320 --> 00:03:19.360 name as well, that the Messiah has come according to the prophets and for that the very team he was on 29 00:03:20.160 --> 00:03:27.520 turned around and tried to kill him. And so to speak now Paul with his change of name, change 30 00:03:27.600 --> 00:03:34.960 of life, change of worldview complete. Can I put it this way? Radicalized for God in the right way 31 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:42.800 became a lover of men's souls and he's been the greatest convert to Christianity. You know, 32 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:47.840 historians say this. He's the greatest convert to Christianity the world's ever seen. I want to 33 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:51.920 believe that I've been the greatest convert to Christianity the world's ever seen because I'm 34 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:58.400 the one that I'm concerned about regarding going to heaven. Does that make sense? I know what they 35 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:03.600 mean. They mean his conversion has literally affected millions and millions if not billions of 36 00:04:03.600 --> 00:04:09.360 people. My life maybe your life may not have that effect but isn't salvation personal anyway? 37 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:18.000 Is it personal for you? It should be. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 311, he has made everything 38 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:23.520 beautiful in his time. Also he has put eternity in their hearts. He's speaking about our hearts. 39 00:04:23.520 --> 00:04:29.760 Did you know that your heart, your life, your mind, your thinking will always go back to the fact 40 00:04:29.760 --> 00:04:37.120 that there is an eternal stamp by God in your making. You can go out and do all the things in this 41 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:43.280 world and all that this world offers and we've done it. Some of us have, it's been so long since 42 00:04:43.280 --> 00:04:48.640 we've been a non-Christian. We forget what God's delivered us from. We need to remember not dwell 43 00:04:48.640 --> 00:04:56.240 on it. You know what I mean? Not go back and think about it but remember enough about our pre-Christ 44 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:01.840 life to remember how lost we were. You know how we talk up the stuff we did? Oh man, it was an 45 00:05:01.840 --> 00:05:09.120 awesome party. It really wasn't. Oh, we had the best time ever man. We did this. We did that. Yeah, 46 00:05:09.760 --> 00:05:17.520 we really talk it up. What the world offers is all glitter and when you bite into it, there's 47 00:05:17.520 --> 00:05:23.040 nothing substantial there. You might wake up quickly to that or you might take an entire 48 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:28.640 lifetime to wake up to that. It doesn't matter when you wake up to it as long as you wake up to it. 49 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:36.800 That what this world offers has no way of sustaining what your life needs. Why? Because he's 50 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:43.920 put eternity in our hearts. Every single one of us. And so church, we look at this. We're on our 51 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:50.960 way. Number one is this way in verse 23, the heartbeat of heaven. The heartbeat of heaven is in our 52 00:05:50.960 --> 00:05:57.040 very making. The heartbeat of heaven. And you might say today, I don't believe in heaven. Well, 53 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:02.000 you not believe in in heaven doesn't make heaven not real. That just means that this moment, 54 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:07.200 you're going to miss out on a very real place. We don't want you to do that just because you don't 55 00:06:07.200 --> 00:06:12.320 believe in God doesn't mean he doesn't exist. That's kind of funny. He actually exists and he's 56 00:06:12.320 --> 00:06:18.720 written us his book and he's stamped within our hearts this constant nagging question about 57 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:25.920 eternity, about heaven, about judgment, about life, about death. What's beyond the grave? Job asked 58 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:32.080 that question. Oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job. Job asked if a man dies, does he live 59 00:06:32.080 --> 00:06:38.480 again? Isn't that great? By the way, if you read the book of Job, he gets the answer. He says, 60 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:47.120 I know that I will seek God in my flesh. What a response by Job. As Christians, we believe in 61 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:53.920 resurrection. Maybe you're Jewish today. Muslims believe in resurrection. Much of the world believes 62 00:06:53.920 --> 00:07:02.480 in reincarnation. Listen, the Bible is very, very clear. That resurrection is a biblical doctrine. 63 00:07:03.200 --> 00:07:08.320 And when Job said that, you got to remember, there was no Bible in Job's day. God spoke to him. 64 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:16.080 And he said, I'll see God in my flesh. What a statement. Every one of us who are trusting Christ, 65 00:07:16.080 --> 00:07:21.840 we will see God in our flesh. Now, thank God in heaven, our flesh, this flesh is going to be 66 00:07:21.840 --> 00:07:27.920 reconstituted. We believe in resurrection. That means if, listen, if I'm laying here dead and the 67 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:33.120 Lord calls us home in the rapture, my dead body is going to rise off the ground. It's going to go 68 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:40.800 invisible. Why? God is going to change the structure of my atomic existence. He's going to change 69 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:49.760 the collection or the assemblage of my material beings called resurrection. The Bible says the 70 00:07:49.760 --> 00:07:54.080 dead in Christ will rise first. And then we who are a library of Me shall be caught up to meet the 71 00:07:54.080 --> 00:07:58.640 Lord in the air. And that's where these movies come from and the books come from of a disappearance. 72 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:05.120 It's true. There's going to be a disappearance. Some will disappear at his coming. Some will be 73 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:11.680 resurrected from the dead at his coming. But the believer will be united with Christ in the atmosphere. 74 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:18.480 What an amazing thing. And our hearts will rejoice because finally, if you're honest, if you truly 75 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:22.800 know the Lord Jesus Christ, your heart beats with a hunger for heaven right now. 76 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:33.760 He says in verse 23, Romans chapter 8, not only that, building off of the previous verses, but we, 77 00:08:33.760 --> 00:08:42.560 listen, we also who have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves 78 00:08:42.640 --> 00:08:49.280 eagerly waiting for the redemption or the adoption, I should say, the redemption of our body. Very 79 00:08:49.280 --> 00:08:54.560 powerful portion of scripture. Number one church, jot this down. The heartbeat of heaven is this 80 00:08:54.560 --> 00:09:00.320 within us. Heaven's throne within us is God's proof. It's the proof of God in ownership of who you 81 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:09.360 are, of who I am. According to the scriptures, God dwells in heaven and we know this. But according 82 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:15.520 to the scriptures, what is known as the omnipresence of God, the omnipresence of God is that by his 83 00:09:15.520 --> 00:09:21.440 Holy Spirit, God dwells everywhere. I mean, it gets kind of deep, but think about it. God is here now 84 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:29.920 for the believer. God resides within us, he says, but he's also seated upon his throne in heaven. 85 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:40.080 That's beyond my comprehension, but this I know that my heart inside being a follower of Christ, 86 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:47.200 he touched my life with what is called salvation. And I didn't feel anything. The day accepted 87 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:51.920 Christ, some people feel things. That's great. I didn't, I didn't get goosebumps. I didn't 88 00:09:51.920 --> 00:09:56.960 get emotional. I was actually, everybody around me was crying and I thought something was wrong. 89 00:09:57.040 --> 00:10:00.240 What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? I remember saying that. What's wrong with me? 90 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:07.920 And somebody had to tell me, it's not by feelings, it's by faith. But this I knew from the moment I 91 00:10:07.920 --> 00:10:14.480 accepted Christ, my mind began to think differently and my desires began to struggle with my previous 92 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:24.080 desires. I grew up wanting these things and then Christ invaded my life and caused me to not have 93 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:28.800 a struggle with those things because now I wanted the things of God. In fact, over time, 94 00:10:28.800 --> 00:10:33.440 and this is true, many of you can say, amen, that the more that the Bible gets inside of you, 95 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:39.360 the more of your desires become his desires. The Bible says, delight yourself in the Lord, 96 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:43.600 and he will give you the desires of your heart. That's an awesome verse. But listen, 97 00:10:44.400 --> 00:10:49.680 it's not a tricked verse. Wait, what was it? If I delight myself in the Lord, 98 00:10:49.680 --> 00:10:53.920 you'll give me the desires of my heart. Man, that's awesome. That's not what it means. 99 00:10:53.920 --> 00:10:58.080 Well, that's what you said. You just quoted it. I did, but that's not what it means. 100 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:01.680 It means that if you delight yourself in the Lord, that means you fall in love with God, 101 00:11:01.680 --> 00:11:04.160 you care about what God thinks, you care about what God wants, 102 00:11:06.160 --> 00:11:10.880 that what you desire now or the things that God has always had for you to desire, 103 00:11:10.880 --> 00:11:15.200 it's just now you're listening. Now he's active in your life. 104 00:11:16.160 --> 00:11:20.720 Well, how is that true? Because he's enthroned in your heart. He's enthroned in your life. 105 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:26.320 You see this word, first fruits. Again, in most Bibles, it's one word. It's a difficult English word, 106 00:11:27.280 --> 00:11:32.240 or Greek word for us to put into English. So you see first fruits. Some of your Bibles might have 107 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:39.600 first fruits divided, but the meaning of this, first fruits, is this everybody. Talk about thrown 108 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:44.240 being on your heart. Look at this. The beginning of a sacrifice, he says this, 109 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:50.080 regarding our new life in Jesus, that we are to be a kind of first fruits. The beginning of a 110 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:56.080 sacrifice, the first fruit out of the Old Testament, Leviticus chapter 23, means the first of what 111 00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:02.720 has been received, the first of what has been taken in, or we would say harvested, the best, the 112 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:09.680 most precious of that which you have gotten in value or of worth. Meaning God's given you this 113 00:12:09.680 --> 00:12:16.160 in life, and God says, give me the best back. I'm your God. Keep your heart level. Give me the 114 00:12:16.160 --> 00:12:23.120 cream of the crop, so to speak, okay? God says we're to be giving him the first of our increase, 115 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:29.840 whatever that might be. But notice what this does. It shows us that there's the throne 116 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:37.920 room of God in your life, that God is in control, and the evidence of the Holy Spirit in possession 117 00:12:37.920 --> 00:12:42.560 of your life is that this throne is set up, and God begins to speak to you, and you basically come 118 00:12:42.560 --> 00:12:50.400 to this conclusion. Lord, I see that you want the first of all that's important to me, but now I see 119 00:12:50.400 --> 00:12:58.560 you want everything that is me. So somebody will say, well God wants 10%. Somebody might say God 120 00:12:58.560 --> 00:13:04.320 wants 13%. Somebody, did you know that, and then I forget his first name, but you've heard of 121 00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:16.720 Proctor and Gamble, the man Proctor. He said, Lord, he had basically nickels. God, I dedicate my 122 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:26.320 company to you. I'll give you 90% God of everything I make, 90. So what he did was, he started his 123 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:35.040 company, and God had to bless it so the poor guy could eat. And he lived his days like that, and 124 00:13:35.040 --> 00:13:41.280 of course became an iconic global corporation. But he put God first, that's what he chose to do. 125 00:13:42.560 --> 00:13:46.160 But what's amazing about this is that when you think about it, that God actually owns everything 126 00:13:46.160 --> 00:13:50.960 that you and I have, and he even owns the air in which you and I are breathing right now. 127 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:56.720 The fact that you and I know that as believers, and that we think about him being in control of our 128 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:05.600 lives is a glorious thing. We've learned this in Scripture, which I think is amazing. The feast 129 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:11.360 of first fruits, people write this down in your notes. When it says first fruits here, in verse 23, 130 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:19.360 first fruits, that's an Old Testament thought. In the seven feasts of Moses recorded in the 131 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:26.000 Scripture. And by the way, you may or may not know this, that in the Old Testament, which, listen, 132 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:32.800 every Christian, as I say, you're probably tired of me saying this, every Christian should be studying 133 00:14:32.800 --> 00:14:39.040 the Old Testament like you study the New Testament. You don't separate them. You look at the Old 134 00:14:39.040 --> 00:14:44.000 in what it says and what it promises, and then you look to the New to see when those things were 135 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:54.240 fulfilled, given, or implemented. The Old in New Testament. And when you look at that, you realize that 136 00:14:55.920 --> 00:15:02.560 in God speaking to us, there's a priority that Christ is to be on the phone of our lives. Why is 137 00:15:02.560 --> 00:15:06.720 that the case, though? Maybe you're here today and you're skeptic, and that's fine. The feast of 138 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:12.720 first fruits, check this out, given by God to Moses to pass down to the children of Israel, 139 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:22.240 was a springtime feast. And we know this. On the Hebrew calendar, it is to be celebrated on the 140 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:30.560 16th of Nissan in the Hebrew calendar. They have, their calendar has different names than our pagan 141 00:15:30.560 --> 00:15:41.360 calendar, which places it, listen, two days after the feast of unleavened bread. So you have, 142 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:48.240 you have the feast of first fruits, you take in the harvest, then you've got two days later 143 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:52.720 the feast of unleavened bread, and then on the third day, you have the feast of Passover. 144 00:15:53.520 --> 00:16:01.840 And you say, who cares? You and I do. Based on Leviticus chapter 23, 2000 years ago, when Jesus 145 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:13.680 died, listen to this, Jesus Christ died three days after the first fruits of offering in Jerusalem, 146 00:16:14.880 --> 00:16:24.960 two days after the feast of unleavened bread. What does that mean? That God who promises the first 147 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:31.280 fruits, meaning the best given to God first, Christ, according to the Bible, is the first one 148 00:16:31.280 --> 00:16:37.280 resurrected from the dead, never to die again. And because Christ has risen from the dead, you 149 00:16:37.280 --> 00:16:43.440 can know that you have eternal life because what he's done for us. And it's in direct correlation 150 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:50.560 with God's revealed word through Moses. That's why over and over again in the Bible, the very one 151 00:16:50.560 --> 00:16:56.000 who occupies the throne room of your heart is the one who said, I am the resurrection in the life. 152 00:16:57.680 --> 00:17:03.360 I am the way the truth in the life. I am the bread of life. I am the living water. I am the 153 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:09.760 light of the world, Jesus said. He made that announcement and those are huge announcements to make 154 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:18.000 because he's insinuating that I am the eternal one who gives you life because my offering is the 155 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:25.280 bread of life. The word that I give you is the water of life. Think of it. Radical statements, 156 00:17:25.280 --> 00:17:30.960 right? You have to admit, don't let anybody in your life tell you, well, you know, I believe in 157 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:36.640 Jesus. He was a great prophet, really? Oh, he was one of the enlightened ones. You know, people 158 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:41.760 try to, Jesus is too big to throw out the window so they read, they try to redefine them. So they 159 00:17:41.760 --> 00:17:47.600 give you some kind of a bogus excuse or definition of who Jesus is. Listen, I would argue this and that's 160 00:17:47.600 --> 00:17:54.480 what J. R. Tolkien argued with C. S. Lewis. That's not true. The things that Jesus said, the things 161 00:17:54.480 --> 00:18:04.240 that he said to people, he said things that are crazy unless he performs these things. He says, 162 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:10.800 if a man dies believing in me, he'll live forever. What kind of a lunatic says that? Unless you can 163 00:18:10.800 --> 00:18:16.240 pull that off. Are you hearing me? That's a C. S. Lewis. C. S. Lewis responded instead of Tolkien. 164 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:23.200 I believe Jesus is a good guy. Tolkien says, well, that's weird because the things that Jesus said 165 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:30.880 it demands a response. Everything that he said is so radical that he's either what C. S. Lewis 166 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:39.120 said, a liar, a lunatic or the Lord. Think of that. Very powerful statements he made. 167 00:18:39.120 --> 00:18:48.800 This Jack Hibb's podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener 168 00:18:48.800 --> 00:18:56.160 supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibb's.com to 169 00:18:56.160 --> 00:19:03.760 learn more and stay connected. Get that MX Goldcar ready. I'm way too tired to cook tonight. 170 00:19:04.560 --> 00:19:10.320 You read my mind. With the Goldcar, we can get up to $120 a year in statement credits. 171 00:19:10.320 --> 00:19:17.440 Are you feeling the cheesecake factory? Five guys? Either of those sound good? Yes. Which one? 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