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Why does God sometimes say yes, sometimes wait, and sometimes no? In why doesn't God answer my prayers? Trusted Bible teacher Dr. Erwin Lutzer offers biblical wisdom for one of life's hardest questions. Through scripture, he reminds us that God's silence is never indifference. Request your copy today with a gift of any amount to Real Life. Visit jackkibbs.com or call 877-777-2346. Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast. With intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture.

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Your flesh and my flesh is always talking. My flesh is talking to me, saying, you know what we want, don't you? This is what we want. And then you being the born again you, the spirit of God, says, yeah, we don't do that anymore. And then you have to say, go sit down. Just get away from me. You're dead. You were crucified at the cross with Jesus because, listen, greater is he that's in me than he that is in the world. And you, flesh, I remind you, old man Jack, the old Jack has been crucified with Christ. You get a back seat. You stay back there.

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You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackibbs.com podcast today. If this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying amen or yes. Then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs.

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The scripture makes it clear. We'll write a few things down here before we get going, and that is this. That the Lamb's Book of Life comes into mind. For me, when I think about these things, the things written, the Lamb's Book of Life. There are many books referred to in the Bible. I'll just say books of God. There's books written down. For example, in Malachi, chapter three, did you know that every time you have a conversation that's about the Lord, it says that he writes it down in a book of remembrance. Did you know that? Read Malachi, chapter three. Every time you talk about God, it says it's written down. Why? Because someday it's going to matter. Wow. Well, the Bible says there's the Book of Life. The Book of Life. The Bible says, regarding the Book of Life, you want to make sure that in this life that you don't get your name blotted out of the Book of Life. So listen up. Everybody, this is very critical, what I'm about to say. So I need to know if you're awake. So here's the deal. It doesn't matter right now if you're on the moon or if you are the most convinced atheist that God does not exist. I don't care who you are or where you're at. If you are a human being, the Bible makes it clear that God, in giving you life, has put your name down in what is known as the Book of Life. Understand this. This is very critical. For example, Osama bin Laden. His name is written in the Book of Life. Listen carefully. Adolf Hitler. His name is written in the Book of Life. Name some other crazy person. Okay? Be nice. Wait. No, no. Be nice. Okay. I'm sorry. I said that. Every human being that has ever been is written in the Book of life. You say. Wait a minute. I don't like the way that sounds, Jack. Just hang on. In Revelation 13, verse 8, the Bible says, all who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names. Watch. Wait. Have not been written in the book of life. Of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Don't panic and don't leave. You'll mess yourself up if you do one more verse and then I'll explain. Revelation 21, verse 27. Very important. But there shall be no means enter in anything that defiles or. This is talking about heaven or abomination or a lie. But only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Say. Wait a minute. Which one is it? It's both. Watch. Every human being. This should terrify all of us in a. In a good way. Want motivation? Here it comes. If you can hear my voice, your name has been written. Your life has been written in the Book of Life. What does that mean? It's an inventory sheet. It's inventory. It's heaven's inventory. It's heaven's manifesto. Let me see. Right here. Okay. Susie Q. Susie Q. Born in such and such a time. Allowed it these many years and weeks. Whatever, doesn't matter. He knows all things. And her name's in the Book of Life. Watch. And let's see now, if her name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. So we'll go on over here. Lamb's Book of Life. Susie Q. Susie Q. No Susie Q. Oh, my goodness. No Susie Q. So let me go back to the Book of Life and Susie Q's name's blotted out of the Book of Life. Did you get that? Every human being. Adolf Hitler's name. Currently at this moment. The Day of Judgment's not come yet. His name is written in the Book of Life. What does that mean? It means God gave him life. What did you do with your life? What are you doing with your life? I'm no Adolf Hitler. You don't have to be. Whoever you are. Is your name highlighted in the Book of Life because you believe in the Lamb of God. And your name is. Copy over to the other page, pasted Lamb's Book of Life. Because watch. Everyone's names who are not found in the Lamb's Book of Life will be blotted out of the Book of Life in the Day of Judgment. Have you ever listened? Do we all know how insurance works? Think about it. Insurance. Insurance is. I'm planning ahead regarding a catastrophe so that it goes well. To give your life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is to get your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. That's the only way that your name stays in the Book of Life on the Day of Judgment, when God, all the human mankind will stand before God. And the Bible tells us that all those whose names are not found written in the book were cast into hell. Do you remember when Moses said, if you don't save these people, God. If you don't save them, blot my name out of your Book of Life. Moses said that. And of course God wouldn't do that. That's not how it works, Moses. You can't save these people. Only I can save them. But I hope you. I hope you understand that we deal with it every day. Just think of two ledgers, and your name is on one of them for sure. Cause you were given life and you're living in this world right now. But have you ever taken God up on his insurance policy that says, why don't you come to belief and faith in my son, the Lamb of God? So the moment you believe, have your name be copied and then brought over to the Lamb's Book of Life, that ledger, and then hit paste. And your name will be enshrined in both places forever. Cause if you don't do the one, your name will be removed from everything. And that's called Hell. Wow. You see? Where'd you get that idea from? Old Testament and New Testament. The full counsel of God. Make sure you know. Make sure you study. Make sure you know that. Ezekiel 34, verse 31. You are my flock. He's speaking to Israel. The. The flock of my pasture. You are men and I am your God, says the Lord God. He knows his sheep. He knows those who believe in him. Does every Jew believe in him? No. Does every Gentile believe in him? No. Does every American believe in him? No. Does every Israeli believe in him? No. But some do and some in America do. I hope I'm looking at the sum right here. Right? Think about that. Very important. John, chapter 10, verse 27. John 10:27. Jesus is speaking. My sheep hear my voice. I know them but that. Oh, and they follow me. Do you want to follow him? Tomorrow's Monday morning. Are you gonna want to follow him? See, what if I. What if I know I should follow him, but I don't want to? That's okay. We can work with that. Tell God I don't want to follow you, but I know I should. So I want you to change my feelings. Did you know that, friends? So I don't know if I'm. I don't think I'm a very good Christian. You maybe you're not, but I don't know. I don't. You know, I don't know if all of us are getting really high grades either. Thank God for his grace, right? But here's the deal. What do you want? See, well, what I. It's kind of. Because it goes deep, man. What do you want? Well, what do I want? I want what I want. That's what I want. But if I. If. If you pull that layer back. What I really want is whatever God wants. Because my flesh, your flesh. And don't look at me like that. Your. Your flesh. And my flesh is always talking. My flesh is talking to me, saying, you know what we want, don't you? This is what we want. And then you being the born again you, the spirit of God, says, yeah, we don't do that anymore. And then you have to say, go sit down. Just get away from me. You're dead. You were crucified at the cross with Jesus. And you have no right. You're talking to me right now. You're trying to tempt me right now. You're trying to win this war in my mind, and you're not going to win because, listen, greater is he that's in me than he that is in the world. And you, flesh, I remind you, old man Jack, the old Jack has been crucified with Christ. You get in a back seat. You stay back there, Sit on your hands. Think about that down deep when nobody's looking. And if you had a chance to vote, one vote, would it be for all the money and all the power in the world, or would it be Jesus Christ for heaven forever with him? You say Jesus? Yes. Praise the Lord. But there's a lot of people that say, yeah, take the world, because they don't believe him. Jesus says, I know my sheep, and they'll follow me. And following Jesus is not always a beautiful thing. We're getting hate mail. Oh, it's an honor. No, it's. You should let me. I'm gonna say it again, and then you guys clap. Ready? Well. And we'll edit it, and we'll make you guys look great. Ready? 3, 2, 1. We're getting hate mail. We're getting hate mail because we. No, you're great. But we're getting that kind of mail because. Because that church believes in the Bible. That's what. Oh, my goodness. Wait, what? Yes. You guys believe in the Bible. Okay. We're getting hate mail because. We encourage you to know what's going on in the world around you in politics or school boards or life. And how does that apply to the Bible? What should you do? How should you be a witness everywhere you go? So most recently, the. You know what that we're getting. We can't believe that that church is holding something called Pray vote, Stand. Oh, my goodness. How. That's horrible. That's horrible. And when you read. When you read the criticisms, it's very comical because I was just laughing, and then I had to send it to everybody I knew. You got to look at this. This is awesome. Everything the person was upset with us about, that's what they do for their team. That's what they do for their atheism. They speak up for their atheism, and then we speak up for Jesus. And they say, you can't do that. And it's actually funny. But that's a good thing. That's a good thing. Jesus says, I know. I know those who are mine. And then we see this final part, and we'll end with this. It doesn't mean you leave yet. I. You. You guys are trying to get out early. I know. All the time. I used to call that ditching class where I came from. But in verse four, it says to us that we, through the patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. And to this I'd like you to write down. It shows who you belong to. You so belong to him. The patience and the comfort of the scriptures. Luke, chapter 10, verse 1. Luke 10:1 tells us this. After these things, the Lord appeared or appointed 70 others. So he first sent out the 12. The 12 that you know. And then after the 12 came back, the 12 disciples from doing ministry, then he sent out 70. That was the second wave. So 70 followers of Jesus he sent out and he sent them two by two before his face into every city and place where he himself was about to go. So this was like the advance team, right? So let's say that two of you would be deployed to this particular neighborhood area of Chino Hills, or maybe Diamond Bar, Yorba Linda. Okay? And you're going ahead and you would be saying things like this, hey, we have met the Messiah and he's going to be here in a day or two or he's coming soon and we want all of you to come and listen to him for yourself. Verse 2. And then he said to them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. And down to verse 17. Then the 70, because they had very successful ministry, doing what he had told them to go do. Then now they return. Then the 70 returned with joy, saying, lord, even demons are subject to us in your name. That's awesome. By the way, that is still true. You need to know that. I think there's things that are happening in America that the world that doesn't know what to say when you have police officers tell you it took 11 of us guys and all of us weighed over 200 pounds to hold down this man who's 135 pounds. The world system like this. Well, what kind of drugs was the guy on? They don't know how to handle it. I was talking to some guys where this guy that they were trying to subdue bit one of the officers. And I mean, it was not even human to go bite off a chunk of skin down like that and take it out. How does this happen? How does this. And so the world that doesn't know what to say says things like this, mental illness, just mental illness. But people who work in that world will tell you there's things that we have, we label mental illness we can't explain. How do you explain somebody's eyeballs turning absolutely stone black? And you're not the only one seeing it. It's like, did you see that right now? How do you explain 11 guys each weighing over 200 pounds and they cannot hold down 135 pound guy? And he's not on drugs. I think we're seeing demonic activity, but nobody's got the guts to say anything about it. I think it's happening, folks, and I'm not happy about it, but it is an indicator of the last days. There's things that are going on you cannot explain. And yet Jesus, the Bible, the apostles, told us, in the last days, deception will come. Evil spirits and doctrines of demons will manifest themselves. We're seeing this crazy rush toward Satanism and witchcraft. Verse 18. And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Jesus said, behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Which, watch this. And that's amazing. Verse 20, though, is the punchline. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Is that awesome? Church Family, this is what we should focus on the most. Not what's over there behind that door. We should rejoice in this. We should be bold in this. Hey, my name's written down in heaven. Jesus said so. He wrote it there. He's reserved a place for me. He died for me on the cross. He rose again from the grave. He put his spirit in my life. And that is the assurance that is the greatest power of all things. No wonder why Jesus says, you've got all power to go deal with the demonic realm. And that's going to be amazing. And you're going to be very thrilled about all that. But you don't listen. You want to get thrilled? Here's what you should get thrilled about. You should be thrilled that you have a reserved seat. Heaven. And then verse 21. This is so precious. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit. His heart was like, yay. These guys got it. It's going. It's happening. Second Peter, chapter one, verse ten tells us, therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and your election sure. In other words, those of you most recently who have made a commitment to Christ, hang in there. Go for it. Read your Bible. Meet other people. Strengthen the things that you know God is doing in your life. Watch what happens. For if you do these things, you will Never stumble. Verse 11. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Say Amen to that. Wow, a big door to go through. We're almost done. In fact, you can stand. That's how done we are. Stand. And final verse, Romans, chapter 8. Verses passage. This is so great. May this fall upon you. May I'm going to read this, and I pray that this is your blessing. For whom he foreknew, that is, he knew you before time was ever created. Because He's God, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. That's why many of you have been waking up to consider Jesus thoughts that he might be the firstborn or the preeminent one among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called, whom he called, these he also justified. Notice it's only the past tense, by the way. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. And what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? The answer is a lot of people can be against us, but it won't matter. Let it happen. He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is he who condemns. It is Christ who died and furthermore is risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. That means that word intercession means Jesus is talking to the Father about you right now. Love it. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, or peril or sword, as it is written Old Testament. For your sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord and all God's people said Amen.