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Hey everybody. We got our first time ever actually devotional. We have a 40 day devotional called watching waiting. 40 days of walking you through biblical passages that excite you and prepare you for the soon coming of Jesus Christ. Watching waiting is a 40 day devotional that's all tied to biblical prophecy. Watching Waiting it is our featured resource for this month and it's available for a gift of any amount@jackibbs.com realradio jackibs.com.
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Realradio 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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Proverbs 29:2 tells us this. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. God didn't say stay out of leadership or politics. He said for good people to get involved.
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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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You know, when we say that we look forward, right, to the coming of Jesus Christ. We as a church, we study and we'll study more what is known in theology as eschatology, that is the study of the prophetic things of God. Inevitably you, you come to the study of Christ returning. And you need to remember church. I know that you do, but I'm just saying it for our broader audience that when you talk about Christ returning, you need to remember that you are talking about two distinct comings of Christ or appearances or arrivals of Christ that need to be defined. So for example, when you talk about or say, I can't wait for the Lord to return, we need to ask you, or we need to ask one another, what do you mean by that? Because there is the appearing of Jesus Christ for his church, where he does not come to earth, but in fact appears in the atmosphere. And the Bible says that he will draw up all those who are alive and remain. Remember, the dead in Christ will rise first and those who are alive when that day comes will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. I hope it's us. I hope it's today that we are pulled from the earth, caught up. Or in Latin the word is raptured up. And then listen don't confuse that with the second coming of Christ. The great second coming of Christ is when Christ comes in vengeance to the earth. He comes with the wrath of God. The Bible says it's the great and terrible day of God. The Bible says that in the second coming, the earth will tremble at his appearing, and they will actually call upon the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb who is coming to earth. And the Bible says that he's on a white horse and he speaks the word out of his mouth and he will judge the nations. You say, Pastor, stop, you're scaring me. Well, listen, if you're a believer today, you will have nothing to do with that but be a spectator. If you read Revelation, chapter 19, you will be. I will be riding behind Christ as he executes wrath and judgment upon the earth. That's the second coming, where he physically comes to earth. Like his first coming was a first arrival to Jerusalem and to Israel. So the second coming is his second arrival to Jerusalem and to Israel. And between those two things is what's known as his appearing. So when we talk about his second coming, what do we really mean by that? You see? Jack, are you sure you're in the right book to study this right now? Oh, completely, completely. For this reason that when Christ returns, he will set up his kingdom. The Bible says. Have you ever heard that before? Raise your hand if you've heard that Christ is coming to establish his kingdom and you have. Listen, to be a kingdom, you have to have a king. And if you have a king and a kingdom, you have to have subjects. And if you have a king, then he has to have a throne. And if you have a king who's king of the kingdom, you have to have a realm. And from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible speaks about Jesus Christ being the king of kings and the Lord of lords. But we don't often stop long enough to realize that for a king to be a king. Here it comes. Hang on to your seats. That he must exercise what is known as a body politic, or we would say the king's policies. Bluntly put, Jesus has his politics, he's coming to implement those. You say, I don't wanna talk about that. Yeah, you better. If you're a Christian, you wanna pay close attention to that. Because everything that man has done thus far has been an attempt to try to implement government which God ordained. We'll see this today. But they've done it their way and they've tried to do it without God. They've taken what is of God and they tried to do it without God. And then you and I well know that it never works out right when people try to lead by laws without God. Now somebody is already criticizing this statement in their minds. They're saying, oh boy, what are you, you know, are you saying that God's kingdom should be established on earth? Oh, I'm not saying it. I'm not even suggest it. I'm saying, absolutely. But how do you achieve that? You think you're going to achieve it through the Republican party? Do you think you're going to achieve it through the Democrat party? You think you're going to achieve it through any human property? None whatsoever. No. The answer is no way. But that doesn't negate the fact that God invented government. And to that you cannot escape, but to understand. And so I hope you don't find this boring. I personally love the feelings, the warm and fuzzies I get when I think about this stuff. And when the Bible comes to things like this, I just rejoice about this. So we just need to remember that when we say O Lord, thy kingdom come. You need to know what you're talking about when you say thy kingdom come. Oh God, you are actually saying this. Your political rule and reign, come, Lord God, but it will not come through any nation on earth according to the Bible, except one nation on earth when they have a king and the throne will be established in Jerusalem. Anybody know what that nation is? Israel. America will not usher in the kingdom of God. Okay, when people say, well, these Christian nationalists want to create a utopia on earth. Wrong. No we don't. We happen to live in the nation of America. But listen, God first, Bible first. And America is not called to save anybody or to be a kingdom that lasts forever. But God will reign from Israel. He will sit upon the throne of David and he will reign from there forever. Luke 11, verse 2 tells us so. He Jesus said to them, when you pray, say, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That prayer is actually a request for Christ to return. It's not to establish some perfect governmental reign, political party or the election of a particular group of people. It's Christ is coming. And that's to be the attitude of the believer. But listen, in the revelation of God's will to all of mankind, please write this down. I don't want you to forget this. There are three primary, listen, three primary institutions created by God. There are more, but they all come out of the three. They come out of this trinity of truth in the Bible. Number one, according to God's creation, number one is marriage. You ought to write that down. Marriage. You can sum it up by saying home life, the life at home, marriage, husband and wife, mom and dad, kids, home life, a community that leads us to that sense of community. Marriage. Number two, God established government and that is righteousness and order for a society. It is. Listen, man did not invent government. In fact, by nature, man is opposed to government. Man is more inclined to anarchy. But God's grace intervenes and God implements governments among the nations. And you can't have a nation without government. And government, according to the Bible, is God's second institution that he has created. Notice he created marriage and he created government. Is marriage under attack? Is government under attack? And then thirdly, you can combine these two together. It's the ecclesia or the church and Israel. Not the church or Israel, it. It's the church and Israel. Summing it up this way, all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. How about that? Jew and Gentile alike who come to faith in Yeshua as Messiah. The Bible tells us that that is the third institution that God has created. I have some questions, and I'm going to say this sarcastically today. I have some questions for you today and I'm going to ask for participation. Okay. Should human beings be involved in what God calls government? Hmm, that was a pretty confident yes. I'm surprised, but you've rightly answered because by me saying the word government, you're okay with that. But if I mentioned the word politics, we get a little, we get a little nauseous. Politics is the implementation of. Listen. Of what someone views as government. Did you hear that? Subtle, but it's poignant. Politics and to politic, politicking is to take what they want and to bring it about into being. Irregardless of your view, irregardless of God. And so we hate politics, but we love the fact that God has established government. Yes, this might be a big masterclass in civics, but it might be this, a master class in physics based upon the Bible and how you and I ought to live our lives in real time. And to me that would make for a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ in this time and this age. The Bible says, you say, well, I don't even like this. I'm not coming back next week. Yes you are. Yes you are. Because of this one verse Christian, one verse Jeremiah 29:7. Yes, you are. Because you have to. So there. That's that. The Bible says, seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive. And every Californian knows that they've been carried away captive into the city in which they live and pray to the Lord for it. Did you hear that? We are commanded by God to pray for the city we live in. That's not all. For its peace. You will have peace if you pray and get involved in the city in which you live in. By number one, praying. God wants your city to be at peace, and he wants you to have peace. Can somebody say amen? The God of the Bible wants your city to be peaceful. And that is ordained by God based on Jeremiah 29. 7. The believer is to pray for the peace of the town, the city they live in, and for themselves that they might live at peace. I think that's absolutely beautiful if you think about it. But we hear a lot today about justice, about balance, about fairness, do we not? I'm going to show you a couple of pictures of justice. This is what she looks like. This is justice, or otherwise known as Lady Justice. She appears all around the world, at least she does in republics and in democracies. Notice the scales. They are to be leveled most of the time. Not always. Lady justice has what across her eyes? Anybody? A blindfold. Because she's supposed to be blind. To influence only the truth, to bring about justice. And so her scales are balanced. People today demand justice and all these kinds of things. Listen, good, bad or ugly, it doesn't matter who's protesting or in the streets saying what they're saying. It's all predicated upon the concept in the mind that justice should prevail. And the concept, you know, some people are not gonna like this. That whole concept comes from God, initiated by God, given to us by God. And he's written that reality and truth upon our hearts. This does not come from atheism. It doesn't come from evolution. It doesn't come from any other origin but God alone. And even today, when people who are godless are yelling, I demand justice. They have no idea that in their godlessness, they are asking for God to manifest his balance, his fairness, his presence. This is vitally important because we want to expose hypocrisy and come to that place of understanding. And so it'd be good for us to ask this question, what is government? It's God created, it's established order. It's to punish evil, and it's to promote justice. That's what government's for according to the God of the Bible, it is to establish order. It is to punish evil and promote justice. Isn't it funny you and I live in such a woke culture where people don't want to hear about punishing evil. They think it's a bad thing to punish evil. I got in a lot of trouble this week, I'm told. I don't read. People tell me how big, how much trouble I'm in. I don't read social media, so I don't really know. And then people come up and say, boy, are you in trouble. You did a podcast on corporal punishment. What does the Bible say? Does a government have the authority to kill someone who committed murder? The Bible's crystal clear about this. And I just simply gave the Bible and boy, that went down rough. I was told. Why? Because people don't want. They want justice their way, not the way God wants it. And yet without God, there will be no justice in all of mankind. When somebody commits a horrible murder against somebody else. And if you don't have the God of the Bible presiding in your life, you do understand that there will never be any justice forever in your worldview without God, you say, how do they get away with that? No one's getting away with nothing. Well, they did it 30 years ago. And look at them. They're living in the palace. They're not living yet. Just wait till God gets done with them. See, we want it our way, we want it now. And God says, you just be quiet. That's not for you to do, it's for me to do. And when I get done doing it, you're gonna say, wow, you did it better. Because he's a just God. Just be careful when we cry for justice, he just might bring it to you. The Bible says in Genesis 9, 6, whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed. Folks, that's in the Bible. Give that to your kids, your grandkids, give it to your school kid. They're not hearing this in school. God says a human life is so valuable that when they take a human life by murder or by some means of manslaughter, their blood must be taken. Because that's the value of a human life. You see, that doesn't make sense. Makes perfect sense. If you act like God and take someone else's life, your life must be taken from you. By who? The government, that's who. Established by God. For in the image of God, he made man. That is the qualifier. Why is it wrong to murder? Because you are Acting like God and taking the life of someone who was created in the image of God. And you do not have that authority. And God says because you've done that, your life must be taken. Let me tell you something. You want to know crime rates and all the horrible crimes that are at the level they are in America today because we've stopped enforcing the laws. If you knew, if we put the Ten Commandments in every classroom in America for just one year, you'd see a drop in the bizarre behavior of kids. Because the Holy Spirit, the kid would read, thou shalt not murder. And then God will speak to that kid's heart. Put away your gun, put away that hatred, put away that evil. But isn't it interesting that the politics that prevails in America today says you can't do that. Somebody might feel bad if they read the Ten Commandments and so they remove it. That's politics messing with government, folks. And if we were to do anything as a nation, we need to get back to law and order and the rule of law as given by God and how our founders so well understood. First Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 33, First Corinthians, 1433 says, For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. I want to make sure I say this rightly and I read, so I'm going to read it verbatim. Here in my notes, we begin to take on the two most controversial issues known to man, and that is faith in politics, or said differently, God in government. Listen, please notice what I did not say. I did not say faith or politics or God or government. There's an entire worldview out there that demands that you must pick one. Listen up, everybody. Don't do it. When somebody says, oh, do you have an American flag on your house? You must be a bigot. Have you ever had similar things happen to you like that? Don't let that happen. Don't let that happen. You say, well, how can I prevent it? Don't defend yourself on that. Let them say it. But just keep going on with the conversation. Because, listen, you'll never convince them because if they believe it or not, that's their argument. They're not going to change. So when somebody says to you, God or government? Yes. If somebody says to you faith or politics. Yes. Why? Because God has given government. I believe in God. I believe in what he's given. And you and I believe, bringing about his plan on earth until he comes again for us is us influencing the leaders that are around us in life and that is politics. Influence the leaders. We are commanded to do this.
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