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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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Listen to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Is living through this life now until the moment you breathe your last breath. And then to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord. You go home, you see Christ. God opens up the gate and says, come on in. This is what Jesus has done for us.
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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 Bible says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 21, For God the Father made him who is Christ, who knew no sin to be sin for us. That means God laid upon him your lust, your anger, your pride, jealousy, you name it everything. God put it upon him that we might become the righteousness of God in him. In Christ. I wrote in my Bible, the great exchange. Christ goes to the cross. He dies in my place. He puts his righteousness and demolishes my sin. He picks it up. He carries my sin. He demolishes by his righteousness. Then he turns around and being resurrected from the dead, he bestows upon us his righteousness and changes the account ledger that your name. My name is in heaven. And underneath it used to have all of this stuff, what is known as the handwriting of ordinances that were against us. Christ washed them away by his blood. You should clap at that. We should all be very happy about that. Atonement. Atonement. Christ carried our sins and he washed them away. He did that. And if you understand that, then you get to experience freedom from guilt and shame because you're the one that become keenly aware of the fact that there used to be a different you and now there's a new you. And he died for you because he loved you. Matthew 5, verse 41. The Bible says. Jesus says, and whoever compels you to go a mile, go with him too. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away. Wow, this is so Christlike. You have heard that it has been said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. That was the proverb until Jesus blew that out of the water. Verse 44. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. You say, jack, I can't do that. None of us can do that. We have to ask God to give us that kind of love. Are we willing to bear the burdens of even of those who hate us? Now, I understand we are called and commanded to bear the burdens of those in the family. But what about those in our lives who. I mean, they may not have come up and say, I hate you, or maybe they have. Then it makes it very simple, you know what to do. But if it's somebody that's just like you kind of get the feeling, yeah, I don't think they like me. Figure out a way to bless them. I am not going to tell you some details because I don't want to give you the details. It's. I'll just say this. Many, many years ago, decades ago, there was a person that just would not leave me alone. It was bad nuisance. I'm telling you. Every turn I'm hearing something about me that I didn't know about me. This person spreading stuff, this person saying things, just this incredibly overwhelming preoccupation was disgust for me. And I thought it was pretty contained and quiet, meaning limited to just. And then I began to hear strangers talk about it, and I just. Here's my first thought. I remember it like it was yesterday. Jesus, this is doing nothing but hurting your reputation, your name, your glory, your word. I don't know what to do. And then I go on and live my day. And then I do what you do. The next morning, I'm reading my Bible and I come across this scripture. And it says, bless those who curse you. Do good to those who spitefully use you and say all kinds of evil against you for my name's sake. How can I do that? God? First of all, I'd have to get a phone call through to them somehow. They would never take my call. But what would I do? In our family, there's a tradition. It's been going on for generations, and that is that from my mother. In the Hawaiian culture, my family, generations on my mom's side, there is this very, very special meal. I will just say it's. Have you ever heard of loco moco? Well, that's junk compared to what this is. It's Hawaiian fried rice and eggs. But it's unbelievable the way that it's prepared all of this stuff. And my mom taught it to me, and I taught it to Lisa and our daughters and our granddaughter. And it's a deal. But you only share it with special people. That's the tradition. And you know what God said to me? I thought he was so wrong. He said, that's what I want you to do to this person. Say what? But here's the deal. Lisa cannot be involved. She needs to be dismissed. You're in the kitchen. You do all the preparation. You do it. You set the table, you make it. But I don't know this. I'm not kidding. You guys listening? Lord, I don't know what kind of bread the guy likes. What did God say? God said, get wheat, get white, get rye, get sourdough. And I had it all. I don't know if the guy liked coffee or tea. I had coffee and tea. I made it all up. Person came over and said, what are you trying to do, kill me? No, please sit down. That breakfast was at 8am that person talked till about noon. I didn't understand what was going on. They got in their car, they drove away. And when that person drove away, I can't explain to you, and I'm glad I cannot explain it to you. It was so supernatural. I felt like I had lost 10 pounds in 30 seconds. There was this peace and this release of blessing. The one who spoke evil of you, did that person stop speaking evil of me? No, it never bothered me again. When you see scriptures like that and you say, I can't do that, please do it, because, listen, Jesus wants you to be free and the world hates you. And I, to the best of our ability, to the best we can bless them, you say, I don't know how. I didn't either. Ask God. He'll tell you. That's who we are as believers. Philippians, chapter 2, verse 4 tells us, Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but. But also for the interest of others. Wow. And the next thing we see is in verse two, that it reveals your loyalty when the world speaks ill of you. Cheer up. It Reveals your loyalty. Some of us, I hope all of us know what it's like to be attacked. For Jesus sake. Have you ever had people attack you and it's not even you they're attacking? It's so obvious they hate Jesus, man. It's like it's ratcheted up pretty high right now in the world around us. I'm getting all kinds of hate mail right now. I'm being told you need to get a security team. You're getting these threats. These pro Hamas, pro Hezbollah people are speaking about you. Why? What I do to them? Well, I, I was in, in Israel and that I, I don't know how I did. I didn't like, fill out an application for this, but in Israel, I was voted a number five out of ten, the top ten gentiles that stand with Israel. I was number five. And I'm. And I, I thought, well, that's cool. Well, this, not everybody else thinks that's cool. And, and then this article went on to say, this guy believes what the Bible says. This guy believes that Jesus is the Messiah of not only Israel, but the Messiah of the world. This is all true. It's true. And listen, I'm. This guy is a Zionist. That's true. You want to know why? Where is Zion? Does anybody know where Zion is? It's in Jerusalem. You know, that's where David had his throne on Mount Zion. It's a hill, for crying out loud. Oh, guess what? The son of David is going to establish his throne when he returns on a hill called Zion. But listen, when people don't like that, they say, are you a Zionist? It's like, yes, what of it? But we think, listen, if the other people who hate Jesus and hate the word of God and hate you say, are you a Zionist? The way that they frame it, you go, I don't know. I don't know if really should have. Maybe. Am I. I don't know. What are you doing? Stand up. Stand up and say, yeah, God is so. I am too. Yeah, that's right. God is so. I am too. So do you believe in Jesus? Do you? The Jesus who died on the cross and rose again from the dead? Yep, I sure do. Yes, I do. Why? Because he's your only hope. We're living in an amazing age. Don't be discouraged. Because every day your loyalty is gonna be tested as to who Jesus is in your life. This is not a time to get scared or weak kneed. It's a time to lovingly stand and say, yes, I love the Lord, he's amazing. He's been so good to. You should know him too. Respond in a way. He says, let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. And that's how Jesus is to us. Jesus builds us up with his love. And so we should mimic the same. And the word please here, this is a good word for us to look at. The Greek word for to please is to make glad. Is to make glad to create a pleasant atmosphere. Oh, this is cool. To set a table, as in welcoming in a stranger. I like that. Isn't that neat? You know, some people that one of the. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of hospitality. Have you ever seen people with the gift of hospitality? It's almost so amazing. It's uncomfortable. You ever been where somebody's got the gift of hospitality? You walk into their home and it's like the lighting is perfect, it smells perfect. They're so sweet and nice. They thought about everything and you want to be there. And then it's time for you to go home and you don't want to leave because they have the gift of hospitality. And if they were to say, well, we have an extra room here, okay, because you know there's going to be a souffle or something in the morning. Love just comes out of them. They care about every little thing. And if humans can be like that under the possession of the Holy Spirit, how much more God, he loves you and these beautiful things. Well, there's so much wrong in the world. Of course there is, but there's so much good also. Don't get fixated on one thing. You'll get depressed. Psalm, chapter 23, verse 1. The Lord is my shepherd. Notice the possessive origin of this, by the way. See the caps on L, O, R D? That's Yahweh. Yah. In the. In the Scriptures, it's Yah. Yahweh is my shepherd. That's beautiful. That's the name of God. Yah. I shall not lack or want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Yay. I've always heard it in my head this way. Yay. Yay. Yay. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Listen, you're going to want to remember verse four, because every single one of us will experience verse four. You will walk through the valley of the shadow of death. You say, what is it like when I Breathe my last. And I. That's when I die, My body dies. Is that when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death? Once I die? Nope. Listen. To walk through the valley of the shadow of death is living through this life now until the moment you breathe your last breath. And then to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord, you go home. You see Christ. God opens up the gate and says, come on in. This is what Jesus has done for us. It's awesome. So yea, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. No Covid there, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Instruction, encouragement and. And discipline comfort me. You prepare a table. Here it is before me in the presence of my enemies. Wow. God can give you incredible control and peace in the most hostile, ugly situation. Because the spirit of the Lord. Listen. Is not only where you're at. The spirit of the Lord has to be wherever you're at. Because Jesus tells us regarding the fact that the spirit of God dwelling within you, he says, I will never leave you or forsake you. And Jesus does that by the power of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 19 says, for though I am free, Paul is speaking from all men. In other words, nobody can buy me, says Paul. Nobody owns me. I have made myself a servant to all that I might win the more. And to the Jews, I became as a Jew. Which is funny. He was a Jew. Why is he saying this? Because it didn't matter to him anymore. Is this amazing? The super Jew? Paul was the super Jew. By the way, if you're Jewish today, please listen. If you're Jewish, don't stop being Jewish. My listen, our God's Jewish. Our Messiah's a Jew. If you're Jewish, you need to come and meet your Messiah. He'll take care of the rest. It's amazing to think some people have said Jesus was the first Christian. Do you know what Christian means? It means Christ follower. And it's also a slang word. It was a derogatory statement. Antioch. In Antioch, the unbelievers started making fun of Christians by saying, look at the little Christians. You guys just walk around talking like Jesus, acting like Jesus. Aw, you're so cute. But little we're going to call you Christians. Little. Little Christ walking around. And the Christian said, I mean the believer said, that's. We like that. We're going to hang on to that. No, friends, Jesus was not the first Christian. Jesus was the Jew who pointed us to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were the Gentiles who have been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel, says the scripture. So listen, if you're Jewish, you're just a little bit ahead of us. You just need to understand that your Messiah is not coming for the first time. You're not waiting for your Messiah to come for the first time. He's coming again. We're waiting for him to come back. And you need to know that you've been focusing on the wrong one. The Messiah came and died for our sins at the cross, rose again from the dead, and he's coming back. So listen. Paul says, listen, when I was hanging out with Jews, I became like a Jew that I may win Jews to those who are under the law as under the law. In other words, when Paul was hanging out with a bunch of legalistic people, he just walked a very straight line with them that I might win those who are under the law. Verse 21 to those who are without the law, unbelieving or gentile world as without the law. Not being without law toward God, but under the law toward Christ. In other words, love. I'd never I never compromised my love that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became as weak that I might win the week I became all things to all men that I might by all means save some. Is this sweet? Now this I do for the Gospel's sake that I may be partaker of it with you. To be the kind of a believer that never compromises truth, we stand on that unwaveringly. Like so many things in life, it's how we communicate it. Do we communicate the truth of God by the fact that we love other people because we love God first and that we minister by carrying one another's love?
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