A Life Filled With Joy And Hope

00:00 - Speaker 1 Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. 00:09 - Speaker 2 And God might be speaking to some of you today saying listen, you need to start hoping in God and stop putting your hope in people. You need to understand that the people that you're hoping in they're hoping in something else as well. Hope in Him. 00:23 - Speaker 1 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.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. 00:51 - Speaker 2 Look at Ezekiel, chapter 44. He says here but the Levitical priesthood, the sons of Zodak, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel, those are, the Jews went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me and they shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord, God. They shall enter my sanctuary, they shall approach my table to minister to me and they shall keep my charge Verse 17,. When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. Hang on with me, this is cool. They shall have nothing of wool on them while they minister at the gates of the inner court and within they shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments or linen underwear around their waist. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes. What's that word? Sweat? Did you know that was in the Bible. God says those who represent me are not allowed to sweat and to be safe, don't wear wool. And the priests literally put cotton in their armpits and in their crotch areas so that they wouldn't sweat, because they wouldn't want to violate the word of God and any moment, according to the scriptures, that when God's ministers begin to sweat at ministering for God. 02:31 We've gotten into the flesh, we're doing the wrong thing. And how many times, as believers, we think it's such a big burden to serve God? Oh, my goodness, do you want to be a Christian like me? It's really awesome to serve God. It's such a the burden of the Lord. The burden of the Lord. God says can you not talk like? That Makes me look like a bad leader or some sort of a tyrant. We're going to be learning a lot about today regarding the joy that God would have for us in this walk as believers. And so when God says in his word don't sweat. Just take that to this modern age, it's still true. As believers, if we are sweating out our Christianity, we're doing it wrong. We need to be more dependent upon the Holy Spirit in living out Christianity in our lives. The number one thing you and I need is for us to be yielded to the moving of the Holy Spirit, and it'll always move in your life, based on the word of God, the Bible. God's spirit will never violate the scriptures. He's a gentleman, he's holy and he's the one that dwells within you if you're a believer today. 03:38 Now listen Matthew, chapter 28,. We jump all the way to the New Testament. Jesus is speaking, and he's speaking to all of us. And Jesus came and spoke to them saying All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. This is the word of the Lord. All of this is God speaking in conjunction with you and I being his representative. 04:15 From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible says in 1 Peter, chapter 2. And this is where you're going to identify immediately Chapter 2, verses 5 and verses 9. You also, as living stones, are being built up, a spiritual house here it comes, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, verse 9. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous lights. Folks, listen, you just heard earlier God's call to the Jewish people to be a priesthood, and you're reading Peter writing to the church to be a holy priesthood that God has called us out of the world to represent him. 05:07 And here's the beautiful thing. The Bible tells us in another place that there is neither Jew nor Gentile, right, there's neither bond nor free male, female, but all are one in Christ. And so that absolute common denominator is that Jesus Christ is our Messiah. Common denominator is that Jesus Christ is our Messiah. Look the Gentile. I'm a Gentile, I've been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. The Bible says Now you can be a Jew and not know Jesus as Messiah and be completely out of bounds regarding his salvation. You must come to him knowing that he's Yeshua Hamashiach, that Jesus is Messiah, he's the one that the Old Testament is written all about. And so the Jew has been the custodian of the Bible to give it to the world. But we must all come the same way. We must all. What did Jesus say in John 3? We must all be born again. But listen, those of us who are God's children, jew or Gentile, we are a holy nation, a royal priesthood, the scripture says Isn't that amazing to think? How does that all work out? Well, church, listen. 06:12 We dive in now to the third argument, and it is this together, it is number three, verses 12 to 13. I'll review the first part in a moment, verses 12 to 13. Is this Walking and talking all the way to heaven means this that we go where we are now or from this starting point we go. Why? How? Because we learned this last time. We learned first of all that in verse 9, that who we are now in Christ is that we're brand new creations. We've been made new and he's changed the way that we think. He's changed our goals. He has changed our desires and on top of that he's put his spirit in us. And the Bible says in the book of Ephesians he has sealed us under the day of redemption. I Bible says in the book of Ephesians he has sealed us under the day of redemption. 06:59 I love that. I'm old enough. I feel sorry for young people today. They don't have the fun stuff that us oldies got to enjoy. 07:07 I remember putting stuff on layaway. Anybody remember that? I love layaway. That was awesome. What a country. You could go into a store and you can't afford that thing. But you say I want that and they would say listen, you got to put a nickel on this or you put your name on it. They take it off the shelf. You got the satisfaction. You can see them take that Tonka truck off the shelf and they carry it in the back room and they put it on a shelf. Then they tore the thing off with a number and they walked over and they gave it to your mom, my mom, and then my mom gave it to me. She said don't lose this. And I would look at that thing every day because, listen, you put it on layaway until it was time to pick it up. And it's the exact same word in the book of Ephesians that you and I, who are believers, God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. It's even called a redemption store. Do you remember those stores? Blue, blue, wait blue chip and then green stamps. Remember those things? Remember those things? You'd look the pages and the book and the stamps. It's like so awesome, you wait for the day of redemption. 08:17 Listen, you might find this rather interesting. Before you go to the ends of the earth, you read a moment ago that Jesus said go to Jerusalem first. And can I argue with you this morning that this is your Jerusalem, right here first? I mean, isn't it our local city where we live? Of course it is, but it all starts right here. What does that look like If you and I are people that are walking and talking with God all the way to heaven. What does that look like now? And so mark this down, if you would. In verse 12, we learn this that you and I go through this life right now with joy. It is a commandment. I love this With joy. Can you write that down? It's actually a marching order given in scripture you and I are to have joy Now. I'd love saying that because imagine or maybe you don't have to imagine you know, I remember Lisa and I we went camping with our daughters to Zion National Park in Utah so beautiful and we had a great week. 09:13 And we're getting in the car and we're coming back home and they're all their hair. You know we're camping, but getting in the car and we're coming back home and they're all their hair. You know we're camping, but Lisa took the time, their hair was done up all cute and they're in the back of the car and those days, seriously, there's just the back of the car and there's no seat belts, there's pillows and you're laying back there all stretched, and then they start don't cross, don't, don't this, don't cross this part. This is my part. Don't put your foot, your foot, dan, her foot's on my side and they're and I'm driving, stop it and it's like this, knock it off. And then if I have to pull over, you know the stuff that you all said, but I'm confessing up here for you. You know all that kind of stuff. 09:49 And then after a while it's that we're pulling over because this is not going well and what happens? We were all joyous and it was a great time. And then you get into the drive back home and these attitudes start popping up and it affects your happiness. I'm not happy right now. We are pulling over to make sure that the two of you in the back are as unhappy as I am. And so what is that? Based on what's happening, happenstance. We always say, hey, what's happening? Man, like that's really something legit to ask somebody, because the answer is well, you really want to know what's happening. It's all based on happenstance. This is what's happening. It's all based on happenstance. This is what's happening now. This is what happened yesterday. I was happy yesterday, but now I'm not. 10:48 And the Bible tells us that we need joy, not happiness. Think about this for a moment. I always stress this in a wedding service is God wants you to operate in joy because on one day you'll be happy, the next day you won't be happy. And didn't God wants you to operate in joy because on one day you'll be happy, the next day you won't be happy. And didn't God create her to make me happy? No, as a believer, we're to walk in joy, and it's not a feeling, it's a decision. And it's not only a decision, it's one of the very manifestations of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives joy. And so we're to have a life of joy. 11:17 Where do we get that from? Look at verse 12. Rejoicing in hope. So there's three key elements that are here Rejoicing, patient, continuing. Actually, the word in the Greek, continuing, steadfast, is one Greek word, so it's rejoicing, it's patient and steadfast. Number one rejoicing in hope. This is amazing. 11:40 Notice the meaning of this word to be glad, to be glad. It can be translated to be greeted. I actually love that. To be greeted, to be animated. So, to be glad because of joy, to be greeted by joy, to be animated by joy. What about activated by joy, to be moved under the influence of joy, rejoicing and one author wrote in the word meaning joying. That's, that's the way we're to live our lives. Why? Because listen up. As believers, this world is going to go up and down. This world's gonna have hardship, pain, death and sorrow. In the midst of all of it, the Christian has joy, even when we're weeping. Did you know that? Even when the baby dies, or even when we bury our loved one, or even when we lose that job or this thing happens and the world would implode. And you're standing there and you're taking it, not because you're strong, no sweat. It's because your God is strong and he's saying here's what you do, you give it to me, you give it to me, and we can joy in the hardest situations when we have him as that focal point, him as the target for our souls. 12:58 I read something this week. It was a study on psychology and the issue regarding suicide and depression, and if I wasn't a Christian, I would have gotten depressed reading it. And did you know this? Depressed reading it? And did you know this? That the moment somebody loses hope, we're to be rejoicing in hope? The moment somebody loses hope, they die. That's what the statement said. I found that kind of shocking. The moment somebody loses hope, they die. 13:32 And so if you think about it cancer, cancer. You realize how merciful cancer is. You know, if somebody tells you tomorrow you have cancer, as a believer, you have time to get your house in order. As a non-believer, you better start thinking some forever thoughts. The doctor says you've got this blood disease or you've got this sickness. There's a mercy in that, rather than crossing the street and the guy driving the Mack truck fails to stop at the stop sign and you're gone in a moment into eternity. That's not merciful, is it? Think about it. You say where are you going with this? This is where I'm going with it. 14:18 The fact of the matter is that you and I can rejoice in the fact that God's word tells us that we can rejoice in hope, because the hope that God gives is an eternal hope. It's a forever hope and it cannot be molested, it cannot be manipulated, it cannot be taken away from you. You're the only one, I'm the only one, who can fail to tap into what God has given us. I cannot have hope for you, I cannot have joy for you. You've got to live that in him on your own. I wish I could. Or when I'm down, or when I'm drained, I wish you could kind of give me an IV right Infusion of hope and joy. It doesn't work that way. In all of life's difficulties, we can either choose to give up or we can look to God and have hope. And joy and hope are inseparable and I want you to know that joy it might feel. You might feel as though joy is so far away and not able to be experienced, and it's the exact opposite. It's you today saying and it's the exact opposite. It's you today saying God's word is his will and he wants me to rejoice in hope. 15:32 Now, what is hope? Hope is expectancy. Hope is what you have put into a promise, and I don't want to upset anybody. I don't want to rain on anybody's parade and I don't want to upset anybody. I don't want to rain on anybody's parade, but I always take the promises of man with a grain of salt. It's not because I have anything against anybody who makes me a promise, but they're human. They don't have the capability to keep promises. You may try all you want, you may fail. I can tell you. I'll pick you up at 10 am tomorrow and my car blows up on the way there. I had no power to fulfill it. I had no power over the situation, but what's happened? Expectancy is now dashed. 16:16 Friends, when people lose hope, that's when they pull the trigger. When people lose hope, that's when they kick the chair out from underneath their feet. Are you hearing me? According to all of the studies, that the most dangerous thing in life is for you to lose hope and your life will end. Suicide by cop, suicide by cop. Drink yourself into oblivion, put the gun to your head. Why? Because you've lost all hope. 16:45 You might be here today and you're saying well, my life's been miserable, I can't take it anymore. And this is my last effort. I'm coming to church today and I'm gonna see if God's gonna speak to you. God's speaking to you right now. If you were thinking this is the end, I can't take it anymore, God is saying you come to the right place. He's here to tell you Hope in God. He can be trusted. Friends. 17:09 The Bible, by the way, tells us in Romans 5, verse 5. This is a breath of fresh air. Now, hope does not disappoint. God's hope does not disappoint. Oh, I'm so disappointed. Well, let's be honest, we all get disappointed when we put too much on others to make us happy. 17:32 The whole premise is wrong. The psalmist writes in Psalm 43. This is beautiful. Vindicate me, oh God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation or people. Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. Wow, are you being attacked unjustly? This is the Psalm you want to pray For. You are the God of my strength. 17:58 Why do you cast me off? That's emotion speaking. God says I'll never cast you off, but emotions will tell you otherwise, will they not? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Oh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me, let them bring me to your holy hill and to your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, God, my exceeding. There it is joy, and on the harp I will praise you. Notice that joy. Suffering Then eyes on God leads to heartfelt worship. 18:34 Verse 5. Why, and it's so cute? Look at, it's almost like he goes like this with his robe. It's like he looks inside himself. It's like he looks inside his t-shirt. You pull out your t-shirt, you look inside and you say something like this why are you cast down, oh my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? 18:53 Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him. The help of my countenance and my God. He'll fix my face. You know your face. Your face wears your feelings many times and God might be speaking to some of you today saying listen, you need to start hoping in God and stop putting your hope in people. You need to understand that the people that you're hoping in, they're hoping in something else as well Hope in Him. Listen, when you hope in the Lord and you do not put your hope in people, there's a sense of divine resiliency that you cannot buy, you cannot read in a book, you cannot get anywhere, but from Him, because the Holy Spirit that is inside you, the believer, the moment you say, Lord, I want this joy in my life and I want this hope. You are asking him the exact request he wants you to ask. He wants this for your life joy and hope. 19:55 - Speaker 1 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.