Approaching

Real Life presents the Jack Kibs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. We're living the times of signs. Now look, we are not sensationalists, meaning, oh, that's a Bible prophecy. Oh, that's a Bible prophecy. Look, that's a Bible prophecy. No, we're not doing that. That's hyper, that's strange. But on the other side, we're not deniers either. We're not saying, oh, God's prophetic word is not prophetic at all. It's just simply allegorical. Oh, no, it's not. No, you know what? We are, how about this? We're stage setters. We are watching the world scene be set up in such a way that it's got to get our attention. And again, from Genesis to Revelation, God's Word is spoken favorably toward all those who are watching and waiting through the Word of God in their daily life. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibs.com slash 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 Hibs. We're going to be looking at the power of God's Word today, what it means to us and the time in which we're living. But if you step back with me two thousand years ago, you think about this for a moment, there's a man by the name of Saul, Saul of Tarsus. He's a Roman-born citizen, but he's Hebrew, he's Jewish. And he's a man that according to the Bible was extremely zealous against Christianity. Even to this day, Paul the Apostle, earlier known as Saul of Tarsus, Paul still to this day is the greatest known convert to Christianity that the world has ever known. He knew the Old Testament scriptures, unlike anybody. And the Bible says that concerning the righteousness which is by the law, he was blameless, that concerning the fact that he was of the right stock, he was born a Hebrew of the tribe of Benjamin, that he had been circumcised on the eighth day in concerning his equals, he was considered to be perfect. But all of a sudden he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, and his life was transformed. And that man went on to be the greatest voice for the cause of God's Word. And what I love about Paul, and you got to remember this church 2,000 years ago, when Paul preached the gospel more specifically, when he came to, as he was heading to Europe, he came to that area of Asia Minor, which is down near West, toward Thessalonica, one of the oldest cities in the world still to this day. And when Paul got there, nobody was believers, it was no church. But he went there and there were synagogues, and he was a man of the synagogue. And so he went to the synagogue and he opened up to them the scriptures for three weeks, the Bible tells us. But he taught them church, marked this. He taught them two key doctrines. He was only there three to four weeks. Two key doctrines. One, your salvation is secure in Messiah, and number two is the fact that God knows everything, in fact, Christ is coming back. That's what he taught them. Your salvation secure, I love that. And oh, by the way, Christ is coming back. You put those two things together, and you've got the ultimate motivation for the believer to go about this world, and telling people about the hope that's available to them in Christ. That's all we need. We don't need a seminary, we don't need books, we don't need anything else. It's nice to have them if they're right. But we have the Word of God, we have the message of God, and the Bible says we've got the power of the Holy Spirit to do that. And so Paul did that and began to transform the world. And it all comes down to the fact that I'm really, if you've been hanging out here for a few weeks, you're going to say, man, that guy quotes that verse like every week. And you're right, I do, because I'm really rubbing it in right now. And that is Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25. Hebrews 10, 24 and 25 says this, church, listen, and let us consider one another in order to stir the word in Greek is stimulate, provoke, challenge, to stir up love and good works. Keep your finger there. As believers, we are to be interfacing with one another to do two things in our lives. We are to stir each other up to love. You know, love is a verb. Love does stuff. Love is a verb. We're to love. That means we are to love one another and we're to love those around us. That means you love those who sat in your seat today. How they get your seat. You're going to love them. You're going to ask them about that or tell them that's my seat. That's not your seat, by the way, that you didn't buy that seat. That's not your seat. Oh no, this is my parking spot. Not your parking spot, because we're going to stir one another up to love. We're going to yield our seat to them and we're going to yield our parking spot to them. And why? Because we are to love. That's what we're going to be doing. As a church, we are to love. And then the Bible tells us that we are to stir up these good works meaning that our activity is this. We need to get together. Listen, I'm going somewhere with this, no one another enough to say, hey, you know what? We're fellow believers. We go to the same church. Let's go, let's go shake the world up for God. Let's go do something. Let's go do some, let's go park, let's go to the hospital and just stand up there and pray for people. Let's go to the local abortion clinic and pray outside and pray, pray for hope, pray for somebody. Let's go to somebody that's shut and let's paint somebody's fan, so let's take somebody's trash out. And listen, the early Roman Empire said Caesar even confessed these Christians they love one another. But that's not all that that passage says. It says that we are to verse 25, not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. That means we are supposed to be doing church. But listen, he says, don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together as, listen, the manner of some have done. That's sad. They've given up on assembling. But the Bible tells us, but exhort one another and so much more as you see the day approaching. 21st century right here right now, the Bible commands us whatever you do, you need to stir each other up to love, do good things, good deeds, bless another people, and oh, by the way, as a church, never stop meeting. Never stop me, but but but all didn't know about COVID. Never stop meeting. World War One, never stop meeting. World War Two, never stop meeting. Listen, World War Three, we don't know where it's going to happen. Don't stop meeting. Listen, the church all around the world meets every city's who poster, but they help the park. Listen, God knows about the health department. You must understand something. The Bible says, do not forsake the assembling together, and there's no little, read the fine print. Why? Because more than ever, the world around us needs the love and the activity of the church. We are not a company, we're not a corporation, we are the church of the living God, and that's what we are to do. We are to love and express that love to everyone we need. Why? Why? What's the big motive? Because the motive, listen, we understand clearly from Scripture, Christ Jesus could come back at any time. The imminent doctrine of Christ is that he comes back for the church, and it could happen at any time. Regarding approaching, and the theme of that number one mark it down, approaching, notice is the times of the signs. There's quiet in here because you think I spilled that rock. Normally it said, are we living in the signs of the times? Yeah, but what I would like to say to you is we're living in the times of the signs. In other words, there are things happening on the world scene right now in this 21st century that have never happened before, but they had to happen biblically, and those passages of Scripture have been waiting for us to meet up with them for millennia. You and I are living in a very, very interesting time. Regarding nations, regarding cultures, regarding what's happening in the world, it's not an accident that you're alive and breathing at this moment. It's not an accident that you're here right now or that you're tuning in right now. God knows exactly what he's doing, but I'm going to suggest to you today that we're living the times of signs. Now, look, we are not sensationalists, meaning, oh, that's a Bible prophecy, oh, that's a Bible prophecy, and look, that's a Bible prophecy. No, we're not doing that. That's hyper, that's strange. But on the other side, we're not deniers either. We're not saying, oh, God's prophetic word is not prophetic at all. It's just simply allegorical. Oh, no, it's not. No, you know what? We are, how about this? We're stage setters. We are watching the world scene be set up in such a way that it's got to get our attention. And again, from Genesis to Revelation, God's Word is spoken favorably toward all those who are watching and waiting through the Word of God in their daily life, every single one of them. It's remarkable. So as we look around to the world scene, we consider about the signs of the times and the times of the signs. We see a stage set and there's props being put up. There's placards being put in place. Lighting is being moved in. There are players, national players. There are key trends and decisions being made in the world today. The movement toward a world government, the movement toward a world health program, the talk right now of an international global a reset regarding vaccinations or economies, all being talked about. These are the opening throws. We're living in amazing days. Now listen to this. You might say today, I don't need to know this stuff. Be careful. It's in the Bible 27 to 31% of it's in here for a reason. Number one, listen, Matthew chapter 24, verse one, Matthew 24, verse one, the Bible says, then Jesus went out and departed from the temple. He had been teaching there earlier if you read the previous chapters and his disciples came up to him to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, do you not see all these things? Surely I say to you, not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down. Church, that's it. If you're Jewish and you're the disciples and you're standing there looking at one of the wonders of the world and they're saying, Jesus is amazing. This is where we meet God. And Jesus says, take a good look because it's all going to come down. Now they didn't like what he said. But in the year 70 AD under General Titus, it all came down. Not one stone was left upon another. Verse three, now as he sat on the mount of all those the disciples came to him privately saying or asking three questions. Tell us when will these things be? Number two, what will be the sign of your coming and three of the end of the world or the end of the age? And Jesus said to them, now you listen to this. Jesus said to them, indicators, signs. Listen, I have an awesome antique barometer at home. It's beautiful. It's from the late 1800s. It's spectacular and it works perfectly. All the weather that we've been having lately, can you believe we had weather? In California, it rained. We saw clouds. What are those things? And then it rained and then in some areas it snowed down to a thousand feet. We had lightning and thunder. My mom used to tell me growing up because she was born and raised in Hawaii. She is what they were told. That's what told her is that when you see lightning, that's the scoreboard of heaven and thunder is the angel's bowling. Look, I don't think there's bowling in heaven or scoreboards. But when I saw that, those big flashes of light, I thought, man, that's amazing. And I remembered my mom's voice. Well, listen, the fact of the matter is when the Bible tells us that these things are coming. There's indicators. The storm came. The barometer dropped dramatically. We knew something was up because the barometer fell so greatly before there's ever a cloud in the sky, indicators. And you keep that in mind right now because, listen, in verse four of Matthew 24, Jesus said to them, take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name saying, I am Messiah or Christ and will deceive many. Jesus said, here's an indicator. By the way, if you're not a believer, listen up. This is awesome. Jesus said, as you get deeper into the end time events, these are some of the things that you'll see. These are some of the things that will indicate the times of the signs or the signs of the times. It's the fact that there'll be great deceivers in a religious or spiritual context pulling people away, not only from the Word of God, but there will be false messiahs that will rise up. Jesus said that church 2,000 years ago, remarkable. Next, verse six, chapter 24, and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not troubled. For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Wars and rumors of wars, constantly growing. Verse seven, he says, for nation will rise against nation. Those of you who are Bibleson, she should mark this right now, the word nation is the word ethnos in Greek. Jesus said, ethnos will rise up against warring against ethnos. It's where we get the word ethnicity or ethnic groups. Jesus said, one of the indicators of the last days is that ethnicities will divide from one another and they will war against each other. You know what? Not only is that happening, but the world that you and I live in, it's stoking the flames of that. It's as though we are helping on a course to destroy ourselves as a culture. And of course, we are a culture without God as a destructive culture. But it's amazing to me that the news media, the print media, radio, songs, movies, stoking the angst that white should hate blacks, black should hate Hispanics, reds versus fill in the blank. Remarkable. You guys know by now, I don't hold anything from you, so I'm probably getting trouble about this when I get home, but this morning I was getting ready to come here. And clearly, our bathtub, our granddaughter on Saturday had used our bathtub. How do I know? Because there are a bunch of toys left in the bathtub. And it made me think, because I knew this verse. I had this verse here in my notes a few days ago, but I looked at what I saw in the bathtub. Do you know what I saw in the bathtub? I saw teacups, I saw little chairs and little tables. And I saw little combs. And I saw a white Barbie. I saw what is either a Hispanic or Polynesian Barbie. And I saw a black Barbie. And how do you know, they're all naked in the bathtub. And it blessed my heart because I thought, you know what's so cool about that? My granddaughter, she has no knowledge that this one's white, that this one's Polynesian or Hispanic or this one's black. It was the United Nations in my bathtub right there. It was awesome. But Jesus said in the last days, you'll have an indicator. And the indicator will be, ethnic groups will war against ethnic groups. You know why that's true? Because there's no Jesus in your heart. That's why that's true. When there's no Jesus in your heart, you parse yourselves up, you divide, you get into little clicks and groups and God hates that. Hello, take a picture, go look at book of Revelation. The Bible says in heaven, there are those from every kindred tribe, tongue and nations of the earth in heaven. That is awesome. So listen, if you're a racist or if you want to be like that, you're not going to enjoy heaven. You're not going to have to be happy there. Well, where's my section? Can you imagine? They open up the door and there's flames and fire coming. Here's your section. Look, the gospel asked you. You want smoking or non-smoking? It's right there. No, we need to be careful about that. But Jesus said, watch out, racism is going to be on the great increase. It'd be one of the signs of the times. He said in verse seven, and kingdom will be against kingdom. Basilia against Basilia. These are politicals versus politicals. That's what we're more accustomed to when we think of nations, right? But it's kingdoms. Political rules will war against political rules, thus political wars. Verse seven continues. This is amazing. Jesus said, there'll be famines. There'll be pestilence and curable viruses and diseases. Earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. He says, he's going to get worse. He said this at the beginning. See, you glad to come to church today, right? Big encouragement. COVID was his warm up. Think of it. I'm glad Jesus told me all this stuff. I'm glad that Isaiah told me this stuff. I'm glad Ezekiel told me what he said. When God tells us stuff in advance, it's called Bible prophecy. It should bring you comfort. It should really bring you God. Look, I want to know what's coming up. I mentioned it a few weeks ago, but I'll use it in a different context. This thing about, you know, why do I need to know this and why this and why that? Because we need to know where we're going and we need to know what's ahead. That's why God has given us this word. And the fact is that it's so simple to us. We just need to translate it over. When you and I are going down the road, and now our apps are so cool, they're telling us everything. I've gotten now an app like you probably, by the way, it's created by the IDF. I don't know if you know this or not. Have you heard of the app Ways? It's, it was created by the IDF in Israel, regarding Gaza. And, but anyway, that's another story. But when you have Ways and you're driving along and it says, Debury up ahead, three miles. It also says, police officer. A mile ahead on the left. For you sinners. But it tells you what's coming. Don't you appreciate that? Here's the app for life. This is it right here. Tells you what's coming up. Tells you what's next. And we need that. Jesus said in Luke, chapter 21, verse 25, Luke 21, 25. Jesus said, regarding the end times, there will be signs in the sun and in the moon and the stars. And on the earth, distress among nations. Listen to this with perplexity. The word perplexity in Greek means nations will have no way out of dilemmas. There's no way out. The sea in the ways roaring. Now listen, think COVID right now. Think, listen, men's hearts will fail them for fear. And the expectation of those things which are coming upon the earth for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Listen, I don't mean to be little anything. But according to God's prophetic plan, COVID may not even appear in the radar. A blip at best. There are things coming to this Christ-rejecting world that are cataclysmic. The world is as it were shaking. And there's almost a violence to it just in and of itself. But Jesus said there's a time coming when men's hearts will fail them for fear. They look around, they'll see the headline news and they'll begin to get palpitations, stress. And maybe heart attacks. Their hearts will fail them because of fear. And all around the world today, it's almost embarrassing to be a human right now. We buckled. I'm convinced that if we didn't have the media platforms that are available to pound us with constant propaganda, we would have fared much better. But people are bound in fear that you see people crippled by fear. This is just the beginning, Jesus said. So what's your point? My point is listen, Christ comes into your life. He takes away the fear of death. He gives you a reason to live. And listen, listen, if he can handle the grave and make it empty, he can take care of anything else that comes into your life. We need to stop fearing. It has crippled you if you think of it. 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.