Beaten At Their Own Game

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
Headline news Northern California Church facing investigation for ballot collection efforts. A church has concocted a scheme to receive ballots from its congregants and they must be investigated. Oh, my goodness, guess what Church in Northern California, a church in Southern California and churches up and down the state of California obeyed the law and did ballot collection at their churches and overwhelmingly brought in ballots and votes. From a biblical worldview perspective, stay tuned. We're going to be talking to a pastor who got excited, got educated, took what he learned back home to his church in Northern California, made a world of difference and the woke world and the progressive ain't liking it. They passed the law, we used it and now they don't want it anymore. Stay tuned.

01:02 - Speaker 1
You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbscom 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 Hibbs.

01:31 - Speaker 2
All right, you guys, welcome to this episode of the Jack Hibbs Podcast and we are just marching on through into so many different topics and we've had so many different guests and we're very happy regarding the numbers and all of you participating. Thank you so much. We always want to encourage you to share the podcast with others. You can give us a thumbs up, you can make sure that you give us a rating. It helps in the algorithm of things. It moves up the podcast by those who respond that they like it. Give us a five-star, give us a thumbs up, let us know.

02:16
But if you've been with us, even for a short period of time, you know that we cover all kinds of ground on all kinds of territory. All of it regarding a biblical worldview. It could be something as challenging as false doctrine that is being propagated out in among the church today. We will take that on to election issues. What is biblical? Can a Christian vote? Should a Christian vote? And including things that what does the Bible say about paying taxes, for example? Should we be subject to the authorities that are over us? To what degree? Of course, the Bible has all the answers for this and the reason why we do this podcast is to not only get truth out there, but is to counter the falsehoods that are out there that will stand in opposition to what is the right thing to do. And so we've got a gentleman who I, as far as I know, I've never met him before, we've not rehearsed at all together, but I can tell you right now I'm very, very proud of him.

03:20
I can tell you right now I'm very, very proud of him, and what we are looking at right now is a podcast that may be more encouraging for me than for anybody else, and we are now bringing in Pastor Greg Phelps from Calvary Chapel, red Bluff. So, pastor Greg, first of all, it's awesome to have you on and here's the reason why it's awesome to have you on is because I was sent a headline from the San Francisco Gate and from their publication, because you informed your church, you encouraged your church, you educated your church, you discipled your church to actually make a difference in your community by being involved in the recent voting. So, pastor Greg, tell us how did that come about and tell us what you're so guilty of, according to some of these things that are being said and I'll read them later. But how did you get involved? What got you involved in the process?

04:39 - Speaker 3
Well, you know, really for us it started when we visited down there in Southern California. You graciously invited pastors and, you know, I brought a team down and we really felt like the Lord was encouraging us, that you know, we need to be a light in our community. We have a small community and we felt that, you know, we want to be an influence, not just, you know, to be pew sitters, so to speak, but making disciples who go out and make other disciples, and so our influence and our community really just began following your footsteps and your encouragement and seeing that there was a need. So this year we developed an impact team, our CCRB impact team, and praise God for them. They keep the issues in the forefront for us impact team and praise God for them. They keep the issues in the forefront for us and you know they're extremely important because we don't have the time to look at everything Right. But they brought those issues to us and you know we would educate our body on the legislature type stuff that need to be addressed and contact our assemblymen and pray and all those things, and so we talk about those issues daily. And so, as election approached, you know we felt that our team wanted to be an influence in our community again with, you know, the voting and making sure that we had a biblical perspective on how to vote.

05:59
And we talked about the voter guide, and I think that's really where some of the issues might have began, because we, we put out a voter guide and our community, um, you know, small community, we've never had a voter guide for our local elections, um, and so you just, unless you know somebody, it's a popular opinion um, you don't know where they stand and oftentimes if there's a personal relationship there, and, and so we did the voter guide and you know, I think that riled some feathers for some people, but we did the ballot collection and where we just encouraged our body that if you know, for whatever reason, they couldn't bring or couldn't deliver their own ballot, we'd be happy to do that for them. And we followed your guys' guidance. You know, our team did a great job of scheduling it on a Sunday and they had a bag that they locked and they had it secured on their bean and then they took it to the elections official the next day. They just followed the T, everything that needed to be followed. So that's where it kind of began, yeah.

07:04 - Speaker 2
Pastor Greg real quick be followed. So that's where it kind of began. Yeah, Pastor Greg, real quick. When your ballots were delivered to the registrar's office, did the registrar's office refuse your ballots, Did they?

07:14 - Speaker 3
not take them. No, initially, the first lot that we took, the first Monday there, they told us, or instructed our team to put them in the box outside. They didn't receive them. They told us to put them in the box.

07:28 - Speaker 2
Really so interesting. So you did that because they told you to do that.

07:34 - Speaker 3
Yes, that's correct.

07:35 - Speaker 2
And then were there following visits. Did you guys have other drop-offs as we got closer?

07:42 - Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah, we had a total of four visits.

07:45 - Speaker 2
And the same thing they told you go and put it over there in that box.

07:50 - Speaker 3
Yeah, I'm not certain on the communication at that point. I think after the first one they might've just gone to the box.

07:54 - Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So so for most of you who do not reside in California, what Pastor Greg is talking about is, uh, in about I think it was 2015, 2016,. I might be off a little bit. In the year 2015, 2016, california, the Democrat Party in California passed a law where ballot collection, or ballot harvesting, they called it, would be the new law in California voter conduct and again, it was a Democrat brainchild of our state legislature here in California that you can designate anyone to take your ballot to the ballot box and or to the county that you reside in their office of registrar. That's the official location where all ballots go. Every county has one. And so when we heard about this way back when, at the very genesis of that, when that bad law was passed, let's be honest, in 249 years, the United States voted a certain way, and that is by standard ballot. You fill in the name or you check the box and you drop it in, and then it's over, and then it's counted and Thomas Jefferson becomes president. We were able to do that for two centuries, maybe even close to two and a half centuries, but what California did is that California wanted to seal election policy and election conduct by their rules.

09:45
You got to remember, pastor Greg and I sit in a state that is 100% dominated by a Democrat. Uh, control it. They have a super majority and that's just the way that it is. They don't even need to put things out to the citizen any longer to vote for. They can do things by what is known as fiat. They can have an idea, they can talk it among themselves and they can vote on it and bring it into power. It's not a republic when you do that. It is more of a democracy.

10:20
The thing is, in the United States we do not live in a democracy, we live in a constitutional republic. But California has been really the harbinger, has been the tip of the spear of the socialistic democracy movement. That's why, when you see CNN or NBC or MSNBC, or when you speak to a Democrat or you hear Kamala Harris talk or Barack Obama, you will never, never. When you speak to a Democrat or you hear Kamala Harris talk or Barack Obama, you will never, never will you hear them say constitutional republic. They don't believe in the constitution. To them, the constitution's in the way. They want democracy. They say democracy. And the thing is, our founding fathers made it very clear that we must never have a democracy, they said so I'm quoting them we must never have a democracy, but we must maintain and keep a constitutional republic. They're diametrically opposed folks. They're not the same thing. And the United States is the most magnificent governing experiment ever known to man. And that is we would be ruled by the people. We, the people, would have our we voted to have our governing document be the constitution and people have to obey it.

11:35
Listen, getting back, I got to, I got to brag on on on pastor Greg. For all of you guys, let me read from the San Francisco Gate, their digital media, published on November 9th 2024. Headline Northern California Church Facing Investigation for Ballot Collection Effort. Notice the headline Ballot collection effort is legalized by the Democrat party. It is the law in California. What they don't like is that an influential Northern California church did it. You see that everybody Watch this Quote. I don't think it's legal, close quote. I don't think it's legal, close quote.

12:24
The county's election official told the San Francisco gate after the San Francisco gate inquired about the church's effort. Let me continue. Everybody. A prominent community church in Northern California. Pastor Greg, how dare you be? A prominent church in Northern California for doing the Lord's work and being the light up there God bless you guys Is under scrutiny for orchestrating a non-official ballot drop box scheme in the month leading up to November 5th's presidential election.

13:00
After the San Francisco gate presented evidence oh, so now they're the detectives, I see, wow. So the investigative group, the San Francisco Gate, presented evidence of the church's ballot gathering activities to how do you say? Your county, tahima? Tahima County's register of voters. Officials said that they would refer the matter to the district attorney's office. Let me keep going, hang on here.

13:33
Calvary Chapel's Red Bluff ballot collection effort to ask it was sanctioned by county officials. The official said we were unaware of the church's actions until the San Francisco gate inquired, he said over the phone, after reviewing the church's website. He reported quote I don't think this is legal and would forward it to the DA's office for review. And would forward it to the DA's office for review. This is awesome. Watch this everybody. He cited a 2020 memo from the California Secretary of State which warns against unauthorized, unofficial ballot drop boxes. Of course, nobody wants unofficial drop boxes. There were a ton of those in LA County that were unofficial. They were not properly conducted. They were just dropped off out of a pickup truck off the side of the road. Nobody's for that.

14:38
Friends, listen, note the dialogue here, or I should say the monologue. They are painting Pastor Greg and his church as having committed a scheme. They said that it doesn't look legal to us. You know what we're doing. We're citing a memo. Ladies and gentlemen, a memo is not law. A memo is a memo and they happen every day. And listen, we agree, we want to, pastor Greg and I. We are all about upholding the law. We, in fact, have obeyed the ballot harvesting laws perfectly to the T.

15:22
Why are they upset? Because what happened in Tehama county at calvary chapel, red bluff, wasn't supposed to happen. They counted on calvary chapel, chino hills, calvary chapel, san jose, calvary chapel, red bluff, calvary chapel of the harbor. They weren't all calvary chapels. I'm just talking about the ones that I know of never getting involved in the process of informing their congregation regarding their civic duty through a biblical worldview. They never thought that Pastor Greg would be smart enough to make disciples at his church that would make a difference in every area of life, from raising children to keeping their kids safe, to making sure the police department is loved and supported and their school board is prayed for they never thought that Pastor Greg would make disciples enough that they would say, hey, I live in a republic, I got a ballot, I'm a Christian, I'm going to sanctify my ballot, I'm going to vote according to my biblical worldview and, on top of it, thank you, california, for making it legal for me to bring my ballot to the church and have it put into a box or a bag that is then taken to the county. Thank you for making it so easy, pastor Greg, we did the same thing for three weeks and took in 20,000 ballots and we made that public. We always make it public and they stopped bothering us because they found out that we refuse to be bothered by this.

17:00
The truth is, you and I, pastor Greg, we beat them at their own law Because, listen, democrats didn't step up and get involved in ballot collection like churches did. They created a very bad law and we wound up obeying it because it's law, but we did it really good. I like to put it this way, Pastor Greg, because I did say this to Pastor Mike in San Jose is that we took a bad law and we circumcised it and made it good, and so you're in a lot of trouble. You're actually in no trouble at all, but more on that in a moment. And so it says that Calvary Chapel told its parishioners that would be you, pastor that their ballots would be protected under strict custody of rules. In other words, their ballots aren't going to be blown around down the street or getting rained on or strapped to a donkey's back. They were actually going to be well taken care of and that the rules would be kept and the ballots would be delivered to the county facility, the Real Impact.

18:14
It says here that Real Impact's latest training resource document says on their website that was updated this summer, it outlines specific guidelines by the way, we had all those guidelines approved and reviewed by the state of California Ballot collecting at churches. It provides a template for churches to use in flyers advertising ballot collection service and suggestions secured storage boxes available for purchase online, presumably to store the ballots until their delivery to election offices. Notably, the guidance makes no mention of the potential illegalities of these activities. In other words, the law that was written is very, very open-ended. And then and I'm almost done it says that the church was encouraged to use discernment and to be diligent about their vote and that they should know what's going on in their community, they should get involved and that the church should mobilize congregants to stand for their biblical worldview position. You did everything right and, greg, before I read the law, is there anything you want to add at this point, anything you want to throw in there?

19:40 - Speaker 3
No, I think you nailed it. You know the accusations are just false. They really have no legal opinion behind them. It's more of an opinion article than it is anything else, and so, yeah, you nailed it.

19:56 - Speaker 2
Yeah. So everybody listen up carefully to this In light. In fact, let's pretend for a moment. Let's back up. The truth is and I know many of you are going to be shocked when you hear this the truth is and I'm going to Trump in 2024 election that just passed recently, not only did Donald Trump retain the counties in California that he had in 2020 going red, but Trump took an additional. There may be more, but an additional 10 counties went from deep blue to bright red in California, and this is an ongoing trend. And George Barna, the expert polling and research group Barna Group, as well as Fox News contributor and show host, Steve Hilton, his research group, is showing the same exact thing.

21:09
California is turning red, and one of the things that is fantastic is I'm holding here the guidelines by the state of California. So keep in mind what you just heard from Pastor Greg and what's being discussed. And why is the Democrat party concerned? Because I guarantee you this if California would not have turned so red in this last election, Pastor Greg and Pastor Jack and Pastor Mike and Pastor Joe would not have gotten a visit from either the media or the Democrat Party or phone calls from attorneys. You want to know why? Because if they would have swept the state, they would have left us alone because their system wouldn't be working. The thing is, we took their system and we made it work perfect. So check this out. Here it is California Election Code. Section 3011 of the Elections Code's mandate that individuals delivering harvested ballots must provide their name, signature and relationship to the voter on the identification envelope. Election code 3011, subsection A9, section 3017 of the election code further states and mandates that those individuals delivering the harvested ballots on behalf of the registered voter do so within 72 hours of recipient or receiving of those closed and sealed ballots at the election office. For accountability purposes, securing the vote and making sure when dropping off, we also suggest taking pictures or videos documenting your delivery.

23:30
Pastor Greg, we took a bad law. We made it even better because our rules that we imposed upon ourselves, you and I, are not only legal, they're above question, and that's what we employed. And so you got a call from the DA from Tahima County. They wanted to meet with you. You and I were on the phone. I told you don't meet with them, Don't talk to any media, because they will seek to do this, Pastor Greg. They will seek to do this, Pastor Greg. They will seek to get you ensnared in a conversation. They will never print what you say. In fact, the woke media is in cahoots with the woke government and they will work together to try to catch you. This is just like Sanballat and Tobiah in the book of Nehemiah trying to get Nehemiah to come down from the wall and have a meeting. And I told you right out of the book of Nehemiah, I just simply said, Pastor Greg, don't meet with them, but hang on, I'm going to get some constitutional attorneys on the phone and send them your way, because this is a great example.

24:41
You guys stood, your church got all excited. You guys got up and going, your congregants got pumped up because they got involved in the American process which God has given us to be Christian janitors over janitors, not janitors, stewards over Stewards, the stewards of an opportunity, the stewards of of freedom. And you guys did it. And you're all excited. And boy does the enemy want to intimidate you guys and shut you down, because that just cannot happen. So they're trying to pick you off and, um, we're not gonna let that happen. So what is the general feel of both yourself and in your church?

25:20 - Speaker 3
um, at this time, well, you know we're again, we're a small community. I'm I'm a young pastor, I mean I'm not young in age, but I've only been a senior pastor for five years and you know I've never faced you know the intimidation that can come from the left in this kind of way, and you know we're fortunate, it is a very conservative community. I think there's a small group of people that are stirring things up, very small In our congregation. They're just faithful, they love the Lord and they want Him to be an influence in their schools and in the life of the people around us. And so you know, not many of them probably have read the article. It's a liberal article. You know San Francisco Gate, we don't read that. You know it's not something we entertain. So I think for the most part our congregation doesn't really know that this is really happening at this point.

26:11
Again, our DA he's a wonderful guy, conservative. I believe he'll do the right thing. I think he just wants to investigate to find out what actually happened and my hope is that, you know, he'll just come to clarity, that he'll realize, man, they've got no leg to stand on and it'll be all glory to the Lord because he'll report that and nobody will have a leg to stand on. So that's our hope. For me, I'm just yeah, I was going to say just for me it's just navigating and oftentimes, as I teach, we're in John, chapter 15 and 16 right now and unfortunately, I think the Lord has to use real life experiences for me to learn. You know, when Jesus there in 15 said, hey, they're going to hate you, the world will hate you, you're not of the world.

27:00
They're going to hate you, and that is so true, and it's a firsthand experience the Lord has given me to grow my faith, and so I just have to remind myself abide in him, abide that he's present with me. He's got it all figured out, and again we operated above what I feel like, just in complete integrity. Oh you have Forget about it and trying to make sure that we did the right thing.

27:24 - Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean, with all due respect, forget about your feelings. You did do the right thing, and this is what. Listen, pastor Greg, you know the scripture says that the righteous can be as bold as lions. And what's awesome about that is how do we stand in the lion's den, or how do we endure in the lion's den, or how do we endure in the furnace? How does that happen? Well, when we're on, when we're on God's side. In fact, let me make this clear we do not ask God to be on our side. We make sure, biblically, that we are on God's side. When we're on God's side, we don't have to defend ourselves. God will defend us. And how that works where we are in America, is that God has given us the rule of law.

28:08
Now, pastor Greg, there may be somebody who's watching this, saying things like this, although it's kind of evaporated much in California, but there used to be those who would say hey, you guys, you two guys should submit to Romans 13,. Man, you guys should submit to the law. You two guys should submit to Romans 13,. Man, you guys should submit to the law. God, you should submit to the rulers that are over you. Number one, we do submit to the rulers who are over us. We submit to the word of Romans, chapter 13, that the authorities that are in power have been placed there by God. But, friends, we need to be careful when we read our Bible that we don't read it in a sloppy way, because romans 13 says that god has placed the authorities that are in power to rule over us, that for those who do evil, they should be punished and they should be afraid that the authorities that have been put into power have been put into power by god to do good. The word is righteousness. So the question is this we went through this with Gavin Newsom.

29:07
At what point was it right for me to disobey Gavin Newsom during COVID? Well, that was when Gavin Newsom relinquished his authority and began to do evil. He was the elected official and I submitted to him, but when he went outside and did evil, evil being this, marijuana shops can be open, bars can be open, strip clubs can be open, but churches must be shut down. That's when he lost his authority, the mantle of Gavin Newsom's authority, by the way. He never regained it. God took it from him. He disobeyed God, he attacked the church of God in California and his power has diminished greatly.

29:55
Having said that, everybody, pastor Greg and I are all about Romans 13. But when the elected officials begin to sin against God, that's where the church is, the conscience of the state. And the church says this is wrong. And so what happened was, again, they made that dumb law about ballot harvesting. It's the law, so we did the law, but we even did it better than they did, and it's now a constant problem for the leftist, the progressive in California. I predict, pastor Greg, I predict that they're going to probably wind up overturning their own law if it keeps going this. Bad for them.

30:41
But one of our attorneys is quite. We have great attorneys, but one of them is Harmee Dillon. She's brilliant and she has reviewed all of our operating procedures. Some of them she even edited and made sure that things were verb, the verbiage was correct. That's what we exported to you and all other churches in California.

31:10
And so the beauty about this, pastor Greg, is here's what we want to see happen. We want your district attorney to review this. He needs to do that. We want him to do that. We need him to look at every bit of your operating procedures regarding ballot collection. He needs to know this. He needs. We want him to know this Isn't this beautiful. We want him to come on in and interview you and talk to you and ask can you just show me what these people are talking about? And you can do now that the election's over, you know, you can do like a little reenactment, or you can just show the videos of what you guys did and let him write a memo. Let his memo come out and say not only did Calvary Chapel, red Bluff, obey the law, but they did it with integrity, and every community should do it this way. That's what we want and that's what your DA should do. Why? Because it will shut the mouth, pastor Greg. It will shut the mouth of those who would seek to intimidate and silence the church back into a hole where she's insignificant. Listen to this and then I'm going to want you to respond.

32:29
2 Corinthians 10, verse 4, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God, for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. I'm going to pause right there. Every Christian knows this portion of scripture. We can quote it, we've memorized it, we've taught on it. No problem, we've rarely considered verse six and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Wow, what does that mean? It means that Pastor Greg is doing exactly the right thing. He's going to stand, we're going to stand, we're going to be talked to, but we're going to ask. Now that you've seen what we've done, I am requiring of you, district attorney, please make this be known. That is punishing disobedience. You say, jack, are you sure you didn't read 2 Chronicles? No, that's 2 Corinthians, the Christian.

33:40
How do we punish disobedience in America? We don't shoot guns, we don't throw rocks, we don't burn down buildings. We vote, we vote. That's how we thank God. Right, thank God for this Republic of ours. We don't have to have violence to change our government. We vote and you vote bad people out by putting good people in. That's how we do it and that's how the Christian does it. And, pastor, I am so proud of you. I am so delighted that you were encouraged. Thank you, by the way, I think you mentioned you came to our invite in Huntington Beach. I take it right.

34:23 - Speaker 3
Yeah, we did.

34:24 - Speaker 2
And you heard from constitutional attorneys, you heard from pastors, you heard from others that brought you encouragement, like Eric Metaxas and Bill Federer, and historians. You heard from Kelly Shackelford, who is the most winning, if I remember right, the most winning constitutional attorney at the US Supreme Court. From a biblical worldview, he's awesome and you got involved, you got motivated and you did the right thing and I just love it. So, um, what's so? Is the body feeling okay? Is the church doing good? What's, what's their mood right now?

35:03 - Speaker 3
Yeah, again, I think at this point, you know the majority of that do know they're just, they're excited. You know the Lord is is going to take care of the issue, and then they're not. They're not concerned. They of the issue and then they're not. They're not concerned. They know. They know what we did and and it was above board and, like you said, we followed the law, we followed, uh, your guys's guidance and, um, and you know, I think they're going to rejoice for those who don't know, are going to be rejoicing even more when they so, yeah, yeah yeah, isn't that amazing?

35:31 - Speaker 2
um, you are the watchman. And Ezekiel listen Isaiah 62, ezekiel 3 and Ezekiel 33,. The Bible tells us that God has set his watchman on the wall and a watchman was to peruse. They were to be scanning the horizon. And the Bible says that if the watchman sees evil approaching, the watchman's to blow the trumpet of warning to the people. If he blows the trumpet of warning and they do not heed the warning and they're attacked, god says I will not hold that watchman accountable for their loss. But if he doesn't blow the trumpet and the people are destroyed because he failed to warn them, god says I will require from you their blood. And I'm grateful, I'm thankful for you.

36:32
You are the watchman on the wall in Red Bluff, california. You may be a small community, but I praise God that they went on to say that you are an influential, a church of prominence, that you wanted your people. He wanted his people to be equipped and to stand for righteousness in the public square. What's wrong with that? Taylor Swift gets to do it, right. Oprah Winfrey gets to do it. Why can't? Why can't a Christian do it? It has since spread to other locations in the Calvary network of over 1,800 churches, among those being Calvary Chapel, red Bluff. It says here that you are dedicated to making an impact and it says that the language promotes and encourages the parishioners to be alert and to alert them. That's exactly. They just told you that you were the watchman. You alerted them and they took their community back. They took a stand. They're excited, they're energized and I just can't say enough.

38:07
I just can't wait to see what happens more, because by your one man standing in the gap, pastor Greg, you have emboldened and encouraged others to make a difference in Northern California. And you know what? Even still, what about? What about what if you and I lose every battle, all of our lives? We just lose every battle because we stood on the Lord's side and in the end, we stand before him to find out that we lost every battle and wound up winning the war. I'm totally okay with that. Yeah, me too. I'm totally fine with that. So, pastor Greg, what would you say to pastors that are watching this right now? They might even be thinking see, that's why I didn't want to get involved, sure. What would you say to them?

38:55 - Speaker 3
Well, you know, I would just strongly encourage them. You know we're not to be secret disciples. You know the Lord calls us to be light. And what good is salt to be flavor, if it?

39:07 - Speaker 1
has no flavor in it.

39:08 - Speaker 3
You know, and it goes beyond our doors. We want to encourage our community, we love our community and we want to see good things for our schools. We want to see good things that happen. And we can only do that if we truly take charge of our responsibility. As you said, there to be the watchman on the wall to bring those issues to the forefront.

39:30
And I think you know, when we've been silent, we've seen the outcome of that, haven't we lived a long enough time seeing where the church has been silent? And you know, I know so, many will say well, you know, you're one of those nationalists, you know. Well, yeah, I love my country, but you know, I have no illusions. You know Jesus will be the only king, amen. And so you know again, whether we would have seen good in the election or bad in the election, it wouldn't have changed our job. We still have to be a light and we still have to love people and make disciples. God called us pastors. Don't be fearful. Fear of man, that's not what we want to be. We want to fear the Lord Because one day we will stand before him and I want to hear well done, fear the Lord. And because one day we will stand before him and I want to hear well done, good and faithful servant. So this life is is but a vapor. It's going to come sooner than we think, so that would be my encouragement.

40:29 - Speaker 2
Yeah, I'm curious Do you have any grandkids?

40:32 - Speaker 3
I have two. Yeah, they're both a 12-year-old, or 11-year-old and an 8-year-old.

40:39 - Speaker 2
Okay. So for you and I, I always wonder, if the Lord allows. I mean, I hope Jesus comes back for us today. Amen, please, lord. But if he doesn't, and you and I live out our our, our expiration date in this world and I want to make sure that my grandkids know that their Papa stood for what was right. I want them to know that I want, I want them, in the day of their challenge I won't be around, but when they're challenged, that they can go back and they can, you know, find out, did my, what did my, what did my papa do when this was happening? And did my papa do anything about pornography in the school board? Or this renegade government? You know that's going on, whatever. So that's so important to us. And listen, pastor Greg, and forgive me, down in Southern California, I know where you guys are. It's different and California truly is two separate states in mentality. It is. If people don't know that it's. You can feel the difference.

41:51 - Speaker 3
Yep.

41:52 - Speaker 2
So, having said that, I'm going to ask you this Yep. So, having said that, I'm going to ask you this Calvary Chapel, red Bluff, what communities think? Now I'm going to challenge your geography and I'm doing this for a reason. What is what communities fall within you within an hour's drive to your church and hours drive in any direction? What? What a prominent, if any, names of cities or towns pop up?

42:19 - Speaker 3
You have Reading California. Oh, okay, we have Chico, chico, california. Okay, those are the main major ones, and then you know a lot of little ones Orland, corning, cottonwood, anderson, mount Shasta, Dunsmuir there's a lot of mountain communities.

42:38 - Speaker 2
Mineral Dunsmuir is within an hour's drive from here Within an hour. Yeah, man, I love that place.

42:47 - Speaker 3
It's beautiful isn't it.

42:48 - Speaker 2
You know what? Any Californians who they don't want to go to Austria or they don't want to go to Switzerland to see the Alps, they should go to Dunsmuir. They'll feel like they're in Switzerland. I've been to both. I'm telling you. You can't tell the difference. Okay, why did I just do that to you? Because I'm telling all of you who are watching right now, if you live, or if you know somebody who lives in that region of an hour's drive. I'm a big fan because in Southern California on Sundays people drive an hour here to church. I felt bad for them at first, but then they have their services with us and then they drive back an hour and you know what they tell me.

43:27
Pastor Jack, we've been doing this now ever since COVID. We drive to church, we get teaching, and then we drive an hour back home talking about the sermon, talking about children's ministry, talking about what's going on, and our walks have never been stronger. So the drive, the drive. That should be a devotion called the drive. If you live within an hour of Pastor Greg's church and your church isn't standing, you got to go to his church. Church and your church isn't standing. You got to go to his church. You got to make the drive. Make it. You suppose your gas is too expensive. It's going to. It's going to come down, gas is going to start dropping. But you know what? It should cost us something to go to the house of God and worship. Anyway it should cost us something, or else it's not really worship. You should go to Pastor Greg's fellowship at Calvary Chapel, red Bluff because he's standing up, the congregation is standing up, they will follow Jesus, even if they get a bad review from the San Francisco gate, and they're holding the line and they're making a difference. And so if you're in a sleepy church anywhere within that region, you should drive there and make a day of it, because God is worth it and your walk with him is worth it.

44:43
And I want to thank you, pastor Greg, you're worth it. What you're doing is the right thing and it's caught the eye of the enemy and they're upset Congratulations, bullseye. And they're upset Congratulations, bullseye. Direct hit and I love it.

45:02
And so, father, I pray that you'd bless Lord, calvary Chapel, red Bluff, that those who see this podcast, those who read the article in the gate if anybody reads them that they would say, hey, that's a church I want to go to. I want to go to a church that makes a difference. I want to go to a church that's spirit-filled. I want to go to a church that obeys the Bible and, father, I pray right now that you bless Greg, bless his family, bless his grandkids.

45:28
Father God, surround him with your favor, Build a bubble over his home, over his congregation, over his church. That whatever weapon the enemy forms to launch at them is actually just directed right back on the back of their neck. That the weapon they launch against him would land on them instead. And, lord, that you would protect them profoundly. I thank you for this man of God and Father. Keep him in all of his ways. I thank you for this man of God and father. Keep him in all of his ways. We ask you, lord, in Jesus name. Amen. Pastor Greg, thank you so much for being with us and, man, if I'm ever up there, I I've got to meet you, I've got to see you.

46:07 - Speaker 3
Yeah, you can come by and see us. We'd love that. I'd love it.

46:16 - Speaker 2
Yeah, and God bless California right, yeah, yeah, I was going to say, I just want to thank you.

46:19 - Speaker 3
I know you probably hear it a lot, but your tremendous influence and you know, for pastors who you know need the resources and you guys, you do that. You and John Markell, mark Henry Ministries. I've flown out to Minnesota. They plug into pastors and we're so thankful for that. We need your guys' help and resources and that's all. Kudos to you and the Lord. The Lord did it all.

46:42 - Speaker 2
I'm sure, Obviously yes to him. Be all the glory. God bless you so much. Take care, my friend.

46:49 - Speaker 3
All right brother, God bless.

46:50 - Speaker 2
Hey, well, listen, like always, we believe that it's time for you to live out what you believe in. It's time for real life, and so we hope that this program has blessed you today. Remember, the best thing that you could do for us is for you to not only share this podcast with others, but if you could give us a rating and just encourage others to watch what we're doing. Notice, I hope you've noticed that we don't plead with you. We don't bother you. We want you to simply simply, which is the greatest, greatest thing that we could see is for you to tell others and spread the word, and so it matters to us. So listen until next time. God bless you guys, and be looking up. Christ is coming, but stay tuned until he does to hear more truth right here at the Jack Hibbs podcast. God bless, thanks.

47:48 - Speaker 1
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