Heaven Is Listening

Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. There is no sin that Christ did not pay for, and He says, come to me, heaven or hell, you decide but come to me, and I love you, come. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.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 Hibbs. Psalm 46 verse 1, God is our refuge and strength, the very present help and trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, even though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountain shake with its swelling, look at that last word is say lah. The word means they're in Hebrew to wait, honder, think about this, slow down. The Bible warns us, we do not know how we ought to pray always. Listen to William Barkley wrote in his commentary and he's quoting by the way, someone else. So this is Barkley quoting Xenophon. He says from history, we learned that Xenophon of Athens wrote that Socrates taught his disciples simply to pray for good things and do not attempt to be so specified or specific, I would think he's saying. But leave God to decide what the best things are, isn't that wise? That's good. People, and I'm grateful, people will often ask me, Pastor, how can we pray for you? And they think I'm joking when I tell them. I simply say this, all you need to know is this prayer for me and my family and for this church is pray for God's favor. See, what sounds kind of, that's it? Are you kidding? That's all you need. God's favor takes care of my health. God's favor takes care of my marriage. God's favor takes care of you. God's favor takes care of my grandkids and my kids. Are you with me? You get that. God's favor is the greatest request you could ever ask. And I think that's an extravagant prayer to have the favor of God. And I listen, I so often pinch myself, I can't believe the things that happen in my life. And it's none other than your prayer is being answered by the favor of God. So remarkable, he's so good. And Matthew 6 verse 8, Jesus says, for your father knows the things that you have need of before you ask. Now, this is fun. See, Jack, you just said to ask because Heaven's listening and now you tell me that Jesus says, the father knows what I have need of before I ask, so why ask? He doesn't give anything unless you ask. He knows what you have need of before you ask, right? He knows what you should ask. For example, let's say God wants to do a deep work in your life regarding your faith. He needs to take you to the next level. Hope you know that your spiritual development upward is always preceded first by a trip downward. If you want to grow up, in Jesus, you're going to get cut off at the knees. That's how we go up. It's an opposite thing. You want to be in the front of the line, you've got to the back of the line. You want to be in the back of the line, you go to the front of the line. You want him to increase, we decrease. So watch this. If God knows what I have need of before I ask, then what's the purpose of me asking? And yet the Bible says you have not because you asked not. So what is this a game? Not at all. It's for your faith. And by the way, when you pray, I want to encourage all of you, pray specific. Start praying specific. And the more specific you pray, the more sensitive you'll be to when God answers your prayer. Well, listen, young ladies in here, are you looking for a man? You better pray. Ask God, Lord, I want a man who loves you. How about this? Be specific. I want a man who loves you more than he loves me. That will be the man for me. And show me a man whose spiritual leadership is something that I can applaud that I am impressed by. Young ladies, don't be satisfied with some guy, you're I believe in God. But his biceps are like 19 inches. So seriously, this goes both ways, don't listen, don't even get interested in people that you're not impressed by their spiritual maturity. And you don't have to be old, have spiritual maturity. That was free. It's not even in my notes. You can have that. But you know that sometimes we get everything jumbled up by our pursuits. And instead of calling out to God and praying and seeking His face, heaven is listening. And we don't take as much advantage of that as we ought. If you're a Christian today, church, if you're a Christian today, the Bible says in 1st John 1 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of all of our sins and declenses from all unrighteousness. That's written to the Christian, not the non-Christian, only to the Christian. But the Bible says to the non-Christian that you need to repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So what do we have going on here? Number one, the non-believer who's becoming the believer must hear this first. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And the word repent means change your mind. Let him change into the mind needs to happen in our world today. Don't you agree? My goodness. Change your mind. Change the way you think. You've changed your mind on other things. Change your mind on this. That is who he says he is and you're alienated from God and you need his salvation. He died on the cross once, rose again from the dead once, and you need to run to him now while you still have a breath. That's to the non-believer because what Jesus did is he took away the power of sin and death at the cross and looked God died on the cross for your sins, God the Son, and it had to be him because he knew that when he just think about this, there have been billions and billions of people that have lived since Adam and Eve. And when Christ went to the cross, it had to be God. It couldn't have been a good man. God at the cross literally thought about every individual, he loved them and every one of their sins, he paid that price and you and I have no clue what that means. It's beyond our imagination, it's beyond our scope to comprehend. There's no sin that Christ did not pay for. And he says come to me, heaven or hell, you decide but come to me and I love you, come. But to the believer, we're already in the family. We're secured, we're in him. And when God says to us, you need to repent. When we go to watch, when the Christian goes to pray and it feels like you're hitting a block wall, don't be surprised when God says things like this. Listen, you're still at odds with your husband or you're still at odds with your kids. I don't want to hear from you. Go set it straight and you come back to me later. You know, he says that in the Scriptures. Go set it straight and then I'll talk, I'm not going to listen to you right now, did you know that? It shouldn't be a surprise to us, you know, if you have kids, think about it. Think about your kid. Your kid does something terribly wrong. You said, now just stay home, I'll be back in five minutes. You come home and they've painted the garage door pink or something. I said, what are you doing? Go to your room. Your kid goes to the room. When your kid is in his room, is he still your kid? He's still your kid. But you hear the door open up and he comes down the home and he says, why I've been in my room, I went online and I saw what I want for Christmas. What are you going to say to him? Back to the room. Get back to that. We're not talking about Christmas, we're talking about punishment, not blessings. Get back to the room. Our fellowship is, get back there. Our fellowship has been broken. But dad, do I belong to the family? Yes. Get back there. Are you going to throw me out? No. Get back there. Come to me when your heart is humble, when you've repented. And then when they come, I'm sorry that I did that. What happens? Fellowships restored. That's true in the Christian life. Many prayers are not being heard because you've had it out with your family, friend, neighbor, husband, wife, whatever it is. And God has saved you. I'm not talking to you right now, you've got to go fix that. They, your gift at the altar, go settle the score with your friend, with your enemy, with whoever it is. And you come to me. Our God is good. Isaiah 59 verse 1, Isaiah 59 once is behold, the Lord's hand is not short, that he cannot save. Neethers is eared, heavy, that he cannot hear, but your equities have separated you from your God and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. And I cannot help but think, that lived out, friends, my mind jumps to a moment in time 2,000 years ago, when I believe was the fulfillment of Habakkuk 113 when the Bible says, God's eyes are too pure to behold evil, he cannot look upon wickedness. 2,000 years ago, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ, Yeshua, Messiah, Jesus the Messiah went to the cross and died, fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies in our place on that Passover weekend. And when you think about that, you know as a Gentile believer that one of the things that Jesus cried out from the cross, are those funny words you have written in your New Testament that you can't quite make out, it's a foreign language of some sorts, but you have learned that it means, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Eloi, Eloi, Lama, Shabbat, and I, Jesus Christ from the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, which is a fascinating statement, because number 1, Jesus had done nothing wrong, number 2, Jesus had shown everyone the way of the Father, number 3, Jesus had ministered under the power of the Holy Spirit and no one could bring an accusation against them. Everybody scrutinized him and came up with nothing. And he says, why have you forsaken me? Did you know that that was an incredible announcement to the Jews that were there? That's Psalm 22, people, and every Jew would have known it. They would have recognized the messianic Psalm of Psalm 22. Listen to this everyone, Psalm 22, verse 1, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me? Do you know what that is? That's Psalm 22. It's also Mark 1534. What about Psalm 22, verse 6? I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by people. All those who see me ridicule me, they shoot out the lip, they shake their heads saying, he trusted in the Lord, let him rescue him. Let him deliver him since he delights in him, friends. It is Matthew 27, verse 42, and Isaiah 53, verse 3, because you can now be forgiven, heaven is listening, you can have your sins taken away if you recognize who was on the cross and what he was doing for you, what he was doing for me. The Holy Spirit dwells in you as a believer, Psalm 22, 31, they will come and declare his righteousness to a people yet unborn that he has done this. Well, that would be Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, and Mary, including you. That's the New Testament account. And then we'll end it this, heaven is speaking. I'm convinced of it, heaven is speaking. So, Jack, I'd love to hear the voice of God, answer, pick up his word. I don't understand it, church, I can't explain it to you. Those of you who know what I mean, you know what I mean. But how is it that you pick up the Bible and you read it? And how is it that the words that he wants to speak to you will somehow jump up, almost as though they are done by a graphic artist, they'll pop, they'll lift up off the page to announce to you, this is the answer. And you'll put it down and you'll fall to your knees and you say, God, thank you. Thank you for that answer. That makes perfect sense. And you can go in confidence, you can be rest assured and people will attack you and people will give you alternate ideas, you don't have to worry. You've got the answer from God. Because heaven is speaking, in Luke chapter 22, verse 31, you want to see how practical heaven can speak. The Bible says in Luke 22, 31, and the Lord said to Simon, Peter, Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you. Notice, I, Jesus, have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith should not fail. Isn't that amazing? You guys, if you've heard me comment on this before, to me, this is absolutely fascinating. I can't see it happening any other way. In fact, if you read the context, all the guys are there, all the disciples, they're all hanging out, they're all talking. And Jesus just says, Peter, Satan has been asking me to have you. Can you imagine? He's been asking me, by name, Satan wants to rip you one. He wants to lay into you and destroy you, Peter. No, I don't know what was going on, but in my head, I'm thinking, if I'm Peter, I'm just like, I mean, I don't know what he was doing, was he mending the net at the moment? Was he doing his nails? What was he doing? So Jesus has said, Peter, Satan has asked me if he could have you to tear you to shreds. Wow, really? James, did you hear that? Satan's not asking for you. No, Peter, Satan's been asking you by name. Yeah, that's crazy, right? You told him, no, I'm sure, right? No, Peter, you're not hearing me. Satan has been asking for you by name. And I've prayed that your faith not fail. What does that mean? That means he asked for you and I'm going to allow it. So we'll wait a minute. We didn't, I don't know if we signed up for this. Friends, listen, are you okay with God using you anyway he wants to? Hmm, that was kind of weak. And it's so it should. Think about it. Christian, yeah, yeah, Jesus. I love Jesus, yes, I do. I love Jesus, how about you? Hey, how about this? How about Jesus saying, tell you what, Jack, Satan has been asking me for you by name. So here's a deal. When you return, strengthen your brothers and sisters. That's what he told Peter. What if the pink slip from your doctor means you have to go to the radiologist and they find a lump? What if the blood draw shows an incredibly high amount of white blood cells? What happens if the job that you are supposed to have tomorrow, by the time you pull up, there's somebody else's car in the spot? I prayed about it. Is it possible that all of these fiery trials of life, God is literally using you, his tool, his instruments to communicate the gospel of God has to speak to a radiologist or someone otherwise would never tune into a Billy Graham podcast or go to a church, but God will allow you to go through this to get the gospel to that nurse or to that co-pilot. Are you hearing me? Oh, Lord, I'll follow you anywhere. Listen, let's be honest. Lord, I'll follow you anywhere so long as you give me the grace and the ability to follow you because I can't follow you. I'll run so fast away from you if I get a chance because I don't trust me. So God, hook me up. Don't let me go. And so as long as you understand that, I'll follow you wherever you go because I don't trust me. And he says, I will not allow you to be tested beyond that which you were able. This Jack Kemp's podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibs.com to learn more and stay connected.