Living in the Last Days

Real Life presents the Jack Hibb's podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. I think God has given us time to repent, time for us to repent. He's not calling non-believers to repent, he's calling the church to repent and get back, we need to learn how to endure. Listen, when rough times hit, it doesn't mean God left us, it means He's getting us ready. 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 Hibb's. The church of the last days must be a church known for its discernment, more specifically discernment of evil. See, Jack, what is discernment? Discernment is a supernatural ability that the Holy Spirit gives to every believer, listen, which comes from the Word of God. This is where discernment comes. You're not going to have discernment unless you're reading the Bible. The more you walk with Jesus, the greater discernment you get. In fact, it's kind of cool. The Christians will know what I'm talking about when I say this. You're not like Superman had like X-ray vision, right? Didn't Superman have X-ray vision? So he's like, you know, he can see stuff going on. That's us. The more we walk with Jesus, the more that we can see things. People will say something and everyone goes, that's amazing. We're going, hmm, something's wrong. Do you know what I'm talking about? What does that come from? First John says, you and I have been given the Holy Spirit and we have no need that any man should teach us that we know what the Spirit of God is speaking, remarkable. And we need to be a church that's discerning. And so the church at Pergamum, the word Pergamum means high or elevated above all others. By the way, my wife and I, we were in Berlin, of all places, Berlin, Germany. And guess what they have there? They have the museum of Pergamum. And inside is the temple of Pergamum. And inside or on the temple of Pergamum is the seat of Satan. And when Germany invaded Europe, they took that from Turkey and they brought it to Germany and they built a museum around it. And now the Turks, by the way, want it back. And Germany said no. And that was the end of the discussion. You can go if you're in Berlin, go check it out. All these biblical references, it's an actual national museum. And you can jump up and down and turn in your Bible and say, my Bible talks about this. And as you're walking up the steps, by the way, all of these mythological gods, Athena, Atlas, Zeus, they're all there enshrined. And it was seated high above. And the citizens of Pergamum thought that they were better than everybody else. They're not only above in elevation, but we're above everybody else. That attitude permeates the human soul. Revelation chapter 2, verse 12, and to the angel of the church of Pergamum is right. These things says, he who has the sharp two-edged sword, I know your works and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith, verse 14, but I have a few things against you because you have those who hold the doctrine of veilum, deception, preaching, religion, for hire, for money, pay me, I'll preach. Hey, come into town, we're looking for a venue. You know how much mail we get from people? This church. Hey, Apostle Dingdong is coming to Southern California for $10,000. You can have them in your church too, I'm not joking you. Remarkable. It's like, man, if they read the letter to the church of Pergamum, remarkable. Verse 15 says, you also have those who hold to the doctrine of the Nicolayotans, the Lord's religious lords over the people, rulers over the Laiati, Nicolayotans, which things I hate, Jesus said, wow, Jesus hates, Jesus hates an authoritative church leadership structure that says, we're above you, you listen to us. That makes Jesus want a hurl. You know what a hurl means? That's an ancient word. And make someone a vomit, make someone a throw up. Jesus says, I hate that. We are your leaders. We are your leaders. You cannot marry that person, you cannot buy that house, you cannot get that job until you talk to us. I want you to know, Jesus says, that makes me sick. I hope you're not involved in a church like that. He rebukes them. He says, listen, wow, verse 16, repent, where I will come upon you quickly and fight against them. Notice it's them. Jesus is not chastising the sheep, he's chastising the leadership. Can you imagine Jesus coming after you quickly to fight against you? I'm wondering if in America today, in California, that God is fighting against, watch my air quotes, pastors and Christian leaders in our nation today, who've had jurisdiction over a flock for so many years, but that flock knows nothing. They went to church in and out, faithful, tithing, maybe even serving, and something shakes that church's foundation. That's from God, friends, when God shakes a church, that's a good thing. We had a horrible split at our church, oh, don't cry about it. God will wind up shaking the tree and nuts will fall out. No, that's what they do. This little tractor comes up and grabs the almond tree and just goes, and the almond fall down. God, listen, God does that to the church. He just did it in COVID, shook the church and all the nuts fell out and many, but the fruit remained, did it not? The fruit remains. We need discernment like never before. By the way, you picked up on it immediately in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12. The Bible says of the Bible that the Word of God is sharper than any two. It's sword, and Jesus says, I'm the sword, I'm the one, I'm the Word of God. I'll search the heart, I'll parse in between the motives and the intentions, and oh, by the way, I judge ministries, that's what he's saying. It's his church. Many of you know that I got in a lot of trouble and I'll do it again based on the Word of God. You got to keep your church closed. You say, wait a minute, Jesus said to me, I was studying, in fact, my computer is in the back room, I showed some of the guys that April 26th when God spoke to my heart, May 31st. I grabbed my sharpie pin and I wrote on my computer, May 31st. Lord, what is this? And he said to me, you have no authority to shut the doors of my church. What he does, listen, the church of the last days is this, it's a church known for its decision to endure. We've got to endure, friends, don't worry, the things that are coming against you. The church of Thyatira was a word that means truth, sacrifice, or dedicated truth. It's an interesting thing. They had the truth, but they sacrificed the truth, and today you can fill in the word with anything else. But we sacrifice the truth for unity. Never do that. Well, we're a church of unity. What does that mean? We're a church, we're all are welcome, but what does that mean? All are welcomed here. We're a church of tolerance, but the gospel demands that we repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus Christ, and he's promised to save us. Listen, he loves us so much that he doesn't leave us like we are. The gospel transforms our lives. You need to remember, we need to remind ourselves, we are to endure. It's okay. We live in Southern California, we don't know much about endurance. We got it easy for now, right? California seems to be skating. I tell you what, California is cruising on the mercy of God at this moment. I think God has given us time to repent, time for us to repent. He's not calling non-believers to repent, he's calling the church to repent and get back, we need to learn how to endure. Listen, when rough times hit, it doesn't mean God left us, it means he's getting us ready. We must be a church known for its total dependence upon God. It's total dependence upon God. That was the church at Sardis. The word Sardis means remnant or little in number. Many of us feel that way often, but we're not. Sardis was an extremely wealthy place. Have you ever heard of Cresus, the old saying, oh, that guy says, riches, Cresus, Cresus, that was his hometown. He was the richest man known in the region in the realm, Cresus, very, very wealthy place. But the believers were very few, a number, think about that. You and I live in a wealthy place. But I'm wondering how many true believers do we really have? It's easy for us to be led astray by trusting in what we have. The Sardis believers had to lean upon him. The Bible tells us there that Jesus spoke to the church at Sardis and he announced to them, therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. Isn't that a beautiful, awesome statement? You may be few in number, but let me tell you, Jesus is saying, keep yourself clean. Every day church family wake up every day and say, Lord, give me the Holy Spirit's power to keep my spirit clean. I love that because if your spirits clean before the Lord, you don't have to worry about your eyes, your hands, and your feet. If your spirits clean before God, your feet, and your eyes, and your hands will follow, but when your hands, and your eyes, and your feet are in charge, other things happen. We need to be a church in these last days unwavering in our priorities. Each family, the Word of God, must not be superseded by anything. And to this, the church at Philadelphia is the church that you want to be. Philadelphia means brotherly love, brotherly love, located in such an area that was a very powerful place and an example. It was a missionary church, by the way. It was dedicated to getting into the Word of God out. Every single one of us, listen, God showed us from the beginning of this church. And we used to start plant churches right from the beginning in Russian and in Germany. Right from the beginning in the very early 90s, the point was this. God made it very clear, Jack, there's only two types of people that make up the body of Christ. There's senders, and there's goers. Think about that. You say, I don't want to go to, I was going to say Detroit, but I just met someone here from Detroit. I don't want to be a missionary to Detroit. Thank God for the missionaries in Detroit. But you might say, oh, if I open myself up, God might send me to Cuba or to Bangladesh or something. Listen, if God's not calling you to Bangladesh, you're going to know it. You're not going to want to go. If God's calling you to Bangladesh, you keep looking at your globe. You keep thinking and dreaming of Bangladesh. You keep reading about it. Your Google earthen Bangladesh, you're like fascinated. Your family's going, what's wrong with you? Yeah, I just can't keep Bangladesh out of my mind. And you get all excited about it. And you say, oh, God, will you please send me to Bangladesh? And God says, that's exactly what I've been working in you all this whole time. And you'll be delighted about it. God doesn't send a missionary out. And it's like, oh, will you help support me? Will you be a sender? Because I'm the goer. Where are you going? Detroit? Pray for me. Are you kidding? You can't stop the person from going to Detroit. You can't stop them from going to Bangladesh. Are you hearing me? The rest of the church says, where do I make the check out to? That's what we're all about. That's what the Philadelphia church in this age could be us if we choose to. We need to have hearts of hot love for God. We need to be careful, though. We don't see ourselves above everybody else. That we're a church that's discerning, not falling for all these ridiculous, spiritually wrapped things like we're in some toy store. We need to be a church that is alive. Number seven, and I am, the church must be known for its true humility. And that, the Leodicean church, interesting, the word Leodicean is named after a woman, actually. The city was the wife of that ruler of that realm. But her name means, and Leodicean adopted her name, is to judge or the city of judgment. And they took it as a badge of honor. We are the city of judgment. We will tell you what's right and what's wrong. I find it's fascinating. Leodicean period, eschatologist will tell you that it's the church of the last days before Christ returns for the church. I have a radical view on the church at Leodicea. It's even though it's mentioned within the seven churches of the letters to the seven churches. I don't believe that the church of Leodicea is a born-again church. See, wow, it's a strong statement. There's people in there that need to hear the truth to get saved. And I base it simply upon this, Jesus is knocking on the door, trying to get in. And to the angel of church at Leodicea, these things says the amen, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, I know your works that you're neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. As you say, I'm rich, I have become wealthy and I have need of nothing. And do not know, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. Verse 19, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasen, therefore be zealous and repent. Here it is, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone, here's my voice and opens up the door. I will come in and dine with him. What a tragic moment that Jesus is outside of a church trying to get in. And I'll leave you with this, because we're out of time. It is this, Jesus said, I wish you were hot or cold. What you may or may not know is that Laodicea was nestled in a spot right off of the Likus River. And to the north of Laodicea is the place that you can go to today, it's spectacular. They're in Turkey. It's Hieropolis. And the hot, therapeutic pools of Hieropolis, they're a Bible teaching site, they're a tourist site. They'll go there today and they'll bathe and receive therapy from these therapeutic waters. Very hot, very soothing. And Jesus said, I wish you were hot. Well, on the other side of the Likus River Valley was the great mountains of that region and the snow falls and the snow melts and the tributaries come together in ice cold water. And Jesus said, I wish you were cold. Hey, I wish I could go and be refreshed and experience therapeutic fellowship with you, but that ain't happening. Or at least I could cross the river and go on the other side and receive a cold glass of water from the incredible springs that flow, but you're not that either. Guess what? The water that flows out of Hieropolis and the water that flows out of Colossi flows down into a place and they meet at the Likus River Valley called Leodicea. The water is poisonous, tempered, and disgusting. If you put it in your mouth, it's like putting rotten eggs in your mouth. And Jesus said, can you imagine, and that's gentle, can you imagine God vomiting? I will vomit you out of my mouth. So church, what you and I need to be at a time like this is a body of believers that have jettisoned all excuses, have determined to live radical for God, that there's nothing that's going to hold us back anywhere. We fuse to be intimidated of this world. Our God's enthroned, Satan's losing ground, Christ is coming and we pray that Jesus will even soon trumpet us up out of here. In Jesus' name and all God's people said, Amen, God bless you. This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast out reach opportunities, are listener supporting. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.