This Is Your Wake Up Call

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
When we suffer in this life, from whatever it is that causes us to suffer. God's got a word, a passage, a book of the Bible, a scripture to bring us through it, and your faith will explode as you realize. Wait a minute, he's there.

00:29 - 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 to live a more fulfilled life in Christ. Then make sure you leave us one of those five-star ratings To us that's like saying amen or yes. Then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs.

00:58 - Speaker 2
Well, we know this. We keep our eyes looking up toward heaven, but at the same time we're busy and I like the way Spurgeon puts it we're pregnant with expectation. Isn't that a great word. When you think of pregnant, you think of you know pregnant, and you see women and man. How far along are you? There's some women. Have you seen women so pregnant? It's not like she's kind of pregnant, she's kind of pregnant. Oh no, no, no, you're pregnant. If you're pregnant, you're pregnant. But when you're showing, you're showing, and there's women we've seen, you've seen them that are so pregnant. I start having pains. You know what I'm saying. It's like are you, oh my gosh. And then moving like this this is a true story.

01:40
We went to the Billy Graham crusade in 1986, I believe it was, I think it was 86 in Anaheim, whenever that was, and Lisa was out to here, pregnant with our youngest daughter, and she's going like this up the stairs and the usher goes ma'am, ma'am, and it's so cute. He says people are born again here, not born. That night Lisa had our daughter. Yep, awesome. I mean, I just watched, it was awesome. It hurt her very much, but it was but the expectation.

02:24
There's signs that are indicating this or that Wake-up calls, call it what you want, indicators when God is calling His people, and it's quite amazing. But as we look at this church, it's quite shocking to realize, as I read verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings circle, the word sufferings that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. What an amazing statement. Everybody, listen. With time running out, let's remember something Paul says. Who lived in that state of just eagerness to meet Christ? He says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time, every single one of us go through sufferings to some degree or another. They come in seasons, but sometimes even in life. There's just that, what's the word? There's just that one thing that just is there always. Maybe it's an illness, maybe it's a memory, maybe it's a loss, and it just is there always. Maybe it's an illness, maybe it's a memory, maybe it's a loss, and it just is there. And in this life, according to the Bible, that all of us are subject to what the Bible calls tribulations, their difficulties and hardships. But listen, if you're not a Christian and you're going to go through these things, if you're not a Christian, christian or not, you're going to go through these things. The great thing about the Christian is God holds our hand all the way through. He'll never let go of us, and when we're crying and when we're screaming, and when the pain is too much or the hurt is too much, we can always say Lord, we can call out to him.

04:05
If you're not a follower of Christ, where do you go other than Jim Beam or Jack Daniels? Or a line of cocaine, or what do you do? I understand that Most of us were like you at one point. That's where we went for our relief. But then someone greater than Jim Beam walked in the room. Okay, and he gives a peace that lasts forever. And he comes in and he just takes all that stuff away and he says here's my promises.

04:29
Open my book and listen. In fact, watch, I'm going to show you how good he is. Okay, okay, well, I'm going to include chapter four. So here you go. There you go. All the creation, creation, stars, heavens, jupiter, mars, garden of Eden, adam and Eve, the whole thing, all this stuff. And then the Garden of Eden, the sin, the fall Okay, you see this part of the Bible. Sons and daughters of Adam and Eve come back to me. I love you. This is the roadmap back. I'm communicating to you how much I care, how much I love, how much I want you in my kingdom forever. This is my book of life. It took this much to mess it up, but it takes this much of me working to get you back. His love for us. We should grow more and more excited about that expectation.

05:35
But you say, jack, you mentioned suffering. Listen, suffering for the believer is like a university I mean a good one, not like today, back in the old days. It's where we grow. No one wants to hear this, but we're going to suffer. But the believer, we become more like Jesus when we suffer, by the power of the Holy Spirit. He does it in the midst of pain and sorrow. He winds up getting in under our skin and into our hearts and he does the work. This stuff we're talking about is for real. This is not a joke. Jesus is not some ancient, removed religious figure. He's God, the Son resurrected from the dead. He lives eternally and he's coming back and he's true and he's alive and we're waiting for him. And the glory of all of this is in suffering. We've got Christ to cry out to. And another thing which brings me great hope is our suffering has a purpose.

06:28
When we suffer in this life, from whatever it is that causes us to suffer, god's got a word, a passage, a book of the Bible, a scripture, to bring us through it and your faith will explode, as you realize. Wait a minute. In fact, this is when it happens. Wait, everything's gone crazy, or there's bullets flying, or this situation's going on and you have a peace that is so, not you that you kind of feel like. Do I understand how bad this is? Do I realize that this is a real predicament? And the answer is you know exactly what's going on, but God reminds you, I've got you, and it's like wow, he's there. He says.

07:18
Paul says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time 1 John 2, verse 16, the Bible tells us For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, by the way, those are the three things that got Eve. Those three things right. There Is not of the Father, but is of the world, and the world is passing away and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. Isn't that beautiful. What is the will of God? To believe on him, whom God has sent? Isn't that amazing? Isn't that great To trust him? Billy Graham said that we need to trust God in that 9-11 clip. That's the answer Expectation and that word.

08:02
To consider means basically to do the math, rack up the numbers, do the numbers and come to the conclusion. It's a great challenge. Think it through. Reckon is one of the other words. See its worth.

08:16
And in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18, 2 Corinthians 3, 18, the Bible there says but we all with unveiled face. That means he's speaking to believers beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. See, we see the glory of the Lord. When we are reading, when we're studying about him, when we're meditating on the word of God, we see the glory of God in our hearts and in our minds, in our imaginations. We're just thinking about him. And as you keep reading the Bible, his glory becomes more intense, more spectacular. That's why the Bible says wait upon the Lord and he'll renew your strength.

08:53
Did you know that? Are you tired? No, I mean, I didn't mean you to answer that, I was just. I meant to say this, but she interrupted me. But I was going to say if you're tired, then lean on the Lord, rest in Him, because we get tired, but we lean on Him. When you're tired you have a tendency to lean. He's just saying lean on me and I'll take care of that.

09:27
But it says that, beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, we can't exactly see how spectacular he is, but we see enough. He talks about us. We're being transformed in the same image, from glory to glory. That means you're growing up, everybody, we're all growing up. How does that happen? Suffering, sorry, but it's suffering, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. The more you are dependent upon God's power to get you through your weak moment, the greater he becomes. The lesser you and I become, but, boy, the brighter he is in our vision. When Stephen saw Jesus Christ, he saw him like illuminated as the sun. And again Paul saw him in the brilliance of the sun, as though he were looking at the sun in its full strength. And the Bible shows us in the book of Revelation that Jesus Christ, right now, at this hour Pacific time, jesus is on the throne and he's emanating glory, brighter In fact, even when Jesus appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration in the Gospels. I love that he glowed.

10:40
You guys are familiar with this. Right, it's Peter James and John. Remember the story? Peter James and John it's always Peter James and John. Jesus went over the hill and he took Peter James and John. Jesus went in this boat and he took Peter James and John. It's always Peter James and John. Jesus went over the hill and he took Peter James and John. Jesus went in this boat and he took Peter James and John. He went up to the mountain and he took Peter James and John. And you say but I thought God didn't have any favorites. He doesn't have any favorites. He says I don't favor anybody over another. See, well, it's always Peter James and John. They saw the amazing stuff. They did see the amazing stuff.

11:06
But I think we often mistake what's going on here. Because, first of all, consider Peter. If you know your Bible, peter is like we can't wait to meet Peter because you know the people that are. You know you can relate to them. It's like Peter, come here, I feel like I know you. You're always saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing, getting in trouble, cutting people's ears off, and then James and John, the sons of thunder. What do you think you think they got that name? Selling Amway, the sons of thunder? These guys rumbled. They probably had black leather robes. So I think Jesus goes like this hey guys, peter, James, john, you guys want to head on over toward that hilltop right there? Great, just keep going. I'm going to take those guys over there to show them a thing or two. I know you guys got it. They're a little slow, I'll be right back. It's always that way, in fact, you can listen. You think I'm stretching it. I don't think so.

12:06
Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration and he's praying. And the Bible says he turns, glowing, bright, white, and the three disciples see this. And then the Bible says Moses and Elijah appear from eternity. They arrive and they're speaking to Jesus about his upcoming death. And the Bible says Peter shouts it's great that we're here, let us build three tents one for you, jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. And the Bible says and Peter said this because he didn't know what to say, is that awesome? I got to say something. What are you going to say? I don't know, but he pops up.

12:49
I'm telling you those guys, they were the special class, and that talks about how patient God is with us. Look, we laugh at them. But if it was our day, it'd be like Manny Moe and Jack get over here. Manny Moe and Jack get over here, right. But God is patient and he's kind. And in the midst of suffering God is there with us. He'll never abandon us or leave us. He's made us that promise. He'll never change, he'll never go back. And that word suffering that word is a word that means that befalls everyone in the world. It's the sufferings of this world. But the difference is, again, as I said, we have Christ with us.

13:31
In John 16, 33, I love this, john 16, 33, jesus said these things I've spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. Note this, everybody, you guys awake, note this these things I've spoken unto you, thank you. Thank you for telling me, yes, these things I've spoken unto you. Thank you, thank you for telling me, yes, but there's more. In me you may have peace. Okay, in the world you will have tribulation, difficulties, hardships, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

14:05
What he's saying is this the difficulties of this life for the believer are not only temporal, but God uses them to work a work that otherwise could never be done. You know this as a believer the people that you know in life who have suffered the most. Have you noticed how deep they are spiritually and how calm they are? God saw me through this, god saw me through that. We did this, we did the other. God brought us through. It's a great way to live.

14:39
People Listen, as believers, let's not procrastinate in our trust in Him. When a difficulty comes, don't say, oh my gosh, what's going on? God, where are you? Listen, these difficulties that have come to us? Number one, if they're satanic, their father filtered. That means Satan had to get the father's permission to come and tamper with your life.

15:06
Satan came to Jesus and said can I have Peter? And that's a weird moment because Jesus goes over to Peter and says hey, peter, satan asked me if he could tear you up. And can you imagine, peter? Peter had to have said thank God. He asked you. I mean, you told him where to go, right? Well, actually, peter, when you return from getting the snot beat out of you, when you return, strengthen your brothers, say, what the whole thing about Peter denying Jesus Christ and him weeping and turning his back on Jesus? Satan was trying to destroy Peter, and yet the power of God brought him through. And when Peter came out of that, look what happened After the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers. You couldn't stop Peter. He's a completely different man. His command of Scripture, amazing Suffering. Does that? Jesus said be of good cheer.

16:26
In the midst of whatever is going on, I can say this I don't think she's here right now, but Miss Robin, lisa and I. She's been our secretary since I don't know 34 years, 34 years. She suffered, ministering to her husband, who suffered difficult, hard life 11 years and then died. And now her mother-in-law she's. She got her father-in-law through his death and now her mother-in-law is dying right now. And robin is amazing. If you guys, if you guys don't know robin, she's amazing. I've never seen her. She never once complained. She's amazing. I've never seen her. She never once complained. She's amazing. And I told her today. I said, robin, let's pray right now, because here's the deal, god, your mother-in-law is like a stadium right now and you're in the middle preaching to the crowd. The crowd is at the hospital. Robin, it's always been this way for years. You're such a great witness. You walk around crying over the situation of your loved one, but you're laying hands on them and praying. And then you're praying for the nurse whose husband just wrote her a divorce note. And then you go down the hallway and somebody over here is crying and you're going and you're comforting them and I said here's the deal, robin, you're always in these situations because you're such an amazing minister.

17:46
The depth of her faith, I have noticed, is equal to her magnitude of suffering. And when you see that you begin to wonder do I know the same God she knows? And that's when you say, god, whatever you want to do in my life is good with me. Whatever you want to do in my life is good with me, whatever it entails. I'm not afraid of having you do what you want, because I know that it's going to be good, it's going to be loving, it's going to be awesome, because you are a God who takes the things of life and transforms sufferings into great strengths, into great testimonies and great abilities to minister to other people that otherwise we would never be able to talk to. It's you and me, in our private world where God uses us. Right now we're in church. It's fuel up time, it's fill up your tank to go out and to be that witness Remarkable goodness of God.

18:42 - Speaker 1
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