One Family, One & All

Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast, with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. According to Jesus Christ Himself, the church of every generation, throughout every age, all the way through until the church is raptured up in heaven, the church will never be prevailed upon because there's a lot of churches that are coming and going. There are churches who struggle. There are churches who battle. There are churches big and small that are New Testament churches honored by God because they've kept the faith and they've honored his word. But we know in the last days, the Bible says there'll be fewer and fewer of those churches. 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. Matthew chapter 16, verse 13. Now, I love this portion of Scripture. Now, when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So they said, Some say John the Baptist. That would have meant John the Baptist back from the dead, because John's now dead. He was beheaded. Some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He, Jesus, said to them, but who do you say that I am? By the way, he always does that. He's asking you today. God will always ask you, but who do you say that he is? That's the big question of all time and eternity, folks, is it not? Is who do you say that Jesus is? Notice that all of the cults and the false religions, all of them answer this question. Not one of them ignore Jesus. Not one ignore Jesus. They all have an answer for who Jesus is in their culture and in their cults. They know enough not to deny his existence, but they apply a different meaning. And Jesus says to us today, as he did then, who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. You can hear the mic drop at that moment, by the way. Jesus answered and said to him, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, or Simon, the son of Jonah. Not Jonah the big fish Jonah. This is a different Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter. And on this rock, watch this. You are, listen, you are a pebble. But on this boulder, on this rock, on this mountain. We're going to find out what that is. I will build my church. Jesus never said here that Jesus would build his church upon Peter. You need to know that. Sorry, I'm just blowing up some of your traditions. But Jesus never said that. The word usage is completely different. Simon, from now on, your name is going to be called Little Pebbles. But about what you just said a moment ago, that I am the Christ, the son of the living God, upon that truth, I will build my church. And look what he says here about that. And the gates of hell, Hades, shall not prevail against it. I want you to take note of that. According to Jesus Christ himself, the church of every generation throughout every age all the way through until the day that the church is raptured up in heaven, the church will never be prevailed upon. You need to remember that, everybody, because there's a lot of churches that are coming and going, but they're not New Testament churches. There are churches who struggle. There are churches who battle. There are churches big and small that are New Testament churches honored by God because they've kept the faith and they've honored his word and exalted the name of Jesus. And they were led by the Holy Spirit. But we know in the last days, the Bible says there'll be fewer and fewer. of those churches. And a false church will rise in the last days. Just know this. The gates of hell will not prevail against his church. And it's spoken, notice, it's spoken singularly. Notice there's churches, thousands of them, hopefully millions of them all around the world. He didn't say churches, did he? Why? Because there's one church. It's his church. It's the church that he bought with his blood. It's the church that he justified when he rose again from the dead. Jesus Christ, he's the one that is the chief shepherd over his church. And the gates of hell will not prevail. Now, when I use the word church, I would also like you to think of the word family. We are a family. And over these last 2,000 years, the church has been in existence. In fact, I want to read to you something I read this last week. A man wrote and said, for the last 2,000 years, the church has been in existence, yet we still have war and misery. The church is a failure, close quote. Well, listen, I understand the feeling of that. But someone responded in that article and said, That is like saying penicillin is a failure. After 100 years of its discovery, people still get sick. Think about that for a moment. Just because somebody says that they go to a church doesn't mean that that is a New Testament church. And just because somebody says that they are a member of a church doesn't mean that they're born again. Nowhere did Jesus say you'll go to heaven by being a member of a church. Maybe you're visiting for the first time and you're like, you know, you know you should go to church. So here we are. It's our first day. And you're nervous. Like, you know, when's all the ugly stuff going to happen? Probably during the time of my teaching is when the ugly stuff's going to happen. But you're thinking, I know they didn't pass the plate. So when is it coming? I'm all nervous. Oh, hang on to your wallet. Don't worry about it. That's not going to happen. We're not going to pass the plates. Well, when am I going to have to do this or that? You don't have to do anything. But we would ask you to listen. God wants to speak to you today. Amen. In 1 Timothy 3, verse 15, the Bible says, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. Wow. Which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of all truth. Say amen to that. Wow. The church is the one that is the promoter. It is the distribution site of truth to the world. And that said... there is a great call upon our lives to be a blessing to people, and the function of the church is not the building. Guess what, everybody? When you came here today, you didn't come to church. If your neighbor said, where are you going? Oh, we're going to church. I understand what you mean by that, but it's not accurate. This is a building. It's all it is. This property has buildings on it. That's all it is. These buildings are worthless in the middle of the night. These buildings are worthless until you show up. And the moment you show up, imagine, it's like blood cells flowing into a body. This building is not animated. It's not alive. Listen, come on. Nobody pulls onto this church property when this place is empty and people say, I just sense the presence of God. You know, people say that all the time. I can tell you that I do that. I sense that. But listen, it's when you're here that that happens. Yes, the Holy Spirit is everywhere, but you're the church. You and I are together, the church. The Bible tells us in Acts chapter 20, verse 25, and indeed Paul says, now I know that you all, Paul's from the south, right? There you go. Let me read that again. And indeed, now I know that y'all, among whom I have gone preaching, the kingdom of God will see my face no more. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. Wow. That's my goal, by the way, in life. Me, personally. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Sad parts, happy parts, ugly parts, beautiful parts, all the parts. Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. He was speaking to a bunch of pastors on that shore there along that beach before he departed. To shepherd the flock of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Amen. Thank God for that. And in Paul's unwavering commitment to God's word, he gave them the Bible. And in this day and age, church family, you probably know this, that all around the world, people are starving to death right now for the Bible. for the Bible. Look, we're honored and blessed, but it's pretty sad that people join us to have church from all over the world because they can't find a church that teaches the Bible in their communities. We're honored, but we're sad at the same time. There's a deficiency, there's a drought in the land for the word of God. And Paul is remembering their great commitment to the word, the Bible, the Roman believers, what he wrote to them. And it's beautiful. He wrote to them in Romans chapter 1, verse 15 and 16. This is precious, is it not? It's going to make sense as we get into our study today. So as much as it is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. He had good intentions. He thought he was going to go there by his own will. That will be interrupted. Verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. Isn't that awesome? 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 22. Paul the apostle has been attacked for being a believer. He's been attacked to sticking true to the gospel. He didn't preach his feelings. He preached faith in Christ. And people hated him for it. Paul wouldn't go woke when faced with that opportunity. He never was for promoting a kumbaya moment for everyone. He stuck to the truth. And there were those who were saying, he's not really an apostle. He's not really a minister of the gospel. He's not really a Jew. He's not really a Hebrew. And Paul responds, He says, are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. You never hear Paul talk like this until this... portion. In labors, more abundant. In stripes, that's beatings. Above measure. In prisons, more frequently. Again, this should be the resume of ministers and pastors looking for a job. Have you been beaten for being a pastor? Yes, many times. Okay, what else? I've been shipwrecked. I mean, you can go on and on. I've been hated. I've been imprisoned. Gosh, if we saw a rap sheet like this on a guy applying for ministry, we'd probably throw him off the property, right? Dude, you got a record. But notice, he's guilty of all the good stuff. In prisons more frequently, in deaths often from the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes minus one. That means 39 times five is how many times he was beaten. That's amazing. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. And ninth a day I have been in the deep. Can you imagine bobbing around in the Mediterranean Sea, lost, hanging onto a board, In journeys often in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. There they are. Got a lot of those floating around today. Verse 27, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst and fastings often, in cold and nakedness, besides the other things that comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches. And we should have a ministry sign-up sheet right now after reading that. Don't you want to join the ministry? Listen, I got news for you. If you're a Christian today, you are in the ministry. So don't be surprised if you get shipwrecked. Don't be surprised if you're hated for loving on Jesus. And so we look at our one and only argument for this morning, and it is this, one family, one and all, it is that the church, listen, I put it this way, the church, to be or not to be. You say, well, that's a silly little play off of, you know, an old, who said that? Was it, what's his face? Shakespeare. Shakespeare, to be or not to be. Did you know as a church we actually don't have that option? We don't have that question. The church is because Christ is. The church is what it is because it is an extension of Christ's arms and his feet and his heart and his mind. We are to be in this world but not of this world. When we say that we go to church or that we are the church, that is to set us out and apart from all others of the world. Truly, by what we do, how we live. Now, this is a big church. It's a strange phenomenon, people. But I was recently on a podcast, and the guy was, before the podcast started, the interviewer said something to the effect, you know, big churches, you know, big problems, big churches. I said, big churches, big problems for sure. But I said, I can't let that lie right there. Big church, big problems. Big church, big blessings. So how is that applicable to what we're talking about? What size is your family? You got a big family? Big problems. Big blessings. Listen, a church of 10 people has got the same exact problems that a church of 10,000 has. There's just more of them. But then you turn around and you look at the blessings. And so listen, God's goodness, God's faithfulness is not swayed by any human concern that we might have. The fact that God has called us to be the church. I wrote a few things down, but please consider this. The church, to be or not to be, is not even a debate. You need to ask yourself today, are you actually a Christian in the body of Jesus Christ? That means you are a member of the church, which means you are a member of the body of Jesus Christ, which is a family. We don't have membership here. You know what? We do believe, and this is our prayer that's been this way for 36 years, that your love one for another, that's the membership. We don't have cards. We don't stop you on the street and say, hey, so you go to Calvary? Do you really? Can you show us your membership card? That would be insane. There's no good to that. But your love for one another should be the announcement. The needs, the blessings, the care, the concern. The church to be or not to be. We don't even answer that. The church is to be. And that's our passion at all times, to be. The church. I wrote this note to myself. The church, as I see it from scripture, it's like a river of water in a desert. You ever think about that? I think about this a lot. I wrote these things down because I think about them a lot. It's like a hospital in a war zone. I'm involved in a ministry that builds hospitals in war zones. I look at this place, I look around, there may not be bullets flying, but this is a hospital in a war zone of ideas, in a war zone of spiritual activity. It's like a lighthouse in the fog of night, the church. It's also like an army of love, an army. Think about the militant thought of an army, but it's an army of love. I wrote down that it's like a torch burning before the darkness of evil. The church. Listen, if you go to a church and evil is not shaken by the existence of that church, I don't think it's a New Testament church. That's a hard criticism. That's on me. If I'm wrong, God will forgive me. He knows where my heart is. But if you go to a church that is not making a light in its culture where it lives, where is that church? Listen, the address... The physical address of where those people come to that church to make it a church, when they go back out, is it like someone throwing a bowling ball into a campfire and all of the embers go shooting up everywhere? Think about that. All the burning wood fractures up into the atmosphere. That's what church looks like to me. It always has. It always has that we come together and think about us burning by the word of God, the spirit of God catching us more and more on fire. And then God at the end of the service causes all of us to break up and like embers be floating out into the community around us. And when we land, we catch things on fire for the glory of God. We stand for what's right. We call out what's wrong. We're the church. We're not to be some sort of passive milk toast thing that happens for an hour or so on a Sunday. We are to be a people that make a difference in this world around us. And if you think I'm wrong, then is evil making a difference? Are lunatics making a difference? People who have the microphone or the cameras, are they making a difference? When Hollywood gets up to receive its rewards, what does it say? It gives all of its praise and honor and glory to paganism. Think about it for a moment. And we are the church. You say, well, I'm not loud like you are, Jack. Listen, I understand that. You're not supposed to be. But you are supposed to be the person that God made you to be. And we are all to burn together as a family for the glory of God. I wrote on in my note that the church is like salt that heals a wound. The church is like a city on a hill, John Winthrop said. But for us who are the church, we're a family who've been made one in Jesus Christ. And it's an amazing thing. 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