Why Are You Alive

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 If God said he loved you 30 years ago, he loves you now the same, doesn't he love me more? Nope, he doesn't love like we do. Listen, we don't grow on God. You know God never says Jack. You know you were such a ding-dong, but after these years you've grown on me. Thank God. He's not that way. It never changes Everything that you and I want and need in the world around us that doesn't move out from underneath our feet. God is the one that supplies it and he'll never change. 00:41 - Speaker 1 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com/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. 01:10 - Speaker 2 In the book of Acts, Chapter 17, Paul is in Athens. He's waiting for his ministry team to show up. They're a little bit late, so he's taking a walk around the Agora, heading up the hill, up to Mars Hill. And in Acts 17, verse 24, Paul says God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth. 01:31 Well, that stopped. Listen, that stopped the Greeks right there. Wait, what'd you say? Yeah, hi, you guys, I'm talking about my God. He's the Lord of heaven and earth. 01:43 They would have said, wow, we haven't heard about this God. We got a God for this and a God for that and a God for the other thing. But who are you talking about? My God is the Lord of heaven and earth. And they would have went wow, he doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. He what? Nor is he worshiped with men's hands. Don't bring him an offering. You guys can wash your hands of all that blood, all that sacrifice, all that stuff. He doesn't want stuff. Yeah, you don't need to come and worship him with your own hands as though he needed anything, since he gives to all life, breath and all things. Can you say amen to that? This is the God of the Bible. This is incredible. This is awesome, and what's beautiful about this is God is just saying I need nothing from you, don't you want to know a God like that? I do. 02:45 Psalm 50, verse 12. It's quite enlightening. Psalm 50, verse 12 says God is speaking. I love this and you got to admit. There's got to be some divine sarcasm in this. God says to the people if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you, for the world is mine in all its fullness. Isn't that awesome? Why did he say that to them? Because they are probably thinking God needs us. You know, God could really do a lot with me, what? So God says to them hey, you know what, if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you about it. I love that Kind of getting back to the guy that's begging for money to keep the ministry going. Really, it seems to me that if God's in the ministry, you shouldn't have to beg about getting the money to keep it going, because God's going to say to you I don't need your help, I don't need that, right. So it led me to write this down. It's in the notes, by the way. If you've downloaded the notes, it's on page 5 at the top. 03:50 Why do you exist today? So if this God is who he is he's existed before time ever began, he's the God of all physics, he's the God of all creation and he dwells outside of that. He's greater than his creation then I have to ask the question why do I, or why do you, exist today? That's a good question. God has a plan. 04:15 Well, you know, you've got your story and my story's so bad, pastor, you don't know If your story's bad. If your story's bad, then God's got great things in store. That's what he does. Oh, I was abused and I was this and I did, or I did the abusing, or I robbed the bank, or the bank robbed me, or I don't know. Whatever's going on and it's just horrible. God steps in. He goes let's fix all that. Let's take all this stuff and make it an amazing testimony about how I rescued you, so that other people will come to trust in me too, that I can redeem lives. 04:55 But you gotta ask yourself why do you exist today and why are you alive today? Listen, God is real. You may be saying today, I don't believe in God. Listen, you still have to ask this question. Answer the question is why are you alive today? Listen, you still have to ask this question. Answer the question Is why are you alive today? I'll tell you, because God has given you today you have no control over your heartbeat. You have no control over your lungs and your renal system and your brain, your neurological system, your cardiovascular system. You have no control over that. Why are you alive that? Why are you alive? 05:35 The Bible makes it very clear that we are alive to bring glory to God. He didn't ask that of angels. He didn't ask that of animals. Isn't that amazing? Now the Bible hints around that animals, though he created them, that the animals in some way, shape or form, speak of his wonderful, creative ways. The heavens certainly declare the glory of God. We all know that. 05:54 And look, you love your animals, don't you love your animals, whatever they are? How many of you are cat people in here? Raise your hand, there's a church down the street for you. No, I'm kidding, just joking. Just kidding. Now, cats are. I love cats. I love cats if they act like dogs. We used to have a cat acted like a dog. We loved that cat. But nobody can turn away a little kitten. They're just the cutest thing. Why is that? What does that mean anything to you. I'm going to argue with you because God thinks they're amazing and God thinks you're amazing and you're blessed by that little gift. You like dogs. How many of you like birds, parrots, that kind of stuff? You parrot people. Okay, that's pretty amazing. I don't like an animal that's smarter than me personally, but that's great. 06:46 But people have relationships with their animals, even if the animal doesn't know. You guys have a relationship. We talk to our dogs like they know what we're talking about. Maybe they do, but where does that come from? You're going to tell me evolution invented that. Well, I mean we evolve, but then we're now tapped into a different part of our psyche. 07:09 Yeah, you know what? No, God says before you ever had that dumb thought. He said in the Bible I created all this stuff for your pleasure. Adam and Eve were supposed to walk around the garden. They were supposed to have fun with all the animals, tour around, travel around and do other things. And God said I've blessed you. Go, go, have a great time, have dominion over it all and enjoy it all and make a bunch of babies. That's what God told them to do, and I wish they would just would have stuck to the original plan because Eve had her. Eve had a little deviation from the course and here we are. 07:51 But church, family, God is unchanging. By the time I have left, the Bible teaches us one of the reasons why we should love him is because he's unchanging. He's a God that never changes and you need to know who he is to appreciate the fact that he never changes. If God says something like this, listen, if God says I'll never leave you or forsake you, you know he says that in the Bible and you listen, you're gonna come first of all. The first time you read that, you go well, that's nice, you don't really care. Let's be honest. You don't really care about that because, be honest, you don't really care about that because you don't need to care about it. Are you hearing me? It's like, for example, people really didn't care much about water in LA Exactly Until the fire came. Now water has become the most precious thing there is in this region of the world. 08:51 Listen, you never appreciate your freedom until it's taken away from you. We don't appreciate our health until the doctor says I need to have you sit down, I have something to say. Are you hearing me? Says I need to have you sit down. I have something to say. Are you hearing me? We don't even appreciate our sins being forgiven by the Lord Jesus Christ as we've come to Christ as a believer. Until what? Until? 09:18 Your mind is troubled, have you ever had your conscience be stirred up in such a way where you need the comfort of God's word? And then that word comes? And then, all of a sudden, when you feel like you're the only one in the world and everybody's abandoned you, and that verse comes back from years ago, do you remember? I will never leave you or forsake you. That's the God we have. He's unchanging. If God said he loved you 30 years ago, he loves you now the same, doesn't he love me more? Nope, he doesn't love like we do. Listen, we don't grow on God. You know God never says Jack, you know you were such a ding dong, but after these years you've grown on me, thank God, he's not that way. It never changes Everything that you and I want and need in the world around us. That doesn't move out from underneath our feet. God is the one that supplies it and he'll never change. 10:29 Malachi, chapter three, verse six, says for I am the Lord and I change, not, I don't change. What a great comfort that is. And then he's eternal. We should love him because he's eternal. This should be the foundation of where we're going as a church. He's eternal All of these attributes, he's unchanging. He's eternal. He loves us. All of this with meaning that we might love one another. 10:56 The Bible tells us that in Isaiah 9, 6, a verse you guys all know very well. The Bible tells us that in Isaiah 9, 6, a verse you guys all know very well. But he's the eternal God. You can watch, follow along. Nearly 3,000 years old today, this verse, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace. 11:26 Everybody gets that just fine, and I understand where you stopped. You stopped at Everlasting Father. You say I thought Jesus was the Son. He is the Son or the governor of time. Jesus oversees physical time and eternity. That's his job, that's his business, that's what he loves. I love that. 11:50 You see, for example, this sermon's taking forever. I've only got nine minutes. I'm running out of time. If I were really biblical, I would trust Christ as the governor of time and I would keep going. No, I won't, I'm kidding of time. If I were really biblical, I would trust Christ as the governor of time and I would keep going. No, I won't, I'm kidding. Of course he rules over time. 12:10 And so we have this physical world, and you and I can believe in God. But we're so caught up in this physical moment that we live our physical days and we count the calendar. Remember this everybody. So when you look around, you can either count the calendar and you can mark off the days. And what are you doing? You're making progress. What's the deal? I get it, but understand this Be careful that you don't get caught up in marking off the calendar dates as though what? As though you've lived another day, did you really? I don't think. Listen, we're living until we're seeing God in every aspect of our lives, and I mean that completely. 12:49 I'll give you something that happened yesterday. Many of us were here for Pastor Roy Totten's graduation service to heaven, and back on the screen they had his Bible verse out of 2 Timothy, chapter 4, that he's kept the faith, he's finished the race right and laid up for him as a crown of glory in heaven, which God will give to him, but not only him only, but to all those who have loved his appearing. That was Paul's farewell to Timothy. Pastor Roy had it up on the screen back here. Behind the words was a beautiful shot of the Pacific Ocean. You could tell and um, and so, the way my mind works, the service was going on and people were talking and I was. I was standing over here and I could see, I could see the screen. And then I turned and I'm looking, and I'm looking at the screen right there, and I said to myself, gosh, that looks like Newport Beach, that looks like Huntington Beach, that looks like our beaches. God you're so good, lord you're so good. And here we are at Roy's service. 13:57 Even death itself in the life of a believer is a great thing. Did you hear what I just said? Now, I didn't say this so much publicly as what was going on in my head, and then I thought this. A crime scene has fingerprints all over it, and when they take up the fingerprints they find out who done it right. When you look at a tree or the clouds blowing by, or the ocean waves, the sand, when you look at what God has done, is there not enough fingerprint evidence to convince you that he's a God worth loving. Isn't there enough evidence to convince you that what you're worried about you ought to just stop it? What are you doing? Because I bet you that thing that you're worried about, I bet you, if you take a deep breath and look again, there's God's fingerprints, are all over it. 14:53 You say you don't understand. I'm sick, I've got disease, I've got this Somehow. Listen, guess what? You may be wonderful, but you didn't. You're not somebody outside the scope of God's infinite wisdom. He's with you, you're not alone, he's with you in it. And you turn to him and you say Lord, I need some encouragement. And don't be surprised if he says I told you before, follow me, I'll never leave you or forsake you, and I'm with you right now. I'll see to it. You're my kid, I'm going to bring you all the way through. 15:31 But what if I die? What if you die? The worst thing could happen is if you survive. We're Christians here, people, people, listen. If we don't see God's fingerprints, we think the worst thing that can happen is you die. Oh, no, oh, my dear friend, wonderful believer, servant of God, he died. And Well, hey, I mean, he died Really. Is that the end of the story. 16:10 What's the fingerprint evidence? Christ rose again from the dead. The Bible says because he's risen, we rise also. Listen, because he lives, we live also. That's the evidence. We have to remember that Death sets me free from the binds and from the grip of this world. My Jesus rose again from the dead, so I, when I leave this place, that's where I'm going, and the fingerprint evidence of his works is everywhere. 16:39 Doctor, explain how these cells work, explain how the universe runs, explain how the tides move, explain your existence, explain it. And the doctor is just going to, Because at first he's going to say Well, you know, we have evidence and science about the. No, you don't. You might know how the cells work, but you can't tell me why. You can tell me the how, but you can't tell me the why. The why is God has made your body Christian. God has given you a will, he has given you a mind. He's given you who you are to walk with him, to know him. And in this world that is perishing, you want to, really want to save the world, right? 17:27 I find it very bizarre that people who want to save the world or save the whales are also the same people who are all about flushing the babies. Have you seen the bizarre correlation Save the whales, flush the babies? Isn't that weird? I find that so strange. Do you want to save the world? Then become a Christian? And what do you mean by save? Save? 17:55 The Bible says there's going to be a day when this world is no more, but every single one of us will live forever. Where will you be living? You want to save the world. He's the eternal God. He's the all-present God. That's one of his attributes. He's all-present. And the Bible tells us in Revelation 1, verse 8, listen up, I'm going to read you this verse. I'm gonna show it to you on the screens and if you belong to a cult, watch what happens. In fact, people look at those that are around you. You're gonna have a little. This is a little cult detector. 18:31 Here's the reason why I'm saying that, because in all of the cults they're very easily known. You don't have to get into the minutia of all their doctrines. All you have to do is ask them who's Jesus Christ? Some will say a great prophet. Ask another group who's Jesus Christ? He's one of many gods. Who's Jesus Christ? Someone comes to your door and says, oh, he's just an angel. He also goes by the name Michael Jesus. Says this is who he is. Are you ready, everybody? This is Jesus speaking about himself. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Says the Lord, see, capital, L-o-r-d, that's his name. Says Yah, or Yahweh, who is, who was, who is to come, the Almighty. That's who he is, that's who the Jesus of the Bible is. 19:52 - Speaker 1 If that's the Jesus you know I hope he's the Jesus you know Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.