transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] What happens after this life is over? Is there really life beyond the grave? In Life After Life, Pastor Philip de Corsi explores what Scripture says about eternity, heaven and the hope believers have through Jesus Christ. Discover the truth about what comes next and why it matters today. Request your copy of Life After Life with a gift of any amount to Real Life. Visit jackhibbs.com or call 877-777-2346. Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs Podcast. With intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture.

Speaker 2:
[00:39] Listen, to walk through the valley of the shadow of death is living through this life now. Until the moment you breathe your last breath and then to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord, you go home, you see Christ, God opens up the gate and says, come on in. This is what Jesus has done for us.

Speaker 1:
[01:00] 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.

Speaker 2:
[01:28] The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21, For God the Father made him who is Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. That means God laid upon him your lust, your anger, your pride, jealousy, you name it, everything. God put it upon him that we might become the righteousness of God in him, in Christ. I wrote in my Bible the great exchange. Christ goes to the cross, he dies in my place. He puts his righteousness and demolishes my sin. He picks it up, he carries my sin, he demolishes by it his righteousness. Then he turns around and being resurrected from the dead, he bestows upon us his righteousness and changes the account ledger, that your name, my name is in heaven and underneath. It used to have all of this stuff, what is known as the handwriting of ordinances that were against us. Christ washed them away by his blood. You should clap at that. We should all be very happy about that. Atonement, atonement. Christ carried our sins and he washed them away. He did that. And if you understand that, then you get to experience freedom from guilt and shame. Because you're the one that become keenly aware of the fact that there used to be a different you, and now there's a new you. And he died for you because he loved you. Matthew 5 verse 41, the Bible says, Jesus says, and whoever compels you to go a mile, go with him too. Give to him who ask you, and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away.

Speaker 1:
[03:20] Wow.

Speaker 2:
[03:21] This is so Christ-like. You have heard that it has been said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. That was the proverb until Jesus blew that out of the water. Verse 44, but I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your father in heaven. Say, Jack, I can't do that. None of us can do that. We have to ask God to give us that kind of love. Are we willing to bear the burdens of even of those who hate us? Now I understand we were called and commanded to bear the burdens of those in the family. But what about those in our lives who... I mean, they may not have come up and say, I hate you. Or maybe they have. Then it makes it very simple. You know what to do. But if it's somebody that's just like, you kind of get the feeling, yeah, I don't think they like me. Figure out a way to bless them. I am not going to tell you some details because I don't want to give you the details. I will just say this. Many, many years ago, decades ago, there was a person that just would not leave me alone. It was bad. Nuisance, I am telling you. Every turn, I am hearing something about me that I didn't know about me. This person is spreading stuff, this person is saying things. Just this incredibly overwhelming preoccupation was disgust for me. And I thought it was pretty contained and quiet, meaning limited to just... And then I began to hear strangers talk about it. And I just... Here's my first thought. I remember it like it was yesterday. Jesus, this is doing nothing but hurting your reputation, your name, your glory, your word. I don't know what to do. And then I go on to live my day, and then I do what you do. The next morning, I'm reading my Bible, and I come across this scripture, and it says, bless those who curse you. Do good to those who spitefully use you, and say all kinds of evil against you for my name's sake. How can I do that, God? First of all, I'd have to get a phone call through to them somehow. They would never take my call. But what would I do? But, in our family, there's a tradition, it's been going on for generations, and that is that from my mother in the Hawaiian culture, my family, generations on my mom's side, there is this very, very special meal. I will just say, have you ever heard of loco moco? Well, that's junk compared to what this is. It's Hawaiian fried rice and eggs, but it's unbelievable. The way that it's prepared, all of this stuff, and my mom taught it to me, and I taught it to Lisa and our daughters and our granddaughter, and it's a deal. But you only share it with special people. That's the tradition. And you know what God said to me? I thought he was so wrong. He said, that's what I want you to do to this person. Say what? But here's the deal. Lisa cannot be involved. She needs to be dismissed. You're in the kitchen. You do all the preparation. You do it. You set the table. You make it. But I don't know this. I'm not kidding. You guys listening? Lord, I don't know what kind of bread the guy likes. What did God say? God said, get wheat, get white, get rye, get sourdough, and I had it all. I don't know if the guy liked coffee or tea. I had coffee and tea. I made it all up. Person came over and said, what are you trying to do? Kill me? No. Please sit down. That breakfast was at 8 a.m. That person talked till about noon. I didn't understand what was going on. They got in their car. They drove away. And when that person drove away, I can't explain to you, and I'm glad I cannot explain it to you. It was so supernatural. I felt like I had lost 10 pounds in 30 seconds. There was this peace and this release of blessing the one who spoke evil of you. Did that person stop speaking evil of me? No. It never bothered me again. When you see scriptures like that, and you say, I can't do that, please do it. Because, listen, Jesus wants you to be free. And the world hates you and I. To the best of our ability, to the best we can, bless them. You say, I don't know how. I didn't either. Ask God, he'll tell you. That's who we are as believers. Philippians chapter two, verse four tells us, let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others. Wow. And the next thing we see is in verse two, that it reveals your loyalty. When the world speaks ill of you, cheer up. It reveals your loyalty. Some of us, I hope all of us know what it's like to be attacked for Jesus' sake. You ever had people attack you? And it's not even you they're attacking. It's so obvious. They hate Jesus. Man, it's ratcheted up pretty high right now in the world around us. I'm getting all kinds of hate mail right now. I'm being told you need to get a security team. You're getting these threats, these pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah. People are speaking about you. What do I do to them? Well, I was in Israel, and I don't know how I did. I didn't like fill out an application for this. But in Israel, I was voted a number five out of ten. The top ten Gentiles that stand with Israel, I was number five. And I thought, well, that's cool. Not everybody else thinks that's cool. And then this article went on to say, this guy believes what the Bible says. This guy believes that Jesus is the Messiah of, not only Israel, but the Messiah of the world. This is all true. It's true. And listen, this guy is a Zionist. That's true. You want to know why? Where is Zion? Does anybody know where Zion is? It's in Jerusalem. You know, that's where David had his throne, on Mount Zion. It's a hill, for crying out loud. Oh, guess what? The son of David is going to establish his throne when he returns on a hill called Zion. But listen, when people don't like that, they say, are you a Zionist? It's like, yes, what of it? But we think, listen, if the other people who hate Jesus and hate the word of God and hate you, say, are you a Zionist? The way that they frame it, you go, I don't know, I don't know if I really should have maybe, am I? I don't know. What are you doing? Stand up. Stand up and say, yeah, God is, so I am too. Yeah, that's right. God is, so I am too. So do you believe in Jesus? The Jesus who died on the cross and rose again from the dead? Yep, I sure do. Yes, I do. Why? Because he's your only hope. We're living in an amazing age. Don't be discouraged because every day, your loyalty is going to be tested as to who Jesus is in your life. This is not a time to get scared or weak need. It's a time to lovingly stand and say, yes, I love the Lord. He's amazing. He's been so good to me. You should know him too. Respond in a way. He says, let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. And that's how Jesus is to us. Jesus builds us up with his love, and so we should mimic the same. And the word please here, this is a good word for us to look at. The Greek word for to please is to make glad. Is to make glad. To create a pleasant atmosphere. Oh, this is cool. To set a table as in welcoming in a stranger. I like that. Isn't that neat? You know some people, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of hospitality. Have you ever seen people with the gift of hospitality? It's almost so amazing, it's uncomfortable. You ever been, where somebody's got the gift of hospitality, you walk into their home and it's like, the lighting is perfect. It smells perfect. They're so sweet and nice. They thought about everything. And you want to be there. And then it's time for you to go home, and you don't want to leave. Because they have the gift of hospitality. And if they were to say, well, we have an extra room here, okay. Because you know there's going to be a souffle or something in the morning. Love just comes out of them. They care about every little thing. And if humans can be like that, under the possession of the Holy Spirit, how much more God? He loves you. And these beautiful things. Well, there's so much wrong in the world. Of course there is. But there's so much good also. Don't get fixated on one thing. You'll get depressed. Psalm chapter 23, verse 1. The Lord is my shepherd. Notice the possessive origin of this. By the way, see the caps on L-O-R-D? That's Yahweh. Yah, in the scriptures, it's Yah. Yahweh is my shepherd. That's beautiful. That's the name of God. Yah. I shall not lack or want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. I've always heard it in my head this way. Yah. Yah. Yah. Yah. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Listen, you're gonna want to remember verse four, because every single one of us will experience verse four. You will walk through the valley of the shadow of death. You say, what is it? Like when I breathe my last, and that's when I die, when my body dies, is that when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death? Once I die? Nope. Listen, to walk through the valley of the shadow of death is living through this life now, and to the moment you breathe your last breath, and then to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord, you go home, you see Christ, God opens up the gate and says, come on in. This is what Jesus has done for us. It's awesome. Yay, though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. No COVID there. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they come for me. Instruction, encouragement and discipline. Comfort me. You prepare a table. Here it is before me in the presence of my enemies. Wow. God can give you incredible control and peace in the most hostile, ugly situation. Cause the spirit of the Lord, listen, is not only where you're at, the spirit of the Lord has to be wherever you're at. Because Jesus tells us regarding the fact that the spirit of God dwelling within you, he says, I will never leave you or forsake you. And Jesus does that by the power of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians chapter 9, verse 19 says, for though I am free, Paul is speaking, from all men. In other words, nobody can buy me, says Paul. Nobody owns me. I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more. And to the Jews, I became as a Jew. Which is funny, he was a Jew. Why is he saying this? Because it didn't matter to him anymore. Is this amazing? The super Jew. Paul was the super Jew. By the way, if you're Jewish today, please listen. If you're Jewish, don't stop being Jewish. Listen, our God is Jewish. Our Messiah is a Jew. If you're Jewish, you need to come and meet your Messiah. He'll take care of the rest. It's amazing to think. Some people have said, Jesus was the first Christian. Do you know what Christian means? It means Christ follower. And it's also a slang word. It was a derogatory statement. Antioch. In Antioch, the unbelievers started making fun of Christians by saying, Look at the little Christians. You guys just walk around talking like Jesus, acting like Jesus. Oh, you're so cute. You're a bunch of little, we're going to call you Christians. Little Christ walking around. And the Christian said, I mean, the believer said, we like that. We're going to hang on to that. No, friends, Jesus was not the first Christian. Jesus was the Jew who pointed us to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were the Gentiles who have been grafted in to the Commonwealth of Israel, says the scripture. So listen, if you're Jewish, you're just a little bit ahead of us. You just need to understand that your Messiah is not coming for the first time. You're not waiting for your Messiah to come for the first time. He's coming again. We're waiting for him to come back, and you need to know that you've been focusing on the wrong one. The Messiah came and died for our sins at the cross, rose again from the dead, and he's coming back. So listen, Paul says, listen, when I was hanging out with Jews, I became like a Jew, that I may win Jews to those who are under the law as under the law. In other words, when Paul was hanging out with a bunch of legalistic people, he just walked a very straight line with them. That I might win those who are under the law. Verse 21, to those who are without the law, unbelieving or Gentile world, as without the law, not being without law toward God, but under the law toward Christ. In other words, love, I never compromised my love. That I might win those who are without law. To the weak, I became as weak. That I might win the weak. I became all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Is this sweet? To be the kind of a believer that never compromises truth, we stand on that unwaveringly. Like so many things in life, it's how we communicate it. Do we communicate the truth of God by the fact that we love other people because we love God first? And that we minister by carrying one another's load?

Speaker 1:
[20:13] This Jack Hibbs Podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.