LIVE: The Holy Spirit In The Life Of The Believer

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] well hello everyone um [Music] jack is going to do a normal service tonight normal teaching but we have something special at the end of service so we're actually going to have a a time of communion and you're probably thinking well i don't have grape juice and matzah at my house but that's okay you can go and get ritz crackers in a capri sun or whatever you need just a piece of bread something that you bread that you can break with your family you could use water if that's all you have or milk or whatever the case may be but i wanted to kind of tell you now give you that announcement now um so you can start gathering your things so at the end of service you're ready uh to have a time at communion with us but um we're gonna start with worship now so worship with us [Music] [Music] [Music] between us you broke them down [Music] your love is stronger your love awakens awakens awakens me your love is greater your love is stronger your love awakens [Music] feel the darkness shaking your love is greater your love is stronger your love awakens awakens me your love is greater your love is stronger your love awakens death can't hold us [Music] your down is stronger your love awakens awakens is [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's your heart it's your [Music] to oh we are standing in your life and our hearts are open wide let us do what you want to do [Music] in our hearts and our lives [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is do what you want to do oh [Music] foreign [Music] us [Music] do what you want to do what [Music] to [Music] i worship you you are here working in this [Music] i worship you i worship [Music] i worship you i worship [Music] is [Music] my god that [Music] [Music] [Music] you are here [Music] i worship you that is who you are [Music] we make miracle work [Music] that promises who you are that is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] light in the darkness my god [Music] [Music] who you are [Music] is [Music] [Music] my is is who you are [Music] lord this is all truth lord lord you are everything that you say you are lord and that never changes you are the same yesterday today and forever you keep all of your promises you don't decide not to keep any of them lord you keep all of your promises lord you are so faithful to your word or we can stand on that where we believe this is who you are god be glorified tonight we pray in jesus name amen amen amen well we are glad that you're with us this evening here in southern california and i wish you could see outside because it's absolutely been amazing for um well quite frankly it's been amazing for months here we've had great weather lots of rain but today was one of those days where uh you could have picked to go to the beach uh if you were allowed uh or you could go to uh the mountains that are covered in snow uh here locally uh it's been an amazing season god has blessed us tremendously and uh talking about blessings uh we're just so delighted just to see the response of many of you uh we're making a lot of new friends uh via the uh online platform from around the world remarkable connections i got to tell you i'm not a tech person but i'm a big fan now of of what's going on and how we are able to connect around the world and just some of the things that are taking place and uh the people that we're hearing from uh just just amazing but listen for all of us as the world in a sense has gotten really small that could be a good thing and for us as believers i think it's a great thing but let me do some announcements that are no doubt local to the body of christ but now that we're not physically able to meet together all of a sudden everyone's on the same page because now we are at church with you online and so listen up uh we've got daily programming if you haven't figured this out yet or stumbled across us we have converted this amazing team of ours they've converted our website to daily programming for you and your family i mean quite frankly it's like having our own television channel and so you can fill your day with god's word any way you want uh video on demand teaching on demand and on the hour programs that you can choose to watch so you can assemble the entire family and look at the lineups that are there there's devotions there's teaching there's bible studies there's movies and we're going to be loading it up with some other movies as well shortly special children's programming to encourage your kids at this time as well all you need to do is go to calvary cch.org c-a-l-v-a-r-y cch.org and click watch live and there you go everything will be there also number two announcement is easter at home you can download easter at home it's a guide for you to go through step through passion week can you believe it this coming sunday is palm sunday palm sunday is one of the most awesome days of bible prophecy fulfillment that quite frankly i believe that i could prove to the most hardened atheist just on the data just on the facts palm sunday is undeniable proof of god's existence palm sunday a lot of people don't realize how significant palm sunday is but it's coming up this coming sunday if i've got my calendar in my head correct but we've got passion week happening and we can provide for you and your family really great easy to implement ideas at home and activities for the kids regarding palm sunday and resurrection sunday and for that you can go to at home calvary dot org at home calvary dot org that's the website for that uh we want you to stay connected with us so listen listen to this because um you're gonna need to know this the church website now has multiple ways for you to stay connected again at calvarycch.org but you can do that by going to our facebook or our instagram or our youtube channels all of these are being utilized tremendously and since the uh the shutdown if you want to call it the coved or the coronavirus uh we have just seen a multiple increase of hundreds of thousands of viewers and you can also sign up i encourage you to do this because this is being built uh really week by week and that is jack hibbs.com jackkibs.com for special updates from me personally that i'll be announcing to you and you can engage with us there and uh also this this is important to to make note but you can still participate in fact everyone has to participate even if you live across the street now or if you live around the world and that is if you are being fed by the word of god here i i don't like this part because um i i've i've always gone over to the other side of being too uh concerned about this but i i also have to be wise about it this way when we worship we worship when we move we worship when we breathe we worship in our leisure we worship in our work everything about the christian is worship when we sing our songs to god it's worship to him it's not a performance for you or anybody else it's to god bible study is worship of god and so is giving giving of our resources to god's work is worship and for those of you who want that to understand that to embrace that because you get it from scripture then awesome but a lot of people have been abused by this thing about giving and that's the last thing i want you to experience keep this rule in your mind if you're a believer and you're being fed by your ministry at home wherever you live that ministry comes first never stop giving to a ministry at home that's feeding you if you're not getting fed at home in your community in your city go to another church but many people today tell us that they can't find a church and that we are their church and the reason why we were able to be their church in paris or able to be their church in the philippines is because people just like me just like you give because we're growing here and to do that this is what you would need to do you would need to take your smart device your phone and you would text to give moving away from cash and a lot of people are doing that because of its uh dangerous uh pollutants it's carrying all kinds of ugly stuff on it uh but text to give is the way people are uh moving now and i understand that we just got on this last week uh lisa and i but it's 77 977 very simple you text on your phone go up to the top uh to who it is instead of a person 77 9 the number 9 77 and then down in the comment or in the uh the memo section you would enter cch and it looks like there's a space here cch give and you can set that up it takes just a moment or less to set up and just follow the prompts it's so simple and you can do that and then also this real quick the featured book of the month i know that there are now hundreds of thousands of you joining us for the first time we've watched that happen each week now since this lockdown shutdown but you need to know that every month we offer a featured book of the month we've been doing this for almost 30 years since this home bible study started and um it's jesus only by vance havner he's one of my greatest favorite bible teachers there is vance havner's book jesus only an awesome awesome book on the life of christ and what you can do is for a gift of any amount any amount any amount think of that maybe even if you say i don't have an amount send it to us and we'll send you the book at least i'm saying that in faith okay but a gift of any amount and you'll get this awesome source for your christian development and we encourage you to do that to order you can order the book by going to real life with jack hibbs by the way i don't get a penny of this okay just so you know real life with jack hibbs dot org click on the book of the month that's real life with jack kibbs click on the book of the month and uh you get the book i don't get anything and that's the way we want it and then one more thing before we get into the word tonight and then we'll close the evening with a time of communion together online which we've never done before but we'll do it now this evening but um i i don't know if you have a chance church in america to be watching what is now i think it's the most watched daily television program it's been that way for a couple weeks i don't know if you know it's not even a program but it's the most watched daily program going on now and that is uh from the rose garden every evening at five o'clock president trump briefs the nation on the state of the nation daily regarding uh the coronavirus and it's fascinating all of these experts are up there talking and today he had some generals and admirals and uh it was just it's just amazing they're having something like 10 8 9 10 million viewers an evening but one of the moments was awesome and many of you have heard me talk about mike lindell uh that he's the my pillow guy i had a chance to spend some time with mike lindell in miami and he is the real deal the guy loves the lord he is as passionate as you can imagine from his commercials he loves jesus with no apologies and i want you to see why tonight he's in so much trouble he's in so much trouble with people who just can't handle this so check this out given our position we've begun to research and develop new protocols to address the current and future needs of u.s businesses across multiple sectors how companies are going to prepare themselves when they once again open up and and changes to their current operations in order to adjust to future threats and pandemics my pill has designated some of its call center to help u.s companies navigate the many issues that resulted from this pandemic we've we've dedicated 75 percent of my manufacturing to produce cotton face mask i'm up to 10 in three days i was up to 10 000 a day by friday i want to be up to 50 000 a day i'm proud to manufacture our products in the united states and i'm even more proud to be able to serve our nation in this great time of need thank you mr president for your call to action when which has empowered companies like my pillow to help our nation win this invisible war now i wrote something off the cuff if i can read this god gave us grace on november 8 2016 to change the course we were on god had been taken out of our schools and lives a nation had turned his back on god and i encourage you to use this time at home to get to home to get back in the word read our bibles and spend time with our families our president gave us so much hope where just a few short months ago we had the best economy the lowest unemployment and wages going up it was amazing with our great president vice president and this administration and all the great people in this country praying daily we will get through this and get back to a place that's stronger and safer than ever oh man could you hear him breaking up he was emotional about it and so should he be god took a man who was a lost messed up drug addict a guy that was left for dead and he told me we sat at a at a uh event together um and he told me he said i was an absolute bum and i had a dream one night and i had all these chemical uh patterns and like like how mozart might see music he said i saw all this stuff and i got up and i wrote it all down i didn't even know what it meant and it was actually the patent to his top secret formula for his uh pillows that now are the number one selling pillow in the world and it's made him uh an incredible businessman he's extremely generous but did you hear his words this is america i love it when when we when we get hit we go to god and he said the obvious as people are turning to god and he just acknowledged that but a few people hate him now for it and uh they're after him for it so here's what i think if he's being attacked for mentioning god and for thanking god for uh god's grace then you know what maybe you ought to go online after the bible study and buy a buy a pillow from him just to encourage him that dude loves jesus he's fearless and so should you and i be especially now and mike lindell has taken advantage of the moment for christ and um i love it i just love it so let's pray together father we ask you lord that you just unlock your word to us and father that tonight as we're looking on again in the y series the life in the ministry the work of the holy spirit and the life of the believer may tonight just be yet again another installment in the growth of our spiritual hearts our lives lord your bible tells us that the outward man's perishing our bodies no matter how young we are or how old we are our bodies are doing the exact same thing they're perishing but that doesn't have to be true regarding the inside of us the spiritual side of who we are so lord may we direct our hearts to you we pray it in jesus name and all of god's people said amen amen okay grab your bibles and turn if you would acts chapter 19. acts chapter 19 in our bible and while you're turning there we want to give a special thank you and a greeting to all of the viewers at his channel television his channel we are grateful they're carrying this program worldwide right now and we're grateful very very grateful last week we had from just their services alone 250 000 of viewers watched the program so every chance you get go to his channel dot com and enjoy the programming there so by now you should be in acts chapter 19. and uh this is our launch point tonight verse one and it happened that while apollos was at corinth that paul having passed through the upper regions came to ephesus so this is turkey today on our globe on our maps and finding some disciples verse 2 he said to them did you receive the holy spirit when you believed so they said to him we have not so much as heard whether there is a holy spirit and paul said to them into what then were you baptized listen to his surprise so they set into the baptism of john or john's baptism that's john the baptist then paul said to them john indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance saying to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him that is on christ jesus and when they heard this they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus so that's interesting listen uh that means they went into water and were baptized afresh anew and when paul had laid hands on them the holy spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied verse 7. now the men were about 12 and all and they went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of god if you were reading that carefully you saw at least there the mention twice in two different settings the word baptism or to be baptized in fact we're actually talking about three types of experiences all in that one portion of scripture john the baptist was in the jordan river baptizing people the word baptized is baptizo it means to go all the way under i don't want to offend anybody but it does not mean sprinkle that's a different greek word this word means to go completely under water and up out of water and it signifies the the life that lived for sin dying in the grave watery grave coming up into newness of life now they were baptized into the baptism of john the baptist and john's message was only this come forward and confess your sins and be baptized and so that's why paul when he shows up he says and he must have done it by observation he's looking at them and he realizes something's missing something's off with these wonderful believers and so paul is prompted by the spirit of god to say were you have you guys been baptized with the holy spirit and they said what are you talking about so somehow paul recognized that there was some lack in these believers life but notice it's not just john's baptism the bible here says that they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus and then when they laid hands on them the holy spirit came upon them and some will use the terminology as being baptized with the holy spirit so right now for some people who are brought up in a pentecostal background you have one view of that and for some of you who were ultra conservative perhaps maybe a a certain type of of baptist community or whatever you hear what i'm saying right now and you begin to freak and on one side people are going whoa he's going to talk about the baptist and the holy spirit and then on the other side there's going to be a group of people saying oh oh no no no no listen the bible is very very clear there's the baptism of john the baptist then of course we do it here you do it at your church there's the baptism of the new believer that has confessed christ as lord and you baptize them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit in jesus name amen and they come up out of that water why because having been born again they are now baptized in water as an outward announcement to the world that they are followers of jesus christ salvation is not through water baptism it's impossible to be saved by being baptized in water baptism in water only works if you are first saved before you enter into the water that's important to know you never put the cart in front of the horse a lot of people have confused that that they think i got baptized i'm going to heaven no you got wet that's all you did is you got wet you need to accept the lord jesus christ which by the way john's preaching had the first word of the gospel and that is repent and believe so you repent and believe in the lord jesus christ and we'll see tonight that that is called being born again and in that moment the holy spirit comes inside of the believer listen because we may not get to it tonight so i want to say it right now the moment a person is born again the holy spirit moves inside of them and the bible teaches us in first corinthians 12 that the new believer now is baptized into the body of christ at the moment of conversion the holy spirit baptizes you into the body of christ in other words at belief that faith in christ the holy spirit puts you in the church but tonight we're going to be learning about what paul witnessed here in the book of acts he saw believers that were lacking power he saw believers that were lacking some form of manifestation of the holy spirit's possession of their life you say jack how do you know that because i read it a moment ago as soon as this event was over they went and spoke the word of god with boldness with boldness we saw that and they spoke for three months they spoke with boldness and they spoke with endurance how'd they do that because of the power of the holy spirit coming upon them now church family i don't care what terminology you use i am i refuse to get hung up on the terminology because different camps different denominations use different words for the same event when the holy spirit came upon them it is the greek word epi epi the epi effect or workings of the holy spirit epi is to come upon the believer and every time he does the bible says it's for power when you accept christ it is the greek word in and that's spelled e-n and that's a one-time event and that is that placing of you into the church or into the body of christ very important en to indwell epi to come upon two different functions of the holy spirit one happens once in your life and the other happens in the numeral innumerable amount of times over and over again as much as you need the power of god the bible teaches us and we won't get into it this week but in weeks ahead we'll go to ephesians 5 where we'll see later that it is a continuous being filled afresh with this power very important it's exactly what jesus talked about in acts chapter 1 verse 5. jesus said for john truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the holy spirit not many days from now 50 days in fact pentecost 50 days in fact some parts of the world call christians 50 day christians they'll say are you 50 day christian first time i heard that i thought that was cute i heard that in russia many years ago are you a 50-day christian 50-day and what they meant was pentaka are you a pentecostal christian and it turned out that uh what they thought was something different than what i thought and so church listen uh quickly uh as we march through this the holy spirit in your life as a believer remember this we looked at who is the holy spirit we've answered that number two where is the holy spirit in scripture as a person we answer that thirdly why is the holy spirit necessary in your life we looked at that last time together in fact we gave a little layout remember it was about the holy spirit's the necessity of him in your life is the fact for salvation possession comfort sanctification supernatural knowledge power protection vision gifting we'll talk on that more tonight and ultimately redemption fourthly we talked about how is the holy spirit active in your life we talked about that last week in our teaching tonight mark it down is number five the holy spirit in the life of the believer number five does the holy spirit have more for my life we're going to ask a question does the holy spirit have more for my life in other words is there more and i'm happy to report that there is an abundance of more and with this question comes one of the most exciting in my opinion thrilling and meaningful sustain sustainable driving forces of the christian life does god have more for me in my christian experience and the answer to that is an overwhelming yes i want to just beg with you tonight and if you forget everything don't forget this if your christian experience is boring if somehow in your life you have a hum drum christianity then i want you to know right now with all love i say to you you're doing it wrong maybe that's what paul saw in the book of acts they believed in jesus but they didn't have any power they believed in jesus but they didn't have any purpose they believed in jesus they had all the right answers but they didn't have the right practice they were orthodox but they didn't have the unction of the holy spirit's grip upon their life and i want to ask you do you have the holy spirit's grip upon your life and when he has a hold of you it's like a handle on a tool have you noticed that whenever the handle breaks on your shovel you throw both away have you noticed that if your hammer breaks the handle it's ruined have you noticed that whatever has a handle when it loses its handle it's no good think about the christian life i want you to think about a handle coming out of my back a handle like a trowel and it should be true in your life and that that handle signifies the power and the work of the holy spirit because god's got a purpose for your life absolutely amazing so this is very exciting but we've we've got to remember that jesus before commissioning his disciples he made them understand that they could not do ministry without the power of the holy spirit especially in three ways and we looked at that before the holy spirit would be their comforter in the world of ministry oh my goodness dear friends listen if you're a pastor tonight or if you're in christian ministry if you're on any ministry team or a christian worker how in the world can you do christian ministry without the holy spirit comforting you because ministry listen let me tell you i'm not a politician but i happen to be around politicians a lot because i hope i'm making an impact on them at least that's what i'm supposed to be doing but i've concluded i would never want to be a politician if they're going to stand for what's right it is bloody but you know what i'm happy to be called a pastor and some people might say i don't know how you do it i don't do this and you don't do your christianity either the holy spirit is our comforter and thirdly i should say secondly to that is that he's our teacher he's the one that illuminates the bible to us and then thirdly of course is that he is our guide so let's look at this together church does the holy spirit have more for my life more for your life the answer is an overwhelming yes but let's unpack it number one mark it down in your note-taking it is true and he will begin to call you into his family so i'm going to start right now and i've i actually changed up my notes because there are so many new people viewing that i don't want to assume anything i'm no longer speaking to the choir so to speak that used to be here in these seats okay so i don't want to leave anybody behind the holy spirit begins to go to work in your life by calling you first of all into the family of god this happens as i said earlier as the holy spirit begins to illuminate your thinking again maybe you've been watching this program and you've been thinking and maybe someone has talked to you into sitting down and and all week long you've had different thoughts in your mind what's going on i want you to know that is the power of the spirit of god after you the great puritans of the colonial period used to call the holy spirit the hound of heaven i like that the hound of heaven that he's after you and uh it's the holy spirit's power that does that but it's his heart to illuminate jesus to you to get you to be thinking about jesus and the obvious question is for you to ask is why do i exist when you start to wake up listen spiritually because you know you can be like the hamster in the wheel and wear your life out a lot of people live like that and die like that but maybe lately and maybe with all that's going on in the world you've stopped and you begin to ask yourself why do i exist in fact have you noticed ministry around the world go check and see all around the world ministry of the bible has exploded all around the world check this out in iran as i've mentioned last week in iran people are not turning to the quran in iran iran's one of the biggest downloads of bible online and bible sermons and bible studies off out of the cloud down into iran why because when you're hit with life you need answers and people want answers and right now christianity in the message of christ is going everywhere and why are people asking this question why do i exist ah because the holy spirit is now waking you up he's stirring you up think of a breeze that begins to blow across the field or through the trees it starts out gently at first it's remarkable he's beginning to wake you up so you might be asking the question why do i exist or you might be asking the question what's my purpose in this world i think any normal human will ask some form of those two questions in john chapter 6 verse 44 jesus said no man can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him isn't that an amazing statement that's an awesome thing to say because jesus is announcing that there is no possible way for you to have a mind that begins to entertain god and to have thoughts toward god to wonder about life after death is there a heaven is there a hell you can't think that thought those thoughts unless the holy spirit is working in your life and jesus says that happens by the work of the father and matthew chapter 11 verse 25 matthew 11 25 the bible says at that time jesus answered and said i thank you father so this is actually a prayer of jesus if you think about it i thank you father lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent the arrogant and have revealed them to babes people that are open verse 26 even so father for so it seemed good in your sight all things have been delivered to me you can see jesus tap his chest by my father and no one knows the son except the father nor does anyone know the father except the son and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him now you've got jesus announcing you can't know god without his work in your life you earlier a moment ago heard that you can't know jesus without the father at work in your life and of course you know and you're learning that you can't come to christ without the spirit working in your life the trinity of god at work in your life so let's look at a couple of things it's it's pretty cool um and again i assume that you're going to be taking notes i want you to be learning this and and having a class in the home as it were right now but here's a perfect illustration of this truth that i'm talking about uh first corinthians chapter 1 verse 25 first corinthians 1 25 says because the foolishness of god is wiser than men and the weakness of god is stronger than men for you see your calling brethren that not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but god has chosen the foolish things of this world to put to shame the wise and god has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised god has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are why that no flesh verse 29 says should glory in his presence god the holy spirit does that work and i hope and i pray that he's doing that in your life he's stirring you up in these last days before christ comes luke chapter 13 next jot that down here's a view by the way i'm going to give you two two views of the spectrum two angles from the spectrum of view luke 13 10 listen to this this is from one end of the spectrum luke 13 10 says now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath day jesus and behold there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity sickness for 18 years she had a very serious illness for 18 years and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up so she had some sort of great tumor or some great pain some great nerve issue we don't know verse 12 says but when jesus saw her he called her to him and said to her woman you are loosed from your infirmity and he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight and glorified god she stood straight up and praised god this is a humble woman probably viewed as an outcast because that culture was very cruel and the word implies that she couldn't even look up she had to look at the ground all the time and what's interesting to me is jesus doesn't go to her i think this is fascinating it's a whole bible study in and of itself he doesn't go to her to make it easy he says to her woman come here doesn't that sound a little mean but again i've mentioned to you guys before jesus always invites you to exercise faith first you got to put your feet in the water before you can cross the sea and he says to her woman come over here i mean she's listening and it may not seem like a big deal to you but she obeys and she goes to him what does she see first she must see his feet i'm imagining and she hears his voice woman you're you're released from your infirmity and he touches her back and the bible tells us that she stands up she stands straight up a humble woman loved on by jesus healed here's the other end of the spectrum acts chapter 9. this is the work of the holy spirit and bringing you into the family of god then saul saul of tarsus still breathing out threats and murders against the disciples of the lord went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of damascus that he that if he found anyone who was of the way that was the name of christianity in the first century was the way whether men or women that he might bring them bound to jerusalem and as he journeyed he came near damascus and suddenly a light shone around from heaven then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him saul saul why are you persecuting me and saul said who are you lord and then the lord said i am jesus whom you are persecuting it is hard for you to kick against the goads against the nails the spikes so he that is saul soon to become paul trembling and astonished said lord what do you want me to do then the lord said to him arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must do saul of tarsus became paul the apostle you have a humble lowly woman that nobody knew jesus touched and brought her into the family of god and you've got this isis type of religious warrior saul of tarsus who's out capturing and even murdering christians and while he's in route to go do that very thing jesus touches him what an awesome truth that is so tonight you cannot say that you're too poor or that you're too nothing for jesus and tonight you cannot say that you're too much of something remember god god doesn't call the noble or the blue bloods is the is the word he doesn't call royalty to salvation he calls all people tragically it appears that his message seems to resonate more when people are hurting or when people are poor or when people are mindful of their need and the question is are you mindful of your need that would be true if the holy spirit's working in your life secondly we see this that the holy spirit wants more for your life absolutely yes and he will begin to show listen he will begin to show yourself to you see jack what are you talking about when the holy spirit goes to work when he begins to invite you into the family there's a process of that he begins now to show yourself to you or if you want you to yourself see what do you mean humans spend so much time so much money so much effort doing everything they can to look and to portray themselves to be someone that they're not the one of the greatest things lacking in the world today is true authenticity and that's sad because even the people of of media world hollywood weirdness whatever they try to act all crazy strange and try to get you to think that that's who they are and even that is a stunt everyone loves authenticity jesus was real and he wants to make real people and you need to understand and we all need to understand that jesus rescues us from ourselves we're not good for us we can get ourselves into a lot of trouble just ask adam or ask eve but the bible teaches us that we must experience this tremendous effect this tremendous thing called regeneration will you write that down regeneration the word regeneration listen i'm reading a book uh actually i finished the book i'm reading it again uh slowly but it's about george whitefield and john and charles wesley the great colonial era preachers these guys were famous preaching to thousands they had their ministry degrees they were ordained and they weren't even born again they said so those guys wound up coming to christ in the midst of their own ministries they are born again what is that born again they became a regenerated human being this is what god does regeneration means to take what is and to bring new life out of it that's why jesus used the term born a second time to be regenerated is the only way you can get to heaven but god's got to be the one who does it he does that work you cannot do it listen you and i cannot save ourselves because we start our path of new morality or our our new effort to be a good citizen we start that route tainted we've got too much baggage our hands are already dirty our souls are stained by lust or pride or arrogance or whatever it might be jesus shows us when he goes to work the holy spirit jesus using the holy spirit the holy spirit exalting christ shows you who you are shows me who i am and this is all about regeneration where god begins to do a regenerating work how about this the word means regenesis not read go ahead but r.e genesis is beginning or life or start and jesus christ offers a restart in life and that's awesome ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 says and you he made alive that's regeneration who are dead and trespasses and sins isn't that awesome listen everybody because this is kind of fun uh we know that there's viewers viewing right now from various parts of the world you've never heard some of this stuff before you need to know something spectacular jesus says your life has got to be completely undone not by you but by god but here's where we start i've been putting thoughts in your head about eternity thoughts in your head about guilt and shame jesus would say and now that you're beginning to awaken to that i want to tell you something you need to start your life all over again and and you might yell right now through your screen and say i've been trying to do that for years and i'm going to stay right back at you stop doing it just stop it don't do it anymore because every one of those efforts and steps that you're doing is called religion and god will have none of it he won't accept it you've got to be regenerated or jesus said born again you need a re-genesis of life the bible says in ephesians 2 1 again remember he made you alive because you were once dead in your sins dead god wants you to be made new and he does it you don't it's not a in america we have dyi do you what do do it yourself stuff uh it's a big deal uh diy and everybody's into that where'd you do that i did that did you have some no i did that and that's cute if you're gonna build a shed or a garden or build a house but don't apply that to your spiritual experience god will have none of that because he doesn't take these sewn up patched up messes that we call our reformed life god's got to do the change the bible tells us very very clearly that he intensifies this experience in a person's life in his heart until what i call god bringing you to a crisis a crisis of faith is what i like to call it in first timothy chapter 1 verse 12 first timothy 1 12 the bible says i thank christ jesus our lord who hath enabled me says paul for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry speaking of himself who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious injurious but listen i obtained mercy because i did it ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which is in christ jesus now this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance listen to this the christ jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom i am chief said the apostle paul that is exactly what's got to happen in your life and that's the work of the holy spirit paul the apostle thought of his own self-evaluation when paul looked at paul against the standard of christ polk hated what he saw when paul looked at paul in the mirror he didn't see saint paul he saw paul the man that battles with temptation and sin in his life either in thought indeed and it's the same paul that cried out and said who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death and he breaks open in that great crescendo of praise in romans chapter 8 verse 1 i thank god through the lord jesus christ that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in christ jesus god sets you free but when you look at yourself the holy spirit will get you to look at you without all of the makeup without all of the wardrobe and all of the jewelry and all the pomp and glory to look at you and he'll reveal who you are to you i believe that this is crystal clear in scripture and i believe it's one of the first steps of not only knowing christ but moving on with christ is to understand woe unto me i'm a sinful man and that's true i remember reading this uh and now just quote it here verbatim there there is the you that people think you are then there is the you that you want people to think you are then there's the you that knows who you really are so there's three opinions right there of your one life and god knows but listen adam and eve became keenly aware of their shame did they not before they were restored by god isaiah chapter 6 isaiah the lofty preacher was overwhelmed when he saw his own sin in daniel chapter 9 daniel confesses his sin and even confesses the fact that his sin and the sin of his nation was the reason why they lost their nation mary the mother of jesus and the magnificant confessed that she needed the lord her savior peter confessed lord depart from me for i am a sinful man it is an awesome thing to realize but this listen this above all things and i don't know how far we'll get tonight on this but we might just only make it through this passage that's coming up but this may do you a world of good both now and forever please listen up this is extremely important i'm praying right now in my mind that everyone who's watching wherever you're at there would be a quiet there'd be a hush there'd be a way for you all to hear what might be the most important part of the entire bible we go through it so fast that we often miss it john 3 verse 1 john chapter 3 verse 1 there was a man of the pharisees named nicodemus so he's a pharisee extremely intelligent theological brilliant man well uh decorated for his learning a ruler of the jews having absolute authority this man came to jesus at night and said to him rabbi we know that you are a teacher come from god for no one can do the things that you do unless god is with him and jesus answered and said to him by the way that that that compliment went jesus let that bounce right off like water bouncing off a duck's back jesus just let that flattery fly right by he's not taking it for a second jesus listen to this jesus answered and said to him most assuredly i say to you unless one is born again you cannot see the kingdom of god nicodemus said to jesus how can a man be born when he is old can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born and jesus answered moses surely i say to you unless you're born of water that's how you that's of your mama born of water means to be born to the flesh born into this world you come into this world born through water and the spirit so first birth second birth or being born again he cannot enter the kingdom of god verse six that which is born of the flesh is flesh that answers to the water that which is born of the spirit is spirit the new life verse 7 do not marvel that i said to you you must be born again the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes so is everyone who is born of the spirit verse 9 nicodemus answered and said to jesus how can these things be can you imagine the shock of this guy's life he was a professional religious authority probably his father and grandfather and his great great grandfather they were probably pharisees as well this is a big deal and he's shocked he's got this rabbi by the name of jesus who's definitely stirring up the nation whose teachings have never been heard before and then he backs it up with miracles galore and so nicodemus can't take it anymore and he comes over to talk to jesus at night probably trying to hide from being identified by his peers and jesus is you'll hear it in a moment jesus is saying you're not going to make it like that can you imagine if if someone with overwhelming authority and a known love you could tell that the person who's speaking to you loves you and that person says to you you're such a great person you're such a wonderful person i have to tell you you'll never make it to heaven like that you can't get to heaven by being good nicodemus you can't get to heaven by being in authority you're not going to make it that way it doesn't matter how much you know nicodemus it's who you know all of his study all of his disciplines all of his years stacked up against one moment and one instant and that is are you born again nicodemus you've got to be born again and nicodemus gives the answer that is both terrifying but if handled rightly liberating how can these things be see pastor jack you're telling me things i've never heard of before i'm not telling you anything i'm giving you bible pure bible if you've never heard these things before then you need to get a new church or you need to get out of your religion you certainly need to read a bible jesus answered and said to him are you the teacher of israel and you do not know these things most assuredly i say to you we speak what we know and testify what we have seen and you do not receive our witness if i have told you earthly things and you do not believe how will you believe if i tell you of heavenly things no one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from heaven that is the son of man who is in heaven and as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so the son of man must be lifted up that is reference to the cross that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life for god so loved the world that he gave his only glorified or begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life for god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved listen up everyone he who believes in him is not condemned but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god verse 19 and this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil for everyone preaching practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deed should be exposed but he listen he who does the truth comes to the lights that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done or seen that is by god what does that mean the person who is being awakened by the holy spirit will want to come to god even though there is shame and guilt and all of the things that you and i have done wrong the overwhelming love of the spirit's drawing is a decision you make i am going to go to him no matter what i've done in my life or no matter what i'm involved in now i'm going to go to him right now right now wherever you may be in the world you could be right now practicing sin and this program is on in the background somewhere and all of a sudden i were to say hey god sees you and you can be in that bed of sin or in that den of iniquity and you can hear what i'm saying that god sees you and one person will run out the door and and the other person will start walking toward the good news that jesus loves you and he forgives you of your sins but you are drawn to him and you can't explain it and you don't know why but you sense this pool that's the spirit of god working that's jesus having commissioned the holy spirit under the directive of the father and that spirit is drawing and pulling you to christ and that that's what happened to nicodemus and at the end of jesus earthly ministry jesus dies on the cross for the sins of the world and nicodemus goes public with his faith nicodemus is at the cross and he helps airmethia take down the body of jesus christ for the burial well as normal i don't usually get through my notes and we're not going to do it again tonight i'll give you one more argument here and then we'll we'll begin to wrap it up for our communion time tonight we'll have uh if you missed the announcement we'll have our time of communion but one more mark it down if you would the holy spirit absolutely has more for your life and thirdly is this he will begin to reveal himself to you after he reveals you to you and you're devastated about your condition then he reveals himself to you in fact a.w tozer writes the reason why many it's talking about christians the reason why many are still troubled still seeking still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves we're still trying to give orders and interfering with god's work within us said tozer now you need to give up and the greatest moment to give up is when god reveals himself to us to you the book of acts tells us getting back to the apostle paul book of acts chapter nine we see an example of that now a man by the name of ananias answered and said lord we have heard from many people about this man he's talking about saul how much harm he has done to your saints in jerusalem and here he has a and we hear that he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon your name but the lord said to him go for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before gentiles and kings and the children of israel for i will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake the fact of the matter is paul the apostle listen we'll end with this the the fact that paul the apostles life there is no more greater convert to christianity in the last two thousand years than paul the apostle and jesus tells ananias to go and pray for him and go see him and lay hands on him because ananias hears from god that god says i've chosen him and i'm going gonna use him i've got a purpose for his life and so go because my calling upon him will lead him before kings and rulers in the great crowds of the nation of israel itself because in my calling in my great work that i'm going to do with him he's going to suffer tremendously suffering for the life of the christian is never a loss today i was on the phone with one of our dear saints whose husband is very sick and we're praying for him and i i prayed in faith asking god i don't know what happened later i just prayed with her and lord please heal him and raise him up by sunset by this evening we pray in faith and we're not we weren't claiming anything i just thought it would be exciting lord if your will is to heal him may it be today and may it be this evening and may we rejoice and look god could exercise the ultimate healing did you know that god could say jack i heard you i'm just gonna i have a different way of doing it and god could take that man home tonight he would be healed but she'd be left behind and she would miss him and she would mourn in suffering maybe you're in some part of the world where christians you suffer you're under the radar as it were or you need to stay under the radar and you suffer isn't it comforting to know that jesus says regarding paul ananias it's okay i've called paul to be one of my servants and i've got to talk to him and you need to go speak to him and put and announce to him what great things i have in store for his life i've got to use him greatly but he's going to suffer tremendously would you suffer for jesus the only way you would suffer for jesus listen to me we're closing listen the only way that you would suffer for jesus for realsies is if you saw him if he revealed himself to you that's christian history when people bring a sword and they say denounce christ i will cut off your head christians can't denounce christ the power of the holy spirit comes upon that person grace is surrounding that individual and they confess christ can denounce christ or you'll burn at the stake and the saints burneth the stake i read not too long ago that in vietnam there were areas where you were not you're not allowed to be a christian and the vietnam vietnamese christians would not stop witnessing to people so when they were caught they pulled on their tongues and cut their tongues and then seared it with a hot iron so that they could not speak anymore with articulation why would a person go through that suffering and count it all joy says the bible there's only one reason it's because god has revealed enough of himself to you that you understand that neither death nor life nor any other created thing shall be able to separate me from the love of god which is in christ jesus and that's a matter of fact religion cannot do that for you it's impersonal it's unattainable but god the holy spirit comes inside of the believer and begins to go to work first working in your mind and drawing you to christ bringing you to faith and then exposing yourself to yourself to see how sinful we are how much we need him and then when we see that when our heads are hung low and many of you tonight your heads might be hanging low and your head's down and you're so discouraged and you can almost listen with these words you can almost sense the holy spirit picking up your chin as it were and the spirit of god lifts up your head and he looks into your eyes and he says woman you're healed of your infirmity or maybe he says your life now is yours go now and sin no more don't live like that anymore suffering jesus christ suffered at the cross he died on that cross and he was buried in jerusalem in a tomb the bible says three days later he rose again from the dead hey listen if you don't want to know what the bible has to say about it the roman empire says the same thing rome recorded the exact same thing hey listen the guys who nicodemus used to work for the pharisees they recorded it on resurrection sunday morning jesus christ rose again from the dead and changed the course of human history jesus changed the course for every man and woman boy or girl and he died in that on that cross and all of god's punishment for my sins was laid upon jesus jesus took my place do you know how you know how all of us can relate to that no matter where you are in the world is that when you're in trouble if somebody takes your place you feel so unworthy but you're so glad somebody did it's like i'm not worth that jesus steps in and says i got this jack you're condemned to hell i knew before you were ever born what kind of a wretch you were going to be but the moment you entertained my voice when i began to speak to you and i began to reveal myself in your mind i showed you then who you really were and jack do you remember that on june 20th 1977 on a monday night you went to your knees and you were in absolute disgust you saw your sin and you knew you were going to hell yes lord then you do you remember in the next moment when you called out to me the sense that i'd given you life that i keep my word i'm the redeemer i'm the one that regenerates life yes lord and he's been changing my life ever since and tonight as we pause now on this first wednesday night of the month we do this here in this grand sanctuary that's empty tonight but you're here you're there we're together in a moment i'm going to ask you to partake of communion this one ask you to do and i'm not joking when i tell you this we really need to break from tradition on this jesus used wine and matzo bread and he talked about the wine symbolizing his blood and the matzah symbolizing his body you can go to your kitchen right now or to wherever you're at your pantry and you can get any kind of fluid you want to get if all you have is pepsi then get the pepsi it's irrelevant what it is if you only have a ritz cracker or a saltine cracker or a piece of bread or popcorn i don't care god doesn't care what it is we're going to sing a song right now you're going to run to your kitchen and i'm going to ask one of you mom dad somebody maybe you're alone go go get it somebody get it go to your kitchen and get enough drink it can be water as jesus said in the big whatever get whatever fluid get whatever item a cracker and you come come back get around in the room get around the tv get around your device or wherever you may be and we're going to do this and maybe some of you are going to be doing it for the first time ever because tonight you would be saying yes to jesus christ as lord and savior so let's sing this song in a moment we'll partake together [Music] we bow our hearts we bend our knees oh spirit come make us humble we turn our eyes from evil things oh lord we cast down our idols we bow our hearts we bend our knees oh spirit come make us humble we turn our eyes from evil things oh lord we cast down our idols so give us clean hands give us pure hearts let us not lift our souls to another give us clean hands give us pure hearts let us not lift our souls to another [Music] we bend our knees holy spirit come make us humble we turn our eyes from evil things oh lord we cast down our idols so give us clean hands give us pure hearts let us not lift our souls tonight [Music] give us clean hands oh give us your hearts let us not lift our souls to another oh god let us be a generation that seeks that seeks your face oh god god let us be a generation that seeks that seeks your face oh god [Music] give us clean hair give us pure hearts let us not lift our souls to another give us clean hands give us your hearts let us not lift our souls to another oh god let us the generation that seeks and that seeks your face oh god oh god let us that seeks and that seeks to your face oh god let us be the generation that seeks that seeks your face oh god oh jacob oh god let us be the generation that seeks and that seeks your face oh god so give us clean heads [Music] give us pure hearts let us not lift our souls to another give us clean hands give us pure heart [Music] i would imagine that for many of you who [Music] heeded that invitation a moment ago to run to the kitchen or the pantry to get some kind of elements you know as we were just singing that song i remember lisa my wife and i we had been just married and we loved to camp in those days and we are up in the high sierra sierra nevada mountains of california awesome remote rugged [Music] and [Music] we wanted to worship the lord and have communion just her and iron we didn't have any matzah unleavened bread we had no wine we had no traditional elements now listen [Music] we had pepsi and hostess twinkies you know what we did we sat at that campsite and no doubt some guy down at the pepsi bottling company never had a clue that one day 100 trillion billion bottles that would get a cap on it would be opened up in the sierra mountains between a young couple and pour that pepsi into uh cups plastic cups because that's all we had and to take a twinkie and break it in half and we worshiped the lord and we partook of communion together and after now over 40 years of marriage i still remember that communion more than any other communion that i than i've ever had in my entire life it's the most memorable communion i've ever had why because we meant it you might say pastor jack is it legal to use an oreo cookie forget about the cookie because you mean it you are going through a symbolic act we need to break with man's traditions that have kept us bound maybe tonight in your room or today wherever you're at you have an elaborate goblet now somebody went you went and did it all up really nice that's awesome some of you have gotten something in between styrofoam cup [Music] coffee cup i don't know i have a little plastic cup here whatever it is that you're holding jesus told us that it was his blood that would be the atonement of our sins his blood offered it's an interesting statement because jesus never offered his blood at the cross the book of hebrews tells us that jesus offered his blood before his father which is in heaven on the altar of god that tells me to that my salvation is secure as that altar in heaven and it's as certain and pure as the blood of christ that was offered on it and then i have a little piece of bread here it's more of a cracker its symbol represents jesus's body [Music] it's not his body jesus never said it would ever become his body the bible doesn't say that this the bible says would never become his blood that we do not drink his blood we do not eat his body he said those words i speak to you their spirit and they are truth so i know some of you may be having a hard time with this i want you to think right now how's your heart with you and god right now have you repented of your sin before god do you understand jesus died on the cross for you have you given your life to jesus christ to be your lord and savior then with these elements we do confess him as lord and savior we worship him in spirit and in truth it's so simple you can hear that guitar can't you most of it's made out of wood the wood came from a tree [Music] it's that guitar that has been sanctified by the worship that's being offered upon it these instruments they have been taken as it were out of the world and sanctified to the worship of god so now all of a sudden my grape juice and my cracker are sanctified to god maybe so is your tortilla and milk lord we praise you and we thank you blessed are you o lord our god king of the universe who brings forth fruit from the vine and salvation to earth in your life and in your death paying the price for our sins upon the altar of god in your own dear blood and blessed are you o lord our god king of the universe who brings forth bread from the earth as your body symbolizes for us [Music] that we died with you and we rose again with you and now we are in christ jesus and we partake of this together now in jesus name and all god's people said amen let's partake of the elements together in jesus name [Music] so [Music] father we give you our lives church family wherever you are in the world are you able to stand right now can you stand just stand to your feet if you can some of you are stuck [Music] slowly get up maybe it's if you can if you're able allow me to pray this prayer father i pray lord for healing for those who lord need your healing touch upon them lord that you'd heal the sick right now that are in the hearing of my voice just because you're good father i pray for those that are wondering right now if any of this is true or real and they're really confused because they are being convicted by the supernatural workings of your holy spirit they almost feel like they're looking around like wow what's going on here and they might be thousands of miles from here or just down the street that's so awesome [Music] may you grab hold of them lord and heal their unbelief father to that young child that's battling cancer god we ask lord in the name of jesus lord would you would you simply speak the word and send forth your healing to that child lord to the woman who has been abused and battered and beaten and hates life she's so lost and lord maybe right now i pray that you would reach out into her heart and touch her soul and say lord to her what you would say to her and father we pray right now too in our america where our nation is suffering by the tens of thousands yes many sick we pray that you would stop this curse in the earth that in fact lord i honestly pray now that you'd actually caused the epicenter to be right here that you would that from this spot right here at this moment lord at 40 minutes after the hour that from this place they would go out and that lord you would just begin to heal wash away to you surround the globe from this location the coronavirus that you'd kill it in the name of jesus lord right now there are people saying to you what they need to say they're hurting they're lonely they're addicted they're scared they're lost reach them father we pray it in jesus name lord we pray for your work thank you god for this time thank you lord i'm happy glad to be a christian at this hour of human life we pray for your coming we pray that it would even be this day this evening in jesus name as we're standing let's end in this song of worship god bless you we will see you sunday morning palm sunday and then all this week right now even after this service our website is producing and providing to you around the clock ministry opportunities from all of our pastors on staff women's ministry children's ministry and much more god bless you let's close in this song together as we stand to our feet amen how great the chasm that lay between us how high the mountain i could not climb in desperation i turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night then through the darkness your lovingkindness tore through the shadows of my soul the work is finished the end is written jesus christ [Music] such boundless grace the god of ages stepped down from glory to where my sin and dare the king of kings calls me his own beautiful savior i'm yours forever jesus christ [Music] set me free hallelujah death has lost its grip [Music] jesus christ [Music] jesus christ [Music] your buried body begins out of the silence the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me then came the morning that sealed the promise your buried body began to breathe jesus yours is [Music] the salvation in your name jesus christ jesus christ [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Real Life with Jack Hibbs

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Id: jIW40KksPJ0

Length: 114min 23sec (6863 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 02 2020