My Dear Church... A Letter To The Church In These Last Days - Part 1

[Music] [Applause] [Music] everybody just want to get this shout out to our wonderful real-life audience and we're getting together opening up church going for it to worship God there's no doubt about it at this time our nation needs worshipping people a praying people so listen grab your Bibles as we dive in to the Word of God together what has God been saying to you in the midst of this pandemic has God been speaking to you has your faith been hid I can say all of our faith hasn't not been hid have have we not been challenged to think sometimes maybe even guess and wonder yet God's Word is true and His Word is unshakable and none of this that has come down has escaped the mind of God in fact God may not have caused it but he's right in the middle of it all the Bible tells us that if you trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior when the time of death comes for you you pass from judgment into life and so more than ever God helped us more than ever in the midst of a pandemic more people need to hear about Jesus I think it's fundamentally an atrocity that even we as pastors were kept out of hospitals to visit the dying and to give them the gospel we were not lit in we weren't allowed the state stepped in and overruled the power of God and people died without hearing the gospel for the first time in American history the church's doors had been ordered shuttered and yet jesus said to the church in the book of Revelation behold I have set you set before you an open door I stand here today happy to be with you but very much ashamed of even shutting our doors in the first place I thank God that he's merciful and forgiving the day of Pentecost it's rooted way back dear friends in the Book of Leviticus also the book of Exodus but it's laid out the day of Pentecost was a day that was celebrated by the Jewish people it's one of the great seven feet given to Moses according to the Bible listen during the millennium the 1000 year reign of Christ when he comes back in the second coming these seven feasts will be celebrated for 1,000 years but the second great feast is called Pentecost and the first is the time of Passover you guys all know that in fact listen we're here today right now because not too long ago was Easter was Passover remember that we preached the Easter message to you from on top of this roof and it was cold I remember that being very cold but we reached we reached you online and into the world and and today celebrates 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ that is significant it's amazing isn't it that is so significant because in the Old Testament there was the first the Passover the sacrifice of the Lamb and there was also during that Passover weekend the wave offering or the feast of firstfruits where Jesus Christ watch was the Passover lamb who died on the cross remember he was the Passover lamb typologically given in exodus chapters 12 and 13 remember when it was said to the children of Israel take a lamb in Egypt and sacrifice that lamb in its blood and put it on the doorpost of your house and when the Death Angel comes by he will see the blood on the door of your house and he will what pass over you and move on you'll be spared by the blood and when Jesus came on the scene two thousand years ago John the Baptist technically the last Old Testament prophet John said behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world it was Jesus the Passover lamb Jesus at the end of his earthly ministry submitted his will to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane and went to the cross died on the cross as our sacrifice and then three days later rose again from the dead he's the first fruits from the the Bible tells us that is associated with this holidays or the celebration of Passover fifty days from his resurrection the Bible tells us in the Old Testament that you are to celebrate the day of Pentecost what does that mean in the Old Testament the day of Pentecost for example was the day out of Egypt that Moses went up to the top fifty days later to Mount Sinai what did God do on that day God gave Moses the Ten Commandments when on the day of Pentecost 50 days after they left Egypt say Wow 50 days later after Christ has risen from the dead fifty days later the Holy Spirit descends unto the city and into a room in Jerusalem and the churches born God gave the law on Mount Sinai and God's salvation by the grace of Christ Jesus came on the day of Pentecost in that Upper Room very very important that you see the connection of all of that very important so we celebrate this day and we're asking the question what would Jesus say to the church in California well it all begins here in Acts chapter 2 verse 1 Acts chapter 2 verse 1 tells us when on the day of Pentecost had fully come what does that mean it means on the fiftieth day it means listen after the 49th day that's what it means and they're cool because the Bible tells us that there's going to be 7 weeks based upon a Babylonian calendar from 7 weeks from that Passover offering to Pentecost is 49 but the first new day in other words when Pentecost had fully come your Bibles so accurate they were all with one Accord in one place that's called the church that's just like you right now see how biblical you are right now you're in one place at one time together as God intended and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit that is the Spirit of God gave them utterance the Bible tells us that Peter shortly after that stood up and quoted the Prophet Joel in Joel chapter 2 verse 28 the Bible says and this is what exactly what Peter said it came and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions and also on my mate Sir menservants and maidservants I will pour out my spirit in those days and Peter preached on Pentecost Sunday that Joel was being fulfilled that prophesy was happening that was the explanation and from that time on church you were born so to speak the church was born for 2,000 years people need to be healed people need to be loved people need to be taken care of and I had listened I had I've had it up to here I I've had it up to here because the biggest opposition I received was not from the flock but it was from the the pastoral ministry of some pastors have been the number one opposition to what we're doing today and they told me you need you need to understand we can do Church online we don't even technically need to get back together again and I thought that was an absolute disgusting statement the Bible makes it very clear churches when we come together you're not doing Church online you're teaching online thank God for it but listen we've got to love one another we've got to lay hands on one another pray for one another get to know one another we are commanded to dwell together and to say that it's wrong to get together even in the face of a so-called pandemic because the numbers are dropping rapidly as to what it really has turned out to be if you're gonna tell me that it's wrong for us to get together then I guess we need to tell the Church in North Korea and Vietnam and Cambodia and in China that meat buy secret and in Saudi Arabia that meat buy secret on the pains of death for them gathering together because it's illegal for them are we gonna say shame on them God's people have been designed to meet and our state and our nation needs our prayers the prayers of our leaders we're not the enemy we're the asset and we pray that God's Holy Spirit would come down upon us again well in that very moment the church is born in the book of Acts chapter 2 and it's exactly what Jesus had promised in John 14 verse 16 Jesus said I will pray to the Father and He will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for he dwells with you and shall be in you jesus said I will not leave you orphans I will come to you and that's the power of the Holy Spirit that gave birth to the church on Pentecost Sunday and this is the account the Bible tells us what Jesus had said about it and what transpired Acts chapter 1 verse 4 Acts chapter 1 verse 4 this is what we celebrate and being assembled together with them he Jesus commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father that's what you just read a moment ago which he said you have heard from me for John truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now in Christian as I keep reading you need to ask yourself have you been baptized as Jesus said with the power or with the Spirit of God therefore when they had come together they asked him Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom Jerusalem or to Israel I should say and he said to them it is not for you to know that times in the seasons which the father has put in his own authority but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you look at the result and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth even California truly power Acts chapter 2 verse 4 we celebrate this Pentecost Sunday the Bible says and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak Acts 4:8 then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them acts 4:31 and when they had prayed the place where they were assembled together was shaken now would be a good time for an earthquake and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak the Word of God with boldness says the Bible 50 days after Jesus Christ had been crucified and resurrected from the dead the power of God on the day of Pentecost descended in church it's evident now to everyone that we need now more the power of God than ever before the church has been hiding the church has been fearful I'm not talking about any particular denomination or movement I'm talking about the Christian has been mortified by fear there have been Christians that are afraid to go out of their homes there are Christians who have been rocked by this can I say something to you the power of God is available to you and in that power it's not to be dynamic it's not to be loud that power is to bring peace to speak to live to breathe to exist knowing that God's peace surrounds us dear Christian it's time now to set the compass it's now time to reset the rudder and to be on course with Jesus maybe you got to hit hard maybe all of this stuff rocked your world and you asked the question where's God on this oh my dear friends he's never left us he's been with us all along we'll hear more about that in a moment you and I have a privilege I'm bragging I'm boasting it's true I am I have a bias on the native California and born in San Diego and is is the farthest north I've ever lived but this is my home and so I'm gonna use that if Paul the Apostle was born with Roman citizenship and he used it then I'm going to use the citizenship of being in the californian right now and I'm gonna I'm gonna share something with you right now when we looked at verses 1 through 4 I just want to draw your attention I say versus sorry sentences we read together I exhort you to remember my works that I have done among you and to know how much I have loved you that was in verse 4 and we are going to look at the first point today we'll go through them quickly but listen when we say or ask the statement my dear church in California I've written you a letter I think Jesus is saying this have I not honored you as a church in California collectively have I not honored you I don't know if you'll see this on the screen or not if they do it's a miracle I didn't provide it to our media team I forgot but do you know this out of all states in all of these United States there is no other California and I'm not talking about our great giant redwoods and I'm not talking about our awesome deserts and I'm not talking about our thousand miles of coastline I'm not talking about the amazing topography of this great state and all of its benefits I am talking about this God has honored the church in California in 1769 to 1833 did you know that father Serra remember him in school anybody you know I'm talking about father Serra he founded the Mission San Diego and 20 other missions would follow mission stations that he would establish along the entire state of California father Serra called the father of California set up a network of 21 missionary outposts to spread Christianity among the native population of Indians in California did you know that the same exact time that the American Revolution was forming and being executed on the east coast of the United States a spiritual movement was taking place well tandem on the west coast here in California did you know that God was moving in 1781 Los Angeles is founded Philippe de Navy's Spanish governor of California he names it pueblo de los angeles or the town or city of angels 1848 the history of sacramento was born founded by samuel brennan and john sutter with the construction of a wharf at the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers they named it Sacramento meaning the Most Holy Sacrament in reference to the Lord's Supper California in 1848 the gold rush or gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill triggering the California Gold Rush and from 1848 to 1855 the Methodists came to preach Jesus Christ and missionary pastor William Taylor holds services to thousands of Gold Rush immigrants and to those listen and to those called the San Francisco 49ers Taylor did so faithfully for seven years where he was nicknamed California Taylor known for visiting the sick aiding the poor defending the American Indians and preaching to the Chinese labor camps as one of San Francisco's founding fathers his official portrait is included in the pioneers mural in the public library of the city of San Francisco a work of God 1868 the University of California system is created first in the nation founded with its first president pastor Durant of Yale University established motto of the California or the University of California system is anybody know let there be light from Genesis chapter 1 verse 3 did you know that God says I've honored the church in California from its inception from the beginning in 1888 the great evangelist Dwight o moody speaks at hazards Pavilion in Los Angeles the largest building of its type at the time seating over four thousand people per service Dwight al moody preached a series of messages here in Los Angeles and one which greatly impacted a man sitting in that crowd dr. Harry Ironside who became one of the greatest pastors in American history in 1906 to 1915 pastor William Seymore holds prayer meetings and preaches the gospel on Azusa Street la in a rented building on Azusa Street seymour led revival meetings where Christians were baptized in the Holy Spirit and soon grew to over 1500 attendees those meetings gave birth to the Pentecostal movement of today 1908 the Bible Institute of Los Angeles known as Biola University its origins are due to the vision and the work of laymen Stuart founder of the Union Oil Company and pastor T C Horton these two men committed Christians to share the gospel of their Christian faith in 1912 the school later called upon dr. R a Tory to become its dean 90 are you guys tired you need to hear this we need to hear this we need to hear this we've removed God from our state we need to remember God moved God loves California God's done a great thing here God's blessings here are unlike any other place on earth starting with the gold rush even before that technology you name it engineering development some of the greatest churches in the world have come out of not only California mainly Southern California in its history in 1922 the birth of Christian radio preaching was in Southern California in 1922 biola established Kay TBL radio over which Elle native and Baptist minister Charles E fuller the founder of Fuller Theological Seminary will reach tens of millions of people around the world over the 25 years that will follow in 1944 in Los Angeles fjm the Fred Jordan mission was established Fred Jordan founding founder of an outreach to alcoholics homeless men on Skid Row streets of Los Angeles it quickly expanded in its training and sending missionaries out building churches orphanages schools hospitals even expanding globally in 1949 a young man by the name of Billy Graham listen Billy Graham who a week earlier feeling sensing no power from God sensing great insecurity and told his friend dr. J Edwin or in the San Bernardino Mountains just down from the peak of Lake Arrowhead at a worship center told doctor or I can't do this anymore and Billy Graham at 10 o'clock in the evening took a walk in the San Bernadino woods came back at 1 o'clock in the morning and reported to dr. Jo bone or God met me in the woods here in Southern California that was a week less than a week before the Great Crusade in Los Angeles Billy Graham was ready to quit you ever feel like it's time to quit for you and God visited Billy Graham with power and from that time on Billy Graham reported he had never lost or lacked power from that moment on listen to what happened the young man Billy Graham known knowing the history of Los Angeles he held his crusade the Billy Graham crusade began on September 25th 1949 it was scheduled to be hosted for three weeks the move of God was so profound and the response to the gospel in Los Angeles was so fruitful that the ministry team and the mayor's office of the city of Los Angeles agree together to extend the meetings Billy Graham wound up preaching for 57 nights until late November during those 57 nights over 350,000 Angelenos attended Billy Graham's preaching and thousands of people made decisions for Christ in the heart of Los Angeles we need the power of God today we need got to move again today it happened once why can't it happen again there was a Pentecost 2,000 years ago why not again and in the late 1960s and 70s disillusioned discouraged ready to quit Foursquare pastor began to open up his Bible and teach to anyone who will come chapter by chapter and verse by verse Calvary Chapel was born founded by Chuck Smith in 1965 unexpectedly revival broke out in Southern California it became known as the Jesus Movement the revival rapidly spread worldwide with tens of thousands of people upon whom hearing the gospel preached were baptized during spontaneous worship services that arose in and out of doors throughout Southern California the movement spread worldwide and at the time of Chuck Smith's death on October 3rd 2013 the amount of known established churches worldwide was or is the largest known church plant movement in history while its founder was still alive church history so God says to California I've honored those who would stand for the word of God and the question is on this day of Pentecost will you stand for the word of God anew will you say Lord your word transcends all thing I need not fear of the pestilence the curse the disease that walks by day or the terror that stalks at night Psalm 91 you are with me God we need not be afraid why is of course but as ministers the gospel I speak for myself how will the sick be touched if I do not lay hands on them and anoint them with oil as commanded in Scripture hey you guys we want to make this very very clear to all of our real-life audience that the church is neither essential or non-essential the church is transcendent and more than ever before the reality of the church is needed look around at our world and look around at our nation look around at our state's and look around at some of our greatest cities they need hope they need the gospel they need the truth and they need it directly and so more than ever we are encouraging you to stay tuned at Jacobs calm as we're going to be bringing you and continuing to bring you the validity of the Word of God how does it work in your life what has God said to us and how the fact is that your life can be listen transcendent also by the Lord Jesus Christ wouldn't it be great if you knew for sure that your citizenship was in heaven that's transcendent and so we look forward to seeing you here more often with more studies at Jacobs com [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to real-life radio with Jack Hibbs God's Word never will return void God's word is spirit its power and it has its effect so I want to encourage you to grab your Bibles open them up and get ready to learn from God's Word God did not give us a Bible prophecy to scare us but to prepare us but I think you're going to get a lot out of it and one of the great you are the light of the world Jesus said you are the salt of the earth how does it happen by the power of the Holy Spirit you're gonna get excited about what Jesus Christ wants to do in and breathe [Music] [Applause] Jack Hibbs truly believes we are living in some of the most exciting days in history which brings some great opportunities to share with the world a powerful no-nonsense presentation of the gospel to this generation who is searching for answers and truth will you stand with us in sharing this message in real and practical ways we ask that you commit to support real life each month with a gift of your choosing in return our gift to you for becoming a real life partner we'd like to send you this worldview DVD it's titled what you believe defines you call now one eighty seven seven seven seven seven two three four six that's eight seven seven triple seven two three four six or by mail p.o box 12 73 Chino Hills California 900 709 or simply go to real life with Jack Hibbs or your gift will be faithfully put to work because it's our desire that through Jesus Christ you will know real life

Channel: Real Life with Jack Hibbs

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Keywords: jack hibbs, jack hibbs live, real life with jack hibbs, pastor jack hibbs, seven letters to the seven churches, revelation, jack hibbs prophecy conference, jack hibbs seven letters, my dear ephesus

Id: cyRXXmu0txc

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 05 2020