Luke 12:49-53

Today, Pastor Jack shares that Jesus told us this would happen. Jesus was going to the cross, which will set in motion the most powerful message that the world will ever hear, and it’s the Gospel message of salvation. A message that often brings division, and He wants all of us to choose eternal life with Him.

Message of God

This is the day that You have made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it. I Thank You for every breath I take, and every step I make.
There’s nobody like You LORD! Lord, we confess our sins and know that You are Faithful and Just, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, We give You all the Glory and all the Praise, and ask You to continue to Bless, Heal, and Protect us, in the name of Jesus, Amen.

The message today is somewhat of one where I, I, I want to be teaching the body of Christ here, this church that they might be equipped.
But at the same time, I want to be speaking to those who don’t believe in God.
Maybe for those of you that are here today, you don’t want to believe in God.
I understand that for those of you who don’t believe in God or don’t want to believe in God, I’m not here to condemn you and I’m not even here to blame you because many times people have chosen not to believe in God because what they’ve been shown of God is ridiculous.
They don’t want anything to do with God because they’ve judged God based upon the Christians that they’ve reviewed or watched in life.
And let’s be honest, there are some Christians who have been our worst enemies when it comes to advancing the cause of Christ.
But please listen to the words of Christ this morning as we look at this message that it’s more than a family feud.
There’s a lot more at stake regarding that. We open up our study as we left off last time.
Luke 12, beginning in verse 49 Jesus is speaking, the letters there in your bible are written and read.
He said I came to send fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled, but I have a baptism to be baptized with and how distressed I am till it is accomplished.
Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth?
I tell you not at all, but rather division for from now on five in one house will be divided three against 22 against three.
Father will be divided against son and son, against father, mother, against daughter and daughter, against mother, mother in law, against daughter in law and daughter in law against mother in law.
Matthew’s gospel. Matthew expounded it just a bit same teaching.
Matthew adds this chapter 10 verse 37 that Jesus spoke and said to them, he who loves father or mother more than more than me is not worthy of me.
And he who loves son and daughter more than me is not worthy of me and he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Jesus said that in the same context. Oh, please listen carefully.
Don’t think for a moment that we are promoting that the gospel in Jesus Christ and Christianity is intended to divide a family that that’s its goal or its agenda by no means the exact opposite is true.
The very gospel that goes out the, the message that you and or I can come to Christ individually personally and be saved.
It’s a message that we all need to respond to, but not everyone responds to that. Did you?
I mean, you know that right would to God, everyone would say yes to the gospel that Jesus died on the cross rose again from the dead for our sins that we might have eternal life for all those who put their trust in him.
How simple is that? And yet when the gospel is presented to a family in a home, Jesus said it, there could be five people in one house, three against 22 against three.
It causes division. The gospel that brings us eternal life if received, if rejected causes division. That’s a painful thing.
I was not born into a Christian home. I was born into a moral home.
I was born into a patriotic home. I was born into a good home.
My father provided my mother loved us.
We never went without and we were taught respect all the things that we needed to be a citizen of this America of this planet of this world.
My mom and my dad gave, but we had no knowledge of the Bible.
We had no Bible, we had no prayer, we had no concept of God.
But I gotta tell you on Monday night, June 20th, 1977 I got saved.
I that is I heard the gospel and I responded, I went home and I told my family and I thought that they were going to roll out the red carpet for Jesus.
A male. The exact opposite happened, the exact opposite.
I don’t know if you’ve had that experience or not, but I gotta tell you something, Jesus told us this is what happened.
And I wanna, I want this message to be encouraging but very practical.
So first things first, it’s more than a family feud.
When we talk about the Lord and heaven and the Bible and Jesus and God and the cross, look what he said in verse 49 50 that there’s really two worlds that are existing side by side.
Keep that in mind. He said, I came to send fire on the earth.
He said, well, maybe that’s the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Oh, that’s not what the context uh declares it is. The fact that the Gospel brings a division.
And he said, how I wish that it were already kindled.
You know, if we were to use that uh 49th verse in a modern day uh language, Jesus would say this.
I can’t wait to get to the cross to die for the sins of the world and to be resurrected from the dead to get this show on the road.
I wish that fire was already kindled because we needed to get going. He’s not preaching hostility.
He’s not preaching violence. He’s preaching the truth that the gospel needs to get out there and reel in as many men and women and boys and girls into the kingdom of God as possible.
Knowing all along that not everyone will say yes to the love of God. That’s your choice. That’s my choice.
God has given us that choice, that sovereignty of choice, but he’s done everything possible for you and I to know what it is to be loved by God and to have our sins forgiven, to know Him personally.
So the first thing that we realize when we come to Christ or when we consider Christ and in the context of Jesus’s message, he’s saying, listen, I, I wish it was already kindled.
Why? Because my friends jotted down eternity is the issue that’s at hand.
Eternity is the issue regarding spiritual matters. It’s all about eternity.
Where will an individual spend the rest of their lives once they die in this world?
And there are 1000 doctrines out there, you can go pick and choose uh and, and make anything up that you want.
But the Bible says eternity begins when you and I breathe our last breath here on this planet.
Did you know that? The Bible says that we enter into to eternity? And there’s no coming back.
The Bible condemns reincarnation, the Bible condemns going to some other planet and trying it all over again until we get it right.
Oh boy, how exciting is that the Bible teaches resurrection.
And the Bible says in Daniel chapter 12 and John chapter five that there’s a resurrection for the damned and a resurrection for the redeemed.
There is eternal life for everyone read the Bible carefully, everyone’s gonna live forever.
Some in heaven and some in hell. He say, man, I don’t like that.
If you don’t like that, then choose life.
God’s not saying me mo you’re coming with me and you’re gonna, you’re gonna go and fry.
And so I don’t know, the Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish but that what all should come to eternal life.
It’s God’s will and desire that you should be in heaven. Unfortunately, not everyone says, yes, do they?
That’s so sad. Eternity is the issue at hand.
He said, I came to send fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled in John chapter one verse 12 and 13.
The Bible there says as many as received him to them, gave he the right to become Children of God, to those who believe on his name, who were born, not of blood.
That’s of this earth. Listen, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God.
That’s the reference to being born again.
You and I all came into our families through mama and we were born of blood into this world of the flesh.
And we have our brothers or sisters or our moms or dads and we we are part of a family.
But Jesus is saying that that is fantastic. I mean, you gotta start that way.
But the the issue is to be born of God. Why? Because that’s an eternal birth.
It’s something that happens and the family that you enter into being born again.
John chapter three is a family that you’ll never be aborted out of.
You’ll never be rejected out of God throws no one out.
In fact, didn’t Jesus say all those who will come to me? I will in no wise, cast out.
Some of you need to hear that right now. I don’t know if God loves me. He loves you.
The funny thing cracks me up. He even likes you. Go figure that one out. Nobody likes me.
That’s probably true. But God likes you. He said he’ll never turn you away.
Are you in the family of God?
Eternity is the issue at hand and over and over again.
I think about what the context here demands that Jesus is speaking.
When the gospel comes into a home, it’s going to divide things up.
You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs.
You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series. Just go to Jack Hibbs dot com.
That’s Jack Hibbs dot com. And for now let’s get back to our teaching once again, here’s pastor Jack.
I want you to jot down seven things. I think they’re important.
They may not be important to you. I think they’re important. Seven things.
Number one, as a Christian when you come together, you know, you’re, you’re, you’re praying.
Lord, show me who my, who my wife or my husband’s to be.
And, and I’m praying and you’re waiting, you’ve devoted yourself to God and, and all the while as you’re looking up, you’re looking around because you’re, you’re wondering if she, is she the one?
Is he the one? And that’s fine. And that’s great. Sometimes I think we make it too difficult.
Oh, I’ve had people actually ask me pastor. I think she’s so beautiful. I think she’s so cute.
Um, but I don’t know if God would want me to have her. But is she a Christian? Yes.
She serves here at the church. She’s beautiful. She loves the Lord. She prays. She’s wonderful.
But what, what’s the problem? She’s so good looking. So, what’s the problem?
She’s just so pretty. What do you think? I, I think you ought to ask her out.
I mean, think about it. This is ridiculous when we were in the world.
It was like, hey, and now we’re Christians and I don’t know why not.
She’s cute. Look, don’t you think?
I mean, she could be as ugly as sin, but God made her look cute in your eyes.
That’s part of the deal. Ask her out.
Pray, take her out see what God wants to do and then you could then listen, everything’s wonderful.
God’s leading you, you get married and it’s just the two of you.
And in the old days in Israel, if you were married, you were exempt one year from war. Why?
Because God wanted you to know your wife and to know your husband and to get to know one another and, and to build a foundation on the Lord.
How wonderful is that? God? Listen, God created the family. He created marriage. He created you.
And I, he wrote the textbook on the family manual. It’s called the Bible.
He wrote everything you and I need to do to have a healthy, beautiful, strong marriage.
That’s where it begins. And then after a while you get tired of, of uh looking at just each other and, and God begins to stir up your heart and you say, let’s let’s have, let’s have a kid and then the next step even before the baby is born, you know, the, you find out you’re pregnant.
So you, you’re praying, you, you, you, you know, I remember when Lisa was pregnant with Rebecca, I used to put my hand over her tummy.
Can you imagine? Can you hear me in there? We are praying for you.
You can kind of thump on the tummy like a melon there. Hello? But we did that.
We’d play classical music, pray and all that begins to happen and, and the babies are born and the family is happening and things begin to take place.
And number one, you come together as a husband and wife.
Number two, you begin to have a child or a family and you think of number three, the family is growing and that’s all wonderful.
The baby gets their first pop up Bible book, you know, and uh, the, the baby’s first day at church and all of these things And you’re, you’re telling all of the wonderful events of, of Noah and Jonah and all of these things from the Bible.
You’re talking about Jesus walking on the water and the, and the baby is growing and the grace and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It’s the way it ought to be. Everything’s wonderful.
And by the way, if you find yourself in that place today or coming to that place, uh, husband, you pray for your wife every day, you see Jack, she leaves two hours before I get up or we don’t see each other in the mornings.
I call her up and pray.
She leaves before I do run out there, take her bagel and her coffee, lay your hands on her car as it drives up the road.
I don’t care what you gotta do.
Pray for her seriously and, and, and, and wife call your husband pray for him.
But men, we need to be covering over our wife, not with some heavy hand, but with an outstretched and uplift arm to pray for them.
And then what about our kids?
The kids growing up as the family is growing, do, do the kids see or hear mom and dad praying.
This is what God wants in a family.
He didn’t come to divide a family but a family divides.
When someone either a does not choose to walk with God anymore, they give up and quit or an unbelieving family receives someone who is a believer.
Now, maybe mom or dad or son or daughter comes home and they’ve given their heart to Christ.
It changes the whole dynamic of the home.
And Jesus said, when that happens, if there are those in that house who don’t want to accept Christ because the Holy Spirit has moved into the life of that believer.
There is gonna be contention. Can anyone say amen, man? Do we know how that is?
But I want you to stay true to God first. Do you love your family?
Oh, yes, I do. Pastor. I don’t want that division to come in my home. Listen, you gotta choose today.
Choose Christ or choose your family. I got news for you, choose your family, lose it all. Choose Christ.
You just might go about winning your family. Eternity is the issue at hand.
Secondly, redemption is what’s being offered. Redemption is the offer the gospel.
The Bible says you can be redeemed now watch this. You say, well, who can be redeemed.
Each and every one of us personally must come to Jesus Christ.
I can’t give my heart to Christ and save my wife and my kids and my aunts and uncles and moms and dads automatically did.
You know that they’ve got to come to faith in Christ.
My salvation doesn’t translate our cover over to anybody else. Jesus Christ is your personal savior.
I heard a song the other day on a, on a radio ad on a, on a radio program and the guy was playing a song by that’s a band and the song said about personal Jesus on the song.
And I thought, I don’t know who these guys are, but they got that right.
Jesus is gonna be your personal messiah, your savior.
But listen, when he is your messiah and savior, what should that do? How does that affect?
Well, as life begins to continue on and get busy, watch this.
Everything’s been fine and everything’s been centered around Christ. Your family’s growing all is wonderful.
But then the little guy gets big enough to swing a bat or kick a soccer ball and now we can’t go to church on Sunday anymore.
He’s got soccer. Listen, happens every day. We can’t go on Wednesdays. She’s got gymnastics or whatever it is.
Oh, we can’t do that thing or the other thing because we got to do this.
I am not condemning soccer or gymnastics or baseball. But when we begin to depart.
You see, from having Christ first we scratch our heads when our kids 13 doing dope out behind the school and we wonder how that happened.
They don’t think about how important God must be.
They forgot all that stuff when they were little because you know what, as they grow along, if we’re not being faithful moms and dads and pointing them in the way of the Lord in a way that is right and healthy and beautiful.
If we begin to send the message to our kids, you know what?
You can go to church some time. There was a recent poll done.
Uh And I heard it this week, I believe it was from Charles Stanley’s ministry in Atlanta.
The conclusion was people who go to church once a month are considered regular churchgoers once a month.
Well, I’m gonna start being a regular pastor.
I don’t golf, but maybe I should start. I’ll see you next month.
That’s called, that’s regular now in America. Oh my goodness.
And then you expect your kid to grow up with some sort of priority that God is first.
You’re wishing you’re dreaming. I can’t believe my kid just got this girl pregnant.
How did that ever happen when we do not present before our kids?
The fact that the Lord should be number one in everything.
I know you don’t want to hear this. I told you before.
This message was gonna kind of hurt a little bit Come on, honey, let’s go.
He talked about soccer and we had him.
It’s not just, that’s anything is got first.
You put him first. He’ll take care of everything else.
He’ll take care of all redemption that you and I could experience redemption through Lord Jesus Christ, your family, our moms or dads, our sons or daughters might hate us for this.
Did you know that? Because watch this. Can you imagine?
Let’s pretend for a second it’s so un politically correct.
It’s so politically incorrect to say things that are just pure truth because truth alienates.
Have you, have you, have you caught on to that? You may know the truth?
But you can’t say it, you get in trouble for it. I suggest you say it anyway.
But you wanna, you wanna think of this for a moment about redemption being offered.
Can you imagine if uh somebody very famous? I don’t care who it picks somebody. They’re just very famous.
They can call a press conference. That’s how famous they are. Could be the president. Could be somebody really big.
Can you imagine? They got all their coaches and all of the, you know, they’re going to review their speech and all that kind of stuff.
And what are you going to say, what are you going to do?
And you get up there and you say hi, everybody. Thanks for tuning in.
I’ll just take one moment of your time.
I have come to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
And I just want to tell you that I’ve been redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross.
I become a Christian. God bless you. And good night. Can you imagine what tomorrow’s papers would look like?
If, if George Bush were to say it, they would kill him.
If Osama Bin Laden were to say it, they would say he’s smoking dope or something, right?
The world will come apart. But when you come into a family, sometimes it’s worse.
We know people who having come to Christ can’t let their families know that they’re Christians because they’re from the Middle East and they would be killed.
We have friends in Israel that cannot announce the fact that they’re Christians because they would be ostracized out of the family.
Yes, we’ve been mocked. Yes, we’ve been made fun of more than ever, by the way, put your seatbelt on, I believe in America.
It’s going to get worse for us. I should, well, worse better.
It depends on how you look at it, right? It may look worse, but we’re getting closer.
Ok? Redemption. If you begin to say dear Lord bless my family and, and thank you for dying on the cross.
That’s it. Uncle John, his teeth were grinding. What did you marry there?
A minute ago when you said he died on the cross? Why did he have to die on the cross?
I had that happen? I got saved on a Monday night I came home, got up the next morning, my dad was sitting in his chair reading the Orange County Register.
I’ll never forget it. And I went like this with the newspaper.
You don’t ever touch my father’s newspaper. And he was a sergeant in the marines.
He knew judo, he could have killed me. I thought he thought he was gonna do that a few times.
I put the paper down and I said, dad last night, I walked into a church.
I gave my heart to Christ. Did you know that Jesus?
The Bible says Jesus died on the cross for us. He died for us, our sins.
He rose again from the dead and he saves us. Jesus did that.
That’s why there’s a cross. That’s why the Bible. It’s all about that.
And my dad said, let me see if I got this straight.
Jesus came from heaven sent by his father down to here to die on a cross for our sins, for people.
That’s right. He said, if that’s true, then God’s a fool. I don’t want anything to do with that.
I remember going like this stepping back because I thought the fire of hell was going to consume that chair.
I was so shocked. I never talked to my dad again about that.
Why is it an issue? It’s an eternal thing. It’s about redemption. It divides.
Not only that, but listen, this salvation is the goal, isn’t it wonderful?
We’re standing here today and listen, I honestly don’t care if you ever come back to this church again.
As long as you give your heart to Christ, pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs here on real life radio with his message called, it’s more than a family feud.
You know, this message is part of our series called The Gospel of Luke A series on the book of Luke and the unveiling of Jesus Christ to this world.
And we will continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. The Great reset. What exactly does that mean?
More importantly is America involved, well known author, founder and president of Turning Point us.
A Charlie Kirk breaks it down for us in his brand new book.
And Pastor Jack has made this book, our featured resource. It’s called The Christian Response To The Great reset.
You know, our world is changing dramatically and our Christian world view is at stake.
The rise of the global economic forum is challenging our founding fathers, core values for our country.
And we’ve got to understand what’s coming.
Charlie Kirk is an outstanding voice for this day and time as he stands up for our rights and our freedom, short and compact.
This tremendously important book, The Christian Response To The Great Reset is a must read for all Christians.
We really have to wake up to what’s happening and to represent the truth of God’s word.
The Christian response to the great reset.
It’s available for a gift of any amount at our website Jack Hibbs dot com. That’s Jack Hibbs dot com.
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Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio.
Wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in his word, we’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.