Times Up – B | Jack Hibbs

Luke 10:1-16
Today, Pastor Jack shares with us that a Christian’s purpose in life is to break the bonds that tie them to this world, and to sense the urgency to tell others about Christ. The world can only offer temporal rewards, while Jesus offers the eternal reward of Heaven with Him.

Jesus is saying, all right, here’s the thing. Pray and uh get ready because here’s what’s gonna happen.
You got a message, you got a, you got a story to tell somebody go, you know what the word means in thrusting someone out.
It implies that they are ready. They’re suited up and equipped to go.
It’s the exact same word that we’ve all seen maybe in like saving private Ryan or some military channel thing or some war movie where the plane is flying along and the back door of the plane opens up and there’s like 50 paratroopers in the back of the plane.
Have you ever seen those kind of World War II stories?
You know a story, I’m talking about a story.
There’s some of our guys are doing this right now in real life. What am I talking about?
Door opens up and what happens?
A light turns green and there’s a, there’s a sergeant there or someone’s there of rank.
He’s, he’s strapped onto the airplane, by the way, he’s got a little safety latch he’s hooked on and there’s this two rows of 25 soldiers, they’re completely dressed for battle and you’ve seen the shows.
You’ve seen the moments when he goes ready and they’re all looking light turns green.
And what does he say? Think about it, pray about it.
No, he says, go, go, go and you know what he does.
He grabs the first guy and that guy could yell, mama. It doesn’t matter.
Go w go wham. And even if you’re willing to go, he still grabs you and he still throws you.
That’s his job. Go go go. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job in the life of the believer.
Listen, you may or may not be aware of this.
But at the end of this service, the spirit of God is waiting for you at the door and over our doors, it says through these doors, you enter the mission field, where is that out there?
The Holy Spirit is gonna grab your heart and he’s going to say, go, go, go, go where to a lost world.
You can cry. Mom. All you want. You can say, I don’t know about that.
He says, go because listen, if you’re a Christian, he’s touched your life.
I know you and I don’t think he’s touched us much. Our evaluation of our self is always weak.
But when we turn by God’s appointment, he turns us this week into somebody’s life.
Somehow we come in contact with someone and we’re praying. Oh God. You know, I heard that message on Sunday.
It’s driving me nuts. When are you going to tell me to go.
Oh God, please don’t tell me to go. He’s already told you to go.
I’m gonna, that’ll make you miserable all week. He’s already told you to go.
And so Laura can show me, show me, I’m scared. Go easy on me. God.
And I have to tell you, it’s terrifying. It’s terrifying.
And so you go and God at your job, God at your neighborhood, God, wherever will open a door and you’re gonna know you’re gonna have this thought in your head.
Could this be the door that He’s opening?
If you have to stop and ask it is trust me, God, could this be you?
It’s Him and he will give opportunity. It’s a wonderful thing. It’s terrifying.
Yes, because God gets all the glory. It’s possible for us to do.
But he does it and he does it very well.
Matthew 28 19 says, go there and make disciples of all nations.
What a great thing that is in John chapter four, verse 34 down to verse 38 Jesus.
In one visit to the region of Samaria, he went to that well called Jacob’s. Well, it’s in Samaria.
And you remember the story, the woman came and she was talking to Jesus.
But when she finds out who he is Jesus, she goes back to town back to the city and tells the people of Samaria, I have found the Messiah and they said we’re going to go see for ourselves.
And as they’re coming, what’s beautiful about this?
In John chapter four verse 34 Jesus said to his disciples, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work?
Why? Because the disciples had brought Jesus some food at that moment, read the whole chapter. It’s awesome.
And then he turns to the disciples and he says, do not say that there are still four months and then comes the harvest.
They must have been thinking what harvest? Four months. Yeah, the harvest is in four months.
But he’s saying, don’t, don’t wait till the harvest comes.
Then Jesus says to them, look, behold, the fields are already white unto harvest. What is he talking about?
The Samaritans wore white robes and white head coverings.
When that woman went back to tell the town, I found the Messiah Jacobs.
Well come and see as they were coming out in droves. Jesus told the disciples, look, look right there.
Look you right there. Here they come. Don’t, don’t say the harvest times in four months, harvest times.
Now look at there. The souls of men lost people needing life, people hurting, guilty, sin stricken, they need forgiveness.
Look at them, I tell you something, Peter James John, the fields are white on ours.
Look, look at that and they got it.
Jesus is saying every moment all the time, people need the love of God.
People need the message of Jesus Christ, like never before and tragically, very few people are saying the good news of God anymore.
It’s not good. And so it’s a wonderful thing. It’s a great work.
It’s a powerful work. Thirdly verse three, it’s a life’s work.
There’s a work to be done and it is a life’s work.
It’s something that we as Christians, it is our life. It’s our life.
How, why is it our life because God’s changed us.
You guys, I don’t know about you, but do you, do you?
Are you often tempted to condemn yourself about your old life?
I had to figure out how to say that I can be so busy for God and things are going great and just growing and serving the Lord.
And then I get this knucklehead thought, boy, remember what you were doing at 19 years of age?
Yeah, but I’m not that person anymore now, that’s exactly what the Bible says.
I’m a new creation in Christ, right? All things have passed away.
Behold, all things have become new, it’s called salvation. He makes a new life.
In fact, you know, it’s a new life when what we used to do that.
If we think about it now we a don’t want to do it.
B makes us sick and then c we feel like, oh God, please forgive me for even thinking about it.
Do you remember before we were Christians? We went a when can I do that? Nasty thing.
B how much is it gonna cost? And c let’s go do it now. We planned on it.
Not anymore. We’ve been changed.
We’re new, but sometimes those old thoughts will come up and say, oh, you’re not, you haven’t changed much.
No. You know what the truth is?
It’s a life’s work that God has began in us and we’re not, aren’t you glad?
We’re not the same people. We were a year ago and we’re not the same people.
We were 10 years ago. That’s encouraging because I don’t want to be the person I am now.
Next year I want to grow up or become more like a child.
Is what Jesus said to do. It’s a life’s work. But listen, it’s a life’s work.
How’s it gonna go, Jesus? Well, it’s gonna go this way.
Verse three, go your way and behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.
Oh boy, wolves love lambs.
The world loves to see a Christian coming.
Oh, look, here comes a Christian. Let’s get the barbecue sauce out.
Let’s eat him up. The world hates a true representation of Jesus. Let’s face.
It didn’t the world crucify him the first time he came every time a Christian stands for what the Lord has put in his bible for us to do and to uphold, listen, let’s give the world some credit this way.
They might say that what you stand for is good.
They might admit to that maybe in private, I don’t know, but they have to fight against it because they misunderstand the gospel.
The very thing that we’re standing for, they’re guilty of.
So, were we at one time, weren’t we against God at one time?
But when we heard his message, we accepted him and he washed that old life behind the world attacks you.
And I like a wolf to a lamb because number one, they don’t understand the very one that is bringing them the love of God.
That’s you. And I, they fight us. They attack us. Why?
Because they either don’t believe it’s real for them or they’ve already made the decision.
They don’t want anything to do with Jesus.
Those things are possible, you know, and you and I still live here And so they hate us.
Listen, Jesus said in Matthew 1022, you will be hated by all people because of me.
How’d you like to be? Somebody’s walk up to somebody?
How’d you like to be my friend or let’s be friends or we are friends? Yeah. And that’s nice.
That’s great. Oh, by the way, everyone’s gonna hate you because you’re my friend. Really.
Look over there and then you, nobody wants that.
Jesus said in John 1518, if the world hates you just know this, that it hated me before it hated you.
I always challenge people like this.
Show me something in the Bible when you’re on the streets talking to people or on the university campus, you ask them, show me in this Bible, what wrong Jesus has done?
Why do you hate him so much?
In fact, why do you hate him so much that you’ll use his name as a cuss word?
How come you don’t run around saying that about Muhammad or Buddha? Oh, Buddha.
How come you don’t do that? It’s Jesus always Jesus. Why show me in the Bible?
What did he do to hurt your feelings? What did he do to hurt you?
You know, when I look at my Bible, I find a woman who was caught in the act of, of intercourse, not with her husband or somebody else and their religious scribes and Pharisees brought her to the feet of Jesus and threw her down.
What do I see Jesus doing? Forgiving her and giving her a new life?
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, you see Zach who is a money hungry, powerful little dollar grabbing shackle saving lunatic.
What does Jesus do to him?
Gives him real wealth and purpose and meaning, what has Jesus done that?
You’ve got some big beef to argue with him about he loves you no matter what you think about him.
It’s amazing to me. Time is up point number two versus four through nine because there’s a purpose to this life.
Time is up because there’s a purpose to this life. And we’re to be about that thing.
Verses 4 to 6, we learn this breaking bonds from the world that he wants us to break the bonds from the world.
Now watch this carefully. Jesus is going to send out these 70 evangelists and he says to them, don’t carry a money bag, don’t carry a backpack or sandals and greet no one along the road.
But where whatever house you enter first say peace to this house.
And if the son of peace or if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon it.
If not, it will return to you. What’s Jesus saying?
He’s saying first of all, if you’re gonna follow me and I want you guys to go and you’re gonna learn something as you go to on this impossible task.
Church, listen carefully as you go on this impossible, impossible task. That’s only possible through me as you go.
This is just a journey though. It is a short one.
You’re going to be dependent upon me. I don’t want you to be burdened about with anything.
I don’t want you to be carrying a bag of money and backpack and all this stuff.
This is a strike team as it were of evangelism.
I want you to get out there and I want you to go quickly and he sends them out.
Why? Because listen, we have to be careful.
We are so blessed, not only in America, but here in Southern California, we are so blessed.
We have to be careful because those things, they can easily get a hold of our hearts.
You know, the things that we have, they can challenge the priority that the Lord has in our lives.
It’s not bad to have things. It’s bad when those things get into our heart.
Listen to what William Barkley says. He writes this, I had to give it to you. It’s so cool.
William Barkley wrote so long ago. Avoid those things of this world that make it difficult for you to die.
What? Yeah, avoid those things of this world that makes it difficult for you to die.
He goes on the Christian is to lay up his treasures in heaven where soon he will be arriving.
You know the old story Franklin Graham made this famous Greg Laurie has said it so many times.
You’ve never seen a hearse go by down to the funeral, down to the graveyard with a you hold trailer behind it.
That one guy many. Oh it’s been like 10 years ago now died in LA.
He’s buried in Bel air some place up there. He had to buy like seven plots. Why?
Because he wanted to be buried in his Ferrari.
And so they buried him in his Ferrari and the crane operator was overheard saying man that’s living.
Are you crazy that Ferrari is still there?
And so are his bones watch out? It’s OK to have things.
Just you control those things, don’t let those things control you use them to God’s glory.
Let’s be honest, when we come to future studies, we’ll get more on this.
But the truth is technically before God and in reality, when we get a little bit of smelling salt, it’s like our heart has a little skip, smelling salts tells us from the Lord.
You don’t own anything anyway, Jack, you own nothing. I have loaned it to you.
So use it wisely. Yes, sir. We owe nothing.
It’s all his, by the way, if you think about that, it can be very liberating if you let it be.
And he says in verse six, if a son of peace is there, that is if someone is open to the gospel, go in there and be a blessing to them.
Look at verses 7 to 8, there’s a purpose to this life in the sense that laboring for eternal, eternal rewards, laboring for eternal rewards.
He says in verse seven and remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give you for the labor is worthy of his wages.
Do not go from house to house whatever city you enter there that they receive, you eat such things as they set before you What’s he saying?
Here? Just be a simple servant of God. Don’t get all, don’t offend them.
I don’t, I don’t eat that, eat that you’re there for other purposes.
That stuff is not important to you, man.
Many of us in this church have traveled together to some bizarre places.
One of the things, you know, people always ask, you’re gonna be taking sign ups for Israel.
What’s the food like in Israel? Has anyone been with us to Israel? We can’t stop eating.
The food is the best.
But we’ve been to interesting places like in the early 90s in Russia where the economy was devastated and we didn’t know what we were eating.
But this one time and I’ve shared this with you in the past. It was so awesome.
Don’t ask what’s set before you, this man on the street just like in our story, we’re given the gospel and this man accepts the Lord.
Let’s pray. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. He says, OK, come on.
Excuse me, we’re going, I don’t know you. He’s a brand new brother. 30 seconds old than Jesus.
He says, we’re going, we’re going, where, what, what is this? We’re going home to my house.
Uh uh All right.
So I got some Lisa and Loretta and Mark and Larissa.
There are a few others and so we go and the guy speaks no English.
So we get to the house and all this.
He get the family starts getting all this food all over the table. Amazing. Where is this food coming from?
Beautiful food and all this stuff is going on. And, um, he tells my translator, ok. Um, ok.
And so she, he, he wants you to tell the family the gospel that he just accepted.
He wants them to hear it. Oh, that’s why we’ve come. Ok.
Anyway, here’s what Kaha just heard a little while ago and this is the message.
And so you give the message and would you like to pray now and accept the Lord?
Nobody prays, nobody wants to accept the Lord.
And he gets up in Russia and he starts yelling at them, accept the Lord, accept the Lord.
Come on, do it. So I don’t know the motive.
I don’t know much of the Russian culture, but people around that table began to accept the Lord whole new form of evangelism that I saw doesn’t work here in the West, but maybe it’s a Russian thing.
So at the end, it’s amazing. It’s almost like Zeus.
It’s like the Lord has come to this house and there’s eating and there’s drinking and praise the Lord.
Well, now it’s time to go.
Oh, before we go, this Russians toast, we’ve never had Americans in our home. Let’s toast.
So he breaks out this huge bottle of cognac. And I, I said, Larissa, I can’t drink that.
I mean, I’ll go, uh the ministry will go down the hole the next thing I know someone will pull out a camera to be on the front page of the register and Chuck Smith will be calling me up, not gonna do it.
She goes, you have to do it. I’m not gonna do it. She says you’ll offend him.
This is our culture. You have to take a toast. I said, look, I don’t know.
And then I’m reminded of Mark’s gospel. You shall, you shall drink poison and you won’t be hurt.
So I Larissa don’t, don’t translate this. Oh God, I’m talking to the Americans. Oh God, help us.
Lord, protect us. So they’re so sweet. Let’s stand. Yes. Hooker and whatever. Yes.
And they top it off. Everyone around the top and no to our countries.
Yes. All right. It’s like, oh no, over and over and over and over and over and over and over.
I’m not kidding. Then it was time to leave Lisa. She’s here. Remember that? It’s time to leave.
They had this some kind of egg. I don’t know this. I never heard of it. It’s an egg. Ok.
We stand like this. Ok. Not hold the egg and toast again. Toast. Yes. OK.
Now you come here and I go there and you toast. Yes. All right.
And it was over and over and over again. Not one of us got buzzed.
Not one of us and, and by the way, nobody in the family got buzzed either.
They’re probably thinking let’s keep toasting. This isn’t working. It was the weirdest thing.
It was the weirdest thing. But all the stuff that was said before I could not have told them.
No. Sorry, I can’t toast. I would have broke his heart.
But God was powerful and precious and, and he saved us.
Now, don’t any of you say?
Well, you know, praise the Lord and now I’m gonna go and witness to my, my neighborhood Wino guy and I’ll have to go get drunk to you.
No, no, you don’t. There’s a purpose to this life and that it’s making people whole again.
Doesn’t the world misunderstand us constantly?
Are we constantly misunderstood all we want is people to have the joy and the peace that we have.
The funny thing is people turn to us and say, we don’t want your joy. We don’t want your happiness.
We want to be miserable. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on real life radio with his message called Time’s Up.
Thanks for being with us today.
You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Gospel of Luke.
It’s a series on the book of Luke and the unveiling of Jesus Christ to this world.
And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio evidence. Our world demands it.
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