The Importance of Discernment

We can't find a church today most of my solid Christian friends across America can't find a church so I put them on to you and now you're their pastor well I met some last night in the meeting so explain all ways they can see you well there's all kinds of ways and it's actually so many that the best thing to do you can find out every direction every path of learning discipleship material study materials is simply jackhibs.com if you go to jackhibs.com it will take you to a real-life broadcast real-life radio podcasting there are style Bible study methods that we've put down there there's there's a special events prophecy conferences things like that jackhibs.com that's simple and newsmax on Sunday mornings yeah newsmax amazing every Sunday morning we're on newsmax and to their credit the segment is New York time that well this has been the news of this week so Pastor Jack what how does somebody approach this news from a biblical world view and they give me five minutes every Sunday morning at 630 Pacific time oh boy honestly I don't know I don't know okay all right your day star now we're on day star that's been going crazy and day star took it upon themselves which blew our minds day star has taken our television broadcasting and they have dubbed it in Spanish and so they sent us a sample and I got to tell you I didn't know I speak I spoke Spanish so well and it has exploded in Mexico Central and South America it has absolutely exploded and we just heard reports that that broadcast is even working in the areas of spandum Portugal so it's been crazy you're speaking to you we on the last thing we just got into air and I want to really go into a bit there's this gift of discernment okay and it's always been there and it's always been important but with what's going on in the church today we need discernment yeah you could talk to that it's just been such a division between the wheat and chaffer what's going on after after COVID and and all this once you talk by that a little bit I'm gonna come back ahead add to it I think you just hit the nail on the head I know that this may sound radical for a lot of people but please hear me out on this I don't believe that God sent COVID to the world I think that's a satanic thing in this world but God uses things and God used COVID for example all of us can agree that God shook the church using COVID he utilized this what happened there are pastors and preachers and ministries that produced books and conferences on courage don't be afraid you know come to the fearless conference and those guys folded up I mean they just folded up their tent and went home and what happened was that and I I'm sure that they mentored in a good spirit but I do know this God was speaking God was at least saying to one bozo right here Jack you don't have the authority to close the doors of my church behold I've said before you and open door and I believe that God spoke that to every pastor in the world and so today we live in a world right now where I think we're going through at least the second phase of checking back for men because yeah everybody close their churches okay and God spoke to you yeah and said what well on May 31st open up the church and two years ago yeah and we I just felt compelled to invite every every church in California to open up we were delighted to find out that not every church in California opened up but 1200 of them did and you wrote government news we sent news some it was even fantastic we not only sent them a letter we sent them a we sent them I sent them a personal video saying to him with all due respect because I don't like the man but I respect the office with all due respect this is the church it's not it's not relegated to what is essential or non-essential the church is transcendent and it's time that we must obey God rather than man we mean no disrespect but more than ever in this pandemic people are hurting and this is where the church shines the most and historically that's what happened in with Luther Martin Luther in the in the bubonic plague the the black plague it's what happened with Charles Spurgeon in England with the cholera plague the church came up and helped the local entities the low and behold the state of California was not warm toward us but guess what happened Barry you know this that our local government and our county government loved us for being open we helped the local governments so incredibly much that it won us incredible favor and listen we baptized three thousand and fourteen people in on three Saturdays we had to have three Saturdays we baptized basically a thousand people per Saturday who were coming to Christ they were coming to church they were hearing the gospel and they found out I don't have to be afraid Jesus has got my back he's got my soul he's got my life and the the trajectory since then has been nothing but but just stellar because why that we're not doing anything special we're doing the same old thing what is it Jesus said my sheep hear my voice and they'll follow me so how do we give them his voice that's the question every pastor needs to ask himself or church leadership right now how are we giving Jesus's voice to the flock and so it's the Bible so when you give the Bible Jesus is people respond it's not the pastor it's not as tennis shoes or it's not as black shirt it's the Bible that's the secret sauce the Bible to the heart of the people and listen Barry what pastor we're middlemen we're just middlemen connecting people to God and let him do the rest I gotta tell you funny story Jack then I'm gonna get to the heart of what I really want to capture here so in the middle of this Jack comes to church every Sunday expecting at least halfway expecting to go to jail that day so staff everybody's all ready they're all ready for the next pastor to step on one Sunday where we get there and and he comes out he says hey great news for you we have we actually have officers today from the state local and federal government all three are here so if you see them around would you hug on them and welcome them make them feel welcomed here and oh and by the way I just want to say to you it's a it's a felony in the state of California at a church and and we have a great legal team and and we will prosecute you to the 46th and the law but but hey we're gonna come to jail and minister to you and and share the love with Jesus when you then he goes church to serve but he's oh wait a minute I forgot to tell you everybody if you're a first timer please don't leave the camps before you go over to the recall recall Gavin Newsom recall Gavin some food make sure you sign the initiative yeah so so it's true it's so people thank pastors think and I want to challenge you where did you get this thinking from somebody might say wait a minute we heard that you guys do voter registration at your church yes 52 weeks a year how can you guys do that without being arrested because it's legal it's literally legal for church to have voter registration not only that but it's actually legal for pastors to actually inform their churches about bad laws and propositions and assembly bills for example it's legal yeah it's literally legal okay we're running out of time yeah but I would do it just ask you courage you say one more thing what do you say to pass say wait a minute I don't get involved in political things what would you say to that pastor and most pastors are in there yeah honestly because I've spoken to people who have left your church they don't respect you for this reason you preach one thing but you live another and here it is notice that the two most hotly contested contested issues of life is religion and politics and if Satan can convince you don't talk about religion or politics then he's got you show me in the Bible anywhere in the Bible where any actor in the Bible any participant separated the two Jesus didn't David didn't Isaiah didn't Jeremiah Ezekiel Micah none of them Paul listen Paul the Apostle he's he's being judged at Caesarea and what what does he do he uses his political position as a Roman citizen and he appeals to go to Rome that was a political act so here's the deal part of the reason is we don't know our American history God has given us a constitution republic pastors should be the beacon of truth and every community in America pastor should be leading the way in a way in a sense the community should tremble if it thinks about doing evil knowing that there's a church that is a beacon on a hill a light as it were in shining armor because that's who we really are and if the Lord if we live the rest of our days like this so be it if we get raptured now or if I drop dead so be it I will have done the right thing and where else for us are lay people okay where else can we go tell me one other place we can go to hear truth yeah to hear a biblical perspective and how we should vote and it's our response going Jeremiah makes it pretty clear very clear very good that if we if it goes wrong our government would take care of it would be be peace among the people that's true so that's that's important now we're at the real point I want to talk about this thing of discernment yeah okay yeah it's so critically important to me and there are great men in my life who have gone off into false doctrine I mean just false doctrine walk this whatever you want to call it I can't believe it the very things they spoke they they they preach strongly about they're now endorsing and preaching strongly in their defense right I have past churches I have a denomination I have a Christian college that I won't walk back on its campus anymore because what's happening I mean how is that you know the department of the truth and I read the scriptures it's it's it's it's it's one of the one of the one of the signs of the new and he frees agreed servant while back we all hear the thing in the signs of the times he frees the these are the times yeah these are the times are the times of the signs when we're seeing these signs and you look up and rejoice so and this is this is one of the signs yeah it really is in Matthew 13 Jesus talked about you you guys know it with the the famous parable of the sewer in the seed and one of those it's very haunting because he says after a while he says these are who believe for a while but in time over time they go back into the world now that's terrifying because it implies compared to the other grounds or soils that receive the word that at some point in that person's life history there's going to be an event or there's going to be an age where they actually give up now here's the interesting thing Barry when Jesus says that these are they who believe for a while but go back into the world they never lost their salvation because they never had it they believed when their belief was tested it folded why because their belief on the Christian oh I go to church or I read my Bible or I'm a pastor when it's tested it's only found out to be a a belief and not a faith listen we must make sure that our belief we have to discern this about our own selves do we claim to be a believer if you do my question to you is explain that to me what does it mean to be born again Jesus said you must what does it mean when you talk about the authority of God's scripture what does it mean that Jesus rose again from the dead how did that happen who did this if you can't explain that then you're only a believer but you don't have faith I look I believe in George Washington but I don't have faith in George Washington you see the difference I can talk about God all day long but until my belief system is put into practice or test it then faith in the fire referness comes forth that's what's got to happen here and I look at these ones that we've loved we've respected know me too and and we look ourselves poker eyes out yanker arms out doing they we're not giving up our faith there's nothing we how how can how we have what there's a difference between where they were were they weren't the same place for us in your way right exactly these days are testing people and then and there's there's greater tests coming and so does the Bible that you preach or does the Bible that you read really govern your actions of your life are you discerning the times in which you live in in such a way that you're going to decide to do this listen you're going to decide to do this and if you decide to do this which is biblically you're going to you're going to decide to do exactly what Jesus did on this situation or to say what the Bible teaches on this situation knowing that if I hold this position my family's going to disown me I could get fired for my job if they find out I believe this we're living in those days right now yeah we are literally living in the times where you've always wondered in America anyway I wonder if persecution's ever going to come to America it's it's it's starting now yeah and you're going to see a whole lot of it increase in short order okay it's now okay we're out of time yeah I still want to talk about discernment from it this is a very important point to me I've been studied a lot lately um how do you have discernment and as it's time to get tough I know we both been in places where there's persecution church they have to know who each other are and if they trust somebody they shouldn't they can get turned in that may happen here but also who do you trust who do you go to when when troubles strike who do you go who do you run to for encouragement who are you who are you encourage you where are people you need to know where everybody is spiritually discernment gives you that gift it's amazing can I have found ourselves in the last year so we're looking for first love Christians yes that's right first love Christians I he's God said this in the in the letter to church of Ephesus I know you're doing all the church stuff but your faith we know good teaching for you know that but you've left me as your first love I'm no longer your first love and you no longer doing the first work if if God is your first love you automatically tell people if if if you're excited about Jesus you're going to tell people about Jesus so that's a self test right there if you're not telling people about Jesus and what are you talking about yeah and whatever that is proud of your first love but how do you discern people who have first love it's interesting how quickly when you focus on it how I mean in five minutes yeah you can discern where people are experiencing and it's good for two reasons one you know you can't trust them for your own edification but you'll also know the opportunity you have to edify them yeah and so it's a it's a continual process how do you get discernment I found out about this over the last few months this has become more and more important you can't have discernment without knowing the word of God that's right you can't you even say don't trust me it's the Bible at Paul said that X 17 a lot now I mean so if you're not in a church that's preaching the word of God get out of the church yeah you're just wasting I don't care how much you love your pastor and your friends and how you've been there for generations get out of that run we're not going to survive without good teaching that's why like if you can't go anywhere else go to jack hibbs.com calm that's simple I mean I sit there every Sunday if I'm here in Arizona I still listen to you and you're you're pounding me with understanding the word of God that I've never had before it strengthened me and you give me discernment so I go out more and I'm for fortified to share but I also more sensitive to where the weaknesses are and how I can be of help and 80 percent of people around us are lost they're going to hell we we have this opportunity it's never been more fun it's never been more fun one of our friends last night Ken said that's he saw a recent poll that in San Francisco 4 percent of the population of San Francisco is churched what it doesn't take an Einstein to discern that San Francisco needs Jesus okay berries exactly correct the more you ingest the Bible the more you will be able to discern the times and the seasons and which you live and it's true about everything what about your marriage what about your family what about your kids how are you going to know if your kids are going down the wrong path unless you are intaking have an intake of scripture that the Holy Spirit will say to you hey you know what listen your son is getting messed up with drugs that thought is insane right it's like no not my son but God will lay it on you God will speak to you about that and regarding a church you bury at the nail on the head we're living in days where now you either decide to go to a Bible teaching church that's that honors the word of God and exalts the word of God or you're gonna eventually you're gonna eventually have to do it under great great duress because the the shaking is coming and Jesus said everything that can be shaken shall be shaken yeah and only that which can remain shall remain so you need Bible let nothing take the place of Bible no nothing and no one you have the ability if you don't pay much attention to Bible prophecy it seems a little strange to you I this is an infomercial for Jack but you have the ability to take those scriptures that are you read by yourself and what's that mean you bring them so clearly to where you see exactly what's happening today and you forify us I just got to beg you folks if you don't have a good church go to Jackhibs.com and interchange your life and redo all and I've been telling that people across country last couple years and there are home churches yes all over America now because once they get under they say oh my goodness you know yeah we've been delighted with that so many neighbors have been inviting neighbors to come to their house on Sundays to the church the single most important thing we can do is Christians what's the single most important thing we do is individual Christians we can't change the world but we can change our words how do we do that it the the single most important thing is that wherever you're at whoever you are as a Christian influence those that are around you closer to Jesus Christ just share with them as Barry said when some Lee move them toward the Lord Jesus Christ with thoughts of can I pray for you isn't it a great day God bless your day just start there have fun with it move everybody every day closer Jesus that's my prayer there's Karen I pray every day may we not miss anybody if if it's nothing about he have a good day God bless you yeah everybody make sure you touch it but don't just be good Christians think being good gets them to heaven yeah Christian being good doesn't get you to have anybody else to have it just makes you feel good yeah okay so Christians are really good at being good attach God to your goodness if nothing more than just say and and God bless you know that's a nice person but they're a nice person because they're I didn't know I thought Christians were bad people that's what you're here that's a that's what the connotations of Christians not good no exactly the moment you touch somebody with kindness yes and tip stop me and you're going to wrestle they hear you talking about God then you stiff on the tip I mean you just push them away from God exactly exactly there's a billion ways to do it but anyway live your life for God and we may be running out of time folks yeah we don't know I mean the rapture could happen tomorrow right it could happen hey I mean I'm ready now what's the why you say you might have near the service I'm ready it's the sensitivity of how many things are going on but if he doesn't live every day for him and you can't lose I mean this is every day every day is an adventure I get frosted every day people say how come new and Karen you're you're in your eighties how are you having so much fun because we're always coming off one of these experiences that's right that's the cow you just you have we know another one's around the corner we can't wait to see what it is you get there it'll ignite your life it really well it's so special and you got to have a pastor feeding you and if you don't have a pastor go to jack hibbs dot com I got bless your brother to see it next time