Persevere – Response to A.B. 2223 - Part 2

Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message. This is Christ, and as always, it is a joy and honor and a privilege to join you each week. I want to thank you for tuning in. Well, today we are going to continue with part two of the topic of AB 2223.

We began last week by looking at testimony from Dr. Vance Wong, along with Pastor Jack Hibbs. They both were speaking in opposition to this bill before the Assembly Health Committee in the state of California. And they are speaking against it because there is language in this bill which allows for the termination of the life of a baby up to 28 days old. Now, we have debated for decades as to whether a mother should have the right to take the life of her unborn child in the womb. And of course, we as believers in Christ, we land on the side of saying, no, she does not have that right.

That is not her body. That is murder to take that baby's life. And so we are pro-life. And now we have bills that are being lobbied that are arguing for the termination of the life of the baby up to 28 days outside of the womb.

And folks, this is infanticide and that is what people are proposing. So again, we heard last week from Pastor Jack Hibbs, his testimony, and we also heard from his sermon in which he is addressing this matter with his congregation. If you missed last week, I encourage you to visit our website, Godfirst.org.

That's God, the number one S T dot org. Look for the podcast. And I encourage you again to listen, to get up to speed on this topic and to to understand what is taking place and why we as believers in Christ need to stand in this time of darkness. So this week, I want to play the remainder of that sermon from Pastor Jack Hibbs in which he's addressing this matter with his congregation and encouraging them for how we should persevere during these times of darkness. Persevere. Church, I'm calling you to be someone who perseveres.

Now, I got to tell you, persevering doesn't feel good. Okay, how many of you work out? Raise your hand high if you work out. How many of you lie? Raise your hands right now. You notice where my hands are at? I work out sometimes.

I go like this. When you work out, it doesn't feel good until it's over. Perseverance is like that.

It doesn't feel good while you're doing it until it's over. And so when we talk about perseverance, the word perseverance means to persist, obviously, is an example in any business enterprise or the undertaking to pursue steadily in any design or course that's been commenced upon not to give up or to give over or to abandon what has been the undertaking. And this applies, of course, it says here, to good and evil. Jesus warned that in the future, then they will deliver you up to tribulation, not the great tribulation.

This is generic. This part applies to all believers since the day of Pentecost. You and I as Christians will suffer tribulations in life.

Tribulations are hardships, difficulties. Now, Jesus says, and moving the needle forward, and they will kill you. In America, we've not yet come to that point, but that is happening in the world tonight. And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended and will betray one another and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will arise and deceive many.

And because of lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who, here it is, endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel, this is one of the great hallmarks of just before Christ returns in the second coming with us, will be with him.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all of the world as a witness to all nations. And then the end will come. And the book of Revelation tells us exactly how that happens. An angel will fly through the midst of the atmosphere. Wow, says the Bible. And that angel is going to proclaim the everlasting gospel to all the inhabitants of the earth.

And then Christ returns in the second coming right after that. But what I want to draw your attention to is the generation of the future, the believers, certainly Israel, as Matthew is writing to Israel, but for any generation from this moment forward, we are called to persevere, to endure. And you can see and smell and taste the age in which we live in that there is this propensity to softness that is growing. We have forgotten or we've not been taught how to suffer. Do you know that suffer is a great, to know how to suffer is a tremendous attribute?

Listen, people in most how many of you have come from foreign countries where you suffered compared to the lifestyle you now have? Look at these hands. I find it interesting that yesterday's testimony, there was an entire family of seven or eight people.

All of them had the same last name from dad to mom to kids. And it turns out that they were Russians from Sacramento. And they had left Russia to find a new new world, a new life here. And they were passionate because they left the place where such things happen, low view of life. But if you're, if you're from a foreign country where you now today cherish the freedoms you have, I tell you what, I love immigrants who have come here to make a better life for themselves. They are more patriotic than some of us who have been born here. Because listen, we've gotten soft.

We've gotten soft because, what? I have to what? You have to fight for freedom. You need to register to vote. Register to vote? How do I do that?

What do I have to do? Do you realize that it is a tremendous power that we have in this nation to vote? Now here's the big demonic thing right now. I get it, but I'm going to persevere through it, is the elections are rigged. It doesn't do any good. Don't you know that that was the plan to get you to that point?

All you have to do is go like this, boom. And once you scare somebody, they're always going to be on guard the next time they see you. Okay, are you with me? Listen, they have succeeded, whoever they are, I don't even pretend to know who they are. Whoever they are, they caused you in your republic that God's given you. This is a God thing. This is not a political sermon.

This is stewardship we're talking about tonight. God gave you a free country. That's where you live.

The book of Daniel says God has placed, and Paul echoes in the book of Acts, God has placed every person in the country and the borders of the country, in which they live for a purpose. Did you know that? And listen, we are called to do righteousness.

We'll talk about that more in a moment, but we've got to endure first. And that means we're not going to, listen, it's not going to kill us that we get involved. But when we say things like, I'm not going to get involved because the election is rigged.

So what if it's rigged? According to the Bible, the Christian has to do the right thing anyway. Christian has to do the right thing, and you're going to choose. You're going to decide to do the right thing or not.

You're going to let your human wisdom decide what you're going to do, or you're going to let God's will decide what you're going to do. But we must always stand for what is right, and that's going to require perseverance into the end. And that end could be the end of life. That end could be the end of this bill. That end could be the end of the dynamic of this. With that, fill in the blank.

That's what we have in Sacramento. They neither revere God or respect man. When I say man, you know what I'm talking about? Mankind. That's a word for human life.

They don't respect it. Now, you do realize, listen, believe it or not, if this bill, which I pray is like you do, destroyed, that it just goes away, one of the reasons why I pray it evaporates is for those who are for it. I mean that regarding God's mercy. Now you say, Jack, God looks on the heart.

Yes, he does. I know. I know. I'm just grasping for straws for their sake. If they pass this bill, Jesus said, if anyone offends a child, it will, this is Jesus speaking. Hello. It will be better. It would have been better for that person to tie a millstone around their neck.

A millstone ranges anywhere from 800 to 2000 pounds. It would, Jesus said, it would have been better for that person to have this tied around their neck and for them to jump into the sea. Then for them in the day of judgment, Jesus is saying, when I get done with them for having harmed a child, it would have been better for them to have just thrown themselves to the bottom of the sea. Jesus Christ said that, and we've got today churches and so-called pastors and leaders that think we don't need to say anything about that. That's a political thing. You know, I got pastors telling me this, killing a baby after, well, they're deciding that in Sacramento. That's a political thing.

I cannot think of a word to describe such a human being that would say such a thing. Clearly an atheist from San Francisco knew better. If you are just now joining us, we are listening to a sermon from pastor Jack Hibbs, who is the founding and senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills located in Southern California. Again, he is addressing the issue of perseverance in light of this bill, AB 2223. We are going to pause for a brief announcement, but please don't go away on the other side of the break. We're going to come back and hear more from Pastor Jack Hibbs again concerning AB 2223 and why we need to persevere. You are tuned into the God First program.

Just to name a few. You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter and visit our web store. So please visit us at God first.org. Now let's return to the conclusion of today's message. We need to do the right thing.

Every single one of us. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand. I'm assuming tonight you'd raise your hand. If I asked you, are you a follower of Jesus? And you're going to raise your hand.

And yes, I am. Okay, then listen, we're under orders by our king to do the right thing. We have to do righteousness. And that's done, according to the scriptures, with courage. Here's what I love about the Bible's example of courage. In fact, I've thought about this a long time.

It's probably going to come out wrong. There are people who, for example, get on a motorcycle and try to jump across the Grand Canyon and people say, what a courageous person you are. Remember that guy that took the tightrope across the Grand Canyon? Remember that guy? What courage? I don't know. Did you know the word courage actually means the ability to manage fear?

Did you know that? But you say, I'm afraid. I saw people yesterday. I'm sitting there, and people are coming up, and all they were to do was to say, my name is whatsoever, and I'm asking you to oppose with a no vote, AB 2223, and they'd walk away. And one after another, listen, everybody, listen, one after another for 55 minutes, and when they came up to give their personal conviction before the assembly, the assembly was behind me, I'm sitting down, and they were giving their testimony this far from me. So I'm in the middle, looking right at them. And they came up and they were trembling, most of them. But they came up and you could tell, and it's intimidating. These people, by the way, they built the room so they're lofty, they're lifted up, so they're looking down at us poor little people who put them in power. And there were people shaking and hardly even able to speak, but they got this out.

I'm Joe Johnson, and I'm pleading with you to vote no, and walk away. And then you could see them, by the way, I heard reports from people, once when they got out of the hallway, they just kind of broke down in tears because they finished the mission, they dropped the bombs, so to speak, over the target, they pulled up and they got out alive. What were they doing?

They were managing fear. Psalm 27 verse 14 says, wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart. That's the key.

Put yourself in a place where you're outside your comfort zone. California, don't pull back from this. You're not, listen, we were not defeated.

It's not over yet. Don't give up. Learn to get into the fight, ask God for the strength for you to stand, and God will convert fear into courage. He'll show you how to manage it by having faith in him.

He'll do it. This is the one, Isaiah 40, 31, but they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and they will not faint. We do righteousness. We're to be courageous, which means managing that fear, and we're to have faith, faith in what God has said, trusting him. In Romans 14 verse 12, we're going to persevere because there's a judgment coming. In Romans 14, 12, it says, for we will all stand before God's judgment seat. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Did you know that? 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 says, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one of us may receive what is due us for the things done while we were in this body, whether good or bad. Now, the judgment seat of Christ, they need all of your attention.

Are you guys awake still? Okay. We'll just reduce it down to this. There's two judgments. There's what's called the great white throne judgment, Revelation chapter 20. And if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, meaning that you believe that he died on the cross for your sins and that he rose again from the dead and you've asked him to forgive you of your sins and that you've given your life to Christ, you live for Jesus now, you will never see what is called the great white throne judgment. The great white throne judgment says it's upon all those who, whose names, it says, have been blotted out or removed from the book of life. Their names, it appears as though their names are there until they're judged and then it appears, it seems, that their name is then removed from the book of life. The Bible says their names are erased from the book of life. The Bible says they're cast into hell. That's the great white throne judgment. You don't want to be there.

On the other side is what's called the Bema, B-E-M-A, the Bema seat. That's where every Christian will stand in the day of judgment. The father will not judge us.

Jesus judges us. What does he, I thought it was, I thought it was safe in heaven. You are safe in heaven. No one gets erased out of the Lamb's book of life.

Do y'all hear that? There's the book of life and there's the Lamb's book of life. The only way for you to keep your name in the book of life is to make sure your name gets written down in the Lamb's book of life. And any name not found in the Lamb's book of life is erased out of the book of life.

Okay? It actually correlates perfectly with being born again. You got a birth certificate when you were first born, right? And you got a birth certificate when you were born again.

You just haven't seen it yet. It's written down in heaven. Your name is inscribed in heaven. Isn't that amazing? Wow. And there's, by the way, the Bible says there's a seat reserved for you. I love that.

And it's not reserved by Hertz or Enterprise or Delta. So yeah, we'll stand before Jesus and he's gonna basically ask us this. With every opportunity I gave you, with the resources I gave you, how did you use them to advance my message? And we know this from the parables. He's gave us tons of parables on this.

You know them. Remember the one where the guy says, here, you take five of these talents. It's not talents like talents. It's talents like five bucks. Here's five bucks.

Now I'm gonna go on a long journey and I'm gonna come back. I don't know when, but here's five bucks. Invest it.

And when I come back, then I'll take care by rewarding you how you invest it. And you get three and you get 10. Now the Bible says, listen up, each one received the amount that was to their responsibility. Meaning it didn't matter if you got three. God gave you the opportunity to invest three. You're not gonna be, you and I will not be judged based upon what God gave Billy Graham to invest. Thank God.

Right? If you've been given a lot of, then a lot is expected. If you're faithful and little, when Jesus comes back in the kingdom of God, he's going to make you faithful and more. If you're faithful and little, then you'll be faithful and little. But one of those guys took what God gave them and buried it under the ground because he didn't want to get involved. He didn't want to do anything risky.

Do you want to take any chances? And he just sat there until the end of life. And then God says, what did you do with what I gave you? Let's see. Let's see what you got.

The Bema Seat of Christ is also referred to as the reward seat. If you are a three talent person, three dollar person, and you're running with your three dollars or your three opportunities, and you're faithful to those three opportunities, when somebody's in need and you see it, and you don't respond, that was an opportunity. Remember when he's going to wipe away all of our tears? Do you know what those tears are? Those tears are going to be the tears, I believe, of all of the missed opportunities he's going to show us. We're going to cry about it.

Man, that's going to be heavy duty. But listen, I got to tell you, the scripture demands that every pastor be the watchman on the wall for the flock. And this is one of those moments. As Pastor Jag is speaking about perseverance, I thought to my daily exercise when I go out and run, as he was given that illustration, and I thought about when I'm running that three mile run and it is burning, my legs are burning, my lungs are burning and I'm tired. And in my mind, I have to keep telling myself, just keep going, keep pushing, just put one foot before the other, just one step at a time.

And I push myself and I keep going because I know that once I reach the finish line, it will be all worth it. And that is the same mindset that we must have in this Christian race. We are to continue, folks, to fight the good fight of our Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't feel good because it seems like so much is coming at us from the kingdom of darkness. And it oftentimes feels like the kingdom of darkness is winning. But Jesus Christ said that he would build his church upon the rock and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. So there is always a remnant and that remnant is going to defeat through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible says with the brightness of his coming, he will put an end to all evil. And so, folks, we must continue to go forward. Don't quit. Don't grow weary. Persevere, as Pastor Jack has said, because we don't want it to be when the time comes that we stand before Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat, that the opportunities that he gave us to be a witness to advance his kingdom.

And we did not take those opportunities. We want to be there to receive rewards. We want to hear him say, well done, good and faithful servant. Now come and enjoy the peace and the rest of your Lord. That is our goal.

We want to to make our Lord proud of us for what we have done for his kingdom. So in light of this bill, AB 2223, again, it is not yet passed. It is making its way through the legislation.

It goes to the assembly floor for a vote, then the Senate and then to the governor to sign or veto. So even if, as I said last week, you are not in the state of California, be in prayer because we want babies to be saved anywhere. We don't want them to go through that suffering as barbaric as it is, as demonic as it is.

It's just unimaginable to think people actually feel they have the right to take the life of a baby up to 28 days old. Be in prayer. Fight the good fight. Persevere. Don't quit.

To our brothers and sisters in the state of California, we are praying for you. We are with you. And most importantly, our Lord Jesus Christ is with you. So don't quit.

Don't give up. Persevere. Just as Pastor Jack has stated. Well, folks, we are all out of time for this week, but please come back and join us next time as we continue to encourage you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel, and to the only wise God, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel, and seek first the kingdom of God.