Behind The Scenes Ministry – C

Today on Real Life Radio.
When people don’t have authority, they just drop names. They have to drop names because there’s no power behind their witness. And the beautiful thing is paul is humble.
That is something that is lacking in the Christian church today.
This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible.
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On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called First Corinthians with a message titled Behind The Scenes Ministry. First Corinthians was written by the Apostle paul to the Church of God in Corinth, and he shares with us how he’s not ashamed to express his love and care for others in a practical way. You see, in these verses of chapter 16, paul ends First Corinthians and is unapologetic about his emotions and burdens.
paul’s Christianity was a deeply personal thing. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that paul’s final words in his first letter to the Church of Corinth bring comfort and confidence to all of us. Authentic Christians encourage one another.
They’re lovers of the Church and surround themselves with faithful friends. Now with his message called Behind The Scenes Ministry, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
Faithfulness, that’s what we learn in verses 9 to 11. He says, For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. Please mark verse 9 down.
Church, listen. In Acts 14, the Bible says, verse 21, and they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples. People had come to Christ with paul’s missionary team, and they returned from Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, saying, we must through many tribulations or difficulties inherit the kingdom of God.
Why do we bring in this verse? because listen, Christians are to get involved. When you get involved, it demands and produces faithfulness.
Whenever, hello, you are faithful, you will have adversaries. Let me ask you something. Are you willing to be hated for Jesus’ name today?
Okay? You need to count the cost of that. If you’re going to follow Jesus, in fact, you know what people say, listen, even in the Christian community, there’s a cop out statement.
Watch this. You’ve heard this. If you want to hide, you want to be religious and not effective, but you’re even in the ministry, but you don’t want to get too effective because you could make enemies.
People will say, well, we are a church that’s all about what we’re for. We’re all about what God is for. Doesn’t it sound good?
That sounds good. We’re all about what God’s for. And they’ll say, we don’t want people, we don’t want the community to know what we’re against.
We don’t want to be negative. Are you hearing me? That sounds very good.
But let me ask you something. If you’re going to follow Jesus, is Jesus, listen, regarding the defense of children, babies, to spare their life or not, is God for that? Is he for life or is he against life?
He’s for life. If you stand for life, then guess what? You’re against death.
But we’re a church that, we want people to know what we’re for. The moment you stand, do you understand something? The moment you take a stand for something, there’s an opposing view to your stand.
So when somebody says, well, we want to be a church of what we’re known for. Well, then ask the church, what are you against? Nothing.
Do you hear me? This is a big deal, because people who don’t do anything will say to those who are doing something, well, you know what, they’re just against stuff. Okay, I’m, for example, there are churches who say that Jack guy, he’s against so much.
And so I say, what am I against? I want you to name it. What am I against?
And you and it’s great, because the things that I’m for, God is for. But the moment you’re for marriage or you’re for babies or you’re here, I’m saying the moment you take a stand, you’re going to get hit. So let me ask you something.
It is my prayer. If I were sending you out in 1st Corinthians 16, I would say be biblical about your stand and stop worrying about the trendy moving opinions of people. Make sure that what you stand for is 100 percent biblically based and it’s something Jesus would stand for.
And then listen, go, go for it. because people are going to come against you, even in so-called Christianity, they’re going to hate you. This is a critical thing.
And paul says, a great doors opened up for me, but man is there adversity and adversaries. That’s how you know you’re on the right path. If you just have adversaries without an effective door, then you’re a weirdo.
You’re obnoxious. If you have, listen, if you have all open doors without adversity, then you know what, you’re not doing, you’re not making a difference in the kingdom of heaven or hell. But if you have before you an open door, and there’s adversities with the door being opened, and it’s difficult, then you’re on the right course.
What am I saying? Christian, live for Jesus, and you’re going to have a tough go at it. And all the while, you’ll be happy as a clam.
Which I don’t know why we say that stupid statement, but you will be happy about it, because you know you’re doing the right thing. And paul knew he was doing the right thing. He says in verse 10, And if Timothy comes, see that he may be with you without fear.
Don’t beat up Timothy, because he’s a young guy. He’s a good guy. For he does the work of the Lord, as I also do.
We don’t need to belabor this. Here’s the tender part. He mentions Timothy by name.
The context of the meaning is this. Don’t beat up a young guy who’s preaching and teaching the word and serving Jesus. Be open, you guys.
Church at Corinth, be open. Church at Chino Hills, be open to the younger guys that God is using. It’s a good thing.
Look at verse 12. Humility keeps us usable. This is pretty amazing.
Humility keeps us usable. Look at verse 12. Now concerning our brother, Apollos, remember Apollos?
He was an amazing speaker, but he didn’t have much theology. Then he got his theology right. He was amazing asset to the kingdom of God.
He says, now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brethren, but he was quite unwilling to come at this time. However, he will come when he has a convenient time. What’s paul saying?
First of all, do you remember 1 Corinthians at the start of this book? Some say you’re of Apollos, some say you’re of paul, some say, do you remember? Isn’t this brilliant?
For whatever reasons, watch this, and then we’ll move on. For whatever reasons, Apollos said, I don’t want to go now. Could he say, could he say like people say today?
I don’t feel led of the Lord to go there, paul. Could he say, I don’t want to go right now, period. We don’t know what the deal is.
Guess what? You know what I love about this? Humility.
Who’s humility? paul’s. Just make a note, on we go.
paul, you would think would say, excuse me, Apollos, hello. I am the Apostle paul. Apostle, A, I’m the A team.
You are a B Apostle. Right? A Apostle, that’s me.
B Apostle, that’s you. Go to Corinth now. He’s an Apostle.
What if paul showed up here right now, and he said, he would say to us, go to El Segundo. Yes, we’ll go even to El Segundo. Who said so?
The Apostle said so. Guess what? You may think that in your head.
paul never thought that in his head. He tells Apollos, you ought to go to Corinth. Apollos says, I don’t want to go right now.
paul says, that’s fine with me. He’s not upset by it. He’s not threatened by it.
You know what this speaks about? Humility, man. God-ordained authority should be humble, because it’s God-ordained authority.
If you’ve got to strut around and demand, I demand you follow me. Follow me now. Do this now.
You know what? Get up and walk. It’s not God-ordained authority.
Do you hear me? This is important. If someone’s got to sell you on their authority, they ain’t got any.
And by the way, when people don’t have authority, they just drop names. They have to drop names, because there’s no power behind their witness. And the beautiful thing is paul is humble.
That is something that is lacking in the Christian church today. Look at verse 13 to 14. Preparedness makes us ready.
Verse 13, watch. The word’s vigilant. Have your eyes open.
The word means to be on guard, watching for danger. It implies we are Christians living in a dangerous spiritual world of ours. Look at the words stand fast.
It’s one word in Greek. It means this. It means to be stationary, fixed, like your feet’s in concrete.
Stand fast. It’s football season right now. And you go out there and you drive around, you see those guys on the football field, and you see the linebackers or whoever might be in there.
They’re ready. They’re standing like this. That’s a great pose for this verse.
They are standing and they’re in concrete. paul is saying, keep your eyes wide open and be fixed, be stationary, like you’re about ready to take a hit or to deliver a hit. And then this is a great word.
Oh my goodness, mark it down. This is actually so great to talk about. We should have spent the whole day on this right here.
He says, be brave. It says be brave in the New King James. What’s the Old King James?
Is it quit? It’s an old English word, quit. Not like give up.
Quit, you know what it means? Be brave, quit. It’s man up, that’s what the word means.
Did you guys hear that? It means be a man about it. Yeah, but I’m a woman, I’m a woman of God.
The word applies to women too, man up. See, you know what, our culture, we’ve lost the view of what a man is. paul is saying, man up, church.
paul is saying, stop being led around by your feelings and do what is the revealed word of God. It’s gonna be hard. He’s saying, man up.
But it’s gonna be hot today. Man up. Boy, this needs to be said today.
Man up. Listen, be a man. We need to know what a man of God looks like these days.
In fact, listen, when I say that, all the women should say, amen. We need to know what a man of God looks like these days.
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 jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com.
And for now, let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
Man up. Listen to this. The word means, to not be soft, to not be sensitive.
You say, I want a sensitive man. That’s not what it means. This is different.
It means to not be passive regarding spiritual things. Man up. Fight the fight.
Be ready. And then be strong. This word means to be strong and to act stronger.
The Christian, listen church, the Christian should get stronger every day. We should be battle prepared, battle ready, on mission with battling, knowing in our minds. Isn’t it amazing that the Bible, I love it, the Bible talks about us fighting dragons.
Satan is a dragon and a lion. The Bible talks about you and I wearing an armor, a suit of armor. There’s no wimpy stuff with that, man.
There’s no armor with a tutu on there. Armor, the shield of faith, that’s man stuff. Now, ladies, I mean like manly men and manly ladies.
Spiritually speaking, man, I got to tell you, you guys know people, there are women who are more manly, spiritually manly than some men are manly, spiritually manly. This little frail little thing may come walking on, praise the Lord. And man, I tell you, that woman pulls out her faith and she slays dragons.
She’s a Deborah. That’s amazing. That’s exactly what he’s talking about.
We need to just man up. These are tough days. Man up.
Be strong. Don’t give up. Don’t quit.
Third and final point. We’ll end the book with this. Verses 15 to 24, three things.
Verses 15 to 18, regarding us being surrounded by faithful friends. What a great, beautiful thing. There are lovers of the church.
There are lovers of the church, and that will always be. He says, I urge you, brethren, you know the household of Stefanus, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, which is another name for Greece. This, according to paul, Stefanus’ house was the first place where people got saved in Greece.
Wow. And maybe, you know what? Maybe it’s your life, huh?
Were you the first one saved in your family? And God is using you in your family? Watch this.
And that they have devoted, circle the word devoted. The word is addicted. To be addicted.
Addicted. Obsessed, completely given over themselves to the ministry of the saints. Stefanus and his house, they couldn’t stop serving the church.
And that you also submit to such and to everyone who works and labors with us. He says, I am glad about the coming of Stefanus and Fortunus and Achaicus. For what was lacking on your part, they supplied.
What does that mean? It means that when these three guys arrived, these were the guys, by the way, watch. Remember how during this book, paul was answering questions.
I heard about this. It is reported among you that. Where did it come from?
These three guys. These three guys came from Corinth, Greece. They went to Ephesus.
They’re talking to paul and during paul’s listening, I love how personal this is. He was listening and he says, You know what? Let’s write 1 Corinthians, Chapter 1 then.
Let’s write that down. Next thing. Oh, really?
Let’s do Chapter 2. Where do you get that from? These three guys.
And they were to carry this news back. Wow. These guys were lovers of the church.
Are you a lover of the church? Well, there’s a lot of stuff wrong in church. Of course there is.
There’s always going to be stuff wrong in the church. It’s a bunch of sinners saved by the grace of God. Well, you know, I don’t know if I want to be around you people.
Well, maybe we don’t want you around us. No, no, I’m kidding. But I’m looking for that perfect church.
Just when you find it, just keep going. because you don’t want to step in there and mess it up. Right?
There’s no perfect church. I found the perfect church. No, you didn’t.
because God will see to it, every church has warts and blisters and boo-boos. Why? So God alone gets the glory.
Okay, remember that. And so there’s lovers of the church. And this precious man and his family were addicted to serving.
Look at verses 19 to 21. There’s encouraging partners. Boy, I’m grateful for this.
The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla. Could we not do Bible studies just on this married couple right here?
Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily with a hot heart in the Lord with the church that is in their home. Home Bible study. Man, these are the two precious ones.
They’re the ones that later taught Apollos about biblical Christian doctrine. What a great couple. And you find them everywhere, by the way.
They keep popping up and they’re precious. What a great couple. And all the brethren greet you.
Greet one another with a holy kiss. The salutation with my own hand, paul’s. What’s that statement?
This is how, because paul had severe eye trouble. These guys are writing, but paul felt so moved. I want to sign the end of this book.
That’s what it means. I’m signing this on my own. I’m not going to have somebody write my name.
I’m telling you this. I’m writing it with my own hand. What a precious thing.
Encouraging partners. Aquila and Priscilla were encouraging people. How do you handle encouragement?
I don’t know. Some people do really good with it. Some people don’t.
Some people give it. Some people don’t. But don’t we all need it?
Every one of us need it. In fact, you know what? When we encourage other people, the person we’re encouraging blossoms.
They often blossom beyond. There are some Christians who don’t get or will not receive encouragement. I have to tell you, I’m really bad about that.
I don’t listen to people’s encouragement. I’m very bad, you guys. I listen to everyone’s criticism, but I don’t receive encouragement.
And you say, now, let me spare you some grief. Don’t say, I’m going to encourage him after service then. Don’t waste your time.
I just don’t receive it. I just I’m not good about it. But if you come up and say, you know what, you’re a jerk.
I’ll go, yeah, amen, I know this. Yes, I got that. Thank you.
But when you speak encouragement unto somebody’s life, it causes them like miracle grow to do even better beyond themselves. How did this flower get to be like that? They were encouraged.
How did this Christian be like that? How does this husband do that? How does this wife do this?
How do those kids do that? because, you know what? We’re encouraging them.
Christians, we need to encourage one another and the Lord all the more. Verses 22 to 24 and we end. We’re surrounded by faithful friends, and I call that authentic Christianity.
There’s nothing better than authentic Christianity. If anyone does not love, if anyone does not love, the word is phileo, the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s brotherly love.
See, why didn’t it say agape? Just wait. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Merenatha and Athema.
What is that? Let him be damned. What?
The word is, if anybody does not phileo, brotherly love the Lord Jesus, then it’s evidence, it’s proof positive, that the guy’s life is damned. If anyone claims to know Christ and does not love tangibly other people, there’s no truth in that person. God does not dwell in him.
Listen, as we end this book, have you noticed in life, and I notice this as I get older, I do not know, you do not know, if today is the last day to spend with your family. You don’t know. The older you get, the more thankful you become.
I smell my granddaughter’s hair longer. I squeeze her. I have a new grandson now, and you squeeze him and smell his hair.
And listen, my wife, my kids, my son-in-law, do you hear me? You! You guys!
And I don’t always handle it well. The pressures of ministry, the demands, the things, people being born, people dying. Marriage is failing.
If I had my wife up here right now, you know what we would do together? We would yell at you if your marriage is messed up. Get it right!
Fix it! because the perils that are awaiting you, get your marriage on line, pray, repent, follow God. Why would we say this if we had farewell words?
If this was our last Sunday to be together, why would I say some things? because you leave people with the last thing, with the most important thing. When you say goodbye, when you part with your family tomorrow to head off to work, you don’t know if you’re gonna see them Monday night.
And so you smell their hair, are you telling me you love them? My kids, even, look, my kids are 30 years old and almost 30, 30 and 27. They can’t stand when I’m leaving now or when I’m away.
I love you guys so much, here’s a picture, I miss you, I wish you guys were here. Oh, dad, will you just leave us alone? We know you’re gone and you miss us.
Why? because things become more valuable. And he is saying this.
If anybody doesn’t tangibly love others, then he doesn’t love God. Next thing, verse 23. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
God’s favor be upon you. Church, here, God’s favor be on you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus, amen.
My love, listen to him. God’s grace on you. My love on you.
I can’t not do this any better. God’s favor be upon your life, grace and my love. And that’s how we’re to end this book.
What a precious apostle. What a man of God.
Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Behind The Scenes Ministry. Now, this is the end of our study in Corinthians, and it’s been an amazing journey, hasn’t it? We’re thankful to have you along with us, of course, and don’t forget that if you want to re-listen to or show a friend, every episode of our series on Corinthians is available at jackhibbs.com.
jackhibbs.com Now, coming up next week, we have a series that you don’t want to miss, especially in this particular season. It’s called Politics and Your Face. So don’t miss it.
We’ll see you there on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
Everybody, this is just a reminder. We started out a little while ago praying for our students from preschool to university. And I just want to encourage you to keep that up and keep it going.
We want to lift them up before the throne. You know, listen, that is a very, very powerful, but yet rarely taken advantage of opportunity. God told us to bring all of our concerns to him.
And so I want to challenge you. I want to encourage you. Does it seem something that is off your radar?
I understand that. Is it sometimes hard to do? I get it.
Listen, it’s of the spirit. That’s why, friend, it’s not of this world. But as believers, we must intercede for our kids.
And they’re in a system, they’re in a world where if we don’t pray for them, they could very well be on their own. So let’s once again renew our commitment. Father God, bless our students.
Lord, cause their faith to be strong in you. Lord, when the world says Jesus is not real, God is dead and there is no hope. Or if they’re preaching to our kids some socialistic, atheistic belief system that our kids would know the truth and that truth would set them free right there in the classroom.
So Father, bless our students. Keep them going. Give them discernment.
Make them wise. We pray in Jesus’ name and all God’s people said, Amen.
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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.