Action4Canada - April 08, 2023


Message from Pastor Jack Hibbs on ＂Staying Open during Pandemics＂


Episode Stats

Length

9 minutes

Words per Minute

179.7005

Word Count

1,656

Sentence Count

136

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary

Pastor Jack Davis shares his story of standing up to the government and standing up for what God has called him to do, and how he has dealt with the fallout from taking a stand. Pastor Jack Davis is the founder of Calvary Chapel Los Angeles, a church plant located in Southern California. He has served as a pastor for over 30 years, and has been in ministry for over 20 years.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Jack, over the last 18 months, we have seen a real divide when it comes to pastors' mindsets and their convictions about what it means to shepherd the congregation that God's given to them.
00:00:18.160 And when pastors take a stand for biblical truth, man, there's some fallout.
00:00:24.300 I mean, there's a church that I've been a part of here in Southern California where the pastor was given orders from the city.
00:00:31.400 The pastor was taken to court.
00:00:33.360 The pastor, just for keeping his doors open, when he knew that people were hurting, they needed help.
00:00:39.140 And you did the same thing.
00:00:40.640 But some churches are like, they're scared to death to do that because they know that they're going to get ridiculed online.
00:00:46.320 They're going to have people picketing out front or the attendance is going to drop or the tithing is going to fall.
00:00:51.120 Have you experienced some, all of those things?
00:00:55.060 And how do you navigate that?
00:00:56.660 I've experienced the attacks.
00:00:58.960 I've experienced the criticism.
00:01:01.500 But when you mentioned the downside to taking a stand, that if I take a stand, tithing is going to go down and the people won't show up.
00:01:10.020 They're not coming to your church anymore.
00:01:11.500 The exact opposite happened.
00:01:13.680 And I believe that we're living in the last days.
00:01:16.700 Having said that, when I look and see the fallout of the COVID experience, all of a sudden, I heard from pastors across the United States that it's better for us to obey the government rather than God.
00:01:30.840 And what they meant by that was, you know, we need to be a good witness and obey the government rather than God on this.
00:01:38.300 And I didn't get it.
00:01:39.440 I couldn't get it.
00:01:40.320 I didn't understand it.
00:01:41.320 And they would say, you got to do Romans 13.
00:01:43.640 You got to honor the authorities.
00:01:45.240 We did honor the authorities.
00:01:47.220 We do honor the authorities.
00:01:49.800 This was an issue that transcended what is called good.
00:01:54.660 Remember, Romans 13 says the powers that have been installed by God as authorities are there for good.
00:01:59.880 Right.
00:02:00.220 When a government such as ours in California said, we're not going to address the church.
00:02:05.900 We're not even going to say if you guys are essential or non-essential.
00:02:08.580 You guys are nothing.
00:02:10.140 Go sit in the corner.
00:02:11.440 We'll call you later when you guys can open up.
00:02:14.400 When our government took that approach, it didn't surprise me because I believe we're living in days that are challenging.
00:02:22.440 But this is what was the marching orders for me.
00:02:25.480 I was reading my Bible and it jumped off the page.
00:02:30.220 Jesus said to the church at Philadelphia in the book of Revelation, behold, I've set before you an open door that no man can shut.
00:02:38.820 As soon as I read that, I knew exactly what I was supposed to do.
00:02:42.340 That no man has the authority to shut the doors of the church that Jesus bought with his blood and he owns and operates it.
00:02:50.460 And as a pastor that's called to the ministry, who called me?
00:02:54.120 Did Calvary Chapel call me?
00:02:55.920 No.
00:02:56.460 Did Chuck Smith call me?
00:02:57.960 No.
00:02:58.800 Jesus called me.
00:03:00.120 It's his church.
00:03:01.200 He bought it with his blood.
00:03:03.480 And so I don't have the authority to shut the doors to a church.
00:03:06.520 If the next pandemic comes, the beautiful thing about what I'm saying is, no matter how painful it's going to be, that message from him never changes.
00:03:15.700 And we had political leaders tell us, thank you for staying open.
00:03:22.040 The stability that the church brought to the community.
00:03:25.220 Our community suffered less than many other communities because families had a place to go to.
00:03:30.660 We provided every setting, Kirk.
00:03:33.120 We provided a packed sanctuary.
00:03:35.640 We provided spacing.
00:03:37.380 We provided an outdoor venue, six feet apart.
00:03:40.260 Whatever you wanted, you could pick.
00:03:41.800 You could stay in your car.
00:03:42.920 We broadcast the message in your car.
00:03:44.920 We live streamed worldwide.
00:03:46.620 We provided everything.
00:03:47.940 But we couldn't stop.
00:03:49.660 The church, this is the hour of the church.
00:03:51.740 And from this moment on, at the time of this recording right now, from this moment on, every challenge will come for an opportunity for the church to be the church.
00:04:03.560 We cannot let the world, even if it means well, violate the scripture.
00:04:09.880 And then we agree with the world to violate the scripture.
00:04:13.020 We need to say to them, we are not essential or non-essential.
00:04:16.900 You can't clump us in that group.
00:04:18.200 We are a transcendent organism created by God that's called the church.
00:04:25.180 And we are here to help our community.
00:04:27.360 We are here to pray for the sick.
00:04:29.560 We are here to teach the word of God.
00:04:31.740 We are actually your greatest ally.
00:04:34.540 We are the church.
00:04:35.480 We did not close down during the bubonic plague.
00:04:38.840 We didn't close down during the 1860s and the cholera epidemic throughout Europe.
00:04:45.080 The church rose to the occasion.
00:04:47.380 That's right.
00:04:47.860 And what happened during COVID is that it seemingly was used by God to show the world in America what church and churches stood on the word and what church needed government money and government leadership to operate their church.
00:05:08.760 So I hear this and I say, and I know that you're a hero to so many for opening up that church.
00:05:15.480 The pastor of the church that I've been a part of, same kind of thing.
00:05:18.120 And you think, well, man, this is a no brainer.
00:05:19.920 That's what every pastor should do.
00:05:21.580 Why isn't it obvious to pastors, or maybe it is, and they just don't, do they not have the courage to do it?
00:05:28.040 Do they feel like this is going to ruin my reputation for the gospel?
00:05:32.380 If I take a stand on this, I look like I'm, I'm breaking the law, but others are saying, but when, but, but you're, you're actually discrediting yourself by caving to evil and you're not protecting and loving your neighbors, which is what a Christian is supposed to do.
00:05:45.980 What's the problem?
00:05:46.840 Why aren't pastors doing what you're doing?
00:05:48.120 I'm going to talk to you right now as though you and I were just alone having coffee, fear.
00:05:53.580 Listen, the pastor is either fearful because the board has threatened him.
00:05:57.360 You're going to lose your job if the numbers dip or whatever it might be.
00:06:00.060 I don't know.
00:06:00.580 Maybe it's the pastor thinking that I can't do this because it's going to create controversy.
00:06:06.800 Excuse me.
00:06:07.340 Your calling is controversial.
00:06:10.100 The book that you're holding, walk into a restaurant and set it on your table.
00:06:13.900 People get nervous when they see the Bible.
00:06:15.480 The whole thing, Jesus is controversial.
00:06:17.520 Isn't it interesting that when somebody slams their hand in the door, none of nobody shouts Muhammad, nobody shouts Buddha.
00:06:25.420 If they, if they hit the hammer on the finger, what do they say?
00:06:29.700 Jesus.
00:06:30.520 They say, Jesus Christ.
00:06:32.040 Why?
00:06:32.340 This is a spiritual issue.
00:06:33.800 It's a spiritual matter.
00:06:35.200 Okay.
00:06:35.800 And the fact is this, as a pastor, you're called to please one, not the congregation, not the board, not anybody else.
00:06:45.020 Certainly not social media, but believe me, friend, those, those likes that you have on your Facebook page, those people really don't like you probably.
00:06:53.100 And if you have 500,000 friends, they're not, they're not your friends.
00:06:56.240 Just try borrowing money from them.
00:06:57.580 They're not your friends.
00:06:58.260 There's one who's your friend.
00:07:00.240 And in the end, you and I are going to be judged for our faithfulness to the calling.
00:07:04.440 And somebody might say, well, that's, that just sounds brutal.
00:07:07.960 What you're saying.
00:07:09.440 We're living in the last days.
00:07:11.040 This is the time for us to lead.
00:07:13.460 These are critical days.
00:07:15.200 Jack, what are you saying that what happens to the pastor who's watches right?
00:07:17.920 I go, you're cracking my eggs here, Jack.
00:07:19.600 I don't know where you think you can just say things like that.
00:07:24.480 How would you encourage them when they're genuinely feeling like I don't want to split my congregation in half.
00:07:30.480 I don't want to offend God by violating Romans 13.
00:07:33.340 And I think this is really what I'm supposed to be doing.
00:07:36.280 You go to the pulpit and you say friends, family, congregation, church.
00:07:41.100 Before we go any further today, I need to say something.
00:07:43.600 And that is Romans 13 is in the Bible and it's true.
00:07:47.840 And I believe every word of it.
00:07:49.120 In fact, there's one word I want to point to, and it's the word good.
00:07:52.040 Our political leaders are given authority over us to do good.
00:07:56.380 And shutting the church down is not good.
00:07:59.100 Where do I get that from?
00:08:00.840 Acts chapter five and six, where the apostle said, it's time for us to obey God rather than man.
00:08:07.520 And so church, in light of that, I'm going to stay true to the Bible.
00:08:11.560 I'm going to follow God.
00:08:12.680 I covet all of your prayers, but from here on out, this church is going to follow the scriptures line upon line, precept upon precept.
00:08:21.060 And we're going to trust the Holy Spirit to honor the word of God.
00:08:24.020 And if you leave, God bless you.
00:08:26.160 If you stay, God bless you.
00:08:28.160 But from this moment on, this is going to be a church that is known both in heaven and in hell,
00:08:33.440 because we're going to obey God and shake up this world and we're going to move forward.
00:08:37.940 So now let's open our Bibles and let's get into our study today.
00:08:42.100 That's all they need to say.
00:08:43.700 Do you realize that the congregation will say, they'll cheer, they'll cheer, they'll cheer.
00:08:48.860 And the board might say, no, that's going to cost us money.
00:08:52.120 They're going to start writing checks.
00:08:53.880 Listen, people are going to say, wait a minute.
00:08:55.360 That's worthy of my support, prayer and fellowship.
00:08:59.080 In fact, we're going to start going to that church.
00:09:00.660 Thank you.