With Pastor Jack Hibbs at the helm, today’s episode of Real Life Radio delves into the crucial questions that believers must ask themselves to validate their faith in Christ. By examining the scriptures, Pastor Jack illustrates the importance of living a life that reflects Christian teachings. By internalizing the Word of Truth, we open ourselves to becoming new creations in Christ, armed with the courage to face life’s obstacles with spiritual fortitude.
00:23:59 Teaching Bible Verses Through Grandparenting
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Today on Real Life Radio.
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So this morning we should all ask ourselves the question, am I truly a Christian? Does my secretary or does my boss or do my clients or do my patients or do my co-workers, do they view me as one who follows God? They’re the ones who know.
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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. Have you ever stopped and thought, boy, what if Jesus were to come back today? In a world that feels more uncertain by the minute, it’s easy to lose sight of eternity. But what if we lived each and every day with the hope and anticipation that Christ is coming back? Now, that’s the powerful perspective offered in One Day Nearer, written by Steve Millard. And it’s this month’s featured resource from Pastor Jack Hibbs, One Day Nearer. Through biblical insight and practical encouragement, this book’s going to help you face life’s challenges with faith and purpose, reminding you that with each sunrise, get this, we are one step closer to being with Jesus. If you’re ready to realign your focus and rediscover the joy of living for eternity one day nearer, it’s really a must read. The point is this, friend. Every day that you get up, you are one day nearer. This book is available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash real radio. On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series now called The Book of James with a message titled Receiving the Word of Truth. Now, before it became one of the books of the New Testament, James was a letter that was sent to the Jews who chose to follow Christ. And as new believers, James asks them to examine themselves as to whether or not they’re true Christians. You see, Jesus warns us of spectator Christianity. We can say we’re believers in God and that we follow Christ, but until we take our belief, our faith, and put it into action in our day-to-day living, well, we really can’t call ourselves a Christian. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that when we receive the word of truth, it produces new life, a life where we are swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. When we listen twice as much to the truth as we speak, we can’t help become more like Jesus Christ. Now with his message called Receiving the Word of Truth, Here’s pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.
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He wants us to be believers that are truly Christian. Now listen, you can be a believer in the fact that God exists and that Jesus really lived and that Jesus in fact died and rose again from the dead. You can come to that understanding intellectually But if you don’t have the reality of what all that means and the power that it brings in the Bible, if you don’t have it working in your life, then listen, you’re a believer, but you’re not in fact a Christian. In fact, what you call somebody who follows Christ and his belief by how they live, the definition was given to the church at Antioch, they called them Christians. What you believe and you put into action is then you are called a Christian. But see, according to a recent Gallup poll, as I mentioned to you a week or so ago, that George Gallup said that over 80% of Americans polled said that they’re Christians. Well, I’d like to know where they’re at. And if that’s true, then why isn’t our nation turning around? You see, people say that they’re Christian, but let me ask you, what is a Christian? What is the definition? See, we can easily speak words, but what is the definition of what you’re talking about? Being a Christian is one who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ in a day-to-day living called the disciple. And James is asking us this morning, is that who you are? Is that who I am? Are we Christians in our conduct? Are we Christians in how we live? Or do we just say? And you know, depending upon the group we’re in, it’s advantageous or not to say that you’re a Christian. Some people are quick to say that they’re Christians in church, but when they’re at work or when they’re out on the field or when they’re somewhere else, they won’t readily say that they’re a Christian because maybe their life is in fact doing something or a lifestyle itself that is against the teachings of Christ. These are serious things. And so that’s why we’re looking at this morning, receiving the word of truth. But if we’re receiving the word of truth, and he’s gonna challenge us to do this this morning, what should be the result in our lives? Well, one of the things is that there should be a visible change in our lives that really attests to the fact that we’re new creations. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, beginning at verse 17, that we are in fact now new creations in Christ Jesus, for all the old stuff has been now passed away, and behold, all things have become new really in Him, that we are really a creation. Technically, we are a recreation. God has taken who you are, and he has taken your past and has forgiven you. But you and I bring our baggage from the past into our current relationship with God, and that is why you and I struggle with Christian victory. Because so many times our old life will come up and try to pull us down. And so James is encouraging us to depart from the things of what we once did and walk in the newness of life that’s in Christ. And it all is based upon letting the word of God take root so that we might become the new creations that he is intending for us to be. So in verse 19, chapter 1, James says this. to us, down to verse 21. Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore… lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. Jesus warned us in another place in Luke 6.44. Jesus says you’ll know a tree by the fruit that it produces. He says, a good tree cannot produce bad fruit. A bad tree cannot produce good fruit. So he warns us. Now listen, the word is used in your Bible to judge. We are to discern. The word is to investigate and to determine. When we look at a tree… We want to pick its fruit. Well, is it an apple tree or is it an avocado tree? And of course, in California, it’s an avocado tree, right? I mean, you got to love guacamole and avocados. Our state fruit, I guess. Is it a fruit? What is it? It just tastes awesome. I don’t know. I love it. And yes, you can mail your shipments of avocados right here. But… you look at the tree and you look at the leaves and you say, those are long, waxy-shaped leaves and I bet you this is an avocado tree. But you won’t know until those blossoms produce the avocado. And then, even then, what you want to do eventually at harvest time is to pick that avocado and you let it get just ripe to the point where it’s soft enough and then you just eat that thing with a spoon, you know. So good. And you say, this is a great avocado. You don’t say, this doesn’t taste like an apple. It’s because it’s not an apple. It’s not even from an apple tree. It’s an avocado from an avocado tree. And God says, listen, Jesus says, listen, when you look at people, you’ll know what kind of tree they are by the fruit that’s hanging around in their life. What’s hanging around in our lives? That’s the fruit of who we are. If we hang with Jesus, we’re going to be producing Jesus fruits, the fruit of the Spirit. If we’re hanging out with friends that are not Christ-like or worldly, then we’re going to start producing worldly fruit. It’s the way that it works. Can’t get around. That being the case. And so Jesus warns us, you’ll know them by their fruits. Jude tells us concerning being a spectator type Christian. He says, listen, be careful in Jude chapter 1 verse 12. Jude says, people who are pretenders or who are not truly the fruit that they claim to be. He says, they’re like spots in your potlucks. The Bible uses the word feast, but for us it’s potlucks. They’re spots at your potlucks. They feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They’re like clouds without water. They’re carried about by the winds. They’re like late autumn trees without fruit. And they’re twice dead. They have no life in their root. They have no life because they have no life-giving fruit whatsoever. They’re in fact dead. It’s very important we understand this. And so in our first point concerning receiving the word of truth, jot it down if you would. The Word of God will produce in us a new life. That’s what it’s going to do. The Word of God will produce in us a new life. So you want to ask yourself the private question, do I have a new life since I’ve claimed the name of Jesus? Or am I a Sunday Christian? Or am I an Easter Christian? Or a Christmas Christian? Am I a day-to-day Christian? Am I going, in fact, to heaven? And by the way, while we’re mentioning that, spiritual deception… It’s the key thing that has led more people to the grave and to being lost than I think any other thing. So James is telling us, don’t be deceived. So this morning we should all ask ourselves the question, am I truly a Christian? Does my secretary or does my boss or do my clients or do my patients or do my co-workers, do they view me as one who follows God? They’re the ones who know. And so he says in verse 19, therefore, my beloved brethren. Again, he says this in verse 21. He said it last week. Therefore, my beloved brethren. And can you circle the word therefore and then drop down to verse 21? You’ll see it again. Therefore, you want to circle it. Remember J. Vernon McGee? How can you forget J. Vernon McGee? The guy’s been in heaven for 10 years and he’s still on every radio program talking. It’s amazing. And what does he say with his… With his accent, he says, get on the Bible bus, ladies and gentlemen. You know, and only he can get away with a voice like that. And he’ll say, when you come to the word therefore, you need to ask what it’s there for. And that’s really true. The therefore, you circle it because it means everything that I just got done telling you. Therefore, this is what you do. You have that? It’s so simple. The reason why it’s therefore is to stress the fact that it’s therefore a reason. And James is going, everything I’ve just said, okay, with that in mind, therefore, this is what you do. Who is he talking to? Look at your Bible. Verse 19, who is he speaking to? Christian brethren, us. So there’s no mistake who he’s speaking to. He says this. Let every man be swift to hear and slow to speak and slow to wrath. Isn’t that great? Wouldn’t you like to take that and cut it out and put it right on the introduction to like Jerry Springer’s program? What a sick show. I know nobody in this room would ever watch that program. That is so sickening. That is so antichrist. Horrible. People sit down, you know they must go out and find people and say, will you just act like you know this person and beat them up on stage while the camera’s rolling? And can you be an absolute… morally void human being and have no intellect whatsoever and act like a lunatic? Where do they get these people? I hope it’s all staged. If this is America, let’s go somewhere, you know. It’s amazing. He says, listen, brothers. Everything I’ve just told you, in light of everything I’ve just been telling you, and these 18 verses, therefore, be very, very swift to hear. The word swift to hear means to position your ears and your heart in a sweet spot. A sweet spot. You know what a sweet spot is. If you go to a concert, if you go to a theater or a play, you pay big money for the sweet spot. The sweet spot is where the view is just perfect. The sweet spot is where the sound at the concert hall is just right. That’s why the tickets are more expensive in that spot. People pay big money. Why? To position their ears to hear the concert. The word here to position your hearing, to be swift to do this, is to put your ears that are attached to your heart. That’s how we hear. Our heart listens. with spiritual ears. He says to position our heart in such a way that it is very, very in tune with the sweet spot, the message that’s being delivered. James is saying, everything I’ve talked about, trials and tribulations and temptations and difficulty and getting wisdom from God, everything that I’ve talked about, he says, therefore, put your heart in the sweet spot. Hey, listen, is that where you’re at right now? Think about this for a minute. Why did you come here today? Well, I want to hear the word of God. That’s good. Are you prepared to hear the word of God? You might be saying, well, I came here because I had to come here. My parents drugged me in here. Well, listen, be that as it may, position your heart right now, young person. Well, I came here because my neighbor’s been asking me to come. I just came to shut him up. Hey, that’s okay. I don’t care what the reason is. Position your heart in the sweet spot. Yesterday, there were some people over and I could hear, I was studying, but I could hear that the music was going on outside and there was a little bit of, I can’t hear it, turn it up. And I didn’t want it turned up any louder because I’m trying to study. And so I had told my daughter, I said, if you move your chair right over here, you’ll hear a lot better. And it sounds kind of silly, doesn’t it? Just move 10 feet and you’ll hear better. And it was true. What about you right now? Who are you? How are you listening? Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel, be careful how you hear. Luke’s gospel, that is. Be careful how you hear. So right now, position your heart. Just say, I’m here now. I am deciding to put my heart in the sweet spot. That is to be very swift to hear what the word of God has to say. I want to hear from God. So you position your heart. That takes discipline, people.
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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.
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Our culture, we live in the amusement culture of the world. Did you know that? We have more amusement parks. We spend an estimated $9 billion a year on amusement. As a nation, we want to be amused. You know what the word amused means? You know, the word muse is a wonderful word. It even appears in the Bible. I will muse on these things. The word muse means I will become engulfed in what I’m concentrating on or what I’m beholding concerning God. You know, maybe a naturalist will go out into the woods and they’ll say, I want to eat it all up. I want to be just like… The environment, and they’ll muse upon the environment. To amuse, what do you think that means? It means to cut your thinking off, to cut your head off. It means to take your contemplative position and cast it to the wind, and you’re just going to take it all upon you without taking anything in. That’s why they’re amusement parks. They’re places to forget life. God says, you don’t have to do that. I want you to muse upon what is true. So be careful how you think. Position your heart. I want to hear from God. What is God going to speak to me from his word? That’s why we worship before we get into the word. Now, I know as a Christian, it sometimes is hard. And you might get up in the morning with the great intentions of going to church. And you say, come on, let’s get in the car. And if you’re like our house, I’m saying it’s late. It’s late. We’re late. And, you know, depending upon the mood of the rest of the family, that may or may not go over well. Are you always saying we’re late? Well, we’re always late. Now, where are we going? We’re going to church. What are we doing? Arguing. Driving to church. Pull up in the parking lot. It’s funny how just, you know, there’s such a power that resides in a church parking lot. Yes. Well, it’s the last time. Just forget. It’s so weird. You pull in the parking lot. Praise the Lord, brother. How y’all doing? Great. The kids are going, forget this. Now, look, we get up with good intentions. I think the Christian’s most difficult day is Sunday. It’s got to be tough. You know, because you don’t feel like getting dressed, do you? Sunday. You just feel like rolling around, crashing, sleeping in until noon, you know. It’s Sunday. We’re going to go worship God. Hey, and the enemy goes, oh yeah? You think? over, you know, my cloven-footed body, and he pulls out arrows to try to get you all disrupted so that you just keep driving by the church and wind up going out to dinner instead or breakfast instead thinking we’re not even fit to go to church. Oh, no, no, you come to church. You just pull right in and park. You position your heart to here, no matter what the day’s been like, even though it’s only an hour old. You position your heart. I’m going to hear from the Lord. That’s why you are to worship before the word. You listen to the words that you’re singing and you say, yes, Lord. And you know, some people will raise their hands. They’re not going to be rolling on the floor next. That’s not why they’re raising their hands. The Bible is calling us to lift up holy hands of prayer. And what they’re doing is saying, Lord, I’m making this a prayer of my life. Lord, I lift your name on high. Why? Because I’ve been doing nothing but lifting up my own self on high, and I’m sick of it. And Lord, I’m here right now to lift you up on high. You see? That positions your heart to receive the Word of God. So be swift to hear. He says slow to speak. Be swift to hear, but be slow to speak. Jesus tells us in the book of Revelation, seven times to the seven words. letters written to the churches he says there he who has ears to hear let him hear what the spirit says to the church well you got to be able to hear so we’re to be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath it begins with hearing not only hearing but the word is actually listening we hear all kinds of stuff don’t we don’t we hear all kinds of stuff all kinds of junk even But what are you listening to? You see, to put your heart in the sweet spot is to be listening, not just hearing. You’ll hear all kinds of trash. You might hear good stuff. You might hear garbage. But what are you listening to? It’s amazing to think that through this sanctuary right now, there are frequencies of radio stations. You know, there’s classical music going through here right now. There’s metal. There’s acid rock, there’s disco. That’s a scary thought to think, but there’s praise music, there’s satanic music, there’s all kinds of stuff just going through on the sound waves. You’ll never get them, you’ll never hear them, or I should say you’ll never be able to listen to them, but you could get an oscilloscope set up in here and it can detect them. But what you do is you dial into a frequency if you have a receiver and you can listen to 107.9. and hear Christian teaching and worshipful music. But what happens if you move it over? If you move it just to the right, you’ll hear a broadcast out of Tijuana. I can’t figure out what they’re saying. And me, I don’t understand it. Why? You’ve changed frequencies. To position your heart to be swift to hear is to listen, not only with hearing, but to listen with the intent to ingest what is being given. That’s how God wants us to hear right now. To hear with listening. The apostle Paul encourages us to listen with our ears. Jesus says, listen. to what the Spirit is saying. So it’s very important that if the Word of God is going to produce within us in a new life, that we be listening and we be careful about it. Zeno, the ancient Greek philosopher, said something that you all know, and you might have heard it in different ways, but he said, we have two ears and we have one mouth. And that is the God’s, they believed in multiple gods, that is the God’s way of telling us that we should be listening twice as much as we speak. I like what one of the ancient writers also said. He said, you notice that our ears are two. They have holes that are open always to receive all that is spoken. Our mouth, we have but one. And behind it is caged the tongue. And he says, it is God who has placed in front of the tongue an ivory gate to keep it from going wild. The teeth. Isn’t that great? Think about it. The teeth. What’s it for? Well, this philosopher says it’s to keep your mouth, your tongue, back where it belongs. You don’t have teeth on your ears. Isn’t that great? Well, listen, you’ve never been talking to somebody and bite your ear. But you have been talking to somebody and you’ve bitten your tongue. The teeth, I like what he says, are like gates. Maybe we need to look at it like that. Boy, I need to gate up my mouth. One guy said, you know, I have never, I have never at all been saddened or been in trouble for what I didn’t say. I have never been brought into question or brought into trouble for what I didn’t say. We get in trouble for what we do say because we’re so often swift to speak, swift to wrath, slow to hear.
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Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Receiving the Word of Truth. We’re glad you could spend some time with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Book of James. It’s a series on being doers of the Word of God and not just hearers only. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. I don’t know if I’d call it a bribe, but I make a deal with my eight-year-old grandson. And we pick out a Bible verse that I haven’t memorized it and he hasn’t memorized it. And the next week, I’ll call him to do the next one. And if he has the one from the week before memorized, I put $5 into a bank account for him. And I’m kind of bribing him, but that’s all right.
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No, listen, that’s not bribery.
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I think it’s fun.
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Listen, well, you think it’s fun because it’s a biblical thing to do. And let me explain. The scripture commands the grandparents to be laying up money for the children. In our culture, we’ve so abandoned God that now when people grow older, they lean on their children to take care of them. The reverse is biblical. the parent, the grandparent is to labor in such a way that they save up resources for the grandchildren. In this case, it’s beautiful because you’re teaching your child that good behavior can be rewarded. It doesn’t have to be, but in your case, you’re doing that. There is a relationship established where you guys are exchanging the word of God together. And the fact that you are putting it in a bank account is actually brilliant because it’s teaching him a plethora of things. The Bible, Papa loves the Bible. I want to be like my Papa. We memorize this together. The legacy, let’s be honest, the legacy is when you pass into the arms of Jesus, he’s going to miss that like crazy. That’s a legacy. And that’s what you want to experience. But the cool thing is this little account that will build up over time, he will have a great respect I predict a great respect. He’s not going to spend that money on bubble gum or some plastic piece of junk because I got that with my papa.
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This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. 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.
