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In a world punctuated by distinctions and divisions, this episode challenges believers to reevaluate their stance on favoritism. As we traverse the teachings of James, the conversation unravels how partiality not only damages community unity but also dampens our effectiveness in sharing the gospel. Pastor Jack Hibbs invites us to shift our focus back to the core tenet of Christianity — the heart. How can we foster a church environment where everyone, regardless of background or status, feels welcome? Tune in for an uplifting discourse on embodying Christ's love beyond societal barriers.
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Today on Real Life Radio.
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There is this temptation, there is this test, and there is this thing that we must deal with as a church, and that is this propensity to go to cliques and to go to clubs and to become exclusive. And that is not to be named among the Christian. None of us who are Christian should be ever guilty of being in a group that nobody can get into.
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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.
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Every day that you get up, you are one day closer.
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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 called The Book of James with a message titled The Folly of Favoritism. Now, before it became one of the books of the New Testament, James was a letter that was sent to those Jews who chose to follow Christ. And as new believers, James wanted them to know the dangers of favoritism. You see, in Christianity there is a great danger in showing favor to the wealthy, and they're not to be shown any sort of preference because of their money, while the poor are shown less respect simply because they lack wealth. So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that God doesn't judge based on our social status, our wealth, or appearance, but evaluates a person because of their heart. In the eyes of God, the rich have no advantage at all over the poor. Now, with his message called The Folly of Favoritism. Here's pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.
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James chapter 2 this morning, and we're going to be covering verses 1 through 4, and the title of the message is The Folly of Favoritism. The Folly of Favoritism. As we march through the book of James, we come now to chapter 2, verses 1 through 4, and if you're a note taker this morning, set it up this way. There are only two points, and there are about six sub-points total, three per each point. Very simple. First point is this, James chapter 2, verse 1. And that is that favoritism or partiality, partiality hinders the work of Christ in our lives. Jot that down if you would. And the second point is in verses two through four, and that is it damages, it damages the cause of Christ. Very simple. And we're going to be talking about this thing about partiality, how dangerous it is. It's a very dangerous thing. Partiality, listen, from partiality we have cliques. Every scenario, every gathering of human beings together in any capacity, you're gonna have the temptation to form a clique. They are diabolical, they're wrong, they're evil, and you shouldn't be, I shouldn't be involved in a clique or a group or a club that is exclusive. God hates that stuff. And yet, why do we struggle with it? Because it's in the human nature. James is going to remind us clearly how much it is within our nature. And we as Christians have got to fight it. That's a great danger. We're going to see that. The folly of favoritism. He says to us, chapter two, verse one, my brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, And you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, you sit here in a good place. And say to the poor man, you stand in here or stand there or go to the back or sit on this footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves? Listen, and become judges with evil thoughts. Wow. James is not lightening up on us at all, is he? He's not going any easier. He's talking about conduct. In chapter 2, verse 1, he's talking about Christian conduct regarding the assembly of coming together as a church. One of the most wonderful things that should highlight our week is the fact of coming to church. You know, I hope in your heart it's not like, oh, brother, man, I'm going to go, and I've got to sit there through that thing again. I can't stand it. Listen, you know what? Either please leave this church and find a place that you're really encouraged and convicted and challenged and growing in, or Find that place. And if you go to that place, and you go to that place, and you go to that place, and you go to that place, and you're still, oh, brother, I wish this guy would just put a lid on it and get... Then you know what? You need to find out if, in fact, you even know Christ at all. Because the Bible talks about us being hungry for fellowship, hungry to pray, and hungry to know the Word of God to come together. And that's what we're doing right now. This is a time of worship. And that's our focus. And let me see if you're all awake this morning. Who have we come to worship? All right. Well, listen, that's the motive of our hearts. And we need to keep our focus on worship because if a poor man or a rich man enters the sanctuary, we are not to worship them or we're not to denounce them. We are to keep our eye focused on Jesus Christ. Why? We're here to worship, aren't we? We got dressed up. Some of us did. I mean, I didn't, but some of you are very well dressed. You've come because you've come to worship the Lord. We sang this morning. So what, we can try out for some choir? No, to worship the Lord. We've come here to worship him. We've come here to love him. As Matthew 2, verse 2 says, and we have come to worship him, says the wise men. And if you're going to be a wise man, a wise guy in these days, you want to worship him too. You want to make sure that when you come to church, your focus is on giving Christ all of the glory, all of the attention, all of the praise that's due to Him. Now, coming to church, unfortunately, is a gathering Especially on Sunday, where you have people that might come out of tradition. They might come out of being coerced. They may come here because of a bribe. We do do that, you know. We invite our neighbor to come and we'll take them to, you know, somewhere after church. Oh, come, I'll take you out to breakfast. We'll get a free breakfast out of it, let's go. Some people come like that. It's hard on a Sunday. Most pastors, when you read enough stuff after a while, and behind the scenes ministry terms, this is what pastors call the mixed multitude. It's Sunday. People come and they may not ever go again. They come certainly on Sunday. It's this gathering of the so-called mixed multitude. And that is that there are some who love and serve the Lord Jesus. And there are those who are just religious. And then there are those who could really just care the less. But they're here. And the scripture Jesus made reference of in his teaching. He said, listen, be careful. As the church age continues on, churches will get larger and larger, and he said, the kingdom of heaven is like this, or the kingdom of God. It's the same term, interchangeable. That the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that you plant, and it grows, and that mustard seed, which grows into a little bush, you can scarcely call it a bush, Jesus says, well, it grows and goes past the bush stage and it grows into a big tree. Well, that's not normal for a mustard seed. And then Jesus gives us the tall tale sign of evil. He says, this mustard seed grows into a big tree and the birds of the air come and live in its branches. And, you know, we read that passage and we go, well, that's nice. Well, listen, if you understand the Bible, when the Bible mentions the word birds, it is evil. When it mentions the specific name of a bird, that's another story. Example, Jesus said that the father cares and is concerned about the sparrow. that falls to the ground he mentions its name it's it's genus right he says sparrow it's a type of bird but whenever the term bird in new testament appears it is not good example jesus says the word of god goes into the heart of a person but satan comes like a bird and snatches the seed out of their hearts before it has a chance to germinate and change their lives Birds are not good. Jesus is saying, and the Bible teaches us, that as a church grows, in the mix and in the multitude of an assembly, there is this temptation, there is this test, and there is this thing that we must deal with as a church, and that is this propensity to go to cliques and to go to clubs and to become exclusive. And that is not to be named among the Christian. None of us who are Christian should be ever guilty of being in a group. that nobody can get into. In other words, in this church, there had better not be, but if you perceive it, I want to know it, there had better not be the leadership and the laity. There had better not be the rich and the not so rich. There had better not be the good looking versus the not so good looking, or the whatever, the outgoing and the non-outgoing. Whenever you begin to segregate and to separate the church, which is a natural tendency of the human heart, that church will not live long. If we cannot come together with people who are wearing suits and people who are wearing shorts, and we look at one another and say, well... Look, hey, if we depart from our focus of Jesus and begin to judge one another, we are a very ill body of believers. There's a great story that's told where a woman in England, she was going to a church and Charles Wesley had been preaching. And so she was excited and she came, but Wesley's campaign moved on. And so she wanted to go to the church in her community. And so she goes to that church and the pastor of this great, great church saw her walk in and he said, ma'am, you know, why don't you go home and read your Bible right now and come back next week after you read the New Testament. Just read it. And so she went home and she did. He didn't think she would, but she did. And she came back the next Sunday and she was ready to worship the Lord. And he saw her again and she was not very attractive. She didn't smell very good. She was obviously not well to do. And this church was. So he said to her, why don't you go home now and pray and see where the Lord would have you to go to church. And so she did that. And she came back and she says, well, I think I took on hair. And he goes, you know, why don't you go home and fast and pray and read your Bible and see where God would have you worship him. Guess what? She said, he never came back. Six months later, this pastor of the church bumps into her in the marketplace. He says, well, I remember you. She goes, well, I remember you. And he says, well, you know, I didn't see you anymore, so you must have gone home and did what I said. She goes, oh, absolutely, yes, I did. And he said, and what did God say? She says, well, the Lord told me not to come back to your church. In fact, the Lord told me that he's been trying to get into your church for years, and he's not been allowed. Isn't that good? A lot of churches are like that. I'm not faulting anyone. I think they eventually grow into this. We have to be careful we don't grow into this. But a lot of churches might as well have a sign nailed into the lawn out front, suits and ties and dresses only, or whatever the case might be. Or those who make over $100,000 a year in this church are welcome. I mean, whatever the deal is. There's an evil that's in the human heart and it even is found among religious gatherings or those who know God and we have to be careful to guard against it. And it so often manifests itself in this thing called partiality or we can call favoritism. That there's an elite group. And it's wrong. They have their own parking. They have their own seating. They have their own arrangements that's special for them. We need to be very, very careful. These things are not Christ-like. So the first thing that we see in James chapter 2 is the dangers of showing partiality. We'll see three of them. And that is in verse 1. He says, first of all, that partiality undermines the faith of Christ. If you'll jot that down. Partiality undermines the faith of Christ. It says in verse one, my brethren do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. Know this, first of all, that partiality undermines the faith. And if you mark your Bible, or if you're taking notes, you ought to mark this, the faith. The word in the Greek is definite article stressing the the. It is the faith. What faith? The faith that's mentioned in Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, that tells us that the faith is a gift, regarding the grace of God given over to us. God gives us the faith to believe in the gracious gift of salvation offered by His Son, and thus we come to faith in Christ. The faith is the faith that saves us. It's the understanding of the nature and gift and love of God, the faith. When a person comes to faith, they're coming to the faith of Christ.
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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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This is what Jesus gives. What kind of faith? What's the quality? What's the standard? What's the hallmark of it? It is the faith of Christ. This is what he gives. It's not faith in Christ. That's what happens. What do you put in your faith in? The faith of Christ, meaning the quality of faith he gives us. So don't underestimate what he's saying here. When we show partiality, it undermines the faith. Why? Because the faith of God is not partial. The Bible tells us in John's gospel that Jesus said, you come to me, I will in no wise cast you out. He won't cut us off. He will receive all those who will come to him, who will express that faith that Christ commands, and that is, you just come to me. Isn't that exciting? He doesn't say, you know what, I'll give you faith if you do this, do that, or the other. He says, come to me, and that faith that he gives is this very, very simple, thing found in verse 1 that if we show partiality, we are undermining the faith of God. Why? Because we are speaking or showing in any way an elitist type of mentality when in fact Christ welcomes all people to come, rich and poor, influential and non-influential, tall, short, anybody. And when a church begins to depart from that and become a church of a certain thing, then that's not good. We begin to get in trouble. And what's our standard for this? What is the criteria? The person of Jesus, I would say. Where do you find him? How do you find him? You find Jesus among all people. You saw Jesus when he was preaching in his day. You saw great, influential, powerful, rich men like the religious Nicodemus coming to faith in Christ. Then you see very poor people like slaves and those who are outcasts coming to faith in Christ. Because when you looked at Jesus Christ, you were not challenged and you were not confronted with an elitist type of standard. He made all people feel welcome. The rich were comfortable with him. The poor were comfortable with him. The various nations were comfortable with him. If you were white, if you were black, if you were red, if you were yellow, you were comfortable with Jesus Christ. Why? Because he doesn't focus on the silly outward things that man does. It is within the heart of every human being to show partiality. Isn't that bad? Yeah, it's bad. We have to fight it. The Christian has to fight this because it is a dangerous thing. It undermines the faith of Christ. We'll talk about this more in a moment, but I do want to say it really dampens our effectiveness in evangelism when we show partiality. The Bible says here in verse 1, do not hold. The word actually is stop holding it. It implies that we do have a tendency to do this. We do have the tendency to say we're Christians and to, in fact, be Christians, but to gravitate to partiality. Oh, I like them. They're rich. Oh, how terrible. Well, you never say it. Well, yes, we're going to go over to their house because they're rich. People wouldn't say that. But it might be in your heart. Well, I like the things that we can do because they're rich. Or, you know what, we're gonna hang out over there because those people are really powerful, you know, they're movers and shakers in the community. Let's hang out with them. That's sick. Can you imagine if God thought that way? Hmm, he looks over a cloud and he goes, I wanna find the perfect person to fellowship with. In fact, I wanna find the perfect one to save. Where would you and I be? I remember walking into Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in June of 1977. I didn't go there for the right motive, I'll tell you that. I walked in there with the wrong motive. I didn't even know it was a church. They didn't have a cross out there. What's a dove anyway? It's like some, you know, bird farm or what was this thing? I didn't know what it was. I've never known. Walked in there, sat down. Oh man, there's like 3,000 young people. My, this is cool. And I got to tell you, I drove my car up there and I was making a lot of money and I'm thinking, you know, Oh, well, this is great. People have Bibles. That's kind of weird. No, well, anyway. And I was doing great monetarily. I was young. I had money. Things were happening. And hey, I had the world by the tail, I thought, until Greg Laurie got done with that message that night, and I found out the world had a bite of my tail is what was going on. And the fact of the matter was, when he got done preaching a message that night on Revelation 20, verse 11, which is about hell, I got saved at the end. I knew I was in trouble. Greg Laurie said, if you're doing this, doing this, doing that, and doing the other, you're not gonna make it. And I said, aye, aye, aye. And I got up and I went forward. And I gotta tell you, when I first sat down, I'm thinking, this guy playing the piano, why doesn't he get a haircut? And then from my seat, I could tell that he had no shoes on. And in fact, in this one song that he was singing, you put this love in my heart, he drug his toes across the keyboard. He had an Afro out the ear. And I thought, this is a sick guy. And then when he got done, this guy comes out and they, welcome Pastor Greg. Pastor Greg? What am I in here? This guy comes out with hirachi sandals on. I don't know if I'm saying that right, hirachi, or however you guys say it, I don't know. But he had sandals on. And he had a hang ten shirt on with the big feet. Remember when I said hang ten? And he had long hair and a big full man shoe. And he went down like this. That was Greg Lurie. And he was a hippie. And I'm thinking, this place is nuts. And Greg Laurie goes, let's give Keith Green a wonderful welcome here. You know, that was the guy, Keith Green. Everyone goes, oh, this is nuts. I got to tell you, if I would have known in advance there would be this Afro bearded maniac playing on the keyboards and a hippie giving a message from the Bible, I wouldn't have gone in there. Because my concept of church was stained glass, steeple, robes, sleeping, boredom. And I was terribly convicted, but guess what? I was there on Thursday night. I was there Saturday night. I was hooked. Because it wasn't the focus of the things, it was the focus of Jesus. He was the issue. He was the glory.
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pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called The Folly of Favoritism. Glad you could be here 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. Did you know there's an easy way to stay informed on the latest biblical events shaping our world today? Check out the Happening Now section at jackhibbs.com. Now, these live events feature Pastor Jack Hibbs alongside special guests diving into current events, cultural shifts, and how they align with biblical prophecy. It's a unique blend of Bible teaching and real-time analysis that helps you make sense of today's headlines through the lens of Scripture. Happening Now is not just about information. It's about equipping you with the truth and encouraging you to stand firm in your faith, no matter what's happening around you. Now, these discussions are eye-opening, they're thought-provoking, and they're a great way to stay spiritually grounded in a rapidly changing world. Whether you watch live or catch up on past events, Happening Now will help keep you connected to God's Word and what's going on in the world today. Visit jackhibbs.com and click on Happening Now. Don't just watch the news. Understand it from a biblical perspective. If your kid or your grandkid is in a season of doubt about God, what would you do? Let's say he's a young, let's say he's eight years old and he's kind of thinking about God and doubting God.
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Yeah. Well, first of all, Lisa and I have raised our kids, and now it's the grandkids. So I know that question. What we do, believe it or not, what we've done, what we do is take them outside. And if this is appropriate, dependent upon the weather, have them lick their finger, right? Put their finger in their mouth.
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Yeah.
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Get it wet. Stick their finger up in the air. And ask your kid, what side is your finger cooler on? Or what do you feel? I feel the wind blowing. How do you know that? I can feel it. Look at the trees. What's happening? The leaves are moving. Well, how do you know the leaves are moving? Look at them. The leaves are moving. So, hey, buddy, but what's moving the trees? Wind? No, you got to do better than that. What's wind? Get them to think. You can't give them the answer. That doesn't build faith. Show them how to think critically to come to a conclusion. They see a tree moving. They feel the finger cool on one side that the wind is blowing on, and yet they cannot see the wind because their eyes are not capable of seeing molecules and millibars in the atmosphere. Right. But they see the effect of it. So the same is true about God. Right now, we're not in heaven yet. In heaven, we get our heaven eyeballs. We'll be able to see him. Right now, we can't, but we see his evidence everywhere. So when you see the ocean moving, he said in the Bible, by the way, I'm going to move the ocean. I'm going to move the seas with the swells. And by the way, he says in the book of Job, I'm going to draw a line at the shore where these mighty waves cannot go past. Right? Take your kid down to the lake or down to the beach and show them this is evidence of God. So that's going to start to dispel doubt. But we must never, ever allow doubt to go unanswered. That's a recipe for disaster.
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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.
Join Pastor Jack as he addresses the pervasive issue of partiality in today's spiritual journey. Drawing inspiration from James, he warns against the dangers of showing favoritism and advocates for a true understanding of God's equal love for all. This episode invites believers to reevaluate their actions and embrace the true essence of living faith, marked by love for every individual, irrespective of status or wealth.
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Today on Real Life Radio.
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James is trying to convey the fact that if we hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with partiality, we are not only blaspheming against God, but we are gross transgressors.
SPEAKER 01 :
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. Did you know there's an easy way to stay informed on the latest biblical events shaping our world today? Check out the Happening Now section at jackhibbs.com. Now, these live events feature Pastor Jack Hibbs alongside special guests diving into current events, cultural shifts, and how they align with biblical prophecy. It's a unique blend of Bible teaching and real-time analysis that helps you make sense of today's headlines through the lens of Scripture. Happening now is not just about information. It's about equipping you with the truth and encouraging you to stand firm in your faith, no matter what's happening around you. Now, these discussions are eye-opening, they're thought-provoking, and they're a great way to stay spiritually grounded in a rapidly changing world. Whether you watch live or catch up on past events, Happening Now will help keep you connected to God's Word and what's going on in the world today. Visit jackhibbs.com and click on Happening Now. Don't just watch the news, understand it from a biblical perspective. On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues now with his series called The Book of James with a message titled Partiality and Its Influence. 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 Jesus Christ. And as new believers, James urges them not to show partiality. You see, partiality and favoritism are not Christian virtues. Our faith in God should keep us from showing partiality to the rich and powerful and inspire us to love the poor as we love ourselves. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that if we dishonor the poor, we are dishonoring God who doesn't value earthly wealth and status. It is not loving to treat one another based on how much money they have. now with his message called Partiality and its Influences. Here's pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hughes.
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All right, James chapter 2. If you grab your Bible and turn there, we'll be in verses 5 through 9. As we look to James, I can't turn to this book without seeing James in some kind of combat here. Either that or maybe a very almost patriarchal style about him with his robe and staff and very fatherly. I got a lot of responses from people asking me where in the world did I get the idea, the concept that James is the half-brother of Jesus himself. It's found in Matthew's gospel, chapter 13, verse 55, for one place and another in Mark's gospel. This is James who grew up with none other than God himself in his house. Can you imagine Jesus being born of Mary? Remember the story? Remember you heard the song, Mary Had a Little Lamb? That's all about Jesus. Can you imagine? The Bible says that Joseph and Mary knew not one another until Jesus was born. And then after that, the Bible tells us there were children born to them. At least there were two sisters. It mentions his sisters in the Greek plural, siblings, and his brothers. And we know them by name given in scripture. This James is the James that would have grown up with Jesus Christ. Can you imagine mom and dad saying, why can't you be more like your brother? That would have been a wild one. But I wonder how he was. You know, he was so incredibly natural, yet without sin, that the Bible tells us that even after his resurrection, his family did not believe. They came to faith as a result of the resurrection and following him. Jesus says, a prophet is not without honor. A prophet gets honor everywhere he goes, except in his own house. And every dad feels that every day, don't you? It's funny, familiarity, the old saying goes, breeds contempt. You can become so common with something that you lose the perspective. Roby Duke, a moment ago, sang the song about when we've been there, you know, 10,000 years and all this wonderful, all the wonderful sights about heaven and all the things that we're going to experience and the joys of being there. We'll see him. We will see him face to face. We'll touch his face. Can you handle that? Can you imagine that we will see God face I lose perspective. I'm a pastor. I'm in the word. I'm with people. I live for you. My life is with him and you. It's like this. And I can lose perspective. You would think the closer that you maybe traffic with people and deal in the things of God that, you know, the more up and the more exciting and the more you would see. And sometimes it's not true. Warren Wiersbe says in his commentaries and in one of his books that's very encouraging about on being a servant of God, he says, be careful. Those of us who are Christians, be careful that we don't treat the things that God's called us to do as common. It's so easy to do. It's so easy that you and I can begin to treat one another as common. That there's nothing special about us. Do you realize that when God looks at us, he sees us as something so special? It's such a gem. All the stuff, all the junk that's going on in our lives, all the difficulties. God is aware of them. He knows your failure. Now, if you're not a Christian this morning, your failure is ever before your face and it's in between you and your God, whom Isaiah 59 verses 1 and 2 says has separated you from him. He cannot hear your prayers and he cannot save you from your sin until you turn. Isaiah 59 verses 1 and 2. But when you do turn and say, oh Lord, have mercy on me. Your sins are forgiven. Jesus, I believe that you died and you rose again from the dead. And I come to the cross. And Lord, I ask you to apply your blood to my life. You've got to admit that the thought of that is extremely strange. Blood? We live in a culture. We live in an age. We live in a world where blood was... once almost a disgusting thing. Do you know how precious now blood has once again become? Blood. Listen, if you get in an accident, God forbid, on the way home, and you need a transfusion, what's your greatest worry? Whose blood am I getting? When you go in for surgery now, what does your doctor tell you to do? Drink, what, V8, drink tomato juice, drink carrot juice, build up your blood, and we'll draw blood from you so that after your surgery or during your surgery, we can fill you back with your own blood. Why? Because the risk of contamination is so great. The world is polluted, the Bible says, by sin. The Bible says we've been polluted by sin. Our thinking is polluted. Our actions are polluted. When we're religious at best, the Bible says we're polluted. And that's very offensive to the natural mind. It's very offensive to the mind that's trying to work its way into heaven. This week... We were at this outreach at this park, as I was mentioning earlier, there in Russia, and there was a priest that was there, and he was speaking on a microphone about something, about nationalism or something, and they asked us if we could be quiet for a moment. So we did. We were quiet. And they said whatever they said. I asked a Russian, I said, what is he saying? He says, I can't even figure out what the guy's talking about. And then afterwards, the priest went around and he was asking people for money now that that really got me he had a black robe black hat crossed around his neck and uh i looked over at joel and i said i'd give anything if i would have paid attention through my russian courses that i bought and paid for to go up and say to that guy what i'd like to say And let me tell you, there was not much of Christ in what I would like to have said. And he started heading towards our group with his hand out. And I said, okay, that's about it. And I grabbed Elia, one of the precious brothers and musicians and leaders there in the church. And I knew what I was going to say. And I was going to say to this guy, What God do you serve out here begging like this? This is disgusting. You have the cross around your neck and you're begging. The Bible says, our God shall supply all of our needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus, to his glory. Well, that's what I was going to say. That sounds nice. I just quoted a verse, but my heart was not right. And when that guy saw me coming up and he stuck out his hand like that, I looked at him. And the Lord just so hit my heart. I've never heard God speak. You know, those of you who are maybe visiting here for the first time or maybe you're not a Christian yet or you don't quite understand, have you ever heard a Christian say, the Lord spoke to me? Have you ever heard that? Raise your hand if you've heard that. Have you ever heard, oh, the Lord spoke to me? I remember when I first heard that. Somebody said, well, you know, the Lord spoke to me. Well, what'd he say? That's scary. I've never heard God speak to me. I know he has said things to me, but not with words. It's almost like he gives you his thought, but you don't hear a thing. It's weird. And I looked at that guy and I put my finger up like this. And that guy looked up at me. He's a little guy. And he looked up. And Jesus embossed this thought in my heart. I want him for myself. And I was completely ready to eat this guy alive. And Jesus embosses upon my heart, I want him for me. I want him. Oh yeah, Lord, I want him too. Just stand back, Jesus. Hold me back, bro. I'm going to get him. I'll protect your cross, Lord. Jesus says, Jack, will you shut up and get out of the way? I want this man's soul. I love him. And it was so cool, and I was so grateful. He kept me from sinning, God did. I said, what's your name? He says, Alexia. I said, Alexia. Why are you begging? He says, oh, we have to put the dome on our church and it has to be polished and it has to be put in place so God can come and dwell in it. And we need this. I said, Alexi, haven't you read your Bible? Jesus says, this is the temple. This is where God wants to live now, Alexi. Where are you, man? Come on, get with it. He wants to live in your heart. Alexi, do you have hope? And he says, I don't have any hope. I said, well, then you must not have any joy. He said, I don't have any joy. Do you have any peace? You can't have any peace. He says, I have no peace. He's a priest. He's got all the trappings. He's got all the garb, black, robes, big cross, begging money to build a building. So God can live in it so that they might meet God. And I said, Alex, if you died today, where would you go? Heaven or hell? And he said, can you imagine this? I was shocked. He just said, I would go directly to hell itself. And Ely and I just sat there and we pleaded with this man and we gave him the gospel. And I didn't understand his response. He gave me a kiss right on the mouth. It drove me nuts. And we simply wrapped him up and we prayed that he would see and understand that Jesus Christ loves Americans, Russians, Israelis, Australians, Germans, What are you?
SPEAKER 01 :
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.
SPEAKER 02 :
And James is trying to convey the fact that if we hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with partiality, We are not only blaspheming against God, but we are gross transgressors. Listen to the hint. I'll be giving you the end up front so you can deal with it all morning long and get over it. In verses 5 through 9 of James chapter 2, there's a hint of the devilish and demonic powers of separatism and partiality and favoritism that destroys, which leads eventually to, and Satan shows his greatest colors with, something called anti-Semitism, which is growing in the earth at an incredible rate. Did you know hatred for Jews now is rising? Is that a peak now? It's rising again. It's a sign of satanic influence. Read your Bible. Understand it. Be careful. Watch out. There was a time when the church believed they were helping Hitler for the right cause. Let's read our Bibles. Let's be careful about this thing about partiality. We think it can be so maybe benign and not so dangerous. No, when a black person is put outside because it's for whites only or vice versa, or when you walk into a hotel in a foreign country and because I'm an American, And only why, because of the power of the dollar, I'm allowed into a hotel when maybe a Russian friend has to stand outside the door. That is sick. That's perverse. And yet a culture builds itself up on that. We're a five-star hotel. With just my face. The thought is implied. He has money. He's from the West. Let him in. But this one, he's from Russia. He stays out. You say, well, you know, maybe that's a business deal. Listen, it's in the human heart. And it's wrong. And James is going to talk to us about it. And it's terrible. He says in James 2, verse 5, he says, listen, my beloved brethren. And the word listen in the Greek implies that we're not listening. It's something that we're not normally doing. So he says, listen, my beloved brethren. Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you are really, or if you are to really fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as a transgressor. Very important thing, and we'll look at several points regarding partiality and its influences. It's something that we have to fight against as a people. We have to be careful because it's something that somehow strokes the flesh. If we can somehow get into that group that's exalted, then all is well. And maybe none of us suffer from that. But have you ever seen it? Maybe some of you have. Very alarming. It leads to a spiritual issue. That is the fallen nature of man. The Bible tells us that we are justified today, you and I, if we put our faith in Jesus Christ. If we've put our faith in Jesus Christ this morning, you and I are justified in the sight of God. Completely saved. if we put our faith. This man asked me, he said, I want to believe in God. This thing about faith, it seems too easy. He says, I can look past all these things. I can look past this tree. I can look past the clouds. I understand that God must exist, but doesn't he demand more from me than just belief? And I told that Russian man, I said, you are so wise in your question. You are so bright. And I went over and I grabbed this little stool that was being used for the Congas or bongos or whatever you called them and I sat down on it And I said this is what the word means I said to sit down And I said that word trust and have faith in Christ is not to just talk about it It's to sit down on Christ to put your weight down and know he's gonna hold you up That's Jesus And he said, got it. Thank you. And we prayed. A child understands that. This little child, there's a child in between services and the... Sunday school teacher had a hold of this little baby. She says, you know, as long as I'm holding this baby, he is fine. But the problem is, he is a giant, this kid. And I am so tired of holding him, but he's happy as a clam if I'm just holding him. And I'm tired, and I'm jet-lagged right now. And I thought, you know what? I'd like to have somebody hold me like that right about now. Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't that be great to be that little... Of course, somebody has to be like 25 feet tall to hold us like that, you know, in relation to scale and ratio, you know. Rest, sitting down, putting faith, justified. 1 Peter 1.18 says, knowing that we were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold. Praise God for that. From your aimless conduct received by the traditions of your fathers. He was speaking to religious people. He's not talking to some drunk, drug addict, prostitute, brawling bum. He was talking to a very religious people. He's redeemed us from the traditions of our fathers. But with the precious blood of Christ, he has redeemed us as a lamb without blemish and without spot. We're justified. In Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, the Bible says, for by, let's hear it, for by what? Grace. You have been what? Saved. Through faith. That is not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should... We were walking down Nevsky Prospect. That's the Champs-Élysées of St. Petersburg. They're the main avenue. And we were heading off to the bank. We were going to pay the bill for the hotel and all that stuff. And so Dima and I were walking along. And these two precious, they're obviously from Utah, Idaho region, two precious LDS missionaries go walking by. And I said, Dima, did you see those guys? Let's pray for their confusion. I always do that. Lord, I pray that you confuse them and bring them to faith in you. And he says, where, where, where, where? I said, white shirt, black tie, dark pants, badge. Didn't you see it? He said, no, I didn't see it. I didn't see it. And I said, you know, we're going to do a U-turn. And we did a U-turn and we followed them. And got up to them and I said, excuse me. And they turned and I said, do you have a Bible? And one said, Russian or English? And the other one said, no, we don't have a Bible. So they had a little thing between the two of them right then. And so Demas says, well, I have a Bible. So he pulled one out of the back of his pocket there. And this precious Mormon missionary says, I don't want a Bible bash. And I said, you know what? We're on our way to do business somewhere, and I have to go to the bathroom very badly. We don't have the time. I just want to ask you a question. Can you read to me Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9? And he said, in Russian or in English? I said, both. I'm American. He's a Russian. So both of you guys read it. And they read, he read, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that is not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. Not of works. Lest anyone should. And Dima couldn't take it anymore. And he said, boast. It's a boast, it's a boast. You see, it's free. Those precious guys, they're trying to work their way in. And they looked, they read that verse, they looked. And the younger one looked at the one that read it. And I put my hand on the guy's shoulder and I said, what are you believing in?
SPEAKER 01 :
pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Partiality and Its Influence. 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.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, hey, everybody. This is Pastor Jack here, and I want to encourage you to get a great book. Now, listen up. I know there's a lot of books out there, and we certainly do push a lot of books on this program because we want you to grow, and you should have a great library. Well, listen, One Day Nearer is a book written by Steve Miller, a dear friend of mine and a great author, and here's the kick. It's a 365-day book. devotion, one for every day, and all of it is themed around being prepared to meet the Lord Jesus Christ, how to be looking for him, how to be walking in light of his return. What are the scriptures that should encourage us? All of this in this fantastic book, One Day Nearer, by my good friend Steve Miller.
SPEAKER 01 :
Get a copy for yourselves, please, and grow. One Day Nearer by Steve Miller, available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash realradio. That's jackhibbs.com slash real radio. 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.
Join us as we journey into the heart of Christian teachings with Pastor Jack Hibbs. In a world often divided by wealth and social status, this episode highlights the teachings of James, reminding us of the spiritual dangers of favoritism. Pastor Jack shares personal stories and biblical insights to challenge our preconceptions and guide us towards a more authentic, faith-driven community. Tune in to discover how you can live out the values of love, inclusivity, and impartiality in your everyday life.
SPEAKER 02 :
Today on Real Life Radio.
SPEAKER 03 :
Remember, you are a Christian first, friend. And Christians should be out there. We all should be open-armed to the world if they're poor or rich. And how much more so in the body of Christ. Showing partiality destroys.
SPEAKER 02 :
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. What if today was the day that Jesus returned? Pretty good question that changes everything about how we live. In a world filled with distractions and uncertainty, One Day Nearer is the book by Steve Miller. It's this month's featured resource from Pastor Jack Hibbs. It invites you to refocus on what truly matters, living with the hope of Christ's return. Now, this powerful book offers biblical insight and practical encouragement Helping you approach every moment with faith, purpose, and joy because each day, no matter how ordinary it seems, brings us closer to the extraordinary reality of eternity with Him.
SPEAKER 03 :
It's a 365-day devotion, and all of it is themed around being prepared to meet the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER 02 :
Don't just get through your days, live them. with the anticipation of what's to come. One Day Nearer, it's our book of the month. It's 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 called The Book of James with a message titled The Folly of Favoritism. Now, before it became one of the books of the New Testament, James was a letter that was sent to those Jews who chose to follow Christ. And as new believers, James wanted them to know the dangers of favoritism. You see, in Christianity, there is a great danger in showing favor to the wealthy. And they're not to be shown any sort of preference because of their money, while the poor are shown less respect simply because they lack wealth. Now, in his message called The Folly of Favoritism, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
SPEAKER 03 :
You're sitting here in the church in the early days, a bunch of Jewish believers who had come out of Judaism and have made Jesus your Lord Messiah. And then also in the church, there were a bunch of slaves, Gentile slaves. That's what made up the church. The Jews had been kicked out of their families and out of their jobs. They didn't have any money. And the slaves, they had nothing. That was church in the early church. Rarely in the early days were nobility coming to faith in Christ. Now James is saying, and it must have happened there in that time, James says, into the church walks a man of noble character. or wealth in his blood, and he comes in. And if the ushers or the people or the entire church corporately together says, ooh, look, you have just begun to sin, you and I both. That guy, he's what? No kidding. Wow. Don't tell me you don't do that. You may never say it out loud, but it's in your head. Jerk, I find that highly offensive. Oh yeah, watch this. Let's say you know that Mr. J just gave a million dollars to Calvary Chapel, which he didn't, whoever Mr. J is, I'm making this up. And we would like to be showing our gratitude and gratefulness on this Sunday. Mr. J, will you stand up please? He's just given a million dollars to the building project. Let's, oh, let's remember to praise the Lord. Now, you might say, well, you know, okay, fine. Just as Mr. J leaves the sanctuary, he's parked by you. I want to see what kind of car he drives. That's in your thoughts. What kind of car does he drive? Look at his shoes, man. Those are nice shoes. That guy, that's the guy. Honey, did you already say that's the guy? That's right there. That's the guy. Gave him a million bucks. It's a little building project. Let's follow behind him with a net and see if anything falls out of loose change or anything like that. You think like this. That's the guy. Oh, you're Mr. J? You're the one that gave... I mean, yeah, come on in. It's in your mind. You know it's true. Mommy, what are you looking at? That's Mr. J right over there. See him? It's twisted. It's us. It's our nature. Oh! Now, there's reports. It's funny, because this just proves the point. There's reports. There are reports that Jim Carrey has been attending Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Really? I think we're going to go. Maybe we'll see him. In fact, let's just cut the service. Let's go see if he's there. I remember when Bob Dylan used to go to Calvary Costa Mesa. Did you know that? He came, but his people didn't, it wasn't communicated clearly. And Bob Dylan, somebody assumed that his people, that in his entourage, that somebody would save him a seat. That didn't go well with Pastor Jack. We've had men known for their political careers come in here. What if Pete Wilson would come in here and there's a sign that says reserved seating right here? And you've parked and you've done your thing. You've checked your trial. Then you've come in here and you sit down and you want that seat. You walk in here and it says reserve seating. And then you see Pete Wilson come in and he sits down. I think that stinks. I think Pete should find his own seat. Why? You know what? He's a minister ordained by God. He's governor because God said so. That's why. You see, only in our minds does it exist. Listen, a man comes in with rings and apparel. The word in fine apparel means in bright colored clothing. This man, don't get me wrong, this man who's well-to-do, he's not flaunting it. He just happens to be from that background of life. Can you blame him? Are you supposed to fault him for this? You don't dare do that. God has blessed this man or this woman. You'll become envious and jealous of them. You're worse. The man comes in. He wants to worship the Lord. The woman comes in in her incredible apparel. She wants to worship the Lord. She doesn't know yet that she should maybe dress down. She comes to Calvary Chapel. People wear tank tops. People wear shorts. People wear suits. People wear dresses. I want to hear about God. I want to have Jesus as my focus. I want to hear what's happening. Why do people care about the Bible? I want to know. And somebody walks in and they sit down in all of their sincerity, though they may have $25 million, and everybody around them is going, ooh, ah, mm-hmm, mm, wow, mm, well, who needs them? And they get from one end of praise and honor to the, oh, who needs those kinds of people? Hey, your heart's wrong. God looks at them, and he looks right past all the robes, he looks right past all the rings, and he sees the heart in there that's just like your heart and my heart's. And we need to be doing the same thing for the cause of Christ. Paul said, I'll make myself to be like any man that I might win some to Christ. That means if Paul was going to go preach a message in Hollywood, you know what he'd do? He would take his robe off and put on finer apparel. Why? To impress them. Here I am, Paul the Apostle. Read my books? Huh? Huh? No. Paul would come in and he would say, okay, let's open the Bible. He would blend in. When we go to various parts of the world on evangelistic outreaches, we always make it a point. You know what? The country that we're going to this time, leave your jewelry at home. Don't wear anything more extravagant than a printed or clean type of button-down shirt. Don't wear anything more attractive than that. Why? So we blend in. Paul says, man, I'll do that. I'll do anything. Why? His motive was Christ. His desire was to preach Christ. His desire was to win people to Christ. But if you have a church standard that keeps people out, then how terrible has that church become? The dangers of shown partiality, the dangers that partiality causes... to the cause of Christ is so often rooted and grounded in appearance. The second thing is that it's the attitude. It says in verse three, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes. Pay attention, the word means to look at them with awe and envy. Listen to this. During the Roman days, and I think it continues to this moment, and you'll know why in a moment here. In Roman days, if you were gonna go to a very awesome public event, or you wanted to meet someone who was in the higher levels, you could take an animal or some collateral, could be a child, and you would take them as collateral to a treasury. And you could take them to the treasury and they would hold your child or your animal till you came back. And they would put rings of gold and silver on your hands. And you would be decked with fine apparel because you're going to go to the ball. And you'll walk in and you've got all this stuff. And everyone's head's supposed to turn. You see people at the mall, they'll do this. They'll go in the store and they come and walk in and say, I'm so depressed. I'm going to go shopping. And they look at this dress on the rack and then, or for us guys, it could be a shirt, whatever. And they go in there and they put it on and then they come out and they go like this. And watch, if they like it, they go, I'll take this one. And they walk out of the store different. Why? They've been changed. There's an outward thing that's been placed upon them. Has it changed the inside at all? Only temporarily. By what? Appearance, which affects the attitude. The appearance changed the attitude. I look nice. So I'm going to act nice. You see? It's human nature. Now in Rome, In Roman time, in the empire, you would put all this stuff on and you would go to a ball or whatever it is, and here's the deal. You would go there to impress people. You would act different because you're dressed different. And people would go, who is that? Who is that? It's like a Cinderella thing. Now listen, guess what? It's from that practice that we have now in this day the term costume jewelry. It's different now because costume jewelry is junk, right? It looks like something. Well, in Rome, if you were nothing, you put on something and you went disguised as something because something was on you even though you were a nothing. Costume jewelry earlier meant that it built you up even though you were a fake. James is saying if somebody comes into the church Don't show them partiality by giving them the best seat. Give them seats just as the poor men because we're all the same on the inside. God has blessed the rich man or the rich woman. God has blessed them. And we're not to despise it. We're not to elevate it. We're to deal with it knowing the Lord has been good to them. Blessed be the name of God. And give God the glory.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
SPEAKER 03 :
Verse 4. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? The word evil thoughts is to have the thought of repulsiveness or disgust. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with disgust? You are disgusted at the poor man who might smell or be dirty or be a street person who's come into church. You're disgusted. But to the rich man, you think different. It says also the word partiality. It's a different word found in verse four than it was found in verse one. And this word is to disgust. withdraw from one, to fold up and to put away and move from the poor man or from the one who might not be the beautiful one. It is to form a clique. It is to form a club. We are the rich or we are even the poor. We are the cool. You see, it's to form this thing, if it's good or bad, esteemed or rejected, it's to form a clique. It's wrong. It's repulsive. It's evil. And we must know that we have accountability that we must give an answer to in the end. A reaction. Somebody might say, well, we're the jock group or we're the goth group or we're the punks or we're the... No, it's wrong. Christians don't do that. You can be a punk and be a Christian. You can be goth and be a Christian. You can be a skater and be a Christian. You can be a surfer and be a Christian. Just don't make your surfing and your surfing paraphernalia the hip thing, that if they don't have the stuff, then they're not of us. Remember, you were a Christian first, friend. And Christians should be out there. We all should be open-armed to the world if they're poor or rich. and how much more so in the body of Christ. Showing partiality destroys and devastates. You can close your Bibles, we're done. I wanna leave you with this story. Partiality hurts people. Remember when you were not chosen to be on the kickball team or the soccer team or the basketball team? Remember if you were the last one or one of the few? Did you ever hear the words, well, I guess we'll take her, or I guess we'll take him? You know, you laugh about it now, but didn't it hurt then? Christians are concerned about that happening again in the lives of people, that it not happen. Ever since I was born, up into the age, I think, of about 22 or something like that, I could not speak well at all. I stuttered severely. I don't think I speak well now. I mostly confuse you guys more than anything. But I used to stutter so bad. I remember when I wanted Bobby Schroeder or Bobby Kelly to come out and play, I would say, That's how I talked. If you ever had a severe stuttering or speech problem, it hurts right here. I'm pointing to it. It hurts right below your heart and right above your stomach. There's a pressure when you're stuttering. It's very painful. It physically hurts. And if you've never had the problem, then you don't even know what I'm talking about. Physically hurts to stutter. And boy, was I popular. Oh, here comes Jack. Hey, Jack, say something. And they would laugh their heads off. I remember getting invited to some parties in junior high. And I thought they invited me because they liked me. They invited me because I was part of the joke. So that they could hear me laugh. I had a teacher in the fourth grade bring me to the front of the class and have me stand on a desk and try to read chapter one of our book. And she laughed. Man, she laughed. Listen to that. Oh, man. Listen, the class is roaring. I went home and I stuck my finger in my mouth and threw up. And I told my mom, Mom, I can't go back to... School, I'm sick. After seriously one week of sticking my finger in my mouth at lunchtime, because we lived across the street from the school, I remember one day when I came home at lunchtime and my dad was never home. He was home that day. And I did it again because I could not go back to that class. And I remember then my dad sitting me on the counter saying, what is wrong? And I remember just dying. I hadn't cried for so long, but it was all pent up inside, and it all came out then. And man, I got to tell you, maybe today that's why I kind of go nuts when I see somebody in a severe underdog position. I can't handle it. I don't care if the guy's nine feet tall and he's beating up a four-footer. I'm going to jump on that nine-footer just because it's wrong. It's wrong of me. But I so relate to somebody who's the underdog. And man, I tell you, it killed me And when I got into high school, you know, you see a nice girl, you want to ask her out. You know how many dates I didn't go on? Can you imagine? You know how peer pressure is so tough? Can you imagine going up to a girl? Hi, would you, you, you, you, you, you, you, forget it. You know what? I'm going to tell you something personally. Looney Tunes, the cartoon, when I was little, I hated Porky Pig. No, I'm not kidding. I hated him because he reminded me of my pain. And I remember getting saved in 1977. And it was somewhere around 1982 when we were in a small group setting at Calvary Costa Mesa of only about 700 people after a Thursday night service. And I remember as I was praying, Lord, if you'll just heal my tongue. I would love to tell people about you. That was in my head. The moment I said that, somebody way in the back said, there's somebody here praying tonight and they're saying, Lord, if you just heal their tongue, they want to give their tongue to the Lord and they want to speak for you. The Lord's going to heal you. You just study the word of God and that's the word to you. Well, I don't know what people thought in that room, but I turned to Lisa and I said, that was mine. That was God speaking to me. I didn't say it that clearly. But I remember one night there was a girl sitting on Lido Island in the bridge, the overpass, and she was sitting right there underneath the streetlight and I stuttered and I felt God say, share with her now. And I went up there scared to death with my Bible in my back, stuck between my belts and my pants and I pulled it out and I walked up to her and I said, excuse me, but you're probably gonna think I'm nuts, but I'd really like to share Jesus Christ with you. She goes, yeah, I'd like to hear. So I shared Jesus Christ. I didn't stutter once. And I went back to my friends and Lisa was there with some others and I said, I didn't even stutter. I just shared the Lord, I didn't even stutter. And I remember Mark going, you're not stuttering now. And I got to tell you, all my life, I was set off to the side. Partiality, I know what it feels like. Maybe some of you who have been on the top team and the top place and the top money and the top whatever, you know what, maybe you need to know what it feels like. If you want to spare yourself from pain, just trust the word of God and know that it hurts. I'm praying that this church looks out after the underdog. And if you see somebody, you don't even know their status in this life. You know what? The fact is you just don't know them. May you make it a mission to get to know them. Then you say hi to those you don't know. Because there's people in here like I used to be who are scared to death to speak because someone's going to laugh. And I thank God for it now. And friend, if that's where you're at this morning, in some way or another, I got news for you. Jesus Christ, he's called the Redeemer. He took the pain of my past and turned it into boldness. And I got to tell you, I love you, but I don't care what you say anymore. You can say whatever you want about me. You understand something? I found one 20 years ago who loves me as I am. And he's nuts about me. And I can go up to people and tell them about Jesus. Then they say, what are you, some kind of a freak? Yes, I'm a freak. I love God. He's crazy about me and he's crazy about you. I don't care what people say because the one who matters said it all. I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn you. That's all I need to hear. How about you? Let's pray. Father, we come to you and we are so glad that you are such a wonderful God who doesn't judge according to the standards of men. We thank you, Lord, that you are the one who fixes, repairs, redeems, polishes up, and sends back out into the world, able to be used by the master himself. Thank you, Lord, for allowing this wonderful truth to be housed in earthen vessels like we do. We pray, Father, that you might minister to one heart here this morning, that they don't have to look for the acceptance of their friends anymore, but Jesus. And Father, I pray that they would choose you in this life. We ask it in Jesus' name and all God's people said, Amen.
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pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called The Folly of Favoritism. Glad you could be here 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.
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So as you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you'd like to know what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life personally, we would love to help you out with that. Go to jackhibbs.com slash know God. That's K-N-O-W God. And there you'll be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you'll find in knowing God. Don't miss out. That's the Know God tab at jackhibbs.com.
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Pastor Jack, let me read you this letter real quick. It comes from Noelle. She says, Hi, Pastor Jack. I'm Noelle, and I go to high school in Minnesota. Now, as you probably know, being a high schooler in the 21st century is rough, and she put rough in capital letters, especially when you're a Christian. She says, I've struggled for a while connecting in my church, just not growing in the Word. I'm very grateful to have found your talks since they've challenged me to live out my faith at school. Wow. Thank you for letting the Lord work through you and for not shying away from controversial topics that need to be brought into the light.
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Wow.
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Noel says, God bless. Wow. Isn't that great? This is coming from a high schooler.
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Listen, I'd like to get that kind of letter from a full-blown adult.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Wow, God bless her. Noel, listen, if you're listening right now, yes, I agree. And... Life is, first of all, tough in this world. And so that's why from an early age and for you at the age that you're at, to say the things that you said in your question and in your comment— already tells me you're light years ahead of the game. Because you identify, you see, wait, this is tough. This is hard. I'm trying to live my life out for Christ. Noel, I'm doing the exact same thing you are. I'm literally doing the exact same thing you are right now. I'm 67 years old and I couldn't agree with you more. We'll do it together with Jesus, right? In the word of God.
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I'm coming with you.
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Yeah. And you're not alone. Every one of God's kids, say exactly what you're saying and feel what you're feeling. But by God's goodness through his word, we get to power through that. He'll take you through. He won't stop. So you can be very confident, Noel, that God's going to finish what he started. And if we don't get to see each other in California or Minnesota, We'll see you in heaven.
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Hey, you know, if you'd like to drop a note of encouragement to Pastor Jack, that'd be awesome. He'd really love to see what you have to say about him and how his ministry's affected your life. So please do that. Go to the Connect tab at jackhibbs.com. That's the tab labeled Connect at jackhibbs.com. Did you know that along with the radio program, Pastor Jack also has a TV show with more of the Pastor Jack Hibbs content that you like. It's called Real Life TV. If you enjoy Pastor Jack on the radio, you're going to love him on TV. So check out your local listings or visit jackhibbs.com and catch the latest episodes. That's jackhibbs.com. 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.
Join us as we delve into a powerful message about maintaining equality and resisting the natural human tendency towards partiality. By examining James' letter to early Christian believers, Pastor Jack sheds light on how partiality can damage the cause of Christ and obscure our spiritual vision. This episode encourages self-reflection while providing practical guidance for living a life centered on true Christian values.
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Today on Real Life Radio.
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As Christians, when you and I go out into the community, are we in such a way, are we holding the faith of Christ with the heart to evangelize the world? Or are we holding our faith as Christians to associate with a certain group? We need to judge our hearts, ourselves. We need to be careful because we'll ruin what God wants to do through us.
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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. Looking for real answers in real time? JackHibbs.com is your go-to destination for resources on faith, world events, and everything in between. Explore Happening Now, where Pastor Jack Hibbs takes a timely, no-nonsense look at today's biggest issues, blending biblical insight with the latest headlines. Now, whether you're curious about the world around you or you want guidance on a personal level, Pastor Jack has you covered. And by the way, don't miss the Real Life Network. It's packed with relatable, family-friendly content that really speaks to everyday challenges and triumphs, offering something really valuable for every member of your family. Now, if you're new to the faith, you want to refresh your perspective, start with that tab that says Know God, an accessible, welcoming space to learn and reflect and find your footing. Now, whatever your path, jackhibbs.com has the tools and the insights and the encouragement that you need. Tune in, log on, find something real. Once again, the website jackhibbs.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called The Book of James with a message titled The Folly of Favoritism. Now, before it became one of the books of the New Testament, James was a letter that was sent to those Jews who chose to follow Christ. And as new believers, James wanted them to know the dangers of favoritism. you see in christianity there is a great danger in showing favor to the wealthy and they're not to be shown any sort of preference because of their money while the poor are shown less respect simply because they lack wealth so today pastor jack teaches us that partiality damages the cause of christ We often rush to judgment based on appearances. When we meet those who appear to be wealthy, we gravitate towards them in hopes of benefiting from their riches. Now, in his message called The Folly of Favoritism, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
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I remember walking into Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in June of 1977. I didn't go there for the right motive, I'll tell you that. I walked in there with the wrong motive. I didn't even know it was a church. They didn't have a cross out there. What's a dove anyway? It's like some, you know, bird farm or what was this thing? I didn't know what it was. I've never known. Walked in there, sat down. Oh man, there's like 3,000 young people. My, this is cool. And I got to tell you, I drove my car up there and I was making a lot of money and I'm thinking, you know, well, this is great. People have Bibles. That's kind of weird. No, well, anyway. And I was doing great monetarily. I was young. I had money. Things were happening. And hey, I had the world by the tail, I thought, until Greg Laurie got done with that message that night, and I found out the world had a bite of my tail is what was going on. And the fact of the matter was, when he got done preaching a message that night on Revelation chapter 20, verse 11, which is about hell, I got saved at the end. I knew I was in trouble. Greg Laurie said, if you're doing this, doing this, doing that, and doing the other, you're not going to make it. And I said, aye, aye, aye. And I got up and I went forward. And I got to tell you, when I first sat down, I'm thinking, this guy playing the piano, why doesn't he get a haircut? And then from my seat, I could tell that he had no shoes on. And in fact... In this one song that he was singing, you put this love in my heart, he drug his toes across the keyboard. He had an Afro out to here. And I thought, this is a sick guy. And then when he got done, this guy comes out and they, welcome Pastor Greg. Pastor Greg? What am I in here? This guy comes out with hirachi sandals on. I don't know if I'm saying that right, hirachi, or however you guys say it, I don't know. But he had sandals on. And he had a hang ten shirt on with the big feet. Remember when I said hang ten? And he had long hair and a big full man shoe. And he went down like this. That was Greg Lurie. And he was a hippie. And I'm thinking, this place is nuts. And Greg Laurie goes, let's give Keith Green a wonderful welcome here. You know, that was the guy, Keith Green. Everyone goes, oh, you know, this is nuts. I got to tell you, if I would have known in advance there would be this Afro bearded maniac playing on the keyboards and a hippie giving a message from the Bible, I wouldn't have gone in there. Because my concept of church was stained glass, steeple, robes, sleeping, boredom. And I was terribly convicted, but guess what? I was there on Thursday night. I was there Saturday night. I was hooked. Because it wasn't the focus of the things, it was the focus of Jesus. He was the issue. He was the glory. In James 2, 1, the Bible tells us here in the original that we are not to hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory. with partiality. Jesus is the glory. It is him. He is the one. He's the bread of life. He's the light of the world. He is the living water. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. He is the glory. Colossians 1, verse 27 tells us that it is Jesus who is the glory. Hebrews 1, verses 1 through 4 tells us that Jesus is the expressed image of God, his glory. The glory is Jesus. You see, partiality undermines and robs God of his glory. Partiality is dangerous. It doesn't only undermine the faith, it steals and robs the glory from Christ. Well, how does that happen? Because if you and I have someone as an idol, on the throne of your heart. Well, I don't have an idol but God. Well, let me clarify it this way. Who do you think about the most? That's your idol. That's the definition of an idol. Whatever occupies your attention. If it's not Jesus, it's an idol. Whoever's on the throne is our God. And when we give someone, because of partiality, attention, worship almost. I mean, it's like they're up there. We've knocked Jesus down. We've put them up, enshrined them, and we pay them the attention. We'll come to this more clearly in a moment, but the fact is it's dangerous. It'll destroy a church if somebody idolizes somebody in the fellowship. If the pastor is being envied by people or idolized by people, that's why it's very, very dangerous for a minister or an evangelist or somebody who's in the public eye. I think it's very, very dangerous for them to be driving vehicles that are outside the realm of the congregation or to be wearing clothes outside of the realm of the congregation. I got to be honest with you. If you come over to my house, and this is not to puff me up at all, You see what I'm wearing? This is dressed up for me. I spent 12 years wearing a tie, and I'm out of that thing. This is dressed up. This is Sunday. But I got to tell you, in several hours from now, I'm going to have my thongs on with my shorts and a tank top. Oh, that's the way I would come here if I could. As Christians, when you and I go out into the community, are we in such a way, are we holding the faith of Christ with the heart to evangelize the world? Or are we holding our faith as Christians to associate with a certain group? We need to judge our hearts, ourselves. We need to be careful because we'll ruin what God wants to do through us. You know, a church can become like this. Church can be stuffy and it can become cold. I'm sure that when the church started, it didn't want to have a goal like that. Well, what's the vision of this church? Well, in about seven, eight, nine, ten years, we'll become the most snooty, uppity bunch of people in the community. That's what we want to do. No, I'm sure it's not that way. It just kind of happens. Little fellowship, hardly any money. It's humble. You watch, boy, as a pastor, you're watching every little penny. You got to just make sure, you know, we can get that cheaper across the street. Let's go over there. You'll watch everything. Then a church grows. More money comes in. You're able to get seats. They're not metal anymore. They got padding on them. Beginning of the world, money's coming in. You don't have concrete floor anymore. You put carpet down. You have air conditioning. You gotta be careful. It's not wrong to have a more comfortable place to worship, but what happens is, does your heart become too comfortable? Do you become sleepy in the hearts? Does the ministry slip into this thing about, well, you know, let's get this, let's get that, let's get the other, and you got a warehouse of junk that you're not even using anymore because of silly decisions? Listen, be careful. You can quickly, as a church, enter into the realm that we've made it, we've somehow arrived. Well, you say, yeah, I knew a church like that, or I go to a church like that, or whatever the case might be. Listen, the danger is it started out, are you listening? It started out with a heart. That's where it started, in a heart. And it undermines the faith of Christ and it robs the glory. It robs the glory. In Matthew 25, verse 31, the Bible says, when the Son of Man comes in his glory, all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on his throne of his glory. It's very important that we realize that. So the dangers of showing partiality in verse 1, number 1, is that it undermines the faith of Christ. Number 2, it robs the glory of Christ. The third thing we see in verse 1 is that partiality hides the truth. from our view. It hides the truth from our view. If you and I are partial, and we are, did you know that? That's what James is telling us. Every one of us are partial. We show favorites toward people. Maybe it's we only listen to them. Maybe somebody can be telling you one thing, and somebody comes up and says exactly the same thing, but you receive it from them and not from the other. That's partiality. They say exactly the same thing. It's not that they say something different. Exactly the same thing. Why did you receive it? Because you hold them in a place. The same flip-flop of that is somebody can say something about someone that you can receive from and then no longer you can because you've received the view of partiality. It messes up the way we think and see. Do you understand? Do you see how that is? Somebody can walk up and now I'm going to think about a name that nobody would have in this place. I would say if somebody came up to you and said, did you know that Hephzibah... Ma'am, I'm sorry. No, I'm kidding. Did you know that Hephzibah was a prostitute before she came to Christ? And then 10 minutes after that, somebody comes back or maybe it's the same person says, I'm sorry, did I say Hephzibah was? Oh, it was, you know, some other name. What are you going to do for the rest of your life when you hear the name Hephzibah or see Hephzibah walk in the church? Oh, nice to meet you. And you're mine. Hi, nice to meet you. It's good to see you. She was the one that was confused and labeled a prostitute. That's in your head. Oh, did you hear that? John is a... And then it's not true. It's in your head now. It's in your heart. It pollutes the way you see. You and I fight this. You and I don't fight it enough. Because you and I will hear something from someone and we will form an opinion before we ever go ask if the person that's being discussed, if it's true or not. It goes all around town, but you need to go to the person and say, you know, so-and-so said this, is that true? Why? Because in your own heart you can form an opinion and it skews the way you think. You'll become partial to either reject them or if it's positive in a twisted way to accept them. He's got money, I like him. It's dangerous, it destroys a church. Partiality skews or hides our true view. It's damaging, it's dangerous.
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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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in acts chapter 10 verse 34 remember peter goes to joppa he remember he's the apostle peter jesus has long been ascended into heaven the holy spirit's living inside of peter it's so amazing acts chapter 10 there peter is in joppa and remember he's hungry he's very hungry remember he goes on top of the roof on that beautiful little sea town he goes on top the roof And he's going to catch a nap because they were probably cooking lunch down in the house. And being on that part of the coast there, they're probably cooking fish tacos. I'm sure they were cooking fish tacos. And Peter's there waiting. He's waiting. He falls asleep. He's hungry. He falls asleep. That's a good way to pass the time when you're hungry is sleep it off until they wake you up and say, it's dinner. That's a little thing that I do. So he's there sleeping and in his sleep, the Lord descends in front of him a big sheet and Peter looks inside the sheet and he sees all unclean things that God has created. Well, Peter was a Jewish boy. Peter is hungry and he's Jewish. No problem. But then he looks in the sheet and there goes a lobster walking by. There goes a pig, goes right by in his dream. There goes a snail, goes right by. There goes whatever's unclean, goes right by. And Peter's looking at and he's thinking, boy, am I hungry. What? I'm a good Jewish boy, so I can't eat pork chops today. And the Lord says, Peter, stand up, kill and eat. I like how the Lord speaks to men. Stand, kill, eat. Stand, kill, eat. Peter goes, no, Lord. Lord says, stand, kill, eat. Peter goes, no, Lord. The third time, in a vision, the Lord says, Peter, stop it. Get up, kill it, and eat it. Don't call anything that I've made unclean. Kill and eat. And then Peter in Acts chapter 10 is saying, you know what? I perceive that God wants to save Gentiles too. Could it be? Peter was thinking with partiality. The Jews thought in those days that Jews were the ones to go to heaven and Gentiles were made to be presto logs for hell. That's what was taught by the chief rabbis. It's true. The chief rabbis believed and they taught that Gentiles were going to be presto logs for hell's flames. We just stoked the flames of hell. That's who we were. And Peter goes, God is saying that he even wants Gentiles to be saved. I've perceived this. It was like a major revelation to Peter. Isn't that amazing? You see how he even had partiality in his heart? And you and I struggle with it every day. We'll see how much in a moment. The second point is this. Partiality damages the cause of Christ. Partiality damages the cause of Christ, verses two through four. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and you say to him, you sit here in a good place. And you say to the poor man, you stand there or you sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Verse three says, Partiality damages the cause of Christ, first of all, jot it down, by appearance. Appearance. The appearance, it affects the way we see things. The appearance. Look what it says. For if there should come into your assembly, the word assembly, actually in Greek, is the word synagogue. That's Greek, synagogue. It's the synagogue. The early church met in synagogues. Synagogues had worship with the Jewish community on Saturdays. And according to church history, the early church used the synagogue on Sunday mornings because that's when they could rent it from the local rabbi. So they would use the synagogue. And James uses the word synagogue here. And so they come together, he says. And in your gathering comes one... Listen, the Greek word... In comes one who is golden fingered. In those days, when someone was very wealthy or of nobility, they wore rings on their fingers, brother. I mean everywhere. They had rings. They could move their hands like this, but the rings were... separated at the joint so the knuckles can move. Their hands were covered in jewelry. Listen, this will make sense to you in a moment. You ever seen a movie where they have even jewelry from the wrist up to the elbow? And then from the elbow up to the shoulder, like the Pharaohs and really big guys you've seen in movies, you know, Charlton Heston, all that kind of stuff. Have you seen all that? That was a show of power and of wealth and of education. Now listen, you're sitting here in the church in the early days, a bunch of Jewish believers who had come out of Judaism and have made Jesus your Lord Messiah. And then also in the church, there were a bunch of slaves, Gentile slaves. That's what made up the church. The Jews had been kicked out of their families and out of their jobs. They didn't have any money. And the slaves, they had nothing. That was church in the early church. Rarely. in the early days were nobility coming to faith in Christ. Now James is saying, and it must have happened there in that time, James says, into the church walks a man of noble or wealth in his blood, and he comes in. And if the ushers or the people or the entire church corporately together says, ooh, look, You have just begun to sin, you and I both. That guy, he's what? No kidding. Wow. Don't tell me you don't do that. You may never say it out loud, but it's in your head. Jerk, I find that highly offensive. Oh, yeah, watch this. Let's say you know that Mr. J just gave a million dollars to Calvary Chapel, which he didn't, whoever Mr. J is. I'm making this up. And we would like to be showing our gratitude and gratefulness on this Sunday. Mr. J, will you stand up, please? He's just given a million dollars to the building project. Let's remember to praise the Lord. Now, you might say, well, okay, fine. Just as Mr. J leaves the sanctuary, he's parked by you. I want to see what kind of car he drives. That's in your thoughts. What kind of car does he drive? Look at his shoes, man. Those are nice shoes. That guy, that's the guy. Honey, did you hear what he said? That's the guy right there. That's the guy. Gave him a million bucks. He's on a building project. Let's follow behind him with a net and see if anything falls out of a loose change or anything like that. You think like this. That's the guy. Oh, you're Mr. J? You're the one that gave, I mean, yeah, come on in. It's in your mind. You know it's true. Mommy, what are you looking at? That's Mr. J right over there. See him? It's twisted. It's us. It's our nature. Now, there's reports. It's funny because this just proves the point. There's reports. There are reports that Jim Carrey has been attending Calvert Chapel Costa Mesa. Really? I think we're going to go. Maybe we'll see him. In fact, let's just cut the service. Let's go see if he's there. I remember when Bob Dylan used to go to Calvary Costa Mesa. Did you know that? He came, but his people didn't. It wasn't communicated clearly. And Bob Dylan, somebody assumed that his people, that in his entourage, that somebody would save him a seat. That didn't go well with Pastor Jack. We've had men known for their political careers come in here. What if Pete Wilson would come in here and there's a sign that says, reserve seating, right here. And you've parked and you've done your thing, you've checked your trial, then you've come in here and you sit down and you want that seat. You walk in here and it says, reserve seating. And then you see Pete Wilson come in and he sits down. I think that stinks. I think Pete should find his own seat. Why? You know what? He's a minister ordained by God. He's governor because God said so, that's why.
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pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called The Folly of Favoritism. Glad you could be here 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. Hey, Pastor Jack, there's a pretty cool book that you've actually read. Yeah. I've peeked at it. It's One Day Nearer by Steve Miller.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. You like it? Listen, I love it. I'm encouraging everybody to get their hands on this. That's why it's being featured with us right now, Davey. One Day Nearer. It's a daily devotion. Here's what's cool about it. Anticipating the Lord's return. It's 365 days of... Scripture verses that walk you through how the believer should be living with the expectation. You know, throughout the theology of the Scriptures, the believer is to be waiting constantly. The Bible makes it clear. Jesus even makes a strong argument how in the parable of the ten virgins, they were to endure waiting for His imminent return. They didn't know when He was coming, but they were to be prepared for His coming. And this is actually a great book because it keeps you every day in the mindset that today could be the day, or this year could be the year. And somebody might say, well, nobody knows the day or the hour. Of course that's true. Nobody knows the day or the hour. The point is this, friend. Every day that you get up, you are one day nearer to the return of the Lord. And this is a great book. Steve Miller is a friend. He is a great author, and he has put out a great book. Please get your hands on it, everybody. You will not be disappointed, I promise. Make sure you make it part of your 365-day experience with One Day Near with author Steve Miller.
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One Day Nearer by Steve Miller. Available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That's jackhibbs.com slash real radio. 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.
In this enlightening episode of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack Hibbs discusses the essence of true religion as outlined in the Book of James. With compelling insights and practical examples, he challenges listeners to move beyond mere rhetoric and embrace faith in action. The episode addresses common struggles in identifying God's will and highlights the importance of service within the community, urging believers to step out in faith even when the path isn't clear.
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Today on Real Life Radio.
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Every person born into this world has a spirit and a soul lodged, anchored inside this body, this biological machine. Every one of us. Your heart can't think and be deceived and sing a song and love and hate. Your heart can't do that. When the Bible mentions your heart, it's talking about the real you inside.
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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. We all know that life is full of noise. The TV is on with news you often can't trust, dishes are clanging in the kitchen, and blaring sounds of rush hour traffic whiz by. It's enough to make your head spin, really, but it doesn't always have to be that way. We have special programming that can really soften the day's hectic pace. It's our real-life network. It's designed to give you relevant, life-changing programming for the whole family that you really can trust. Titles like Ignite Your Life by Barry McGuire, Washington Watch by Tony Perkins, Happening Now with Pastor Jack, and Star Spangled Adventures for the Little Patriots. You can relax and enjoy entertainment for the whole family. The Real Life Network, it's available on your favorite device anytime, anywhere. So don't miss a moment that really can enrich your life with shows that inspire instead of wear you down. Sign up today for free at reallifenetwork.com. That's reallifenetwork.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues now with his series called The Book of James, with a message titled Sharing the Word of Truth. Now, before it became one of the books of the New Testament, James was a letter that was sent to those Jews who chose to follow Jesus Christ. And as new believers, James was warning them that performing religious duties are only ways to appease our conscience. You see, false religions demand our time, our money, and are a works-centered form of worship. But Jesus demands nothing. He only invites us to love him. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that Jesus is our example of what pure and undefiled religion looks like. As our model, Jesus honored the Father on earth by doing the Father's will, and he calls us to do the same. Now, with his message called Sharing the Word of Truth, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hughes.
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Salesman comes out there, he brings out the contract, you sign that thing, you give him a check, he walks back to his office, the people, there's an announcement, someone just bought the race car on the showroom floor, he's gonna be pulling out any moment. People are there, it's away, hold in! And you get behind, you're sitting there, you're strapped in, you take the key, you got the key and you put it in the ignition, you turn it over and there's nothing there. Well, I must have forgot to hook the batteries up, it's a safety thing. You get out of the car, you open the hood, there's nothing under the hood. It's a big empty hole. And you look back at the salesman and he said, that's why it was 20 grand. You gotta buy the engine over here in the corner of the lot. That's $8,000 for the motor. You got a great looking car, but you got no power, no engine, no source of strength. You're stuck, friend. You tow that car home. You call your friends. Hey, I got an awesome 1998, 99, whatever it is, Mustang convertible race car. They all come over. You know what you're going to have to do? You're going to have to tow them around the block from behind your pickup truck. You think they're going to want to come back and drive in your car? No. Oh, you look great. Oh, man, you look great going to church. Look, this Bible's got a pinstripe on it. He knows how to sing. Look at him. His tears are coming down his cheek. His arms are lifted up. Why can't I worship God that way? Don't look at somebody else and how they worship the Lord. Because James is suggesting the person that's like this can be one whose religion is in vain. There's no power under the hood. It's empty. The word useless is this Greek word empty. The word means to have been created for greatness, like that Mustang, but in reality has an emptiness in it, which renders it vain or useless. Some of your Bibles interpret or translate, I should say, the word vain, doesn't it? His religion is vain. Why? Because the word vain or useless means it's only good for display, right? to look at. Well, who wants a car like that? And God says, who wants a Christian like that? You know, just sit. Jack, I love the Lord, but I don't know what to do. I understand, and that's where you guys are at. That's where I'm at. Lord, what do you want me to do? There's so much to do. And here's what you and I struggle with, don't we? Lord, there's so much to do, I don't know where to begin. And if we're not careful to step out and follow the Lord, guess what we do? Lord, I'm 20 years old. I don't know what to do. And so we pray. Lord, I know the church is asking for children's ministers and parking lot guys and ushers and this and that. I just don't know what to do. So now we're 25 years of age and we're still asking the same question. Lord, I don't know what to do. Now we're 35. Now we're 40. Now we're 45. Lord, what do you want me to do? That's a good question. Listen carefully, people. Sometimes God doesn't show us what he wants us to do until we get up and move. God told Moses to take the people across the Red Sea, didn't he? I love that. I love that there in Exodus. Moses gets them right to the sea. They're all there. Some two and a half million people. What a PA system he must have had. He gets right there and he goes up on top of this high ground. Ladies and gentlemen, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And there's silence. And God says, Moses, excuse me. I didn't say stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. I said, get thee up and go across. Now, hurry. Moses, stand still and see the salvation. God says, shut up and go. Where are you going? They're closing in on you. Moses puts his foot in the water and the sea opens up. But he had to put his foot in the water. Many of us were, Lord, what do you want me to do? Sometimes he sits silent. Have you ever asked him? Sometimes he doesn't answer. And you're looking at the bulletin that says, ushers needed, ushers needed in my church, where I go, my fellowship, my friends, ushers needed. Anyway, Lord, what do you want me to do? Sign up. Watch this. This is so sweet. Sign up. You know what? In about a month or two, you may find out, I don't like the usher. Then the Lord's not in it. Try the children's ministry. What about three months after that? You don't think that's your place either. It's just not working out. It might take you three or four tries to find out that God wanted you in the tape duplicating room to send the messages out around the world. I like this. You're going to love it. Oh, I love it. And you know, it's yours. You love it. Took you a couple of tries, but you found your spot. You're so happy you did. I think God looks down on that kind of Christian and goes, that's cool. Watch him. In fact, Gabriel, Michael, get a load of this. He's going to bump into three ministries before he finds the one that I want him to do. And I'm just going to be testing his heart to see if he perseveres. Then there's those who God loves. has a great, great design and creative plan for, but they never step out to find out what God wants them to do. Because they didn't know what to do, they didn't do anything. And Jesus comes back and he says, what did you do? Oh, didn't do anything. I didn't know what to do. Kind of stood around, you know, watched the clouds go by and didn't do nothing. And you're saying, Jack, does that mean we have to do something? Well, we don't have to do something to do something's sake. We are to be truly religious. We are to truly worship, and that is meeting the needs of one another. And he's going to show us how that's done right now. Verse 27, second point to the message is that our worship needs to be performed publicly in this regard. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this. One thing I want you to see, it's pure. It's not tainted. Undefiled, it has not been molested. It doesn't have false motives, false doctrine. It's pure, it's simple. It's got Jesus first. And he says, this is the kind of religion that's acceptable. You see the word before God, the pure and undefiled religion that stands in the presence of God. This is what God has approved. God says, this is what I want. How many of us love the Lord? We love the Lord. How many of us would do exactly what he said? We would do exactly what he says. Guess what he's saying right now? This is it. You ever wonder what God's will is? Here it is. It's this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep yourself safe Unspotted in this world. Let's read it backwards. Unspotted in this world, stop hanging out with your friends who pull you down. You know that you shouldn't go out and be drinking or be doing this or, you know, your wife or your husband wants you home, but you're out with them and it's a bad thing and you feel God saying you need to be home or you need to stop doing this. James says, just stop that stuff. Tell God now you want to stop it. I don't want to be tainted by this world. That doesn't mean you're some kind of a snooty goofball like, you sinners. I'm not going to talk to you. Oh, no, no, no, no. You get right out in the middle with them. You get right in there with them. And they go, oh, Jesus Christ, this or that. And you say, hey, Jesus, I heard you. What did you say? Were you praying? You're laughing. I did that one time. And then after I got up, I told them, no, I'm kidding. No, I was with a bunch of people. It was at work. And we had to go to this happy hour thing because there was going to be a company presentation. I didn't want to be there. I wanted to go home. I had a long commute home from Newport to Chino Hill. I don't want to be there. And for some reason, because cursing was not allowed on company grounds. Couldn't do it. And I don't know if they still hold to that rule. I would venture to say that they do. And anyway, for some reason, they thought at the happy hour place, they could let their happy self be. And Jesus Christ. And I said, hey, what was that? What was what? What? What? Everyone's looking like, what, we missed something? What? You just mentioned Jesus. Are you praying? Because man, I haven't heard that name used so much. I don't even hear that much in church. Oh, shut up. Just shut up, man. Holy moly. It's fun. But the thing is, if you're going to be in the world, and who of us do not get out into the world? We've got to go into the world. Do you and I infect the world for God, or do they infect us for sin? Let's make a difference.
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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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So let's make sure, as Romans chapter 12, verses one and two state, Paul says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, you can see Paul like this, to present yourself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto the Lord, which is your reasonable service or thing to do. And then he turns in verse two and says, but be not conformed unto the image of this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you might be able, to know or to discern the perfect will of God. So we decide that, now watch. He says to visit orphans and widows in their trouble. Well, when I came across this for study, I'm thinking orphans, orphans? This is written to other people. I don't know, there's no orphanage around here. And then the Lord said, excuse me, how about two miles down from the church called Hillview Acres? You know where Hillview Acres is at? There's a lot of kids in there. Some of them come here. They come. People go to pick them up. They bring them. Hillview Acres is the place that you take Christmas gifts to every Christmas. They'll light up and freak out. There's kids in there with no moms and dads. There's kids in there who moms and dads have been killed or have abandoned them or they're so doped up and drunked up on stuff so high, they forgot they had kids and the kids have got to be taken away. Some of their kids are in, some of those children, their parents are in prison. Now, wait a minute. If I'm going to do God's will, if I'm going to obey the Bible, if I'm going to be a doer of the word and not a hearer only, then you know what? Now watch, I'm going to go visit some orphans. That's the spirit. Or, well, if I'm going to be a doer and not a hearer only, Then I guess I better go visit some orphans. Oh, keep your wretched religion to yourself. God doesn't want that. Oh, here comes the offering again. I guess I better fill out the check. Keep your rotten money. It's gotta come from your heart. God says I want a cheerful giver. No grumpy givers. What do they do with all the money they probably get in this church? Well, we run the air conditioning for one thing. There's lights on right now. I can't believe this is going on. I'll keep it. Visit orphans? Yeah, that person, that young boy or that young girl might be super blessed, but not as much as you're going to be blessed. You can never out-bless God. And I thought about this Interestingly enough, and we'll be ending this very shortly, the word orphan and the word widow in our culture, in our society, has a totally different meaning than what it does in the word. The New Testament Greek definition of widow and orphan is a child, as I said, who has been abandoned, whose parents do not take care of them. They're parentless in actuality or in conduct. They don't have parents. They're like a latchkey type child over and over again. And then the word widow is someone who has lost their spouse from death, of course, but also from abandonment or divorce, and they're in trouble. Changes it a little bit, doesn't it? Makes it a little bit more close to home, huh? Listen, every week on my desk, benevolent requests come in. There's one on my desk, there's two on my desk right now. From mostly women who have been abandoned by men, 90% of them are that way. And it says, you know, something like, Pastor Jack, I'm writing this with tears, I'm so embarrassed. In fact, I hope that when you read this, you'll just forget my name. But I was in the church a year ago, never been more happy And three months ago, my husband ran off with his secretary. I haven't seen him, heard from him. He's left the company. They're gone. I don't even know if they're in the country. I have no food. I have three children under the age of eight. I don't know what to do. I'm scared. The church is my only family. And they're about ready on Monday to turn off our water and our lights. And I don't want the kids to be in the dark. A man who is religious and thinking of himself, the man in verse 26 says, well, maybe she deserves it. Who knows what she's done in this life? Maybe this is God getting back at her. But the man in verse 27 says, you know what? This is what we can do. The Bible says that we, you and I together, are to take care of the household of faith first. You may or may not know it, but a portion of your tithe that you put into this church, a percentage of it goes into what's called a benevolent fund to fulfill James 1.27 and 1 and 2 Timothy. And that may bother you if you're just a religious man. I don't want my money going like that. Then keep it. But for some of us, it's like, you know what? Praise the Lord. It's so important. Hey, you and I, you know what? We have a ministry called Gentle Grace, and they go out and they visit people. They just visit people in the name of the Lord. It's awesome. Wonderful ministry. Then there's a ministry called the CIA. We tap all of your phone lines and listen to everything you talk about. No. Christianity in action. In fact, Kelly, who heads that up, she said, you know what, Jack, we need people who are gifted right now with swinging a hammer and doing light appliance repair because we've got some women in the church, their toasters aren't working properly. or they need this hinge put on their door. They don't know how to put it on. See, you might be sitting there going, well, what's my part? I'm really quiet, I don't have much money, but I really know how to use a screwdriver, and I really know how to use a hammer. Hey, the CIA needs you. You can sign your name, Johnny Johnson. My phone number's this, and this is what I like to do. I like to hang doors that fall off of hinges because of teenagers who live with just mom or just dad or whatever the case might be. You never know. The needs in this body are huge, huge. And then finally this, we're all done. We'll head off to the beach any moment here right now. I thought orphans, widows, orphans. And the Lord goes, yeah. And it cut my heart to the quick. Friday, last week was such a crazy week and this week will probably just be just as crazy. But Friday I got home from a meeting and was kind of late. I had missed dinner, got home and my oldest daughter, Rebecca goes, with no, there was nothing mean about it. She was incredibly sincere and loving about it. She said, hi dad, I've been seeing you in three days. How you doing? And the Lord says, you got a couple of orphans living right underneath your nose, pal. You need to be home more. What shall it profit you if the whole church goes to heaven and you miss your kids? I said, okay, Lord, take it easy. Okay, okay, uncle, uncle, uncle, uncle. Okay. Gone before the sun comes up, gone before they wake up, home after they go to bed. Many of us are in that condition, in that situation. Some of us have to be. But listen, if that's your case, I'm not putting a guilt trip on you. I want to give you some help. You know what? You and I need to pull over and grab a telephone and call Junior during the daytime hours and say, hey, partner, how you doing? What'd you call, Daddy? I want to talk to you, buddy. Well, what's up? Hey, I'm going to be in Pasadena on this business thing and I'm going to get you something. Where do you want me to put it? Because you know what? I'm going to be getting up early tomorrow morning because I got this stuff going on, pal, but I'm thinking of you and I'm missing you big time. And I want to just let you know how much I love you, buddy, until we're able to be together. Where do you want me to put your surprise? And you know what a little kid will say? Put it right by my pillow, daddy, when I wake up. I want to see it. That's what it'll do. When I come home from a trip, I always get something. If it's a femble or a spoon, because they collect those things, or beanie babies.
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Did you get me a beanie baby? They don't say, hey, how was the trip? They say, did you get me a beanie baby? But you know, that's cool. That's okay.
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Let's be careful to do our religion at home. Let's be careful to be true worshipers of God in spirit and in truth. James is a tremendous book. It sure is cutting to the heart. Let's be hearers that do. Father, we come before you and we thank you for your word and for the lamp that it is to our path. And Lord, we pray that you would use it to cause us to stand up and be so incredibly blessed that we are your children. And also, Lord, that you've given us a great sphere of influence that's We have the opportunity to touch people for you, but Lord, what about those little ones that are around us? And Lord, what about the widows in the church? They don't know where food's gonna come from next week. And they're so grateful that the church has got a warehouse for food for them to go and freely get the things needed. Lord, I pray that you'd shake us all up to see things as they are. And Lord, that we would really be doers and that we would not become complacent. And Lord, that we'd be a church completely head over heel, wild, crazy, nuts over loving one another. Father, I pray that you'd make us the most loving congregation there is. And I don't mean that, Lord, as though they're not. I know they are. I know that we are, Lord. But I pray that you'd magnify our love and our care one for another. Lord, maybe people might even come and tolerate the duration of the services just because the value of the love that's here to be a part of it. We thank you, Lord, and we pray that you'd bless this afternoon in a wonderful way. In Jesus' name, amen.
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pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Sharing the Word of Truth. Thanks for being 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 and not just hearers only. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
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So as you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you'd like to know what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life personally, we would love to help you out with that. Go to jackhibbs.com slash know God. That's K-N-O-W God. And there you'll be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you'll find in knowing God. Don't miss out. That's the know God tab at jackhibbs.com.
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What if today was the day that Jesus returned? Well, that's the life-changing perspective explored in One Day Nearer by Steve Miller. And it's this month's featured resource from Pastor Jack. Now, this inspiring book helps you focus on the hope that Jesus is returning. And this book offers practical encouragement to live each day with faith, purpose, and joy. One Day Nearer by Steve Miller, available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That's jackhibbs.com slash real radio. 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.
