Today, on Real Life Radio.
Listen to this, it’s the only thing God ever lays on us in this amazing challenge. Try me now in this, says the Lord of Host. If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will be not room enough to receive it.
What is he saying? You cannot out bless me, God is saying.
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.
There are a lot of voices out there shouting this and that, spreading lies, personal agendas, and deceitful half-truths. But when we fill our minds and hearts with the Word of God and have a quiet time with the Lord, those voices are silenced. You see, the Lord speaks with a still small voice, but His words are powerful and true.
So if you haven’t started a devotional time or just need some direction, we’d like to help. Pastor Jack has weekly devotions on his website that includes a Bible verse and a conversation with him that relates to that verse. Simply go to jackhibbs.com and click on the Devotions tab.
There are also previous devotions that you can enjoy every day of the week. You can even email us if you’ve been blessed and want to share your experience. Again, it’s on our website at jackhibbs.com, that’s jackhibbs.com.
On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called First Corinthians with a message titled, Behind The Scenes Ministry. First Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul to the Church of God in Corinth, and he shares with us how he’s not ashamed to express his love and care for others in a practical way. You see, in these verses of Chapter 16, Paul ends First Corinthians and is unapologetic about his emotions and burdens.
Paul’s Christianity was a deeply personal thing. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that as we follow Paul’s example, ministry produces faithfulness, and humility keeps us usable and open to the leading of God. Now, with his message called Behind The Scenes Ministry, here’s Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
If we need you, if God needs you to keep his ministry afloat, send in money, take a $100 bill and tear off the edge and mail us the big portion, and you keep that little portion and you plant it in faith, it’s gonna break forth into millions. But make sure you send us the bigger portion of the $100 bill.
What are they saying?
We ain’t got no faith.
We’re counting on you to pull this thing off because God ain’t in it.
Come on, that’s what it’s all about.
If they had faith, they would say, tear off that $100 bill, you keep the big part and send us the little part and our great faith will grow that up into millions.
They don’t do that.
Was that pretty good? Was that okay? All right, all right, just checking.
In Acts chapter 8 verse 1, here’s the proof text and many other verses as well. But this consequential trouble that came upon them, it says that at that time great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem. They overstayed their welcome in Jerusalem.
Verse 2, he says, storing up as he may prosper. This is amazing. Circle the word.
It’s important. I don’t want to belabor it. We’ll deal with it in some other book of the Bible.
Simply this. In the Old Testament, tithing was required. In fact, when you put all of the giving of the Old Testament upon the believer, it was about 30 to 33% of your income you were supposed to give to God.
Listen, in the New Testament, that’s not the case. In fact, Pastor Lin said a moment ago, tithes and offerings. That’s not exactly accurate, though we do that out of tradition.
It makes sense to people rather than have to explain it every Sunday. In the New Testament, we don’t do tithes. We don’t do a tithe.
You know what tithe means? Tenth. We don’t do a tenth percent.
New Testament giving is everything.
That’s the difference.
See, what are you talking about everything? Everything. Pastor, you ought to talk on tithing.
No.
Biblically, I should talk on everything. It all belongs to him. Did you know that God as a Christian, we as Christians in our relationship to God, whatever he gives us, it belongs to him, and we’re supposed to be stewards over it.
It’s all his. Do you have a checkbook?
Do you have a savings account? Do you have whatever you have? Do you have a card?
Do you have clothes?
It’s all his.
It’s his. It’s to be used to his glory because we’re Christians. And that is godly.
That is holy. That should be a beautiful representation. It shouldn’t be panic.
It shouldn’t be pressure. Well, if you don’t give, we’ll have to see if you’re going to be a member of this church or not. That’s wrong, man.
Everything belongs to God. And let me tell you right now, shocker-roony, God’s not broke. He says, store up as God has prospered you.
Meaning, watch, as a believer, I’m to live a disciplined life. I’m to live within my means. What God, watch, what God blesses me with, I’m to pay my bills, okay?
I’m to make sure that my family’s fed. This is our first ministry. That our family is fed, the roof over their head, okay, that our kids are not walking around naked, all right?
That is our first ministry. Take care of our home, okay? Then the next thing is this.
I’m to take some of that money that God has given me and put it this week in reserve. Now, back in those days, they were paid daily. And then we switched to weekly, and then twice a month.
Some people get paid now once a month. Daily, you take and you store, because it belongs to God. God has given me what I need.
Watch this. Did God provide, for example, isn’t it great, the air conditioning today?
Hallelujah!
Yes, God provided the air conditioning. We praise the Lord for that. But listen, outside of that, what’s next?
Did God provide for my family and food? Yes. Now, outside of that, what’s next, Lord?
What’s next, Lord? Paul says, store up, be ready. Have it ready, like bullets and a gun.
You got it ready. You’re ready. When we get away from that, listen, we run in debt.
When we get away from that, we’re broke. When we get away from that, we take money that God has ordained for us to use for the kingdom, and we buy stupid stuff. And we get into trouble.
And then we lose that amount of income for whatever reason, maybe a famine, maybe persecution, and we can’t pay the bills. Why? Because we have gotten into things that God didn’t want us to get into.
Well, everybody’s got one.
That’s not an answer to God. Matthew chapter 10, verse 8 says, Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons, freely every seed, freely give. Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs, for a worker is worthy of his food.
What does that mean? Jesus was sending out his missionary team, and he’s just basically saying, trust God, but be wise. Church, listen, mark it down.
Christian homes, make this your mantra when it comes to money. Money, X out the word, and just use the word tools. Tools, God has given me 500 tools.
Always look at it as tools, because it’s God’s business. And Paul is saying, we need to help the church. We need to take up a collection and get some of those practical tools over to the church in Jerusalem, which is hurting.
That’s very important. When we are to give, it is to be proportionate to what God has given us. We cannot specify a 10th, a 15th, 5% percentage.
We cannot say 80%. What’s his name? Colgate.
You know Colgate? The Colgate company? The guy that founded Colgate, he made a vow to God.
He was completely broke. He had some good ideas. And he says, God, if you prosper this, I’ll give you 90% of what I make.
And he did. He said, how does a guy live? God blessed him.
Hello. Pretty big. I’d like, you and I’d like to live off the 10%.
Billions of dollars. What a way to start out. As believers, we need to be thinking about that.
The more the Lord blesses you, is he blessing you? Then listen, the more proportionate you’re supposed to give to his work. Well, what percentage?
That’s between you and God. By the way, 2 Corinthians tells us that when we give, we should be hilarious about it. Did you know that?
The Bible says that we are not to be, well, grumpy givers. Oh man, here comes that plate. Here you go.
Man, I can’t believe it.
Ouch. And you drop in your two dollars, and it’s like, oh man, that’s going to kill me.
You know what?
Stop the plate. Back up.
Take your two bucks. In fact, take a dollar out for your pathetic state. God doesn’t need your money.
He doesn’t need your money, man. You understand that when we give, it keeps our hearts right. Well, you know, I’m not giving.
Listen, God will speak to somebody else to give. You are ripping yourself off. And listen, it’s funny how many people want to talk about not giving.
I can’t give. I can’t. Listen, people who put it down, number one, don’t understand anything about worship.
The second thing is they love money more than God. People make a big issue about giving to God. You can tell in a second, my man, they’re married to that money.
The Christian should be liberating with the tools. Big difference. Malachi chapter three, verse eight.
Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me, but you say, in what way have I robbed you? In tithes and offerings.
You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring all the ties into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And listen to this, it’s the only thing God ever lays on us in this amazing challenge.
Try me now in this, says the Lord of Hosts. If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing, that there will be not room enough to receive it. What is he saying?
You cannot out bless me, God is saying. And God says, if you were not helping the advancement of the kingdom, he says, you’re robbing me. Look at verses three to five.
Yield it to the Lord this way, in the labor with his people, to labor or in the labor of his people with his people. And when I come, whomever you approve by your letters, look how practical this is, I will send to bear your gift to Jerusalem. Send some guys with your offering and we’ll make sure that it gets to Jerusalem.
But if it is fitting that I go also, they will go with me. Verse five, now I will come to you when I pass through Macedonia, for I am passing through Macedonia. This is so practical.
So Jack, what’s the great thing about this verse? I don’t know, except just pure practicality. You know what he’s saying?
I am not gonna put myself in the place of carrying the money. Isn’t that wise? I don’t know if you know this about this church.
I can’t spend money. The pastors here cannot spend money. From the beginning, and I’m so grateful that Pastor Chuck Smith instructed us wisely from the beginning, I can’t sit down and write a check.
I have never been able to sit down and write a check. It takes multiple check signers. It takes multiple eyes to approve that.
No one has access to cash unless there’s a thief in the hen house. There’s codes. There’s all this stuff.
Why? To ensure the safety and the integrity of it. We have in this church, and we have had for over 10 years, an outside firm that audits annually the books of this church.
Why? Because we don’t think maybe someday the IRS will call our books into question. We expect them to do it every year.
And we’re ready. Why? How do we know?
An outside firm in Los Angeles does the books. And by the way, you should see the contract. They’re responsible for goof ups.
There’s a lot of accountability, a lot of, you hear what I’m saying? There’s a lot on the line. Paul is saying, I’m not gonna carry the money.
Isn’t that wise? It’s awesome. Listen, churches, there should never, I cringed recently when a man told me regarding his church.
He was a board member, actually, and he is the sole signer of the church’s check-in account. I said, are you crazy? You gotta get away from that man.
You gotta get, you gotta change that. Listen, danger, you may have, you may be, maybe you’re in the church right now, and that’s your, that’s your thing. You’re the, you’re the person that handles the funds.
You better watch out. There should be a group of people with wise eyes. And Paul, what a great witness and testimony, and bottom line, look, it’s laboring with God’s people together.
Not isolated, not some lone ranger. Verses six through eight teaches us this. Yielded to the Lord, open to his leading, being open to the leading of the Lord.
You guys, this is really gonna let the, I think the air out of the balloon in some ways of how we see Paul or even ministry itself. Look at verse eight, or verse six. And it may be, I have, it may be underlined in my Bible, and it may be that I will remain or even spend the winter with you, that you may send me on my journey wherever I go.
For I do not wish to see you now on the way, but I hope to stay a while with you, if the Lord permits. Verse 8, I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. Do you know what this is?
Is being open to the leading of God. Man, I tell you, is this not just pure practical stuff? Don’t you want Paul the Apostle to say, all right, here’s the deal.
I’m going to be arriving on donkey 295 at 345 in the afternoon on March 16th. This is the Apostle Paul. He must have an entourage.
He must have people, he must have handlers. He must have everything on his, right? Look right here, verses 6 to 8.
Not sure where I’m going to be. Not sure when I’m going to arrive. Not sure how it’s going to come down.
I hope to see you. And let me tell you, this is great liberty and freedom, because I gotta tell you, and I have to make sure that I rebuke myself in this. I need people around me to tell me, Robin, you know, I need people around me to say, Jack, you’re supposed to be over there at 3 o’clock.
Okay, thanks. Okay, I live in a tornado. And I need people to point me in the right direction when I’m supposed to be there at a certain time.
Okay? That’s good. Planning is not bad, but when planning supersedes the will of God, now we are slaves to our agenda and it may simply only be our agenda and not God’s.
When the apostle Paul says, I hope to be there, what a tremendous liberating statement that is. He’s being led by the Lord. Jesus says the Holy Spirit, when he moves, he’s like the wind.
You can’t tell where he’s coming from or where he’s going, but you see the effect.
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.
The Holy Spirit had control of Paul’s life, and the Holy Spirit wants to have control of your life. It doesn’t mean that you’re uncertain and double-minded and confusing and messed up. It means that you, when God speaks, He speaks into your plan, and God holds the sole right to usurp authority over your plan.
It’s okay to have a plan, but God says, you know what, we’re changing the plan. We don’t like to hear this as humans, do we? I want to know thus and so.
And Paul goes, I don’t know. Wow. You guys have heard this before, I think.
If not, write it down, it’s brilliant. Pastor Chuck Smith said years ago, this is his, this is, he says, this is Chuck 1-1. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken.
We can become so entrenched that we’re no longer open to the Holy Spirit anymore. God help us if we become like that as a church. Well, this is the way we’ve always done it.
It’s got to be done this way. Watch out. Well, it’s this way.
It’s on the calendar. It’s this. Watch out.
I’m not saying be irresponsible, but I’m saying be open to the Lord. Point number two this morning, verses nine to fourteen. Behind the Scenes Ministry talks about growing with every opportunity.
Growing with every opportunity. Look at verses nine to eleven. Ministry produces faithfulness.
Listen, some of you please mark this down or at least record it in your heart. Faithfulness. Ministry produces faithfulness.
Every one of you who are Christians today are supposed to be involved in some ministry. Every one of us. If you’re not, you’re a spectator to Christianity.
You’re supposed to get involved in something. You’re supposed to pray, which means you’re going to talk to God, and then you have to listen, and then he’s going to give you some marching orders, and you’re to act. This is true Christianity.
Are you with me, everybody? You are to pray, ask God where you’re to be used. Listen to his response, get up, and then go.
All of that is of faith. And ministry is a pretty awesome thing, because it takes the Bible and puts it into practice in your life. It goes from theory to practical use.
And ministry produces faithfulness. That’s what we learn in verses nine to 11. He says, for a great and effective door has opened to me.
And there are many adversaries. Please mark verse nine down. Church, listen.
In Acts 14, the Bible says, verse 21, And they had preached the gospel to that city, and made many disciples. People had come to Christ with Paul’s missionary team. And they returned from Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, saying, we must through many tribulations or difficulties inherit the kingdom of God.
Why do we bring in this verse? Because listen, Christians are to get involved. When you get involved, it demands and produces faithfulness.
Whenever, hello, you are faithful, you will have adversaries. Let me ask you something. Are you willing to be hated for Jesus’ name today?
You need to count the cost of that. If you are going to follow Jesus, in fact, you know what people say, listen, even in the Christian community, there is a cop out statement. Watch this.
You have heard this. If you want to hide, you want to be religious and not effective, but you are even in the ministry, but you don’t want to get too effective because you could make enemies. People will say, well, we are a church that’s all about what we are for.
We are all about what God is for. Doesn’t it sound good? That sounds good.
We are all about what God is for. And they will say, we don’t want people, we don’t want the community to know what we are against. We don’t want to be negative.
Are you hearing me? That sounds very good. But let me ask you something.
If you are going to follow Jesus, is Jesus, listen, regarding the defense of children, babies, to spare their life or not, is God for that? Is He for life or is He against life? He’s for life.
If you stand for life, then guess what? You’re against death. But we’re a church that we want people to know what we’re for.
The moment you stand, do you understand something? The moment you take a stand for something, there’s an opposing view to your stand. So when somebody says, well, we want to be a church of what we’re known for.
Well, then ask the church, what are you against? Nothing. Do you hear me?
This is a big deal because people who don’t do anything will say to those who are doing something, well, you know what? They’re just against stuff. Okay.
I, for example, there are churches who say that Jack guy, he’s against so much. And so I say, what am I against? I want you to name it.
What am I against? And you, and it’s great because the things that I’m for, God is for. But the moment you’re for marriage or you’re for babies or you’re, you hear what I’m saying?
The moment you take a stand, you’re going to get hit. So let me ask you something. It is my prayer.
If I were sending you out in first Corinthians 16, I would say, be Biblical about your stand and stop worrying about the trendy moving opinions of people. Make sure that what you stand for is 100% Biblically based, and it’s something Jesus would stand for. And then listen, go, go for it.
Because people are going to come against you, even in so-called Christianity, they’re going to hate you. This is a critical thing. And Paul says, a great door has opened up for me, but man is there adversity and adversaries.
That’s how you know you’re on the right path.
Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, with his message called Behind The Scenes Ministry. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called First Corinthians.
It’s a series on the Corinthian Church and the Apostle Paul’s bold call for purity. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack, tell me why you think that the rapture is so fascinating to pretty much every Christian on the planet.
Well, first of all, it’s fascinating because Jesus is the first one to bring it up. A lot of people don’t realize that.
No, I didn’t know.
Jesus brought it up, first of all, on John chapter 14 of the Gospel of John. In John 14, verses 1 to 3, Jesus says, Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me. For in my Father’s house, that’s heaven above.
In my Father’s house are many mansions, dwelling places. And if it were not so, I would have told you. I go now to prepare a place for you.
Where? The Father’s house. And he says, and I will come and receive you to myself, that where I am, the Father’s house.
There you may be also. And of course, Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4 elaborates on the details of that beautifully. And again, Paul does it in 1 Corinthians 15 about us being changed in a twinkling of an eye.
That there will be a generation of believers that will not see death. Their life on earth will be interrupted by the life coming from heaven. And will not see death.
Do you hope you’re in that time?
Oh, come on. Are you kidding?
Stupid question.
I’m disappointed we’re doing this radio program right now. I thought we would be gone by this morning. But I’m gonna live.
I’m gonna live. Listen, I know that sounds crazy, but I would submit to you that this is the best Christianity and the most biblical Christianity to live is like Paul lived. Paul lived believing Christ could return at any moment.
And we know this from first and second Thessalonians. He says so. But at the same time, Paul preached and prepared the next generation of believers all the way to us today.
The fun thing is, if Jesus said, I’m coming back, if the Book of Revelation ends by saying, watch, I’m Jesus, I’m returning soon, be watchful. Well, that was said 2,000 years ago. So then how much closer are we?
What you need to know about The Rapture by Charles Ryrie, it’s available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com/realradio, jackhibbs.com/realradio.
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.
