Join Pastor Jack Hibbs on this special New Year’s episode as he delves into ‘The Great Put On,’ a message that calls listeners to live victoriously through faith. Discover how immersing yourself in the Bible and understanding the ‘shield of faith’ can prepare you for the challenges of the year ahead. Pastor Jack stresses the importance of personal testimonies in sharing the Gospel, encouraging believers to be ready to give a defense for their hope in Christ.
The shield of faith is something that you build by your immersion in the Bible. You guys, the Bible tells us in Romans 10, 17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. You want to be ready? Know the Word of God.
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.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hey everybody, something that you should know, that in our church and in our media community, in the social media community, we have for decades, as a church, started every year off with the reading of the one-year Bible all the way through. So I’m encouraging you to join us and do the same. If you are not one of the tens of thousands of people that are actually on the same page with me, with my wife, Lisa, with the church and beyond, the entire Real Life audience and beyond, get a copy of the one-year Bible and get started with us on January 1st. You can get a copy for yourself at jackhibbs.com, but by all means, please do this. And listen, get one for your friends or maybe a son or a daughter or a mom or a dad. The One Year Bible, through the Bible and one year together, join us.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s the One Year Bible, and 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 special edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack brings to us his New Year’s series with a message called The Great Put On. As we enter 2025, let’s continue to live with hope and expectancy in our hearts by living a victorious life, equipped and ready for whatever comes our way. You see, as we move forward with expectancy, God wants us to live a victorious Christian life by being equipped. God’s plan is to enable us, armored up and ready for spiritual battle. So today, Pastor Jack encourages us to tell people this year what God has done in your life. With God in our hearts, we’re to always be ready to give a defense for the reason of the hope that is within us. Now, with his special New Year’s message called The Great Put On Part Two, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
SPEAKER 02 :
Church family, listen, you enter into that breastplate of righteousness. You go into it. Listen, I went into this jacket. You went into your clothing this morning. Did you not put on your clothing? You went into it. The breastplate of righteousness is a righteousness that’s provided by God, not you. This is what’s great about Christianity. You don’t make your own breastplate of righteousness. That’s called legalism and that’s called works and it’s unacceptable to God. God provides the righteousness for you to step into and put on because as you learned on New Year’s Eve, that’s Jesus Christ. Jesus gave us the righteousness by going to the cross and being resurrected from the dead. So here we go, we pick it up. Number six is that we put on what is ready. What’s ready? Verse 15, it says there, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Having shod your feet, so what’s implied is that there are, you may have boots on and you may have protection on, whatever you do have on, this goes over that. And it gives you not only protection, but it allows you, because you’re protected, it allows your feet to carry the entirety of who you are into this new year. And I love the fact that you’re to have your feet protected shod or wrapped with the gospel of peace. Number one, the gospel of peace, the word means you now have peace with God. So this is an aha moment right now for all of us. It means that whoever the Christian soldier is, and I pray that it’s all of you here right now, that the Christian soldier now has peace with God. You understand that? Ladies and gentlemen, keep this in mind, to have peace with God means you’re no longer at war with God. You’re not contending. You’re no more friction with God. You may call yourself a Christian today, but you’re always battling with God. Think of a kid in a family, but they’re always arguing. They’re always fighting. You need to put that down. And God has promised you his peace. Secondly, how can you give out peace if you have no peace? You cannot give away what you don’t have. And the beautiful thing is the gospel brings peace. But you’ve got to be able to be a true believer yourself. Now, watch out. This is going to sting a little bit. It stings me. It stings you. It stings us all. But the truth of the matter is this. The soldier, the Christian in complete armor, according to verse 15, is someone who shares the gospel. Now you listen to this. This is important. And I say this in love. If God has transformed your life, then God has transformed your life. That means you’ve got something to say. You say, well, Pastor Jack, I’m not a preacher. I didn’t ask you to be a preacher. Well, I’m not this, I’m not that. I’m not asking you to be this or that. But have you experienced Jesus Christ in your life for real? Now watch, listen everyone. And again, I don’t say this to upset anybody. If you do get upset, then it’s probably the Holy Spirit saying, fix that now. And that’s a good thing. But if God has touched your life, you could be like Helen Keller and communicate the power of God. And she did. If God has touched your life, you say, I’m not vocal. Then write something. Pray, get out there. Listen, I promise you, starting today, if you say, can you guys hear me? If you guys say today, I’m gonna ask God, I’m terrified, oh, I’m terrified, but I’m gonna ask God to open up doors for me to share the gospel of peace with someone. If you pray that prayer, God will open the door and he’s so good because he’ll make it just right for you and You’ll share and your mind will be blown and the person that you talk to will be blessed and challenged and you will be experiencing the readiness of being able to present the gospel. Because let’s be honest, how many of you, how many of us have ever eaten or gone or done something that’s so cool or fun and you don’t tell anybody about it? See, I’ll submit to you a high probability that those who have really been touched by God are the ones who know they have to say something about what God has done. If that’s not happening in you, this is the Sunday for you to change that. He wants to transform you and you want to be ready. You go outside the door of your house and and you’re ready. God will stir your heart. But if you have that peace of God in your life, you’ve got something to communicate. And you can invite that young man or that woman or whoever it might be. You might be able to say to them, listen, you need to have the peace of God in your life. And you say, well, how do I do that? And I was expecting you to ask that. I’m By the way, I have to add this. If a church is not an evangelistic church, if a church does not prepare its people in discipleship, and part of discipleship is teaching them how to share their faith, then it is not a New Testament church. Isn’t that the Great Commission? Go, therefore, into all the world and proclaim this gospel. If we don’t do that as a church and disciple people on how to do that, then we are not a New Testament church. We’re just a church. We’re 501c3. We’re taking up land. I don’t want to be that kind of a church. Want to be a New Testament church. More now, more than ever, right? So check this out. I want to read you a few things, and one of them I’ll tell you. It’s very personal, but not this part. The first part is Luke 8. Luke 8, 38. Watch this. Scripture tells us in Luke 38, this is the northeastern part of the Galilee. Many of you have been there with us. Now, the man from whom the demons had departed begged Jesus that he might be with him or that he might follow Jesus. Sounds like a great request. But Jesus sent him away saying, return to your house. That’s what God is saying to some of us today. Return to your house and tell what great things God has done for you. And that man, he went away saying, and proclaim throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. You know what we’re talking about? We’re talking about a personal testimony. How did you meet Jesus? How did you meet him? Let someone tell you. And by the way, the more you exercise that, the more fluid it becomes, the more it becomes part of your witness. It’s awesome. Okay, here’s the part that’s real personal. When I read this in the Bible as a young believer, I freaked out. And I got to tell you, I freaked out with joy and I freaked out with hope. And I have to be honest with you, I never thought anything would ever happen, but I had hope. It’s in Mark chapter seven, verse 31. And you ought to read Mark seven in its entirety. It’s incredible. But I love the fact how Jesus just blows excuses away. No excuse works in the presence of God.
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 :
So Mark 7 31 says, and again, departing, that is Jesus departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon. Jesus came through the midst of the region of Decapolis or Decapolis means 10 cities. to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. Okay, the word deaf in Greek means his ears are plugged. It means that there’s, it actually means to, the word means to have fat. plugged into your ears. Now, he didn’t have fat in his ears, but it means that he could not hear, just like if your ears were plugged up. If anything, he could hear muffled sound, if anything. And you see the word impediment? Impediment means that his tongue was tied. His tongue was bound. It wouldn’t work. It means that whatever sounds he made, people could not understand him. You ever met someone like that? You ever seen that? Somebody . And you go, oh, obviously that person knows exactly what they’re trying to say, but it’s not hitting my ears right because it’s not coming out right. And they get frustrated, right? A lot of children get frustrated when they don’t have the words yet to articulate what it is that they wanna communicate. Imagine that, this man’s an adult. And the Bible says there, and they begged him, his friends. His friends begged Jesus to put his hand on him. That’s great faith. His friends had great faith. Jesus, touch our friend. We love this guy. But he can’t hear us and we can’t understand a word he’s saying. But we love this guy. In verse 33, for any of you who stutters, have a speech impediment, so embarrassing. I stuttered all my life, it’s so embarrassing. I was the brunt of the jokes. Back in those days, bullying was cool. How many of you grew up in that age? Remember that? My teacher had me stand on my desk in front of the class to read a book because I stuttered and everybody laughed. Grew up with it. In fact, you know what? It just dawns on me. The book that Lisa and I wrote, there’s a part, there’s a story in there that I talk about because I stuttered so bad. I put it in the book and the publisher, David C. Cook Publishing said, are you sure you want to put that in there? And I said, it really happened. And they said, well, it’s a little graphic. I said, but it happened. And I got to tell you, here’s why it’s in there. It’s in there because I’m glad now. Friends, listen, young people, listen up. Did something happen to you in life? And that’s the big excuse. I can’t do this because this happened to me. Hey, let me tell you something. When Jesus Christ gets a hold of your life, all that stuff that stinks, he actually transforms it into power. Because what happened then, I’m so glad. I’m so glad because what happened then, if it happens again, it’s not gonna harm me at all. If that were to happen again, I survived. I more than survived. I was victimized by it until I met Jesus. And so, verse 33, and Jesus took him aside. I appreciate that. Those of you who have a speech impediment, you appreciate that. From the multitudes, and watch, Jesus put his fingers in his ears and he spit and touched the man’s tongue. This is really weird. Then looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed. The word is that he heaved his chest. Jesus heaved his chest and shoulders and said to him, or yes, said to him, Epaphratha, which is the language where the man lives. So everything it turns out that Jesus is doing, This is weird, right? He puts his fingers in the man’s ears. He spits and grabs the guy’s tongue. What is going on? It just so happens that where that man was from and the language Jesus spoke to him in, that’s what doctors would do if they were going to do their doctor magic. Isn’t that interesting? But it even gets better. Watch this. Verse 34, looking up into heaven, Jesus sighed and he said to him, epaphratha, that is, be opened. And immediately his ears were opened and the impediment of his tongue was loosed. I love that. The binding, the chain that was around his tongue was untied and loosed and he spoke plainly. The word means he spoke in a way that he could articulate. Then Jesus commanded them, that they should tell no one, but the more he commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. Don’t tell anybody. Okay, Jesus. Hey, everybody! And they were astonished beyond measure saying, and here comes the punch. He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. And I got to tell you, in 1983, it was a Saturday night. I was standing on a bridge at Lido Island in Newport Beach. And right in that moment, God touched my tongue and healed me in my stuttering. And… I haven’t shut up since. That’s what happened. That’s what happened. And I got to tell you, I didn’t feel like my tongue didn’t tingle. It wasn’t like, oh, oh my gosh. No, our little team, including Lisa, they were out sharing the gospel, but I couldn’t do it because I couldn’t speak. So I would pray. I would always pray. But I saw this young woman sitting underneath the light stand on one of the bridges at Lido Island. And I walked over there and it was all, listen, you got to step out. I just felt compelled strongly. Tell that person. I didn’t hear a voice. It was just as though God grabbed my shirt and pulled me. It was like that powerful. Do that. And it was like, if I don’t, I’m disobedient. That’s what I knew. If I don’t do this, I’m disobedient. And so I walked up and I said, excuse me, would you mind if I shared with you about Jesus Christ? And she said, no, not at all. And I shared the gospel. We prayed together. I ran and I caught up with Lisa and the group. And I said, I just shared the gospel with that lady over there. And I didn’t even stutter. And Lisa goes, you’re not stuttering now. And that’s how it happened. Just like that. So God has his purposes. So I want to encourage you about that. We can be bold in him. He’s powerful. We’re not powerful. Number seven, put on what is victorious. Put on what is victorious. Verse 16 says, above all, taking the shield of faith this year, church, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. This is awesome. Look at that shield. Beautiful, spectacular. This is great because here it is. The shield of faith is something that you build by your immersion in the Bible. You guys, the Bible tells us in Romans 10, 17, that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You want to be ready? Know the word of God. You want to do the right thing? Know the word of God. Know the word of God. You want to be firm? You want to put on Christ? Know the word of God. Absolutely essential. How are we going to be victorious? Faith. I’m going to say to you today something that sounds bombastic. I guarantee you it’s not. The greatest thing that you possess is not the new gifts you got for Christmas. It’s not your car. It’s not your airplane or your house or your boat or your stocks or your gold. It’s none of that junk. Let me tell you something. The greatest thing that you possess is your faith. I mean it. Listen, think of the terror of losing faith. To start, listen, to be falling victim to Satan’s lies is, that you no longer have faith in God’s word, that some whispering, some new idea, some person said God told them this new thing, and your faith begins to dwindle. I’ve got friends that went to seminary, Christian seminaries, and wound up having their faith wrecked because of liberal, progressive, non-believing professors in Christian universities. Unbelievable. Be very careful about this. God has promised you and I the victory, and that victory is much in part regarding the shield of faith. And as I said in Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Every time you read a Bible verse, hear a sermon, your faith is growing. Imagine your shield getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And then the day of battle, you want a big shield. Yeah. The Bible says in Romans 8, verse 37, yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. How are you going to know that? Read it and then believe it and exercise your faith. And he says, though, about these things above all, very, very important, top shelf priority. Why? Because he says, look at the firmness, look at the stability, look at the readiness of all this, look at the power to this church. He says, regarding your faith, you’ll be able to shield or quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. That means Satan is shooting at you. By the way, the word arrow or darts, it’s bellows in Greek. And it means this, fiery darts is pyro bellows. Think of an arrow dipped in the tar or the pitch, set ablaze and launched. Do you know what you would do? When that thing was launched at you, you’d see it coming. And so this is what the soldiers did, the Greeks and the Romans. They got down like this and then they put up their shield And they took the hit. They could do it. When they were advancing against an enemy, do you know what they would do? When the enemy launched the weapons against them, then you would put yours up and your warrior brother would grab his shield and get behind you. And he would get down like this. And the word in Greek is where we get the word turtle. They would turtle. The launch would come, the fiery darts are being catapulted at you and the command was shouted, turtle! And they would go into the turtle position and they’re completely covered by these great shields of faith, right? Shields, but we’re talking faith here. They took the hit and they would jettison the shields and fire back while the opponent is getting ready. By your faith taking the hit, you are actually disarming your assailant because now they’re taking time to reload, that’s when you get them. So you’d launch back at them, we’ll see in a moment, the word of God, and you would clear out your shield and get it ready for the next bout. Faith, more Bible, more Bible, more Bible, greater faith.
SPEAKER 01 :
pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio with his special New Year’s message called The Great Put-On Part 2. Thanks for listening and Happy New Year from Pastor Jack and all of us here at Real Life Radio. Our prayer for you is that your 2025 will be full of contentment and joy that can only come from knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. It’s been a great joy sharing our Real Life Radio program with you. And thank you for welcoming us into your home this past year and into your life. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
SPEAKER 02 :
Everybody, I want to thank you for being with us throughout this year. And can I just please take this opportunity to pray? Father, I’m asking you to not only heal our land and to… do a tremendous work in each and every one of our hearts, but Father, that you’d send revival to the church and an awakening to our nation. But Father, for all of those who have joined us on these Bible studies this year, that this remarkable time would be a settling in of their faith. And as they look forward to a new year, Lord, may they make sure that they walk the first step in for the new year to come would be with you, that they would determine that they’re going to walk now with God close like never before. So, Father, we desire to know you more as we look ahead to the future, and we thank you for the year gone by. In Jesus’ name, amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
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.
