Join us on Real Life Radio as Pastor Jack Hibbs delves into ‘The Tongue and What It Can Do,’ a message that encourages believers to mature in faith by being mindful of their actions and words. Exploring vivid illustrations and personal stories, Pastor Jack highlights the impact of grace on our daily lives and the vital need to let go of past grievances. This episode promises rich lessons for anyone looking to grow in their Christian walk.
Are you content with your level of Christianity? I’m not. I want to grow. And as we grow, confessing our sin along the way, taking the Word of God and having it in our hearts, following Christ, we will grow. We will mature. We will be what this word says, perfect. It doesn’t mean sinless. Don’t confuse that. The word means mature.
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 does it take to be a great leader? Whether you’re managing a business or running a household or navigating relationships, leadership is about so much more than titles and tasks. In The Way of the Shepherd by Dr. Kevin Lehman, you’ll discover some timeless principles of biblical leadership that really apply to every area of your life. Through some compelling storytelling, Dr. Lehman shares seven powerful secrets that’ll help you lead like the Good Shepherd does. Those secrets include understanding the people you lead, assessing their strengths, building trust, ensuring safety, providing direction, implementing correction, leading with compassion, Personally recommended by Pastor Jack Hibbs. The Way of the Shepherd is available today for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash real radio. Get your copy of The Way of the Shepherd by Dr. Kevin Lehman at 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 Tongue and What It Can Do. Now, before it became one of the books of the New Testament, James was a letter written to the Jews who chose to follow Jesus Christ. And as new believers, James had a lot to say to them about the tongue. You see, James has been stressing practical Christian living, about how true faith is followed by good works, and how we can stumble in many things, and that would include speaking before thinking. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that we really need to be careful as to what we say to someone. A mature Christian is always on guard, realizing that we have a weakness, we all do, to keep our mouth under control. Now, with his message called The Tongue and What It Can Do, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
SPEAKER 04 :
I’ve got to tell you real quick. I don’t want to spend much time on it at all, but I’ve got to tell you. Every time I get up and I speak to you, it is never, never without me first in private reminding God what He’s done. And I really let Him know. And that is this. I never asked God to make me a pastor. When this home fellowship started… We were encouraged because we had moved out from Calvary Costa Mesa. And we were driving so much of a distance for church. And Pastor Chuck and Pastor Romaine, both, in about a month’s time, says, you ought to just start a home fellowship. And I just, no way, we’re going to do that. I love teaching five-year-olds. I did the five-year-olds at Calvary Costa Mesa. That’s it. So if I have the ability to relate to you, I loved the five-year-olds. And we put that off. We put that off. We put that off. And then Mark and Mary and a few of us got together. We started having a Bible study. And there was some point in time when I remember Ron and Lauren Freston and a few others, they came. And they made it known to us that they wanted a Calvary Chapel to be formed. And I quickly said to them, you don’t even know what you’re talking about. And kind of my whole motive was to quench them out completely. Because that was not my plan. My plan was to retire from Baxter Healthcare, and I was on my way doing that. I had been there 12 years, and I had the stock program going, it was doing great, and I knew exactly the direction I was going. And this was not in the plan. And then I thought, well, here comes the big layoffs. They’re going to lay off 2,000 people at this facility that I was working at. The Bible study we had, in fact, I read my diary about three months ago. I found the page of my diary where I wrote this in there. We had 340 people in the church at that time. And the Lord spoke to my heart. He said, I want you to quit. And I said, yes, sir, I’ll quit pastoring this church right away. That’s not what I’m talking about. In fact, it was a Wednesday morning, and I was to get together with a brother for prayer, and something happened. I don’t know if he didn’t show, or it was late, or whatever happened. But the Lord spoke to me so clear that morning. And all along, Lisa was going, you need to quit your job. God’s in this. You need to quit. You got all the schooling. You got all the blessings checked. Put his hand on you. He’s ordained you. You got to do this. No, I’m not going to do this. It’s not my thing. It’s not my thing. And I love working around nonbelievers. I love it. I love working around non-believers. We’re such an enigma to them. I just love to bug people with the fact that I’m a Christian. And I loved my job. It was the most exciting job. And the Lord spoke, quit. And it was so clear. And I got up and I woke Lisa up and I said, God just told me to quit my job. Well, for months she’d been saying, quit, quit, quit. I said to her, I quit. And she said, oh, what? Oh, no. Oh, what are we going to do? It was great. It was great. But the thing was, I knew. God called me. He gave me a passage. He spoke so clear. I knew that this is what I was to do out of obedience. It’s not exactly what I wanted. And I had gone to Danny Bond. I had gone to Pastor Chuck. I’d gone to Richard Cimino and a few others. And I said, I don’t want this thing. And I tried to do everything to have Richard Cimino, who’s up at Grass Valley, take this church. And he said, no, I can’t do it. You’re called to be doing this thing. But I’m grateful of being called that way. You want to know why? Because when all of the parts come flying in every direction and the bombs go off and the path is difficult and impossible, you know what? I can stand still in the power of the Lord knowing I didn’t choose this path. I didn’t pick it. I didn’t ask for it. I didn’t sign up. He said, do this. So every time I come up here, before I come out, I say, Lord, remember, you told me to do this. This is just a sheer act of obedience to your will. So they’re your problem, God. They’re your people. And I want you to remember that. And that’s a wonderful thing. I’m free. I’m free to do whatever he wants. I don’t have to worry. And I had a man, when we moved out here to Chino Hills, I had a man sit in my living room. We were interviewing this pastor. We had gone and visited the church and he came to visit us. And I said, how was it that you came into the ministry? He says, well, my dad was a minister. My brother is a minister. And I saw that it was a pretty good living and that particular denomination. And so I went to college and became a pastor. And I thought to myself, God help you. He didn’t know his call. He did it because it looked like a good career decision. Ay, ay, ay. By the way, the last thing I heard, that man was not any longer in ministry. And I can understand why. You got to know. The second point in our study this morning is found in really verses 2 to 4, and that is the mature Christian needs to always be on guard. We need to always be on guard if we’re going to be mature. And he says, for we all stumble in many things. If I were you, I would circle that and write next to your margin, that’s encouraging. You can just put, that’s encouraging. Because James is saying, we all blow it. Do you blow it? We all blow it. He says, if anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect or mature or complete man, able also to bridle the whole body. The first thing I want you to see right now in verse 2 is that we need to be recognizing our weaknesses. James says, for we all stumble in many things. This is kind of a funny word. The word stumble means to trip up over something. Something’s placed in your path. You’re in route. driving down the right road or you’re walking down the right path and something trips you and do you have any idea what James is hinting around about what do you think trips you up this tongue the word paints this picture that we’re walking along and at any given moment on any day of the week we open our mouth this gate that’s ivory and We open up our mouth, out comes our tongue, we say something, and it just keeps fumbling and flowing out, and we trip over it. It gets tangled in our feet. Wouldn’t that be a great cartoon? Somebody walking along, and out comes the tongue. And then you see the feet going over, and the guy’s got this tongue all over himself, all crashed and burned in the corner there. What happened to me? Oh, he opened your mouth. And James is saying, we all stumble. This is a difficulty for all of us. We all, including James, stumble in many things. Have you realized how much grace it takes to get you and I through the day just one day? Think about that. Isn’t that an amazing thing to think about? How much grace it takes to get you and I through one day? Because, you know, I don’t mean to say this to offend anybody because we’re all in the same boat. We’re all capable. We’re all capable of committing murder. We’re all capable of deep hatred. We’re all capable of aggression and brawling or sexual sin, although that’s being redefined tomorrow, I guess. There is no sexual sin anymore. I mean, right? By the way, maybe you heard the broadcast the other day on Duffy and Company. But a certain president called the family that we’ve just lost, the officer who was killed in that gunfire, and the wife being left behind. She received a phone call from the president of encouragement. And her and her husband were wonderful Christians. And she came right back and said, you must repent of your adultery and of your fornication and of your sexual sin. She told him, and of course, somehow that got out to Duffy and Company. It was broadcast across the United States. She told him like it was. Praise the Lord for her. She said, listen, I’m praying for you, but you’ve got to change your ways. Praise the Lord. We all stumble in many things. Don’t you dare ever, please, with every bit of compassion I can generate, I’m going to give you my compassion look. With every bit of compassion and passion that I can muster up, I want to tell you something. Keep in mind of the fact that none of us, including me up front first, is somehow exempt from committing the most gross sins. Did you know that? Every one of us could commit the grossest of sins. I remember years ago, Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes was interviewing a war criminals and survivors of the great holocaust and when they had Eichmann came in for his trial and there were Jews there that had been terribly disfigured and tortured by Eichmann’s orders when the old Jewish man that was being interviewed was sitting there and Eichmann came into the room the old man began to weep and he fainted and when they Interviewed him, they said, why did you faint? Was it because just the sight of Eichmann caused you to have all of the flashbacks of all the terrible, horrible crimes that you saw and the blood and mayhem? And the man said, no. He said, what freaked me out and I passed out about is this was a man that we saw so many years ago, almost like a demon god with power to kill the world. And he says, the man walked into the room and I realized he was just a man like me. And that Jewish man fainted over that fact. He said, in me, the brilliant statement, that little Jewish man said, in me dwells an Eichmann. And every one of us have that propensity. The grace of God keeps us together. Did you know that? It’s an amazing thing. We need to be warned and we need to be on guard of the fact that we can pull our tongue out and cut a friend in half or someone in half by what we say. So we don’t want to stumble. We don’t want that at all. And we need to fight against it. And there’s only one way to do that. And that is to be in the word of God on a very regular basis and be serious about what you’re hearing concerning the word of God.
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 04 :
The mature Christian needs to be on guard, recognizing his weaknesses. The second thing we see right here under this second point is that we need to be careful about reaching the requirements, reaching out to them. He says, if anyone does not stumble in word, he is a complete or mature man able also to bridle the whole body. So we are growing. We must grow. We can’t stay where we’re at. Christian, every one of us this morning cannot take the position, I’m just going to be this kind of a Christian until Jesus comes back. I beg with you, if that’s the way you think, don’t think like that anymore. Write down, even now, go look it up later if you’d like, Ephesians 3.20. If you’re kind of melancholy in your walk or lukewarm, write this verse down. That verse tells us in Ephesians 3.20 that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Do you know what our problem is? We don’t always ask or think. Are you content with your level of Christianity? I’m not. I wanna grow. And as we grow, confessing our sin along the way, taking the word of God and having it in our hearts, following Christ, leaning on his grace and mercy, We will grow. We will mature. We will be what this word says, perfect. It doesn’t mean sinless. Don’t confuse that. The word means mature. We will never be sinless until Jesus takes our lives from this earth. We need to be reaching. In Philippians 3.13, Paul says, Brethren, Christians, I do not count myself to have apprehended why or for what I have been apprehended for, but one thing I do. In other words, he’s saying Jesus has caught me, and I surrendered my life to him, but I have not yet experienced all that God has for my life just yet. But this one thing I do. I forget those things that are behind. Did you hear that? I forget those things that are behind me. So forget it. Well, yeah, but you know what she said to me? Forget it. Well, you know what he did? Forget it. Forget those things that are behind. I tell you what, go ahead and remind yourself of them. And in 30 days, let’s see if you’re not on Melanta. forget it well you don’t know the kind of pain they caused listen the only way you’re gonna get better is if you take it to Christ and forget it well my analyst told me that I should go back to the place where it happened and kind of just go through the motions and dwell on it and kind of get victory over it there ain’t one person that can tell you a success story from doing it until their insurance runs out God’s got a better way. You and I, I want to encourage you with this. This is intended to be an encouraging thing I’m about to say. If I read my Bible correctly, only God has the ability to forget. I don’t think humans have the ability to forget. Did you know that? I made that up myself, but I’m assuming you know that. I don’t think we have the ability to forget. Well, I’m forgetting stuff all the time. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the wrongs that have been done to you in your life. God has the ability. This is wild. When we sin and when we confess, he forgives. And in his forgiveness built in, he says, I will remember your sin no more. That means he forgets. He forgets. I don’t forget anything. I’m always reminding God of my sin. Lord, I’m so sorry that back in 48 I did this thing. And God’s going, huh? What? What? I don’t recollect that. Just leave it alone. Quit reminding him, will you? He says, forget it. He says, but I press toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. Isn’t that great? Something bugging you? Ask God to give you the power to forget. Give it to him. Real quickly, he says here in verse 3, he gives in verses 3 and 4 a great, great couple of illustrations that are very powerful and kind of funny, if you ask me. But he says right here in verse 3, he says, Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths. that they may obey us and we turn their whole body. That’s wild. You take a little person, you know, you take 200 pound person, put them on a 15 or 1800 pound horse. I mean, look at the, look, you’re greatly outnumbered in size, outweighed out. Sometimes I think they’re smarter than us. Those horses are so smart. And you notice when they’re, if you’re wondering what a horse is thinking, watch their ears. It’s like they’re, as soon as I get on a horse, which is like about once every 20 years, I don’t like it. I think they’re beautiful. I think they’re wonderful. But I get on there, and this is the reason why I don’t like it. Because that horse knows I’m scared. And his ears, he just goes. He looks right at me with his ears. And I’m going, what? And his ears are like this, and he’s saying, I know he’s saying it. You are afraid of me. And I’m going to take full advantage of this. And I’ve done this thing where then the guy goes, you know, just put your, put the heels in there, kick them. And I went, please don’t move. And the guy goes, come on, hey, get up there. And I kick that thing and away that horse goes. And you find out a wonderful thing. If the horse is afraid of you or not, when that guy goes, pull back on the reins before you go off that cliff. You pull back and that massive beast comes to a stop. And he’s fighting and kicking that bit He’s, it hurts. And you got power. It’s like, all right. You pull to the left and that thing turns around. Hey, this is kind of cool here. You’ve got this massive thing doing what you want it to do. You can execute your will on that horse with a little tool. God wants our tongue connected to our heart to be under His reign, His rule, that when He speaks, when He desires, the heart responds and the tongue does. And by the way, when my tongue does what He wants me to do, I always find myself in a good spot. When I let my tongue do what it wants to do, when it’s connected to a rebellious heart, I wind up getting in all kinds of trouble. And so do you. The final illustration he gives is this illustration about the ship. He says in verse four, look also at ships. Although they are so large and are driven by a fierce wind, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the helmsman or the pilot desires the ship to go. Isn’t that fantastic? This gigantic ship and it’s got this little toothpick in the back. And yet the pilots, the governor, The helmsman up in the cabin or whatever those things are and the big great super tanker, he says, turn 30 degrees. And that massive behemoth ship begins to turn with a little rudder. James is saying, listen, we can control horses. We can control the biggest thing at his day on earth, a ship. And he says, our lives ought to be like this. Every one of us in this room has a problem with the tongue. And so did James. And we need to be very careful that, first of all, if we are in places of authority, we need to be careful what we say. Even if we’re saying something right with the wrong tone, it can cause damage. I want to leave you with this, and you can close your Bible. We’re all done. I learned a great lesson about this. I think it was last winter, or maybe the… I don’t know when this was. It doesn’t matter. Tim Meaney and I were sharing a room together. That’s an experience all in itself. And he wanted to call home. We were very far away. I can’t remember what country we were in. He wanted to call home. And he called home, and he caught his little boys at home. And it really ministered very, very much to me, because when the phone was picked up on the other end in Seattle, And I don’t remember his son’s names, but I’ll just make them up. He says, TJ, is this you? Hi, buddy, how are you? How you doing, big guy? Great. You taking care of mom? Oh, that’s my boy. All right. Hey, how’s your drawing? You doing good with your drawing? All right, listen, four more sleeps and I’ll be home. Just four more sleeps. Hey, put, and whoever the other boy’s name was, put Timmy on. Well, hi, Timmy. How are you? How’s the game? How was your pitching? Good. Great. Are you watering the lawn? Good. Excellent. You obeying mama? Uh-huh, good. Hey, put your other brother on. And on comes another one. And with every brother that came on, there was a different tone to his voice. And the Lord spoke to me while I was hanging out in his room. Jack, that’s exactly how I speak to my kids. Some of them are young. Some of them are right in the middle. Some of them are a little older with greater responsibility. And I changed the tone so that they understand my heart when I speak the word. And I was blessed by that. God is speaking to you and me right now, and he’s saying, you know what, this is what I want you to do in your life regarding your tongue. Some of you, he’s just saying it very sweet. For some of us, he’s saying, you just taught on it, now do it. And I stand and say, yes, Father. You see?
SPEAKER 02 :
pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called The Tongue and What It Can Do. 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 01 :
You know, the Apostle Peter in his letters to the church urged his fellow Christians to keep on learning and growing in the faith, in spite of their suffering and pain. Unlike today, however, resources were scarce. Still, they persevered, and Christ followers were growing in both strength and numbers. Now there’s no limit of ways to access quality materials on Christian living, including Pastor Jack’s website. When you go to jackhibbs.com and click the media icon, you’ll find not only real-life radio episodes, but real-life podcasts, real-life TV, real-life basics for Christian growth, and even news updates. There’s also specific verse-by-verse studies from books of the Bible and so much more. So head on over to our website at jackhibbs.com and click on the media tab. That’s jackhibbs.com.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
