In this episode of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack Hibbs delves into the essence of obedience as a core component of Christian living. Highlighting the biblical teaching that obedience to God surpasses sacrifice, Pastor Jack encourages listeners to let go of past grievances and focus on obedience to God’s will. He addresses the challenging topic of forgiveness, emphasizing its role in personal freedom and spiritual growth. Through relatable anecdotes and biblical scripture, this message inspires us to seek a deeper relationship with God. Pastor Jack challenges us to examine our lives and relationships, urging a transformation that comes from
See, you don’t want to think that way. You want to think that God grades on a curve, and he doesn’t. He’s perfectly holy. And what you do in secret, the Bible says, and the day of judgment, that thing will be shouted from the housetops for the world to see.
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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.
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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 who The one-year Bible, through the Bible, in one year together. Join us.
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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 edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series now called Life and Bible with a message titled, Being a Christian is Obedience to God. The Bible tells us that obedience to God is better than sacrifice. This means that we’ve really got to be willing to submit to the Lord and to put an end to our own agendas. You see, our selfish desires and sinful imaginations will destroy us, but we can live an obedient life by letting go of the past and by putting God first in every single area of our lives. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that we’ve got to remember we’ve been bought with a price. Jesus gave his life so that we could live free from the chains of the past and look forward to the promise of the future. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ means we are forgiven. And forgiveness brings liberty from bitterness and hope for all of our relationships. Now with his message called, Being a Christian is Obedience to God, here’s pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.
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Were you wronged? Were you hurt? Now I’m speaking to the person tonight. You have all your justifiable pain. You were really ripped off. You were really robbed. In that relationship, in that marriage, listen to me carefully. Forgiving those who hurt you brings about your liberty. When we say I will not forgive them, you have no idea what you’re talking about. For some reason, you were told somewhere in your life that if you withhold forgiveness of them, you’re hurting them. You’re controlling them. You’re inflicting pain upon them. That is one of the lies from the pit of hell itself. God gave you and I the ability to forgive other people that have hurt us so we can go free. Think that through. The moment you resign to this fact that I am, you know what, I am going to ask God to help me to forgive that person. And then you go through that action. You call them up. You might even call the kids, kids for all the pain, all of the sorrow, all the yelling, all the hurt, all the insecurity that this marriage brought about and now your dad and I are divorced and it’s over. But listen, I want to tell you something right now. I am sorry. I ask you to forgive me for all that. And they might say, drop dead. Most often they do. They might say, well, whatever. They’re probably not going to even believe you. But something will happen when you hang that phone up. you will be free to move on with God. The Bible says, listen to this, in Matthew 5, 21, you have heard that it has been said of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment. And whoever says to his brother, you fool, shall be in danger of the council. And whoever says you fool shall be in danger of hell fire itself. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, translation today, if you go to church or you bow your knee to pray at home or anywhere, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother and then come make your offering and your gift to God. Isn’t God awesome? Yes. He hates hypocrisy. Oh, praise the Lord, hallelujah. And listen, you got a rift going on in your life, in your family? God says, you know, keep your praise the Lord’s to yourself. They make me sick. I don’t want to hear them anymore. Didn’t he tell, he told Israel that. Don’t tell me the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. He says, get out of here. Now listen, God would be pleased if, If you said, you know what, I’m gonna ask my kids to forgive me, I’m gonna ask my wife or my husband or my ex to forgive me. Even if they won’t hear you, you need to obey him. Obey the Lord in this. Also this, finding forgiveness sets you free. We talked about that a moment ago, but from this factor, most importantly, and that’s bitterness. Issue forgiveness, you’ll never succeed because bitterness will consume you. It will consume you. In Ephesians 4.31, the Bible says, get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior. Instead, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God in Christ has forgiven you. Number three, your strength is in the power of God, not you. You say, Pastor Jack, I cannot make it work. I cannot get this life of mine back on its feet. Listen, my friend, don’t try it on your own. The power of God is what you need. I’m gonna give you some things very quickly. Number one, a daily workout plan in being in the Bible. A daily workout plan. If you commute to work and you happen to drive by a health club at any hour of the early morning hours, from four o’clock on, have you noticed the parking lots of health clubs in the early hours? Are they empty or full? Isn’t it amazing that people will do that for a muscle or for a look and avoid that commitment to God at all costs? Have you ever thought about that? Do you realize how many well-built, shaped people will be in hell looking good? I mean, I don’t mean everybody there is going to Hades. I’m just saying we need to have that kind of zeal and commitment. Oh, my marriage is coming apart. I don’t know what to do. Why don’t you seek God early and hard in the word and prayer? What? Get up early? Get up an hour early before going to work? Well, my marriage is not worth that much. Let him have the kids. Seriously. You know why? Most people can’t seek God early in the morning because they’re up late with bills above that night or something. I don’t know. It’s hard. I have to admit, it’s hard to seek God early in the morning when you’re up at midnight, you know. You say, what are you saying? That just depends on, if your life is super smooth and cool, then you know what? Stay up late and sleep in, I guess. I don’t know. But man, if you’re like me, maybe you ought to hang out with me. We’ll have some, man, troubles. Oh my goodness, what about this? Oh no, what are we doing? Hey, you know what? There’s only one thing we can do. We’ve got to get up early and seek God. You know? If your life’s that pleasurable and calm, then Lord, I pray that you’d bless them to get you up early seeking God. You can always find people who are desperate before the Lord because they’re seeking him. Guard your thoughts. The Bible says that we need to bring every thought onto the captivity of Jesus Christ. We’ll just touch on a few more of these and then I just wanna bring this thing to an end tonight. Number four, marriage. has proven to be bigger than you. Isn’t that true? Isn’t marriage bigger than you and I? You guys check this out. Marriage. Marriage is impossible without God. You say, well, Jack, I know non-believers who’ve been married 50 years. You know, that’s amazing and that’s fantastic, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the spiritual fruit potential and fertility of a Christian marriage. There’s nothing like it on the planet. You see, Jack, you gotta be kidding me. I mean, 50% of Christian marriages end in divorce. That doesn’t change God’s plan for marriage. That just tells you how weak and stupid we are in avoiding God in our marriages. Marriage is bizarre. It’s amazing. If any of you today read Charles Spurgeon’s devotion this morning, in his morning and evening devotion, what did he talk about today? Marriage. And he talked about the picture that a husband and a wife live out in this life every day of Christ’s love and the church’s love for one another. It was amazing. Marriage is something that is way beyond you and I. Marriage cannot be simply about you. When you signed up to be married, what were you thinking? God, the God of the Bible invented marriage. It was to build ministry. You have a marriage that works. I’m not saying a marriage that’s perfect. I’m saying a marriage that works. There is no marriage that’s perfect. But then there’s marriages that work. And I love how God teaches us in 1 and 2 Timothy that if you’ve got a marriage that’s working, then you’re probably a good candidate to pastor a church. That’s what he says. Why? You put up with a marriage that works, you can probably put up with a church. It’s amazing. But it’s not about us. It’s about that other person we’re married to. Tonight, if it’s all been about you, stop tonight and make it about them. Well, who are they gonna make it about? They’re gonna make it about you. Instead of trains passing in the night, you’re gonna wind up colliding in love. Try it. And then we’ll just end with this thought, which I think is the most important, which is why I wanted to end with this thought. Being a Christian is obedience to God and you must have, starting tonight my friend, you must have a godly fear of who the Lord is. The fear of the Lord. Period. You know the stuff that led to your divorce or your hardship right now with your husband or your wife? It could have been completely avoided if you guys would have been fearing the Lord. Now, look, if you guys are not Christians tonight, you need to come to Jesus tonight. In fact, it’s really cute. If you’re not a Christian tonight, yeah, but you know what, she and he, and what about, hey, quiet. Zip it. You guys are not Christians. Do you want to become Christians? Because here’s what the Bible teaches. All of us are doomed. But Jesus went to the cross and he died there for us. He died for all of our sins, past, present, and future. And if you trust him for that, believing that God the Father put him there, he died, rose again from the dead. If you believe that, old things are passed away. Behold, everything’s become new. You say, wait a minute. You mean my wife and my husband? No. No. Yeah, but she, you know what she did last year? No. I don’t know if I can, you know that thing about three years ago? Put it behind you, follow Christ, point your eyes toward him. Your new creation’s in Christ. This is boot camp stuff. This is where it matters. I wish I would’ve went to that other church and heard a really happy, could’ve heard a happy sermon. Amen. Yeah, that’s fine, but listen, stuff we’re talking about tonight works. Why would you not love him or love her again? Now look, you read the scriptures, you pour your life into them, and you seek God and watch what he does. And you young people that are here tonight, I don’t want you to be terrified about getting married. I want you to count the cost. And it’s awesome. It’s so awesome that God stirs up your heart. You might be, you know what, I gotta tell you, I’ll confess, I came to Jesus. I told you guys before, I was never into drugs, never into drinking, never into all that stuff. As a non-Christian, I was never into that stuff. But I thought girls were an amazing creation of God. And that was my problem. And then I became a Christian. And then I met some Christian girls at church. Oh yeah, right. They were about as Christian as the other girls I’d known that never mentioned anything about Jesus. And so I concluded, I kid you not, I concluded, that’s it. God is awesome. Jesus is coming back. And there are no Christian women. And so, I have the ability to make money, because I can just see that this is gonna work, and okay, so that’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna make a lot of money, love God, and never be married. And I could do that. So I thought I could do that. And then one day, I was working. My crews were out working, and I was working. I was working. This is how I worked. I made sure all my crews were now working. They’re out doing their thing, and I was at Orange Street and Newport Beach on PCH playing volleyball. That’s how I worked, and I had a phone. What do you guys do? Put three-quarters of that in the… Okay, all right. And then the next day, I would drive by and see if they did their jobs and all that stuff. That’s how I was working, getting paid ridiculous amounts of money. And the owner of the company didn’t care because as long as I made him money, I was fine. That’s all he asked. Okay, I can do that. So I’m safe. I’m playing volleyball with Christian friends. It’s in the middle of the day. And a friend of mine says, hey Jack, see that girl over there? And you, my attitude, nope, don’t care. And he goes, no really, listen, she goes to Anaheim First Baptist Church. She’s a really cool Christian. Yeah, right. And That was Lisa, my wife. And the amazing thing was, I had my heels dug in. I was gonna follow God, and that’s the way it is. And when I met her, I just thought, well, she’s nice. She was very talkative, and that was cool. Then we started talking, then we started talking, then we started talking, and then I realized, man, you know what? She’s 18 years old, and she’s got a Bible that’s worn out more than mine. What kind of a deal is that? She knows scripture, she’s quoting verses. What is this? And then I concluded like most idiot men do, I like her. Thus, I must never talk to her again. That’s how men think. Men who are trying to protect themselves from being hurt. See, it was a danger that I liked her. So thus I shall never speak to her again. And I didn’t for like a few days. Well, because we were talking a couple times a day, so a few days, that was a big deal. And the more I resisted, I found out I’m resisting the hand of God. It was bizarre. So those of you who are young tonight and you’re saying, well, man, all this stuff just scares me to death. I don’t even want to get married. No, listen. Listen. Marriage is a gift given by the Lord and it is an awesome thing. Man has abused it and ruined it. And if you pray and seek God’s face, the Lord can do anything. And if tonight you’ve gone through the marriage and it’s broken now and it’s over and it’s history, and based upon your particular situation, the Bible speaks to where you’re at about getting married again and all that stuff, it speaks in detail. but never, never harden your heart against what God wants to do. You will hurt no one but you. Life will move on, people will go on, things will go on, and you’ll be left behind. I don’t mean left behind, but I mean left behind. And you’ll be bitter, lonely, and miserable. And you say, well, Pastor Jack, I’m divorced, but I don’t want to be married, and I’m miserable, bitter, and upset. Then listen, and we end here. You need to focus on Jesus. You have been thinking about you too much. You’ve been looking back at the past and all the things that happened, and then you look ahead and you say, well, that will never happen for me, and that’s not gonna be in the cards for me, and I bet you I can’t have that, and it’s all about you, and that’s why you’re not happy. But when you make it all about him, watch what happens. Watch what happens. Father, tonight we come and we pray very specifically, Father. Lord, we ask right now that every married couple that’s represented here, Father, right in the middle of their path, I pray that you would stand If necessary, dispatch two angels with flaming swords. But I pray, my Father, God, that you, Lord, would speak to the married couples tonight, Lord, in Jesus’ name, that they, if their marriage is severed, and they’re separated right now, even, Father, if it’s worse, to the couples that are kind of okay, the marriage is existing. to those that are here and their marriages are growing and they’re conquering, they’re moving, they’re ministering. Lord, I pray for the married couples tonight that you would radically, radically heal, minister, that you would be allowed to be the Lord. I pray tonight, Father God, for whoever’s here that’s just struggling. They have stories, Lord, that books could be filled. Pain. And I’m asking you, Father, that you’d meet them. And Lord, for those that are maybe engaged or they’re single right now and they’re looking ahead and they have hopes. Oh, Father, I pray that they would never settle for anything less than your perfect will. Father, that they would be strong in their singleness, that they would be strong, Lord, and immovable. And Father, for all of us in the house of God tonight who name the name of Jesus. I pray that you would baptize us in the power of your Holy Spirit tonight. Lord, for those that are here and they’re concerned, they have no power, they have no strength, they feel so victimized and vulnerable with no hope of changing, Father, speak to them. Remind them now, and whoever you may be tonight, ask them now, baptize me, Father, in the power of your Holy Spirit. Just ask them now, right now, Lord, fill me, baptize me in the power of your Spirit to live a life that brings you glory. God, to make me the best wife possible, the best husband possible. Lord, give me the strength and the power, baptize me in your Holy Spirit to call my kids, my wife, or my ex-wife, my husband or my ex-husband, and to honestly, sincerely say, Jesus wants me to do this, I’m so sorry. And maybe tonight there are those that are just coming out of a horrible situation or maybe those that are just heading into it. They’ve resigned themselves to a divorce, that’s it, it’s over. Maybe tonight they’re thinking it’s our last night. And Father, we pray together as a church that you would put them in a holy headlock and not let them go. That they would die to themselves and do the Jesus thing. exalt that husband, that wife, to preserve that marriage, to protect that home at all costs. This we pray in Jesus’ name and all God’s people said, amen.
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Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Higgs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Being a Christian is Obedience to God. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called Life and Bible. It’s a series on how to apply God’s Word in the everyday challenges of the Christian life. 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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Hey, if you’re struggling in your marriage or maybe you’re getting ready to tie the knot and want some practical spiritual advice, check out Pastor Jack’s YouTube channel called Real Life with Jack Hibbs. Once you’re there, look for the interviews I did with Pastor Jack and his wife, Lisa. It’s called Real Marriage, Real Life. We talk about some pretty important subjects like dealing with our families in marriage and dealing with forgiveness in marriage. Jack and Lisa talk about the ways they put God first in every situation, especially in handling sensitive issues. Again, the series is called Real Marriage, Real Life, and it’s on Pastor Jack’s YouTube channel called Real Life with Jack Hibbs. You can access his channel on YouTube or at our website, jackhibbs.com. 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.
