In this engaging episode of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack Hibbs dives into the ‘Disciplines of Dependence,’ exploring the idea of finding strength through dependence on God rather than self-reliance. In a world that often values personal strength and independence, believers are reminded of the transformative power of relying on God’s strength and wisdom. Through biblical teachings and real-life examples, Pastor Jack illustrates how challenges serve as vital touchpoints for growth in faith and dependence on the divine.
And this is a tremendous discipline for us as Christians to learn tonight. That those areas that we think we want to cover up, those areas that we think we want to hide, are those areas that God says, move over, I’m going to use this.
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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, have you ever thought about what’s afterlife? Do you know that the Bible teaches life is afterlife? If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, my good friend Philip DeCourcy has written a great book, and that’s the title, Life After Life, Exploring the Bible’s Wonderful Promises About Heaven and Eternity, published by Harrah’s House Publishers. Get a copy for yourself.
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Life After Life by Philip DeCourcy, Exploring the Bible’s Promises About Heaven and Eternity. It’s available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com.
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On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called Disciplines of Life and a message titled Disciplines of Dependence. You know, self-reliance is a pretty popular way to live these days, but for believers, our lives are rooted in a dependence upon God. You see, as people who follow Christ, we’re called to trust him in all aspects of life, as opposed to depending on our own wisdom and control. True dependence means that we’re not to navigate through life’s challenges or responsibilities all on our own, but we’re to lean on the Lord for our strength and guidance. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that the less we depend upon ourselves, the more we depend upon God. It takes discipline to live a life that’s opposite the world’s point of view. The world relies upon its own strength, but for the Christian, it’s all about living every day in reliance upon God. Now, in his message called Disciplines of Dependence, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. So Pastor Jack, a lot of folks naturally associate, I think we all do, associate dependence with strength. So why do you think God so often allows difficulty as a place where dependence actually forms?
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Yeah, because the scripture is clear. We find our strength in the Lord. The Lord tells us that he will cover us under the shadow of his wings. It doesn’t mean that God has wings. He’s talking about like a chicken gathers her chicks under her wings. They’re protected. They’re safe. God does that same thing with us. When we are dependent upon him and not the world, it’s a good thing for us to be independent of the world.
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Mm-hmm.
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Right? Because I believe that’s the only real true independence you can enjoy is when you are dependent upon God, if that makes any sense. The more I’m leaning on him, the more independent I am. When I look to the world, if I’m independent from God, the more dependent I am upon the world to take care of me, feed me. You know, think about it. It’s either the little G for God or the big G for God. The little G for God is government. The big G for God is God, is the Lord Jesus.
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So why do you think it’s easier to trust God? I mean, it seems like it’s easier to trust God when things are going well than when they’re not.
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Because in reality, we’re not trusting God when things are going well.
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Yeah, that’s a great idea.
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That’s great. It’s not that it’s easier. It’s that we’re not. Interesting. Right? We only trust when we’re in a crisis of some level. Listen, I’m sitting here right now in the studio. I’m not anxious about my flight that’s coming up. I didn’t think about it until you just said this. But that day’s coming, and I’m going to get on that plane. And then I’m going to be thinking, I hope that pilot slept good last night. I hope they put real fuel in this plane. I know the wings have worked before. I hope they work today. But when I’m not thinking like that, it’s because I have the luxury of really not trusting God because everything is going easy. I mean, I shudder to see professing Christians who say, I’ve never had any rough spots in my life. Oh, yeah. I’m telling you, that’s one of the saddest things that I can hear because I wonder, wait a minute. God told us we’re going to have difficulties in this world. That’s how we get close to him. So, yeah, that’s a nerve-wracking thing if life is smooth and easy.
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Let’s get into it.
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Let’s pray. Father, we ask, Lord, that you would cause your word tonight to absolutely conquer us, Lord, to rule over us, to reign over us. Father, we pray that your very Bible, the eternal word of God… That we have Lord before us. Invincible. Forever. So much so, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And Father, as we look around at this world and we see all that’s going on, Father, we just ask you to pull us in a little closer, pull us in a little tighter. And Lord, just remind us again, remind us afresh, even tonight in this gathering together of your people. Father, may there be a renewal of our relationship with you. We ask it in Jesus’ name and all God’s people said, amen. Well, church, listen, grab your Bibles tonight and turn, as you know by now, as we are in this series, turn to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28, you come on Wednesday nights, you mark chapter 28, Matthew 28, and I’ll read that portion of scripture to you, and then we’ll go tonight over to 1 Peter 2.20. Tonight’s message is the disciplines of dependence, being dependent upon God, and that is a discipline that you and I need to work on in our series of the disciplines of life. A discipline of being dependent upon God. It’s all part of being a disciple, being a follower of Jesus. Matthew chapter 28, verse 18. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Verse 20. Teaching them to observe all things… that I have commanded you. And behold, or be very wide-eyed, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. And then 1 Peter, turn to the right, and go to 1 Peter 2, verse 20, about being dependent upon God. 1 Peter 2.20, Peter says, For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you are called, listen church, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his footsteps. Now I gotta tell you right now, there’s a high probability that if you go down to the Bible bookstore someplace and you buy, you know the little memory packet of verses, the memory verses? And they’re great verses. And if you don’t own them, go buy them. They’re great to have. But usually you don’t get those kinds of verses where it says, hey, cheer up. You’re going to have a rough life. It’s going to be difficult. People are going to spit on you and hate you and shake their fist at you. And they’re going to wish you to be dead. That’s not the most encouraging memory verse to maybe memorize. But I got to tell you this. It sure is practical. It sure is real. And so as we look at our study tonight, we are looking at in the Disciplines of Life series, this discipline of dependence upon God. And nothing reveals for you and I our sonship. in Jesus Christ, then how dependent we are upon God. How dependent are you upon God is a very, very important question to ask yourself. Can you do that? Can you ask yourself in the recesses of your heart, of your mind, be honest, Lord, am I very, very dependent upon you? And here’s the tremendous thing about Christianity. The weaker we are in self-strength, the stronger we become. The less dependent we are upon self, the greater dependent we are upon God. It is a kingdom that is upside down, according to the way the world thinks. If you were to look at a business chart or a flow chart of a corporation, you’ve got the president of the corporation at the top, and then you’ve got all the people that make all the money for the president of the corporation down at the bottom. You take that pyramid and turn it, what we would say as Christians, right side up. It’s all about God’s people, all resting upon the focal point of one set of shoulders. And you know whose shoulders those are. Those are Jesus’s shoulders. It’s a kingdom that is in reverse than what we know from this world. And when we just sang the song a moment ago, when we’re weak, then we’re strong. By the way, we did not rehearse that. That’s very cool that they sang that song. When I’m threatened to be panicking about something, it’s that moment where God’s peace and strength and comfort is most available. If I discipline myself to recognize that, Oh my goodness, what news have you heard this week? What is going on in your life? Stop. What is it? Record it. It’s this, Pastor Jack. It’s the other thing. It’s finances or it’s health or it’s relational. What is it? Whatever it is, that thing that troubles your heart is an absolute open door to drawing closer to God. It’s the way his kingdom works. And it’s a discipline that you and I need to understand as believers as we go through this series. Some verses for introduction, very important. Again, the more that we are weak, the better off we are. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 8 says, and this is again by introduction, mark it down. Concerning these things, Paul the apostle said, he’s talking about his physical ailments in that 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse. He says, these things I pleaded with the Lord three times. Three times I asked the Lord that it might depart from me. And he said to me, Mark at church, 2 Corinthians 12, 9, my grace is sufficient for you. Have you ever heard from God and he says, I’m not going to take that thing away from you? I have. My grace will be sufficient. My grace will be enough. All you need is me in this situation, Jack, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul then says, therefore, most gladly will I rather boast in my infirmities. The world wants to cover up their infirmities. Paul says, no, the believer, we rejoice in those because look what he says, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in my infirmities. in reproaches that is being rejected, in needs, persecutions, distresses. For Christ’s sake, he says, for when I am weak, then I’m strong. And this is a tremendous discipline for us as Christians to learn tonight, that those areas that We think we wanna cover up. Those areas that we think we wanna hide are those areas that God says, move over, I’m gonna use this. And let me tell you, by personal experience, those weaknesses will be things that you dare not take glory for whatsoever. It will be incredibly obvious that he’ll get all the glory. And he will constantly remind you of those weaknesses. And rather than that pull you down, it actually lifts you up because he speaks instantly and says, I’ll be stronger in that thing. for me to stand in front of you publicly to be speaking. As many of you know, three years into my Christianity, Jesus radically healed me. I stuttered so bad all my life, I couldn’t even get through the vows on our wedding without stuttering. And I always wanted to be able to tell somebody about God. I always wanted to tell somebody about the word of God, but I dare not. but the Lord touched my life. He takes those weak things and he makes them his strengths in you.
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You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And now let’s get back to today’s message. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
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And so we revel, as Paul says, I revel, I take pleasure in those infirmities. Think about it physically. Well, what about emotionally? Think about that emotionally. That’s in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5. Our dependence upon God is an indicator, it’s a barometer. And in 2 Corinthians 10, 5, it says that we’re to be casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Let me tell you, that is emotional stability. Are you stressed about your thoughts? Are you being tempted? Do you hear this song or do you hear that thing and it puts this image in your mind? Or when you hear that name, does this happen in your head? Or emotionally, how are you affected? The Bible says that you can bring every thought under the captivity of Christ. Again, I remember being so convicted of my lost condition that for so many years in my life, that verse, 2 Corinthians 10.5, was the only thing that I could hang on to. You guys, they didn’t have Bible programs and computers back then. I’m not even sure if they had computers back then when I got saved. I think we had smoke signals and those little… But I took my Bible and I made photocopies of that verse in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5. And I put them in my bathroom in the mirror where I shaved. I put them on my dash of my car because of my thought life. Because your thought life affects your emotions. And then your emotions, if they’re not… Reigned in, they’ll affect your entire life. Physically, emotionally, what about spiritually? Proverbs 3, verse 5 to 7 is a great verse regarding the Spirit of God at work in us spiritually. Proverbs 3, 5 says, trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord. Notice, fear the Lord. Be in awe of him is what that word means and depart from evil. So we’ve got a physical aspect of the disciplines of life and our dependence upon God. We’ve got an emotional understanding and we’ve got a spiritual understanding. power to apply to our lives that we are to be fearing God and let me tell you if the fear of the Lord is upon you and I that is if we love God listen we could post up a bunch of rules thou shalt not thou shalt not some years ago I went to a church and they had red curbs of course every building does by law there’s red curbs painted for places that you cannot park and what they did was they painted the curbs red and then in white lettering it said thou shalt not park here and And I thought that was kind of cool. But we could have a list of things that say thou shalt not. And you know what that does? That winds up breeding within you either A, a wall of separation between you and God that you can never scale. Instantly you’re defeated. Or if somebody can, at least in their minds, begin to think that they’re keeping some of the rules, their head begins to get as puffed up as a cream puff as they think, boy, look how good I’m doing. And that’s equally as dangerous. We are to fear the Lord, meaning we are to love him. That sin and the things of this life will cause us to be so sickened and terrified of it that we will depart from evil. Evil will come up and go, hey, look, take a bite of me or take a drink of this or come run to the other and you will run from it because you love God more. A dependence upon God. So church, mark it down as we go through this discipline tonight of dependence upon God. Number one is wake up. Write that down. Wake up. Your life is too big. Can you write that down? Wake up. Your life’s too big. See, what do you mean your life’s too big? Your life is too big this way. Church, mark it down. Our life is too big in this sense. That for you and I to wake up and be dependent upon God is to face the facts that life in and of itself is too big for you and I. We need to understand that. There is no way that mankind was created to deal with this life’s situations. Let’s be honest. You and I were designed to live in the Garden of Eden until Adam and Eve blew it. You and I were designed to live in perfection. You and I were designed to live in fellowship with God. And now we find ourselves in a fallen world and we find ourselves trying to cope with this age in which you and I live in and this flesh that you and I live inside of. And in the beginning, it was not what God intended. Life, you need to wake up to this fact, is just too big for you to do it on your own. You can’t do it. That’s why there’s drugs, alcohol, all the stuff that people invest their time into trying to find meaning or trying to fill a void in their life, trying to somehow be somebody else or somebody more because life’s too big. And then if that weren’t enough, life throws its curveballs at you. Difficulty, challenges. And I need not even talk about things like that in this world today. You know all about them. They’re even on the headlines of the papers as the world is in such a terrible condition. Life and… at times can be completely overwhelming, even too big, as I say. In John chapter six, verse 67, John 6, 67, it says, then Jesus said to the 12 disciples, do you also want to go away? This is when the ministry was heating up and Jesus said to them, do you guys want to leave too? You want to quit? But Simon Peter answered Jesus and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Man, that’s a great word. The temptation today, church, listen, it’s huge. The world is pressuring against the church, and that’s okay. That’s what I’m here to tell you about. The discipline of being dependent upon God, it’s okay for the world to hit us and come against us. It’s okay. That’s what we expect from the world. But why do Christians cave in? Because they have failed to remember Christ. That Jesus Christ is the Lord, the Son of the living God, the absolute power in your life. We don’t have to do this on our own. Life is too big. And God steps in and says, I’ll tell you what. I want my life to flow out of your life in abundance. Can somebody say amen to that more? That is absolutely true. Jesus said in John chapter 7 that the Holy Spirit… is to, as it were, gush out of your innermost being torrents of living water, he said. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit coming out of the life of the believer. That’s what he wants in our lives. But we need to wake up to the fact, listen, so many people today are trying to hold up life and they can’t do it. This great discipline of dependence is not something to run away from, it’s something to embrace. People will say, I can’t take life, I can’t put up with it anymore. Good, you’ve come to the right moment in time of your life. It’s time to quit this world and join his world. It’s time to absolutely give up in your own strength. And I don’t know why, I don’t know where we get this idea that we’re so strong anyway. Our world is broken. Sin is rampant. We are fallen creatures. But Jesus Christ came, died on the cross, rose again from the grave to give you and I eternal life and strength. And then if that weren’t enough, he gave the Holy Spirit to empower the believer until he comes again. All of us are gonna go through life. You’re going through life right now. Look, you’re sitting down, but man, you’re flying through life right now. You’re going through life. And the question is how? Am I going to go through life? And to whom and with whom am I going to go through life? And there’ll always be the God factor in the life that we live. You may be here tonight and you may be kicking against God. I don’t want anything to do with God. I don’t like God. But you find yourself here. Well, that’s because my friend invited me. But you’re here and God is speaking. He’ll speak to your heart. He’ll say, who are you running from? You don’t believe in me, so then why are you running from me? You don’t believe in me, so why are you so angry at me? A friend of mine was telling me the other day about his friend. He’s an older man, and he said, I will not accept Jesus Christ into my life until God accepts certain things according to my rules. Isn’t that something? Wow. But you know, there’s people like that. Best thing to do is to wake up and realize how big life is. That it was never intended for you and I to live it alone in our own strength. Psalm 55 verse 4. Psalm 55 verse 4 says, My heart is severely pained within me. Do you find yourself ever in that place? And the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me. And horror has overwhelmed me. Boy, isn’t that a commentary on our age? So I said, listen to verse six, Psalm 55, verse six. So I said, oh, that I had wings like a dove. I would fly away and be at rest. Is that not the cry of the world? And even the life of the believer, we might want to cry that cry. But as the Lord comes in and says, I’m here, I’m with you.
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pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio and his message called Disciplines of Dependence. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Disciplines of Life. It’s a series that highlights the disciplines of a Christ follower and the high cost of sharing our faith with others in a lost and broken world. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
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Hey everybody, listen, all of our Happening Now events are amazing, but this one’s special. On April 22nd, on a Wednesday night, starting at seven o’clock Pacific time, I’m gonna sit down with Chris McKenna. He is an expert on internet pornography and how it gets into your home, how it destroys your children, how it destroys your marriage, and you’re gonna wanna be brave enough. I stress brave enough. You know, you mentioned this topic and people don’t wanna show up. Show up and save someone’s life.
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That’s happening now with Chris McKenna and Pastor Jack Hibbs. Wednesday, April 22nd at 7 p.m. Learn more at jackhibbs.com.
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Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you’d like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.com for all the latest on what’s going on with this ministry. And please, if you’re ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. We’d love to see you there in person. It has been so good to be with you today, and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. See you on the next episode.
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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.
