The Purpose of the Church, Today and Tomorrow

SPEAKER 01 : 0:00

Welcome everyone to Family Talk. It’s a ministry of the James Dobson Family Institute supported by listeners just like you. I’m Dr. James Dobson and I’m thrilled that you’ve joined us.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:19

Well, welcome to Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk. I’m Roger Marsh, and as we approach the final days of the year, it’s a perfect time to reflect on God’s faithfulness. Whether you’re catching up with family, enjoying some quiet days between Christmas and New Year’s, or making plans for an action-packed 2025, we are delighted that you’re with us today. You know, this season invites us to pause and truly appreciate the blessings God has given us. And in that spirit, we have an inspiring message to share with you from Pastor Jack Hibbs on the purpose of the church today and tomorrow. But before we get started, I want to remind you about an incredible opportunity to double your impact of giving this month. Thanks to some generous friends of the ministry here at Family Talk, we have a special December matching grant in effect today and tomorrow. Every gift you make on or before December 31st will be doubled. A $100 gift becomes $200, $500 becomes $1,000. You get the idea. With just days remaining until the deadline, your support will help us start 2025 strong and reach even more families with hope and encouragement. To have your gift doubled, you can make a secure donation online at drjamesdobson.org. Now let me introduce today’s special guest here on Family Talk. He is Pastor Jack Hibbs. Jack is the founding pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Southern California. What started as a small home fellowship with only six people has now grown into a congregation of over 10,000. Pastor Hibbs reaches millions more through his real-life television and radio ministry and the real-life network. And he and his wife Lisa have shared over 40 years of marriage together. Pastor Hips recently spoke at an event here in Colorado Springs, and we’re excited to bring that message to you right now. Let’s listen in.

SPEAKER 01 : 1:55

Well, it’s an honor to be here this morning, and I almost feel like the little kid, your little kid, maybe it was you one day when you went up or you saw your parents and you said, after trying to ride your bike, remember? Look, no hands. Look, mom, no hands. Well, I’m saying this morning, Dr. Dobson, surely no hands, meaning I have no notes this morning. I tried. I tried. I usually always speak with notes, and I tried. It’s not working for this morning. How can I put on paper what Lisa and I And so many of us have experienced over the course of our life when we were homeschooling our children, really Lisa was, in the early 1980s, your ministry kept us not only encouraged but informed. Lisa would often call your ministry to find out how to deal with this about our child, this about our daughter. And you guys constantly were there for us. And homeschooling in California in the early 80s, and Lisa’s family coming from just a long line of intellects, we had to keep that under wraps. We thought that the SS officers were going to be at our door because we were homeschooling. And our daughters were homeschooled, and now our daughters homeschool our grandkids. And all along the way, starting with our oldest, Rebecca, when we began to see certain things, we quickly got the strong-willed child. And then our second daughter was born, and then we had to get bringing up girls. And then our daughters had grandsons and they wound up bringing up boys. And the Dobson ministry has been the meat and potatoes of our family life. Now, God has been very good to us as a church. He has catapulted this ministry over the last 33 years and it’s been amazing. But listen, the greatest strength, that we can experience in the church today is having a strong family life among the pastors and those who serve the body of Christ. We all know that Satan is out to take out the church, just take out the pastor’s wife, take out a board member or two, or take out the pastor. Without a strong family, the church goes down. Isn’t it amazing that when Paul tells Timothy about those that are qualified to be leading the church, he stresses that it’s the family. And this ministry has been such a bedrock for us. And we were having lunch yesterday, and I happened to share to the group that everything that’s going on… And look, I’m the outsider. Lisa and I were invited here. We’ve never been here before, so I just kind of felt like I’m going to say something… and then never be invited back. And I said, look, I don’t know exactly how all you guys play out at this table, but as an end user, I want all of you to hear something. See, you got to take Dr. Dobson’s voice. You’ve got to protect it. You’ve got to package it. You’ve got to put a bow on it. You got to put a rocket engine on it. You got to get it back out there like never before. This ministry that he has laid down for us, that he and Shirley have given us, is so effective that we don’t need to reinvent something else. You say, Jack, how do you know? Because I’m a pastor. I’m watching families come to our church, especially now. I don’t mean to bum you out if you think I… I’m out of touch or something. I’m not out of touch. I’m watching what’s happening in California and families are coming to church because they can’t take it anymore. They can’t take the home breaking up. They’re going on their third or fourth marriage. They’re not going to go on a fifth marriage. They’ve had enough. They want to know it’s true. They want to know it’s right. And they want to be able to lead their families and do the right thing. And in our bookstore, our constant, constant, direct is this. You go down the courtyard, you go to the left, and you get these books by Dr. James Dobson. That voice continues on. For all of you that are here, I’m the man on the outside speaking to you. Do whatever you’ve got to do to keep his voice going. Do what you must do. You’ve got to do this. Isn’t it amazing how God in his greatness always places his people In the world at such stressful times, that’s why you’re a believer right now. Oh, there’s so much wrong. That’s a really great thing. Honestly, think about it. Well, there’s wars, families falling apart. Listen, the good thing is this. We’re here. You’re here. Until the Lord calls us up, you and I are to be so active about what God has given you and I to use. You and I must take that mantle of understanding that your ministry influence, your financial influence, your persuasion, the people that you are able to touch, God has ordained you to do that. To bring you to a place where you can minister to people in such a way that gets them into the kingdom of God, ultimately. That’s the ultimate thing. But how many kids today we’re seeing At our church, thank God, there’s thousands of young adults who are saying, what do I do to raise my family the way that my parents didn’t raise me? They’re asking. But the young generation, there’s huge hope. I don’t know if you have any young people in your life, but if you don’t, you need to go out and find one. Adopt one. They are actually waking up. I’m excited. I got saved in the 70s during the Jesus revolution at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. And notice that when that time came, it came at a time in the 60s with all of the drug abuse, all of the free sex, all of the craziness. And people got so fed up with it all, they started searching for Jesus. Friends, we’ve gone through all of those decades of basically churchianity. And now we’ve come to this place where it’s starting to happen again. The kids have had enough of social media. They’re sick and tired of what’s happening, but they don’t know how to be parents. They don’t know how to be married. And this is where you all come in so powerfully. No one is doing what Dr. Dobson has already done. The greatest thing that we can do is just continue to give him platform, give him voice. So check this out. So coming from the People’s Republic of California, during COVID, first, I should back up. Even before COVID. We started, we’ve always been an outspoken church. God took the fact that I was born in a Marine Corps home in San Diego. I got saved in the 70s. And he put that together. And I’ve never had a problem ever understanding the truth of the gospel, the entirety of scripture, and having a worldview that functions in your day-to-day politic of life. To me, it’s absolutely normal. I don’t understand pastors that say, no, no, no, no, that’s that, and this is for us, and we preach the gospel. And so we’ve always gotten criticized. Oh, I don’t get involved in what you guys do. We just preach the gospel. I always find that slightly offensive at the beginning. Listen, one thing about growing up in a Marine Corps home, by the time you, you’ve heard it all, you know, by the time you’re eight years old. And so pastors would say, well, you know, you guys at Chino Hills, you’re political. And we don’t do that. We just preach the gospel. And I used to take that. I used to just say, oh. But you know what? I bumped into a few guys along the way. David Barton. Bumped into Bob McEwen. And all along the way, we’ve always had an impact on the culture. But I didn’t have any backing. I didn’t have anybody… standing there to help us, but we knew what we were supposed to do. And we didn’t test the wind to see what was trending with opinion. I think that’s a weakness, by the way. And so we started out just making sure that at Christmas time in our little community, our town’s small, that, are you going to say, or this, Target, Kohl’s, These stores, Costco, are you going to say happy holidays or Merry Christmas at Christmas time? We want to know. And we took a survey. This is how our political action committee started. We started taking surveys about how the community was going to deal with Christmas. Well, long story short, we wound up promoting to the congregation, don’t shop at that store. Target is not going to say Merry Christmas. They’re going to say Happy Holidays. Shop at this other store instead. Listen, friends, we just told that to our congregation. It so affected the local community that next year around, Target reached out to us and said, we’re going to be saying Merry Christmas at Christmastime. This is not a joke. We discovered that Christians got a voice when they stand up and say it. We know what to say. We just need to say it. And we need pastors in their pulpits to let the people have the permission. I’ve got your back as a pastor. This is how you engage the culture. Watch this, everybody. I’m not teaching you. I’m just reminding you. Jesus said, let your light so shine before men that when they see your good works, they’ll glorify your father wishes in heaven. Strange, awesome statement. When Jesus said, let your light shine before men, it’s generic. It means unbelieving mankind. You don’t let your light shine at church on Sunday. Everybody’s lights shine on Sunday. It means shine the light in the dark place. Go where it’s dark. When you go back home to the churches you attend, this is my opinion. If it doesn’t go good, blame it on me. You should demand from the ministry that you attend and tithe to, what are you doing to affect the culture for righteousness? I must know. Because listen, I’m going to give you a verse right now and it’s actually in the New Testament. It’s 2 Corinthians 10, 6. What does it say? It says, by your obedience to Christ, punish all disobedience. By doing so, your obedience will be established. When’s the last time you heard a sermon on that? Well, what does that mean? When the church speaks up, things begin to happen. You see, it’s not on us. It’s not on our strength. It’s on his strength. We are actually just to regurgitate the word of God and God takes it from there. We get to be the vessels he uses. And as he uses us, things happen. Sonia Shah, she came during COVID. She got saved. She gave her heart to Christ at our church. She found out during COVID what the school was teaching online, this pornography education workshop. BLM craziness. And she ran for school board, but because she goes to her church, the church voted for her and she won overwhelmingly. Well, other members won as well. So we wound up saying, this will not be taught in our school district. And it caused Gavin Newsom to get all upset and And he sent his henchmen down there to try to disrupt our gathering. And the guy was out of order. And so Sonia just said, no, we’re going to abide by the rules. And the county sheriff’s department had to actually remove the state official from the office. And that wound up making national news. And it’s going to be going to court because Gavin Newsom just filed a lawsuit against us, against TURN, against the school board. But you know what? That’s okay. We just wound up about seven, eight years ago, Governor Jerry Brown. I don’t know if you know this or not. Do you remember the Hobby Lobby case? Well, you know, that was awesome because it was that a 501c3 cannot fund elective abortions based upon their religious convictions. You can’t force them to do that. You know what we did? We got a letter from the governor’s office of the state of California. The governor, Jerry Brown, and the state attorney general has reviewed the outcome of the case in Washington, D.C. Listen. And we have concluded that the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court is unconstitutional. No, no, no. It’s true. Listen. We took that letter. We got a hold of ADF. I think it was Jeremiah Gallus was the attorney that was assigned to our case. Fought it for seven years. And I’m happy to report to you that we won against the state of California. No 501c3 in the state of California has to give money in their insurance policy to fund elective abortions because of ADF and their desire to fight, their heart to fight. We’ve got four lawsuits right now with the state of California from co-ed showers to the education system. It’s absolutely crazy. You say, Jack, why do you still live in California? Because that’s where the fight is. You guys all remember that in California, they wound up passing this thing called ballot harvesting? And look… the Republican Party didn’t handle it well. The Republican Party freaked out and said, that’s bad, that’s bad, we’ll never do that, we’ll never do that. You gotta understand something, I’m from a state that legalized it, which means enshrined the Democrats and their agenda in California will then win forevermore. So when Gina Gleason walked into my office, she heads up our real impact team, she said, this is the new law, this is the new law, what are we gonna do about this? And I said, wait, read it to me? Well, it’s ballot harvesting. You can go and you can get ballots from people and you can turn them into the county registrar’s office or these boxes. And I said, that’s the law? Yeah, that’s the law now. And I said, find out, let’s do it. If that’s the law, let’s do it. In fact, let’s do this. Let’s make sure the church is the epicenter. Get a thousand churches that’s on our network online. Let’s get these guys. Let’s have a Skype meeting. Let’s teach them how to do this. So let’s get our homework. You rent boxes from Amazon. They’re recognized by the state of California. They’re locked. We had them on campus. We wound up having, first of all, 18,000 people registered to vote. Most of them in Southern California, they were changing their party affiliation. We brought candidates up on the stage because Alan Sears, we’ve been trying to provoke a lawsuit with the IRS for decades now. No, haven’t we? We have. I would preach a politically incorrect sermon with a black robe on. And I don’t usually wear a black robe. And so we’re trying to get some action. We’re trying to get somebody to sue us. They’ve never even attempted. We’d mail our sermons to the IRS. They never once came after us. We bring up candidates. We say, vote for this person. Listen, we’ve been so successful that we’ve got letters of hatred from Nancy Pelosi. Oh, we keep them. They’re beautiful. Dianne Feinstein. Dianne Feinstein. Barbara Boxer. Remember her? She’s long gone. Nancy Pelosi. It’s an honor. When your church is known in the halls of Sacramento as being a troublemaker, for what? For giving parents their voice? Because the family needs to be protected? That our kids should not be taught pornography, but math and geometry? To take a stand that we think it’s wrong that kids, that teenage kids should shower in the same shower with the opposite sex? Call us crazy. We think it’s wrong. Listen, who’s going to speak up but the church? But the pastors have got to be the ones to speak up. So here’s what’s going on. In these last elections with these ballot harvesting, which we changed the name. We call it ballot collection because ballot harvesting, that sounds like they’re trying to take like an organ out of you or something. Liver, kidney, sounds kind of nasty. So we call it ballot collection. We wound up educating so many churches in California. And our first big attempt was Mike Garcia ran for office in California’s 25th district because the Democrat congresswoman had an affair with a high school student. And so there was a special election. So we went up there. We mobilized the churches in the area. We had the boxes deployed. And we had cameras set up. And we had people standing there monitoring the boxes. People started bringing in the votes. Mike Garcia campaigned. But people had a place to bring their vote. They came and they brought their ballot. They watched it go into the box. We collected those and took them on camera with armed guards to the County Board of Registrar’s Office in Los Angeles. Guess what happened? That was a special election. Two years later, we come to a cycle of elections And we wind up doing the same thing in various districts up and down the state. And we win more congressional seats. We won more mayoral seats and this started growing. Pastors started signing up this money. Remind you, this is the state of California. And I’m telling you right now that follow the math. In the last election, when the Republicans took the house, Remember, it wasn’t settled for a little while. There was some counting going on. And what transpired was this, was that California sent more conservative candidates to Washington DC that caused Nancy Pelosi to lose her job. Watch, God had a plan. McCarthy was put in place for just a season. for a season for a reason, because God had Mike Johnson in the wings. He’s a real man of God. California, keep your eye on it. If you sold property there, you should have hung on to it. Things are turning around. People are going to churches. Every church I know that stood during and ministered during COVID has exploded. Friends and family, listen. Without the foundation given to Lisa and I, by Dr. James Dobson and Shirley. We wouldn’t have known how to raise our kids Our kids are patriots. They love Jesus. Our grandkids are patriots. They love Jesus. Our church loves the Lord. We’re building a culture of biblical masculinity. It’s incredible what’s happening. 2,000 men on a Sunday evening come out to learn how to be a man of God. The women’s ministry is exploding, teaching moms how to be moms and how elderly women can nurse up or raise up the young women who don’t even know what to do with the baby. It’s happening, friends. And listen, I wouldn’t change this moment in time for anything in the world. God is doing a great thing. All he wants us to do is stand. And I encourage you, if you would go back home and challenge your pastor, you got to stand. Pastor, you got to stand. If your pastor won’t stand, there’s a verse in the Bible. Jesus says, dust off your feet and go to a place that is affecting the culture. I’m out of time. Dr. Dobson. Surely we love you guys. Your voice must continue more than ever before. I pray, we pray that there’ll be those that have come behind you and pick up your ministry and catapult it into the future generations because we need you. God bless you so much.

SPEAKER 02 : 22:46

Well, when we come together as Christians, there is no limit to what God can accomplish through us for his kingdom. Friend, you’re listening to a special presentation from Pastor Jack Hibbs here on Family Talk. And if you’d like to share this message with a friend or loved one, you can do so using the Family Talk app or by going to drjamesdobson.org forward slash Family Talk. Well, as the season of giving draws to a close, I want to remind you there’s still time to double your impact through our December matching grant. For just a little while longer, December ends tomorrow, every dollar you donate to Family Talk will be matched and therefore doubled, making twice the difference for families all across America and literally all over the world. But this opportunity ends in less than 42 hours. So make your tax-deductible donation right now when you go to drjamesdobson.org. or when you call 877-732-6825. And if you found today’s message to be impactful, you will definitely want to have a copy of our 2024 Best of Broadcast collection, because it’s a part of that collection. This carefully curated six CD set contains the very best broadcast from this past year here on Family Talk. Featuring trusted voices sharing biblical wisdom for you and your family. From tackling cultural issues to strengthening marriages to parenting with purpose. These timeless conversations will encourage and equip you in the years ahead. Now we’ll send you the complete collection either as a digital download or a six CD set. As our way of thanking you for your gift of any amount in support of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute. So you can request the 2024 Best of Broadcast Collection online. When you go to drjamesdobson.org or by calling us at 877-732-6825. And keep in mind, our special matching grant is in place today and tomorrow. So your donation and your request to receive the best of broadcast CD will be doubled, double the impact and receive the special six CD set. Again, go to drjamesdobson.org and make your best donation there in our secure website or call us at 877-732-6825. And if you can get it in the mail today, get it postmarked by tomorrow, you can send your request through the U.S. mail when you write to Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, P.O. Box 39000, Colorado Springs, Colorado, the zip code 80949. Again, that’s P.O. Box 39000, Colorado Springs, Colorado, the zip code 80949. Your support keeps Family Talk’s message reaching families all across the nation on the radio and online. So give us a call, drop us a line, or go to drjamesdobson.org today. I’m Roger Marsh. Thanks so much for making Family Talk a part of your day. Hope to see you again same time tomorrow for the next edition of Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk. This has been a presentation of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.