In the wake of unprecedented challenges, including the devastating fires in Southern California, Pastor Jack urges support for those affected while reinforcing the spiritual call to action for every Christian. Embrace the new year by prioritizing worship, prayer, and a lifelong commitment to living out God’s word amidst life’s turmoil and transitions. With hope and determination, face the future knowing that God walks with you in every season.
And you felt God moving through your life. You saw God moving. It was a powerful life, wasn’t it? And then something drew you away. You’re not so excited about God anymore. Maybe you’re not seeing the things that you used to see with God. You have moved from him. James says, draw near to God. Make that place again close to him and he will draw near to you.
SPEAKER 01 :
This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hey, Pastor Jack here. I want to give you guys a quick update on what’s going on in Southern California in wake of the devastating and forever life-altering fires that have ravaged the Southland. Things have never been like this before. And I mean that where a fire has never been seen like this before, where the sky was aflame and the winds were blowing 80, 90 miles an hour, flames and fire horizontally. has devastated homes by the tens of thousands and there’s over 150 000 people without a home and i say all that my friends to encourage you to consider this please please consider giving to the samaritan’s purse organization franklin graham we’re working with them we’re on the grounds here in our own neighborhood so to speak of los angeles malibu the palisades eaton canyon altadena areas of pasadena And it is overwhelmingly epic. I promise you this. Give what you can to SamaritansPurse.org. SamaritansPurse.org. Go there and send support to them regarding the Southern California fires. Please do not send us any of your money. Do not send it to Real Life. Do not send it to Real Radio. Please send it direct. Your contribution is a 501c3 tax-deductible contribution to the right people. Samaritan’s Purse, and you can go to SamaritansPurse.org. Thank you very much.
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on today’s edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues with his series called The Book of James and a message titled Things That Christians Do. Now, before it became one of the books of the New Testament, the Book of James was a letter sent to the Jews who chose to follow Christ. And as new believers, James shares with them that we are to look within us to see if we are truly Christians. You see, just like we have birthmarks and traits identifying who we are, there are birthmarks that identify us as believers in Christ. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that the picture James is painting for us is the Christian bowing down toward an open Bible, ready to do God’s will, and ready to seek Him above all other things, now with his message called Things That Christians Do. Here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
SPEAKER 02 :
We’re to be submissive to God and also to human authorities which come from God. In Hebrews 13, 17, In a spiritual context, church, it says, obey those who have the rule over you and be submissive to them because they watch out for your souls and they will have to give an account in the day of judgment. You know, you may or may not like me. You might be visiting here and saying, I don’t like you at all. Well, you know what, right now, at least while we’re here, I’m teaching the Bible. We’re going through the word verse by verse. And by God’s decree, even if you don’t like this sweater, that’s causing me to sweat. You have to, unto God, say, Lord, I’m going to obey the word that’s being taught in this ministry as I sit here. Lord, I have come today to bring myself under the position that you, God, are in control, that it’s not an accident that I’m here. I’m here for a purpose. Lord, do you want me to glean and to learn and to hear your word? And you may completely disapprove of this vessel giving it. It’s not me or my word. It’s him. And so the writer, I believe it’s Paul in Hebrew, says that we’re to be submissive. And all of us are submissive. I had a conversation this week with Pastor Chuck. And there’s something going on in Europe and we’re talking about it. And it was great because he was very concerned about a certain issue. And… gladly and lovingly and willingly so, I said, I’ll do anything you want me to do concerning that issue if it’s going to help matters. And he said, great, I’ll get back to you. Listen, that particular man is a great example and someone that we’d love to, and we do all submit to. But the fact of the matter is, what if it’s somebody different? Not that they’re unscriptural, but they rub you the wrong way. But the word of God is presented. And God has told you to be at a particular church? You’re growing, you’re challenged in the teaching or in the ministry? Listen, don’t let your personal things come into conflict with God’s command of authority which says be submissive to those who are in governmental positions over us and spiritual positions over us. That’s part of the birthmark of the Christian. The first birthmark is to submit unto God. Very important. Being submissive. The second birthmark we see this morning, it says there, look with me, verse 7, resist the devil and he’ll flee from you. The second birthmark is Christians resist Satan’s attacks. You know this verse well. 1 Peter 5, verse 8 says, be sober. That doesn’t mean stop drinking, although you should stop drinking. You shouldn’t be drinking at all, right? You’re not supposed to drink. You’re not supposed to get buzzed. You’re not supposed to get fuzzy. That’s not the word that it’s talking about here. Be sober means grow up. Think level-headed. Mature thoughts in your head. Have gravity in your thinking. He says, be vigilant. That means constantly be watching and be looking. Because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith. How do you resist the devil? Being in the faith. Knowing what your Bible teaches. But the Christian, the second birthmark of the Christian is that the Christian resists the devil’s attacks. That’s what he’s telling us in verse 7. We resist. Romans 6, verse 13. Paul says, and I do not present, or do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to do sin. Your members, my members are our body parts, our eyes, our nose, our feet, every bit of us. Don’t subject them to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God, for sin shall not have dominion over us. Did you know that? Sin just doesn’t walk down the street and say, you, over here. Oh, no way. Listen, the second birthmark of the Christian is that we can stand up in the faith and resist the devil. Christians get encouraged. You don’t have to. I don’t have to fall to that sin that we may have been falling to yesterday. We can stand up with the word of God in our hearts and say, wait a minute. I’m not going to succumb to this. I’m going to pick up the word of faith, the word of God. I’m going to apply this word to my life. I am submitted to the authority of God. And I am now going to resist the devil and you stand strong against the attacks of the enemy. Are you doing that? Am I doing it? James wants to know. We’re to live like this. This is what Christians do. Well, I’m going to still consider myself a Christian, but I’m going to delete the first two birthmarks. I don’t believe in them. Then you’re not a Christian. James is speaking to the Christians. Christians submit to God’s authority. Christians resist the attacks of the devil. I love how serious he is. Of course, in Ephesians 6, verse 16 and 17, the scripture says, Above all, take the shield of faith, that huge Roman shield, wherewith you will be able to quench all, not some of them, not most of them, all of the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Isn’t that great? Isn’t that great? The Word of God, the Bible, has supernatural power that the devil cannot fight against. It’s not the crucifix, by the way. If you’ve seen a movie, you know, you’ve ever seen a movie and there’s a lot of stuff going on, the guy holds the cross up there. You know, a cross is a horrible and hideous thing. It’s a terrible thing. Can you imagine having around your neck a gold-plated electric chair? That’s what the cross was in those days, an electric chair. It was an implement to kill. You know, we wear it, it’s so shiny and it’s nice. Listen, it’s a horrible thing. You can take that cross and say, get thee behind me, go away, and hold up that cross. That cross is not going to do anything. That works for movies, okay? You’d be just as safe as putting garlic around your neck. Maybe more so with garlic, I don’t know. That’s superstitious stuff. The cross is not sacred. The preaching of the cross is sacred. It’s the power of the cross that Christ hung on, what he did for us, not a piece of jewelry. Resist the devil steadfast and you must flee, standing hard against the devil. It’s not jewelry, it’s not a robe some priest would wear, it’s not incense being spread around a room of a possessed person, and it’s not holy water. People say, you know, I’ve got to get these implements and I’ve got to have some holy water because we’re having demonic attacks in our home and in our lives. It’s not holy water. Have you ever heard what Walter Martin said about holy water? The validity, he said, of holy water. Walter Martin had committed, performed a lot of exorcist type of things. events, he had been to a lot of these things where he was called upon to exercise a demon out of people. And Walter Martin says, you know how you get holy water? He says, you take water from your tap and you put it on the stove and you boil the hell out of the water. And there you have holy water. And you say, well, that’s ridiculous. It’s been specially blessed. You can’t do that. It doesn’t work. It’s superstition. What is the power of The Christian is to stand and resist the devil steadfast. We’re to stand against the enemy.
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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.
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The third birthmark is that we’re to be seeking God above all other things. Look what he says. He says, draw near to God and God will draw near to you. Are you feeling a little lonely, a little away from God? Listen, God didn’t move. He didn’t pack up and leave. Are you feeling distant from God? Then maybe you’ve moved. The Bible says right here, James is telling us, draw near to God. The word draw is a wonderful word. It means to make near again by approaching, to get over to him, go to him, get up and go to him. Well, how do I do that? Jesus says, just repent and go about your first works as a Christian. Remember when you first got saved, you read your Bible, you went to church, you fellowshiped with his people, you prayed. And when you read the Bible, you got up and said, you know what? It says right here that we’re going to go into all the world and preach the gospel. So let’s go. I’m going to start next door at my neighbor’s house. And you felt God moving through your life. You saw God moving. It was a powerful life, wasn’t it? And then something drew you away. And you’re not so excited about God anymore. Maybe you’re not seeing the things that you used to see with God. You have moved from Him. James says, draw near to God, make that place again close to him and he will draw near to you. What is implied here by James is the Old Testament picture of the priest going in once a year to the Holy of Holies. Once a year, the priests of Israel would go in before God Almighty over the Ark of the Covenant. that you’ve seen in Raiders of the Lost Ark, that movie, that the glory of God would shine right above those two angels that are bowing their heads down. And once a year, that priest would make an offering for himself and for the sins of the nation. And that’s exactly what James is alluding to here. Draw near to God. And every Jewish reader of his epistle would have said, excellent, James. Thank you. Yes. Now through Christ, I am a priest. I’m a royal priesthood. I’m going to draw near to God. Thanks for the encouragement, James. James says, just like the Old Testament priests got up and moved into God’s presence. So now you get up and you move into God’s presence. That’s the third birthmark of the Christian, drawing near to God. I don’t understand it. I can’t explain it. But the moment I gave my heart to Jesus Christ, as with you, he met all of your need internally. You were completely satisfied. But how is it in the world, in this life as a Christian, you can be so satisfied but yet be starving to have more of God? Isn’t that weird? How does he do that? Jesus says, if you drink of the water I give you, you’ll never be thirsty again. But yet you drink that water and you’re completely content, but you’ve got to have more of his water. But notice, it’s his water, not someone else’s water. Jesus says, you eat of the bread that I have to give you and you’ll be full. And you’ll have life. And the moment you eat of the bread he gives, you can’t wait to eat more, but it has to be his bread. That’s why Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice, they follow me, and a stranger they will not follow. Because he is so satisfying. Seeking God above all things is the third birthmark of the believer. I’m going to give you a couple things regarding seeking him. Jot it down. So important. In John chapter 4, verse 23 and 24, the Bible says, Jesus said, The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers of God will worship in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. He says, God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So jot this down, if you would. Seeking God, above all things, is to become a worshiper. Well, my voice isn’t very good. That’s not what he said. He didn’t ask you. Those who have a good voice, sing to me a song. No, it says make a joyful noise unto the Lord. And if you sing like I do, it’s quite a noise. We’re to draw near to Him in worship. We’re to draw near to Him in ministry. Ephesians 2.10 tells us, for we are His creation in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared before Him that we should walk in them. We’re to be doing good works. The word, listen, good works. The word good applies to God. This is interesting. The Bible says there are no men, no women on earth good. The word good only applies to God. We use it, oh, that was a good cake. Well, in the real legal sense of the word, that was a godly cake. It doesn’t make any sense. The word good is connected to only the personage of God himself. That’s why Jesus said to the man that came up to him and said, good master, what must I do? Remember? Jesus says, why do you call me good? There’s only one good but God. The word good is of God, of divinity. Good day meant in the early years of English, God’s day. Goodbye used to be God be with you. God be with you. Now we say goodbye. God be with ye. God’s goodbye to you means God go with you. Good morning, God’s morning to you. It’s beautiful when you realize that. Good works He’s created for us as Christians. The word good is agathos, and works is ergon, and it means benevolent, God-like works. That’s what we’re to do. God has created for you and I, you, you, not me, you, your particular life, you, specially created works for you to perform in the body of Christ and in this world. I can’t do it, and the person next to you can’t do it. God has done this for you, and He’s created them for me. If you’re a Christian, we’re to be doing these things in worship to him. Another thing that we’re to be seeking him regarding our future, look at verse 8. Verse 8 tells us here, and we’re still under this point of the third birthmark of seeking the Lord. Verse 8 says, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. He says, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. One of the things, as we get to this, one of the things that we want to realize is that we’re seeking God also regarding our future. We are coming up at the end of the year, people. And this is an absolute crack up to me. Pretty soon we’re going to go to the checkout stands of the stores and they’re going to have, in fact, they come out around the first of November. Have you noticed? The predictions for 1999. And it’s got all these lunatic false prophet people on there. And they’re going to make their statements. And you know what? People buy those things. They want to know what the future holds. Well, don’t read those things. Oh, I want to know what the future holds. So people delve into the horoscope, which is very dangerous. God says, in fact, he condemns that practice. Oh, but I want to know the future. Inside of man is a desire to know what’s coming. I don’t know why. We would just worry about it in advance. Man, if I’m going to go to my doctor, you know, I want him to treat me and fix it. I don’t want him to tell me too much about the future. Just fix it, will you? Even if we’re given good news. Hey, in two years, you’re going to get this thing. And for the whole of two years, you’re like, and you got it already spent, or it’s already broke, or whatever. The future. We can seek God in our future. Listen, very important, because verse 8 tells us the fourth birthmark the Christian needs to leave behind. The Christian needs to leave behind the old world. When he says, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Isn’t this amazing? James is talking to the congregation. He wasn’t afraid of them turning on him, I guess. He looked right at him and said, clean up your hands, you sinners. You might say, well, that’s pretty condescending. He’s like putting himself above everybody. No, the construction of the word is, we need to cleanse our hands, we, us, who are sinners. That’s us. Does that bother you? To come to the realization that we’re sinners, that you’re a sinner, I’m a sinner. Not for the Christian. The Christian knows this.
SPEAKER 01 :
pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Things That Christians Do. Thanks for spending some time with us today. We appreciate it. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Book of James. It’s a series on true Christianity and how it creates a new way of living. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hey everybody, according to Psalm 65, verse 11, the Psalmist wrote that may the Lord bless your year with abundance. May your path drip with increase. It’s a blessing. Psalm 65, 11. And I just want to talk to you briefly about that. We are still so fresh into a new year that we can almost have forgotten that. Look, from January 1st to today, the news has been so profound and so actually threatening. And I’m coming to you from Southern California, where we are basically burning down, right? So what’s the thing? What’s the deal? How do I go into this new year? Understand this, my friends, as we go into this new year, more than ever before in life, number one, we’ve never been this late in the hour of church history. Friends, listen. Don’t take things in a nonchalant way. Don’t take things common. You have never lived this long before. The calendar has never been down the corridors of time as late as it is today. And the fact of the matter is time is running out. So the issue is this. You want to commit this year to the Lord in a very, very deliberate way. You do not want to be apathetic about that. Having said that, number two, you’re going to want to make sure that you give yourself to Bible reading and make it a strong discipline. How about this? What if you were to say to yourself, I am not going to eat food until I read my Bible. I promise you, you will read your Bible because you’re gonna wanna eat food. And that’s what I’m asking you to do, to join me in doing that very thing, to read Bible first before I get to the food, to put God first in the day before I put myself or the calendar before the day. And then the third thing is this, worship. Boy, this is a big one, worship. Because first of all, worship, according to Romans 12, verses one and two, worship is our very existence. that’s who we are what we say what we do listen technically what i’m doing with you right now this is an offering of worship to the lord because the hope is to draw you closer to jesus but how you live your life what you ingest what these eyes are allowed to see is either pagan worship or or it’s holy in worship and to the believer God wants it to be holy worship and in that I want you to consider this as I wrap this up your life is to be a life that is expecting God to move and to provide for you this year and You are now committing yourself to put the Word of God first, and then you’re going to be a worshiper of God, and you’re going to start today. And to do that, I would love to invite you to a little aspect of it, because most of this, friends, listen, it’s between you and God alone. In fact, the true, real you, if you’re a believer or not, is proven by your private time with God. Do you have a private time with God? Believers do. People who are going to heaven have got to be taking frequent dosages of heaven before we get there, because we’re hooked. on heaven. And so friends, listen, I’m going to invite you to join me at 5 a.m. Pacific time, 5 a.m. Pacific time every day in the year 2025. We’ve been meeting all these days thus far since january 1st 5 a.m pacific time for five minutes i’ll lead you in a prayer and you’re going to be nice to me because i roll out of bed so to speak and just come to you live but we’ll pray together and here’s what’s fun about it you can go to hashtag lift daily prayer hashtag lift daily prayer and you can join us and you can listen and you can post your own prayer in that grand community that has been forming. And together we can hold each other accountable and we can move forward praying for one another and praying with each other. So stand strong 2025 in the word and make it your worship. God bless you in Jesus name. Amen.
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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.
