WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.880 Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim 2 00:00:05.880 --> 00:00:10.680 truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. Hey, you know what? I've noticed 3 00:00:10.680 --> 00:00:15.440 something as I get older. My ears are getting bigger. But is my hearing better? 4 00:00:15.440 --> 00:00:19.560 No, my hearing's not getting better. You would think it would. Well, what about 5 00:00:19.560 --> 00:00:25.640 hearing God in the heart? What about being led by God in life? Let's find out how that works. 6 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:35.640 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 7 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:41.480 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in 8 00:00:41.480 --> 00:00:45.920 Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, 9 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:51.520 that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. 10 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:56.880 Now, open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 11 00:01:21.520 --> 00:01:29.040 I tell you, maybe you don't know this, but being with the podcast audience, what we do here 12 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:34.320 with you together, it's a very small group of people. I wish you could kind of see where 13 00:01:34.320 --> 00:01:46.200 I'm at. It's about 12 by 12, maybe 12 by 14 feet. That's all it is. And we're just tucked 14 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:52.440 in the corner off from the real life network studios off in a corner. It's a little makeshift 15 00:01:52.440 --> 00:01:58.840 operation. But I love what I love about it is the organics. This is something that I get to 16 00:01:59.720 --> 00:02:05.640 be myself the most, which it doesn't mean that I'm not myself and other settings. It's just that 17 00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:13.640 there's not the pressure and there's not the camera crew and the dynamics and the whole 18 00:02:13.640 --> 00:02:20.120 that stuff. So I just really want to thank you for allowing us to be as it were in your living 19 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:26.360 room as the old school comment used to be. So thank you for allowing us into your life. We're 20 00:02:26.360 --> 00:02:30.280 going to be talking today about hearing God's voice, how to hear God's voice, how do I know if I'm 21 00:02:30.280 --> 00:02:35.560 being led by this spirit of God? So for example, throughout scripture, I'll just paraphrase for time 22 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:43.240 say throughout scripture, the Lord spoke to Abraham and said Abraham Abraham. The Lord spoke 23 00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:54.200 to Moses out of a burning bush, right? And the Lord spoke to Elijah when he was running from 24 00:02:54.760 --> 00:03:01.320 Jezebel. And when he spoke, it wasn't in the earthquake, it wasn't in the fire, it wasn't in the 25 00:03:01.320 --> 00:03:07.640 wind, but it was a still small voice. That is a good indicator in the direction that we're going 26 00:03:07.640 --> 00:03:16.360 today. Then we have the Lord Himself in flesh, in the gospel accounts, and you have Jesus 27 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:24.600 speaking. And of course, he being God has the same tenor, the same tone, and the same 28 00:03:25.160 --> 00:03:33.000 structure in the way he speaks. And what does he say? He says things like this. And the Lord said 29 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:44.440 unto him, Peter, Peter, or Martha, Martha, right? And why is there the repeat? Why do we 30 00:03:44.440 --> 00:03:50.280 complicate the hearing of God's voice so much? Well, for one thing, I really love when the 31 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:55.480 Lord says Abraham Abraham. Some people have joked around and said that that's how you have to 32 00:03:55.480 --> 00:04:00.360 talk to a man. You have to call him twice because he's not listening. Well, that's cute. And it is 33 00:04:00.360 --> 00:04:09.240 true. But he did it to Martha as well as others. The point is this, when God speaks, how do you know? 34 00:04:10.520 --> 00:04:18.680 So what has brought Genesis to this podcast today is actually earlier today, I was on a phone 35 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:25.240 and I had someone tell me that they were making a decision, they were going in a direction, 36 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:33.880 and they had a really good feeling about it. And I thought the decision that's being made is too 37 00:04:33.880 --> 00:04:42.040 clinical of a decision. It's too analytical of a decision to bring that. You don't know the 38 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:47.960 setting, but it was a high tech setting. And it was the regard, it was regarding bringing on 39 00:04:47.960 --> 00:04:55.320 individuals. And listen, we can get so caught up in speaking christianese that 40 00:04:56.840 --> 00:05:06.200 can you imagine, think about this, can you imagine a SpaceX strapping people into the rocket for 41 00:05:06.200 --> 00:05:16.680 launch? And mission control turns and says, you know, torrents, do we have a green light? That's 42 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:21.160 one of their launch facilities. Vandenberg, are we ready to go? Can you imagine if those who are in 43 00:05:21.160 --> 00:05:28.120 charge said, we've got a really good feeling about this. You think you think you would light that 44 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:34.040 rocket with people in it? Absolutely not. So when we talk about God's voice, are we actually that 45 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:43.240 alone? I'm being sarcastic right now. Are we so adrift as believers in the 21st century that 46 00:05:43.880 --> 00:05:51.080 we we think that's what the Lord is calling us to do? Or we feel like it. I've talked to a bunch 47 00:05:51.080 --> 00:05:59.480 of people. They feel like it. Friends, listen, we need to apply the scriptures to our lives 48 00:05:59.480 --> 00:06:05.800 and the characteristic of God as he uses his scripture. Number one thing is that when God speaks to 49 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:14.520 you, he will speak to you the word of God almost always in every situation. Now it is a fact that 50 00:06:14.520 --> 00:06:21.720 God can choose to speak to anyone anywhere at any time as he so chooses. He is God any sovereign. 51 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:31.880 God can right now speak to an aborigini in the jungles or in the woodlands or in the fields. He 52 00:06:31.880 --> 00:06:37.080 can just speak to them. He could speak to someone who's in the Amazon who's never seen a white man 53 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:41.560 who's running around with his spare and he's got his little gourd on, his little 54 00:06:42.440 --> 00:06:49.000 underwear and he's hunting snakes and lizards and monkeys. God can speak to that man, that woman, 55 00:06:49.320 --> 00:06:55.320 those kids. Anyway, he wants and he does, according to Romans chapter one, but know this. Number one, 56 00:06:55.320 --> 00:07:00.680 always God will never, never, ever contradict his word when he speaks. That's how we know it's him 57 00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:08.440 speaking because God is true and he will not contradict himself. In fact, it's Psalm 138 that says that 58 00:07:08.440 --> 00:07:15.880 he esteems his word above his own name. So let me read you a verse and let's unpack that about 59 00:07:15.880 --> 00:07:21.080 hearing God's voice, discerning God's voice, being led by the spirit of God. We need this now, 60 00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:28.520 friends, more than ever before. Psalm 23 verse 1 says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He 61 00:07:28.520 --> 00:07:35.640 makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters, the leading of the Lord. 62 00:07:35.640 --> 00:07:41.640 You see, yeah, but David said that 3,000 years ago. True, but God never changes and we've got more 63 00:07:41.640 --> 00:07:48.920 of the Bible now available to us than David ever had. So he leads me beside still waters. 64 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:55.240 He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Think about 65 00:07:55.240 --> 00:08:03.480 that for a second. And so what's very important about that is as he speaks to us, we are being 66 00:08:04.280 --> 00:08:11.880 directed by him and we're being moved by him into what he wants us to do. And so God will use 67 00:08:11.880 --> 00:08:16.840 his word. So how do we know that we're being led by God? He's going to lead us according to 68 00:08:16.840 --> 00:08:21.800 the scripture. And so it presupposes that you and I read the Bible. We read the word and this 69 00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:29.320 is probably the number one area where Christians cause themselves to be anemic on a daily basis. 70 00:08:29.400 --> 00:08:35.880 Is that he we neglected to get into the Word of God because we're in a hurry. We've got a bagel in 71 00:08:35.880 --> 00:08:40.120 our mouth. We've got the coffee in our coat and we're car keys and we're running out and we 72 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:45.080 didn't consult the Lord in the morning. And then we wonder why the day has been so tough. 73 00:08:45.880 --> 00:08:51.400 And it's going to be tough, my friends, if you don't make him the priority for the day, 74 00:08:51.400 --> 00:08:56.040 because that's how you're going to be led by him. And then let's listen. Let's make sure we get 75 00:08:56.760 --> 00:09:03.480 this. We must have our ear trained to hear him. Let's listen to this Psalm 32 verses 6 through 8. 76 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:10.840 For this cause everyone who was godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found. 77 00:09:12.280 --> 00:09:19.160 Wow, that's powerful. Surely in a flood of great waters, they shall not come near him. 78 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:27.400 You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with 79 00:09:27.400 --> 00:09:31.880 songs of deliverance. Listen to all of this is gorgeous. Isn't it? Verse 8 says, 80 00:09:31.880 --> 00:09:39.560 I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go. I will guide you with my eye. 81 00:09:40.280 --> 00:09:46.760 Psalm 32 verses 6 through 8. What a tremendous promise that is. So this is the Lord saying, 82 00:09:47.240 --> 00:09:51.800 you consult me. I'm going to lead you and guide you. So how does that happen? So we get up in the 83 00:09:51.800 --> 00:09:57.240 morning and it seems so random, doesn't it? Even if we have a our daily Bible reading that we're 84 00:09:57.240 --> 00:10:02.360 going through on a daily basis, or maybe you just say in the morning, I'm going to pick up, I'm going 85 00:10:02.360 --> 00:10:09.000 to read right out of Romans chapter 1 or first Corinthians or second chronicles. And you just 86 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:15.480 start reading and you may think, watch this. I have to be honest with you. This is how often works 87 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:23.720 in my life to be very transparent with you is I go through my wife and I Lisa, we go through the 88 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:30.040 one year Bible together. And then privately, I'm doing my own reading. And for me personally, 89 00:10:30.040 --> 00:10:37.400 I might read I might read three chapters or I might read three verses. I don't have a set routine. 90 00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:44.760 And so as I'm reading, for example, I'm in the book of Acts and I'm reading and I read seven 91 00:10:44.760 --> 00:10:51.880 verses. And something catches my eye or my ear about it. And so I'm thinking about it. And I 92 00:10:51.880 --> 00:10:56.760 actually do what I'm acting out though, you know, right now for you to better comprehend what I'm 93 00:10:56.760 --> 00:11:03.560 talking about is I'll actually just sit my Bible down and I'm just pause. And I'm thinking and 94 00:11:03.560 --> 00:11:10.040 about what I just read. I might look out the window or I might just close my eyes. And I might say, 95 00:11:10.040 --> 00:11:19.240 Lord, I stopped at verse six right now because I don't understand it or what was that like 96 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:26.280 when that went on or that happened or Lord, there's stuff going on in my life. I think there 97 00:11:26.280 --> 00:11:33.720 might be a I think there might be a gem. Here's somewhere in this passage or verse. Lord, if any of 98 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:41.400 this I'm reading today who you know all things, it's not a coincidence. Is there something here 99 00:11:41.400 --> 00:11:47.480 that you want me to know about either regarding the issues I'm involved in or what's going to happen 100 00:11:47.480 --> 00:11:54.840 today? Now here's what's fun about it. Lord, only you know. So I'm asking you to cause my ear 101 00:11:55.800 --> 00:12:01.880 to be attentive to you as I live out my day before you. I'm going to get up now. I've got lots to 102 00:12:01.880 --> 00:12:08.440 do. Please interrupt me any time you want. But when you speak, please don't let me miss it. Don't 103 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:13.720 let me be too busy. Please make my heart sensitive, connect it to my ears that I might hear you 104 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:19.800 when you speak because I want to be led by you. So off we go, right? And we're busy and we're 105 00:12:19.800 --> 00:12:28.040 driving, commuting, working, reading, studying, media or shopping or it doesn't matter day off, 106 00:12:28.040 --> 00:12:36.280 day on. It doesn't matter. Whatever is going on. I love this. He's so faithful in my life and he'll 107 00:12:36.280 --> 00:12:45.400 do the same to you that I could be with Lisa on one of our days off together. And I'm helping her. 108 00:12:45.400 --> 00:12:53.240 I seem like I spend a lot of my time with what we call returns. Is this a day that we do returns? 109 00:12:53.320 --> 00:12:58.680 These are returns for clothes returns for stuff and we go to the mall and I'm I'm the I'm the 110 00:12:58.680 --> 00:13:03.640 donkey. And I'm happy to be the donkey. I'm carrying the stuff and we just we're going to these 111 00:13:03.640 --> 00:13:07.240 stores and I actually love it. As long as I'm with her, it's great. I don't care what we're doing. 112 00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:14.680 It's great. And we'll, you know, live our day and out of nowhere where I'm not even dial. I'm not 113 00:13:14.680 --> 00:13:19.000 even focused on God. I'm looking, you know, I don't know how your malls are, but here in Southern 114 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:24.440 California, you go through the mall and there's there's Tesla stores with cars in them inside 115 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:29.480 the mall. And I'm looking and there's the Tesla truck and it's like, wow, that thing looks crazy. 116 00:13:29.480 --> 00:13:35.000 That thing's wild. And out of nowhere, the the the verse comes to my mind instantly. It has nothing 117 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:42.840 to do with Tesla. But the verse that he brings to my attention is that when I was reading the book 118 00:13:42.920 --> 00:13:49.800 of Acts, he had mentioned the power that you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon 119 00:13:49.800 --> 00:13:54.920 you. And what triggered it in my particular moment? I'm looking at all these Tesla batteries 120 00:13:55.640 --> 00:14:01.400 on the wall and they're showing you how they work. And then the the the sign says, you know, 121 00:14:01.400 --> 00:14:07.160 connect to power. And boom, God brings up the verse. And now I'm not even aware that I'm standing 122 00:14:07.160 --> 00:14:15.000 in front of a Tesla store. I'm now standing in the mall looking totally normal. And here's 123 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:24.120 this mere little human having a moment with the eternal God about if God consent or if if Tesla 124 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:30.920 consent power to a battery to a car so that you can get up and go and drive all over the place, 125 00:14:31.400 --> 00:14:41.400 then my God can send power to me so that I can get up and go and do and be all over the place. 126 00:14:41.400 --> 00:14:48.600 It's not my power. It's got to be done in his power. It's not by power nor by might, but by my 127 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:56.440 spirit say at the Lord Zechariah 46, oh my goodness, Lord, that makes sense. This vehicle is dead 128 00:14:56.440 --> 00:15:03.720 in this mall because that's that's all that's required of it. It's just to look frankly 129 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:09.960 strange. I mean, the Tesla truck looks weird, but that's what it is. And it's useless 130 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:15.560 until it's powered up. Guess what? I'm useless until I'm powered up. 131 00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:22.520 A woman last night after church said, I don't know how you do it. You're with thousands of people 132 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:27.800 every morning at 5 a.m. That's true on a national prayer, international, 133 00:15:29.400 --> 00:15:36.520 a FaceTime prayer gathering. That's true. But then maybe my last post will be at 10 or 11 at night, 134 00:15:36.520 --> 00:15:41.000 the night before that's true. And with all the stuff that's going on, I don't know how you do it. 135 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:47.080 And I told her, I said, listen, don't don't think that that I'm this superhuman. I'm not. I said, 136 00:15:47.160 --> 00:15:53.080 what you don't know is how often I'm on the verge of absolute exhaustion. She goes, but I don't see 137 00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:59.640 you like that. And I said, that's because God will give me the strength to do what he wants me to do. 138 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:06.040 And when he's done with me, I'm worthless. I mean, I've got to crash. 139 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:15.000 The power was provided for the moment when God needed. All this comes out of my what's 140 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:26.280 seemed to be almost directionalists reading time of my day. I heard from the Lord. It inspired me. 141 00:16:27.560 --> 00:16:33.560 And so it caused me to think differently. And then when that woman last night asked me what she 142 00:16:33.560 --> 00:16:39.640 did or made the comment about my energy, I left. I said, if you only knew how weak I am. 143 00:16:40.120 --> 00:16:47.160 And I got to just thinking, you know what? Thank you, Lord. You're awesome. You're just amazing. 144 00:16:47.800 --> 00:16:52.200 So listen, write this one down too, if you would. It's Proverbs chapter three verses five and six, 145 00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:56.600 such a famous passage. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. 146 00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:04.280 And lean not on your own understanding. And all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your 147 00:17:04.280 --> 00:17:09.640 paths. That's beautiful. Is it not? So number one, trust in the Lord with all your heart. 148 00:17:10.360 --> 00:17:15.240 Warning, line two, do not lean on your own understanding. This is where you and I as humans 149 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:22.920 always, always get messed up. We think we understand the situation so much that we know the answer. 150 00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:28.600 Do we really? We think we know what's going on. So we make a comment about it. Do we really? 151 00:17:29.560 --> 00:17:36.280 We think and we can conclude that this is what must be what's happening in the world around me. 152 00:17:36.280 --> 00:17:41.880 Are you sure? You see what happens? We make assumptions based upon our feelings, 153 00:17:42.760 --> 00:17:47.640 rather than what the Word of God says and the Word of God says for us to trust in the Lord with all 154 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:53.800 of our heart. Don't lean on your own understanding. But in all your ways acknowledge him, seek him, 155 00:17:54.440 --> 00:18:01.640 wait upon him, get to his Word, consult with him. Conclusion, he will direct your paths. 156 00:18:03.320 --> 00:18:09.720 So I'm going to say something very, very difficult to hear. It's difficult to say. 157 00:18:10.440 --> 00:18:16.680 It's probably difficult for me to explain. If I practiced just Proverbs 3, 158 00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:25.000 5 and 6, if I just practiced that and made it a rule of my life, memorized it, made it a rule of my life, 159 00:18:26.280 --> 00:18:38.520 put it around my home and office. Do I have to make mistakes? If I have that embedded in my soul, 160 00:18:38.520 --> 00:18:43.320 that passage, do I have to make mistakes? You say, what do you mean? Are you saying that you're 161 00:18:43.800 --> 00:18:51.560 not a sinner? Oh, no, no, no. We all sin in thought, indeed. We all sin daily. We don't mean 162 00:18:51.560 --> 00:18:58.920 too, but we do. That's the way it is. I'm talking about decision-making. Decision-making is not a sin 163 00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:05.800 unless you decide on doing sin. Decision-making is not a sin unless you decide things without God. 164 00:19:06.840 --> 00:19:11.000 But if you today say, I'm not going to make any more decisions unless I hear from the Lord, 165 00:19:11.400 --> 00:19:20.760 I want you to know that you are going to wind up not making a mistake. As long as you keep yourself 166 00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:28.120 out of the conclusion, you're going to do well. Let God speak to you, and here's, 167 00:19:28.120 --> 00:19:31.960 watch, I'll live out the problem with you. Well, that's great, Jack, but I got to answer that 168 00:19:31.960 --> 00:19:38.840 guy in 20 minutes. Do you now? Right? All of us get that pressure. You know, listen, here's the deal, 169 00:19:38.840 --> 00:19:43.880 but you got to call us back in 10 minutes. Do you feel pressured? Then don't call them back. 170 00:19:44.920 --> 00:19:50.840 Or call them immediately and say, listen, are you serious about 10 minutes? Because I'm a Christian, 171 00:19:50.840 --> 00:19:55.880 I got to pray about this. Really? Oh, yeah, if you don't come down and buy that car, there's a family 172 00:19:55.880 --> 00:20:00.280 coming down right now to buy it. If you don't get it now, you're going to lose the deal on that car. 173 00:20:00.280 --> 00:20:07.640 I tell you what, buddy, then go sell it to that other family because I am not going to be pressured 174 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:12.600 like that. Friends, what I'm telling you right now is how I conduct my life. 175 00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:24.520 And I can tell you that from buying a car or making a decision to meet with somebody or do something 176 00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:30.280 or when somebody calls and says, you know what? You need to respond to this media request, 177 00:20:30.280 --> 00:20:36.840 Pastor Jack, they want you on at this time or they're going to get somebody else. Well, 178 00:20:36.840 --> 00:20:45.240 what time is it? It's 5 a.m. No, 5 a.m. Can't do it. I'm with my international prayer group at 5 a.m. 179 00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:51.160 live together. Can't do it. Really? You're going to turn down a New York interview, 180 00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:54.520 syndicated across the United States. There'll be a couple of million people watching. 181 00:20:55.480 --> 00:21:02.840 It's a no-brainer for me. That 5 a.m. slot in my life is already filled with a community of 182 00:21:02.840 --> 00:21:09.160 believers in prayer. You say, well, can't you fudge it a little bit? Listen, how do I know if God's 183 00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:15.320 it or not if I fudge it? How about if I stick to what God has established in my life and just simply 184 00:21:15.320 --> 00:21:20.600 let them know? Can't do it at five between five and five 15. I can't do it. You can do it at five 185 00:21:20.600 --> 00:21:27.640 30. Can do it at five 20. I can do it at six. I can do it at four a.m. Pacific time. But I can't do 186 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:33.960 it at five. You will find a pattern of hearing from God that is just going to delight your heart. 187 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:41.720 And so when somebody says anything about any decision you have to make, be still and know that he 188 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:50.360 is God and he will be exalted in that issue. That's Psalm 46 verse 10. So John chapter 10 verse 189 00:21:51.320 --> 00:21:56.120 26 and 27. By the way, I ran through that first one really quick. I mean, the previous one, 190 00:21:56.120 --> 00:22:06.040 Psalm 46 verse 10. Life verse memorizes great. So John chapter 10 verse 26 and 27. But you do not 191 00:22:06.120 --> 00:22:11.800 but you do not believe Jesus said because you are not my sheep. As I said to you, my sheep hear 192 00:22:11.800 --> 00:22:20.040 my voice. I love it. I know them and they follow me. Wow. What's what's one of the hallmarks of being 193 00:22:20.760 --> 00:22:27.000 a believer of being a Christian is that you hear the voice of Jesus Christ. You can hear him. How 194 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:31.240 are you going to hear him? How are you going to how are you going to know that you're hearing the 195 00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:37.560 voice of Jesus? The word when the Bible when Jesus says you're not you're not any you're not 196 00:22:37.560 --> 00:22:42.600 mine because you don't hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me 197 00:22:44.120 --> 00:22:51.880 to hear the voice of Jesus Christ is to hear the word of God. Notice this. The word of God that 198 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:58.120 Jesus spoke is the word of God on your lap or on your table. Is it not? It's awesome. 199 00:22:58.920 --> 00:23:04.200 Beautifully wonderfully. Jesus says, Hey, here's what's up. My sheep know my voice. They'll follow me. 200 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:10.440 People who can't hear my voice. They're not my sheep. It's so simple. Listen, if there's any 201 00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:14.600 pastors out there watching this right now, let me give you a little tip. Make you relax. 202 00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:23.160 I'll preface it by saying this. Billy Graham, somebody asked Billy Graham, how do you know when 203 00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:26.120 you when you're preaching out of crusade, if anybody's going to come forward? Isn't that 204 00:23:26.120 --> 00:23:30.040 making nervous if nobody gets up to come forward? You know what Billy Graham's answer was? 205 00:23:30.840 --> 00:23:37.880 He said, I am not responsible for the decision people make. I give the truth of the word of God 206 00:23:38.760 --> 00:23:43.880 and I know that listen, this is so wise. If I give the truth of God's word, 207 00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:52.120 some people will decide yes and some people will decide no, but decisions will be made. 208 00:23:52.920 --> 00:24:00.120 That's set me free. Pastor, listen up, evangelist, listen up. You are only, I am only commissioned to 209 00:24:00.120 --> 00:24:09.000 give them the word of God, the crowd on the street or in the church. Give them the word of God and let 210 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:16.360 him speak to them about what he wants in their life. We, if there was ever truly a middleman, 211 00:24:17.080 --> 00:24:21.880 that's the evangelist, that's the pastor teacher. We are the middleman in the whole thing. 212 00:24:22.440 --> 00:24:29.560 Our job is to introduce the word of God to them and he does the rest. And if they don't decide for 213 00:24:29.560 --> 00:24:34.040 Jesus, if they don't get up and come forward to accept Christ, that's not your problem. 214 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:40.360 But know this, if one person gets up and comes, it's not your problem either. 215 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:51.000 You don't save that person. God is using the word the Bible that you gave and speaks to the guy 216 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:56.440 and the guy gets up in response to Jesus and accepts Christ as Lord and Savior. 217 00:24:58.760 --> 00:25:07.640 I had very little to do with it. It's amazing. Last night I was reading The Light and the glory 218 00:25:08.600 --> 00:25:17.720 by Peter Marshall and David Emanuel. And George Whitfield was preaching in the colonies in America. 219 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:25.880 And later on Whitfield was seen out in public. He was eating or something and it was in Boston. 220 00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:33.160 Ben Franklin was with him. And this man came up to George Whitfield and said, listen, 221 00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:43.240 said, Mr. Whitfield, I want you to know that you converted me last year at one of your gatherings. 222 00:25:43.960 --> 00:25:48.760 And George Whitfield said, are you drunk? And he said, maybe I've had a little bit to drink. 223 00:25:49.400 --> 00:25:54.600 And George Whitfield said, well, you must be my convert because if you were Jesus' convert, 224 00:25:54.600 --> 00:26:00.760 you wouldn't be drunk right now. Isn't that a great word? We don't convert people. We just 225 00:26:00.760 --> 00:26:05.800 give them the word. And Whitfield wrapped that up perfectly. If we try to convert people, 226 00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:10.680 they're not going to be converted. If we give them the word of God, Jesus is my sheep, hear my voice, 227 00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:17.160 and they'll follow me. You want to grow a church? Give the people the word of God. And you'll hear 228 00:26:17.160 --> 00:26:22.280 the voice of God. Romans 12 versus 1 and 2. We all know this is wonderful. I beseech you therefore, 229 00:26:22.280 --> 00:26:28.280 brethren, by the mercy of God that you present your body's living sacrifice is holding acceptable 230 00:26:28.280 --> 00:26:33.720 to God, which is your readable service. The word service is reasonable worship, right? Amazing. 231 00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:38.920 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, 232 00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:45.160 that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Wow, that's perfect. 233 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:51.320 It's beautiful. Know the will of God. How can I know that? The Bible is the will of God. When you 234 00:26:51.320 --> 00:26:59.960 read this book, the Bible, you are reading the will of God. It's that simple. It's that clear. 235 00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:08.680 And almost done here, James 1 versus 5 through 8. If any one of you lacks wisdom, let him ask 236 00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:15.720 of God who gives all liberally and without reproach. And it will be given to you, given to you, 237 00:27:16.520 --> 00:27:24.680 but let him ask in faith, right? Without doubting. For he who doubts is like the wave of the sea driven 238 00:27:24.680 --> 00:27:30.200 or tossed by the wind and let him not suppose or let not this man suppose that he will receive 239 00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:35.800 anything from the Lord for a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. When you speak 240 00:27:35.800 --> 00:27:42.920 to God in prayer, expect God to answer you back. This is quite possibly one of the great tragedies 241 00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:50.360 of our modern-day Christianity. Is this? When we're in a hurry, we rob ourselves. 242 00:27:52.120 --> 00:27:58.840 We rob ourselves worse than a guy who's got a knife or a gun and demands our wallet. That's easy. 243 00:27:59.880 --> 00:28:09.400 We rob ourselves so much worse when we do not give God what's due to him, time, time. Some of you 244 00:28:09.400 --> 00:28:16.440 might say, I have all the time in the world. Okay? Now you're responsible to give all that time 245 00:28:16.440 --> 00:28:22.840 in the world to the Lord. Some of you might say, I don't have any time. Well, you do have some time. 246 00:28:23.400 --> 00:28:29.720 We all have some time. But let's say you don't watch. Let's say you don't have time. Technically, 247 00:28:29.720 --> 00:28:35.880 you really do. Because you take the time to eat, you take the time to take a phone call, 248 00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:43.160 you take the time to drive, right? We all have time, no matter who you are. 249 00:28:44.360 --> 00:28:48.680 Think of some of the most busiest people in the world. I've got friends in the White House and 250 00:28:48.680 --> 00:28:53.320 they all have, by the way, it's the same way with Trump's first administration as now. 251 00:28:54.280 --> 00:29:00.360 And that is the White House never sleeps. And a lot of people cannot figure out when Donald Trump 252 00:29:00.360 --> 00:29:05.640 sleeps. They can't figure it out. I was talking to quite a while back to Sebastian Gorka and he said, 253 00:29:05.640 --> 00:29:12.120 we can't figure out when Trump goes to bed. He's walking the halls of the White House working 254 00:29:12.120 --> 00:29:17.880 when people go to sleep, he said. And when they wake up and get back to the office, Trump is still working. 255 00:29:18.520 --> 00:29:23.480 A friend of mine had a meeting with Trump at 330 in the morning the other day because the White 256 00:29:23.480 --> 00:29:32.360 House is open for business. But listen, you would think who's, you're, you and I are not busier 257 00:29:32.360 --> 00:29:39.080 than Trump. I don't think we're busier than Elon Musk. I don't think we're busier than crazy man, 258 00:29:39.080 --> 00:29:45.480 George Soros who's trying to blow up the world, right? Think about it. There's time. And even if 259 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:51.160 there's not time, we have to make time. So very important. Why? Because we need to hear the word of 260 00:29:51.160 --> 00:29:57.240 God and be led by the Spirit of God. We have to cultivate an ear. Think about your heart having 261 00:29:57.240 --> 00:30:04.040 an ear on it so that we would hear from him the word of God to our heart that we would follow him 262 00:30:04.040 --> 00:30:13.560 and obey him and all things. It's called being a disciple, being a disciple. Well, listen, 263 00:30:13.640 --> 00:30:20.840 God bless you guys and remember it's, it's so vitally important that you cultivate a walk with 264 00:30:20.840 --> 00:30:25.640 the Lord Jesus Christ and all that you do. There's never been a better time than be a follower of 265 00:30:25.640 --> 00:30:32.680 Jesus as this world begins to shake and become more difficult to maneuver and navigate. You need 266 00:30:32.680 --> 00:30:37.480 Jesus all the more and you need the word of God all the more. So please go to a Bible teaching 267 00:30:37.480 --> 00:30:44.440 church that really teaches the Bible. If you can't find one, drive to one. There's one within, 268 00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:50.760 look, people come here two hour drives, three hour drives. If you've got to find a church somewhere 269 00:30:50.760 --> 00:30:57.160 in upstate New York and you got to drive three hours there or in Atlanta or Seattle, then make the 270 00:30:57.160 --> 00:31:04.840 drive. Do it. But by all means, get to a Bible teaching church. Until next time, God bless you guys. 271 00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:15.560 This Jack Hibbs podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported. 272 00:31:15.560 --> 00:31:22.760 Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more 273 00:31:22.760 --> 00:31:24.920 and stay connected.