WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.840 Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim 2 00:00:05.840 --> 00:00:10.500 truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. Hey you guys I'm often asked 3 00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:14.880 how do I study the Bible? Well listen this time that we have won't allow for 4 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:22.920 all of us to get into all of it, but let's try. Let's see about studying the Bible. 5 00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:30.120 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 6 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:35.400 Today if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in 7 00:00:35.400 --> 00:00:40.600 Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us that's 8 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:46.600 like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open 9 00:00:46.600 --> 00:00:50.760 your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 10 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:56.680 Hey everybody this is going to be a quick podcast for a lot of reasons and by the way if you 11 00:00:56.680 --> 00:01:03.240 start to hear some strange sounds it's because we're expanding here and there's a company working 12 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:11.960 behind this wall. It's not my stomach. It's contractors working. So I have been asked many times 13 00:01:12.920 --> 00:01:18.760 and I'm grateful for the question, but this has really got me going because I've heard more 14 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:24.200 recently. How do you prepare your sermons? Do you download them somewhere? Do you buy them from 15 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:31.640 like pastor.com or sermon.com? Okay that is so offensive I have to address it, but I have to do 16 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:37.080 it quickly because I have a limited time. So first of all friends listen up. In second Timothy 17 00:01:37.160 --> 00:01:45.160 chapter 2 verse 15 says be diligent to present yourself approved to God a worker who does not need 18 00:01:45.160 --> 00:01:51.320 to be ashamed. Here's the reason why rightly dividing the word of truth. Bible study in this 19 00:01:51.320 --> 00:01:55.320 particular sense sermon preparation. I know that I'm going to be speaking to a lot of people who 20 00:01:55.320 --> 00:02:00.520 could care less, but there might be one or two of you who would want to know these things and I 21 00:02:00.520 --> 00:02:08.520 got to tell you upfront right now of course I'm 60 almost 68 years old. That makes me a dinosaur. 22 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:16.920 I get it, but but I'm not done. I have read the I've read the ancients. I have read the moderns 23 00:02:18.440 --> 00:02:24.680 and regarding all of that we need to understand something regarding sermon preparation, 24 00:02:25.160 --> 00:02:33.240 delivering of a message. How does this happen? So number one, watch this. I'm going to put, 25 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:37.000 they don't know what I'm about to do. You guys, we're doing this together right now. This is not 26 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:46.280 rehearsed. So hey you guys, somebody give me a verse just a Bible verse. John 3, 16. Okay, 27 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:52.840 unrehearsed John 3, 16. So watch this. How would we preach a sermon out of John 3, 16? 28 00:02:54.360 --> 00:03:01.320 Do I have an extensive library? Yes, I do. I do not go there first. For sermon preparation, 29 00:03:01.320 --> 00:03:08.040 I do not go to my my commentaries first. If you're taking notes, I go to my commentaries last. 30 00:03:08.920 --> 00:03:17.640 Number one, John 3, 16. Okay, so for God, so love the world that he gave his only begotten son 31 00:03:17.640 --> 00:03:22.920 that whosoever would believe on him would not perish but have everlasting life. What would I do 32 00:03:22.920 --> 00:03:28.920 regarding a sermon prep on this? Listen, I'm going to tell you what I would do by first telling you 33 00:03:28.920 --> 00:03:36.120 what I cannot do. In this modern age, this is what I cannot do. God does not allow me to read a 34 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:41.400 commentary first. Even though that commentary might be 600 years old, I can't read it first. He 35 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:51.400 will not let me read it first. Number two, I will not. I cannot use AI. God forbids it in my life. 36 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:59.560 I will never use it. I cannot use it. And there's reasons why. And maybe I can hit on that on this 37 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:07.640 podcast or maybe in follow up podcast. But let's look at it this way. How would you 38 00:04:07.640 --> 00:04:19.240 preach a sermon on John 3, 16? For God so loved. Right there, I would start to look at first of all, 39 00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:25.560 John 3, 16. Where does it come out of? John chapter three. I would make sure that I read John 40 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:31.320 chapter three, verse one all the way up to verse 15. And then I would pick it up again in verse 41 00:04:31.320 --> 00:04:38.920 17 and read all the way to the end of the chapter. And I would see the context of where John 3, 16 is. 42 00:04:38.920 --> 00:04:48.120 What is being said in the volume of the chapter? Very important. When I look at this for God so 43 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:53.000 love the world, I know this. I'm going to look at the meaning and the original Greek language. 44 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:58.840 And for this, you can look at you can use Greek lexicon you can use concordances that will many, 45 00:04:58.840 --> 00:05:05.320 many concordances will have the definition of the Greek and or Hebrew or Aramaic words. 46 00:05:08.440 --> 00:05:15.720 I would possibly use technology for that meaning what? You can go to great Bible programs like logos 47 00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:25.080 or accordance. And you could look up the the strong's Greek word or Hebrew word for. Right? 48 00:05:25.080 --> 00:05:34.840 The word for ever. And I find out, for example, it can also mean the word because. So I'm beginning 49 00:05:34.840 --> 00:05:40.280 to dissect this word. I'm going to learn about the word for for God. God, I get to understand who 50 00:05:40.280 --> 00:05:45.880 God is. I don't need to I'm not focused on that right now for God so love the world. Interesting. 51 00:05:45.880 --> 00:05:53.000 Is the word so in the original language? Is it something that is an elaboration in the English 52 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:59.080 because the English lax technicolor compared to the Greek and the Hebrew? Is the words? What does the 53 00:05:59.080 --> 00:06:05.080 word so mean? Is it a word that is meaningful to the Bible study and unpacking this verse? 54 00:06:05.080 --> 00:06:11.240 I'm going to look up the words so if it applies or not, I have to discover this. For God so 55 00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:18.520 loved, loved, which word for loved is God using here? And so you see what I'm doing? The first 56 00:06:18.520 --> 00:06:25.800 thing that I do is I unpack the the original actual meaning of the words and I get them written 57 00:06:25.800 --> 00:06:32.840 down on a piece of paper. This is what the meaning for God so loved the world, the world. Wait a 58 00:06:32.840 --> 00:06:39.800 minute. Some people have told me that for God so loved the elect, I know only the elect 59 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:47.000 that he gave his only begotten son for them. Well, guess what? They're wrong because when I go 60 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:55.640 to look up the word world, it is the fact that Jesus Christ died for the entire world. All those 61 00:06:55.720 --> 00:07:03.560 who have ever lived from Adam to the last person that can be redeemed Jesus died for them. 62 00:07:04.520 --> 00:07:11.400 If they accept the gospel message or not, he died for them. In fact, that's why Hell is punishable 63 00:07:11.400 --> 00:07:19.080 by forever is because what he paid the price for them to be in heaven, they reject the penalty 64 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:25.800 of such a rejection of such a perfect offering, warrants and is justifiable for them to be in 65 00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:33.240 hell forever. Wow. So as I begin to unpack the words, I start looking at the meaning of these words 66 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:39.960 that stand out to me. Now somebody else might be praying as sermon and they're looking at John 67 00:07:39.960 --> 00:07:48.280 316 and words might appear to them to be more meaningful than I've viewed them or not at all. 68 00:07:48.280 --> 00:07:53.400 They really double down on this particular word. It doesn't matter. Why doesn't it matter? 69 00:07:53.400 --> 00:08:03.960 Listen, because I, you in sermon preparation, we are yielded to the Holy Spirit. Why? Because he's 70 00:08:03.960 --> 00:08:12.440 the author of the Bible. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit breathed through and into 71 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:20.440 the prophets and that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and it is breathed out by God. 72 00:08:21.320 --> 00:08:26.360 That's why the Bible is without error, folks. Listen, people can say what they want. They still can't 73 00:08:26.360 --> 00:08:30.360 find a problem with the Bible. I mean, there are lots of problems with the Bible. Sorry, 74 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:34.280 they still can't find a flaw with the Bible and they're not gonna. This is what's fun. 75 00:08:34.920 --> 00:08:41.480 So as you begin to look at this stuff, you start to build a foundation. Watch what happens to me. 76 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:46.840 So as I'm looking at these words and the meaning of these words, what is black and white starts 77 00:08:46.840 --> 00:08:55.960 to take on. I use the word a moment ago. Technicolor. It begins to become very colorful. Wow. That word 78 00:08:55.960 --> 00:09:10.040 forb means because on behalf of the reason is salvation is for this reason. God loved you and gifted 79 00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:17.480 begotten. For God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten son begotten. What's the 80 00:09:17.480 --> 00:09:23.960 big deal about begotten? Well, does that make Jesus less than God? No, the exact opposite. It makes 81 00:09:23.960 --> 00:09:32.520 him equal with God. God gifted his one and only. So when you begin to get the meanings to the words, 82 00:09:32.520 --> 00:09:37.480 what happens is you begin to get, and I'm scribbling right now because of time's sake, but 83 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:43.400 you begin to look like this. And for those of you who happen to tune into our messages, you'll see 84 00:09:43.400 --> 00:09:50.440 how this structure happens. So my first thought off the top of my head is for God so loved the world. 85 00:09:50.520 --> 00:10:00.760 Okay. Point number one. Point number one. The magnitude of God's love. That's point number one. 86 00:10:00.760 --> 00:10:07.480 The magnitude of God's love. That's what it's telling me. And that the magnitude of God's love 87 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:17.800 is seen argument, magnitude of God's love. To substantiate that claim, I understand this, 88 00:10:17.800 --> 00:10:24.520 the magnitude of God's love is displayed that God is the originator of salvation for God because 89 00:10:24.520 --> 00:10:34.200 of God on account of God. Are you tracking with me? This now is one a to point number one. One a 90 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:41.640 to substantiate the point is the magnitude of God and that salvation originates with him. 91 00:10:42.040 --> 00:10:49.960 For salvation to originate with him, salvation number two would be salvation comes through his son. 92 00:10:51.160 --> 00:10:57.160 I would write that down here. So what I'm doing is I'm building a skeleton. Think of a human skeleton. 93 00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:04.200 The title of the message is the head. And for me, the title of the message, the head, the title of 94 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:10.760 the message happens to be the theme. It's always for me. In my particular sermon preparation, 95 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:16.520 the title of the message is always the theme in relation to the verses I'm going to be covering. 96 00:11:16.520 --> 00:11:22.120 Now I just asked these guys to give me a verse. I could have said, give me four verses that are 97 00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:27.400 consecutive behind one another in the scriptures. There was still would have been a theme if it's one 98 00:11:27.400 --> 00:11:33.320 verse or a hundred verses. It's irrelevant. I've got the theme. Okay. And now I begin to 99 00:11:33.320 --> 00:11:42.920 substantiate the claim of number one point one. And the third thing is for God so love the world, 100 00:11:43.720 --> 00:11:52.280 the third thing would be the scope of his love. The scope of his love. Here's what gets to be fun. 101 00:11:52.760 --> 00:12:01.640 In sermon prep, for me, and you guys, everyone's different, but I would recommend you to go to 102 00:12:01.640 --> 00:12:11.640 YouTube and look up Howard Hendrix, a DTS Dallas Theological Seminary video series by Howard Hendrix. 103 00:12:12.280 --> 00:12:20.120 I found him several years ago. He's great, but he approaches it his way. I approach it my way. 104 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:25.000 I have found you have found that everybody who studies the word of God approaches it their own way. 105 00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:33.240 That's why you can give two teachers, Bible pastor teachers, two pastors, the exact same 106 00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:39.400 verse to teach on. And you'll hear two completely different sermons that complement one another. 107 00:12:39.400 --> 00:12:44.520 Why? Because the Holy Spirit's the author of both sermons. If the word of God is consulted 108 00:12:45.160 --> 00:12:55.240 to be taught on, the exegesis is something that we can learn about some other day, but it ensures 109 00:12:55.240 --> 00:13:04.520 accuracy of the scripture. What is being said? What is being communicated? So I'm going to kind of 110 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:15.560 make my page a little zoomed in, so to speak. From here, for example, that the magnitude of his love, 111 00:13:15.560 --> 00:13:21.320 I would now begin to look up verses in scripture about the magnitude of his love. 112 00:13:21.320 --> 00:13:25.000 Enough the top of my head. Remember, this is we're making a separate now in real time as we're 113 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:32.680 sitting here. This is not rehearsed. So the magnitude of his love, I immediately go to the book of 114 00:13:32.680 --> 00:13:39.720 first John. So that means I'm going to read first John, chapters one, two, and three, four. 115 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:45.160 I'm going to read maybe even second John. We'll see. But I'm going to read first John. I'm also 116 00:13:45.160 --> 00:13:52.680 absolutely under this particular subheading subpoint. I'm absolutely going to go to Jeremiah. 117 00:13:52.680 --> 00:13:57.240 I'm going to start in Jeremiah around chapter 31 and I'm going to read to chapter 33. 118 00:13:58.040 --> 00:14:04.120 Why? Because I'm going to get the full understanding of I have loved you with the never-lasting love 119 00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:10.360 therefore with loving kindness. Have I drawn you? Isn't that wonderful? So as I teach this sermon, 120 00:14:11.560 --> 00:14:17.400 I would be saying in the sermon regarding the magnitude of his love that this is how 121 00:14:17.400 --> 00:14:24.040 steadfast his love is. This is how reliable it is. The magnitude of his love is so, so vast and 122 00:14:24.040 --> 00:14:31.160 powerful that he's the one who even says in Jeremiah, I have drawn you. I have pulled you to me. 123 00:14:31.160 --> 00:14:36.200 I won't break your arm. I won't bend. I won't bend your knee. I'm not going to bend your neck. 124 00:14:36.200 --> 00:14:42.280 But I will pull you to me. I've loved you so much. I'm pulling you to me. See, what do you get 125 00:14:42.280 --> 00:14:48.920 all this from? Well, go look at what Jeremiah has to say and you'll begin to discover the wealth 126 00:14:48.920 --> 00:14:53.640 and the power of God's love, the magnitude of his love, which is here's another thing. 127 00:14:53.640 --> 00:14:59.960 That word in Greek is the word seismos where we get the word seismology. We're here for us in Southern 128 00:14:59.960 --> 00:15:08.040 California. It's almost a daily routine where we have earthquakes happening from 2.0 to 4.0 129 00:15:08.040 --> 00:15:13.080 and Californians don't even bet an eye. Why? Because we're used to it. And so we need to be used to it 130 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:21.480 this way that the the word of God has and should have a seismic effect upon your life. 131 00:15:23.160 --> 00:15:31.240 It should shake you. It should get your attention because God is given his word that way. Now, 132 00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:41.400 listen, this is very, very important. I want to do all of this. And for me, this is just me. 133 00:15:41.640 --> 00:15:47.160 For me to do a Sunday, I don't know why it's this way you guys. I can't explain it. It's just the way 134 00:15:47.160 --> 00:15:55.400 it happened in my life. For me to preach and teach one hour on Sunday. Okay, one hour, one hour, 135 00:15:55.400 --> 00:16:05.400 a sermon. That's one hours, one hour in length for me. That is anywhere from 15 to 20 hours of study. 136 00:16:05.400 --> 00:16:13.240 And what does that mean? Study. Well, study means prayer time, which I'll try to tell you this 137 00:16:13.240 --> 00:16:21.560 if we have the time. Prayer time, Bible time, structure time, what we're doing right now, 138 00:16:21.560 --> 00:16:33.240 structure time, build a skeleton. And then what I just would term as meat, I've got my skeleton, 139 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:40.440 now it's time to get meat on them. So as I begin to develop this for Sunday, it takes me, 140 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:47.480 it takes me 15 to 20 hours for a Sunday, one hour. This sounds bizarre, but so for me on Wednesdays, 141 00:16:47.480 --> 00:16:51.800 because I teach another hour long sermon on Wednesdays from a, from a completely different book 142 00:16:52.600 --> 00:17:00.440 of the Bible. Because I actually work constantly, I, all the time, I do all kinds of other things. 143 00:17:01.240 --> 00:17:09.800 Um, I get up very early on Wednesdays and I study all day Wednesdays. Uh, and then I usually end 144 00:17:09.800 --> 00:17:17.080 some time around four, four 30. I tried to, uh, have it all done. And then I teach that message 145 00:17:17.080 --> 00:17:23.880 that, that night. So let's just say, uh, it can vary depending upon the day, but let's say six to 146 00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:31.160 eight hours or maybe even maybe eight to 10 hours. People see how that goes for a Wednesday. 147 00:17:32.040 --> 00:17:39.640 Um, but for me, when it's, when I'm, when I'm almost all done, uh, then I read commentaries. 148 00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:44.760 See, what are, what are commentaries? Commentaries are written by great scholars. Well, 149 00:17:44.760 --> 00:17:50.360 they should be great. You have to be careful. The commentaries you pick, it's not easy. I 150 00:17:50.360 --> 00:17:57.320 thank God that I've been spoiled, rotten, growing up because I had, I had the input that men of God 151 00:17:57.320 --> 00:18:02.840 told me, uh, look, I'm blessed, man, I had Pastor Chuck Smith tell me to read these books and avoid 152 00:18:02.840 --> 00:18:08.520 those other books. I had Dr. David Hawking tell me the same. Dr. Tim Lahey, Dr. Ed Heinzon, 153 00:18:08.520 --> 00:18:13.560 Thomas Ice, um, these people have made a major impact in my life. And they've told me what to 154 00:18:13.560 --> 00:18:19.160 study and what not to study. Uh, look for this, look out for the other, okay? That kind of stuff. 155 00:18:19.720 --> 00:18:26.360 So having said that, I read the commentators last, the commentaries last, 156 00:18:27.080 --> 00:18:34.360 because I want to listen, please don't mess this up. What am I doing? I'm verifying that what I heard 157 00:18:34.360 --> 00:18:43.880 from the Lord is actually from the Lord. I get confirmation. And what I'm about to say is going 158 00:18:43.880 --> 00:18:49.720 to sound arrogant, but it's anything but that it's actually terrifying. What are we about to say? 159 00:18:52.360 --> 00:18:59.000 When I have put together a message that I've prayed, read the Word of God and used the Bible to 160 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:04.920 interpret the Bible and God speaks to my heart and I write down the thoughts that flow. 161 00:19:05.800 --> 00:19:14.760 So that now this is the sermon and it's 80% complete. I'll explain the 10, the 20% in a moment. 162 00:19:16.200 --> 00:19:24.200 I go to the commentaries and most, almost always of the time, what God has given me is richer 163 00:19:24.840 --> 00:19:30.680 and deeper than what the commentators have given. That sounds arrogant, but it's not. 164 00:19:30.760 --> 00:19:40.440 Here's the punch. It's the Lord speaking to the 21st century generation of first service, 165 00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:48.200 second or third service on Sundays that he wants to say to them in real time today. He's the 166 00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:53.400 same Holy Spirit, but I can have the confidence because when I've read what they've written, 167 00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:59.800 it's awesome. It's just that what God has given me is on fire on my heart. I can't wait to get it out. 168 00:20:00.680 --> 00:20:08.200 It's got me excited and it's got me changed. It's got me thrilled. That's why I would never preach 169 00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:16.280 another man's sermon. This is one reporter's opinion, but I believe it is absolutely wrong to 170 00:20:16.280 --> 00:20:22.600 download someone else's sermon and you attempt to preach it or teach it. I think that is a horrible 171 00:20:22.600 --> 00:20:27.960 thing. I don't mean to hurt your feelings or offend you, but I think if people are doing that, 172 00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:34.200 you need to go sell shoes and the mall. You need to quit now. You need to get out of the Bible 173 00:20:34.200 --> 00:20:38.760 teaching world because if God doesn't give you the sermon to deliver to His people, 174 00:20:39.960 --> 00:20:46.520 then you're in the way. If you think that you can go to pastor.com or sermon.com and print out 175 00:20:46.520 --> 00:20:52.760 the PDF and put it in your binder and teach it, oh my gosh, I think God would strike me dead. 176 00:20:52.840 --> 00:21:01.000 I think God would kill me. There's no way. Listen, the Lord won't even allow me to teach a sermon 177 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:05.960 that I delivered three years ago. He won't even let me renew it. He won't even let me use it. 178 00:21:08.280 --> 00:21:11.320 Now, this is my conviction. This is how God works in my life. 179 00:21:12.120 --> 00:21:24.920 This has been a 30,000 foot overview, but here's the thing. The last thing I do to finalize the message. 180 00:21:26.280 --> 00:21:33.560 I'll give you this example real fast. The day and the life of Jack on a Sunday morning, 181 00:21:34.520 --> 00:21:39.240 it starts anywhere between two to three a.m. on a Sunday morning and I have 182 00:21:40.120 --> 00:21:48.680 30 to 40 pages of notes that I've taken. And from two to three a.m. to five thirty a.m., 183 00:21:50.360 --> 00:21:58.360 I'm going through those notes and this is how here, this is what happens on point one. This is the verse. 184 00:21:58.360 --> 00:22:07.480 This makes no sense to me. What was I thinking? This was on Friday. What was I thinking? 185 00:22:10.600 --> 00:22:19.400 Throw it away. That goes out. All that to say, by service time, I have 10 pages of notes. 186 00:22:20.040 --> 00:22:29.240 It's all reduced. So I throw away two thirds of it off. I go and I let God do the teaching through 187 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:35.880 me and the fun part is many times I'm learning as my mouth is moving. I'm actually learning from him 188 00:22:35.880 --> 00:22:41.480 at the exact same time. Listen, sorry, I got to go right now out of time. Maybe we can pick this up 189 00:22:41.480 --> 00:22:46.680 some other time. You could let me know if this was any way valuable to you, please. If you respond, 190 00:22:46.680 --> 00:22:51.240 then I'll follow up and do one later, okay? So God bless you guys until next time. 191 00:22:55.880 --> 00:23:01.800 This Jack Hibbs podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported. 192 00:23:01.800 --> 00:23:08.920 Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more 193 00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:11.080 and stay connected.