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 --> 00:00:11.240 truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. Hey, can we actually get to a 3 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:15.200 place as believers where we don't have to make bad decisions? I think you're 4 00:00:15.200 --> 00:00:19.600 going to be blessed by the answer. Hang on, let's dive in and find out what the Word of God has to say about that. 5 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:29.600 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 6 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:35.440 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in 7 00:00:35.440 --> 00:00:39.880 Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, 8 00:00:39.880 --> 00:00:45.400 that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. 9 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:50.840 Now, open your hearts to what God's Word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 10 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:56.280 Hey, everybody. Welcome to this edition of our podcast and we're going to be talking about 11 00:00:56.280 --> 00:01:04.920 decision-making, decision-making. We've got to jump into this somewhere and so let's just start 12 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:12.040 with this decision-making. I've been told, I was given to me that it's either Google or the 13 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:21.640 National Health Institute. Somebody says that you and I make 33 to 35,000 decisions a day. 14 00:01:23.160 --> 00:01:29.880 I don't know if that's your not. Who counts? Yikes. I'm tired hearing that number. 15 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:40.680 It's like what? Decision-making can be so daunting and terrifying that we don't want to make any 16 00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:47.480 decisions and yet life cannot be lived without making decisions. Some of you are older than me, 17 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:52.040 some of you are my age, some of you are young and I'm really grateful that we have a really a lot 18 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:58.040 of young listeners that join in on our podcasts. Your decision-making process, you might be asking 19 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:04.600 the question, do I have to make the wrong decision every time? Can't I make a right one? I want to 20 00:02:04.600 --> 00:02:10.600 be able to say to you, in fact, just before we turned on the camera, I was asking the team that's 21 00:02:10.600 --> 00:02:16.280 behind the lens right now, behind the cameras is because they're all Christians, they're all 22 00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:20.760 following the Lord and they're young, is when was the last time you made a bad decision? I wish you 23 00:02:20.760 --> 00:02:28.440 could have seen from my perspective, from my vantage point. I asked them, hey, before I do this, 24 00:02:28.440 --> 00:02:34.920 I want to ask you a question. How many of you guys behind the camera have made... Tell me about 25 00:02:34.920 --> 00:02:45.800 your most recent bad decision and all of them went like this. They paused for a long time. You 26 00:02:45.800 --> 00:02:52.680 want to know why? Because there was no big bad decision that jumped out to their recollection in the 27 00:02:52.760 --> 00:02:59.720 instant because they've learned, even though they're young, they've learned in the scriptures they've 28 00:02:59.720 --> 00:03:04.840 been in the Word for a long time, they learned to take their decision-making to the Word of God 29 00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:11.720 and to lay it before the Lord. And so I have to say the same thing. I'm 66 years old 30 00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:21.080 and what God has called me to do. There are many different hats that I have. Multiple ministries, 31 00:03:21.080 --> 00:03:27.640 some of them are connected, some are not connected, that I'm involved in. Different 32 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:39.400 boards of ministries that I'm on and Decision 70, me made all the time and yet I've never had more 33 00:03:39.400 --> 00:03:47.160 peace and calm and those decisions are most often public. Those decisions deal with people and 34 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:53.160 their lives, those decisions deal with sometimes millions of dollars. It depends on the ministry and 35 00:03:53.160 --> 00:03:56.680 where they are located in the world and what's happening and what their mission is. 36 00:03:58.920 --> 00:04:06.840 How do we make decisions? Hey, you say, Jack, forget all that junk. Where do I get it? I need to decide 37 00:04:06.840 --> 00:04:14.520 on a job. I need to decide, should I marry her or not? I need to decide this or that. 38 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:21.080 Great. Listen, super. Yes, we all do that on a continuous basis. But the discipline 39 00:04:21.080 --> 00:04:27.160 in decision-making still stays the same. This is the beauty of what we're about to talk about. 40 00:04:27.880 --> 00:04:37.960 Is that if I am yielded, Lord, I want to be yielded to your leadership today. Good morning, 41 00:04:37.960 --> 00:04:45.560 God. Hi. Good morning. Before my feet hit the bed. I mean, I'm the floor. Before my feet hit the 42 00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:54.280 floor, having woken up, Lord, I'm giving you this day. I'm giving you my life. I'm asking you to 43 00:04:54.280 --> 00:04:59.560 fill my thoughts into lead me because your Bible says that you want to lead me by your right hand. 44 00:04:59.560 --> 00:05:05.720 I believe personally that God leads me by his right hand every moment of the day so long as I'm 45 00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:13.160 walking with him in the Spirit. Does that make sense? If I'm sinning, I'm on my own. I'm going to be 46 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:21.800 making dumb decisions. I can't do that. I have to stay away from that. So I too have to agree with 47 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:29.080 the team behind the camera. I can't remember when I made a bad decision. That's a beautiful feeling. 48 00:05:29.880 --> 00:05:34.200 It doesn't mean we're sinless. My gosh, no, we're of extremely flawed creatures. 49 00:05:35.080 --> 00:05:39.480 But God's not. And it just goes to show you that throughout the scripture when it says, 50 00:05:39.480 --> 00:05:44.280 wait upon the Lord. That, of course, the go-to is. You've probably already thought about it. 51 00:05:44.280 --> 00:05:50.680 Proverbs chapter three. This is what I do. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Go to him. 52 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:56.600 What's your first discipline? Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Number two, lean not on your 53 00:05:56.600 --> 00:06:02.600 own understanding. Boy, this is a whopper. Lean not on your own understanding. I'm going to tell you 54 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:10.600 a little, I'm going to tell you some insight in my mind. You would be maybe not so shocked, 55 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:15.560 so surprised to hear how many times people say to me, listen, listen to me. 56 00:06:17.240 --> 00:06:21.480 Hi, Pastor Jack. I've been seeking the Lord about this decision I didn't make in my life. 57 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:27.400 And seven of my friends, I was praying one day and then like two hours later, 58 00:06:28.520 --> 00:06:33.480 in like an hour's time, all seven of them called me and we started talking about it and they said, 59 00:06:33.480 --> 00:06:40.280 I should do it. So that's pretty amazing, right? And I do not agree with them. Or they say, 60 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:52.360 I had a dream and this dream, I think maybe the dream means that I should do this or move there 61 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:59.080 or to take on this thing. I say nothing to them. People will come up and say, Pastor Jack, 62 00:06:59.080 --> 00:07:07.880 Pastor Jack, just want to tell you, listen, the Lord told me to do thus and so. And so I'm going 63 00:07:07.880 --> 00:07:15.160 to do that, Pastor Jack. What do you think? I never answered them. Do you see where I'm going with 64 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:22.840 this? They're feeling for an answer. They're searching for an answer. It's so obvious to me, 65 00:07:22.840 --> 00:07:29.320 but not to them. That's the sad part. I do not jump in. When somebody says, God told me, 66 00:07:29.960 --> 00:07:35.400 Pastor Jack, to go do that thing over there in Los Angeles or in Hollywood or in San Diego. 67 00:07:35.880 --> 00:07:42.840 I am, I'm going to say, you know what? Keep praying to God, seek the Lord, open up the Word. 68 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:49.240 I am not going to say, I don't think God told you that. You say, oh, Pastor, but you should, 69 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:55.800 you're a pastor. Let me tell you something. When you stick your nose and someone else's God told me 70 00:07:55.800 --> 00:08:01.880 to go do it thing, you set yourself up to be the one blamed for when they fall apart. 71 00:08:02.440 --> 00:08:08.040 They're going to have to learn that God didn't tell them this. Well, then how do I know when God 72 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:14.680 speaks to me? Trust in the Lord of all of your heart. That sets you up. That gets you ready. That 73 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:22.440 prepares you to number two, lean not on your own perceived notions, ideas and thoughts and 74 00:08:22.440 --> 00:08:29.640 understandings about what you are dealing with. Don't make it happen. Oh, God, if you want me to 75 00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:36.840 do this, cause the sun to come up tomorrow. That's insane. Listen, are you a believer in the Lord 76 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:43.400 Jesus? Do you have a Bible reading appetite? Do you have scripture input from God's Word on your own? 77 00:08:43.400 --> 00:08:48.600 Then you don't need to hear your friends. It doesn't matter what the Pope says or the pastor says. 78 00:08:49.320 --> 00:08:53.400 God has spoken to you from his word. You say, well, that's what I want to know. Well, that's what 79 00:08:53.400 --> 00:08:58.760 we're looking at. Trust in the Lord of all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. 80 00:08:58.760 --> 00:09:08.360 In all your ways, acknowledge Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, self help programs, five steps on how to 81 00:09:08.360 --> 00:09:16.520 hear the voice of God going to a seminar. Nope. It tells you in the Bible, in all your ways acknowledge 82 00:09:16.520 --> 00:09:23.080 him, recognize and insert him right in the middle of the thing. I am not thinking about this one 83 00:09:23.080 --> 00:09:28.360 moment further without you, you God being involved in my thoughts. I am not going to do one thing 84 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:34.040 about this. God, unless you make it crystal clear beyond denying, I'm going to do, I'm going to 85 00:09:34.040 --> 00:09:40.440 be like Gideon. God bless Gideon. I love that guy. God told her to do something and Gideon was like, 86 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:45.720 man, I want to be so sure it's God that I'm going to lay out the animal skin. And if all the ground 87 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:51.080 around it is wet in the morning, but the skin is dry, then I know it's from the Lord. And it was 88 00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:58.840 as he prayed and Gideon was like, I really need to know it's from the God. So he turned the animal 89 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:04.760 skins over, got some more. They were absolutely soaking wet while the whole ground around it was dry. 90 00:10:05.400 --> 00:10:10.200 Gideon wasn't a weirdo. Gideon wanted to know what God was leading him. He didn't want to make a 91 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:16.120 mistake. Listen, it's so true. Listen, you don't have to make mistakes. Oh my gosh, I married the wrong 92 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:26.520 person. Listen, you don't have to make mistakes. Listen, in all your ways acknowledge him and he 93 00:10:27.400 --> 00:10:35.640 shall direct your ways or your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord in 94 00:10:35.640 --> 00:10:43.320 depart from evil. Friends, listen, indecisions, not indecision when you are making decisions 95 00:10:44.280 --> 00:10:52.360 as a believer, you must make those decisions from the Word of God, regarding your life. You 96 00:10:52.360 --> 00:10:58.840 say, well, Jack, come on, what about those 33,000 a day? That's a great question. And there's a 97 00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:09.400 beautiful answer. When you have a reading routine of reading through a book of the Bible, maybe 98 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:14.280 you took on today Jeremiah, the first five chapters of the first three chapters and you just read 99 00:11:14.280 --> 00:11:19.240 and you're making your way through. Are you doing a daily Bible reading? Now, for me, 100 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:24.600 I'm not knocking that, but for me, that doesn't speak to me as deeply as my own personal reading. 101 00:11:25.400 --> 00:11:35.160 But I know this that God has the day ahead of me. I'm in His Word. And during the day, I wind up 102 00:11:35.160 --> 00:11:39.800 making the right decision. Sometimes the decisions have to be made instantly. Is that very scary, 103 00:11:39.800 --> 00:11:46.280 huh? How do I do that? And I do that based on the reading of the Word that was guiding me that 104 00:11:46.280 --> 00:11:51.080 morning or the Word of God that is hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you, 105 00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:57.400 O Lord, you see? And so the decisions are decisions that are biblically based. And I love it because 106 00:11:57.400 --> 00:12:01.800 you know what? You guys are so kind and generous with your words, but I've got to tell you, 107 00:12:01.800 --> 00:12:05.960 you know, you'll say, oh, Pastor Jack, you know, you're so brave, you're so strong, you're so 108 00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:12.600 bold. You have no idea that that is so not true. I am none of those things. 109 00:12:14.520 --> 00:12:19.720 If you ever perceive me to be bold and strong and courageous on an issue, 110 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:27.160 it's because I've become 100% secure from the Word of God as to what I'm supposed to do about the 111 00:12:27.160 --> 00:12:36.440 thing that you that you see. In fact, I don't know, I don't want to be a bad guy about this, but 112 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:42.520 if some pastor thinks he's courageous, if some pastor writes a book on courage, 113 00:12:45.080 --> 00:12:50.680 if that guy doesn't give all the credit to God, that's something's wrong. Because you know what, 114 00:12:51.640 --> 00:13:00.600 it's perceived as courage, but you think about Joshua. Joshua, God tells Joshua to be strong of 115 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:07.720 good courage. Here's the translation of that. Joshua, do what I tell you to do. If you do that, 116 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:17.080 it's going to go well. Just do what I'm telling you to do. And it works. Joshua didn't say, hey, 117 00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:23.880 God, I got this. You know, I was born with courage. It kind of runs in my family. And so adding you 118 00:13:23.880 --> 00:13:29.960 into it, God's pretty cool. Let's go take on the world. No, no, no, no, no. I actually have this 119 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:38.600 belief. I have this belief that Joshua was probably a pretty, um, pretty careful guy. He was a 120 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:44.600 great, great general. He was a great warrior. But his strength came from the Lord. But how many 121 00:13:44.680 --> 00:13:51.880 times did God tell him be strong and of good courage? Do not be afraid, Joshua. Why? Because Joshua was 122 00:13:51.880 --> 00:13:57.480 not a man of courage. And he was very, very prone to be afraid. That's why God kept telling him. 123 00:13:58.120 --> 00:14:06.600 Why did God tell Paul? Paul, be of good courage. I'm with you. There's many people in this city 124 00:14:07.400 --> 00:14:12.840 that are going to get saved. So you just stand strong. Why? Because Paul was freaking out. 125 00:14:13.160 --> 00:14:20.120 So listen, when you know what God says in the Bible, you can make decisions. And when you make 126 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:28.440 it, listen, sometimes in an actual life, much of our personality now has to manage the decision 127 00:14:29.160 --> 00:14:34.040 process. And let's say even God gives you an answer. You know, this kind of like real life stuff 128 00:14:34.040 --> 00:14:42.200 for me is I can be mowing the lawn doing something completely, completely brainless. And I love 129 00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:47.880 that because it's so rare. It's like, oh, that's so good. You can hear the birds. You're mowing 130 00:14:47.880 --> 00:14:53.160 the lawn and you're checked out for a moment. It's so great. And I have found in my own life that 131 00:14:53.160 --> 00:15:02.040 there'll be this thought. It's like, man, that's weird. I thought, you know what? I'll tell you 132 00:15:02.040 --> 00:15:09.000 something right now. This is for real. That kind of a situation, that kind of a scenario. 133 00:15:12.200 --> 00:15:17.880 Hit my head and I let it sit in my head in my heart for months. I didn't tell anybody. 134 00:15:19.400 --> 00:15:27.720 I didn't tell Lisa. It's just there. And fast forward, fast forward, a couple of years. 135 00:15:29.560 --> 00:15:39.240 I began to mention we need to do a service publicly out in the open to the world, 136 00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:45.320 but calling the church back that's in the post COVID world. So many people are gone. 137 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:51.320 Where'd they go? We need to do a just church event. That was something that was in my heart and 138 00:15:51.320 --> 00:15:57.480 my mind and my head for so long. I can't even tell you so long. But when you announce it to people, 139 00:15:57.480 --> 00:16:02.840 they're like, whoa, that's such a snap decision. Oh my gosh, Jack, are you crazy? I totally get it. 140 00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:08.280 I didn't let them in on what I was pondering. Think about my poor wife, Lisa. This happens to me. 141 00:16:08.280 --> 00:16:14.440 And I'm thinking about something for months. And then the Lord confirms it to my heart. 142 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:20.520 And then I turn to her and I say, Hey, Lisa, guess what? We're going to vacation in Mozambique. 143 00:16:20.520 --> 00:16:25.000 And we're going to go witness to all the Muslims there that are killing Christians. 144 00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:33.000 She's going to say, Oh, no, we're not. I get it. I didn't bring her in on it. Are you with me? 145 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:40.360 Listen, husband and wife, I'm trying to learn this now. Bring your spouse in on the revelation 146 00:16:40.360 --> 00:16:48.680 when it comes to you. If God is, I'm not sure yet. God gives it ponder it for a little bit, 147 00:16:48.680 --> 00:16:53.880 but then start to share with him or her this. Hey, don't judge what I'm about to say. 148 00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:58.920 I'm judging it. Don't critique it. I'm just sharing something with you. 149 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:04.280 It's been in my heart now for several weeks. It's going to sound crazy to you because when I first, 150 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:09.480 I believe heard it from the Lord, we'll see. I thought it was crazy. 151 00:17:10.600 --> 00:17:15.800 Just hear me out. I want to recruit your prayer support. That's all I'm asking to do is pray that 152 00:17:15.800 --> 00:17:21.560 I'm hearing from God and it's this. He wants you and I to move to the South Pole. 153 00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:28.360 But he didn't say when a good wife or a good husband will say, 154 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:43.800 okay, I'll pray for you because the temptation will be, you're nuts. That's crazy. 155 00:17:44.520 --> 00:17:51.720 There's no palm trees there. I already know all that. I already worked all that out on my head 156 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:58.440 and yet God is intensifying the South Pole as an example. Do you see where I'm going with this? 157 00:17:59.320 --> 00:18:05.320 It's part of decision making. As a believer, biblically based, read the scriptures daily. 158 00:18:05.960 --> 00:18:11.000 God will confirm and as your husband and wife or your friends who knows whatever, 159 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:15.880 whoever needs to know and a need to know basis, by the way, if it's just you, it's just you. 160 00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:18.920 Need to know basis. God will also start speaking to them. 161 00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:28.040 So God is in the process. You are to obey Him by being in the Word and David summed it up 162 00:18:28.040 --> 00:18:32.760 perfectly. Thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. What word is that? 163 00:18:32.760 --> 00:18:37.880 Be more specific. I'm going to trust in the Lord with all my heart. I'm not going to lean to my own 164 00:18:38.600 --> 00:18:44.680 understanding and in all my ways, I'm going to acknowledge Him and He will direct my path. 165 00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:52.280 If I do that, I'm going to be like our staff a moment ago when I asked him the question, 166 00:18:52.280 --> 00:18:56.680 when was the last time you made a dumb choice, dumb decision and you're good like this. 167 00:19:00.520 --> 00:19:05.080 It's been a while since I've goofed up. Awesome. 168 00:19:05.800 --> 00:19:18.200 Let the Word of God be the light and the lamp to your feet on a daily basis. Don't let emotions 169 00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:25.240 make decisions for you. Don't let people make decisions for you. Don't let a pastor priest or 170 00:19:25.240 --> 00:19:35.880 pope make decisions for you. Let God tell you what's up next. You'll nurture a hearing ear of what 171 00:19:35.880 --> 00:19:42.120 the Spirit is saying to you and you'll recognize more and more the voice of the Lord. And when 172 00:19:42.120 --> 00:19:51.800 that day comes, when God says something like open the church to preach the gospel, do not close 173 00:19:51.800 --> 00:20:00.680 the doors because of COVID, I opened a door that no man can shut. You have no authority to shut 174 00:20:00.680 --> 00:20:11.720 the doors of my church, Jack. I didn't flinch one second. I did not have one second thought, 175 00:20:12.360 --> 00:20:22.200 not one. I knew what I had to do and I'm nobody special friend. God's Word is here for you. 176 00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:30.200 Just make sure that you are consulting His Word. You'll never fail. God bless you guys. Listen, 177 00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:37.720 this is part obviously of us living out what we believe in. It's real life we're talking about. 178 00:20:37.800 --> 00:20:44.360 It's time for us to do that. Hit subscribe, share this with others. If it matters to you, I hope it does. 179 00:20:45.320 --> 00:20:51.400 And we'd love to see this podcast grow more and more. And love to get your feedback. What would 180 00:20:51.400 --> 00:20:59.880 you like to hear about? Give us topics. They're infinite, you know? And we'd love to handle those 181 00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:04.600 topics. We'd love to take them on through the Word of God as always. So listen until next time. 182 00:21:04.600 --> 00:21:09.640 God bless you guys and stand strong. Look up. Jesus is coming. Hopefully now. 183 00:21:14.680 --> 00:21:20.680 This Jack Hibbs podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported. 184 00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:27.800 Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more 185 00:21:27.800 --> 00:21:29.960 and stay connected.