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 --> 00:00:10.160 truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. Some people wear their 3 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:13.440 scars on the outside, some wear their scars on the inside, but the thing as 4 00:00:13.440 --> 00:00:17.640 believers we're gonna get scarred up and those are not shameful things, those are 5 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:23.440 things of honor. Suffering for the believers a tool and suffering ends the moment 6 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:28.800 you and I see Jesus. Are you hearing me? When you and I see Christ are suffering 7 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:30.440 ends. 8 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:39.040 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to Jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 9 00:00:39.040 --> 00:00:43.920 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled 10 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:48.800 life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, 11 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:54.320 that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. 12 00:00:54.960 --> 00:00:59.760 Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jackhibbs. 13 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:27.120 A thing to slay us as to slaughter sheep. What is he saying? He's saying, listen, 14 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:33.200 you can attack us. You can make fun of us. You can slay us. You have no idea what you're doing. 15 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:41.840 Paul put it this way to live as Christ to die as gain. The Christian always wins. 16 00:01:42.160 --> 00:01:55.440 Always. If we live, we live for Christ. If we die, we go to Christ. The great scholar Frederick 17 00:01:55.440 --> 00:02:03.200 Derek Kinder put it this way and I love this. This is a great statement. A revolutionary concept 18 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:10.880 to the Old Testament man or woman of God that suffering may not be a punishment but a battle scar 19 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:21.920 the price of loyalty in a world which is at war with God. I love that. I have a friend 20 00:02:23.040 --> 00:02:28.640 that was one of the founding fathers of U.S. Army Delta Force, General Jerry Boykin. 21 00:02:29.760 --> 00:02:36.080 This man has got numerous purple hearts. He took a 50 caliber round 50 caliber. You know what that 22 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:42.640 is? 50 caliber round through the armpit and they were able to put his arm back on. 23 00:02:43.920 --> 00:02:53.440 Shot through numerous times. Body scarred, special ops, wars, events from the Middle East to the 24 00:02:53.440 --> 00:03:03.120 jungles of South America. He looks great in a suit but if he takes his shirt off, he looks like 25 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:13.280 he's been put in a meat grinder. And I love what Kinder said that in our lives these are scars 26 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:17.360 from the battle. Listen, don't you want Christian? Don't you want scars from being in the battle? 27 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:26.240 You can't challenge General Boykin's patriotism. He doesn't have to say a word. I just have to 28 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:32.640 take a shirt off. Paul is saying standing there as a believer. You've got to remember church. Paul 29 00:03:32.640 --> 00:03:39.040 the Apostle, church history, church history, not the Bible, church history tells us that Paul's 30 00:03:39.040 --> 00:03:45.600 eyes were very close set together near the bridge of his nose unusually so. He had a very, very large 31 00:03:45.600 --> 00:03:56.320 beak-like hook nose. He was very unattractive, bald-headed with hair in the back, very petite and 32 00:03:56.320 --> 00:04:02.960 severely bull-legged. Poor sight, very poor sight. This is the great Paul the Apostle. 33 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:08.480 Don't you think Paul the Apostle would have been more like, like, you know, I don't know, like 34 00:04:08.480 --> 00:04:16.800 Dwayne Johnson or something, the rock. You write Paul walks into town and people come to Christ. 35 00:04:18.960 --> 00:04:25.200 Paul came into town and nobody knew who he was. And the Bible does tell us that his voice, 36 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:32.560 his speaking is contemptible. Can you imagine? You guys, Paul's going to speak. Hey, everybody's 37 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:38.160 Paul. He's going to speak. And some guy stands up there. When's Paul going to speak? Oh, that is 38 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:45.840 Paul. He's going to speak. That's Paul. You ever meet somebody they only know you from a radio 39 00:04:45.840 --> 00:04:55.920 voice and I meet them and they, you're Jack. I envision something different. It's funny. 40 00:04:55.920 --> 00:05:03.600 That's Paul and then Paul would go, I want to talk to all you Romans here. His speech was 41 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:12.720 contemptible. But the scriptures say he was mighty with the pen. Wow, that's encouraging. 42 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:21.120 Let God establish you. But I want to be in the battlefield of this world fighting against evil. 43 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:29.600 God helped the Christian who sees it as a spectator option. These young people that are standing 44 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:33.920 today, I'm very encouraged. Look, these two that are standing against the evils in our public 45 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:40.160 school system, they're under attack. Are you fighting for anything that is worthy of being attacked? 46 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:45.280 The old saying goes like this, if you were to be arrested for being a Christian, would they 47 00:05:45.280 --> 00:05:52.880 have enough evidence to convict you? Are you guilty of following Christ? Are you guilty of 48 00:05:52.880 --> 00:06:00.000 association with Jesus? And the other thing is this church is that we no longer want our way 49 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:06.880 about life. See, are you sure about that? Yeah, listen, the longer we live, the more sure we know 50 00:06:06.960 --> 00:06:12.800 this is that we are counted, accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Don't let that throw you too far 51 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:19.360 off at all because you actually know exactly what that means. He's quoting the 44th Psalm as I said 52 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:25.360 earlier, but Jesus put it to us this way, deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me. 53 00:06:27.200 --> 00:06:32.880 That is God. Good morning. This is Jack. I'm asking you to live your life through me today. Please 54 00:06:32.880 --> 00:06:40.320 God, keep me out of it. I mean, help me to hang on. Let's go, whatever's coming, but don't 55 00:06:40.320 --> 00:06:48.320 let me mess it up. So I'm getting out of bed now, God. So let's live the life that you have for 56 00:06:48.320 --> 00:06:56.960 today, for me to live. I don't want to do my thing. And the longer you walk with Jesus, the less you 57 00:06:56.960 --> 00:07:08.320 want to do your thing doesn't go well. I take the application this way in the world that you and I 58 00:07:08.320 --> 00:07:17.360 live in. It looks like we're outnumbered. It feels like we're dying. It sounds like we're losing. 59 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:25.680 It seems like we're alone. That's all through the human perspective. And that's a normal thing to 60 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:33.120 feel, but it's not accurate. I have this question written down to my notes on page 7. Has God 61 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:39.680 worked a work in you enough so that you are both unwilling and unable to walk away from him? 62 00:07:40.400 --> 00:07:45.600 Let me explain what that means. Has God, can you say today that God has worked enough in your 63 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:52.480 life that you cannot walk away from him? This is a very, very kairos moment for somebody that 64 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:57.840 might be here today. You would call yourself a Christian, but you have no testimony of God's 65 00:07:57.840 --> 00:08:04.400 dynamic working in your life and you're troubled by that. And so you should be. You know enough 66 00:08:04.400 --> 00:08:10.320 that you can't go back into the world and say, I'm an atheist now. You know enough, 67 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:18.000 but you've never gone forward. And I want to say to you today that God, the Holy Spirit is saying, 68 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:23.520 let's go forward now. Let's go for it. You yield to me. Let's go. The man, the woman, 69 00:08:24.400 --> 00:08:30.800 the teenager is blessed in this moment where they might be in doubt or they might be in fear. 70 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:34.880 And you speak to them and you question them and you're talking with them. And then you say to them, 71 00:08:34.880 --> 00:08:40.960 listen, then just put down your Bible, walk away from God, never bring his name up again, 72 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:47.040 forsake everything that you've learned. Never go back to church again and go live your life. 73 00:08:47.040 --> 00:08:50.880 And you know what? You'll always spot the believer in a second when that happens. 74 00:08:50.880 --> 00:08:57.120 They'll say, I can't do that. Why can't you? And I have to say it for them 75 00:08:58.560 --> 00:09:04.000 because he's done enough in your life for you to know that he's real. And I'm asking you, 76 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:10.320 let go and let him take you the rest of the way. He is so good to finish what he begins. 77 00:09:10.560 --> 00:09:20.480 John 6, verse 65, Jesus said, therefore, I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it 78 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:26.560 has been granted to him by my father, verse 66, from that time, many of his disciples went back 79 00:09:26.560 --> 00:09:36.640 and walked with him no more. They just quit. Then Jesus said to the 12, do you also want to go away? 80 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:47.440 You got to love Peter. He's the best. Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? 81 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:55.120 You have the words of eternal life. Okay, isn't that amazing? Jesus just got then preaching a 82 00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:01.920 very hard thing in chapter 6 of John. Basically, whittled it down to this, hey, you're with me or 83 00:10:01.920 --> 00:10:08.640 you're not. It's time to get up. This is good going. You've got to be one with me or you're not. 84 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:18.560 And people heard that and they went, yeah, no. And they left. And then watching, the 12 are watching, 85 00:10:18.560 --> 00:10:23.520 people walk away. And Jesus, they're just walking away. You know, it's awesome about Jesus. Jesus 86 00:10:23.520 --> 00:10:28.320 never went and ran after the person that was walking away and said, oh, did I say something to 87 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:39.840 the venue? Can I, can I, can we, can we talk it over? Listen, church leaders, church, 88 00:10:41.680 --> 00:10:48.880 pastors, boards, whatever. Listen, when somebody, when somebody says, I'm leaving, don't ever talk 89 00:10:48.880 --> 00:10:58.720 them into staying. Don't do it. It may be a blessed subtraction that they're leaving. 90 00:11:00.640 --> 00:11:09.360 But don't try to convince them. Trust God to speak to them. But when Jesus said, so are you 12, 91 00:11:09.760 --> 00:11:16.800 you guys going to go away too? This is, this is finished this. And you could just see Peter. 92 00:11:18.800 --> 00:11:27.760 Jesus, you alone have the words of eternal life. This is the best deal in town. No one's ever 93 00:11:27.760 --> 00:11:34.160 said this stuff or has done this stuff you've done. Where do we go? There's no place else to go. 94 00:11:34.160 --> 00:11:43.520 I mean, we've got all kinds of places to go, but there's really no place to go. It's him. 95 00:11:45.680 --> 00:11:50.640 Psalm 138, verse 8 tells us, the Lord will perfect that which concerns me, your mercy, 96 00:11:50.640 --> 00:11:54.640 O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. Is that precious? 97 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:59.440 And then finally with this, verses 37 to 39 is the fact that you're suffering, 98 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:04.080 listen up, we're going to end with a bang. Your suffering, my suffering, our suffering. 99 00:12:04.800 --> 00:12:09.360 Under the watchful eye of God, pick it. Listen, don't say it out loud, but what is it in your 100 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:14.480 life that's causing suffering? Is it the past? Is it the memory of something? Is it currently what's 101 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:19.920 going on? Is it financial? Is it legal? Is it relational? Something's going on in our lives. 102 00:12:21.760 --> 00:12:28.960 But we're believers in Christ. He's our God, which means our suffering is only a tool. 103 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:36.720 It's a tool. Michelangelo picked up the mallet and he picked up a chisel and he had a big block 104 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:44.720 of granite and he went to work and he created some of the greatest sculptures that have ever 105 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:52.560 been produced in humanity, of course, David being the pinnacle. But think of the chipping. God 106 00:12:52.560 --> 00:12:57.600 is chipping on your life. You might be able to say, well, you know they came about this way 107 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:01.520 or pastor, I did it to myself, I did this or I made the biggest mistake. 108 00:13:03.920 --> 00:13:10.400 God is going to use that as a tool. He's the only one that can convert either the world attacking you 109 00:13:10.400 --> 00:13:18.160 or you attacking you into a tool because nothing shall separate you from the love of Christ. Not even 110 00:13:18.160 --> 00:13:24.320 yourself. You're thinking about who you grabbed the wheel. I'm going to drive now. I'm going to 111 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:31.520 drive now. Don't do that. Let God drive. But even as a Christian, you can crash the car. 112 00:13:33.920 --> 00:13:38.720 And you listen, God will see too it. You learn suffering is a tool. 113 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:46.000 If that should be a tattoo. I'm not endorsing tattoos, but if you have a tattoo, whatever, 114 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:51.280 suffering is a tool. 115 00:13:53.280 --> 00:13:59.360 Cross your chest. I don't know. Suffering is a tool from God. 116 00:14:02.400 --> 00:14:07.200 How do we know? Because it causes us to rise above. Suffering allows you to rise above. 117 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:11.760 Verse 37, yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 118 00:14:12.560 --> 00:14:17.760 More than conquerors. I think our conqueror is good enough. He says, no, no, more than that. 119 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:24.720 Is that amazing? By the way, the word conqueror means an overwhelming victor. It's not that you're a 120 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:33.440 victor. You're overwhelmingly one. A warrior having been victorious in battle, standing over the enemy. 121 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:38.800 Wow. Can you imagine, Christian, if we understood that the dark forces that were in our world today 122 00:14:38.800 --> 00:14:45.920 or demonic activity, type of forces, and we stand over the enemy in Christ, we stand in full 123 00:14:45.920 --> 00:14:49.760 and total victory. That's what the Bible teaches us. Scarcely do we believe it. 124 00:14:54.800 --> 00:15:00.080 More than conquerors. So I'm putting this together with the scars of the battlefield, 125 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:05.040 and we're more than a conqueror. I want to stand before God. I pray. I stand before God at the end. 126 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:12.880 And my armor is all dinged up. I want my armor oily, bloody, bent, dented. I'd love to have a helmet 127 00:15:12.880 --> 00:15:22.160 on with this big bent over here. And my shield is just, in fact, it's a great, God got me out of 128 00:15:22.160 --> 00:15:26.320 earth just in time because my shield is about ready to be worn through. Don't you want to die like that? 129 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:32.240 I want to die like that as a Christian. Say, I understand, listen, you scars. Listen, 130 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:36.400 look, some people wear their scars on the outside, some wear their scars on the inside, but the thing 131 00:15:36.400 --> 00:15:41.280 as believers, we're going to get scarred up. And those are not shameful things. Those are things of 132 00:15:41.280 --> 00:15:50.240 honor. Like I was mentioning, General Boykin, but I got this in Somalia. I got this. He was the 133 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:54.800 faint, listen, he was the one that got the phone call from Bill Clinton himself. Bill Clinton said, 134 00:15:54.800 --> 00:16:00.480 go in now. And he said, Mr. President, we never attacked during the day. The operations forbid it. 135 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:05.200 We're going to lose too many people. Do you remember the, in fact, they made a movie of it called Black 136 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:14.880 Hawk Down. That's him. And you know, I got this in Somalia. I got this in South America and a 137 00:16:15.760 --> 00:16:20.640 covert CIA operation. I got this. He's, remember, remember, Jaws, the movie Jaws, 138 00:16:20.640 --> 00:16:25.120 what they're talking about, where'd you get that scar? I got this one, Suzy threw a pencil at me. 139 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:29.440 Richard Dreyfist points this one out. The other guy puts his leg up there and says, I got this, 140 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:34.640 a shark made me a rodeo. And what's his name? Robert Shaw says, I got this in the ward, 141 00:16:34.640 --> 00:16:38.800 it's some big bad scar. Can you imagine being as a Christian standing there on the day? Where'd 142 00:16:38.800 --> 00:16:49.440 you get that? Oh man, we got this battling the orange school board. Right? Right? Oh, 143 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:54.960 where'd you get, where'd you get that? Oh man, that was up in Sacramento. It's fighting for the 144 00:16:54.960 --> 00:17:03.040 unborn children. That one. Right? Oh, what about that one? That's when we sued the governor over 145 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:08.880 churches having to pay for abortions. Yeah, real stuff. 146 00:17:13.600 --> 00:17:18.960 The Bible makes it very clear that suffering also, listen, suffering prepares this for what's 147 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:23.680 about to come. And this is okay, don't freak out. Don't get up now. Usher's locked the door. They're 148 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:28.640 not the time for you to pan it. It's like, is this where the ride drops off all the way down? 149 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:35.280 Suffering prepares you. Listen, you don't know this or not, but you love being around people who 150 00:17:35.280 --> 00:17:40.240 have suffered. They just don't tell you about it. I'm talking about Christians. I love being 151 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:46.560 around new believers because they're like, bring it. They're the best. You know what? It's the 152 00:17:46.560 --> 00:17:53.040 mediocre Christians. I cannot, I'm sorry, I just can't hang around. I can't. New believers, 153 00:17:53.040 --> 00:17:57.280 they're like, come on, let's go down the forest line, let's raise the dead. Yes, let's go! 154 00:17:58.320 --> 00:18:04.960 They're amazing. And the only other group of people I'd like to be with are seasoned saints. 155 00:18:05.840 --> 00:18:14.000 You know why? We all love it. You know bedtime. Can you tell me a story? Papa, Mimi, can you tell me 156 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:24.240 a story? Kids love that stuff. We love that stuff. Well on the other end of that pendulum and 157 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:29.760 somebody saying, you know what? You asked about my life. This is what God's done in my life and 158 00:18:29.760 --> 00:18:36.160 they tell you a tale of this incredible battle. Suffering for the believers a tool 159 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:46.960 and suffering ends the moment you and I see Jesus. Are you hearing me? When you and I see Christ, 160 00:18:48.560 --> 00:18:49.520 our suffering ends. 161 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:58.880 This Jack Kibb's podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are 162 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:03.360 listener-supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? 163 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:09.920 Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.