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Real life presents the Jack Kibs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim

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truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. Hey you guys we're gonna be

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talking about why you should be thankful used to quick word on how to nurture a

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thankful heart, why it matters and how you and I can experience rejoicing in

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every situation. Stay tuned. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to

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jackkibs.com slash podcast. Today if this podcast lifts you up and encourages

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you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of

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those five star ratings. To us that's like saying amen or yes, then that

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rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word

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has to say to you. Here is Jack Kibs. We have everybody welcome to this special

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special special special podcast as we present to you just an encouragement.

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We're gonna keep this short. I say that right now. We're gonna keep it short

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because it's Thanksgiving and you're probably out and about at least in America.

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This is our one and only holy day for our nation. It is literally a holy day,

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not a holiday exactly, but a holy day for the American here in the United States

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because it is Thanksgiving. It is 100% founded upon a faith-based group of people,

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the Pilgrim fathers who responded to God's goodness for all that he had

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provided, and they gathered together with the local and native Indians in Massachusetts

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area, most specifically Plymouth area, and they celebrated together their

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thanks to God. And I know that in this world right now there's a lot of really

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dumb, ridiculous, stupid, uneducated argumentation about that really didn't

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happen that the white man slaughtered all the Indians and the Thanksgiving didn't

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really take place. Well, it actually did, and there's libraries filled with eyewitness accounts.

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What you're probably referring to is what is known as the King Philip War. King Philip

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War didn't happen for about 50 years later, quite frankly, because the first generation

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failed on both sides, both American and Indian, to tell their children what great things

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God had done. And when King Philip became the leader of those Indian tribes, they

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began to war against the white man, white man against the Indian, and you have the atrocities

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of King Philip's war. It's the bloodiest war in American history per capita, per population.

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A lot of people don't realize that. Per number dead, per those in battle, and those in the

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colony was even greater than the Civil War, which is hard to believe. So we leave that

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alone because that comes 50 years later. We're talking about being thankful, and that Thanksgiving

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is a time of true praise and thanks in contemplation and pondering upon the God of Abraham,

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Isaac, and Jacob, who led us across the sea from Europe, pagan Europe, Christianized pagan

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Europe that was. They took the faith and they wound up making it a government type of function.

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And our pilgrim said, no, we're not going to live like that. We're going to come here to worship

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God freely. And if you doubt what I'm saying, you don't have to doubt much longer because you can

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simply read the Mayflower Compact. I would love, you might love it. If today Thanksgiving day,

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that you would read the Mayflower Compact because it is the birth certificate that

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led to the first Thanksgiving, which led to the development of the Plymouth colony, which was

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different than the Massachusetts Bay colony and the Jamestown colony and so many other colonies

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that came earlier. The difference with Plymouth and the pilgrims is that it was the first one,

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1620. It was the first one that was founded upon a evangelistic Christian missionary journey.

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Did you know that? People want to talk about 1619. You can talk about 1619. You can talk about 1611.

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You can talk about 1605. Sure, you can talk about those times, but don't confuse those things with

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unbelieving privateers trying to establish more money for themselves versus the pilgrims of

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1620. So don't confuse the carnal attempt to establish this country versus the spiritual

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attempt to cause this nation to be. And that's the one that took, by the way. That's the one that

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gave birth to this country that you and I have today in America with our Declaration of Independence,

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with our Bill of Rights, with our Constitution. All of us based upon the Pilgrim Fathers.

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And it's quite awesome. That should be like 100% normal American education, but this is what I

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want to draw to your attention today. And then I want to say a few things to all of you that I'm

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very, very thankful for. But before I do that, I want to read something you, at first,

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Thessalonians chapter five. Because have you ever wondered what God's will is for your life?

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Have you ever wondered what does God want me to do? What does God have in store for me?

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What's my next step? What should I do next? God's got the answer. And it's up to you to get it.

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And here's, here's how you get it. First Thessalonians five. And it's about verse. Oh, I would say

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16 short verse. Rejoice always. Rejoicing always is a decision that you make. Rejoice always.

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Not when things are good. Not only when things are going well. Not only when the sun is shining

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or everybody's healthy. Should you then rejoice? It says always. He doesn't say be happy always.

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He says rejoice always because to rejoice is to decide to give God praise, honor, and glory every day

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in the midst of your moment. And the day is made up of moments. And the day is made up of hours

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and weeks and months and years. And you and I can rejoice even if at this moment wherever you are

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in the world, your nation is being overrun, for example, by radicals or by terrorists or by

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bombs. You can still rejoice because it doesn't change the existence of your relationship between

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you and God. Then the next verse says this. Pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. I say,

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Jack, I've always had a hard time with that verse because how in the world do you pray without

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ceasing? Don't you have to bow your knee? Don't you have to close your eyes? Don't you have to

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get on your knees or at least lift your hands? No. To pray without ceasing means nurture,

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stay in, and attitude of rejoicing, giving God thanks, and communicating with him on an open

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basis. The lines are open. Have you ever heard somebody say, you know, hope you enjoyed our program

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and if you'd like to support our show, the lines are open. Have you ever heard that before?

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The lines are open. Have you ever been on a call where you've got a dropped call? Well,

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we're not talking about a dropped call. We're talking about a call that is between you and God on

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a continuous basis where you nurture an attitude of prayer. Simply this. Talk to God moment by moment

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all the time. You don't need to open the lines because the lines are already open. If you're a

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believer, you're walking in the spirit. That's what it means to walk in the spirit is to walk in this

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mindset, in this attitude that God is always with you. He loves you and that you're going through

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life with him. You're not going through life alone and you're not going through life and you

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call upon him to show up and things are bad. He's with you all the time. And then listen,

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even gets better in everything. Give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

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That's the will of God in everything give thanks. So in this Thanksgiving season, how does that look?

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We stop and we realize and by the way, we've got to stop in everything give thanks. So that means

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you and I would stop today and pause and say, gosh, I guess I should write down the things that I'm

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thankful for. So for example, it could be your marriage, it could be your job, it could be your

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health. It could be whatever. I don't know. It's different for you than it is for me. There's

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some things that we would have that would overlap, but it should be a very personal thing. Are you

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thankful that I don't know, feel on the blank? But can you pause and say, Lord, I'm rejoicing in

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you. I'm so thankful and I'm praying always. And I know that it's your will that I be thankful

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for everything and in everything. And friends, listen, here's the punchline to this Thanksgiving

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exhortation. There is no power on earth that can rob you of that rejoicing if you're thankful.

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If you choose today to be thankful, look, I live in California. It's extremely beautiful,

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most beautiful state in the nation, but it's the most politically messed up state in the nation.

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But I rejoice and I thank God for it.

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There's crazy things going on in our world around us. There's violence, there's rioting,

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there's mayhem, there's financial instability. I choose to rejoice in the Lord always because

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he's good and because that is prayer that is never ceasing. And in that relationship I have with

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him, I can rejoice right now. You might say, well, Pastor, you're not plugged into a device right now.

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You're not plugged into a dialysis machine. You're not plugged into some sort of chemotherapy right

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now. No, I'm not yet. There's a day when I'm going to have pain and sorrow and suffering to a

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different degree than I normally have in life like you do. But by the grace of God, I'm going to

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choose to obey His word. And I'm asking you to consider that today. And again, I don't want this

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to be long because you're going to be with family and I want you to be with family and have a great

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time. But I just, right before we just went on the air right now with this podcast,

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it dawned on me that just this year, in fact, less than a year, in 10 months,

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in 10 months we started this podcast. And there are a couple of times in the last 10 months

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within this podcast, hit number one for a moment or two as people viewed it. I'm thankful for that.

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Not because we were selling something, but because we were giving truth.

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So I'm thankful for that. You know, I'm thankful for that at the Honda Center this last year,

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we hosted just church. My name wasn't mentioned. The church that I pastors name wasn't mentioned.

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People showed up by the thousands for a one night service to rededicate their life to Christ.

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It wasn't a crusade. It wasn't an outreach to the unsaved. It was an invitation for the

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child of God, the prodigals to come back home. And thousands of people came. It was an awesome

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event. It was called just church. And I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful for the fact that the real

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life network was launched this year. Oh my goodness, listen to this. The real life network we launched

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to circumnavigate YouTube and Facebook and everybody that was shutting us down.

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So we wound up creating the real life network. And we put people on that network 24-7,

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365 Christian on demand broadcasting free to the broadcaster free to you the recipients free.

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If you just go to the app, we were so happy to announce that. And that's been several months.

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In fact, it was launched on Pentecost Sunday of 2023. We've had somewhere over 7 million views

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already with great programming that continues to be updated and upgraded. And you ought to check

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it out if you don't know. I'm thinking God for the real life network. I'm also thinking God for

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the fact that I had the chance for the first time in many things, by the way. Now it dawns on me.

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The first the first chance that I had to go to the national religious broadcasters conventions,

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the largest convention in the world of its type. And not only what was I honored to be there,

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but I was completely blown away and blessed that the real life network was highly featured there

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by the NRB. We were really humbled by that. Everybody flocked to our display. It was more than

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a display. It was really a portable studio that was set up. And we interviewed people like Ron

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Desentez and Jenna Ellis, John Solomon, Michelle Bachman. I mean, there's so many people I'm missing

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right now, but the tons of people. God bless that. That was amazing. Also this, the real life

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network went to Washington DC this last year, a couple months ago. And it was the key ministry and

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support of the Family Research Council's annual gala. And we had a tremendous time there. And it

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was a powerful time. I had an amazing opportunity just a few weeks ago to speak at a private gathering

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in Colorado Springs with Dr. James Dopson, the the actual founder of a focus on the family.

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But now the founder also of Family Life, Dr. James Dopson and Shirley Dopson, I was honored. He

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came up. I couldn't believe it. Lisa and I almost fainted because we grew up growing, raising

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our kids listening to him. And he came up to me and he gave me a hug. And he said, I want you to

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know that Shirley and I watch services every Sunday. And you are our pastor. And I actually thought I

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was having a dream. It was the strangest thing in the world for me. It was amazing. And then I want

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I just want to, I'm thankful, so thankful and humbled by that. You know what,

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salvation's at church. Just speaking the truth. Look, I got to tell you that we're not a really

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an evangelistic church. Don't get me wrong. We believe in evangelism. We have a lot of evangelists

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at our church. We have the call ministry and we have so many people that go out and share the Lord

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and all kinds of ways. And it's awesome. But I am more of a disciple maker more than I am an

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evangelist. But we've had so many people come to Christ this last year. I'm grateful for that.

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1,250 plus people were baptized in the Pacific Ocean this year. And that's amazing. Always

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amazing. 1,250 plus were baptized. We hosted the Huntington Beach pastors engagement conference

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where we paid all the expenses for pastors to come to a one day incredible gathering to equip

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pastors on how to affect their culture for Jesus as being salt and light. Molly, West Africa,

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continues to grow. We have the largest private school in Molly, Africa. And also we've not only

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been helping out with Maui, Hawaii and the fires, but we are just about ready to get ready

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to do major construction efforts in Maui and their rebuilding efforts. Buds, I threw that in there.

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Buds is our men's gathering where I simply speak to the men and then they speak to one another.

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Once a month, our men break away from the small groups. They get into one large group over 2000.

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I don't know. Anywhere from 1500 plus men get together in one room, all private just us

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together and they share what God's doing with their lives. I am so thankful that we have an

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amazing church of men who are celebrating their biblical masculinity on being servants. I'm grateful

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for this church that I have a chance to pastor the one that we started together with Jesus, of course,

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33 years ago. TV, radio, Sacramento, the rally at the Capitol regarding stopping abortion,

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voting ballot collection. The church has become the epicenter for ballot harvesting, ballot

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collection in the state of California. For all of you, I'm thankful for your prayers and for your

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support. Have you noticed that we don't ask for money on all of our broadcasts? You want to know

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why? Because people send money. They pray, God speaks to them and they send. They're co-laborers with

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us. And then finally, I leave the best for last. Without my wife and family, I could not be doing what

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I'm doing. Yes, we have an amazing staff on various fronts. I have the opportunity to be involved

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in various ministries and overseeing those ministries. And in each of them, we have amazing boards,

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we have amazing staff in those ministries. But none of it would be possible without an amazing

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wife and an amazing family. So I am thankful and I hope that you're thankful too. So God bless you

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guys as we head into the new year coming up really soon. But listen, get ready for Christmas

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because it's coming shout to everybody you see. Merry Christmas because that also is a great

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reason why you should be thankful today. Thanks, Givi. God bless you guys. And of course, as always,

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we believe here at real life that it's not only what you believe in that matters. It's that you live

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out what you believe in. It's time for real life. God bless you until next time.

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This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities,

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are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift?

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Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.

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Are you really buying a car online on auto trader right now?

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Really, I can get super specific with dealer listings and see cars based on my budget.

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You can really have a delivered or pick it up. I think he is walking up the slide.

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Really? Auto trader. Buy your car online. Really.