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 --> 00:00:09.320 truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. 3 00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:12.920 New believers are so much fun to be around. They're bouncing off the walls. They 4 00:00:12.920 --> 00:00:16.620 got books everywhere. They're witnessing to a street pole in the fire hydrant. 5 00:00:16.620 --> 00:00:21.380 They're telling everybody, I love it. But have you noticed they've that 6 00:00:21.380 --> 00:00:26.940 zeal? But not much knowledge. We don't stand back and say, hey, you're gonna sit 7 00:00:26.940 --> 00:00:31.140 in that cage over there. We're lucky up until you get all stiff and grumpy like us. 8 00:00:31.140 --> 00:00:35.700 And then we'll let you out. No, man, the body of Christ coming together, working 9 00:00:35.700 --> 00:00:39.860 together, as we all mature together in Christ Jesus is such a glorious thing. 10 00:00:39.860 --> 00:00:41.060 It's such a beautiful thing. 11 00:00:44.660 --> 00:00:50.700 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. 12 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:55.940 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled 13 00:00:55.940 --> 00:01:00.140 life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. 14 00:01:00.380 --> 00:01:05.900 To us, that's like saying, amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to 15 00:01:05.900 --> 00:01:11.940 listen. Now, open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 16 00:01:12.980 --> 00:01:18.300 John chapter 1 verse 12 says, but as many as received him, that's that word for 17 00:01:18.300 --> 00:01:23.740 as many as come alongside and have him come alongside you and you come alongside him. 18 00:01:23.740 --> 00:01:29.980 You're an agreement. To them, he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe 19 00:01:29.980 --> 00:01:36.620 in his name. The word name can also be translated authority who were born not of blood, nor 20 00:01:36.620 --> 00:01:42.860 of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, born of God. The believer 21 00:01:42.860 --> 00:01:49.580 must be born of God. Jesus said it this way. You must be born again. He said to Nicodemus, 22 00:01:49.580 --> 00:01:54.740 the teacher of Israel, and then the word is weak. Look at the word weak. This is the one 23 00:01:54.740 --> 00:01:59.700 that we, concerning our brothers and sisters that you and I know, they are weaker in the faith. 24 00:02:00.060 --> 00:02:05.260 They're not as strong as you. How are we to deal with them? Did you know that we live in a family? 25 00:02:05.260 --> 00:02:10.580 This is a family right here. And part of being in a family is that we're all in different, 26 00:02:10.940 --> 00:02:17.260 we're different ages, we're different levels, like a family, but this is even deeper to 27 00:02:17.260 --> 00:02:24.220 spiritual family. And in a family, there's the need for us to practice these things in love, 28 00:02:25.660 --> 00:02:31.740 not out of arrogance. The word weak means feeble, sensitive, in the negative sense, sensitive. 29 00:02:32.460 --> 00:02:37.980 Not sensitive to the voice, but sensitive to your very, very thin skinned. 30 00:02:39.660 --> 00:02:45.180 You're a Christian. You're going to heaven. You love God, but you have thin skin. You're easily 31 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:51.260 offended. The person didn't say hi to me. I don't think I'm going to go back to that church anymore. 32 00:02:54.060 --> 00:02:59.740 That's who we're talking about. You're weak. It's not an insult. It's just an assessment of 33 00:02:59.740 --> 00:03:06.780 your level of spiritual growth or not. The word means sickly or prone to feebleness of spirit or 34 00:03:06.780 --> 00:03:13.500 faith, implying a lack of spiritual freedom. That's important. And power, narrow or limited. 35 00:03:15.180 --> 00:03:19.900 What does that mean in our day? Listen, you and I need to have a grounded faith. It's a practical 36 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:24.380 faith. And there are those who have not yet grown much along in their faith. They may have been 37 00:03:24.380 --> 00:03:29.020 Christians for a long time, but they've never been well taught. But here's the thing that they're 38 00:03:29.020 --> 00:03:36.220 easily offended by the slightest things. The truth is they haven't come to understand grace. And so 39 00:03:36.780 --> 00:03:41.980 they can't, they don't understand grace and so they can never give grace. I call them since 40 00:03:41.980 --> 00:03:48.620 sniffers and fault finders. They're in the family, but they're always calling you out. I get 41 00:03:48.620 --> 00:03:53.900 letters every time I say this and it's going to happen again. Here it comes. You ready? At least I'm 42 00:03:53.900 --> 00:04:02.940 telling you the truth. And it's this. I need the Holy Spirit to have greater control of my life 43 00:04:03.580 --> 00:04:10.140 when I see a speed limit sign. I see a speed limit sign. And I think that's a challenge. 44 00:04:10.140 --> 00:04:16.940 I need to have, I need a repent of that. I need to understand that the car can I go beyond that 45 00:04:16.940 --> 00:04:24.300 number. I'm thinking the car can't go slower than that number. I'm weak in the faith that way. 46 00:04:25.100 --> 00:04:32.860 Okay? But think about your life. Well, this, that person has makeup on. No, this is for real. 47 00:04:33.820 --> 00:04:36.620 They should be more spiritual like me. They have makeup on. 48 00:04:40.620 --> 00:04:45.900 When we begin in our weakness, when we begin to look at other brothers and sisters that do not fit 49 00:04:45.900 --> 00:04:51.820 our ranking of acceptance into the body of Christ because we've established our standards. 50 00:04:51.820 --> 00:04:57.100 And they're not God-established standards. Did God say anywhere not to put makeup on? 51 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:04.460 Ladies, that was your moment to say... Actually, wait, us men should have said, 52 00:05:04.460 --> 00:05:09.260 yeah, that's right. A woman wrote J. Vernon McGee and said, 53 00:05:10.140 --> 00:05:13.980 I've been told that I can't wear makeup. What does the Bible say? He says that Bible doesn't say 54 00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:17.340 anything about it. And he said, ma'am, if the bar needs painting, paint it. 55 00:05:21.020 --> 00:05:25.900 I didn't say that. J. Vernon McGee said that. You can ask him and you get to heaven. 56 00:05:27.100 --> 00:05:31.660 But we set up these rules. And they're not even in the Bible. 57 00:05:35.420 --> 00:05:39.820 If it's not in the Bible, what does the Bible say about rules that are not in the Bible? 58 00:05:39.820 --> 00:05:46.380 The next word is this. Conscious, what's our conscience? Our convictions about it. 59 00:05:46.380 --> 00:05:49.820 And what about the conscience or the convictions of others about it? 60 00:05:50.700 --> 00:05:54.540 If it's not mentioned in the Bible, we always default to love. 61 00:05:54.620 --> 00:06:02.220 Think of this. And so there's the weaker that is offended by many things. 62 00:06:03.100 --> 00:06:04.780 It's the weaker one that is critical. 63 00:06:08.540 --> 00:06:12.220 The one who has these rules and regulations, listen, the weaker you are in the faith, 64 00:06:13.020 --> 00:06:16.540 the more rules and regulations and fences you're going to have to establish. 65 00:06:17.180 --> 00:06:22.060 Because you do not understand and you do not enjoy, listen, listen, this is serious, 66 00:06:22.060 --> 00:06:28.620 your freedoms that are in Christ. And boy, I say that carefully because so many people today 67 00:06:29.820 --> 00:06:36.540 abuse the freedoms and misuse that's true doctrine of God. 68 00:06:37.260 --> 00:06:41.980 Let me put it to you this way. In Christ Jesus, you're not free to go do anything you want. 69 00:06:43.980 --> 00:06:47.820 Well, I'm a Christian. I can go sin. God will forgive me. Oh, no, that's not how I know. 70 00:06:48.460 --> 00:06:54.300 That's called anti-nominism. And God doesn't forgive that. The Old Testament says, 71 00:06:54.300 --> 00:06:57.980 that's sins of the high hand. Well, I'm going to go do this thing next Friday night, 72 00:06:57.980 --> 00:07:00.540 eight o'clock. We're going to go out and then oh, that's God to forgive me. 73 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:06.860 No, no, no, he doesn't forgive that. Did you know that? He calls it sins of the high hand. 74 00:07:07.580 --> 00:07:10.860 It's premeditated sin. He says, I'm not going to forgive that. 75 00:07:12.700 --> 00:07:16.860 Isn't that amazing? That just proves that you're still not a believer. 76 00:07:17.660 --> 00:07:23.180 You may go to church. You may claim to be a Christian. But if you can premeditate an 77 00:07:23.180 --> 00:07:29.180 appointment with sin and it doesn't have a storm go off inside of you, it just proves that you're 78 00:07:29.180 --> 00:07:38.220 internally dead. And that's why the call out to that and that's why God rebukes that so strongly. 79 00:07:39.180 --> 00:07:46.780 The Bible tells us in Romans 15 verse 12, we who are strong must be considerate of those who 80 00:07:46.780 --> 00:07:52.940 are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. We should 81 00:07:53.420 --> 00:08:00.220 help others do what is right and build them up. I love that. In the Lord come alongside them, 82 00:08:00.220 --> 00:08:05.340 build them up. And then the words dispute and doubtful, two powerful words. We shouldn't get caught 83 00:08:05.340 --> 00:08:15.180 up and get into unnecessary debates that take us nowhere. The act of passing judgment upon another 84 00:08:15.180 --> 00:08:21.100 the word disputes. It means to hold someone in a lesser state or in a low opinion, to assume a 85 00:08:22.300 --> 00:08:28.620 or superior authority that you do not have. You think you have this authority to judge other 86 00:08:28.620 --> 00:08:34.460 Christians? When they're now that you don't have that and Paul says, they cannot be us. 87 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:41.820 We are to get real with God and man. And it starts out with us confronting the fact that God loves us. 88 00:08:43.180 --> 00:08:50.700 So should we turn and love others like he loves us? And again, Paul is writing to the family 89 00:08:50.700 --> 00:08:59.020 of God, the church, very powerful. Listen to this, St. Augustine, Augustine of Hippo wrote this. 90 00:08:59.020 --> 00:09:07.020 This is great. He says, in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity. 91 00:09:07.740 --> 00:09:12.540 Isn't that beautiful? When it's in essential, we need to come together biblically and unite. 92 00:09:13.100 --> 00:09:18.700 It's right there in the Bible. We submit to the obedience of the Word of God. When it's peripheral 93 00:09:18.700 --> 00:09:24.620 things, where it's not crystal clear. You know what we'll do? We'll exercise liberty in those areas. 94 00:09:25.260 --> 00:09:34.140 What does that mean? You know what? If somebody says to me, I can't go to the beach. This is kind of 95 00:09:34.140 --> 00:09:43.980 true. Watch this. Did you know where there are those who think we Californians? Oh, California. 96 00:09:44.140 --> 00:09:53.740 I had this happen in England years ago. I taught at a church in England and after the sermon, 97 00:09:54.540 --> 00:10:01.820 I didn't know. But everybody, all right, amen. Let's go. And everybody walks out of the church 98 00:10:01.820 --> 00:10:09.980 and they walk across the park and they go to a pub. And I'm following them. I don't know where we're 99 00:10:09.980 --> 00:10:21.980 going. I'm like, and we go into a pub. And I'm okay. I'll have shepherds pie and a water 100 00:10:22.780 --> 00:10:30.380 for real. And you know what they told me? Oh, you don't drink? See, in America, people drink to get 101 00:10:30.380 --> 00:10:37.180 drunk. In Europe, because the water is filthy, all those countries drink. And they don't get drunk. 102 00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:47.180 But I couldn't have a Guinness near me. Why? Somebody might take a picture. I could be on the front page 103 00:10:47.180 --> 00:10:54.700 of the news. So I drank my water and ate my shepherds pie. And this one guy said, he made me laugh. 104 00:10:54.700 --> 00:11:01.180 He said, you know, it's funny. He said, this always happens. You guys come here and you won't touch 105 00:11:01.340 --> 00:11:09.820 the beer. But when we go to California, you guys all put on your board shorts and bikinis and jump in the 106 00:11:09.820 --> 00:11:17.180 water. And we won't go near that. We'll just stand on the beach with our clothes on. Because you think 107 00:11:17.180 --> 00:11:25.180 we're sending by doing this. And I'm thinking, well, you are. They think we're sending because we 108 00:11:25.180 --> 00:11:33.900 go to the beach or go surfing. What does the Bible say about surfing? Liberty. 109 00:11:37.260 --> 00:11:43.260 Now in England, I'm not it. Look, maybe I didn't look if the water is that bad. Maybe they're 110 00:11:43.260 --> 00:11:48.940 justified in doing it. I'll let Jesus figure that out in the end. But we can start pointing at 111 00:11:48.940 --> 00:11:52.620 different people and they can start pointing back and we're not exactly sure what we're doing. 112 00:11:53.420 --> 00:11:59.180 Because in my insecurity, I'm trying to lay a law on you that I live by and if you don't live by 113 00:11:59.180 --> 00:12:05.820 that law of mine, you make me feel uncomfortable. And this is called church. This is who we are. 114 00:12:07.260 --> 00:12:13.580 And what do we do about it? Love one another. Come alongside one another and pick each other up. 115 00:12:14.540 --> 00:12:26.300 Well, it goes on. The word doubtful things, things being reasoned about. This is so social media 116 00:12:26.300 --> 00:12:34.700 appropriate. Doubtful things. Things being reasoned about arguments, speculations to judge another man's 117 00:12:34.700 --> 00:12:43.420 thoughts, conviction, to judge what they are thinking. You can't do that. We all know you can't 118 00:12:43.420 --> 00:12:53.820 do that. But we do it. And the Bible says that would be in maturity. What do you say? I said this. 119 00:12:53.820 --> 00:13:00.860 That's what you didn't mean that. This is what you meant. We don't know that. We need to be careful. 120 00:13:01.660 --> 00:13:07.900 But this practical faith that God gives us is a faith that works. Colossians chapter 2, verse 16 says, 121 00:13:07.900 --> 00:13:17.500 so let no one judge you. Listen to this. In food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon 122 00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:23.660 or Sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 123 00:13:23.980 --> 00:13:30.780 So what's the rule? You'll never go wrong when love and loving your neighbors the rule. 124 00:13:31.980 --> 00:13:36.300 Very important. The complexion, think about the complexion and the 125 00:13:37.260 --> 00:13:42.300 composition of the church is remarkable. It's awe-inspiring if you ask me. 126 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:47.820 Recently I was asked, what is the demographics? Somebody was asking me, 127 00:13:47.820 --> 00:13:51.980 there's some other in the church world business stuff. What's the demographics? 128 00:13:52.860 --> 00:13:58.700 I was at a conference. They said, what's the demographics of your church? I don't know. 129 00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:02.620 But I told them, I said, well, I know what you're asking, but we don't keep record of this stuff, 130 00:14:02.620 --> 00:14:10.540 but I can tell you this. I said, I wish I had a body cam and I could stream 131 00:14:10.540 --> 00:14:21.100 or eat service to show who is attending these services. There's black, there's white, 132 00:14:21.100 --> 00:14:26.700 there's every color in between. Listen, there are various Asian cultures. The Vietnamese are sitting 133 00:14:26.700 --> 00:14:32.140 next to the Japanese. The Japanese are shaking hands with the Chinese and the Chinese 134 00:14:32.140 --> 00:14:37.100 are shaking hands with the Indonesians. Listen, in those cultures, they don't do that. 135 00:14:37.340 --> 00:14:43.100 They don't do that in this culture, in that world that they live in. They have a very, very rigid 136 00:14:44.300 --> 00:14:52.380 division, not here, not here because Jesus trumps all his love for you, the fact that he's made you 137 00:14:52.380 --> 00:15:00.380 new, all that stuff goes out the window. And we love one another. It's remarkable. We need to be 138 00:15:00.380 --> 00:15:07.900 very, very thoughtful people that we do not live our lives like this. Well, I've been a believer for 139 00:15:08.620 --> 00:15:19.900 all these years. What are you saying? What are you saying when you say that? I assume by you saying 140 00:15:19.900 --> 00:15:28.620 that you're something. Well, you know, I've been a Christian for many decades. Oh boy, 141 00:15:29.820 --> 00:15:37.260 what are we getting into here? So you've been a Christian for many decades. What does that mean? 142 00:15:38.140 --> 00:15:42.780 Does that mean for 50 years you've been a Christian with one year experience every 50 years? 143 00:15:43.820 --> 00:15:48.540 Or have you been a Christian for 50 years with 50 years experience? That's something, but I got 144 00:15:48.540 --> 00:15:53.020 news for you. If you've been a Christian for 50 years with 50 years of Christian experience, 145 00:15:53.020 --> 00:15:57.260 the last word that's going to come out of your mouth is, well, you know, I've been a Christian for 50 146 00:15:57.260 --> 00:16:04.780 years. Are you hearing me? The young believer, the new believer, God bless them. We love them. We 147 00:16:04.780 --> 00:16:10.220 love to be around them. It's like being around a puppy. They're so great. New believers are so much 148 00:16:10.220 --> 00:16:14.700 fun to be around. They're bouncing off the walls. They got books everywhere. They're telling this. 149 00:16:14.700 --> 00:16:20.220 They're witnessing to a street pole and a fire hydrant. They're telling everybody. I love it. 150 00:16:21.260 --> 00:16:27.340 But have you noticed they've got zeal, but not much knowledge. That's where you and I come along 151 00:16:27.340 --> 00:16:34.380 and love them on the rest of the way. We don't stand back and say, hey, you're going to sit in that 152 00:16:34.380 --> 00:16:39.580 cage over there. We'll lock you up until you get all stiff and grumpy like us. And then we'll let 153 00:16:39.740 --> 00:16:46.300 you out. No, man, the body of Christ coming together, working together as we all mature together 154 00:16:46.300 --> 00:16:54.060 in Christ Jesus is such a glorious thing. It's such a beautiful thing. And I'm at a time, but I 155 00:16:54.060 --> 00:16:58.860 must mention this in the drive you crazy all week. Pastor, what was the thing about vegetarian? 156 00:16:58.860 --> 00:17:07.740 What was the thing about the vegetarian? It's this. It has nothing to do with health stuff. Look, 157 00:17:07.740 --> 00:17:14.060 you want to be a vegetarian? I think that's a great idea. It leaves more meat for me to eat. 158 00:17:19.980 --> 00:17:25.980 If you're a vegetarian, that's awesome. Is that your conviction? Yes, I feel better. Good. Great. 159 00:17:27.260 --> 00:17:33.340 But the moment you say to me, you know, you should be a vegetarian too. I don't want to. Well, 160 00:17:34.060 --> 00:17:40.140 if you get close to Jesus, you'll see that you you should only eat vegetables. No, 161 00:17:40.940 --> 00:17:52.060 I've read my Bible. And it's pretty clear. Look, if you're blessed by eating vegetables, 162 00:17:52.060 --> 00:18:00.060 I am happy for you. Literally happy for you. You should be as happy for me. I look, 163 00:18:00.700 --> 00:18:07.020 you have to take it up with God. How he ordained in an outburger? I don't know how he did it. 164 00:18:09.100 --> 00:18:17.100 But that's, you cannot say, Pastor Jack, this is the second time this week. I saw you go through 165 00:18:17.180 --> 00:18:27.100 in an outburger. You can't, the Bible says, you can't, you can't judge that. 166 00:18:31.740 --> 00:18:41.500 Those kinds of things, the world laughs at us because we have focused on minor things, 167 00:18:42.140 --> 00:18:49.580 if they're things at all, we've made them things and we've let all the greater, deeper things of God 168 00:18:49.580 --> 00:18:56.140 go along the wayside and the world looks at us and they laugh at us. They know better. 169 00:19:00.940 --> 00:19:05.500 We need to practice love above all things. And I'm not talking about 170 00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:15.020 accepting and condoning sin in the name of love. We are to never do that. 171 00:19:16.220 --> 00:19:21.180 It is not a sin to eat vegetables and it's not a sin to eat a burger. 172 00:19:22.620 --> 00:19:30.300 All things, Bible says, given for food are to be received with thanks and given to God. And 173 00:19:30.860 --> 00:19:39.740 when someone is in error, sinning, this verse doesn't apply. This study doesn't apply to that. 174 00:19:39.740 --> 00:19:43.340 We are to go to the men's say, listen, I love you. That's why I'm going to tell you, 175 00:19:43.340 --> 00:19:48.700 a good cause is our relationship. This is how much I love you. You shouldn't be doing that. 176 00:19:50.140 --> 00:19:55.580 God says this in the Bible about this thing. Look, you can read it for yourself. It's black and white. 177 00:19:55.580 --> 00:20:02.860 And I'm telling you, because I love you, don't do that. You want to go and repent before the Lord 178 00:20:02.860 --> 00:20:07.660 on that. The Bible says, if you succeed in doing that, you've gained a brother. 179 00:20:09.580 --> 00:20:11.900 But if that brother turns us, it's linear love. 180 00:20:17.260 --> 00:20:21.580 When it comes to these things about who's strong and who's weak, the reality is in church, 181 00:20:21.580 --> 00:20:26.780 some people are strong and some people are weak. But we're all growing up. 182 00:20:28.540 --> 00:20:33.180 The beautiful thing is, why don't we link arms and make sure that we all grow up together? 183 00:20:34.220 --> 00:20:39.180 Because that's exactly how a family ought to work. 184 00:20:44.140 --> 00:20:48.300 This Jack Kibb's podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, 185 00:20:48.300 --> 00:20:53.020 are listener-supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? 186 00:20:53.740 --> 00:20:58.460 Go to jackhibb's.com to learn more and stay connected. 187 00:21:18.300 --> 00:21:22.460 Plus, you'll see which discounts you may qualify for, like the online quote discount, 188 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:27.740 or savings for paying in full. In fact, 99% of progressive auto customers earn at least one 189 00:21:27.740 --> 00:21:31.900 discount. See if you could save when you switch to progressive. You'll feel good about 190 00:21:31.900 --> 00:21:37.020 making a savvy choice. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little extra cashback. 191 00:21:37.020 --> 00:21:42.380 Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $946 192 00:21:42.380 --> 00:21:47.580 by new customers surveyed who saved with progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. 193 00:21:47.580 --> 00:21:49.340 Potential savings will vary.