Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Guest (Male): Wow.

Jack Hibbs: Who does? He who does the will of my Father in heaven. That's how important it is for you and I to know His will.

Guest (Male): This year, America turns 250 years old. That's not just a milestone. It's a once-in-a-generation opportunity to remember where we came from and to make sure the children we love know the story. It's the story of 13 colonies that dared to declare independence of a nation whose founders believed that our rights come from God, not from government. It's 250 years of courage, sacrifice, and providence.

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Guest (Male): On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack now continues his series called Disciplines of Life in a message titled "Discipline of Discernment." We live in a very confusing world these days, filled with darkness, false ideas, and deception. Spiritual discernment is really more important than ever.

Without discernment, we can easily be misled in the important decisions about life, faith, relationships, even our beliefs. It's why learning to think and choose in a way that aligns with God's word is how we can avoid the consequences of costly mistakes. Today, Pastor Jack teaches that the purpose of discernment is to know and follow God's will in every situation. When God's will is our priority, the goal is not just making decisions, but making decisions that God wants for our lives. Now, with his message called "Disciplines of Discernment," here's pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: Verse 14. The Bible says, "But solid food belongs to those who are of full age." He's talking about spiritual depth. "That is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to," what? "Discern both good and evil."

I thought God said, "Don't eat of the tree, Eve, because if you do, you'll know good and evil." Yes, that's true. She already bit the fruit. That's happened. God doesn't leave us alone. I know your first mother bit the avocado, or whatever. It couldn't have been an avocado; those are wonderful. It had to be a grapefruit or something. She bit it and ruined the race. Fine, but here's the thing. I'm not going to leave you guys abandoned. My Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you.

Listen to my Spirit, who will use the Word of God. By the end of this message, you'll see how God leads us, guides us, and teaches us. He uses His Word and the Spirit of God will draw it up and lead you and I on the path that we should go. He guides us, but we'll be able to discern. This is a promise. Hebrews 5:14 is a promise. Christian, listen. You don't have to make a dumb, evil decision. Wait on the Lord. Seek His face. Pursue Him. Stop falling for the stuff that we all are tempted by, which is to have it quick, microwave, presto, fantastic, and ready now. Wait, and He will answer. He will guide you.

By the way, that word in Hebrews about discern is to make a judicial estimation, a critical decision. He says, "I'll give you that." Secondly, under this point, why do you and I want His will for our lives? It is because He wants you and I to have fulfillment. Every one of us, we want to have a fulfilled life. It's what we pursue.

Have you ever been really hungry? Of course, we have been. Now, when I was young and didn't care, I was a sucker for ice-cold milk. Even now, still, I love it. I could get a bag of potato chips and eat the whole bag with a carton of milk. It's perfect for me. But that is so bad for your blood. It's not good for your body. The next day, you wake up feeling very lethargic and sick. Your liver goes nuts. It's horrible for you.

But if you eat good stuff, the right proteins, you're full. You don't need a snack because you're full. You've eaten the right stuff. Your blood's happy. Your liver is singing. Everything's great. That's important because fulfillment causes deep satisfaction in life. There are people in Hollywood with unbelievable amounts of money. You think their life is fulfilled? They're not fulfilled.

I had a chance to meet, not too long ago, I was invited to pray at a function in someone's home. His next-door neighbor was Jackie Chan, and Pat Boone was there. Pat Boone's about 180 years old, I think. I had a chance to meet Pat Boone. Honestly, I don't know how old he is, but when I was a kid, he was old. Let me tell you something. That dude is nuts for Jesus. That guy was bouncing around that house like he was 16 years old. Every other word out of his mouth was Jesus, and he was not cussing. He was praising God.

There's something about the Lord in your life, alive and real in your soul, that causes you to have a spring in your step in life. There's a man that's made great decisions in life. He's waited upon the Lord. In that house that we were in, the man that hosted this event was a billionaire with a B. He's loved Jesus all his life. He grew up in the church, and everything this man's put his hands to do, God has blessed it. He owns amazing amounts of companies, and it's all about Jesus.

The first thought on our mind is: How can somebody so rich love Jesus? It's because the guy loved Jesus first, and God saw him faithful enough to bless him. The guy is bizarre. It's like he's not even aware of what he owns. It's all about getting the word of God out to the world. Well, listen, you don't have to be rich to be fulfilled. It's Christ that makes you fulfilled. It's having Him truly alive in your heart. You might sit there and say, "Well, that is so ethereal. What are you talking about?" Seek God and watch Him fill your life. It is an amazing thing.

In John chapter one, verse 12, about fulfillment, the Bible says, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of the will, nor of the will of man, but of God." It was God's will. Are you a Christian? Listen, let's do this. We haven't done this in a while. How many of you are Christians tonight? Raise your hands. Okay, put your hands down. If you raised your hand, it is the will of God that you've come to Christ. He doesn't make mistakes. You can get up and go today. I mean, after the message, you get up and go and live a life fulfilled. It's not some crazy dream. It's a fact.

You know this verse. You're tired of hearing it. A fulfilled life is promised to the believer. Jeremiah 29:11. "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you," says the Lord, "thoughts of peace, not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." That's to every one of you who could raise your hand tonight. God says so. A fulfilled life.

Also, note this. Why do you and I want to have God's will in our lives? It's because He alone can make things matter. So much of what you and I can pursue in life comes to nothing if we're not careful. It's almost like when you buy something. You think, "I've got to have this. I've got to have this." You buy this thing, and then it's sitting on your table and you're looking at it. A day or two goes by and you look at it and think, "Why did I get that thing?" It doesn't matter.

Most often in life, we're surprised about the things that matter. I'm getting very excited about the young people in America today because they're waking up. I think we're on the cusp of how it was during the hippie days, in the drug days. Remember San Francisco, Berkeley? It's still like that today up there. Doped up, free sex. It's funny. Free sex, make love not war, all this stuff. Those kids preached that message. Remember, at the same time, the declaration was "God is dead."

The kids are the ones that woke up. They said, "Wait a minute. All this free sex isn't free. It's truly messing me up, and I don't want to be stoned anymore." And what happened? The Jesus Movement was born. Hippies came to church, stoned, no shoes, walking into church, searching. They were getting healed in the moment, saved. It made history around the world.

I think we're right on the brink of that happening again. The young people today are saying, "You know what? My parents and this materialistic world, it doesn't work." I've cited to you before an MTV poll where the youth of the world said the number one thing on their list was "I want to have a family." What's the most important thing to you? They said, "I want to have a family." I think God's waking kids up. Things matter when they come from God.

Knowing God's will fortifies us in the darkest of hours, in the darkest of times. You guys know I'm a revolutionary American history freak. I love that stuff. The resolve that George Washington had in the face of darkness was amazing. When you read his writings, it came from prayer, seeking God, and knowing the Word of God. When you visit George Washington's burial place in Mt. Vernon, there are four of his favorite scriptures in granite there from the Bible.

God's word comes and fortifies us in the darkest hours. Philippians 1:29 says, "For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but to also suffer for his sake." Did you know that? Things matter. I know this sounds strange. What does that have to do with things matter? Because when we suffer, that's how we really begin to appreciate things. It's a good thing. Suffering's a good thing. None of us would sign up for it, I know that.

But for the Christian, when you've suffered, I'm going to tell you a little secret. I'd rather be around Christians who have suffered. There's two types of Christians I'd like to be around. Brand-new believers, they're the best. Have you noticed? No one has to tell a new believer, "Turn off your TV." They can't put the Bible down, and all they want to do is talk. They want to ask a thousand million questions. They are the best.

And then, to be around a Christian who has suffered. Why? Because there's depth. The worst thing is to be somebody in the gray zone in between. There's no depth, there's no zeal, there's just religion.

In Acts chapter nine, verse 16, the Bible says, "For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake." That was the promise given to Paul the Apostle at his conversion. "Paul, I want you to follow me." "Yes, Lord." "And oh, by the way, you are going to suffer many things for joining up." And what happens? You come to the end of Paul's life and Paul says, "All this stuff is nothing compared to the glory that's about to be revealed. All of my life's acquisitions I count as nothing that I might win Christ." What an amazing thing.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And now, let's get back to today's message. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.

Jack Hibbs: Point number two this evening. Are you guys okay? You're real quiet. The discipline of discernment. Point number two is: What does God's will look like in my life? How do I know? I'm really excited about this part. Number one is that I discover the purpose of my life.

Doesn't that sound kind of silly? "What's the purpose of my life?" And yet, you can go right now to Barnes and Noble or Borders, and there are volumes of books written about how you can find out your purpose for living. Number one best-selling book a while back was *The Purpose-Driven Life*. The world bought it all around the world. Psychologists will tell you why it sold so well: because of the one word, purpose.

People live their lives and they're asking the question, "Why am I here?" People are searching. I was told by a friend of mine in Hawaii who pastors a church, he said it's very difficult to pastor a church here. One of the great reasons is that people come to Hawaii because it's the end-all for them. It's the perfect environment, everything's pristine, it's a comfortable paradise, and they're going to find themselves. There's all these self-awareness things.

That's why you can turn on your TV tomorrow morning and you see these exercise people. Where are they? They're on the shores of Hawaii. Why? Because the whole mystique is: I'm doing this thing on the shore with the coconuts and it speaks about Nirvana. But the person walks away, no matter how buff they are, no matter how healthy they are, still wondering why was I born and what is the meaning of life.

People without Christ can't discern that. Though they're asking, they don't know which way to go. You, the believer, have the discernment to know the reason why God has placed you here. You are to know that. It's amazing to me to realize that no matter what, you and I are actually fulfilling our purpose, or a purpose, I should say, at any given time as a human being. You don't even have to be a Christian. You are fulfilling a purpose. That's not good enough, is it? You want to fulfill the purpose for why you were created. And that's for each and every one of us to find out.

This is an amazing thing for life's journey. A lot of people are talking today about Christianity's history, Christianity's over. Forget about the term Christianity; let's talk about Jesus and you. Let's talk about you walking with the true and living God. It is a journey. It is an experience that you can know God, and He'll never lead you astray. He'll lead you and guide you if you'll just stop and say, "Lord, what class do I take? What school do I go to? Who do I marry? What do I do with this kid of mine, or what do I do with this wife of mine, or this husband of mine?" Seek Him. Watch the answers come and find purpose.

Matthew seven, verse 20 and 21, is terrifying. These verses should haunt you. "Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven." Who does? "He who does the will of my Father in heaven." That's how important it is for you and I to know His will.

What does it look like? Well, what are you doing? "What does God's will look like in my life?" Well, what are you doing? Now, you guys are already a couple miles ahead because you're here on a Wednesday night. You're seeking God. You didn't have to come in the middle of the week. It's winter; it went down to 74 today. Suffering for God here. But you're seeking Him. Jesus said the one who enters heaven is the one that does my will. That Matthew 7:21 is enough to keep you and I busy for the rest of our lives.

In John 4:34, the Bible says Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work." That's it. John 4:34 is our life verse now. My food, my nourishment, my strength, my hope, my meaning, my everything is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish that work. That's for every Christian. You say, "No, it's letters of red; it's Jesus." No, it's for everyone of us. He's our model, He's our example.

I'll just insert this; I'm going to venture off my notes and probably get into trouble now. For me personally, I go through these mental, emotional, spiritual gymnastics in my soul and in my head when it comes to that challenge that Jesus said right there: to do what He's called me to do and to finish the work. I know right now that I am in the middle of the will of God, and I pray that tomorrow I will be. I know yesterday I was. I want to live like that every day. I'm terrified with the thought of being outside of that.

I'm too weak, I'm too frail, I'm too in need of Him to be anywhere else. I know that there's this dialogue between you and I: "No, you're the pastor, you're up on the podium, and you don't go through the things that we go through." Yes, listen. We go through more things. How can we really relate to you if we don't go through the things that you all go through? The attacks, the pressures, the things. You're up there on Sunday and Wednesday and just having a great time. Teaching is the easiest part of my calling. This is the easiest part.

And the whole thing is: Lord, I just want to finish. Listen, let me tell you something. Go look at careers. I don't think being a pastor is a career, but we'll just throw it in that camp. Go look at careers and see how many people start out as an engineer and end as an engineer. How many people start out as firemen and end as firemen? How many people start out as doctors and end as doctors? You're going to find 98, 99, 100% of them.

How many people start out as pastors and finish as pastors? You will find that is the most dangerous job on the planet. Not dangerous as in getting shot in the head or run over by a rhinoceros, nothing like that. I'm not talking about that, not in this country, not yet. What I'm saying is because of spiritual dynamic and in an age that you and I live in. Somebody could think up some thing in their head and launch it out onto the internet about you or about me, and our lives are ruined that fast.

Some lunatic fabricated a story, floated it on the internet, used my name to attack Josh McDowell. Josh McDowell gets a hold of me all upset. I said, "What are you talking about?" It was internet fraud. Somebody can take a picture of you and not even know it and Mickey Mouse it on their Photoshop and ship it to the world and ruin your life. We live in dangerous times. All I want to do is finish my calling. That should be the biggest burden on your heart as a Christian: to maintain, keep, strengthen, and build your faith all the way through to the end. And you need to be discerning to do that because there's tricksters out there. Yes, there is. Tricksters! There are tricksters out there.

Guest (Male): Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs. Here on Real Life Radio, with his message called "Discipline of Discernment." Thanks for joining us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called *The Disciplines of Life*. It's a series that highlights the disciplines of a Christ follower and the high cost of sharing our faith with others. We'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Do you think that your kid has a solid understanding of where America came from and why we're so blessed? "Happy Birthday America, 250 Years of God's Blessings" is a production that we've put out that you're going to want to get your hands on for your kids and your grandkids because it's all about God's good hand upon America. Get a copy for yourself and you'll enjoy it immensely. The Happy Birthday America booklet helps the next generation discover the founding truths of our nation. Get your copy today for free. Just pay shipping at jackhibbs.com/kids250.

Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you'd like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.com for all the latest on what's going on with this ministry. And please, if you're ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. We'd love to see you there in person. It has been so good to be with you today, and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. See you on the next episode. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.