Real Life Radio

David J: Today, on Real Life Radio.

Jack Hibbs: If God is not in my thoughts, it doesn't matter now, remember, if you're rich or not. The Bible says, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. So maybe, I don't know, maybe tonight you're thinking, well, you know, I don't know. I think I can run the risk of not thinking about God. You're gambling with your eternity.

David J: This is real life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David J, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's word, the Bible.

Jack Hibbs: Hey everybody, we want to introduce you to what we're calling our summer bundle. It's two great books and you're going to want to get them for the little ones in your life. The first book is called Prayers and Promises for Kids. It's a great resource to not only teach your children about the promises of God, but how do we take those promises and pray them into our lives? You're going to find this a great resource to develop a prayer life with your child. And then the book The Red Coats Are Coming, written by our own Nancy Sanders, who attends our church.

It is a great great book. It is featured by Adventures in Odyssey and the wonderful people at Focus on the Family, Prayers and Promises for Kids, and The Red Coats Are Coming. They're two children's books that are very powerful. Get a copy of both these books as we bundle them for the month of July.

David J: That's The Red Coats Are Coming and Prayers and Promises for Kids, couple of great books available as a bundle for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com.

Guest (Male): On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called The Parables of Jesus with his message titled Parable of the Rich Fool Part 2. Whenever Jesus spoke to the crowds, he often spoke using relatable stories with common everyday themes the Bible calls parables. And in this parable, Jesus is teaching us about keeping God in our plans. You see, we learned in part one to have a God-centered life, keeping in mind the origin of God and all his blessing for provision, his design for our lives, and his goodness. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that it seems right sometimes to consult our own thoughts.

We often push back on God's plan, but when we're self-insured in our own security of riches, we fail to bless others with our abundance. Now, with his message called Parable of the Rich Fool Part 2, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: Father, we ask, Lord, in Jesus's name, that you would give us ears to hear, hands to do, feet to walk in the way. And Lord, that in all of our lives, we would not be a fool regarding everything, anything in our lives. But that, Lord, we would be wise. We ask, Father, now in Jesus's name that you would do for us what we certainly cannot do for ourselves. And Lord, that's just about, I think, everything. Oh, we're grateful to be breathing tonight. We ask in Jesus's name and all God's people said,

Guest (Male): Amen.

Jack Hibbs: Amen. Well, grab your Bibles tonight, church, and turn to Luke chapter 12 in our study, Luke chapter 12, and we are looking tonight, as I said part two, of the Parable of the Rich Fool. And I felt last week that I needed to kind of give this disclaimer up front. And I want to do it again because somebody may be tuning in right now or maybe you're here. And um here on the screen or maybe in the margins of your Bible, it says that the Parable of the Rich Fool, as Jesus spoke to the people, and you'd want to mark the word rich because it's not the riches that made him a fool.

Uh maybe you're maybe you're blessed tonight with riches and you would think or say, gosh, I'm not I don't I'm not a fool just because I'm rich. You're correct. The parable could have easily have been the Parable of the Poor Fool or the Stupid Fool or the the Unwilling Fool, right? It doesn't matter. The riches or the lack thereof did not make this man in the parable a fool. What made him a fool is how he managed the things that he had been blessed with. So don't think for a moment, watch this. The reason why I say this, you might be here tonight saying, whoo, I thought the message was going to be something for me to apply to my life tonight, but I don't have to pay a bit of attention because I'm not rich.

No, but you may be a fool. You may need this or you Listen, you may you may need, like we all do, instruction. But don't think for a moment, well, it doesn't apply to me because I'm not rich. You see what I'm where I'm going with this? Uh you could easily excuse yourself from what God is speaking to us about uh because you don't think you're rich. But might I remind you that if you are living in America, you are rich. No matter how poor you are, you are rich. And uh God has blessed us.

God God blesses this nation. Grab your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 12 tonight. Luke 12 and as I said, we're in part two of this message entitled The Parable of the Rich Fool. And there it says in verse 16 that Jesus he spoke a parable to them saying, The ground of a certain man, rich man, yielded plentifully. Remember last time we argued that that was an indicator of God's blessing regarding this parabolic teaching of Jesus. In other words, God's in the story. His ground has produced amazing crops. Verse 17 says, and he thought within himself saying, What shall I do?

Since I have no more room to store my crops, so he said, I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build greater, that is greater barns. And there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided? In other words, after you're dead, where where are all these things going to go?

You're going to leave them to somebody? So is he who lays up treasure, Jesus says for himself, and is not rich toward God. And we got into the first point last time in verse 16, it was this, that God was not in the man's thoughts. That's always a dangerous day that we as a person, individual, family, a city, a county, a state, a nation, a military begins to have no thought of God in our dealings. Yesterday, I was handed at the bank a a bill that kind of shocked me. It's what was that? What is this?

I thought it was fake. It looked like it was made out of rubber. It was a $100 bill. It was a Benjamin Franklin. Have you seen the new ones?

Guest (Male): Yeah.

Jack Hibbs: Oh, you have? I need to hang out with you more often. I saw this and it looks so strange. It's so well, it it looks very it looks much like a euro, if you've seen a euro or a shekel. It looks it looks much like a shekel. It is highly electronic. Did you know that the It's highly highly technical, the the whole bill, the hologram, and all kinds of uh woven material into it that that sends out or is detectable. It's like amazing, all in this little piece of paper. And I quickly looked at it and turned it around to see if there were certain words on it.

Guest (Male): It's out there.

Jack Hibbs: Oh, no, it's there. In God we trust. And I looked at it and it was so sad because I looked at it. And then I realized well, it was probably political correctness at this stage anyway that kept in God we trust there. In God we trust over Benjamin Franklin's head. But as a nation or as a people, as a family, as a individual, if God is not in my thoughts, it doesn't matter now, remember, if you're rich or not. The Bible says, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. So maybe, I don't know, maybe tonight you 're thinking, well, you know, I don't know.

I think I can run the risk of not thinking about God. You're gambling with your eternity. We looked at three things regarding this important danger of not having a mind that is God-centered. The number one thing we saw last time is that this man failed to think of his origins or of the origins of things. When Jesus said, this guy's ground produced tremendously plentiful crops, the man failed to stop and realize the most basic truth is that God gives. God is generous. God is luxurious in his blessings upon our life. Church, today, did you You know what?

We're so spoiled. And again, this message just prepares my heart. We're so spoiled. Today, I realized Believe me, you My house is a weird house. It's a strange house, but I've made it this way. It looks normal if you drive by, but that's about that's where it ends. Why? Because my mom I told you before, my mom was born and raised in Hawaii. So I was raised in San Diego under my mom's uh house care, right? Under her rules. And her rules were this, windows open, no screens. That's how you live in my house. And so sitting there today and I 'm studying for this message and I'm beautiful day, quiet, you know, at very very horrible temperature like it was 74 degrees.

And it's been like that almost, you know, through the whole winter. And uh I It just dawned on me, these windows have been open for months. And um you say, well, that's no big deal. Okay, but there's no screens and birds will literally fly through one side of our house and go right straight through to and out. And it's normal for us. That's normal for us. But I thought as I'm sitting there and I thought, you know, God, you're so good. I mean, I don't know about you, but that just turns me on. That is just awesome.

And I just love that kind of stuff. You're so good. And you bless so much. And the very origins of every and anything good comes from God. Did you walk in here tonight under your own power? Isn't God good? Are you digesting your dinner tonight after you ate and you came to church and what's going on? Isn't that a miracle? Think of it. You might be saying, I'm kind of having a hard time a little bit. Hey, at least there at least there was food to eat, right? And we live in a country that if you were hungry and you had no money, all you have to do is ask somebody.

Amazing origins. The ability that the man put seed in the ground, the seed produced a crop, and the man was able to acquire wealth is of God. God blessed this guy in the parable. It's amazing. The second thing we saw is that the guy failed to see the design of things. His mind wasn't thinking about the design that everything fits with God. It makes sense with God. Listen, even suffering. Just before service tonight, we prayed for a young I forget how old he is. Um I'm going to guess three four months old, little baby. He's got a a tumor and he's going to have to have surgery unless Jesus heals him right now.

We prayed that the Lord would do that. But you have to think of something. Did not God know before this baby was born that this would be the issue? Does God not have a plan? Of course he has a plan. He didn't ask us. He didn't ask for our permission. He didn't He didn't let us in on the plan and his design. He says, listen, I have a design and I have a purpose and I have a plan and I need you to trust me. So the parents, the grandparents, the family, they need to trust the Lord.

There's nowhere else to go. The temptation is is to fold your arms and to get upset with God. Do you understand how how silly that is because we've all done that as as kids? Um little children, I don't know what the deal is. There's something about little kids sometimes they get They get They're hungry. They're really hungry, but they don't know what they want. So they're really frustrated and they're I don't want that. You want this. You want that. I don't want that. I want that, but I'm hungry. If you're And you know, your your dad used to say and now now I said it.

And uh I 'm sure I 'll say it to my grandkids someday when they can understand that is uh if you're really hungry, you'll eat it. Ma Did you grow up here in that? That's what my dad said. You 're not hungry. Go to your room. I'm hungry. If you're hungry, you'll eat anything, so eat it. And he's like But that that's true. If you're hungry, you're going to eat it.

David J: You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And for now, let's get back to our teaching. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.

Jack Hibbs: The amazing thing is this, that God has a design planned and we often push back from God's plan. And that's not a good thing to do. The third thing we saw last time was that this man failed to think of the goodness of God. God is good. So the second thing we see tonight, we pick it up. Our second argument is God was not in his plans because we see what he does now in verses 17 to 18. It says that that he thought within himself. Circle that church. Listen, humanity is prone to do this.

Listen, we as Christians are prone to do this and it 's not a good thing. Don't think within yourself. Don't become your own judge and jury and Don't do that. The man, watch is thinking, deliberating only with self saying, what shall I do? The Bible warns us that when riches are added to us, if they should be added to us, the Bible warns do not set your heart upon them because they may sprout wings and fly away. Isn't that a great word? This man, instead of saying, I've got enough, I'm going to go bless my neighbor.

Imagine in the parable, if Jesus said, this is how it is And by the way, he is saying this if you're listening. This is how you avoid being a fool in the atmosphere or in the midst of blessings. Don't acquire or amass things for greed. The parable could have been written how to prevent from being foolish by caring for others, for example. But the man's not thinking that way. He has no God concept regarding his plans. What shall I do since I have no room to store my crops? You say, well, man, this guy's a fool.

Yes, that's right. He is a fool. Jesus says he's a fool. But here's the deal. The guy's thinking, man, okay. I got to I got to do something about this. I got to get one of those storage bins and put it in my driveway because I got so much stuff. I got to rent a I got to rent a place to store all my stuff. And I got to pay rent to store my stuff because I have too much stuff. Do you know this is a big business in America? This guy's got no plans but himself.

And that leads us to this first consideration under the second point is this. Write it down if you would. He was self-wise in his own opinion. This is dangerous. Hmm. I'm thinking, and I've been thinking about me and all my stuff. And so I talked to me and I 've decided In fact, there was no argument at all regarding this path that I would take. And so my opinion is this. I need to get storage units for my stuff. I need to do that. What shall I do? Since I have no more room to store my crops.

You see, listen, there's no worship in this guy's life, is there? I mean, oh, uh there may be worship, but not of God. It's his stuff. Everything What does the Bible tell us? Everything about what you and I have is his stuff. Does that Does that kind of bump some of you? What? Oh, I thought it was mine. It's not. Um young people have a hard time with this. Especially And the fact that younger you are, the harder you have a time with this because when you're really young, everything is mine. Don't you have to teach your kid to share?

Do you? Share. It's mine. And the kids Have you seen Have you seen If you haven't watched a little playground dynamic, you got to go watch it someday. It's refreshing to see how much you've grown in Christ. Because in the sandbox are all these little pagans, idol worshipers, cute as a button, cute as a button, but they're little pagan idol worshipers. And what they do is um you watch almost every one of them exclusively will try to get stuff to their thing. And if someone's playing with something, they got all this stuff. But they're not happy.

And they're looking at the kid playing with the stuff, the one And he looks. He doesn't have the blue car. He's got every rainbow color car, but he doesn't have the blue one. And he's not happy. Have you seen this happen? So then he goes like this. You could see him It's like how do I guard my stuff? But I got to get that. And he's working out how to do that. And then boom. And then this kid's crying. He's happy for a moment. And then somebody reaches over, and it's gone. And And listen, you know what?

Without Jesus, you never grow out of that. And Jesus says, that's foolish. Because what you acquire can never finish the meaning and purpose of your life. It doesn't complete God's plan for your life. It doesn't do it. And somebody might say, well, you know what? It's like Tevia in Fiddler of uh Fiddler on the Roof. I was going to say Fiddler What is the movie? Fiddler on the Roof. Fiddler on the Roof. Remember he says, God, if if riches are a curse I wish you would smite me with it. Well, that's I mean, we laugh, but it's actually it's actually a request of of condemnation.

You say, well, that's a hard thing to say. Well, okay, look, go do this study later on your own. Over 75% of Lotto winners within 5 years are divorced or unhooked on drugs, alcoholics, or dead. Did you know that? They can't handle it. They can't handle it. But you begin to think, well, if I do this and I do the other thing and if I build bigger barns and if I just work 23 hours a day and if I acquire these things and if I reach it by the age of 40, I'm going to be fine.

Wow. Now, I want to ask you these questions. I wrote these down for me. I I think I know the answer, but do you think Listen, church, answer. Do you think that this man's plan of consulting himself, do you think it made sense to him? Yeah, it made perfect sense to him. Listen, I'm going to set you up. It made perfect sense to him. Why? Because it was his plan. Why would you go with a plan if you didn't like it when you're the one who made it? If you have a problem with that, you got You need a doctor quick.

Okay, so the Bible says in Proverbs 16 verse 25 that there is a way that seems right, correct, well advised to a man. But its end is the way of death. Think of it for a moment. I have thought about this. It's what I'm going to do. Maybe people have even told you, don't do it. No, I'm going to do it. You have no Bible verses. You have no waiting upon God to say, the Lord showed me. For whatever reasons, maybe they're not even clearly known to you, you are just committed to this path. That's the way it's going to be.

We're I'm going to do this. And everyone's told you no. Not that everybody's right, but you didn't consult God. And you're a Christian, but somebody would ask you, on what basis has God given you to do this decision? If you have no biblical chapter verses answers, you're in trouble You're on shaky ground. This is serious stuff. How does a Christian know what to do? Oh, there go you Christians, pointing to that book again. Hey, this book is all we have. Oh, he admitted it. I'll say it again. This book is all I have. Don't think it's a book.

Look, if this book got burned, it doesn't change its truth. If every Bible in the world got burned, God's word's eternal. Doesn't change anything. This abides forever. And so your decision-making process has got to be here.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message titled Parable of the Rich Fool Part 2. You know, by the way, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called The Parables of Jesus, a series that highlights the teachings of Jesus while he was ministering here on this earth. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. Looking for real answers in real time? jackhibbs.com is your go-to destination for resources on faith, world events, and everything in between. Explore Happening Now, where Pastor Jack Hibbs takes a timely no-nonsense look at today's biggest issues, blending biblical insight with the latest headlines.

Now, whether you're curious about the world around you or you want guidance on a personal level, Pastor Jack has you covered. And by the way, don't miss The Real Life Network. It's packed with relatable, family-friendly content that really speaks to everyday challenges and triumphs, offering something really valuable for every member of your family. Now, if you're new to the faith, you want to refresh your perspective, start with that tab that says No God, an accessible, welcoming space to learn and reflect and find your footing. Now, whatever your path, jackhibbs.com has the tools and the insights and the encouragement that you need.

Tune in, log on, find something real. Once again, the website, jackhibbs.com. Well friends, listen, it's been 2 years here at The Real Life Network and God has been so good to us. God put it on our hearts to create a network that would be cancel-free, censorship-free, uncompromising so that we could bring the truth to anyone anywhere. God has been so good to us these last 2 years, everybody, and we want to thank all of you. So today, we are amazed that over 70 million minutes of biblical worldview truth has been on our programming and viewed by you, the audience, on The Real Life Network.

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David J: 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.