Real Life Radio

David J: Today, on Real Life Radio.

Jack Hibbs: Now, godliness with contentment is great gain. So, I want to be rich. Here's the answer. Godliness, follow Jesus with contentment, be satisfied with what you have. That's great wealth. You'll love it.

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.

Guest (Female): 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. 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 Two. 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 riches, they're not foolish nor are they evil in themselves. It's the human heart that takes the blessings of God and condemns the very thing that God would like us to use for his glory. Now, with his message called Parable of the Rich Fool Part Two, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: I have to tell you, I'm very pleased what God has done in my life for this reason. I My mom wanted me to be an attorney and that was a a big deal. But I wanted to be an airline pilot and so she didn't get what she wanted, I didn't get what I wanted. But this I knew all along the way from being little, I wanted to be rich. I wanted to be a rich lawyer or a rich airline pilot. And you know what's cool? I didn't become an attorney and I didn't become a pilot, airline pilot.

Instead, God interrupted my life, which at the moment if he would have said, can I do this? What What do you think I would have said to him? No way. He interrupted my life and wound up calling me to do something that I never would have picked or even desired this. And you know what? The older I get, the riches that God is doing in my life, someday I'm going to get so rich someday that when I leave here I mean, think Every day I get to walk with Jesus, I get richer. And then I'm going to be so rich that the Lord's going to say, it's time to come home, Jack.

Come on. And I'm going to enter into the glory of the Lord. But listen, whatever money I have, that stays behind. It doesn't get to come with me. But through Jesus, I get to live my life right now in whatever opportunities or resources I have, I get to send those up ahead before I arrive. By using whatever we can for him, I'm going to arrive someday at those eternal treasures that he has concluded for me. And the same he's doing for you. We're still in Proverbs though. Acknowledging him and he shall direct your paths guaranteed, full proof.

Full proof. By the way, if you're counting, number one was trust, number two lean not, number three acknowledge, number four is found in verse seven. Do not be wise in your own eyes like this guy was. What am I going to do? I got to build bigger barns. I've got so much. Now look, don't anybody let this get out publicly cuz I don't mean it to be mean. But you know who I thought of? And he may be a great guy. I don't I don't know him, don't want to know him. But you know who's got buildings of cars.

Yeah, you knew it, Jay Leno. I'm sure he's a great guy. I don't know. I'm assuming. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. He's got buildings with vintage remarkable cars. And he sometimes he depends on the weather, he'll drive a certain car and depends he flips a coin. Sometimes he feels like a you know, 1922 Porsche. Sometimes he feels like a 71 you know, Mustang. And he 'll just drive around Burbank, whatever he wants to. And that look, that's fine. You make $40 million a year, you can do that stuff. That's fine. The thing is I hope cuz he's nice guy.

I'm hoping that he's paying that kind of attention. Imagine how cool would it be as like, oh man, Jay Leno, he makes all that money, he's got all those cars. It's too bad he wasn't rich toward God. What if? What if Jay Leno's up in heaven and oh man, those cars were nothing. Those were is like this I I invested all the rest of this in the kingdom of God. What if What if that happened? That'd be cool. But what you want to be very very careful about is not to be wise in your own eyes thinking about, this is it.

Now we've arrived. Number five is fear the Lord, be in awe of God, not in awe of you. I'm so in awe of me. Now nobody would ever say that. I don't think, I don't hope I hope not, but we've known people like that. They didn't have to say it. Right? So the Bible says, be in awe of God. Wow. Number six, here it is, right? Depart from evil. Really? Can't I be a Christian and live like I used to live? How about can I be a Christian and kind of devolve and and kind of let some of the world into my life and you know, can I?

No. Think of that. Well, there was a time when I used to walk the straight and narrow with God. But then I became wise in my own opinion. And I decided to let a little bit of evil back into my life cuz I could handle it. So like that guy in Florida that had that little snake. Did you read about that guy? He had a guy had a little snake, little snake just right out of the egg. I mean, it looked like a worm. There's worms bigger than that snake. And it was growing it grew up, it got bigger, it got bigger, it got bigger.

And you get used to it. It's cute. How you think a snake is cute? You're nuts, but look, don't talk don't Look, it didn't go good with Adam and Eve and a snake. That should be a lesson right there. So this guy in Florida the snake gets bigger and bigger and it turns out that it's a cobra. But it's kind of hard to part with such a his memory. Oh, man, his memory they had a little bottle. I don't I don't know how you I'm just making that up, but it's He loved the snake. Now It's amazing.

Talk about you know, two not being in the same agreement together. He loved the snake. Can you imagine snake? Do you love him? I 'm working on that. Later, the guy came home from work one day. The cobra went after him, struck him down. He laid on the kitchen floor. He was able to call 911 but he went completely paralyzed. He could hear everything, but he could not move one bit of his body. And the guy was completely disabled. He was conscious and aware of everything. But he couldn't blink his eyes, he could hardly breathe, he almost suffocated.

He wound up living and that's how we know the story. Went into print. But it was such a cute little thing. And I brought it in my house. And it was You should have seen it when we would try to go down the hallway. Isn't that amazing? Think about it. You say, well, that's ridiculous. Some people are like this with sin. Just use to a little thing. Just a little little sin. Who's it going to hurt? And it bit him. Listen to verse eight, it says, it will be health to your flesh. Is that good?

Health to your flesh, obey God. Imagine that. Your heart rate might go down. You can throw away Malanta and and You can grow some fingernails and strength to your bones. Think of that. My doctor tells me He told me that he thinks over 60 70% of the patients that he sees they're stress-related illnesses. Think of it. Maybe you're a doctor in here tonight and you go, man, that's true. I mean, think about people worry themselves sick, they get sick, they can't process food right. They Everything their hair It's just destroying you. Hey listen, the Bible says trust in the Lord.

So here's another question. Do you think that his process and his decision making felt right to him? Absolutely. Absolutely it did. Second thing is listen, God was not in his plans. He was self-sufficient in his own right, self-sufficient. I will pull down my barns and build greater. I'm going to have to get a bigger house, I got to get 10 car garage, I got to get all these storage units. I've got so much stuff. Or it may be not any of that stuff. It may just be we got to get more banks to store our money.

And again, I'm not knocking any of that. Unless we hoard it to ourselves, it becomes a curse. Self-sufficient in his own right.

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 third thing in verse 18 is this. We'll We'll get the third point next week together, but look at look at verse 18. He was self-insured in his own security. He says, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. Listen, the Bible says in Exodus 20 verse 17, you shall not covet your neighbor's house. Think about that. Well, why not? I heard somebody tell me quite a few years ago, but I've never forgotten it. All you Christians, thou shalt not, thou shalt not. You guys go don't get to do anything. That's what the guy told me.

Wow, think of that. So in my in in my notes I wrote down here, you shall not covet your neighbor's house. And I remember that man and so I wrote down, why not? The answer simple answer is cuz it doesn't belong to you, stupid. It's not your house. By the way, some of you who are in college right now, I'm going to I'm going to freak you out cuz you're not getting taught this in school. I know this. Exodus 20 verse 17, you shall not cover your neighbor's house. That's an argument for private ownership. Did you know God's into private ownership?

People today 30 years of age and under, they don't they don't get that. No no no communal communal communism, socialism. Haven't Hasn't the world tried that enough? Did you know God's into private ownership? So you shouldn't covet your neighbor's house cuz it's not yours. You shall not cover your neighbor's wife. Why not? Because she's not yours. Oh man, it's so narrow. This path is so narrow, this Christian path. Unbelievable. Nor shall you covet your neighbor's male servant. Oh, why not? Cuz he doesn't work for you. Think of that. We'll We don't have servant. Okay, employees.

Think of that. Don't Don't covet your competition's employees nor his female servant, nor his ox or his truck. That would be his truck. His truck or his donkey. That would be his his like you know, F150 smaller. Nor anything that is your neighbors. Well, why not? Because now you've crossed the line and you have a problem with idolatry. You want everybody's stuff. And then we have to end here cuz we're out of time. It's 1 Timothy 6. This is amazing. Turn there. First Turn to 1 Timothy 6 verse six and we'll go down to verse 10 and we'll have to stop.

Now, godliness with contentment is great gain. So I want to be rich. Here's the answer. Godliness, follow Jesus with contentment, be satisfied with what you have. That 's great wealth. You'll love it. You'll love it. Whatever God gives you as you follow him, you will love it in the right sense. You'll be so happy. You say, man, you know what? Have you ever seen people that have this little They got this little thing, whatever it is, opposed to if you're successful, it's big. If it's a big big big mansion on a hill and this guy's got a little little box of a house in the valley, the guy up on the hill is not happy.

And the guy in the little valley with the little house, he's so happy. How is that? Have you ever Have you ever seen that? How is it? God-centeredness. Verse seven. For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Is that cool? Is that not perfectly true? Wow. There was a guy in Forest Lawn or Rose Hills, I forget where, a long time ago. You can look it up online, they have pictures of it. The guy was buried in his Ferrari. I think he had to buy six plots of of graves for his Ferrari to go inside.

And there was a very famous uh actress. I forget her name. Back in the like '20s. She was buried in a Rolls-Royce or something in LA. All these people live in LA. You can't You listen, where are you going to drive that Where are you going to drive the Ferrari around? It's Ferrari red. It'll go great in hell, but you can't drive it. It's red. Red. You can't drive it there. You not You can 't do that. You can't drive it around heaven either. This There's no smog there. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

But those who desire to be rich fall into next slide. Temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. Destruction is destruction, perdition is you slip away spiritually. Verse 10, for the love of money, not riches, the love of riches is a root of all kinds of evil for which some having strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. This is amazing. As we end cuz we just read verse seven. It says, for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we'll carry nothing out.

It wasn't long when Paul the Apostle authored 1 Timothy by the Holy Spirit, these Jewish, remember. Of course, God is Jewish if you think about it. Our God Think about that. Jesus came as a Jew. Egypt is always in the Jewish mind. Are you with me? And who who commanded Egypt?

Guest (Male): Pharaoh.

Jack Hibbs: Pharaoh. And when Pharaoh died, what did they do? They buried him with furniture, furniture, big big uh baskets of corn and peas, uh seeds, wheat, everything. He's got all that stuff. Sometimes they would put his horse with him. They would kill his horse. Oh, that's nothing. Are you kidding? Listen, sometimes and this is still done in some cultures, when the Pharaoh died, they had his wife killed because he was going to need her in the next world. There's some religions that still practice that today in some areas. When the guy dies, the wife dies. And they they bury her with him.

Yikes. But why? Because he's going to need her in the next world. Pharaoh's going to need his horse. I'm serious. These are smart people. They built the pyramids. Hello. Oh, he's going to need some seeds. Like the Pharaoh knows how to plant seeds. Think of it. Do you see how crazy this Oh, it's for the next It's for the world to come. No wonder, Paul says, it is certain that no one's going to carry any of this stuff out alive. Father, neither are we. Lord, we confess tonight. Lord, tonight we come and we ask of you, Jesus, to search our hearts and to cleanse us from any idolatry.

And Father, the sooner we learn this as soon as Lord the next generation of believers understands this that it's not poverty that exalts a man, it's not riches that exalts a man, it's the wisdom given by God that exalts a man in this world for true lasting meaning. It's how we manage what you've given us. And so Lord, in Jesus' name I pray and we ask that whatever we have tonight, if it's a credit card, if it's a $5 bill, if it's if it's um the the shirt off our back, that we would use what you've given us to honor you.

Lord, thank you that you're so practical and you're so meaningful and that your word is so applicable. Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins. We talk about all these things. The true riches is that you've declared us righteous. The moment we trust in you and what you've done on the cross, you died there for us, you rose again from the grave to set us free from our the from our sin and from the power of the grave. You declared us righteous. You're And it's not just you declared us righteous, you declared us with your righteousness.

You called us friends, 10 11 1 children, and we'll be with you forever if we trust you tonight. And so Lord, for all of us, may we decide now to trust in the living God. In Jesus' name. Amen.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio with his message titled Parable of the Rich Fool Part Two. 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.

Guest (Female): So as you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you'd like to know what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life personally, we would love to help you out with that. Go to jackhibbs.com/knowgod. That's k n o w God. And there you'll be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you'll find in knowing God. Don't miss out. That's the know God tab at jackhibbs.com.

David J: Pastor Jack Sandy writes in and says that she wants to thank you for your bold teaching of the word. It helps her to renew daily. She says, we need you in New York. It's so sad that the South has so many ministers and the Northeast is a wasteland spiritually. And we're going to keep you and yours in our prayers. That comes from your sister in Christ Sandy. Now I got I got a test to that. That's You You've been to the Northeast.

Jack Hibbs: Yeah.

David J: It's amazing how it really is at times It feels like a spiritual wasteland. Where is you go down into the Southeast, it's like you churches on every block.

Jack Hibbs: Uh-huh. Yeah, it's very true. I've experienced it myself. Here's the good news. In this age of modern technology, you could now equal that all out. You can level that all out through the media that there is via Facebook or Instagram or streaming or teaching channels, YouTube. It doesn't matter now actually if you if you're on the moon and you've got a a a link, you could actually hear a Bible study. But I do know what she means, David. There is a drought in the Northeast. That is something that is is it's visible and you can feel it.

That said, aren't we grateful to the Lord that he's allowed technology to fill that gap and that void? So Sandy, stay at it and what you could do is share others the link that you listen to us on and invite them to join you as it were online. But we're just grateful, Sandy, for your love and for your support.

David J: So this just hopped into my head. Do you remember the um the astronauts that were stranded in space on the uh space station?

Jack Hibbs: Oh yeah.

David J: The man There was a man and a woman. He went to church every Sunday, he said. You remember that?

Jack Hibbs: Yes, that was just recently.

David J: Yeah, so you really can be anywhere and go to church.

Jack Hibbs: That's very good, David. I wish I would have thought of that.

David J: Hey, you know, if you'd like to drop a note of encouragement to Pastor Jack, that'd be awesome. He'd really love to see what you have to say about him and how his ministry's affected your life. So please do that. Go to the connect tab at jackhibbs.com. That's the tab labeled connect at jackhibbs.com. 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.