Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: Nobody signs up to suffer. Nobody does that, be honest. But when you are suffering, you grab onto this verse and you say, "Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God, because I can know the power of your resurrection and the fellowship of your sufferings." This is Real Life.

David J: 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, listen. All of our Happening Now events are amazing, but this one's special. On April 22nd, on a Wednesday night starting at 7:00 Pacific time, I’m going to sit down with Chris McKenna. He is an expert on internet pornography and how it gets into your home, how it destroys your children, how it destroys your marriage. You’re going to want to be brave enough—I stress brave enough. You mention this topic and people don’t want to show up. Show up and save someone’s life.

David J: That’s Happening Now with Chris McKenna and Pastor Jack Hibbs. Wednesday, April 22nd at 7:00 PM. Learn more at jackhibbs.com.

On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called Disciplines of Life in a message titled "Disciplines of Deformity." Spiritual deformity has a special meaning. It’s how sin and brokenness can distort our lives and our relationship with God.

You see, deformity can bring pain physically, emotionally, mentally, as well as spiritually. But the healing comes when Jesus not only heals physical limitations, he also addresses the deeper spiritual conditions that will bring us both wholeness and restoration.

So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that deformity can be a strength to us, confident that God loves us and that His grace is sufficient. The flesh will often fail us, but we can still find joy in the deformities that keep us humble. Now with his message called "Disciplines of Deformity," here’s Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: Romans 8:18, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Paul has the right attitude. So, joyful recognition. You say, "Pastor, that’s just great. The disciplines of deformity, what you’re talking about, fine. But it’s one thing to talk about it; it’s one thing to live it."

That’s why I told you that this particular discipline is the most dear to my life, and I’ll give you some of the reasons why. It was on March 31st, 1991. I’ll never forget it. Lisa and I were at Mark and Mary’s house. It was Easter Sunday evening. We had just had a little home Bible study Easter morning.

All of a sudden, I didn’t feel so good in the lower regions of my anatomy. My stomach started making noise in an instant, and it felt like something had broke in a snap. I went home and I went into the bathroom. I’m not going to get too graphic, but I tell you what, I went into that bathroom and I wound up having intermittent breaks from the bathroom for about nine months.

David J: Nine months? Were you pregnant, Pastor Jack?

Jack Hibbs: I lost 22 pounds, couldn’t eat. Went through every test. They said, "Well, we think you’ve got this, we think you’ve got that, we think you’ve got the other." And then, of course, they said, "You know, you could have colon cancer." I remember like it was yesterday, just sitting on the bathroom, just spending my time because that’s where I lived.

Looking out the window, and from the bathroom window of my house, you can see this tree blowing in the wind. I’ll never forget it and how much I appreciated, like Beck was talking about, the things you appreciate. The wind was blowing the trees, and when they tell you you could have colon cancer, you start thinking and you appreciate everything.

You appreciate that when it’s real hot and you don’t like it, you love it. You’ll love it when you’re thinking, "I just want to live for my kids." It took a long time, and I was diagnosed with an incurable intestinal disease. I just went, by the way, a couple of months ago to the doctor for another update exam.

The doctor said, "Listen, I’ve got to tell you something." "What?" He said, "I’ve got to write your insurance company a letter." "Well, why?" He said, "Because all of your scar tissue and all the stuff that’s gone on, all the inflammation inside your intestines, it’s completely healed. It’s gone. It’s perfect. He said, 'I don’t need to see you again for 10 years.'"

He said, "In 10 years, it’ll be a checkup because this is amazing." For you young people, just envy yourself to death tonight. He said, "You’ve got a colon of a 20-year-old." It’s like, "Yeah man, I’ve got a colon of a 20-year-old!" What do you do with that? Do you Twitter that? "My colon’s 20 years old! Look!"

But this is what got me through. I want to give it to you because for nine months, this was my life, and then the time after that. Again, I spare you the details, but it was horrible for some years. Philippians 3:8, "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I’ve suffered the loss of all things."

Paul knows how to deal with the discipline of deformity. "And count them but rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His image."

Nobody signs up to suffer. Nobody does that. Be honest. But when you are suffering, you grab onto this verse and you say, "Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God, because I can know the power of your resurrection and the fellowship of your sufferings." What’s happening in the midst of your pain? You’re being conformed unto His death.

Little did I know that it was God blessing me. Up until not too long ago, I didn’t know whenever I was speaking with you in between services, guest speaking somewhere, whatever, I didn’t know I would have 30 seconds to get to the bathroom. You have no control. For years—I want to shout the glory to the Lord—for years in front of you publicly, He sustained me. He’s amazing.

What did He teach me through that? Little did I know that through the midst of it, every time I’d walk away and get through one Sunday service after the next, I would say, "Thank you, Lord, for getting me through. Thank you, Lord, just one more service, one more service. Come on, Jesus." And you know what? I wouldn’t change a thing for that.

The stuff that you’re going through in this life, trust me—no, don’t trust me. Listen to me, though. Trust God only. Whatever you’re going through, He is so on it. He is so going to get you through that thing. He has not abandoned you. He cannot abandon you. He can’t do that. He can’t leave you or forsake you. He cannot lie, so He’ll never leave you.

In 2 Corinthians 12:7, the Bible says—and Paul is speaking—"Lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me." Listen to Paul. Embrace his victory and be joyful in the recognition of his deformity. "A thorn in the flesh was given to me." He makes it sound like it had chocolate on it with a red bow on top of it.

"A messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure." Paul saw the workers of Satan as an asset to his ministry. How cool is that? "Oh, Pastor, I don’t ever want to deal with a demon ever." Well, if you do, God’s put you in the place to take care of the situation. So Paul says, "Hey, this God allowed all this stuff in my life to keep me humble."

Concerning this thing, he pleaded with the Lord three times. Paul asked God three times, "Take it away from me." And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." "Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

"Therefore I take pleasure in my infirmities"—the discipline of deformity—"in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Listen, church. Don’t confuse—some people do and there’s not much that really gets to me in this context, but I tell you this does.

Don’t confuse my confidence in Jesus Christ for confidence in my flesh or arrogance or pride. Please don’t. I have to tell you something. If you meet me at the store, as many of you do, it’s me. And when I’m up here, I’m searching constantly. "Lord, fill me. Lord, speak through me. Lord, don’t let them remember anything about me."

But when I’m bold and when I’m excited and when I’m forthright about the things of God, I’ve got to tell you something: that’s my confidence in Jesus because my flesh, it will fail me in an instant. A couple of Septembers ago, I was standing right here in a second service when my flesh completely failed me, and my body just shut down.

It is a strength to realize I don’t have the power or the ability. None of us have the power or the ability to even be in God’s family. But He’s adopted us. He’s amazing. And I remember being so sick and I just wanted to know the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.

Point number three, it’s our last point. As a Christian, it’s my favorite resort. I thought Maui was! No. Have you learned? Please tell me you’ve learned this. Where’s your favorite place in the world? Wherever it is. What was that? La Jolla? Yeah, that’s a good place. I was born not far from that spot. He said La Jolla.

You can pick your favorite spot: La Jolla, Maui. What is it for you? The Poconos for you back-easters? I don’t know. But you love it. Let’s be honest. If you’re not right with God, you can be in paradise and it stinks. Right? So the discipline of deformity is this: it can become your favorite resort. By resort, I mean your place of strength and refuge.

I can say this now, Christian, but I couldn’t have said this before. But suffering and deformity is the greatest thing that can happen to the Christian in this life. It’s not wealth, it’s not fame, it’s not exposure, it’s not achievement, it’s not education. It’s literally the things that only God can use to get us closer to Him. In humanity, it’s suffering.

None of us want to hear this. But while the world does everything to avoid it, it’s the Christian that says, "Lord, I wouldn’t have signed up for this." The spiritual side of me says I wouldn’t change a bit of this. The human side, that's another story. Is that not true? Embracing these times. You know the verse; I don’t even need to say it.

You can write it down. It’s Proverbs 3:5-8. We’re to trust Him and lean not on our own understanding because we’ll go nuts. "I can’t understand it." You’ll never get it. I will never get it. We’re not supposed to get it. We’re Christians, and that level of suffering, only God gives us what we need to get through.

And again, He doesn’t ask for our opinion. How is it that through suffering we can be on top of the clouds while the world drowns in a perfectly sunny, beautiful day? I don’t get it. I don’t need to get it. My God gets us through. I can tell you that my weakness and deformities have kept me from getting into greater dangers and greater evils.

I can tell you now that the victories that I’ve had in my life have come from pure defeats. You think about that for a minute. My weaknesses, my handicaps are the visible trophies of God’s hard work in my life and in yours. Did you like that? I made that up myself. You can write that down.

Why? I’ll tell you why. In Philippians 1:6, he says, "Be being continuously confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 2:13 says, "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

So what’s your handicap? What’s your setback? I want to encourage you tonight: stop resisting it, stop complaining about it. You’re actually fighting against the very will of God. You complain about it like He doesn’t know? He’s the one that’s allowed it in your life. He’s the one that’s allowed it into my life.

Jesus, in John 9:1, it says now Jesus passed by and saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying—this is amazing. There’s a blind guy, Jesus is walking by, and the disciples, it’s like a field trip for them. Look what they say: "Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"

Can you imagine? They’re walking along, "Oh look, there’s a blind guy. Hey! Hey Jesus! Who sinned, his parents or him, that this guy should be born blind?" Is that cruel? That sounds like some Christian programming. "Oh wow, the guy’s blind. Somebody must have been big sinners in his life." Man, that’s brutal.

Have you ever gotten sick and some Christian like Job’s comforters come to comfort you? "Dude, you’ve got the flu. What sin’s in your life?" Get out of my house! Right? Deformity causes pain, deep pain. And that pain is converted into self-preservation, make no mistake about it. And that, as a result, produces temper and can lead to violence.

Listen to Lord Byron’s bitterness, it’s called. Lord Byron of England, his bitterness. He was born with a severe clubfoot. Now, this is old English, so hang on. "My poor mother was generally in a rage every day and used to render her sometimes almost frantic. Particularly when in her passion, she reproached me with my personal deformity.

I would leave her presence to rush into solitude unseen. I could vent the rage and mortification I endured and curse my deformity. That I now began to consider as a signal work of an unjust God. Those were bitter moments. Even now the impression of them is vivid in my mind, and they have cankered my heart, which I believe was created naturally affectionate, but since has been and is almost always disposed to violence."

Do you understand what he’s talking about? I do. Reason why I wanted you to turn to Mark chapter 7 is because I lived that life. Verses 31 on, I lived that life. I stuttered so severely in my life growing up, I was absolutely the focal point of mockery. I’ll never forget my fourth-grade class, Mrs. Frans, having me stand on the desk.

She made me stand on the desk and open up the book and she said, "Class, we’re going to hear Jack read today." And I just stuttered all over myself, began crying. And when you’re hurt like that, you withdraw. My father, who was not the most gentle nor understanding man, would put his big massive arms on his hips and he would look at me and say, "What’s the matter with you? Spit it out!"

I thought my middle name was idiot growing up. The more you yell at a kid like that, as the years went on, it didn’t get better; it only got worse. I told you before, I stuttered so bad I couldn’t even recite the vows at my wedding. And you say, "Well, a person who stutters looks normal on the outside."

Let me tell you something: a person who stutters lives in constant fear. Fear of somebody talking to them. I embrace now, I can say my deformity because back then it kept me out of some trouble, not all trouble. I would have girls approach me, and because I couldn’t talk, I would leave. I’d just walk away.

Did I want to know them? I wanted to know them. But because I couldn’t talk, I would just walk away. "Oh, what an idiot! Look, that guy just walked away." But you know what happens? I remember being eight years old getting signed up for—in Orange County, it was Junior All-American Football. Out here, I think it’s Pop Warner football, I’m not sure.

But I found something. I didn’t want to do it, but then my dad signed me up to get me out of the house. And then I found out that if you place your helmet on someone else’s helmet or any other body part, it can cause them severe pain. I found that out. And I turned into a very quiet—you don’t believe me, do you?

I was quiet. I am making up for 20 years of silence. And I found out I could vent exactly what Lord Byron said, I could do that. I could get back at my dad by breaking someone else’s neck. I could get back at my brother by breaking that guy’s arm. And let me tell you something: if you know what I mean, you know what I mean.

And I became a very violent person. And you build a wall up because you don’t know how to cope with your deformity. And I don’t know where I would be today without Jesus. Probably dead. Because I would go into a rage, everything would go silent with me. And the pressure builds up behind my eyes, I can’t hear a thing.

And then when it’s all over, then I would come back to reality. When I see these murder movies, it’s like, oh my gosh, without Jesus taking control of my life, I could have gone that way. He says, "But since has been and is almost always disposed to violence." In Mark 7:33, the Bible says Jesus took the man aside from the multitude. Mark it.

I lived that. I lived in solitude. I didn’t want to be around people. And the Bible says that Jesus began to minister to the guy and heal him. Untied his tongue. And on one night, on a Saturday night in Orange County, God untied my tongue in an instant, and He healed me in an instant.

But I want you to know something. I think it is the reason why I have such a passion for the defenseless. I was nine years old—it was the summer of my school year at nine years of age—and some kids that lived in our neighborhood, they were just kind of in a gang. They were about probably five to ten years older than I was, I guess.

And I remember getting thrown down on the ground by them, and a couple of them sitting on my shoulders, a couple of them sitting on my legs. This may be just too much information for you, but I want you to know I have a point to this. They took turns urinating on me, making fun. "He can't talk! He can't talk! He can't tell anyone!"

And let me tell you, man, that is something. And you say, "Oh poor Jack, poor Jack." Let me tell you now, now I can tell you, I wouldn't have changed a thing now. Why? Because God has so changed my life. I’m not here with you because I couldn’t hold down a job. I’ve only had two jobs in my life; I just kept them forever.

And I quit a career to come to this pastorate. That’s not it. I didn’t do this because I want to stand in front of people. I just told George before service, I don’t like doing this. I don’t. What are you laughing at? I love you, but I don’t like doing this.

But the thing is this: when you get laughed at by a class and you get urinated on by a gang member and you’re mocked and made fun of by your classmates, your teacher, and your parents, that when you find out Jesus is on your side, you’ve got to understand something. If you believe that He’s on your side, you will be invincible until the Lord calls you home.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio and his message called "Disciplines of Deformity." Thanks for spending time with 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 your faith with others. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Ever felt like something’s missing in your life? Maybe you’ve been searching for answers, for peace, or a sense of purpose. You know, the truth is those longings are there because you were created to know God. At jackhibbs.com, there’s a tab called "Know God." It’s designed to help you discover what it truly means to have a relationship with God.

This isn’t about religion; it’s about understanding who God is and why He loves you and how you can find hope and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. The page breaks it down in a simple, clear way, answering common questions and guiding you through the steps of faith. It’s a great place to explore and reflect, whether you’re just curious or you’re ready to make that next step.

So don’t miss out on the most important relationship you’ll ever have. Visit that tab called "Know God" at jackhibbs.com and start your journey today. That’s jackhibbs.com because knowing God changes everything in your life for the better. Take that next step. Explore and reflect at the "Know God" section at jackhibbs.com.

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 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.