Today on real life radio. There are people lost, there are people saved. God loves equally. The two camps. One's going to heaven, one's going to hell.
Why? All because, listen, of us not returning that love that he has extended toward us. That's it. This is real life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs.
I'm David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's Word, the Bible. Are you looking for some solid biblical teaching that speaks to the world today? At jackhibbs.com, you have access to Pastor Jack's entire library of sermons on demand. Anytime. anywhere.
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On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack now continues his series called The Parables of Jesus and a message titled Parable of the Prodigal Part 1.
Now, whenever Jesus spoke to the crowds, he often spoke using relatable stories with common everyday themes the Bible calls parables.
Now, you see, this parable is one that's very familiar to a lot of us. But what we may not know is that it's not just about the sins of the Son and his unlimited extravagance, but about God and His immeasurable love that He has for His people.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches that real love, the kind of love that God has for us, it's not a feeling, it's a choice, an eternal love, regardless of emotions and fading physical beauty or sickness. It's not based on happiness, but to make us holy through service and adoration.
Now, with his message called Parable of the Prodigal, Part 1, here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. It's all about the love of God. As we get into this parable, you're going to be learning, I hope, more about the love of God than you've ever known before. We need to know this. And by the way, is it not time in our culture that we understand and be refreshed about what real love truly is?
We do not know, especially the young generation today. They don't know, they haven't heard what real love is all about. Real love, did you know real love is not a feeling? Real love's a choice. Did you know that?
What? What's what? I thought it was like, oh, this thing, this feeling, this, oh, I've got goosebumps when she looks my way, or when he looks my way, I get goosebumps. That's not love. That's infatuation.
It's probably connected with some form of lust or excitement. It could be connected to hormones. It could be a tremendous dynamic. It could be the temperature, the breeze, the music playing at the moment. The ambiance.
Oh, that stuff fades! That stuff evaporates. And then you get down to love. And love is deciding. Love is saying, I am going to decide now.
To live the rest of my life with this woman or with this man in this marriage. This is my choice. This is what I'm going to choose. Listen, young people, today. If you set yourself, or if you begin to understand in your mind a redefinition of love, and it's all about the hype, I can tell you right now that a really, really excitable relationship is estimated to last anywhere from 12 to 18 months.
based on emotional highs. What happens after the 18th month? You see, it comes down to decision because listen, everybody in life will disappoint you. and tick you off. It's going to happen.
And Marriage No matter what people are trying to do to it across this nation. By the way, let me just say this. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to say this: that all across this nation, There are these judges who are actually buffoons, and the great thing is they're going to stand before God in the end. There are people and politicians Defining this word called marriage, and listen, no human. on earth.
Has the right or the ability to redefine marriage. It wasn't invented by humans. It didn't come out of humanity. The Bible says that God gave marriage to man as an institution. It is something He invented and that He defined.
And so, no matter what your view is or your feelings are. We can't change it. Because it's not ours to change. It's God's. And when it comes to love, we cannot redefine what love means.
Love is me being committed to that person as long as they're cute. Love is me being committed to that person as long as they can buy me what I want. Love is as long as that person gratifies me. The moment, listen, the moment, boy, this study's going in a direction I had no intention of going. The The moment you enter into a love relationship with this as the target.
What can that person do for me? You've missed it.
Well I I want to marry him. I want to marry her so that they'll make me the happiest person in the world. Isn't that doesn't God want me happy? Yeah. Yeah.
Happiness is a byproduct of your efforts. It's not the goal. God invented, I'm sure of it now, almost 35 years of marriage this summer, I'm convinced of this. God invented marriage not to make us happy, but to make us holy servants like Jesus is. To us, to mankind.
Marriage is an act of service.
Well, I I are you kidding me? 'Cause I I'm thinking I'm I'm thinking I'm gonna marry her, she'll make me the happiest person on earth. Listen, no, no, no, no. God brings people together to make you a holy person. Happiness will come.
As you focus on, listen, serving that other person. That's marriage? Yeah. It's a choice. Love is a choice.
And God, listen to this. This is kind of fun, and it's kind of, I think it's kind of deep personally. God God doesn't go like this. He does not go like this. You know, Hmm.
I'm going to decide today to love these human beings. I think I'm going to do it. I'm going to commit. No matter how I feel, I'm going to love them. Yeah, he doesn't do that.
You say, well, doesn't God make a choice? No, not like that, not like w the way you and I think. Why? Fill in the blank. The Bible says, for example, that God is light.
The Bible says that God is holy. And the Bible says that God is Love. It is his nature, and we don't get that. We don't understand that. It is God's nature.
Love is. Church, the Bible says that God is eternal. And his nature is love.
So how long Has God been loving? Eternally. There was never a day when God did not love. Think of it.
Now listen. God does not choose tonight to love you. Oh, Pastor, I was hoping to come for some good news tonight. God is not choosing tonight to love you. By his nature.
God loves you. Listen, are you like a sinning machine? Are you an absolute Help. Bound Flaming. Sinning Maniac.
Listen. God loves you. We don't love you. The person with you, they don't love you. We don't have that.
kind of love. God's agape love. We often say, well, you know. God loves the sinner but hates the sin. We don't even know what we're talking about.
Honestly, we don't know what we're talking about. It is true. But we don't know why it's true. We can't our brains can't wrap around this truth. It is true that God loves the sinner but hates the sin.
Only God can parse The individual away from the sin. God in His love for the lost and for us who are saved. Think of the difference. There are people lost, there are people saved. God loves equally.
The two camps. One's going to heaven, one's going to hell. Why? All because, listen. Of us not returning that love that he has extended toward us.
That's it. If we love our sin more than God, then we're not believers. We don't understand them. We haven't fallen in love with them. We so often say, look, I'm guilty of it too.
Many of us as Christians are guilty of this as well. It's this: God doesn't want your religion, He wants a relationship with you. It's true, is it not? It's true. But what are we talking about?
He wants Yeah. Actual living, breathing love relationship with you. He is Love. Any love that we have in our lives, in our hearts. is from him.
have been created. in his image. Church, nowhere in the Bible does it say that angels love. God. We don't know much about their nature other than they were created.
They were holy. They have a choice of actual worship or not. For example, Lucifer chose no longer to worship God.
So they have choice, which means because they have choice, they can produce... True worship. But nowhere does it say the heavenly host loves God. Only You and I, listen, God does not invite you. to bring to him all of your Possessions, your money, your oxen, your doves, your Children.
He doesn't ask for any of that. He doesn't ask for any of that stuff. He asked you to bring to him your heart. Your very affection.
Now right now some of you Listening or saying, Wait, you just lost me, dude. Are you nuts? How can we love A God that we cannot see. And that's a good question. But it presupposes something.
You you presuppose that you cannot see The manifestations or the evidence of this God who says, I love you. There are people who fall in love with other people. What? Uh What are those things? Like e-harmony?
Is that that stuff? What is that? Christian mingle? Uh Whatever. Conversations before all that junk, there were things called phones, and the people actually they listen, they get to know somebody, and you start to develop an affection for someone that you may not have met but you've been talking to on the phone.
There's something that generates a A connection. If that can happen on the human level, And if God is real and true and exists. Why can't it happen between his creation? You? And him.
Of course it is. 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. A. W. Tozer, in his amazing book, The Knowledge of the Holy, I recommend you buy that book. He says, because God is self-existent, His love had no beginning.
Because he is immense. His love is incomprehensibly vast. bottomless, shoreless like a sea.
Now, those are just honestly, I just read that. Tr all true. Just words. Unless you really, really begin. to go beyond these words.
This prodigal Parable. Will just be a reading of scripture unless we eat this up and let it become part of our DNA spiritually. God Loves you. And listen, here's the thing. It's his nature.
But watch, listen, it's his nature. to love you, his creation. But don't make a mistake in thinking that God's love is a weak. Pathetic. Uh Watered down.
Love. Like we see in the world today, where people say, I love you.
So, like this: listen, listen to this. Um I love you, so you You do whatever you want. Because I love you. Y you really? You tell you you gonna tell that to a three-year-old?
Oh, you laugh, but why do you laugh? Because listen, you laugh because that's absurd. Because a three-year-old has no problem playing marbles on the freeway. That's what they want to do. And you judge them because you know that, as the Bible says.
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. Kids don't little kids don't know They'll get themselves in deep trouble. They'll get themselves killed. They'll walk right over to the edge of a cliff. They don't know.
But all of a sudden, we think that when we reach a certain age, I got this. How old are you? I'm 13. I got it. Have you noticed when you reach a certain age, it's somewhere like around 12 or 13?
That you are actually the smartest person in the world. And you know things that no one else has ever discovered. And it's not until it depends, it's not until. You reach a certain age when you begin to realize, golly, I... I don't think I'm as smart as I thought I was.
Up until now, I've been a legend in my own mind. Uh Why didn't this work out? I don't get it. And that's a tough thing, you know, because Here in America today, we We raise our children up and they're somewhat Abiding under our roof to some degree, and then it comes time to all of a sudden. Send them into what I think is the most destructive atmosphere in America today.
And that is our America's colleges and Uh universities I'm not talking about necessarily the sciences or engineering or mathematics that's being taught. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about all the stuff. That goes on. That has nothing to do with why you're paying $25,000, $30,000, $50,000 a year to keep your kid in school.
Because listen parents, maybe you haven't heard this yet. But while you're paying your kids adventure in college, the professors are turning around and telling your children today in school: your parents, by the way, have been wrong all their lives, all your life. You need to reject their authority. You need to walk away and you need to embrace this this new Thinking. Why does this happen?
Because it's in the heart of a person, like this young man in the parable. The story goes like this in our human heart. Dad, I wish you were dead. In that wish, give me the money that's due to me. I want to go do my own thing.
And the kid goes and does his own thing. There's no restraint. He doesn't answer to anybody. He can do whatever he wants. The Bible says a child lift to himself bring reproach to his parents.
Making all these decisions with the power to do it. And you can go on down that list. What's going on here? This is in the heart of a human being. And listen, apparently the more money you have, Unrestraint.
Extravagantly so. the greater the trouble you can get in. Interesting, huh? It's a very scary thing to consider. Where does this come from?
Well, the greater thing as we lay the foundation of this study is throughout it we're going to be focusing on Our prodigal God, our extravagant God, to love you. Tonight, you may be so far from God, you may be so incredibly lost, and He loves you. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, and his message called Parable of the Prodigal, Part 1. Thanks for being here today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called The Parables of Jesus.
It's a series that highlights the teachings of Jesus while he was ministering right here on this earth. And we'll continue. on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
So, Pastor Jack, this month's featured resources, they're both aimed at kids, right?
So, put down the device, pick up the book. One of the books is focused on American history. The other is on spiritual growth.
So, what made you want to spotlight these two books, you know, together?
Well, first of all, obviously being summertime, we're trying to get people in our lives away from the devices and to actually create, even if it's for a few moments, maybe 30 minutes, where parents can sit down with their kids or grandkids. And so, we've got these two resources. They're fantastic. Prayers and Promises for Kids. It's a book that walks kids through how to take the promises of God and pray them into their lives.
And I got to tell you, you might read this to your little one or read it together with them. But listen, it doesn't matter what age you are, you're going to get a lot out of these two featured items. And then, of course, the second one, Davey, you well know, is that the red coats are coming. This is written for kids. It's set back in 1770.
75, and it's a thrilling, wonderful read for children. regarding our nation's founding.
So the Red Coats are coming. It dives into our nation's early fight for liberty. Why do you believe that it's important for today's kids to understand the spiritual and the historical roots of American freedom? Why is that so important to us?
Well, certainly most. Kids today do not have a clue how this nation ever came about in the first place. Good point. Tragically, especially if they are publicly schooled children, they don't know what we're talking about. They need to know.
You know, listen. If we do not know where we've come from, then we'll have no idea. As to where we should go. And this is a great way for us to introduce our kids to truth because the fact is. There's a lot of arguments out there that are vying for the control of your child's mind.
And truth is what keeps them clean and clear. Let's get this truth into their hands.
So prayers and promises for kids, that's the other book in the bundle. It's such a gentle and powerful tool for helping kids build their prayer life. What role, let me ask you this, what role do you think that prayer plays in helping kids navigate today's culture? Is prayer important? You know, prayer is equally important to adults as it is kids because this is what it's all about.
When we pray, Jesus taught us in John 15, verse 7, when we pray, we should pray the word of God. And so when we have this resource, as we do, prayers and promises for kids, these are promises from the Bible.
So you're teaching your child from a young age to pray correctly, to pray biblically, to pray in such a way that they won't get caught up in strange ideas about prayer, but it should be just like you and I might breathe. The promises of God.
So, prayer is a conversation with God regarding his promises.
So, you're a grandfather. I'm a grandfather. You've got my grandson standing right there in the studio if he wanted to come see what we do. As a pastor, though, what are some practical ways that parents and grandparents can use these two books to disciple the next generation? Yeah, great question.
To bring the Word of God alive.
Now, don't get me wrong. The Word of God is alive. It stands alone. It's living. But for us to bring it to our children, this is a great, great set of resources that can help your child cause their prayer life and their understanding of God to really become very, very clear, very simple.
And I think that's the way the Lord wants it. And so it helps us be very intentional about teaching our kids not only these historical truths, but these biblical truths.
So how can these books help lay the foundation of a biblical worldview with kids? Lay the foundation in their hearts. Yeah, this is accomplished, honestly, by taking a promise, any promise that's in the Bible. And when you begin to pray and ask the Lord to fulfill his word in your life, it changes your mind. And when your mind is changed, it changes the way that you see things.
And when that happens, it causes you to have a biblical worldview. From what I understand, the author actually goes to this church. The author of The Red Coats Are Coming. She actually goes to this church. That's kind of fun.
We don't have that happen very often, do we? Listen, Nancy Sanders, get any book that she's written. She's a prolific author. She has also assisted in the writing of many, many other books for some very prominent names. But Nancy Sander has written this, The Red Coats Are Coming.
And listen, trust us, get a copy. You will love it. And you'll even love the graphics. It's done in cartoon style. It's just beautiful.
So when a family picks up the resource of the month, two books this month, of course. What is your hope for what happens around the dinner table, the bedtime routine, you know, family devotion time? Do you have any hopes for that? Yeah, isn't this something you might say, well, Jack, you need to raise your level of hope. My hope is this, just to get moms and dads, grandpas and grandpas to sit down with their young one in their life.
Can you imagine just to sit down with no T V on, with nothing streaming, no devices, and just like the old school, They open up a book, and they read it together. That is my hope. If that began to happen, you know what? It could be a great, great awakening to the discovery of books. I mean, that could really be something.
That's The Red Coats Are Coming and Prayers and Promises for Kids, a couple of great books. Available as a bundle for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. That's 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.
