Today on real life radio. Note this. and never forget it. Regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Because there's a human factor involved, it's called us. Don't ever let someone tell you that the gifts are infallible.
and the use of the believer. If someone begins to tell you that, you are in danger, my friend. You better run. Because now you've got people saying, I'm a prophet of God. Yeah.
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. Did you know there's an easy way to stay informed on the latest biblical events shaping our world today? Check out the Happening Now section at jackhibbs.com.
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On today's edition of Real Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called First Samuel and a message titled Church Growth 101. This is part one. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets.
So, here as we continue in chapter 16, we'll look at how the Spirit of the Lord comes upon David and even today, comes upon the life of the believer. You see, the Lord comes to us by the person of the Holy Spirit. Every believer has the Holy Spirit within them at the moment of coming to Christ as Savior. It's the Holy Spirit that is our helper and comforter and is both with us and within us.
Now, with his message called Church Growth 101, Part 1, here's Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs. Take out your pen. This is very fun. In verse one, will you write down next to verse one, public? Just put public.
Verse 2, write down private. Verse 2 says, if a person is going to speak in a tongue, And apparently in verse 2, there's no interpreter. The guy's just speaking to the Lord. It says here he's not talking to a man. He's speaking to the Lord.
You understand that? Paul's not putting it down. He's just saying this is the way that it is. Private. Watch verse 3.
But he who prophesies, oh, that's public. Speaks edification and exhortation. Do you remember what happened last week? Exhortation. And comfort to men.
That's public. Watch verse 4. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. Is that wrong? I almost feel like Shakespeare.
Is that wrong? I speak as a fool. Yeah. Is that wrong? No, it's a great thing.
But he who prophesies, up, we went from private now to public. He who prophesies edifies the church. That's beautiful. Is that wrong? It's wonderful.
Verse 5, Paul says, this is amazing, I wish you all spoke with tongues. But even more that you would prophesy, private, public. For he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with a tongue, unless Indeed, he interprets that the church may receive edification. Ah! If there's going to be a tongue, it has to be interpreted in a public setting.
Why? Because if a person speaks in a tongue, He's only edifying himself with the Lord. And the body's not receiving the Encouragement from that, unless he says there's an interpreter present.
So, well, how do you find an interpreter? How do you know if someone's going to speak in Chinese or Italian? Who do we bring in? It doesn't work that way. Because by the way, it implies here That the interpretation, not always, but the interpretation is toward angelic or heavenly language.
Now I have been in a service. This was amazing. I've been in the service where a person spoke. In a tongue? And we sat there.
And we s we thought Boy, that sure sounded German. The person Who spoke it spoke, he didn't know what he was speaking. He spoke the word, and in the audience that night, In an afterglow setting in that audience was a person who had been brought to church by their friend, From Germany, spoke no English, and they didn't know what to do with the guy, so they brought him to church. He was not a Christian. sat in church and this person speaks not even knowing German.
speaks and the German heard as it was in the book of Acts. the message of God or the the glorifying of God in German. That's exactly what happened in the book of Acts. Peter, or whoever spoke, and they didn't even know what language they were speaking, but there were Arabs there who understood exactly what he was saying. That's the tongues of men.
And then there's tongues of angels where you must have In an interpreter. Do you see that here in your Bible?
Now, look, you got, look down, don't look at me, look at your Bible. Do you see that?
Some of you are going, no, Jack, no. If I look, it's there. And if I look at it, I gotta deal with it. It's right there. Yeah, that's a good one.
Again, don't let the abuses of some people Steal your way. Unless and indeed interpreter He interprets that the church may receive edification. How beautiful is that? Verse 6, but now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, knowledge, prophesying, or by teaching? Even things without life, whether a flute or a harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a noise distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is being piped or played?
In other words, if everybody, and by the way, at Corinth they were doing this, people were coming together and just speaking in tongues. By the way, tongues in the city of Corinth was there before the Holy Spirit ever arrived, before the church was ever born. If you read about the Corinthians, they were doing very weird things, and Paul wrote this letter to correct. Very pagan practices that God That God had the truth for. It's almost as though Satan anticipated.
to try to muddy up the water with confusion. That's another study, but that's an amazing thing of what was going on in Corinth prior to the gospel.
So there's a meaning to it. Um From verse 7 down is public. Look at verse 13. Therefore, let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. Why?
Because he just got done stating. It uh A tongue wouldn't be appropriate unless there's an interpretation. Clearly. Put forth. For verse 14, for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.
Now, verse 14 is something I do every day, all the time. And that is, when I pray in a tongue, you'll never know it.
So what are you talking about? By the way, I don't believe that this is a gift, praying in tongues. There's nowhere to say in the gift of praying in tongues. In my head, I can pray without any verbalization at all. What's also referred to as praying in the Spirit.
I can pray. And in fact, I'll let you know a secret. I get to the property every morning. And uh I get out there and I walk around the entire property. And by the time I get around down to one end, I run out of things to pray for.
So as I walk-turn around and walk back, I start praying in the Spirit. And I believe that's available to every believer. I don't think I. I know there's guys here that will differ with me on that. That's okay.
I don't think praying in the Spirit is a gift. I think every believer has the. Open door to pray in the Spirit. And you can do it, by the way, again, silently in your head, or you can do it privately in your prayer time or your prayer closet. Um I do it I don't even I I don't even know if I ever stopped doing it sometimes.
And I'll be listening to somebody, and they'll say, Well, you know what happened? My husband left me today, my dog got run over, my car blew up, my kids left me, and I'm over, I'm just going, and I don't. And I just start praying in my head, God, give me, you got to help me, and I just start praying. And I got to tell you, those of you who know what I'm talking about, in three seconds, you can feel the weight lifting. And your mind is cleared, your heart is calm, and you can receive from the Lord like an antenna that's been polished.
That's very amazing. But again, I don't believe that prayer In tongues is a gift. But Paul is just simply speaking. For if I pray in a tongue, what's he say? He says, My human spirit, it's lowercase s.
My spirit prays. But my understanding is unfruitful. My mind doesn't understand what's being said. Takes faith to do that, I might add. What is the result then?
I will pray with the Spirit. And I will pray also with my mind. I will sing with the Spirit. And I will also sing with my mind. Otherwise, if you bless with the Spirit, How will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say amen?
At your giving of things, since He does not understand what you say, for indeed you give thanks well. But the other It's not built up. Look at verse 18. This is private. I thank my God.
He says, I speak with tongues more than you all. Yet in the church, he says, I would rather speak five words with my understanding. Or let me put it this way: I'd rather speak five words in Hebrew or in Aramaic or Greek or whatever Paul knew, that I may teach others also than 10,000 words in a tongue. Brethren, do not be children in understanding.
However, in malice be babes, and he's talking about being wise in these things. 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.
Now, watch how orderly this is, and we're going to have to wrap this up because of time. But watch this.
Some of you have never heard this before, what I'm about to read, and it's tragic. I know this because I mentioned this to someone this weekend, and they said, Where's that in the Bible? I don't believe it.
Well here it is. Verse twenty six How is it then, brethren, When you come together, each of you has a psalm. has a teaching. has a tongue. has a revelation.
Or um to interpret Yeah, okay, let all things be done for the building up. Verse 27. If anyone speaks in a tongue, Let there be two, or at the most, three, each in turn, and let one interpret. That's how the Holy Spirit would have the church conduct An afterglow setting.
So specific. That God says here, all right, if you're in an afterglow setting and the gifts are at work in the body, certain gifts, It's no longer time for teaching at that moment. And someone speaks in a tongue. What happened last week?
Someone spoke in a tongue. Then someone spoke in a second tongue. And I said, based upon the word of God, 1 Corinthians 14, there can be one more utterance in tongue with interpretation. And after that, there will be no more tongues tonight.
Well, what gave me that authority to say that?
Some of you asked me afterwards: why did you say only three times? My friend, it says here: maximum three times per service. See, I don't know Jack, when a person's gonna speak in tongues, don't they like just kind of... Lose control and they go into a trance and they no. No, in fact, what happens is that you're sitting with people who are worshiping or whatever, and you get, you get this.
Strong impression, Jack. And by the way, I don't have that gift, but I'm just making this part up. Jack, I want you to speak. I want you to speak in the tongue. Speak.
Now, the person, remember, it says who you have to do this by faith. You have to. At some point in time, you gotta, oh my goodness, what is this? And you'll speak. And from that moment on, by the way, the person who has that particular gift, they're going to know it for the rest of their life.
Here's the amazing thing.
Well, how is it then? If it says in the Bible, That The push the person speaking in the tongue, there has to be an interpreter. Or he himself must interpret. That's true.
Well, how are you going to know? There's where faith comes into action, and listen, I got to tell you right now. There have been people who have spoken a tongue, they felt prompted to speak, and watch this. There was no interpreter, and we would wait. I would say someone would speak in a tongue.
I'd say, now we're going to wait for the interpretation of that. And no one says anything. What happened? And you want to just pause the tape and ask the question, what happened? This is all that happened.
Either A, that person stepped out and Without the prompting of the Spirit, meaning well, but. But you know what I've found out more often than not? The person spoke in a tongue, and the Lord gives the interpretation to someone else in the room. And do you know what happens? Yeah, the person who received the interpretation It's fearful to speak out.
They get afraid. Everyone's sitting here, someone speaks in a tongue. And this person over here gets the interpretation. And they know what was, oh man. And they it's uh they hear this It was, oh my.
Speak Say it But some people have gone home. Not saying it.
So what do we do? Do we shoot the person that spoke in tongues? No. Do we shoot the person that didn't speak? No.
There's grace for this. Note this. And never forget it. Regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Because there's a human factor involved, it's called us. Don't ever let someone tell you that the gifts are infallible.
and the use of the believer. If someone begins to tell you that, you're in danger, my friend, you better run. Because now you've got people saying, I'm a prophet of God. We had a guy come in here.
Well, praise God, he didn't make it past those doors. We had a guy come in here.
And he announced to the ushers, I'm a prophet of God. And uh you know you always The hair on your neck stands up when you see this. And thank God you don't see it. Hallelujah. Oh, what are you a prophet for?
For the Lord God Almighty.
Well, that sounds good. What's your message? Here's what the guy did. That girl right over there, she just happened to be twice his age younger. That girl right there, I'm to impregnate her by the Spirit of God.
Guess who's getting thrown out in the asphalt right now? We physically threw that guy out. physically. A woman stood up here at the end of a third service right over here. And we stood up to sing, and she goes, I have a message.
And God gave me instant wisdom. Instant. Not that she was a false prophet or not. I knew immediately that. She hadn't even said anything.
She just says, in fact, she goes, Pastor Jack, I've got a message. And the Lord instantly, instantly, I was learning it as it was happening. I went, what? And she goes, I've got a message. I said, I can't hear you.
And the music started and I said What? I said, let's step outside so I can hear you. She got outside and she goes, I'm a prophet of God. I have a message for a young man in the church. I said, Tell me the message.
She goes, I'm not going to tell you the message. And I said, Well d who do you work for? She goes, I work for God. I said, so do I. What God?
The God of the Bible. I said, so do I. If you're a prophet of God, I know I'm a pastor of God.
So, you're going to tell me the message, and I'll determine if it's going to be shared with this flock or not.
So, seeing how we work for the same one, give him the message. And she goes, I'm not going to do that. And I said, Lady, you're not going back in there unless you tell me what the message is. She goes, It's for a young man in the church. I said give him the message or get off the property.
And she goes, you son of a fill in the blank, you. She went off! I was like this and The usher was standing behind her. And um Off she went. And if there's any nuts in here tonight, did you know it's a federal offense to disrupt a religious service?
How about that? But God has always taken care of this church. He's always watched over her. But uh the the the The usher was saying, you know. I was always wondering how you'd know if it was from God or not.
I go, well, you just heard some rather interesting language proving that this woman was not from God. But um God exercises order over his church beautifully. He protects his body. Very well. And so he says, but if there is no interpreter, verse 28, let him keep silent in the church.
And let him speak to Himself and to God. Let two or three Prophets speak. And let the others, that's you, judge. For if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. For You can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and be encouraged.
And the spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is, here it is. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. As in all the churches, of all the saints. Isn't that great?
So listen. It's too late tonight. But I tell you. On these Wednesday nights from here on out, We are going to give place to the working and to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Why?
because it is biblical. Because it is true, because the Spirit of God wants you to know what gift or gifts you have.
So we will have our normal services, but as we Bring the service to the conclusion. We're going to go into worship and then to waiting upon the Lord. Why? Because it's needful. And for those of you, I pray there's no one in here tonight.
But if tonight You're born again, you love the Lord, but you don't know what your gift is. My prayer is that you will not sleep day or night, that you will not rest. until you find out. Your place in the body of Christ. It is essential.
Time is short. You must know. what he has called you to do. In this body of believers, or for that matter, any church you go to. Please no.
Why and how he wants to use you in this body? Amen? Father, we thank you for your word. And we thank you for this time together. Lord, we ask that you might work upon us and Stoke within us, Lord, an open door to have your Holy Spirit rule and reign in our lives.
Father, I know that there are some perhaps just when the word gift is mentioned, they tune right out in panic. And uh are immediately governed by their emotions rather than theology. Father, we ask that all Tonight, that are in the hearing of this would take. Their thoughts to the Word of God. Not a pastor, not a movement, not what some denomination has taught, but to the Bible.
That they would study the Word of God, not some charter or some treaty, but the Bible. And that tonight this church would leave this place. exhorted Two good works. Encouraged. to find They're placed.
Our place. In this work that you've placed before us, we ask it in Jesus' name, and all God's people said. Amen. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, and his message called Church Growth 101, Part 1. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called 1 Samuel.
a series highlighting the prophet Samuel who was called by God during one of Israel's darkest times to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. And will continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
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 slash know God. 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. Hey everybody, we got our first time ever actually devotional. We have a 40-day devotional called Watching Waiting. 40 days of walking you through biblical passages that excite you and prepare you for the soon coming of Jesus Christ.
Watching Waiting is a 40-day devotional that's all tied to biblical prophecy. Watching Waiting. It is our featured resource for this month and it's available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com/slash real radio. Jackhibbs.com/slash real radio. Your week is packed.
You're running on empty. And sometimes Sunday already feels like a distant memory by Wednesday. That's exactly why real-life devotions exist. Each week, Pastor Jack Hibbs brings you a short but powerful moment in God's Word. designed to encourage, equip, and refocus your heart.
It's not another podcast or a long sermon. It's a few meaningful minutes that meet you right where you are. Whether you're on a commute, going for a walk, or you just need a reset in the middle of your day, real life devotions are ready when you are. Fresh encouragement. straight from the scripture.
And it's all just one click away. Check out the newest devotion now. at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. Your place for real faith.
Real encouragement. and real life. That's real-life devotions at jackhibbs.com. Hey friends, listen, we're going to pray in a moment, but please, please understand. That all of us go through dark seasons of life.
No one's exempt. If somebody communicates to you that they don't, It's not true. Grief, loss, despair, I, we, we're all enduring such things, some at greater levels than others, but here's the bottom line, friends. God gets us through. He will not abandon us.
His light will come shining through in the darkest moment if we take time. To wait upon him. That's right. Listen, get away from all of the things pressuring your life and get alone with him. Watch what happens.
Let's pray right now. Father, we pray for comfort. We pray for your presence. We pray for a breakthrough of hope. in our lives.
Lord, by your grace, we're not going anywhere. even though we're hanging on and we can't see the light of day. You have promised to keep us, and so it's that promise that we're hanging on to.
So Lord, I pray that you'd magnify your presence in our lives. That in the midst of the storm, We would have Comfort and peace that passes all understanding because you alone. are our Master, our King, and our Redeemer. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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.
