Today on Real Life Radio. If there's somebody here tonight who was once used by God, who was once empowered by the Holy Spirit, But sin perhaps has quenched your Christian advance. God wants to stir up that gift again in your life, assuming that you've repented of your sin. 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. 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. On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues now with his series called 1 Samuel and a message titled Church Growth 101, Part 4.
Now, Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel, and he was the first of its prophets.
So, here now, in chapter 16, we'll continue to focus on the Holy Spirit by referring to Romans 11. You see, in Romans chapter 11, verse 29, the Lord tells us that when God gives someone a gift or calls them for some special purpose, he doesn't change his mind or take it back, even when we stumble. God chose the Jewish people and made promises to them, and the same goes for us. His promises still stand.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches that it's the Holy Spirit's job to work out the gifts within us. Even when sin has quenched our progress and we feel defeated, if we repent, we're now open and ready for God to use us.
Now with his message called Church Growth 101 Part 4. Here's pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs. Father, we ask you to bless, Lord, our time as we consider your word this evening. And Lord, that you would go before us. And Father, tonight, may you encourage your People.
Father, we pray that you would cause us to Receive from you. In a most blessed way, in Jesus' name. Amen. Tonight I'm going to ask you to turn in your Bible to Romans chapter 11 tonight. And we have been talking about Oh.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit, and we allowed. 1 Samuel 16, 13. To Be a springboard in a way to the study of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or at least a light touch. or touching of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. and we've covered quite a few of them thus far.
But tonight I want you to look at Romans chapter 11 and First of all, the context. before we look at the text. The text is verse 29. For there it says for the gifts And the calling of God. Are irrevocable.
I think the old King James says, given without repentance, right? Um the word uh repentance there in that Old King James Scripture is that God doesn't change his mind.
So, the newer versions of the Bible say that God gives these gifts and callings without taking them back. In other words, God's not an Indian giver. And the context where we find the text The context is in relation to the gospel going to the nation Israel. In fact, Romans 11 is pretty amazing because it tells us this, and boy, aren't you glad. That for a season or for a time, God has put the nation Israel on hold.
Oh, by the way, in light of the current events, listen to this. That 2,000 years ago, God put the nation Israel on hold because the nation had rejected its Messiah. And so, as the apostle declared to the nation, to the Jewish people, seeing that you find and judge yourself unworthy of eternal life. We turn to the Gentiles. And the Bible tells us here in Romans 11 that there's the time of the Gentiles.
In fact, it says that the time of the Gentiles will be for a predetermined period of time. Allow me to say it this way: there will be a dispensation. Of grace allocated to the Gentile world. But that time, according to Romans 11, will come to a conclusion. It doesn't mean that Gentiles won't get saved anymore.
It means that God will wrap up His predominant work in focusing upon the church. And he will once again, for the last seven year Period which was promised in Daniel chapter 9, he will for seven years specifically deal with the nation Israel and the salvation of the Jews. It's very important. And right here in Romans 11, Paul talks about us as though we were Wild branches, you Gentiles, wild branches, crazy people, sending up a storm, living like you would.
Well, there's the vine. And there's the branches to the vine. The vine. Being God. The branches being Israel.
The Bible says that Because of Israel's unbelief, the branches were trimmed off. And wild branches were grafted in. And those wild branches grafted in to the stalk or to the root of the tree or to the vine. Those wild branches, that's us, we became Children of the Most High God. But there's coming a time, in fact, he says, be careful that you don't get all puffed up about that, Gentiles, so that you don't boast against.
The stalk or the root or the vine, because God's going to bring back in those branches that were once lopped off, the nation Israel. He's talking about callings. And giftings. The calling refers to, listen carefully, the calling refers to an. To possibly two different things.
I think two of those things are in the apostle's mind. Number one, salvation. That certainly is the text. That when God calls, oh, listen to this, some of you need to hear this. God's callings are given without Him taking them back.
The callings of God are given without Him taking them back. and also his giftings. When God gives a gift, he doesn't take the gift Back. Meaning this. That if God has saved you and you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you have been given gifts.
or at least a gift by the person of the Holy Spirit. Being a Christian. You've been given a gift. And it's the Holy Spirit's job to work that gift out in your life.
Now You can sin and hinder the work of that gift. You can continue on in sin. And you can Sequester, or what's a better word, you can cover, you can hide. You can render the gift inoperable, but you still have the gift. It's just not in use.
And you would be living outside of the will of God, you'd be sinning, and God would not be using you, and you would definitely be someone who's been set aside. But God does not, according to Romans 11:29, take away the gift. You say, Well, why doesn't He take away the gift and give it to somebody else? He doesn't work that way. This leads me to believe That if God does not take away your salvation, nor does He take away your gifting.
then it could be that if there's somebody here tonight who was once used by God. Who was once empowered by the Holy Spirit? But sin perhaps has quenched your Christian advance. And you're no longer operating the gift of the Holy Spirit that you once enjoyed in your life. I believe that God's word teaches clearly that though you have been dormant, God wants to stir up that gift again in your life, assuming that you've repented of your sin.
I really believe that if Galatians chapter 6, verse 1 teaches us that if a brother be overtaken in a fall, You who are spiritual, restore such a one. in the spirit of grace, and of mercy, of wisdom. Considering yourselves, lest you fall also. I want you to consider tonight That if in this body of believers There's a sleeping giant? What I mean by that is, God once used you.
And now you're not being used anymore. You've blown it somehow. And Even though you've asked God to forgive you, you're having a hard time. forgiving yourself and getting underway again. I want to challenge you tonight.
We've been talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You look around the world, there's not much time. I want to challenge you tonight. You need as The apostle told Timothy, stir up the gift. Stir it up again.
If God's gifts and God's callings are irrevocable, Then what are you doing? And I know tonight, this might apply just to one person here tonight, but you've been defeated. And you've been coming on Wednesday nights and you've been hearing about the gifts, and maybe you've even been excited about, oh, I remember when I used to be able to exercise this gift in my life, but now it's not happening anymore. Listen, God doesn't take it back.
So where'd you go? God didn't leave you. You walked away. But we learn from the scriptures that when we walk away, We get to come back. In fact, even calls upon the church to uh Go out and get a cow and beef it up and barbecue it and have a big party when you come back.
Can you think at any time in your life Where things were pretty dynamic for you as a Christian. I want you to know I'm very interested in who you might be. Because you know what? This is a growing body. And I need you.
Oh, it's not only me. The person sitting next to you needs you. We need you. And you know what? You need us more.
Than anything in the whole world outside of Jesus. Because you know what? You need us because. We need what God has given you to bestow it upon us. Yeah.
You ever think of that? I have a friend of mine. You may know who he is. The guy is incurably incorrigible. This guy He is I don't mean uh I mean He encourages The guy encourages and encourages and encourages, and it's amazing.
The guy, when I see him and he smiles, I've never. In all the years, I've never heard him complain one time, once, ever. The world can be fallen apart and it's just He's always up and he's always. I had a chance to speak one time, and I was kind of like behind the stage thing. And he's rubbing me on the back.
Like I had the burp. He's rubbing me on the back and he's saying, It's going to be great. It's going to be fine. Go, brother. Man, all right, all right.
So I get out there, then he slips out there, and he comes up, biggest smile, and he's just. When you're down, you want to look at him because he's like, you can do it, Jack. You can do it, Jack. I mean the guy's amazing. And you know what?
You love to be around people like that. And you know what? The guy's not sinless. Oh, I I don't know if he's ever done anything. I'm not aware of anything, but I know he's a human.
That makes him sinful. But he's not he's not sinless. But it man is in encouragement. And I think how horrible my world would be, and how horrible the Christian church would be, and how horrible his church would be if he was not pastoring that church, how much less we would be. But I want to stir you up tonight.
As we've been going through the gifts, what would it matter if we brought in experts on the gifts? We brought in questionnaires, and you fill out the little thing, and if your numbers go up to a thing over here and it falls into this side, you are this kind of a person, and you probably have that gift of the Holy Spirit. That's fine, I guess, but what good will that do when it comes to the point where you can be gifted beyond anybody in this church, but you have been so dormant? for so long because you've been robbed.
Well, there's enough people in here to keep us here for weeks, but if we were to interview somebody and say, man, how's it going with you? Do you remember a day when you cranked for God? Yeah, but this is what happened in my life. God wants to use you again. You can cite all kinds of things and give all kinds of reasons why he doesn't want to use you and your giftings, but um.
Seems to me King David committed a pretty bad thing. God used them. After you repented, God used them. 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. You have no word of David being used during that years period of time, really, when him and God were at odds. You know what I mean?
But he murdered a man. God goes, that's a man after my own heart. He's a murderer. God called King David. And God used him.
And Yes, he reaped terrible things from it. From his fall, but God used him. And his fellowship with the Lord was restored.
Now, tonight, I just want to encourage you tonight. You look around And time is going by so quick. I came tonight from a uh It wasn't a hospital visitation, but a recovering brother is at his home and. Sat down with him and talking to him. praying with him, so sweet, 89 years old.
Good. How many of you have been married? Say 50 years. Anybody been married 50 years in here?
Now Hmm. Mike and Dee, I don't want to embarrass them, but they've been married like how many how many years do we learn from the marriage retreat they've been married? How many? Forty-eight? That's a long time.
Yeah. This man and his wife, and I was visiting them both this evening. Seventy Years. They've been married 70 years Yeah. He's not feeling well, so she's kinda crying 'cause he's not doing all that well.
And she's not doing well now, so he starts crying 'cause she's not doing well. That's exactly what I did. Mm. And I prayed with him. She's praying for him and I pray for her and he's praying for her.
Seventy years. And Their desire to serve the Lord. He said tonight, what can I do?
Well, what can you do? You can get better. That's what I told him. You can get better. Like surgery.
Recovering. What can I do? But you can get better. No, what can I do? He wants to do something for the Lord.
Isn't that awesome? Listen, you guys. Um I want to really share my heart right now and then we'll just I don't know, we'll pray or we'll worship the Lord or whatever. But You and I can have all kinds of really good excuses why we don't. Let God do what He wants to do in our lives.
And on this side of the w Clock. Those excuses have a lot of power to them. And they have a lot of justification to them. And there's things, listen loud and clear: there's things that you must do. Please understand.
I was talking to a brother on Sunday, and they just had another baby, and he wants to get involved, but they got babies. You know what? Those babies those the number one thing in the universe. You take care of those babies.
Okay. And then there's some of you, you know, you want to serve the Lord, but Uh You're really neglecting your husband. You need to take care of him. You really do. That's your ministry first.
Or your wife. You're running around taking care of the church, but your wife. She never sees ya. Or when she does see you, she wishes you were back at the church. You gotta go.
And that's not good.
Okay. Your wife needs to say, sweetie, you know what? I know you gotta go serve, but I'll be here when you get back. You know? We've got to make sure we have things right like this.
You can have all the gifts. And yeah, on the flip side, you can have them going and working in your life greatly. But there's Christian libraries full of books of famous men. famous men. Who?
After they died, their wives wrote books. And you can read about their lives. They were never home, their kids grew up to be drunks. Their wives were abandoned all their ministry years. Franklin Graham talks about growing up without a father.
That's sad. I want to encourage you tonight that there's a balance. I believe this. If you're doing something in your own strength without the gifting of the Holy Spirit, you are going to burn out. And you're going to burn out those that are in proximity to you.
Okay, and you know what? you'll never get really much done. You'll be spinning your wheels like a locomotive on a track. That's greased. Those wheels are spinning and it's not going anywhere.
Or Or you can say, Lord. I'm raising a kid, or I'm a single person starting a company, or look, we all got our thing, don't we? But Lord, I know that you saved me and gifted me to be a participant in the body of Christ.
So, Lord, I'm going to ask you to give me your wisdom on my time, your wisdom on my energy. I'm going to ask you, Lord, to give me your wisdom on where I should be serving you, Jesus, where and how. And God will do that. There's none of us in this place that can say, well, you know. Yeah, well, I fly this much a week.
I'm a corporate this and that. There's something. And there's men in this church who own big companies. And they make sure that they're doing things for the Lord. And the funny thing is, I'm not worrying about them.
Oh, gee, are they going to do it this weekend? I never think about it. You want to know why? They love to do it. What what were you doing for the Lord in your life?
Um You might say, well, you know, when I was in college, I was really into young people and helping them. Oh, I'd really love to do that again, but Uh Well, you know what? Maybe that was God. I say, well, you know what? At the other church I used to go to.
I did it for years. I would walk around in the parking lot with a little nail at the end of my broomstick, and I'd pick up papers. I loved it. But you know, I don't think that's a gift of the Holy Spirit. It could be a gift of helps, my friend.
I just know this: if the parking lot was filled up with filth, everybody would notice that. But you know what? I think God might want to do something in your heart. based upon his gifting that he called you to do And you happen to be nuts about that thing. And for whatever reason, You may not be exercising it.
I wanted to just challenge you. to find out what that is. I'm going to say something right now that's going to go over like a ton of bricks. And that is for those of us who have teenagers, I know they're so busy, but this applies to them too. They're so busy, some of them, they're more busy than us.
They got grades to maintain. They either got sports or cheerleading or they've got other things going on, preparing for college, whatever it might be. Those are really good things. But at some point in time, maybe it's twice a year. I think that your team My team You know, I think...
They need to maybe get down to Tijuana. a Rosarita or Insonata. Or, I tell ya. over to the Hopai Indian Reservation. or the Navajo.
and go there for a weekend. Can help. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. here on Real Life Radio and his message called Church Growth 101 Part 4. Thanks for taking the time to be with us today.
You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called 1 Samuel. It's a series that highlights 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. 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 reallife devotions at jackhibbs.com. Did you know that along with the radio program, Pastor Jack also has a TV show with more of the Pastor Jack Hibbs content that you like? It's called Real Life TV. If you enjoy Pastor Jack on the radio, you're going to love him on TV.
So check out your local listings or visit jackhibbs.com and catch the latest episodes. That's jackhibbs.com. Hey Christian, I'm speaking to you. Listen to this. You and I are not allowed to give up.
I have to confess, many times in my life, I've thought about giving up. But God has put people around me in life they wouldn't let me do that. And I'm here to tell you you're not allowed to give up either. God's not done with your story. He's still writing it.
He loves you, and He's going to complete it. Father God, in Jesus' name, may we not get in the way. of what you're wanting to do. If we wiggle, if we try to jump, Lord, hold us tight, and Because you And you alone have the words of eternal life. 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.
