ANNOUNCER: The following program is
sponsored by generous friends and partners of Real Life.
ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Real Life with Jack Hibbs.
JACK: When we suffer in this life
from whatever it is that causes us to suffer,
God's got a word, a passage, a book of the Bible, a
scripture to bring us through it, and your faith will explode
as you realize. Wait a minute, He's there.
ANNOUNCER: Most people set their alarm
to get them out of bed, but in today's
message, Pastor Jack sounds the alarm to jolt us into
taking action to what is happening in the world around
us. Stay tuned for this is your wake up call.
ANNOUNCER: Has your spiritual life stalled
out? Do you find yourself on the side
of the road watching others drive past, unable to move
forward because of fear, indifference, or maybe
distraction? It's time to get your spiritual motor started and
begin living a life of purpose, joy, and effortless faith.
"Ignite Your Life" is a brand new book from gifted businessman
and car enthusiast, Barry McGuire, with an energizing
passion for living every day with fearless faith. Barry helps
you conduct a spiritual tune up to get you back on the track in
the race of life. Ready to live a joy-filled purpose-driven,
honoring life? Order your copy of "Ignite Your Life" by making
a gift of any amount to the ministry of Real Life. Get
your copy by going to jackhibbs.com or by
calling (877)777-2346. On your mark. Get set. Go.
JACK: Well listen in life, there are some tremendous but basic
questions that we must get asked. Basic questions that
determine for us eternity, and one of those great questions,
and we'll go through a few of them, but one of 'em is why is
there so much evil in the world? Doesn't everybody ask that
question? It's a good question. The second thing is this, what
is the future of our nation? It doesn't matter what country
you're living in, as you hear this broadcast, you're asking
that question regarding the future of your nation, your
country, what kind of a world will your kids grow up in? And
that question brings you into the next thing. And that is, who
do I trust? Who am I going to trust with my life, with the
future of my children, my grandchildren? And where do we
turn for hope? All of these questions are most often
tragically avoided, but they must be gotten to where are we
going to put our hope? And the fact of the matter is we can put
our hope in the God of heaven because He loves you. He's the
God of the book, the book, the Bible, and He announces of His
great love for you. So my friends, listen, He is your
hope. Can I put it this way? Not out of desperation. I put it to
you this way out of clarity. He's your only hope. So what are
we waiting for? What is the wake up call in our lives? To whom do
we surrender our hearts to? Is it worry, fret, and fear? Or is
it the Lord God Almighty? I promise you my friend, you trust
the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, He'll never let you
down. Why don't you test Him in that and see? Well, you can do
that. Grab your Bibles, let's dive into this study, "Your Wake
Up Call," because friends, if you haven't had one yet, you're
going to have one in time and you're going to need to
answer that. What is your wake up call? Could this
be it? Well, God's got the answer.
JACK: Well, we know this. We keep
our eyes looking up toward heaven, but at the
same time we're busy. And I like the way Spurgeon puts
it. We're pregnant with expectation. Isn't that a great
word? When you think of pregnant, you think of you know,
pregnant and you see women, oh man, how far along are you?
There's some women, have you seen women so pregnant? It's not
like she's kind of pregnant, she's kind of pregnant. Oh, no,
no, no, you're pregnant. If you're pregnant, you're
pregnant. But when you're showing, you're showing and
there's women, we've seen, you've seen them that are so
pregnant, I start having pains. You know what I'm saying? It's
like, are you? Oh my gosh. And they're moving like this. This
is a true story. We went to the Billy Graham crusade in 1986, I
believe it was, I think it was 86 in Anaheim whenever that was,
and Lisa was out to here pregnant with our youngest
daughter, and she's going like this up the stairs and the usher
goes, 'ma'am, ma'am' and it's so cute, he says, people are born
again here, not born. That night Lisa had our daughter. Yep.
Awesome. I mean, I just watched. It was awesome. It hurt her very
much, but it was- But the expectation. There's signs that
are indicating this or that, wake up calls, call it what you
want, indicators where God is calling his people and it's
quite amazing. But as we look at this church, it's quite shocking
to realize as I read verse 18 for I consider that the
sufferings circle, the word sufferings, that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. What an amazing statement
everybody, listen with time running out. Let's remember
something Paul says, who lived in that state of just eagerness
to meet Christ. He says, for I consider that the sufferings of
this present time, every single one of us go through sufferings
to some degree or another. They come in seasons, but sometimes
even in life, there's just that, what's the word? There's just
that one thing that just is there always. Maybe it's an
illness, maybe it's a memory, maybe it's a loss and it just is
there and in this life according to the Bible that all of us are
subject to what the Bible calls tribulations, they're
difficulties and hardships. But listen, if you're not a
Christian and you're going to go through these things, if you're
not a Christian, Christian or not, you're going to go through
these things. The great thing about the Christian is God holds
our hand the way through. He'll never let go of us. And when
we're crying and when we're screaming and when the pain is
too much or the hurt is too much, we can always say, Lord,
we can call out to Him. If you're not a follower of Christ,
where do you go other than Jim Beam or Jack Daniels or a line
of cocaine or what do you do? I understand that, most of us were
like you at one point. That's where we went for our relief.
But then someone greater than Jim Beam walked in the room,
okay, and He gives a peace that lasts forever, and He comes in
and He just takes all that stuff away and He says, here's my
promises. Open my book and listen. In fact, watch, I'm
going to show you how good He is. Okay, here's, okay, well,
I'm going to include chapter 4. So here you go. There you go.
All the creation, creation stars, heavens, Jupiter, Mars,
garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, the whole thing, all this stuff.
And then the Garden of Eden, the sin, the fall. Okay? You see
this part of the Bible, sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, come
back to me. I love you. This is the roadmap back. I'm
communicating to you how much I care, how much I love, how much
I want you in my kingdom forever. This is my book of
life. It took this much to mess it up, but it takes this much of
me working to get you back. His love for us, we should grow more
and more excited about that expectation. But you say, Jack,
you mentioned suffering. Listen, suffering for the believer is
like a university. I mean a good one, not like today, back in the
old days, it is where we grow. No one wants to hear this, but
we're going to suffer. But the believer, we become more like
Jesus when we suffer by the power of the Holy Spirit. He
does it in the midst of pain and sorrow. He winds up getting in
under our skin and into our hearts and He does a work. The
stuff we're talking about is for real. This is not a joke. Jesus
is not some ancient removed religious figure. He's got the
son resurrected from the dead. He lives eternally and he's
coming back and He's true and He's alive and we're waiting for
Him. And the glory of all of this is in suffering, we've got
Christ to cry out to. And another thing which brings me
great hope is our suffering has a purpose. When we suffer in
this life from whatever it is that causes us to suffer, God's
got a Word, a passage, a book of the Bible, a scripture to bring
us through it, and your faith will explode as you realize.
Wait a minute. In fact, this is when it happens. Wait,
everything's going crazy or there's bullets flying or this
situation's going on and you have a peace that is so not you
that you kind of feel like, do I understand how bad this is? Do I
realize that this is a real predicament? And the answer is,
you know exactly what's going on, but God reminds you, I've
got you. And it's like, wow, He's there. He says, Paul says,
for I consider that the sufferings of this present time,
1 John chapter 2 verse 16, the Bible tells us for all that is
in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life. By the way, those are the three things that
got Eve, those three things right there, is not of the
Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away and
the lust of it, but He who does the will of God abides forever.
Isn't that beautiful? What is the will of God? To believe on
Him whom God has sent. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that great?
To trust Him. Billy Graham said that we need to trust God
in that 9/11 clip. That's the answer-expectation. And that
word to consider means basically to do the math, rack up the
numbers, do the numbers, and come to the conclusion. It's a
great challenge. Think it through. Reckon is one of the
other words. See, it's worth. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 3,
verse 18, 2 Corinthians 3:18, the Bible there says, but we all
with unveiled face. That means he's speaking to believers,
beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. See, we see
the glory of the Lord when we are reading, when we're studying
about Him, when we're meditating on the Word of God, we see the
glory of God in our hearts and in our minds, in our
imaginations. We're just thinking about Him. And as you
keep reading the Bible, His glory becomes more intense, more
spectacular. That's why the Bible says, wait upon the Lord
and He'll renew your strengths. Did you know that? Are you
tired? No. I mean, I didn't mean you to answer that. I was just,
I meant to say this, but you interrupted me. But I was going
to say, if you're tired, then lean on the Lord, rest in Him
because we get tired, but we lean on Him. When you're tired,
you have a tendency to lean, right? He's just saying, lean on
me and I'll take care of that. But it says that beholding as in
a mirror, the glory of the Lord. We can't exactly see how
spectacular He is, but we see enough and He talks about us.
We're being transformed in the same image from glory to glory.
That means you're growing up, everybody. We're all growing up.
How does that happen? Suffering. Sorry. But it's suffering just
as by the spirit of the Lord. The more you are dependent upon
God's power to get you through your weak moment, the greater He
becomes, the lesser you and I become, but boy, the brighter He
is in our vision. When Stephen saw Jesus Christ, He saw Him
illuminated as the sun. And again, Paul saw Him in the
brilliance of the sun as though he were looking at the sun in
its full strength. And the Bible shows us in the book of
Revelation that Jesus Christ right now at this hour Pacific
time, Jesus is on the throne and He's emanating glory brighter.
In fact, even when Jesus appeared on the Mount of
Transfiguration in the gospels, I love that, He glowed. You guys
are familiar with this, right? It's Peter, James, and John.
Remember the story, Peter, James and John. It's always Peter,
James, and John. Jesus went over the hill and he took Peter,
James and John. Jesus went in this boat and he took Peter,
James and John. He went up to the mountain and he took Peter,
James and John. And you see, I thought God didn't have any
favorites. He doesn't have any favorites. He says, I don't
favor anybody over another. You say well, it's always Peter,
James, and John, they saw the amazing stuff. They did see the
amazing stuff. But I think we often mistake what's going on
here because first of all, consider Peter, if you know your
Bible, Peter is like, we can't wait to meet Peter because you
know the people that are, you can relate to them. It's like,
Peter, come here. I feel like I know you. You're always saying
the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing, getting in trouble,
cutting people's ears off. And then James and John, the Sons of
Thunder. What do you think? You think they got that name selling
Amway, the sons of Thunder, these guys rumbled. They
probably had black leather robes. So I think Jesus goes
like this. Hey guys, Peter, James, John, you guys want to
head on over toward that hilltop right there? Great. Just keep
going. I'm going to take those guys over there to show 'em a
thing or two. I know you guys got it. They're a little slow.
I'll be right back. It's always that way. In fact, you can
listen. You think you're stretching it? I don't think so.
Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration and He's
praying, and the Bible says He turns glowing bright white, and
the three disciples see this. And then the Bible says, Moses
and Elijah appear from eternity, they arrive and they're speaking
to Jesus about His upcoming death. And the Bible says, Peter
shouts, it's great that we're here. Let us build three tents,
one for you Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And
the Bible says, and Peter said this because he didn't know what
to say. Is that awesome? I got to say something. Whatcha you
going to say? I don't know. But he pops up. I'm telling you,
those guys, they were the special class and that talks
about how patient God is with us. Look, we laugh at them, but
if it was our day, it'd be like Manny, Mo, and Jack get over
here. Right? But God is patient and He's kind and in the midst
of suffering, God is there with us. He'll never abandon us or
leave us. He's made us that promise. He'll never change.
He'll never go back. And that word suffering, that word is a
word that means that befalls everyone in the world. It's the
sufferings of this world. But the difference is, again, as I
said, we have Christ with us in John 16:33, I love this, John
16:33, Jesus said these things, I've spoken to you that in me,
you may have peace. Note this, everybody, you guys awake? Note
this. These things I've spoken unto you, thank you. Thank you
for telling me, yes, but there's more. In me you may have peace,
okay? In the world you'll have tribulation, difficulties,
hardships, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. What
He's saying is this, the difficulties of this life for
the believer are not only temporal, but God uses them to
work a work that otherwise could never be done. You know this as
a believer, the people that you know in life who have suffered
the most, have you noticed how deep they are spiritually and
how calm they are? God saw me through this. God saw me through
that. We did this. We did the other. God brought us through.
It's a great way to live. People listen, as believers, let's not
procrastinate in our trust in Him. When a difficulty comes,
don't say, oh my gosh, what's going on? God, where are you?
Listen, these difficulties that have come to us, number 1, if
they're satanic, they are Father filtered, that means the Father,
Satan had to get the Father's permission to come and tamper
with your life. Satan came to Jesus and said, can I have
Peter? And that's a weird moment because Jesus goes over to Peter
and says, Hey Peter, Satan asked me if he could tear you up. And
can you imagine Peter? Peter had to have said, thank God. He
asked you. I mean, you told him where to go, right? Well
actually, Peter, when you return from getting the snot beat out
of you, when you return, strengthen your brothers. Say
what? The whole thing about Peter denying Jesus Christ and
him weeping and turning his back on Jesus. Satan was trying to
destroy Peter, and yet the power of God brought him through. And
when Peter came out of that, look what happened after the day
of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers,
you couldn't stop Peter. He's a completely different man. His
command of scripture, amazing, suffering does that. Jesus said,
be of good cheer in the midst of whatever's going on. I can say
this, I don't think she's here right now, but Ms. Robin, Lisa
and I, she's been our secretary since, I dunno, 34, 33 years, 34
years, she's suffered ministering to her husband who
suffered difficult, hard life 11 years and then died. And now her
mother-in-Law, she got her father-in-law through his death,
and now her mother-in-law's dying right now. And Robin is
amazing. If you guys dunno, Robin, she's amazing. I've never
seen her. She never once complained. She's amazing. And I
told her today, I said, Robin, let's pray right now because
here's the deal, your mother-in-Law is like a stadium
right now, and you're in the middle preaching to the crowd.
The crowd is at the hospital. Robin, it's always been this way
for years. You're such a great witness. You walk around crying
over the situation of your loved one, but you're laying hands on
them and praying. And then you're praying for the nurse
whose husband just wrote her a divorce note. And then you go
down the hallway and somebody over here's crying and you're
going and you're comforting them. And I said, here's the
deal, Robin. You're always in these situations because you're
such an amazing minister. The depth of her faith I have
noticed is equal to her magnitude of suffering. And when
you see that, you begin to wonder, do I know the same God,
she knows? And that's when you say, God, whatever you want to
do in my life is good with me. Whatever it entails, I'm not
afraid of having you do what you want because I know that it's
going to be good, it's going to be loving. It's going to be
awesome because you are a God who takes the things of life and
transforms sufferings into great strengths and into great
testimonies and great abilities to minister to other people that
otherwise we would never be able to talk to. It's you and me in
our private world where God uses us. Right now, we're in church.
It's fuel up time. It's fill up your tank to go out and to be
that witness. Remarkable goodness of God.
JACK: Well, listen, your wake up call,
maybe you've had one now that you've
listened to a little bit of this study, you've concluded,
I think I've had this happen in life. Well, eventually all of us
are going to have a wake up call. It could be a phone call
from a doctor, it could be a phone call or a note from a
friend or maybe a husband or a wife. But listen, at the
beginning of this program, I challenged you regarding your
wake up call. And you might say, well, Jack, I've been talking
these last few minutes about suffering and this message. I've
been hearing you talk about this and to endure this, and the fact
that even Jesus Himself had to endure this, and that is true,
but God gave us a pattern. He gave us a hope in the Word of
God. And so listen, when people ask why is there suffering in
the world, you should counter and respond to them as we've
been teaching in this study, that the reason why there's
suffering is because we live in a fallen world. This world is
hurting. And you know what I love about the Bible, God never
denied that we were hurting. He never denied. He didn't say, put
on a big smile before you go outside. He wants us to live in
reality. And so listen, the very, very thing that your
friends or maybe yourself you're thinking about as to how can
there be a God when there's suffering? Well, obviously the
Bible teaches us that in the midst of suffering, it's because
of a fallen world, but the Lord has come to give us life. And so
pray this prayer if you would, and mean it from your heart that
you can pray right now with me and you can say something like
this, dear Lord Jesus, I ask you to not only come into my life as
Lord and Savior, but you know Lord, I do think I believe in
you as Lord and Savior, but I've been hit hard by these times of
suffering and my faith has been wavering. Lord, renew my
strength in you. Renew my faith in you, renew my commitment in
you and above all things Lord, I want to reiterate that I believe
that Jesus died in the cross for my sins and rose again from the
dead. So friends, if you've prayed that prayer, that simple
prayer, as long as you've meant it, see, God looks at your
heart. If you've meant it, He's heard you. And so if you've
prayed that prayer, we want nothing from you except for you
to send us information, reach out to us how we can send you a
Bible and help you on your life's journey with Jesus. And
you can do that by simply going to jackhibbs.com and you can
connect with us there or on Facebook, Instagram, or any one
of our other platforms. But listen, if you've prayed that
prayer, let us know. Well, friends, listen until we're back
together again. God bless you as you continue on
in your growth in the Lord Jesus Christ.
ANNOUNCER: You are watching real life with Jack Hibbs.
ANNOUNCER: Has your spiritual life stalled
out? Do you find yourself on the side of the
road watching others drive past, unable to move
forward because of fear, indifference or maybe
distraction? It's time to get your spiritual motor started and
begin living a life of purpose, joy, and effortless faith.
"Ignite Your Life" is a brand new book from gifted businessman
and car enthusiast, Barry McGuire, with an energizing
passion for living every day. With fearless faith, Barry helps
you conduct a spiritual tune up to get you back on the track in
the race of life. Ready to live a joy-filled purpose-driven
God-honoring life? Order your copy of "Ignite Your Life" by
making a gift of any amount to the ministry of Real Life. Get
your copy by going to jackhibbs.com or by calling
(877)777-2346. On your mark. Get set, go.
ANNOUNCER: Life is full of fear, doubt
and worry. The more you listen to and see the
world today, the easier it is to feel hopeless
and helpless. Amidst the confusion of voice of hope has
emerged. The Real Life Network founded by Jack Hibbs, the Real
Life Network is a free digital media platform void of the noise
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ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Real Life Radio with Jack Hibbs.
JACK: God's Word, you never will we
return void. God's Word is spirit, it's power, and it
has its effect. God did not give us Bible prophecy to
scare us, but to prepare us. You are the light of the world,
Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth. How does that happen?
ANNOUNCER: Jack Hibbs truly believes we
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ANNOUNCER: The preceding program was sponsored
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