ANNOUNCER: The following program is sponsored by
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Welcome to Real Life, with Jack Hibbs.
JACK: Listen, with all due respect to the Red Cross or to
whoever, United Way, all that stuff. Hey, bring all the help
you can. But only you have the gospel. Only you have the cross.
Only you have the empty tomb. It's only you that can say,
"Here is nourishment for your body, and
here's nourishment for your soul."
ANNOUNCER: On Real Life, today, Jack Hibbs' message is titled
"Real Worship," an expression born from our commitment to
align our lives with the divine purpose and calling that
God has placed on each one of us. Get
your Bibles, Real Life starts now!
ANNOUNCER: The cross. For many, it's become little more than a
symbol we wear around our necks, display in our homes, or hang
from our rear view mirrors. But what if, instead of being a
decoration or accessory, the cross motivated and shaped the
way we lived every single day? What if it wasn't about hiding
or minimizing our sin, but actually crucifying it in order
to move forward in the freedom Christ offers. In "Born
Crucified" by L.E. Maxwell. You'll discover what it truly
means to live a cross-centered life. This short yet powerful
book is a classic for every Christian's library, reminding
us that the cross isn't just a symbol, it's the key to victory
over sin and the power to serve God effectively. If you're ready
to experience the freedom and purpose found in a life centered
on the cross, this book is for you. Born crucified is our thank
you gift. For a donation of any size to
Real Life, visit jackhibbs.com or call
877-777-2346 to request your copy. Order now.
[Music]
JACK: Well, friends, I'm going to ask you to pay very special
close attention to this message that we're going to be looking
at today from out of the Bible. And here's the reason why. We're
titling it "Real Worship." Did you know that you and I were
created by God to bring Him worship and praise? He alone is
worthy. Many say that the book of Romans is the pinnacle of the
Bible itself, and I don't disagree. It's certainly the
great book of the New Testament and the book of Romans, Chapter
12 could be the very pinnacle of the book, but the book addresses
all of the Old Testament doctrines for the New Testament
believer. Paul wraps up everything together and puts a
bow on it, so to speak, so that you and I can live our lives as
is announced in Romans chapter 12. I mean, it is the high water
mark for the disciple of Jesus. So this instruction on how a
believer ought to be living their life for us, that is so
practical. So today we're going to be looking and learning about
a message that teaches us how to worship. And I want to leave
this picture in your mind, if you would. This is kind of a,
this is kind of an interesting thing. Call him the Music man. I
know that there is a a cartoon like a Pixar type person, but
he's got a flute and he's got a drum and he's got a cymbal and
he's got a guitar and he's got all these instruments wrapped up
in one big thing that ensconces his body. And I would call him
the Music Man. Well, for you and I, as we live our lives, we are
to live our lives in such a way that worship and praise is
coming out of us, coming out of our hands, out of our feet, out
of everything about us. Right? That's what we know from the
scriptures. So let's dive into the Word of God and give God the
glory by worshiping Him and learning how to really worship
Him truly in spirit and in truth. Let's go.
[Music]
JACK: Paul says to them, I beseech you, I urge you, I am
begging you. The believers in Rome,
therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which
is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you
may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of
God. And all of God's people said, "Amen." Number one, jot it
down, if you would. It is this, last week we saw that if we have
one life to live for now as a believer, and I remember I
stressed, "for now." We have one life to live. Remember I, I used
that acronym from the, from our youth, "Yolo," you only live
once. False doctrine. Remember I told you that's from Satan. We
do not only live once, there is an eternity. When you die, you
don't, listen, your body dies. You say, "I don't believe in
God." Your body's still going to die! Here's the shockeroo for
you, is that when you die as a nonbeliever, your body dies, but
you are still very much alive. You just don't, you just won't
like the destination. Everybody lives forever, the Bible says.
There's either an eternal hell or there's an eternal Heaven.
And the choice is yours. And God bought the ticket on the cross.
And He rose again from the dead to empower that purchase price.
And God extends the invitation. Choose me and live. Reject me
and die. The choice is yours. We claim to be a culture. We love
choices. We might even say in some way, we're pro-choice.
Listen, when I say pro-choice, we immediately think of
abortion. But let me put it to you this way. God's pro-choice.
Pro-choice this way. God wants you to use your will and your
mind and decide from your own self who you will worship.
Joshua said, "Choose today whom you will serve." The choices we
make. Church matters in a very important way. I want to give
you this quote. I forgot who it's from, but it's great.
"Right relationships mean right living." You, ponder that for a
moment. Right relationships mean, equate to, produce, right
living. Many times in our lives we can say, "Boy, I wish I
wouldn't have hung out with them because look where I'm at now."
Or, "I'm sure glad I bumped into this group of people because
everything's turned since for the good." Are you hearing me?
It matters. Your mom told us, "Don't hang out with bad
people." Why? Because you become like those you hang out with.
And Paul the apostle is saying to the church and to the
believers at Rome, "Here's what I want you to do. I want you to
worship God by presenting your bodies as living sacrifices to
God." God doesn't want you dead, He wants you alive because He
can't do anything through a dead person. He needs your body. He
wants to use your body. And so the first thing we saw last time
is this, that we are called by God to give Him our attention.
And secondly, now we look at this and it is in fact our
bodies. Point number two, one life to live means this, give
God your body. Your body. So wait a minute, pastor Jack. My,
look at my body, body? Your body, body. Like what parts of
my body? All the body. Like the private parts. Those are His. I
thought those were like mine. Nope. On loan from God. What you
do with them reflects upon God in the end. He's your creator.
He made you the way that you and I are, in His image. We know
what's right. We know what's wrong. We know what's good. We
know what's bad. We got that from God. And now that you know
the Word of God, God says, "Now that you know me, I want you to
walk with me. And oh, by the way, I walk in a way," listen
everybody, "I walk in a way of sacrifice." We touched on this
last week a little bit. It is the God of the Bible who was the
first one to offer up a sacrifice, not man. You say,
"Are you sure about that?" Yeah, let me put it to you this way,
you remember Adam and Eve sinned? So what did God do? God
responded by taking an innocent animal and offering that animal
up, and clearly God skinned it because it said that He placed
the skin of the animal to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness. The
very first one to produce a sacrifice was God. We therefore,
as children of God in His family, we're invited now by God
to offer up sacrifice. That sacrifice is not you dedicating
your life to the ministry. Did you hear? I didn't say your
life. I said your wife. Pastor Jack, we're all in! I am
dedicating my husband. No, that's not, that's cute, but
that's not how it works. You got to dedicate yourself. Nobody can
do it for you. And you cannot do it for somebody else. And Paul
is speaking strong words and he says right here regarding our
bodies, look at it with me, he says, "Present yourself as
living sacrifices." Watch. He says, "That you present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your
reasonable service." So the first thing is this, if you jot
it down, is faith. How do I do this? You do it by faith.
Church. Faith. Listen, this is going to be, you say, "I can't
see faith. I can't feel faith. I don't know if I believe that."
You will in a moment. Watch this. Faith does not exist in a
vacuum, faith explodes. You can't contain faith. Do you guys
remember? Maybe you don't. Or maybe it was a SoCal thing
growing up, but somebody had, there was this thing, it was
kind of like Silly Putty, but it was, like, really gooey. It was
like wet. Slime! You do remember, you bunch of oldies.
Do you remember when you had slime? You would buy slime. See,
people would pay money for this. You would pay money for it. You
would open it up and you would, and it was horrible after a
moment, it's everywhere. You try to squeeze it. What did it do?
Remember, it's kind of therapeutic. You'd squeeze it
and it would go between your fingers. But what would happen
if you tried to nail it to the wall, so to speak? It would just
run. It could not be contained. That is a gross picture of what
faith is. You can listen, try to hang on to it. It's on the move.
You can't pin it down. It goes. It sticks to stuff, but then it
spreads. Faith is an active verb, and it is native to the
Christian life. There's no such thing as spectator Christianity,
doesn't exist. It's a lie. To be a spectator and a Christian,
it's impossible. Everywhere you found Jesus, what was He doing?
He was loving on people. What a wild way. Also He loved. A woman
was caught in the act of adultery. She was busted. They
wanted to kill the woman. And Jesus sees her repentant heart,
and He forgives her and sends her on her way with a new life.
Jesus comes across a little 12 year old girl who's dead. He
raises her from the dead. Jesus sees all of the followers that
are listening to His messages, and the day is now late and He
feeds them with food, bread and fish, miraculously. The ministry
of Jesus. It's the same ministry that He conducts today, in your
life, if you're willing. And the number one thing regarding this
text here is that you present your body to God. Now, don't
think of any excuses like, well, my body is little or my body is
big, or my body is thin, or my body is fat, or my body is ill,
or my body, what? If he, doesn't matter to Him? Don't you know
your body belongs to Him? Look, in your health, He wants to use
your body. In your sickness, He wants to use your body. If, if
your body belongs to Him and the Bible says it does, what if you
are sick? Does He not know? He may not cause the sickness
because we live in a fallen world, but He'll use it. Are you
not a follower of Jesus? Yes! Then listen, you're not, you're
not somehow set aside because of some ailment that has come to
your life. God is setting you up for a ministry. I'm not going to
give you details. I would never give you details on this. I went
to my doctor that I have to see every six months. I went to my
doctor and this last time on Monday, he walks in the room and
I've been, I've been sharing with him for a long time, but he
walks in the room. And what doctor does this? He walks in
the room and he goes, "Come here!" And he scoops me up and
holds me. And I'm thinking, you know, man, this is so Jesus
like. Jesus is the doctor, He wants to hold you. But your
body, we're to present it to God. The word present means to,
to have it come forth. The word present is, you can imagine, it
means to bring it forth, bring it out, and to lay it down or to
make it available. God is saying to you and I today, "I want to
have your body be available to what I want to do." And this is
very timely, God's timing is awesome. So with all that's
going on in Southern California right now, right? Some of the
biggest churches in the world are, at least in America, are in
Southern California. So listen, I would predict that the biggest
magnitude of love response would be coming from the churches of
Southern California. That's what I'm expecting to happen. This is
our golden moment! So I'm hoping to see, right, don't you? All of
these Christians bumping elbows together, knocking each other
down to help. Love does that. Why? Because, and how do we do
it? We do it with our bodies. See, we've kind of written off
our bodies. Well, I'm going to Heaven, hallelujah. And we think
about Heaven, and that's great, but listen, you don't sit around
and just dream about your retirement all day long while
all the work is being passed by. No, you got to do your work!
Same thing about the believer in Heaven. Heaven is, that's where
we're going to it at the right time. In the meantime, we are to
present our bodies as living sacrifices to God and holy,
meaning this, usable. I loved, Pastor Chuck Smith would always
say this always, to the pastor's conferences, Chuck would say,
"Make sure men, you keep yourselves usable." What a great
word. Because we could become so quickly disqualified from
ministry. Keep yourself usable. Present yourself to God. So we
would say, "Lord, here I am, use me." And I think God is saying
that to every Christian today, "That takes faith." Because
here's what's fun about faith, you thought it was invisible.
You thought wrong because faith is so active. God will get a
hold of you and those hands that you held up a moment ago, that's
exactly how Jesus is going to be touching people, with your
hands! It's your feet that are going to be taking Jesus to
people who would otherwise never cross the threshold of a church.
That is awesome. This horrible crisis in our Southland is an
open door of ministry. And listen, with all due respect to
the Red Cross or to whoever, United Way, all that stuff. Hey,
bring all the help you can. But only you have the gospel. Only
you have the cross. Only you have the empty tomb. It's only
you that can say, "Here is nourishment for your body. And
here's nourishment for your soul. We will do. We will go and
we will be in the name of Jesus." How do we do that? With
our bodies. But we move in that arena by faith. We've got to
say, I'm going, I'm going to do, I'm going to contribute, I'm
going to speak up. I'm going to whatever. We do that with our
bodies. The Bible tells us in 1 John 5, verse 4, "For everyone
born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has
overcome the world, even our faith." I love it. "Who is it
that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus
is the Son of God," says the Bible. Do you believe that Jesus
is the Son of God? Then listen, if that's true, there would be a
natural incumbent faith active in our lives. I know this is a
strong message, but let's be honest, can you not sense the
late hour of our time? I do not want to have a church packed
with spectators. You want to do that? Go to the circus. God
wants people who are saying, "I want, I want to see this book
live in my life." I want to see the words on these pages live
through our mouth and our skin. I don't want some theoretical
Christianity. The world has seen enough of that trash. We need to
love and we need to get out there, and it begins with loving
each other. Faith. You say, "Jack, I don't know how to do
that." None of us know how to do that. It's a sheer act of
obedience, there's no doubt about it. But you can't be
obedient to God if you don't exercise your faith. But it's
not like I'm asking you to jump into a black hole. That's not
Christian faith. Our faith is founded upon fact. Check it out
this way. This is quite revealing. I'm going to give you
two passages. They'll dovetail together. You guys okay? All
right. That wasn't very convincing, but I'll keep going.
Mark, chapter 8, verse 35 says, "Jesus speaks and He says, for
whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses
his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." Wow. So
wait, what does that say? If I desire to lose my life? I'm
supposed to desire, I'm supposed to desire that? Oh, yeah, if you
understand what Jesus is talking about. Because, listen, He says
if you give it up, in fact, look, look at Luke chapter 9,
verse 23, this is epic. Luke 9:23, "Then Jesus said to them,
to all of them, if anyone desires to come after me, let
him deny himself, take up his cross, daily, follow me. For
whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses
his life for my sake will save it." So what does this mean?
Faith in action as a Christian, this means that you take your
life, all the things you're interested in, whatever is you,
and you say to Jesus, "Jesus, I give it all to You. It's all
Yours. I give it. And if there's things in my life that's not
acceptable to You, Jesus, slay it. Take it out." So what if
you're not willing to have some of these idols removed? Ask Him.
"Lord, make me willing. God caused me to hate the idols in
my life. I don't want anything between You and I. I want to be
used by You, God. And so here's my life." You know what Jesus
does? He takes your life from you, puts it in the shop. He
starts stripping it down and polishing and scraping. Then He
starts rebuilding. And then He puts on your life, all the
things that he intended for you to have in the first place, that
you could never, ever expect, accept because you wouldn't
accept, until God got your attention. And then guess what
He does? He hands it back to you. You get your life back. If
you give it to Him, you give it back, you get it back. If you
hang on to it, oh that's pathetic. If you hang on to it,
I was looking for some sort of a prop. So here's my wallet. It's
thin because there's not much in there. Except plastic. If I say
to this, "You can't have it. It's mine! It's my precious."
And God, over and over again in life, gives me opportunity to
help somebody with this. And I say, "No way. Worked hard for
this, it's mine. This is the kingdom I've built!" You know
you're going to die. The end is death. Some people choose this
for some decades and they make the choice and
lose an eternity. You give Jesus your life, He'll
repackage it and give it back to you.
JACK: Well, listen. Remember this, giving your life to Jesus
Christ, is way more than raising your hand at some concert or
some event, or it's way more than going forward or even
praying a prayer. That's where you start. You know that's where
you begin. Nobody goes down the aisle in a wedding and says, "I
do," and then sits down and doesn't. No, that's where you
begin. And so the book of Romans is teaching us how to begin. So
this is very, very important. When we give our lives to Jesus
Christ, He saves us. Yes. Immediately He rescues us out of
the junkyard, so to speak. Right. But then He begins to
remove some things from us. Some a lot, some few. Sometimes
quick, sometimes slow. But He goes to work and He does it by
the Holy Spirit. And then He begins to prime our lives, so to
speak, to get them ready to receive the new paint, the new
gloss, the new you. And I'm reminded of how friends of ours
do that very thing. They're world renown at what they do.
They rescue cars from the junkyard, so to speak, and they
turn them into prized possessions of people who will
be buying that work of art. Well, if man can do that
regarding junk, can't God do that with your life and mine?
Hallelujah, yes, and He does. Let Him mold you. Let Him shape
you. Let Him work in His image until He sees His reflection in
your life. That's the walk of the Christian life. Friends, to
settle for anything less would be tragic. So, listen, we're
asking you right now to stay in tune and stay in touch with us
at jackhibbs.com, where you can find out more at Facebook,
Instagram and various social media sites. And by the way,
spread the Word to others who you think would benefit from
these messages. God bless you. Until next time.
ANNOUNCER: You are watching Real Life with Jack Hibbs.
ANNOUNCER: The cross. For many, it's become little more than a
symbol we wear around our necks, display in our homes, or hang
from our rear view mirrors. But what if instead of being a
decoration or accessory, the cross motivated and shaped the
way we lived every single day? What if it wasn't about hiding
or minimizing our sin, but actually crucifying it in order
to move forward in the freedom Christ offers? In, "Born
Crucified" by L.E. Maxwell, you'll discover what it truly
means to live a cross cross-centered life. This short
yet powerful book is a classic for every Christian's library,
reminding us that the cross isn't just a symbol, it's the
key to victory over sin and the power to serve God effectively.
If you're ready to experience the freedom and purpose found in
a life centered on the cross, this book is for you. "Born
Crucified," is our thank you gift for a donation of any size
to Real Life, visit jackhibbs.com or call
877-777-2346 to request your copy. Order now.
JACK: Well friends listen up. We are living in remarkable
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RealLifeNetwork.com. Sign up. Subscribe. Get ready because we
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We will literally be broadcasting the truth to you.
ANNOUNCER: Jack Hibbs truly believes we are living in some
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ANNOUNCER: The preceding program was sponsored by generous
friends and partners of Real Life.