Having A Life Worth Living

If you gain the whole world but lose your soul, then you’ve missed the point of living. It’s not about having abundant possessions, but having the abundant life that Jesus offers.

How can we identify the voice of God in our hearts and minds? How do we discern God’s voice from the other influences speaking into our lives?

Well, friends, we’re gonna be looking at a message today. They’re gonna ask you to pay close attention to.
We’re gonna be considering what God’s word says to us about having a life worth living.
Think about that for a moment, having a life worth living versus living a life worth having it sounds close, but they’re miles apart.
In fact, there’s an infinite distance between the two. I want to put it to you this way.
Um I grew up in an era where the saying went around.
He who dies with the most toys wins, right?
Kind of like the Darwinian theory of uh the strongest, survive, right?
And so we have equated in our world that if you’ve got a real big house and you’ve got the perfect looking family with the right clothes and you’ve got the right cars and you are saying he who dies with the most toys wins.
Philosophy. Then I want to submit to you that you’re stuck in a line of living.
That is one that leads to destruction. You say pastor, are you kidding me?
I’m living a life worth having a look. What I have a look at the direction.
I’m going look what I own and I’m gonna submit to you today. That’s not the answer.
Having a life worth living is the answer. Here’s the difference.
You can have all the stuff in the world, you can have it all.
I recently saw an awesome, an awesome sports car here in Southern California.
I got close enough to it to take a picture.
But the thing is, this is very common where I live. But so is suicide.
This is very common where I live.

But so is drugs and unfaithfulness and depression and people with everything that you could possibly have in this world to say, look at me, I’m living a life worth having.
Then why are they so unhappy? Now? See my friend listen in this message.
I want you to consider that God wants you to have a life worth living. That’s the huge difference.
Jesus said it this way. What shall it profit a man if he gains the entire world and loses his own soul.
So listen, grab your bibles. Let’s dive in. See what God has to say to us today.
You guys remember years ago because I had his album, Bob Dylan slow train coming.
You gotta serve somebody. Remember remember he’s going, he’s talking about slavery. He’s talking about yielding to Jesus.
It might be the devil, it might be the Lord but you got sub somebody remember that and it’s true.
It was absolutely true in saying that.
And, uh, what’s amazing to me is we got a Bible in our hand right here and we’re reading Paul the Apostle.
And some people might pride themselves and saying, well, I studied, I studied Socrates. Good. That’s awesome.
And you should, uh, well, I studied Plato. He was the student of Socrates. That’s fantastic.
That’s great. And somebody might say, why studied Aristotle? That’s awesome.
And somebody might say, well, I studied Aristotle’s student Alexander. The great, okay, that’s great.
Guess what? Not one of them, the great philosophers of mankind and throw in there, by the way, all of the oriental mystics and the enlightened ones, the gurus, not one of them had the audacity to take on what we’re looking at in this section of scripture that there is sin, that there’s righteousness, unrighteous nous that there’s the grace of God, there’s the law of God, there’s eternal life, there’s liberty and freedom, think of it.
You and I possess such an awesome eternal power in the word of God.
In fact, hebrews 4-12 says for the word of God is living and powerful. I love that statement.
Now, maybe it’s because I have a cartoon mind.
But when you go to breakfast today, after service, you have to take your Bible into the restaurant and set it on the table right there.
You open it up even kind of a hangover like that.
Look, you can take a magazine, you can take anything, you can take a library book.
Nobody will pay any attention to it.
You take your Bible to breakfast this morning and take it into the and just set it there.
The server’s gonna freak out why?
Because that thing is, it’s like speaking when people are not even aware that it speaks. What is that?
The Bible? Just do this.
Please side note, if you take your Bible into the restaurant and put on your table, you have to tip big, right?
Don’t be some, don’t be some crummy tipper.
If you’re representing Jesus, you gotta give a whopper, you know, but the word of God is living and powerful.
It goes on to say that it’s sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the division of the soul and the spirit.
The Bible does this and of the joints and the marrow and is a discern er of the thoughts and the intents or the intentions of the heart.
And there is no creature hidden from its sight.
Listen, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him, to whom we must give an account.
What a powerful statement that is two things.
The Bible teaches us that in the book of Revelation chapter 20 all those who are not born again will stand before the judgment of Almighty God.
It’s called the great white throne judgment. And here’s what that means about. We must all appear before God naked.
It’s not naked like you don’t have clothes on. Oh, no, no, no, no.
It’s, it’s way worse than that.
It’s naked because the inside of who we are is turned inside out.
That’s, that’s what’s being implied.
No one will be able to hide, no one will be able to pull the wool over God’s eyes.
The Bible says that those that stand before the judgment of Almighty God, their insides are turned outward and God sees it all.
And the Bible says that they’ll have to answer for that. Now, that’s the judgment of the unbeliever.
That’s the great white throne. Judgment on the other side, there’s the judgment of the believers, those who are you and I born again, believers going to heaven.
We appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
Big difference mind you, but even still He will turn us inside out.
Why did you do what you did? Did you do anything at all? What were you thinking?
What who were you worshiping? What was going on?
Was there a real connection between what the Bible says and how you live your life?
When you claim to know the name of Jesus, this really matters When God goes to work.
He transforms proverbs chapter four verse 23. This is fantastic.
By the way, you should put, you have a teenager, you have a school, you have a classroom, you should put this on the inside door and on the outside of the door.
This is just good period. Proverbs 4 23. Keep your heart with all diligence for out of its spring.
The issues of life. Wow, that’s powerhouse scripture.
Number one, the word keep here is to garrison.
Uh It’s to have a military dispatch, uh deployed. Imagine that picture. Well, we’re talking about our hearts. Yeah.
The Bible says you need to have an army around your heart to guard it.
You want to know why are our hearts? Our hearts? They’re pretty, our hearts can be pretty stinky.
That’s why God needs to give us a new heart.
He says to keep your heart with all diligence, fortify it, strengthen it.
How do we do that with the word of God?
But why should we do it well, because for out of it, that is the heart spring, the issues of life, the way that you live your life and for whom or what you live your life for is answered right here in Proverbs four, verse 23.
You’re, you are living out what’s in your heart? Remember what the Bible says?
Jesus said out of the, out of the mouth or out of the heart, the mouth. What speaks?
Oh, I’m sorry, you have to forgive my French now. That was actually your heart.
And why did the French always get blamed? What’s with that kind of funny anyway?
I don’t think they appreciate it. But oh, you know what? You know, nobody’s perfect.
You know, I understand that we all get that. But how are you living your life?
What is your lifestyle and what’s so important is, do you have a life worth living?
Are you living a life worth having?
Because if you’re living in life worth having it speaks of momentary and then it’s gone.
But if God goes to work, then it’s altogether different. Very powerful.
So church, here we do, here we go. Let’s mark this down.
Verses 12 to 14 is this and that is having a life worth living, is having the power of God.
And I want to stress the power of God, not the power of man, not your power, not my power.
Do you have the power of God? Now, if you’re a Christian, do you know this?
If you’re a Christian, the power of God has been given to us but listen, the power of God and the life of the believer only works, right?
When we use that power, it’s available. Think of it.
Think of the power of God being in a, in a box or in a can or in a container, you gotta pull it out.
It’s right there in front of you, the power of God, not the power of man.
This is very, very exciting I think for us to understand is that Christianity is the exhibition of the power of God in our lives.
Jesus in acts chapter one said, go wait in Jerusalem until the coming of the promise of the holy spirit, I’m gonna send to you and you will be empowered with power from on high and that power will come and be upon you.
Every are you guys? Okay? You’re very quiet. It’s because you’re so focused. Is that what it is? Okay?
I hope so. Every believer, you know, so many times.
Oh God, I need power and God looks over a cloud and says I already gave it to you, right?
Think about it. Oh God, I need peace.
He shouts down and says, I already gave you peace. You need to wake up to the realization.
You are a child of the living God and he’s not bankrupt. You’re not walking around here like a popper.
The peace of God is yours to have.
Now, the reason why you’re a believer and you don’t have it is because you have not taken it out of the box and the power of God, imagine how tragic it is for ministry to say, you know, what if you do this, this this and four other things, you’ll get the power of God that’s called religion.
You can find that down the street. That’s not here.
We want you to meet Jesus in his book.
And the power of God is what does Christianity in your life stop pushing the brick up the hill.
It’s absolutely amazing. It’s his power. Look at the first thing in verse 12.
Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body. That you should obey it in its lust.
Now, I’m gonna have to explain this, this uh sub point or subtitle to this. Now, hear me out.
I’ve never used this before ever in 32 years of teaching. So let me explain it.
So having the power of God and that is the power over my demons.
Now, this is what I’m not saying. I am not saying you mean you mean that demon, the nicotine?
No, you mean that, you mean that demon of, of I’m trying to remember, you know, lust.
No. You mean that demon behind the door over there?
Nope, I’m not talking about some little spiritual fang fuzzy thing running around.
You know, I’m not talking about that.
I’m talking about when I say my demons, this is us together, the things in our lives that seem to just dog us as believers and we never get victory over them.
I’m not talking about demonic activity though. It, it is a fact.
In fact, I should say this if you’re here today and you’re saying, I don’t believe in any of that stuff.
I don’t believe in Satan. I don’t believe in demons. I don’t believe in fallen angel.
I don’t believe any of that stuff. Well, boy, they sure got you sucker.
You just fell right headlong right into it.
You’re on the battlefield and you’re getting shot at and you’ve been shot and you don’t even know it.
And then listen and then there’s the believer on the other side that the Bible over and over again tells us we’re in a battle and we’re not in a battle against flesh.
Are we? The Bible says that we’re in a battle against invisible things, Principalities and powers past reject.
Can you not mention that right now? That’s exactly the point.
We need to stop deifying the powers of darkness and realize that God’s power for those of you have been with us to Israel.
And that one trip, I don’t know what trip it was.
But we were heading up to the Temple Mount area and there was a busload of Nigerian Christians who just got off the bus.
They had their, they had their beautiful Nigerian robes on and they were going up the hill and they’re going, they’re singing a song and they go, they were singing this song.
Satan spoke to powerless power, Jesus power superpower.
And we’re like, like, yeah, I mean, it’s kind of hard on my white guy.
I’m trying to like, but man, they were like Susan poem, powerless power, Jesus power, superpower.
And it’s like, I mean, yeah, you know, it’s like that is true, Sean’s got power but Jesus has superpower and that superpower, he didn’t keep it in the box.
He gave it to us in his word.
And the Holy Spirit’s job in our lives is to have that power active. Listen with all due respect.
Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. Hallelujah for that.
But listen, The Bible says Greater Love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.
And that is Bible. And that is true. John 15, here’s the deal. Listen carefully. It’s not enough.
So what the death of Jesus Christ as awesome as it was is not enough.
Unless what do you mean? Unless what are you adding to this? I’m not adding anything to it.
Here it goes. This is the gospel. Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the grave.
Listen, the one who died on the cross canceled the power of sin that was upon our lives.
He died in our place. God went to the cross in human skin for us.
But listen, if you and I got to heaven solely on that, then that’s all that’s needed.
But he rose again from the grave that promises Jesus physically rose from the dead.
He busted the grave. Think about that. He broke it.
The very thing that hunts you, Jesus broke it, death in the grave.
It’s not just that he died. He died and he rose again from the grave. Thank God.
Praise the Lord. We have a living savior, he’s alive. And that empty tomb in Jerusalem is proof of that.
You know, I just got a funny feeling.
I don’t know, you know, this world we’re living in a wacky world right now and people are believing the dumbest things you can just throw, you can throw noodles against the wall and people will go look at that map.
It’s like what I wouldn’t be surprised in this day and age because listen, if you can destroy the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you can destroy Christianity.
Don’t you think Satan knows that? Okay.
Listen, don’t you think that Satan is probably already engineering?
Some national geographic archaeologist is gonna find Jesus’s body when the Hilton was trying to build a hotel in Jerusalem and they opened a no look, the body of Jesus.
That’s what saying. Listen, he’s a liar and that’s the problem. Listen, every religious leaders body is somewhere.
Come with us to Israel. We’ll run into the tomb and look and it’s like there’s nothing there.
What are we looking at? Absolutely nothing.
Travel 15 hours to go to his tomb and see nothing. Why he’s not there?
He rose again from the dead. He’s alive. He lives the power of Almighty God.
And the Bible says, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies, mortal this body now.
Because why, why does it say that? Because we have a tendency to have sin reign in our bodies.
You see, Pastor Jack, I love the Lord. I’m walking with God.
I understand that and I hope we can dig a little deeper today.
God has worked in our lives and he’s put all these horrible things that we once used to do behind us.
But what about those things that still plague us things that are so their sin and they rain but they are so subtle.
We don’t pick up on them.
We’ve even, we’ve even said that’s just part of my, as part of my personality, which we justified away.
We have to be careful about that that keep us from what God wants to do in our lives.
Next. Do not let sin reign. The word in Greek actually says this. Stop it, stop it, stop it.
Stop allowing sin to rein in your life. And church guess who, who is Paul writing to anybody?
Remember the believers in Rome? They were Christians.
He’s telling them it’s like him writing to the Church of Chino Hills and saying stop letting sins rule in your mortal body stop it.
Are we allowed to say stop it anymore?
You know, do you love your kids?
So your kids when your kids say I want, I want cheesecake for breakfast.
No, you’re not having cheesecake for breakfast. I thought you loved me.
I do love you. That’s why you’re not having it.
If I didn’t love you, you could have the whole cake. I don’t care.
But because you are my kid, I love you. You ain’t eating cheesecake for breakfast.
How about for lunch? I’ll think about it. How about, what about dinner? Most? Absolutely.
But have you noticed?
Listen, if a kid wants to have cheesecake, breakfast, lunch and dinner and you give it to them, you don’t love them.
A diet of cheesecake, it eventually kill you. And when you have this stuff in your life, it’s just there.
It just keeps you back. It doesn’t keep you out of heaven keeps you from growing.
And I don’t know, maybe I’m pushing it too far.
But as a Christian, my fear is if I’m not growing, I just might as well be in heaven.
Right. If I’m not growing, I’m terrified of not growing. And my biggest fear is not growing as a believer.
So how do we do this?
How do we make sure that we’ve got a good healthy diet of something that’s going to sustain us, something that is going to feel the body.
We do it in our natural life, right?
We all know that we’re supposed to eat the good stuff that we might live healthy, but it’s often the stuff that’s not good for us that taste so fantastic for the moment.
But how do we do this? Spiritually? Friends? Listen.
The answer is simple but it’s often avoided in our day.
The Bible, read the Bible, whatever you do in life will you start today?
Here’s my challenge to you. Will you give up something and replace it with more of the Bible every day.
The Bible. I don’t care how young you are or how old you are.
The Bible, grab it, read it, let God speak to you and you will have a diet that will transform your life inside and out.
Listen, if you want to have a better diet, that’s why we’re here, Jack Hibbs dot com.
So many resources there for you to learn and to walk with us.
And I’ve got to tell you if you’re going to a church that’s not feeding you the Bible and you’re getting fed here, then consider prayerfully supporting us to get the word out to more people just like you just like me.
Let’s join together and getting out the truth. These are the last days. So let’s eat really well.
For most Americans today, the story of the pilgrims has been reduced to a holiday meal.
But Thanksgiving Day is so much more than Turkey and Gravy Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick tells the captivating account to the pilgrims plight for religious freedom in a new land.
A story of courage community and war. Mayflower brings to life.
The trials, dangers and blessings encountered by brave men and women who would go to any lengths to freely worship God from the perilous ocean crossing to the shared bounty of the first Thanksgiving.
Discover the true story of America’s early settlement in this spellbinding book Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick will be mailed to you in thanks for your donation to real life ministries.
Your gift will be used to share biblical truth and the hope of the gospel with thousands.
Order your copy of Mayflower at Jack Hibbs dot com or call 877 triple 7 23 46. Order today.
Welcome to Real Life Radio with Jack Hibbs.
God’s word never will return. Void God’s word is spirit, its power and it has its effect.
Mhm.
So I wanna encourage you to grab your Bibles, open them up and get ready to learn from God’s word.
God did not give us Bible prophesy to scare us but to prepare us.
But I think you’re gonna get a lot out of it.
And one of the great reasons you are the light of the world.
Jesus said you are the salt of the earth. How does that happen by the power of the Holy Spirit?
You’re going to get excited about what Jesus Christ wants to do in and free you.
Jack Hibbs truly believes we are living in some of the most exciting days in history which brings some great opportunities to share with the world, a powerful no nonsense presentation of the gospel to this generation who are searching for answers and truth.
Will you stand with us in sharing this message in real and practical ways?
We ask that you commit to support real life and the teachings of Jack Hibbs with the gift of your choosing.
Simply go to Jack Hibbs dot com and there you can simply follow the instructions of how to give a one time gift or a recurring gift.
If you would prefer to call our toll free number is 877 triple 7 23 46.
Again, that’s 877 triple 7 23 46. And of course, you can write us.
Our address is real life with Jack Hibbs Box 12 73 Chino Hills, California. 91709.
Your gift will be faithfully put to work because it’s our desire that through Jesus Christ, you will know real life.