How Will You Use It?

00:00 - Announcer (Announcement) Real Life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. 00:09 - Jack Hibbs (Host) Hey everybody. 2023 is just about up, just about, as it were, to go into the annals of history. Whatever's been done is done. Can't do a thing about it. We'll leave it with God. We'll learn how to do that in a moment, but 2024 is right ahead of us. What do we do? Stay tuned, you'll find out. 00:29 - Announcer (Announcement) You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com Today. If this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us that's like saying amen or yes. Then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. 00:58 - Jack Hibbs (Host) Hey everybody, we are just days away from putting 2023 into the history books. And wow, a lot of mixed emotions if you think about it. We all have mixed emotions, every single one of us, regarding the ending of a year and the turning of a new year. Number one, it's biblical. It is God who says that he has set the seasons and the years, the very running down, so to speak, of the clock, the dropping of the ball, you know, in a few days in New York, that famous moment in Times Square. That is a very telling truth, in reality, that no matter what the technology is, no matter what's happening in the world, no matter who says what and does what, the bottom line is every single one of us realize that the clock is not ticking up. There's an overwhelming sense in the human nature that the clock is running out, the clock is running down, that time is fleeting. No one has ever lived life and said, wow, you know this life of mine. This week, this month, things just seem to be just blossoming in the sense of time. No, in fact, the better your time is, the shorter it feels. Isn't it amazing that as you get older I think it's a result of the fall of man. As you get older, time goes by faster. 02:42 Do you guys remember when you were in elementary school and it seemed like nine months at least? Back in the 1800s, when I lived in elementary school, everybody in America had three months off at summertime. So we went to school for nine months and it seemed like nine months was three years. How could three years be put in nine months? I don't know. But isn't it funny that junior high kind of felt the same way a little bit? And then high school, freshman, sophomore year was like when's the year going to be over? And then junior, senior year, first year, college, sophomore, college. Time is going by so fast. You're like your face is stretched from the G-force and the next thing, you know, you blink and you're 35. And then you blink again and you're like 66, like me, I mean almost 66. It's like what, hey man? It's crazy. But it's also an indicator that we are rushing headlong to an appointment with destiny, with eternity. There's no doubt about it. You know what? 03:57 I thought about giving you a year-end verse. You know what's cool for the year-end? I thought about Psalm 6511. That's my go-to year year-end verse. Not going to do it, I thought about Jeremiah 29-11. Nope, not gonna happen. You know what? As we're on the brink of a new year, this is what I'm praying for the last verse of the Bible, revelation 22, verse 21. Listen to this the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen, the grace. The grace who's grace? Grace G-R-A-C-E. Grace Hal Lindsey, the guy that wrote Late Great Planet Earth. 04:43 Hal Lindsey, if you've never read that ancient book I think it's from the late 60s or early 70s you ought to read it. It's crazy because it was written back then and it's like today. Hal Lindsey wrote the book, the bestseller One of the bestsellers of all time, by the way the late great planet earth. Hal Lindsey's the guy that coined the phrase. He made grace an acronym. Grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Grace, god's riches at Christ's expense. How cool is that? God's riches at Christ's expense. Grace to you, grace for you, grace upon you. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen In the year to come, in the year ending Bye-bye, 2023. God's grace will fill in the gaps. 05:43 Did you stumble this year? Did you mess up? Did you fall? Did you crash and burn? You need. God's grace, did you persevere and march forward? 05:53 I want to believe I did Check all the bases, I know this that by God's grace we were able to accomplish more this year than we ever have in ministry and in life. There's so many things that I could have done that I didn't do, in other words, sins of omission, where God gave me opportunity and I slept through it. Or God gave me the opportunity and I didn't act upon it. I didn't move it up the list of priorities, I kind of floundered and time expired. Yikes, what do I do about not doing what I should have done? God's grace is going to cover that for me. What about the things that I wasn't supposed to do and I did do? God's grace, and that's God's grace be upon you. 06:44 And the awesome truth is this, my friend, that as we look to this new year to begin, the way that we end this year is the way that we begin the new year. God's grace, it's got to be God's grace all the way through. God's riches at Christ's expense means whatever is before you, whatever has been behind you. God says I will take care of that. You just give it to me and I will manage that. And so, friends, this year to come and I want to say this carefully and accurately, with what time we have is I guess I'm just going to be, I'm just going to say it honestly and bluntly, and those who don't get it will not get it, and those who know what I'm talking about, they'll know what I'm talking about, and that is that it's God's grace this year end and this year ahead. 07:54 It's God's grace that so develops you and envelopes you and consumes you and possesses you that you delight in living your life every day for God and you seek to enjoy Him at all times, to know Him in every situation and enjoy Him in every situation that you're in. That's an easy thing to say, isn't it? But I say it based upon what happened to you and I this last year. What did happen to us? What changed in your life? More specifically, what catastrophic thing took place that rocked you to the core? If you've not yet found out that God was in it, you're going to be finding out soon that God was in it. 08:52 The thing that was the great crisis of faith in your life, or still is at this moment, is something that you're going to find out that God is either A going to redeem you out of that temptation that Satan threw your way, or you threw your way, or it could have been a trial by fire sent to you by God. It doesn't matter to the believer, he's going to redeem it for the very, very good. And so I want to have you end this year knowing what Romans 8.28 says all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purposes. So the year ahead of us is surrounded by His grace. So what do we do? I'm going to ask you to join me. Wherever you are in the world, ask for God's wisdom, watch God's wisdom, god's favor, god's power. So listen, god's wisdom is to have God's word in your life. God's favor is to have His affection upon you. His affection, the fact that he can't keep His eyes off of you. That's a fact. Third thing is the power of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God, active in your life, moving in your life, the spirit of God. You're dependent upon Him. End this that. 10:46 If we get up on January 1st and determine you know, scouts, honor, whatever, lord, I'm going to go full bore for you. I'm going to go full throttle for you this year. I'm going to be reckless. Imagine if somebody were to say to you you've got six months to live. Now, if you're stupid or if you're lost lost people are not stupid, but if you're a Christian and you do what I'm about to say, you're stupid. Lost people are not necessarily stupid, they're lost. If I were to say to you right now, you have six months to live, the world is going to go get drunk. What a dumb thing to do. If you only got six months to live, why are you going to get drunk for? Well, I'm going to go do this, I'm going to do that, I'm going to do that. Well, just know this You're wasting time at running out. That would be very silly. If you're a Christian and you think like that, then you're really dumb, because what you should be doing as a Christian and what you should be doing as a non-Christian is drawing closer to God. The answer is still the same If you're not a Christian, you should draw close to God. If you have six months to live, if you're a Christian, you should draw close to God. The result should be this that we should live our lives this year as though listen it will be the only 2024 that we'll ever have, because you want to know what it is the only 2024 that you will ever have. Whatever time you have remaining, what do you do with it? True story. 12:33 I just found out in the news yesterday that a guy who has visited our church a few times he lives at a state Christian, involved in a lot of things, just by God, wealthy man, really good Bible teacher, but though he's not a pastor, he's a businessman. I just read in the news yesterday that his company was just bought by a company and it was a cash. It was a cash deal. His company was bought by a company who handed him $12 billion. When I read that, I told Lisa wow, I would not want to be him unless I'm possessed by the Holy Spirit. Don't get me wrong. He had a couple of billion dollars to begin with, but to be handed 12 billion cash. 13:55 If the believer doesn't look at that as 12 billion tools that could go to your heart or your head and goof you up. But if the believer looks at that as wow, god, what am I going to do with 12 billion tools to use for your kingdom in 2024? Think about the time. How do you spend 12? How do you use 12 billion tools in 365 days? You might say, well, I wish I had that problem. Yeah, I guess what you do, but you don't have it in billions because you don't even know what you do with your hundreds. 14:41 If you have a couple of hundred bucks that you don't need to stay alive, god is saying to you what are you going to do with your couple hundred tools? Are you going to use it for the kingdom of God? Are you going to buy a new flat screen? I don't know. The world goes out and does dumb things. That's the world. 15:04 But for the believer, this year 2024, what if God prospers you with time or with money or with influence? As a believer, all of those things in God's economy are tools. Christian, dedicate yourself this year to being a steward in God's toolbox to let him use you and the things that he's brought into your life. And who knows, if God grants us the year of 2024, don't you want to end it this way? The grace of our Lord, jesus Christ, be with you all. Amen and amen to you, father. 15:57 I pray, lord, for my brothers and sisters and friends and haters, and believers and unbelievers. There's a lot of different people that watch this podcast and we know that. I'm asking you, lord, that, as your Bible says, may the goodness of God lead a man to repentance. So, for those of you who are nonbelievers, or whatever you are, but you're far from the kingdom, it's my prayer that you look around and you see how many good things you have in life and that that goodness of God that he's given to you, that it would lead you to repentance, that you'd come to Christ, and for the believers in the house, lord, that you would cause their lives, my life, our lives, to be tools of love, wisdom, power, righteousness, holiness, faith, mercy, grace, the fruit of the spirit to one another, to the church, to the world around us. So, lord, we officially, in Jesus' name, we give you 2023,. We put it in an envelope, we seal it, we send it off into your trust. 17:17 For 2024, it's a blank sheet and I'm sure I can hear you saying, with the grace that I am giving you, what are you going to do with it? With the 200 tools or the 12 billion tools? What are you going to do with it? And, lord, at the end of the year or at the end of our lives this year to come, whatever comes first, may we be found faithful In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you guys. Have an awesome year end, have an awesome new year in Christ Jesus. 17:57 So listen friends, share this, please share, share. The best thing you can do for us is to share this podcast that bumps our numbers up in the algorithm of the tech world out there on Apple or Google Play and all that stuff, and it works. Just give us a thumbs up, give us the five star, whatever it is okay that can help us. We need that. And so, you guys, you know our jingle right it's time for us to live out what we believe in. It's time for us or it's time for real life. As always, god bless you guys. We'll see you next year. 18:44 - Announcer (Announcement) This Jack Hibbs podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Bear in mind that this podcast models our numbers out in different traffic or all across.