Pastor Jack Hibbs urges Christians to 'armor up' in 2025
Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills is calling on Christians to “armor up” spiritually as they enter the new year.
In his final message of 2024, Hibbs, reflecting on the current cultural climate, encouraged his congregation not to be “unwise” but to understand and embrace the will of God in their daily lives. Drawing from a famous passage in Ephesians 6 in which Paul urges followers of Jesus to “put on the full armor of God,” Hibbs said doing so is essential to standing firm against the spiritual battles Christians face.
“Every day with Jesus is going to be one of, ‘Let's armor up,’” he said. “So we’ve got to wake up first, and then the next thing we do after our big toe hits the ground is we armor up. We put on the armor of God.
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“Christians, listen carefully, you can't go outside without the armor of God.”
Hibbs reminded the congregation that the challenges faced by believers are not merely earthly struggles but spiritual warfare. He highlighted the importance of prayer, reading Scripture, and remaining vigilant.
"We are in a war," he said, stressing that “the enemy doesn't mind us going to church; what he's upset about is when the church gets hot for Jesus and hot for the Word of God.
“Then the enemy gets all bent out of shape,” he added.
The pastor also shared a memorable analogy, comparing spiritually unprepared Christians to participants in the reality show “Naked and Afraid.”
“Yes, if you are naked you should be afraid, very, very afraid — but how much more so for the Christian?” he asked. “Do not go out into this new year without your spiritual armament on, you will be naked. That's why you're afraid."
Hibbs emphasized that spiritual preparedness is not just about church attendance but actively engaging with God’s Word and living out one’s faith daily. He referenced Romans 12:1, where Paul calls believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices, an act of worship that reflects total dependence on God’s mercy.
He also noted that prayer is integral to maintaining spiritual armor, a principle that even non-Christians understand.
“Everybody prays when something's wrong,” said Hibbs. “Even the atheist will pray when something's wrong. The problem is no one's listening, but for us as believers, pray! That's part of being armored up.”
Drawing attention to the spiritual warfare described in Ephesians 6, Hibbs explained the theological significance of the armor of God: the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, and the belt of truth. He emphasized that each piece is designed to protect believers from the “wiles” of the devil and the spiritual forces of evil that threaten their faith and purpose.
He concluded the message by underscoring that faith, according to the Bible, is "a verb, it's active" and that "faith never sits still."
Hibbs illustrated this point with an anecdote about his grandson at the mall, who, while trying to go up an escalator, was "going down" instead, exerting "twice the effort in the opposite direction" and getting nowhere.
He compared the visual to a "backsliding Christian" who, though heading toward Heaven, is "not walking with God" and is instead "going backwards."
“You're on the escalator because you're going to Heaven, but you're not walking with God, you're going backwards,” he said. “If you're backsliding in here, if you're backsliding right now, where you going? Not going anywhere, but boy, are you sweaty.”
Hibbs concluded by quoting John 14:31: “But that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do you. Arise and let us go from here.”
“That is our marching orders for this year,” Hibbs said. “Every day, arise, let us go from here because God's Will and plan is for us to be ahead every day, amen? And none of us want to miss that, in Jesus' name.”
