Join Pastor Jack Hibbs on Real Life Radio as he delves into the Biblical tale of Samuel, exploring how divine choice and anointing charted the path for an unexpected leader in Israel. Learn how humility and obedience are often pivotal in God’s larger plan, even when it challenges human understanding. Pastor Hibbs extends a thought-provoking message on whether we are truly investing in God’s kingdom or limiting it with our own ambitions.
00:23:46 Prayer for Those Struggling Through the Holidays
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Today on Real Life Radio.
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My goodness, if you’re not a born-again Christian tonight with the Holy Spirit in you, you’re open. You’re open to all the stuff that Satan would bring into your life. And one of the things somebody might say is, well, I don’t believe in Satan. And he’s got you bound more than anybody.
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This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible. This December, Pastor Jack Hibbs is doing something a little different and a lot special. All month long, he’s offering a double-feature Book of the Month, two very powerful resources to help you finish the year strong and step into the next year spiritually grounded. First, Pastor Jack’s annual favorite, the One Year Bible. every year lives are changed as people discover how simple and doable it is to read through the entire word of god with just a few minutes a day also pastor jack’s going to include his brand new devotional watching waiting it’s a 40-day journey designed to help you slow down look up and recognize what god is doing in your life so this december why would you choose one when you can get both and grow deeper Visit jackhibbs.com to get your December Book of the Month double feature, the One Year Bible, and Pastor Jack’s brand new devotional, Watching Waiting. They’re available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. Again, that’s jackhibbs.com. On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues now with his series called First Samuel and a message titled Advancing the Kingdom. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and he was the first of its prophets. So here as we continue in chapter 16, we’ll consider how God’s anointing is about his choice and purpose and not based on human merit. You see, David is anointed as king because of King Saul’s disobedience. As God’s spirit departs from Saul, David is sent to play the harp for him to relieve his torment. Now, David’s role as a harp player is seen as humbling, but that kind of humility is exactly what the Lord is looking for. So today, Pastor Jack asks the question, are we investing in God’s kingdom or are we squandering it? Are we devising our own advancement or are we frustrated with the smaller roles that we’ve been given as God’s larger plan is unfolding? Now, with his message called Advancing the Kingdom, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
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I actually knew a brother. My wife and I knew a brother years ago at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa. I don’t need to tell you about the details. But this man just couldn’t stop sinning in this area. And he hated it, by the way. He lamented it. And for years, this sin was destroying his witness. It was destroying his life. He was completely getting consumed emotionally. Depression began to creep in. It was horrible. And we loved this guy. We were with him every Friday night. And we hung out together. Wonderful guy. But… One night on a lonely road, he was driving his truck and he was killed. And the moment we heard about it, we all knew that the Lord loved this guy so much. He couldn’t shake his sin. The Lord had taken him home. And I believe that clearly from scripture that Sunday we’ll see that brother again in heaven. Now, I don’t know how big of a God you have in the way of grace, but everything I just said is very biblically accurate. Don’t wander away, though, under the protective hand of God. And Saul’s going to be a perfect example of this. Even though we’re living in a fallen world, God is in control. In the passive, yes, as we see here, and in the active. And the amazing thing that’s going on is there is a passive sense which God removes his hand from Saul and an evil spirit comes. And then in the active, we see God’s hand coming upon David. There’s no accident here. It’s a changing of the guard, so to speak. Very powerful. And so we see the protective hand of God being taken away from Saul, and that is a frightening thought. Another thing under this verse is to consider the danger that sinning brings us to the place of not being used by God. Now, all of us are sinners and all of us sin, but do you continue in your sin? God will deal with you in any amount of sin, be it in your thought or in your action. But know this, that apparently, clearly, from the life of Saul, and even in New Testament theology, that if you keep sinning and you keep rebelling against God, even though God loves you, God will remove His hand of protection, and in fact, you will become unusable. Now, you might be saying, well, Pastor, I’ve known people who are absolute renegades, and God’s using them, and how come He hasn’t stopped using them? I don’t know the answer to that. I know people, too, that I wouldn’t even, I wouldn’t let my… wallet be in their hand, yet they’re in the ministry. I don’t trust them. Wouldn’t turn my back on them. And I wonder, God, what are you doing? You ever been there? You ever wondered that? What’s the deal? And then the Lord speaks back to my heart. Hey, every servant, as Romans tells us, stands or falls before me. You’re not their judge. You’re And that’s right, Lord, I back up. And besides, if I just stop and think for a minute, does God, as we were talking on Sunday, does God grade on a curve? No. If I tell you the fish I caught on the boat was this big when it was this big, what’s the difference in robbing a bank to God? There’s no difference. There’s no difference. So we want to be gracious. But we can become unusable. Salt is going to become unusable, though it’s going to take years for that to go on. It seems that whatever was a blessing to Saul, by the way, God is transferring to David. God seems to have transferred this anointing, obviously, from Saul to David. And it says that the spirit departed from Saul. Can you imagine such a thing? 1 Samuel 15.10, we studied before that. Now the word of the Lord, it says there, came to Samuel saying, now listen, 1 Samuel 15.11 says, I greatly regret that I have ever set up Saul as king. for he has turned his back from following me. Listen, that’s a warning to all of us. Don’t turn your back from following the Lord. And he has not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel, and Samuel cried out to the Lord all night. See, Satan filled that void. You can be a Christian tonight. You can walk with God and then depart from the Lord. Listen, it doesn’t mean you lose your salvation. It means you’re going to get kicked all over town. by a loving God who may not send the boot from his own foot. He will literally use Satan, the world, and the flesh to attack you. Did you know that? To humble you, to get you flat on your back. He’ll do that. And I don’t know how that sits with you, but when God loves somebody, the Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews, he spanks every one of his kids. Did you know that? Well, Pastor, I don’t like that because I was raised under Dr. Spock, and I ran my house. I ran my mom and dad. Nobody told me what to do. And look at you now. None of the work that God is having to do with you now because of that. But you know what? You sit a little junior down. When I say little, I mean the little guy, he’s got to be big enough to be not so little. Little tiny ones, you know, you can just take your finger and wag it at them and go, no, and they’d fall apart. Unless you have a boy, and then that’s another story. Ha, ha, ha. You wag your finger and they go, you know, and bite on your finger. But, you know, you instruct them, you lead them, and I tell you, it keeps them out of trouble. Steers them in the right way. The Bible says this. And, of course, this is increasingly under attack in our liberal world. But what does our world know about God? Absolutely nothing. In Matthew 12, verse 43, this is a very interesting scripture. Matthew 12, verse 43, listen to this in light of what’s happening with Saul’s life. Jesus said, when an unclean spirit, a demonic spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places seeking rest and finds none. Then he says, I will return to my house. That’s what he called the body that he possessed. That ought to give you the eebie-jeebies a little bit. I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it empty. See, Saul no longer has the Holy Spirit over him. His life’s void. And so when the evil spirit comes and finds it empty, swept, and put in order, by the way, most commentators believe that’s a reference to morality. Without God. Moral, but not saved. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirit friends, demons. Hey, buddy, hey, guys, come on. The house that I used to live in and I went looking around for another one, the guy’s still not saved. There’s no Holy Spirit living in him. Come on. And he goes and gets his demon party pals. Brings them in with him. Brings in seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of this man is worse than at the start. My goodness, if you’re not a born again Christian tonight with the Holy Spirit in you, you’re open. You’re open. You’re open to all the stuff that Satan would bring into your life. And one of the things somebody might say is, well, I don’t believe in Satan, and he’s got you bound more than anybody. Turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 25, and we’ll see exactly what’s happening in the life of Saul here. Matthew 25, verse 14. Matthew 25, 14. It says, For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. To one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one. To each according to his own ability, and immediately he went on his journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. In other words, he invested his life while the Lord was away. And likewise, he who had received two gained two more. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and buried his Lord’s money.” After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled the accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five, and look, I have gained five more talents besides them. And his Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things, and I will make you rule over many. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” He also, who had received two talents, came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents, and look, I’ve gained two more talents besides these or besides them. And his Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you rule over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, now listen, Lord, I knew that you were a hard man. Listen to this guy here. He’s whining. He starts off whining. Lord, I know that you’re a hard man. Misconceived, misperceptions, misunderstandings of who the Lord is. He’s actually judging the nature of his Lord, isn’t he? Listen to this. Sounds very liberal, doesn’t it? Oh, I know that you’re a hard man, reaping where you’ve not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. In other words, it’s his fault. And I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. And look, there, what you… What I have or what I’ve invested here, you can have it back. But his Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant. You knew that I reap where I’ve not sown and gather where I’ve not scattered. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers. And at my kind, I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has more will be given them. and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away from him. He’s talking about squandering a life. God gives you air to breathe, food to eat. He’s giving you energy, a brain. He’s giving you fingers. He’s giving you a life. What are you doing with it? What am I doing with it?
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You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And for now, let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
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I run the risk of embarrassing somebody here tonight, and I don’t know if they’re here tonight, but I want to say this with the utmost affection. There’s a young woman who attends this church, and for the first time in my life, When public speaking in any context like this, I have never sought anyone’s approval, never. And I’m not saying I seek hers, but she sits somewhere back over here and I’ve been told she’s around 18 or 19 years of age. And there’s times when I’ll say something and the Holy Spirit will use it and will touch her heart and she’ll make some sort of a gesture that is blessing her. And when I walk out during the closing song, I try as often as possible to give her a kiss right on the forehead. She is bound in a wheelchair. She can only make funny little sounds. And she drools. And she’s back there in her position that she’s locked into. And when the Holy Spirit lifts something up and drives it home to her heart, she lets me know. And she sometimes will utter something out to you. You may say amen, but when it comes out of her, it doesn’t sound like an amen. It sounds like something else. And I tell you, when I go out there, I look for her little forehead on the way out. And she is doing more for me than you can imagine. God brought her here to this church for me. Because when I walk by, her eyes are bright and she’ll smile this huge smile. If I was paralyzed like that and crippled like that, if I drooled like that, if I had those problems, I don’t know what I’d be thinking. But she’s happy to be here with you. She’s happy to try to sing the songs. She sometimes tries to clap, but she can smile. And you know what? I got a feeling that when we get to heaven, she’s going to be in the front of the line. You know why she took her talent that God has given her? She’s not staying home. She comes here. I don’t know anything about her life. How long does it take her to get dressed? Who has to dress her? How does that happen? I don’t know. But I don’t think I’m going far out on a limb to be able to suggest to you tonight that when she comes, she probably goes through a lot more effort than what we do. We get up in the morning and it’s starting to drizzle and we go, oh man, storm watch 2002. I got to stay home. The sun’s not out. She comes. And you know what? Her smile is stealing my heart. And she’s not burying anything in the ground. The point that Jesus is making is that you can have a life and you can take that life and you can squander that life or you can take even what you and I might have so little and yet invest it in the things of God and watch what he does. Those of you who are in the stock market, you watch how the day progresses. You graph it. Oh, look, how do we end the day? Up or down? Well, you know what? We ought to take that same logic and apply it to the spiritual sense. How did I end today? Up or down? Were we gaining today or were we losing? Do we end in the positive or do we end? How’s your day? How are we investing? And here’s the thing. Well, you can’t be too hard on me, Pastor, because you know what? I commute. well whatever but you know what you can drive your car listen this is a radical concept you can be a Christian and drive your car on the freeway try that You can. It’s like you leave your Christianity outside the car and then you get in. Remember those driver’s ed things with Goofy? Get behind the wheel, he turns into like this little demon driver. No, we can be Christians driving the car. There’s no excuse. We have no excuse. God knows the very situation we have in this life. Are we investing it for his glory or not? Saul squandered it. In the scriptures in chapter 15, we heard and read a moment ago that God regretted the day that he was appointed king, but the people cried out. They wanted him as their king. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, in our lives is altogether different. Did you know that? The Holy Spirit in our lives in this, what is called dispensation, meaning we’re living in the church age. Jesus gave the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the day the church was born. And the Holy Spirit came upon us. And when you accept Christ, he moves inside you. And when you minister for him, he comes upon you in power. And we’ll never, ever experience what Saul is experiencing in our study before us. Never. The Holy Spirit will stay with us forever. John 14, 16. Jesus says, and I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth. With us forever. And the world does not receive him, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you. Romans chapter 8, verse 9 through 11. But you are not of the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not Christ. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin. But the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you also, he also raised Christ from the dead will also give to your mortal bodies through his Holy Spirit who dwells in you. And the whole thing is the Holy Spirit will give us life. It’s awesome. 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20. 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20 says, Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You’re not of your own, for you have been bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which is God’s. Isn’t that good news? That’s exciting. People will ask, can a Christian be possessed? Absolutely not, impossible. Can a Christian be attacked in the area of the mind by demonic spirit or Satan? Of course. There is what’s called oppression, where there’s this dark, depressed state, and oftentimes it’s unexplainable, you don’t know why. And then there’s, you don’t hear about it much, but there’s the teaching of suppression. Martin Luther, for example, was both oppressed and suppressed. Martin Luther writes how Satan himself showed up in his room when he was writing to free Many, many, eventually you and I, from the medieval Romanism by the popes in that day, Martin Luther being a Catholic priest broke away. And as he was breaking away and began to write the truth so that all people could understand it, as he pens this in German, Martin Luther writes how there was an evening as he’s working there for God that Satan himself appeared and introduced himself as such. And in that room, there’s a, He picked up his inkwell and he threw it at him and rebuking him the name of the Lord. And that ink stain is still on the wall in that famous room that you can see. Suppression, oppression, but never possession in the life of a Christian. God will not. God will not inhabit you and then scoot over to allow some demonic spirit to move in. Okay, that’s just nuts.
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Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs. here on Real Life Radio and his message called Advancing the Kingdom. Thanks for participating with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called First Samuel. It’s a series that highlights the prophet Samuel who was called by God during one of Israel’s darkest times to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. I love Christmas. I know you do too.
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Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, big happy, happy time of the year for most of us. But there are folks that struggle with the fact that it’s not a happy time for them. How would you encourage them?
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Look, you know, it’s no surprise that anniversaries even… birthdays, those things that we celebrate where either there’s trauma now connected to that, for example, our child died and this would have been his 13th birthday. Magnify that to Christmas, to Thanksgiving, to the holidays. The intensity of all of that if we’re honest, it will consume you unless you have somewhere to go with that. And people need to realize that the grief is real, but the answer is also real. The answer to managing grief is to taking it to the only God that there is who gave us the power to deal with grief. When we grieve, it’s not a sin. We’re not blowing it. We’re not… being good Christians, we are supposed to grieve. So holiday seasons intensify the loneliness. It intensifies the feelings. It intensifies the emotions. But we must realize that as painful as it is, God gives us the answer so that we don’t have to be stuck there. We don’t have to wallow in it. And here’s the challenge. It’s not that the answers are not there. They are there, but a lot of people find some sort of a strange identity, grieving and staying in that grieving mode, and then that will cripple you. And we’ve all heard the world say, get over it. We’ve heard the Eagles sing, get over it. Well, easier said than done. You just don’t get over it. Only in Christ Jesus. at these challenging times? Do we deal with it? We don’t get over it. We might have to take the loss of our wife, for example, till the day that we die. We sorrow, as the scripture says, yet not without hope. And so the very season specifically of Christmas, for example, or Thanksgiving, these are seasons that should cause us to focus on the great provision of God, not that we lost our daughter or our wife or our husband in that accident or in that cancer. You know what I’m saying?
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Yeah, I do, yeah.
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We’ve got to go somewhere with it. And if you don’t go to God with it, chances are you’re not going to go to a good place.
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Yeah. So for those folks, would you pray for them?
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Yeah, absolutely. Father, we come before you, Lord, and the dynamic, the pressure, the intensity, the reality, a lot of people asking the question, why? And Lord, we know that we could also think a little bit beyond that and say, why not? Yeah. We’re not special. We suffer. We suffer pain. We suffer hardship. We suffer calamity as a Christian. But we have the one, you are the one that takes our hand and walks us through these things. And Lord, we pray for all of us, Davey, myself, and all of our real radio and real network listeners viewers and listeners that we would take the troubles of our soul and life and that we would go directly to you with them, that we would lay them down. And I know, Lord, what that’s like. You have to lay it down sometimes 50 times a day. You have to just keep laying it down at your feet. And Lord, we pray right now that the joy and that the hope of eternity and the fact that we’re getting closer to heaven today than we were yesterday overwhelms us and floods us. And Lord, that we would remember this, that you saw the grief of humanity. And instead of leaving us alone, you came into this mess and you became one of us born into this world. so that you might communicate to us that you care, that you love, and that there’s hope in Jesus. And it’s in his name we pray. Amen. Amen.
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This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
