Join Pastor Jack Hibbs as he explores the ever-relevant lessons from the Old Testament, focusing on David’s battle against Goliath. With vivid anecdotes and passionate delivery, Pastor Jack illustrates how we may turn our faith into action amidst life’s battles, urging listeners to live out the Gospel in both personal and communal settings. Learn how true victory is achieved not by conventional means, but through steadfast faith and adherence to biblical truth.
Today, on Real Life Radio. Yes, you can go to Jerusalem and see his empty tomb, but that’s really truly not the point. The point is, his word is more sure than the empty tomb being empty. His word never fails. You say, well, Pastor, are you trying to tuck yourself in to believe in that? I believe it because it’s true. You can test it.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, everybody, I want to invite you to what will be a dynamic evening. I promise you, every time we have had Seth Gruber with us, who’s probably the leading voice on the pro-life movement, it’s been eye-opening. Seth is going to be with us for 90 minutes of Happening Now on January 7th. That’s a Wednesday night starting promptly at 7 p.m. Pacific time, 90 minutes. Make sure you’re in attendance. It’s going to be a tremendous time. And you’re going to want to hear the cutting edge arguments, the cutting edge technology, the cutting edge answers of what’s going on in the preservation of life with our good friend Seth Gruber from the White Rose Resistance.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s happening now with Jack Hibbs and Seth Gruber. Join us online Wednesday night, January 7th at 7 p.m. Pacific time. Don’t miss it. For more information, go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com.
SPEAKER 02 :
on today’s edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack now continues his series called First Samuel and a message titled Winning the Battles of Life, Part Three. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of her prophets. So today, as we continue in chapter 17, we’ll consider the conflict, we’ll enter the battle and have a cause that still speaks to us today. You see, our cause is to share God’s love to all people. We need to see the people of the world as Jesus sees them, even when our enemy wants to subdue us with anxiety and fear. We can be like David as he turned and ran towards his enemy, Goliath. So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that David versus Goliath is our example as to how we need to face the intimidating giants in our own lives. The battle is the Lord’s, and we don’t fight alone. But our faith still needs to be active, just like David’s stepping into the action. Now with his message called Winning the Battles of Life, Part 3, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
SPEAKER 03 :
We had some neighbors I say had. They moved. They’re gone. They actually lived on the back street from our backyard down the hill. We could hear them arguing from… From down below, the voices would come up the hill. Always between 2 and 4 a.m. And there was huge arguments. And I remember just laying there saying, God, please help this. And you could hear everything. She went to his office, caught him in his office with a woman. I heard it all. And I remember just saying, God, please. And they had two young boys. And that marriage ended in disaster. I don’t know if my prayers ever made any difference. Could it be somebody you work with, their life is miserable, and you know about it. Is there something that you do know about, that I know about, and you know from the Word of God that God would want to do something about that? You know that what’s going on in their life is not His will. I want to suggest to you tonight, that’s why you know about it. God wants to have you pray for them or maybe even approach them. See how your brothers are faring. And bring me news is Jesse’s request. Well, we have a cause. And our cause is that God has a great and awesome plan. Look at verses 19 to 22. Our cause is this, that we must get up and go to them. We must get up and go to them. It says in verse 19, now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah and they were fighting with the Philistines. I’m always tempted to say flesh because that’s what they represent. The Philistines. So David rose early in the morning and he left the sheep with the keeper and he took the things and went as Jesse, his father had commanded him and he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle. Israel and the Philistines had drawn up a battle array, army against army. Verse 22, and David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper. He ran to the army. I love that. He ran to the army and came and greeted his brothers. In preparing for this, this may not mean anything to you, but I want to look at it in the spiritual sense, if I can. I remember my dad telling me years ago that when World War II broke out, he was too young to go to war. He was a farm boy in South Dakota, heard about World War II going on, and somehow communicated with my Uncle Charlie in Missouri, or Missouri, and they were in cahoots together to lie to their parents about what they were gonna be doing for a few days. They lied to their parents. They hitched a train. They meant somewhere where trains meet from those two locations and they rode the train the rest of the way as close to San Diego as possible. Then they hitchhiked to San Diego and they lied to the US Marine Corps about their age. They got into the Marines and they got into World War II. My dad was in World War II, two years into the war, and they found out that he had lied about his age. And he got called into a tent, and his officer told him, did you lie about your age to get here? Yes, sir, I did. The guy said, well, you shouldn’t have done that. Now get back out there and keep doing what you’re doing. And I said, well, why did you do that? And he says, it was war. Man, our mom and dad would never let us go. Grandpa and grandma would never let us go. And the Marines would never let us in. So we lied. Because we wanted to go to war. We wanted to fight. I see David, he’s running to the war. Oh, I hope nothing’s really gone on too much before I get there. He’s running to the battle. Now, girls, I don’t know if you know this or not, but if an explosion goes off, you know, guys run toward the explosion. It’s in us. It’s weird. I’ve often thought about that. Why do we do that? God’s put it in a man. Guys run to the battle. David’s running to the battle. Women programmed by God, they scoop up the children and run away from the battle. That’s the smarter thing to do. That’s the smart, I don’t, we run to the battle. David’s running to the battle. Oh, what’s going on? He runs to see. He’s excited. But most importantly, knowing a little bit about David, he has got a heart for victory. He’s got a heart for God. And Israel is God’s people. Still to this day, no matter what’s going on in the news and no matter what the UN says, I don’t care. The Bible says Israel is God’s people. And if you don’t buy that, then why don’t you just throw your Bible away because that’s what your Bible teaches. David goes to see how his people, his brothers, the nation is doing. In Isaiah, chapter 6, verse 1 through 9, it says, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, Isaiah says, sitting on the throne, high and lifted up, and the glory of his robe filled the temple, and above it stood the seraphim. Those are weird-looking things, angelic beings. Each of them had six wings. With two wings, they covered their face. With two wings, they covered their feet. And with two wings, they flew away. And one cried over to the other one and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door of the temple was shaken by the voice of him who cried out. And the house was filled with smoke. And so I said, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. This is Isaiah the prophet speaking. And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and whom will go for us? And then I said, here I am, send me. And the Lord said, go and tell this people. David is, as it were, carrying the news. He goes to the battle zone. We have a cause. The world is fighting out there, be it in their homes or in the streets. And we have a message. We have a cause. Yes, it’s an eternal cause, but it’s a practical cause. The only thing that is going to heal what we can of this world’s ills is the gospel of Jesus Christ and how we live. People are longing and looking for a life that’s different that they can get behind. People hear about Jesus, but they don’t believe much about him because of what they see, be it the media or the lives of people, how they say they know God but don’t live for him. We have a cause, though. Those of us that are here, we know the Bible. We know what God wants to do. He says, first of all, as an example, I’m not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to eternal life. You know what? That’s pretty cool. Keep that in your holster. Another thing that you can keep in mind is he says, go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel. Hey, that’s another thing. Then he says, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Wow! All of a sudden, you can load up your spiritual barrels in your gun, as it were, because you’ve got something to go with. No wonder why Isaiah, when he saw the glory of God, it was natural to him to respond when God says, whom shall we send? Isaiah says, send me, send me. Do you kind of see him like a little guy in the first grade? Who wants to be the milk monitor? Send me, he says. That’s challenging to us. Eternity is rapidly approaching and we have a great cause. We’re to get up and we’re to go to them as David is getting up and going to his brethren. In Romans chapter 10, verse 13, the Bible says, for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call upon him in whom they’ve not believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard of? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they’re sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, the Lord who has believed our report. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Paul quotes Isaiah. Isaiah. The message is clear. We’re to go. I love the fact there are people right now in China from this church that you’re praying for who we just heard the reports that over 100 people came to the Lord last night through an outreach. You know how that happened? Some people were willing to go. They’re there. And I got news for you. There’s people here in this church who couldn’t go for whatever reason or didn’t want to go because whatever reason, but they pulled out their checkbook and sent somebody to go. there’s people there tonight who couldn’t afford to go and they went on your ticket or on your money and that’s exactly Bible how are they gonna hear in Macau China unless they’re sent but how are they gonna be sent someone’s got to do the sending We always want people to do the going, and I think there are many people always wanting to go, but many people, I think, are cut off at the knees, so to speak, because there’s the need for senders. Where there is, you’ve heard many years in this church, we are either in this church, senders or goers, and a few have had a chance to be a sender and a goer. I’ve talked to people who have sent people on mission trips and then they heard about the report after they get back and they get all excited, they say, forget that, I’m sending myself next time.
SPEAKER 01 :
You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And now, let’s get back to today’s message. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
SPEAKER 03 :
Verses 23 to 24 regarding eternity is so rapidly approaching, and the fact that we have a cause, it’s because we know the truth. Look at verse 23. It says, Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, that’s Goliath, Philistine of Gath. Goliath by name coming up from the armies of the Philistines and he spoke according to the same words. That’s back in verse 10. He would just come out and say the same thing every day. Mocking, making fun of, but here’s the great difference this day. David heard them. Can you mark that in your Bible? David heard them. Listen, heard, listen, heard who? David. Exactly, them. Them ain’t more people. The them is the what? The words. I love this. All of the Israeli army’s going, there he is, there he is. Look how big he is. Oh no, we’re toast. David didn’t care, he wasn’t looking at Goliath. Your Bible tells you, read it carefully. When David heard them, them words is what he heard. While everybody’s shaking, David is getting ticked. Ticked is a Hebrew word that means very upset with righteous indignation. Look at him, look at him, look at him, they were saying. David is saying, did you hear that? Did you hear the integrity of this young man? You see how big he is, David? No, I did not see how big he is. All I’ve got bouncing around in my head is what he said. He defied our God. Oh, this is the guy you want on your team. David knew the truth and he saw it correctly. John 17, verse 15, Jesus says, I do not pray, Father, that you should take these out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world. He’s talking about his disciples and us today. Just as I am not of the world, sanctify them by your truth, for your word is truth, Jesus said, concerning the word of God. someone recently wrote me, and I really wish I had a way to respond. There was no way for me to respond to them. They wrote me this question, and they said, Pastor Jack, what do you think will happen to you, to us, if in the end we stand before God and his Bible isn’t true? Now, I understand that coming from maybe a brand new Christian or a person that’s not a Christian at all, but think about the question for a moment. What will I do, what will we do, if we stand before God and his Bible’s not true? I need you to hear this, and I don’t know if you’re in here tonight, but hear this loud and clear and be encouraged. We’re not making this up as we go along. His word is steadfast and it is firm and listen, it’s provable. You can test it. That’s why you’re to know the Old Testament, to see how God came through and kept every word of what he says. That’s why you’re to know history. Jesus really lived, my friend. He really rose from the dead. You say, well, you know, that’s the eyewitnesses of Christian people. True, but also the Roman government knew that he rose again from the dead. They didn’t even believe in him. His worst critics who hated him confessed that he rose again from the dead. Yes, you can go to Jerusalem and see his empty tomb, but that’s really truly not the point. The point is his word is more sure than the empty tomb being emptied. His word never fails. You say, well, pastor, are you trying to tuck yourself in to believe in that? I believe it because it’s true. You can test it. You can put the word of God in a laboratory and perform experiments on it, and you will come to a conclusion, it is the word of God, and it is true. You know, we just didn’t, you know, well, you know, we don’t have anything to do on a Wednesday night, so let’s just get together. We’re here because it’s true. We’re here because he’s real. We’re not hoping that the, oh, we sure hope the Bible turns out to be true in the end. Brother, if that’s the deal, I’m out of here now. I got better things to do. No, we’re here because we’re investing in something we know to be a fact. Yeah, you Christians take that blind leap of faith. You know what? Did you ever consider that the Christian faith is faith founded upon fact? I love that. I could get really, I’m not going to though. We’re going to keep going. Test the scriptures. Match them against history. Match them against science. Match them against what’s practical. You know, it’s amazing to me how many businesses in the world have these brown bag seminars and they employ biblical principles. They just disguise them. They don’t tell you it’s coming from the Bible because it’s practical. Not only scientific and historic, but it’s practical. Second point tonight, winning the battles of life. We have a cause because in verses 25 to 27, eternity’s benefits await us. Mark it down. Please write it. Eternity’s benefits await us. Let me explain what that means. He says in verse 25, So the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel, and it shall be that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches and give him his daughter. I guess his daughter was a cutie. Now this is the big one for me. Give his father’s house exemption from taxes. Wouldn’t that be cool? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I’d do it just for that one. Then David spoke to the men who stood by saying, what shall be done for this man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach of Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? Can I pause there for a second just to insert this? David is basically saying that As they say, hey, David, here’s the story. If somebody kills that big knucklehead, they’ll get the king’s daughter, bunch of bucks, and they’ll be tax exempt. And David goes back and says, what will be done? You think that’s something? Is that your motive for going to cut this guy’s head off? I’ll give you a motive. He’s defying the God of Israel. That’s David’s heart. Let’s go after him just because he’s defying God. Monday night, we went to a movie with some friends. And in this movie, this, some one actor in the movie used the Lord’s name in vain. And this family and my family, when we hear that on a TV program or in public or whatever, like if somebody, you know, says Jesus Christ, we’ll say, is Lord, right? Next time you go to a movie, try it. The theater will be silent, I guarantee you. And it’s fun because it immediately erases what was, what came out of the screen and people are now thinking, oh, somebody, somebody just back there called Jesus Lord. And they’re thinking the whole movie now, Jesus is Lord, I heard that. I’m not going to let the movie ruin my day. Anyway. That happened. And listen, maybe some of you, especially little children, it’s so sweet. Little kids, when you have your little kids and you’re in the marketplace or you’re somewhere, you’re at the store, and somebody uses the Lord’s name in vain, have you noticed what your kids do? Yeah, yeah, they do. That’s the first thing they do. And then where do their eyes go? Yeah, right on you, Dad. You know what they’re saying? I mean, you’ll be standing in line holding your little sweetie’s hand, and somebody will say something, and your little kid will go, and they’ll look right to you. And you know what they’re saying? You’re going to beat the tar out of them, aren’t you? No, I’m kidding. But they’re looking at you saying, hey, do something. Just keep that in mind. I mean, look, don’t walk around and be some morality police, but if somebody ever says something, you know, you hear somebody, oh, you know, Jesus this or whatever, say, his Lord. What? I’m sorry, mister, I thought you were praying. You used the Lord’s name, and I thought you were praying. I just, praise the Lord, and Jesus is Lord, and… David said, look, there’s one cause here, and that is their attack in our God.
SPEAKER 02 :
pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Winning the Battles of Life, Part Three. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called First Samuel, 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. Hey, Pastor Jack, this is the time of year when we normally start talking about the one-year Bible because we like to get together as a church and as everybody who listens to our various broadcasts to do the one-year Bible together, right? This is the time of year we start talking about that. But we’ve got this special deal going on where you can get the one-year Bible and your new book, Watching, Waiting, the devotional, the 40-day devotional. Yeah. For a gift of any amount, we’re going to send you both of those books. Tell us about the one-year Bible. Tell us about watching, waiting.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, thank you. Wow, you’re making me go back now four decades, and I mean many decades. Could be three decades where we as a church, the entire church family, you know, how do you have a big church stay small, feel small? Well, here’s what we do. Every year, we all start out reading the one-year Bible, starting on January 1st. And so every November, every December, we make sure that those who don’t have the one-year Bible, that they make sure that they get it. And so on January 1st, all of us dive into the Word of God. And my goodness, I think we’re coming up on 30 years of going through the Bible. 30 times. Isn’t that amazing? And so it’s been amazing, and we’re just encouraging people. And then, of course, as you mentioned, getting a copy of the brand-new devotional. It’s a 40-day devotional, watching, waiting. It’s a devotional written about really the expectancy of Christ’s coming. Are we ready? How do we get ready? What does it mean to be ready? And so it’s all Scripture-versed and Scripture-referenced, and we think that you’re going to love it. I think it would be a good addition to your one-year Bible.
SPEAKER 02 :
the one-year Bible, and the 40-day devotion by Pastor Jack called Watching and Waiting. Get your copy for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash real radio. 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.
