Real Life Radio

David J.: Today, on Real Life Radio.

Jack Hibbs: Christian, be wise and strong in the Word these days. Do not be tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine that comes by the slight or craftiness of men.

David J.: This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I am David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's Word, the Bible.

Jack Hibbs: Friends, knowing and learning and having a biblical worldview matters. In fact, if God is going to send any form of an awakening among the lost, it is going to come from the believers who understand the responsibility that is before them. That is why on the campuses of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, there is going to be the Pray, Vote, Stand Summit, hosted by Tony Perkins and a lineup of great speakers.

Guest (Male): There is a spiritual side of what is happening.

David J.: If you are not located in Southern California, do not worry. You do not have to miss a moment. The Pray, Vote, Stand Summit will be streamed live on Real Life Network. Join us online for uncompromising biblical teaching, timely messages on today's political issues, and practical steps to strengthen your faith, family, and community.

Guest (Male): What's really at stake here is the spiritual foundation of the country.

David J.: You can get all the information, just go to reallifenetwork.com/pvs. Pray, Vote, Stand Summit, October 17th and 18th.

David J.: On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called First Samuel, and a message titled The Will of God in Your Life, Part 3. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets. So, as we continue in chapter 9 and begin chapter 10, we will see how we are called to embrace God's specific plan for our lives.

You see, this is where faith and trust come in. God's plan, like how He directed Israel's future king, does not usually make sense from a human perspective, but often times it brings us to a point where we ask Him for direction. In turn, God will always be exact regarding His specific will. So, today Pastor Jack teaches that even though Israel wrongly asked for a king, God was still at work to bring to pass His divine will. What does that mean for us today? Well, that we can still come to God no matter what we have done and seek His divine will for our own lives. Now, with his message called The Will of God in Your Life, Part 3, here is Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: When God is leading, we have to make that first step. Moses got the children to the edge of the Dead Sea, or the Red Sea, excuse me. And they stood there and Moses looks at, it is great. He gets right up to the crest and he looks, "Oh, that is a lot of water."

And Moses is in this, it is almost a PR moment because he turns to the two and a half million people. "Ladies and gentlemen, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord."

And he is talking and the people are like, and chariots are coming and you can hear the squeaking of the wheels and the clanging of metal and Pharaoh and his people are coming and God says, "It is great." It is a Spielberg moment. God says, "Moses, Moses, I did not tell you to stand here. Go. Quick. Hurry across." I just said, "Stand still and see the salvation of God."

Now, in my flesh I understand that. There is no way to go, but water ahead. We are going to drown. It is over. He turns to the people and says, "Stand still and see the salvation of God." "Oh, God Almighty, what is going to happen?" "Oh, no, Lord." And God says, "Moses, just close your mouth and get going."

And I have a feeling, as soon as his foot hit that water, I mean, you have seen the movie, have not you? It opened up. And they all got swallowed up, those invading Egyptian forces. God is so very good to us. We continue on with this. Let us keep going. Verse 17, we see here that God is so involved.

So when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, "There he is, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign over my people." Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate and said, "Please tell me, where is the seer or the prophet's house?" And Samuel answered and said, or Samuel answered Saul and said, "I am the seer or the prophet. Go up before me to the high place for you shall eat with me today and tomorrow. I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart."

That is, that is heavy. Think about what is going on. But as for your donkeys, they were lost three days ago. Do not be anxious about them, for they have been found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on you and on your father's house? Look how involved God is, how sweet this is.

Even though God was rejected as king, God speaks to Samuel, "Here is the deal. Come close to me. We are going to eat together. And by the way, did you know, young man, the whole nation is looking for you? You are out looking for donkeys? The nation is looking for you. They, they want a king. You are going to be the one to rule and reign over God's people."

And so specific, God speaks to Samuel and tells him details. And he is going to even give more as we continue on with this. Verses 18 to 20, we see here that God is always providing what God wants to do. God will provide. Frankly, I do not think God provides for things that he is not interested in. We may provide for that thing.

And it usually comes to nothing or it is a monument to man. But when God is providing for something, you can rest and relax. It is going to be a good thing. Look in verses 18 to 20 here. Then, or what, as we just read that, when he says, "Do not be anxious, the donkeys have been found." Verse 20, "And on whom is all the desire of Israel? It is not on you and it is not on your father's house."

This here just speaks to us how God is providing. As he controls, God provides. Chuck Smith taught us so long ago, you hear it all the time. When God guides, God provides. Is not that just a neat little thing? You had to mark that down. When God is guiding, God is providing. You do not have to stress out about it. It is going to work. He is in it.

By the way, a little bit of a spiritual investment counseling from the Word of God. Find out what God is in. Find out what God is interested in. That is incumbent upon you and I as believers. What is God doing in the world? Make sure it is of the Lord and then get behind it. You can get behind it financially, you can get behind it prayerfully, or you can get behind it with your energy. Find out what it is. Invest in what God wants to do.

Excuse me. Let us continue on. Chapter 10, we will skip down to there, try to cover the first five verses with the time remaining. Here in this portion, we see that God will be revealing his plan, ordaining, performing, controlling, and revealing. God will be revealing his specific plan in our lives.

Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, "Is it not because the Lord has anointed you commander over his inheritance?" See that word commander again? "When you have departed from me today, you will find two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin." We know that that is Bethlehem today, by the way. "And Zilza, and they will say to you, 'The donkeys which you went looking for have been found, and now your father has ceased caring about the donkeys and is worried about you, saying, "What shall I do about my son?"'"

"Then you shall go on forward there from there and come to the Terebinth tree at Tabor. There, listen you guys, three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you. One will carry three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a wine or a jug of a a skin or a jug of wine. And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hands. After that, you shall come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is, that is the camp of the enemy. And it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with stringed instruments, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp before them, and they will be prophesying."

Now, we will we will end with this portion of the study regarding the will of God in our lives because from here on, from verse 6 down, we see God's fulfillment of this. But what an amazing thing. Listen how specific. Please be careful with this. How specific is God here, you guys? Extremely specific. He is revealing a very detailed order. Let that be a lesson to us.

Do not be led astray. Do not go off some path. When somebody comes up to you, even though they may be a Christian brother or sister, with a great game plan or a business deal, listen, you better pray. I do not care who they are. If a Christian wants to do business with this church, we enter into contracts because if you are a Christian, you should have no problem signing a contract.

If you say, "Well, what is the matter, man? Do not you trust me?" I trust God. If you have a problem signing the contract, God has already saved me a lot of hassle. If you cannot sign it, then just go on your way and we will find some secular company to do it right. It is true.

David J.: You are 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 is jackhibbs.com. And for now, let us get back to our teaching. Once again, here is Pastor Jack.

Jack Hibbs: And if somebody comes and says, "You know, hey, Christian brother, come on, let us do this." And, "I prayed about it and God showed me." Is he showing you? Now, you might say, "Well, I am going to pray about it too. Well, Lord, show me. Show me if this is from you." I would not pray that prayer. I would pray that prayer more specifically.

Now, listen, as soon as I said what I just said in the context of where I said it, some of your antenna might go up and say, "Wait a minute. It sounds like to me that Samuel is laying out here a fleece kind of a deal." It is, is it not? Do not you think? He tells Saul, "When you go, this is what you are going to see."

So what does Saul go in the power of? He goes in the power of a man's word, right? Really? It is the word of a man. Yes, God told Samuel, but did Saul know that yet? He goes in the word of a man. But the details are so numerous and so perfect that they are beyond chance.

Now, when somebody says, "Lord, if you want me to get into this deal or buy that or move or whatever, you know, just just encourage me in that direction." Well, you know what? You can you can get on the commute tomorrow morning and turn on the news and and countrywide will be having a mortgage loan sale. And you will be thinking, "Oh, that must be from God."

And the street you pull down, the house did not have a for sale sign on yesterday, but it has got a for sale sign on it now. Must be from the Lord. You will get into a heap of trouble living like that. Christian, if God is speaking to you, and you know me, if some of you, some of you have asked me this. "Oh, the Lord showed me this, showed me that."

And I will ask you, "What verses has God given you from his Word?" And when you go, "Um, you know, uh uh oh, boy." I do not want to hear anymore. He will lead you and guide you by and through His Word. He fulfills His Word. Samuel, there is no there is no record of this, even as we will study next week. Samuel did not go, "Yeah, the three loaves, the guys, the goats, the wine. Okay. See you, Saul. See you."

Oh, man, I hope it happens right. Oh, what if what if only two guys show up with a half a loaf? None of that. Samuel speaks. God is in it. So he does not worry about it. And as we will see next time, Saul will go and see it happen exactly as God said. He did not have to twist it, did not have to bend it, did not have to massage it.

Why is that important? God revealing his plan for your life. Christian, God has that specific plan for your life that he wants you to know, but you will never know it unless you pursue him with all of your heart. And then he will be found by you. And when you find him, as he is waiting for you with all of these things, when you meet him, he will begin to reveal one step at a time. And you know what? You will be like a little bird, like that robin I told you about at our house, eating right out of your hand. All along the way, hand to mouth, as it were, you and God.

And so God speaks to the prophet Samuel for Saul, very revealed specifics. Christian, be wise and strong in the Word these days. Do not be tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine that comes by the slight or craftiness of men. They look good. They sound good. Their shoes are worn out. Their bread is all moldy. Remember that when Joshua failed to consult?

"Oh, we have come to make peace with you, Joshua. We have heard great things about you. We are part of your brethren. Long distant family tree. No need to talk about that. We are just so happy to see you guys. Make a treaty with us that you will never attack us." Joshua did not consult with God because he looked at their worn-out shoes and their moldy bread and he said, "Well, these guys must be telling the truth."

And Joshua blew it. And those people were a curse to Joshua and Israel from that point on. Be careful. Jesus said, "Be as wise as a serpent and as a heart as harmless as a dove." And so, we will do chapter 10 next week and keep this in mind if you would. That a couple of verses and we will land it. Give me a, it will take a second to give you these verses regarding the will of God for our lives.

What is the will of God for our life? For my life, for your life. It is certainly to live an abundant life, Jesus tells us. It is to live a life separated from the things of this world that only hurts us. To be dedicated to God. To know him certainly more every day. But listen to what Peter says. Jot down the verses, you can read them later before you go to bed. It would be great. First Peter 2:15, "For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you may put to silence the voice of ignorant and foolish men."

That is the will of God. That the righteousness that you perform is just wise and it puts to silence ignorant people. First Peter 2:15. First Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Boy, that is a good one, is not it? I think if I was a parachutist, I would have that on my parachute.

First Thessalonians 4:3, "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual immorality." Why? Because Paul says, "Any man who sins, any man or woman who sins sexually, sins against their own soul." It is the only sin, sexual sin is the only sin that attacks your own soul. Galatians 1:4, "Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins." This is God's will. "That we might might deliver us, that he might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of God." Trust in Jesus that he has delivered us from this present evil age.

The will of God. Colossians 1, verses 9 through 14. "For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power for all patience, long-suffering and joy, giving thanks to God the Father, who has qualified us to the to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Wow. That is God's will.

Finally, this. John 6:40. To do God's will in your life is to do what pleases him. And what is that? John 6:40, "This is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life." Is not that great? Let us pray.

Father, we come before you and Lord, how grand you are. To be a God who loves us so much that your Bible would tell us kept for millennia that we on this night in the 21st century would be reading about the eternal God who loved us before we were ever placed in our mother's womb. That you, Father, are the one who when we came into this world, stamped upon us an invisible manifesto. An invisible label that we would be a people to grow up, to be, as Peter put it, kings and priests, living stones, a house, a people, a temple built together to the glory of God.

Father, I pray that you would baptize us as a church into your desire. Lord, that we would fall in love with you and so yield to your will for our lives and to know your will in our lives. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. If you have not given your heart to Christ and if you do not know his will, you go back to that prayer room tonight and you do that thing. You go back there and say, "I need to meet Jesus." And you watch what happens. Your life will be changed. Guarantee it.

David J.: Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, with his message called The Will of God in Your Life, Part 3. Thanks for joining 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 ages to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. And we will continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. So, as you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you would like to know what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life personally, we would love to help you out with that. Go to jackhibbs.com/knowgod. That is K-N-O-W G-O-D. And there you will be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you will find in knowing God. Do not miss out. That is the know God tab at jackhibbs.com.

Jack Hibbs: It is probably often said, I would imagine, in every generation, somebody like myself, a pastor, a preacher, will stand up and say, "There has never been a time like this before."