Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: Maybe God uses you and your pen, or in your voice, or in your music, or in your witness at work or your company or your whatever. Isn’t that where he attacks? In the choice things? He’s not stupid. He’s wicked, the enemy.

David J: This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David J. Thank you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s word, the Bible.

Jack Hibbs: 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 in 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.

David J: On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues now with his series called First Samuel and a message titled Winning the Battles of Life, Part One. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel, and he was the first of its prophets.

So here in chapter 17, we'll rediscover that well-known story of David and Goliath. You see, the event before us was a true battle. Young David facing the giant Goliath. Israel's now being threatened as Goliath mocks God's people. Fear is everywhere.

And when it comes to Goliath, well, we have giants in our lives as well. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that when we face our giants, we can't just shrink back and assume we're helpless. When we are in Christ, He is by our side and the outcome is in His hands. Now, with his message called Winning the Battles of Life, Part One, here's pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: I believe that a company will be blessed by the Lord because a Christian works there. Hey, if there’s any non-believing company owners here tonight, you ought to hire a Christian. I think God will keep your doors open because He’s got one of His kids working in your company. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve also seen it happen when the Christian or Christians leave, the company shuts down. Isn’t that interesting?

It kind of goes along the lines where God speaks regarding Abraham. “I’ll bless those who bless you and I’ll curse those who curse you.” Interesting, huh? It’s all about territories. In your life, have you advanced in an area? In God, you’ve gotten success in an area. Maybe it’s been years, and all of a sudden, things are slowly now you’re noticing there’s a creeping back of the world, almost like weeds in a garden.

Was there a time in your life where you prayed and you were earnest about prayer? Was there a time in your life when you were so excited to share Jesus with people? Or what about just telling your friend you love them, you do everything with them, they’re important to you, and you care for them, but there was a time when you would tell them about Jesus and now you don’t?

Are there territories in your life that God has conquered and set up a boundary to, but you and I, we’ve let those fences get torn down? Maybe it’s in the area of your mouth or what you allow your eyes to see or your ears to hear. There was a day, maybe, when you said, “Well, I walked a little bit more holy than I do now.”

Be careful. These are dangerous moves. And the world is against us, and Satan’s against us, and our flesh is against us to get us out of an advancement with God. Satan’s already lost your soul. He can’t do anything about that. You belong to Christ. But the danger is he wants to sterilize you so that you don’t influence anyone else for Christ.

Like Lazarus. Lazarus knew the Lord Jesus, but Jesus gave him life. He came hopping out of the tomb, but he was still wrapped in his graveclothes. He couldn't speak, he couldn't walk, he could only hop. And that's why Jesus said, after Jesus had given him life, “Somebody loose him and let him go.” It's a great verse, huh?

Jesus has given us life, but maybe over the course of time, we've let things creep back into our lives. I'm absolutely shocked and amazed how so many Christian homes are falling apart and marriages are breaking up in this area of men getting online with pornography.

I tell you, if there’s anybody in here tonight that’s struggling with that, watch this. Take your computer and throw it out the window. “Oh, but Pastor, it cost $1700.” Then give us your house key, go take a walk, and we’ll bring a hammer over. You know why? It’s destroying your home. It’s destroying your kids.

You don’t think your kids are on it? They know how to get on it. “Oh, they don’t know my password.” They know how to get your password. It’ll affect your thinking, it’ll affect your time with your wife, it affects the way you look at people. Then you go to pray and you’re wondering why God’s not hearing you. Battleground territories.

The enemy’s trying to take them back. Jesus has radically delivered you out of these things and there’s the thing of the world pulling in. I hear people about going online. I tell you, I guess if there was ever a computer system set up where you could research National Geographic and NASA, I guess that would be alright.

But people start out researching NASA and they wind up wandering over to their class reunion thing and meeting up with an old boyfriend and jeopardizing now their husband and wife and their kids. And it all started on the internet. What is this? It’s the enemy coming back, using whatever he can to take ground, to steal what God has established.

It’s all about territories. The Philistines showed up and they are in the area that is owned by Israel. That’s why your Bible says in verse one that it belongs to Judah. God had delivered them from bondage. Second Corinthians 10:3 says, “For we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, meaty, fleshly, of this world, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.”

You see, God takes an area and then the enemy will try to take it back. And this will happen, but we don’t need to give the enemy any foothold. So many people struggling, they’re wondering why things are going so bad and why they can’t progress in their Christian walk and they can’t have victory because they’re almost, as it were, handing the keys over to an area where God had provided deliverance from.

Romans 8:37 says, “Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Did you know that? Do you feel like that? Something comes on the TV screen or somebody says something to you or that boss comes up and sticks his face in your face and he says, “Oh, you know, you goofed up again,” and your temper starts to go. Wait a minute, Lord, I’m more than a conqueror.

Whatever it might be, what kind of victory? God says He has given us the power through Jesus Christ and territories. I want you to start thinking that the battles that you and I go through, it's all about so-to-speak spiritual Philistines moving into the area that God has already claimed to be His own.

Didn't Solomon say it's the little foxes that spoil the vineyards? Did you know that? You know why? If you've ever seen a vineyard in Israel, the fences are built a certain size to keep the foxes out. But you know what happens when the little pup, a little puppy, a little baby fox? It's those little stinkers. They slip through the gate where it's to keep the big ones out, but the little guy gets in and he starts eating all the tender brand new little branches and the grapes.

And Solomon said, “Hey, it's the little foxes that spoil the grapes, spoil the vineyard.” I was building a fence to keep out the big wolves and stuff, and it was those little cute things. “Oh look, isn't this a little cute thing? Look how cute it is.” Whatever it is, look how cute it is and it wouldn't harm a fly.

Solomon says watch out, it's those little things that will mess you up. Doesn't the scripture say that there are sins that can so easily beset us? Book of Hebrews warns us. The Bible talks about how we ought to be like sprinters. We prepare ourselves for a run.

In the Greek Olympics, the wrestlers used to actually wrestle what they called naked. They actually just had a gourd. You know what a gourd is? I don’t need to explain it to you, it’s a rather grotesque thing. Anyway, they wrestled almost naked and before they went out into the ring for the Olympic Games, they covered themselves in oil.

Why? So that the opponent could get nothing on them, so that they couldn’t find any kind of a grasp or upper hand to wrestle down you to the ground. And Paul speaks about how we need to agonize. Agonizo is in the Greek word. We need to Gymnadzo. We need to work out in the spirit, we need to prepare ourselves for a race or for wrestling to win.

It’s very important. And so you can just think of a sprinter in the blocks. And can you imagine that sprinter, he’s in the blocks. You see those guys, who’s that guy? Is it Michael Jordan, the sprinter? Not Michael Jordan, the—Michael Johnson. Oh, that guy, have you seen him run? It’s not right. It’s not right that a man could run that fast and feel good about it.

He’s running, he’s just moving, and his legs are going and he’s having a great time. My disc would be slipping out, my teeth would be falling out. This guy’s just running. You don’t see him in Levi’s, he’s not got a parka on. He is lean and he’s got clothing on that I would imagine weighs an ounce or two and he’s running for his life.

We need to awaken to the fact that we are in a spiritual battle and that our opponent is invisible. In verse one we learn this, that awakening to the fact that we’re in a battle, it’s about defending what God has given us already. Jot that down. It’s about defending what God has given us already.

It says, “Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered to Socoh, which belongs to Judah. They encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim.” Areas that God had already given. God does not give up territory. Aren’t you glad?

Has anyone ever backslidden in their life? That is, you have not progressed with Jesus, but you went backward. Anybody? See, I knew when to ask you questions to get you to lie at the critical moment, and you just did it. You fell right for it. Everyone has backslidden at some point in time in their life. Everyone.

It may not shine forth on the outside, it could be the attitude of your life, it could be the attitude of your heart. When you were backsliding, did you notice how heavy God’s hand was on you? Huh? Man, I tell you, I don’t know who’s listening right now, but if you know Jesus and you’re saved, you’re going to heaven, and you’re not walking with Him, aren’t you miserable?

I mean, look at you. You’re disgusting. You can’t stand yourself. You’re so unhappy. You’re trying to do this thing, and God’s saying, “Mmm-mm. We’re not going to do that.” And you go, “Yeah, we are.” And you get in an argument with God every day. You’re in an argument with Him. You’re not doing what He says, and you’re fighting with God, and there’s a war.

And His hand is heavy on you. That’s one of the great signs of being a believer. He will not let His children go away too far, and when they do, He disciplines them good. You belong to Him. He will not give you up. You may give up on you, but He will not give up. He will pursue you, He will keep you.

And by the way, the Bible says the God who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, and I happen to believe that’s true regarding my soul. He will not sleep, He will not fall asleep on guard when it comes to my soul. Doesn’t the Bible say that nothing will separate us from the love of God?

And it says in there in the fine print, nor any created thing. Are you created? I believe that I cannot separate myself from God. He’s going to keep me with Him. He’s going to have my heart in His hand. I’m a created thing and I want Him to be the Lord of my life. And even when you’re not walking with God, you still cannot—you cannot deny Him.

You wrestle with Him. God will not give up ground. God had blessed Israel, but they’re in this place of a battle and they have a pretty formidable enemy before them, as we’ll see in our studies about Goliath and all. But the devil is wicked. By the way, this area that we’re talking about is about 20 miles—listen carefully if you haven’t been there—it’s about 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem, south-southwest of Jerusalem.

The Valley of Elah personally reminds me of many of the meadow valleys of Lake Tahoe area. It’s beautifully wooded with pine trees, green valleys, and the Valley of Elah is as it was thousands of years ago, it’s the same today. In fact, it’s one of the rare places in Israel you can go and the creek bed has smooth, round stones.

Israel does not have smooth stones, but they do right there. And by the way, when you’re there, there’s nothing there. In fact, when we go there, we reenact the Goliath deal. Anybody was with us on that one trip where we did that? Wasn’t that fun? Yeah, Jeff, you were Goliath, weren’t you? You were.

It was great. He still bears the scar today. Look at his forehead. No, it’s just beautiful, beautiful area. You’d never think, “Oh, you know, Israel must be sand dunes.” It looks like Lake Tahoe area. Beautiful area. And so they’re fighting. Isn’t that just like the enemy to come into an area?

Have you noticed—I don’t want to get off the track, I’ll just say this—have you noticed in areas that are extremely beautiful nature-wise, it’s always given over to weird satanic paganism? You’ll be hiking down a trail in Yosemite, it’s just so beautiful, and there’s some nut sitting on a rock naked focusing on his navel, humming something. Hum, hum. What are you doing?

Why is it? It’s almost like Satan wants to conquer these beautiful areas. Have you been—I hope nobody gets our teaching in Sedona, Arizona. Have you ever been to Sedona, Arizona? Is it not beautiful? It’s absolutely a feast for your eyes. The mountains are so red, the sky is so blue, and the trees are so green.

And we’re looking, “Oh look at this, oh look at this, it’s so beautiful,” and we’re just enjoying it, and some nut walks by with a pyramid on his head and he’s trying to find his harmonic convergence. What is this? Satan’s not attacking the ghetto in our story. He’s going after the choice area of Israel’s life.

How does that equate to us? Satan will go after the choice areas of our life. What is your joy? God has blessed you with it, whatever it is. Maybe God uses you and your pen or your voice or your music or your witness at work or your company or your whatever. Isn’t that where he attacks? In the choice things?

He’s not stupid. He’s wicked, the enemy. The conflict is over the possession of land or something more important, the ground that God has granted us in victory. Satan will try to take back ground that he has lost and he’ll try to do it through temptation and possessions and pride and power.

The Bible says in First Peter chapter five, you’re going to want to jot this down and memorize it, want to have it blazoned into your heart and mind, First Peter 5:6-8 says, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.” That’s the first step. “That he may exalt you in due time.”

Listen, anybody prone to worry? Listen to verse seven, First Peter 5:7, “Casting.” The word in Greek is to heave, to throw it, to as it were catapult it. “Catapult your cares upon him, for he cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

I want to show you something and if you put your eyes to the screen, we caught this on film with some miraculous technology here about what a child of God might go through in life. Walking along fine, there you go. The enemy's like a lion. There, there you go again. Look at this, innocent. One more time, let's do it slow.

Be on your guard, your enemy is like a lion, seeking whom he may devour. You see how that works? That little guy’s walking down a path, child of God that he is, he’s on the path, he’s right where he should be. That little guy was not in some area where he ought not to be. He’s walking along the road and right out of the bushes comes the enemy.

See, now you’ll always remember this now. I saw that, I had to show you that, those guys. But God has given us the victory. And I wonder how that little child, just think, I wonder what that little kid, I don’t know what happened after that, but I wonder how that little kid walked down that path from that time on.

Did that little guy get up and choke that cat? We don’t know. We don’t know. Did the father walking behind with the video camera deal with the cat later? Listen, that kid was walking down the path and yet he was attacked. You will be doing what God’s called you to do and the enemy’s going to come after you.

But listen, greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. God will absolutely give you the victory. He’s promised it to us because Jesus Christ has won the war. It’s true. The third thing that we consider right here is that awakening to the fact that we’re in a spiritual battle, it’s about something bigger than what we often think. It’s about something bigger.

It says in verse two, “And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines.” Get this in your mind’s eye and away we go. They have got an army there and they’re in total army gear and they’re all poised and ready to go and they, as we’ll see in following studies, they’re not fighting.

It’s been that way for 40 days. They’re in battle array. Do you know what that means? It means you’re like this, but there’s a valley between them. The enemy is in your land and yet you stand in battle array. Okay, they’re standing, but they’re not advancing. They’ve got all of the military armament that they need, but they’re not going to go forward.

And we’ll see because of fear. They won’t advance for fear because there’s this champion called Goliath. But how many times are we failing to pick up on the fact that we’re in a spiritual battle? We’ve got our Bible, we’ve got our shield, we’ve got our sword, we’ve got our helmet on, we’re ready to go to battle. We’re ready to go to battle, but listen, as Christians we’re not going to battle because we get scared, we back up. Somebody takes the position and they come in as it were to the land and they’re big and ugly and they’re boasting big things against God. And what do we do? Someone, somebody needs to do something. At least we should drop to our face in prayer. But listen, Christian, behind everything in your life is a spiritual power, a spiritual purpose, and we need to think spiritually.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs. Here on Real Life Radio with his message called Winning the Battles of Life, Part One. So glad you're 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.

Jack Hibbs: So the lingering effects of the government shutdown, right? I mean, when the movie business goes on strike, right? It’s not just the guys behind—it’s not just the people in front of the camera.

David J: Right. I mean, it’s the—it’s the people that sweep the floor on the studio. It’s the people that do the—run the cleaners. These people are out of work also in lingering effects of the government shutdown. How do we deal with that as Christians?

Jack Hibbs: Well, look, there’s people trying to figure out how to recover or how to sail through this or how to maneuver this. And when we get into the seasons that we’re in right now, this is what I hope people do, especially the Christian, is it’s all about knowing Jesus.

We can get together as a family and we can love on each other and we can keep the main thing the main thing. And the main thing is Jesus Christ. Instead of, “Oh man, are you kidding me? I didn’t get that—I thought you were going to get me a car for Christmas,” or whatever, that shirt.

Well, these are hard times. Guess what? Hard times produce strong people. And when we find our strength in Jesus, then we’re all the stronger.

David J: Can we pray for the folks that—pray for all of us that are affected by the government shutdown?

Jack Hibbs: Let’s do it. Father, this—You’re the Lord of all things. You know everything and You know the intrigue that is going on by individuals who are manipulating this government that was only designed for a moral and religious people, said John Adams.

We’ve certainly lost our moorings to You, to the Bible. Lord, we just ask You that You would cause each and every one of us as individuals, no matter what our nation decides to do, that our faith would be in You and You alone, that our rock would be Jesus.

America’s going to come—America has come and America will go, but Your word endures forever. So may we choose today to believe in and trust in and rely upon You, Lord, our shepherd. We are Your sheep and You have promised that You would take care of us all the way to heaven. So Lord, we yield to You and we trust in You now in Jesus’ name, Amen.

David J: 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.