Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: You know what? It makes perfect sense to me that this God who allows human life to exchange love one toward another, that this God must love way more than we could ever love. That makes perfect sense to me.

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

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David J: 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 3.

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 when it comes to the battles of life, there's more at stake than just the here and now.

God's eternal purpose reminds us to not wait for perfect conditions, but to act now and share our faith with others. Now with his message called Winning the Battles of Life, Part 3, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: Monday night, we went to a movie with some friends. And in this movie, this 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 says, "Jesus Christ," we'll say, "Is Lord." 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 came out of the screen, and people are now thinking, "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 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? 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? You're standing in line holding your little sweetie's hand, and somebody will say something, and your little kid will 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 hear somebody, "Oh, Jesus this," or whatever, say, "Is Lord." "What? Oh, I'm sorry, mister. I thought you were praying. You used the Lord's name and I thought you were praying. Praise the Lord and Jesus is Lord."

Now David said, "Look, there's one cause here, and that is they're attacking our God." And the people answered him in verses 25 to 27 in this manner. So if you look with me in verses 25 to 26, this is what we learn about eternity's benefits that await us. And I love this. There are things coming to those who love God that are not of this world.

Christian number one, me included, we need to hear this. We need to stop looking as though this world owes us something. This world owes us nothing. This world is wicked, it's rude, it's cold, and not fair. Whatever good has happened in our lives, it's been because God's good.

And whatever good has happened in our lives is because our God is gracious and merciful. This world is not good. This world is not fair, and this world does not have one streak of benevolence in its bones. It's dog eat dog. And for those of you who maybe are in kind of an arena where that's not true where I live.

At your company? Oh no, not where I work. I used to work at one of those places, and that's where it's the most dangerous. They'll pat you on the back, they'll stroke you, they'll position you. And the whole time, the guy that's behind you promoting you, he's promoting himself, and you watch out.

You let the Lord be your guide. Let Him be your promoter. Just know this. If you're blessed in this life, doesn't the Bible say it's the goodness of God that leads a man to repentance? If you're in here tonight and you don't know Jesus Christ, but you've got a good life, you need to thank God now before He takes it away from you. And He's got every right to take it away.

He is God and He owes us nothing. But He is God and He loves to bless even the unbeliever. He likes to bless. Eternity's benefits await us. Now watch this. There are things not of this world. And I want that to sink in because listen, if you take the time, and I don't encourage you to waste your time with this, eternity's blessings await us because God would rather deposit into our custody things that will endure forever.

Didn't Jesus say, "Put your treasure in heaven where moth and rust and thieves do not break in and steal them"? Why? Because He wants us blessed. Keep that in mind about who we're serving and what your retirement package looks like. What the Bible says about our future, our retirement package, Christian, is awesome.

And as I thought about this, it depends on who you talk to. But literally, I know this is going to be offensive, but it is the truth. It depends on who you talk to again. If you follow a certain group, their false teachings, if you follow this certain group, here is the deal that they promise you. And don't tell me later because you're of that group that this is not true. It's true. It's been stated to me by more than one of your leaders and it's in your old writings.

Now listen to the perks that come when God is not your perk. You can become a God if you follow this doctrine. Listen, not only that, you can have your own planet. No, listen, don't laugh because a lot of people believe this. And you can have, and you will have, if you're faithful, 200 celestial wives forever that you will impregnate for eternity.

And they will give birth to spirit souls that will reside in a sea of souls awaiting their moment of birth on other planets to where their spirit baby can meet up with their physical baby and the process can continue on. That is a doctrine. Listen to the perk. Ladies, you listen carefully. A man can become a God and have 200 wives that he'll impregnate throughout eternity. I don't know about you ladies, but that doesn't sound like heaven to me.

But listen to the chord, listen to the weave. You can go to another group when God is not your perk. And if you're willing to die in Jihad for this group, you will get your own sexual harem of 72 virgins in heaven that you can have sex and wine, it says, with them forever. Now, ladies, in both those representations of false teachings, I wouldn't want either one of them.

I encourage you tonight to seek what the Bible has to say, how men and women, slave and free, rich and poor, are all one in Christ and joint heirs with Christ. I don't understand that. You see, the true benefits of following Jesus Christ are eternal rewards, and it's not our glory. It's not our sexual gratification in eternity forever.

It's not some mission that we're going to work on to save other planets in the future. It's God. He's our benefit. He's our reward. Wasn't it told to the tribe of Levi when all the land was divvied up, what was their reward? The Lord was their reward. The people who were the priests of God, they didn't get any land.

Oh, don't feel sorry for them. The Lord said, "I am your portion. You get me." Wow. Psalm 27 verse 4 says, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord." Listen to what David's desire is. "I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." No virgins? What? 200 wives? What? No, no, no. "That I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life."

Man, that's good. And listen, "To inquire in His temple. I just want to talk to God." Second Corinthians 5:8, Paul says, "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." He is our reward. What are you living for? Is it for Him? What are you doing with that work or with that unction, with that passion that you have? Is it for you? Is it for the bottom line? Is it for somebody else, or is it for the Lord?

Philippians 1:23, "For I am hard-pressed between two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better," says Paul. Psalm 23 verse 6, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." John 14:3, Jesus said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, you may be also."

What's the reward? To be with Him. The Bible says in this world, we seek as it is dimly or in a cloudy sense. But when we arrive in heaven, we'll see the Lord face to face clearly. What is your reward? What are you doing? What am I doing with the things that God has put in our custody? Is it for His glory? I hope so.

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.

Jack Hibbs: Verses 28 to 30, and we end with this. Eternity is serving the purposes of God right now. Oh, scientists tell us that right now, if you mark your stopwatch and it goes 24 hours to tomorrow this time Thursday night, our earth, our galaxy, the universe, the entire observable clusters and clusters of bodies of light that you see in the sky at night.

Scientists tell us that all of it will have moved over 100 million miles within 24 hours earth time this time tomorrow. And you know what? It's as though it's on the bed of a flatbed truck and it's all going in circuits around each other. And while that's going on, that truck is going down the freeway through space and we've never hit the wall.

And you might say, "That's big." It is big. But here's the cool thing. We start to think if it's that big, then it's infinite. Guess what? Wrong. The material universe cannot be infinite. It's impossible for it to be infinite. That's why when you hear these astrophysicists, they start talking about things about science, then they start projecting thoughts further out, and they have to go from science to philosophical thoughts.

Why? Because they have to flirt with eternity and spiritual matters. It drives them crazy. You cannot look at this world in microscopic way or out with telescopes without being flirted with or by the Holy Spirit of God. It's tremendous. The purposes of God. He says in verse 28, "Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men, and Eliab's anger was aroused against David." I don't know why he's all bent out of shape. Nothing's going on.

He said, "Why'd you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?" He's making fun of him, making fun of him, mocking him. But you know what? God's got a plan. God is working something out. He listens to his brother. Didn't Jesus come from heaven to earth to his own people? Didn't they mock him? "What are you doing here?"

Well, there's some things in life that make sense and some things that don't make sense to me. Well, look at the end of verse 28 to 30. There are things to me that make perfect sense. It says, "I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle." I mark that in my Bible. That's hilarious.

Was there a battle? They hadn't even fought yet. What battle? David probably said, "What battle? You guys are all just trembling here." And David said, "What have I done now?" Doesn't that sound like a brother talking to a brother? "What have I done now? You're always saying this to me. What have I done now? Is there not a cause? Is there not a cause?"

Then David turned from him toward another and said the same thing. You know what he said? "Is there not a cause?" And these people answered him as the first ones did. They made fun of him. "What are you doing here?" You know what? I cannot prove this. I only speculate. Everybody was scared to death but David. I think that bothered them. Everybody was shaking in their armor. David not only didn't have any armor on, he wasn't shaking.

I think in his eyes and on his face was confidence in God. And they saw it. They saw this young teenage kid, they're going, "What's with you? Why don't you go back to your sheep? You're out of touch with how serious the situation is." Well, eternity is serving the purposes of God and it's happening right now as we are here tonight.

And there are things to me that just make perfect sense. Makes perfect sense to me being a Christian and reading the Bible that God would use a shepherd to fight a battle. You see, before I was a Christian, that does not make sense. And I wrote some things down. It makes perfect sense to me that God created everything.

That makes sense to me. It makes perfect sense to me that He loves His creation. That's evident to me. I wrote down that it makes perfect sense to me that He built into creation, into human beings, the ability of choice. That makes perfect sense to me. You can't have choice without true worship and true relationship without choice. God did that.

It makes perfect sense to me that God would give us His Bible. I love this. That God would give us His Bible and keep it pure for us. Have people tried to discredit and pollute the Bible? Certainly. But hasn't God preserved His word for us even to this 21st century? That blows my mind. I love it. He's faithful. He's preserved in your lap the Bible. People make fun of it, "Oh, look at you, Bible reader, you. Oh, look, he's reading his Bible."

Let them whine. Let them whine on. If they only knew what I thought about them. No, really. I pity them. They're quick to criticize but forever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. Makes perfect sense to me that God would preserve His Bible. It makes perfect sense to me that God would know me personally.

Makes perfect sense to me that God would love me, a sinner. Makes perfect sense to me that God would come down to this earth for me. It makes perfect sense to me that His Son would die on the cross for me. Makes perfect sense to me. Makes perfect sense to me that God wants us in heaven with Him.

You know why? Makes perfect sense to me that this God who allows human life to exchange love one toward another, that this God must love way more than we could ever love. That makes perfect sense to me. When you look at David with his little sandals, his sling. If you don't know the Lord, it doesn't make any sense. But if you know the Lord, that makes perfect sense.

Our battles. God has won the war. He's granted us the promise of victory in battle. And we shall see how the Lord delivers. Father, we thank You for Your word. And Lord, those things in our lives right now, we give up to You now. Lord, we hold them up. In fact, if we remember anything in our teaching, it would be this.

May we have the heart of David to put within us the right sight, the right view, the right perspective, that we might not see the giants in our lives, but we would hear what those things are saying to us. And those things will say things like, "What is God going to do for you now? Look where your faith has placed you. What are you going to do? Lean on a Bible verse? Pray?"

Father, give us the spirit of David. Lord, that we would have the cause, and that cause is to tell the world of a loving, forgiving, awesome God. To tell them quickly to come to Jesus, to know His forgiveness and His grace. To tell them that they can bring every problem to the Lord, everything that concerns them, their grades, a woman, a man, a problem, finances, health, war, terror, suicide bombers, disease, hatred, misunderstanding.

Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, may we be careful to hear and to respond in the spirit rather than look at a magnificent giant who's far stronger, far greater, far more powerful than we could ever be. Lord, help us to see that it's You. It is You who defends Your word. It is You who keeps Your promises. And You've promised to us that You'll deliver us in time of need. In Jesus' name, we lay our lives out before You now. In Jesus' name, amen we pray.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, with his message called Winning the Battles of Life, Part 3. 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.

So as you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you'd 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's K-N-O-W God. And there you'll be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you'll find in knowing God. Don't miss out. That's the Know God tab at jackhibbs.com.

Hey everybody, we want to invite you to what will be a dynamic evening. I promise, 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 7:00 PM 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 about what's going on in the preservation of life with our good friend Seth Gruber from the White Rose Resistance.

That's Happening Now with Jack Hibbs and Seth Gruber. Join us online Wednesday night, January 7th at 7:00 PM Pacific Time. Don't miss it. For more information, go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com.

Your week is packed. You're running on empty, and sometimes Sunday already feels like a distant memory by Wednesday. That's exactly why Real Life Devotions exists. Each week, Pastor Jack Hibbs brings you a short but powerful moment in God's word, designed to encourage, equip, and refocus your heart. It's not another podcast or a long sermon.

It's a few meaningful minutes that meet you right where you are. Whether you're on a commute, going for a walk, or you just need a reset in the middle of your day, Real Life Devotions are ready when you are. Fresh encouragement straight from the Scripture. And it's all just one click away. Check out the newest devotion now at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. Your place for real faith, real encouragement, and real life. That's Real Life Devotions at jackhibbs.com.

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 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.