Today on Real Life Radio. But more than the pain going away is God. and his infinite wisdom, which I'm not always fond of, him bringing about it. a work that is of eternal consequences. God works character into our lives.
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. What do you say when a friend says their marriage might end? Or how do you help a coworker dealing with depression?
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On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues his new series called First Samuel with a message titled, Life When the Bottom Drops Out. Samuel was a man dedicated to God from birth, the last judge to rule Israel, and the first of the prophets raised up during a time of great difficulty, adversity, and of course uncertainty.
Now, you see, the period of the judges was coming to a close, and though Samuel was ordained as a prophet, it was actually his mother, Hannah, who gives us one of the most powerful examples of prayer. Crying out to God through her helplessness and pain as a once barren woman.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches that we often as human beings give up on prayer, even though prayer is what invites God's will into our lives. Self-reliance, yeah, it might feel natural, but it keeps us stuck and blinds us to what God can do through us.
Now, with his message called Life When the Bottom Drops Out, here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. Regarding life and when the bottom drops out, is how often. When this happens, it magnifies our frailty. And I want to teach tonight, having Hannah as an opposite. of what might go on in our lives.
We're going to use Hannah as an example of what to do. Often, often. When we feel that the bottom has dropped out of our lives, it magnifies our frailty. There is not one person in this sanctuary who is not keenly aware. of your own frailty.
So deep does this Awareness and pain run in some of our lives that we go to great lengths to hide our frailty. We will avoid almost anything to expose our frailty. It's the way of the world. Many people will say, you Christians, you have your crutch, this Jesus, this crutch of yours. The reason why, and I'm not ashamed to say it, the reason why Jesus is our crutch is because we have come to grips with our frailty.
Does that offend you? I am frail. I tell you, somebody who Thinks they got the world by the tail. You know? You see a lot of yuppies that are running around today.
In fact, do they even call them yuppies anymore? They don't, do they? They just call them millionaires. We just have a bunch of them running around. These young punks, they don't know what to do with their money, they're so young, too smart.
And too rich for their age, running around, and they think they're it, you know, that's it. Uh until Um You know, they often, this is a real problem, they get married. And uh you got uh A male yuppie and a female yuppie, and they come together and they want to have guppies or whatever they have. And they can't get pregnant. This is a real problem in America.
This is one of the Expensive prices of prosperity and hard work. They work so hard and they've got such stressful jobs that many. have become impotent. In there ability to reproduce and it is a syndrome. In Yappidam.
that they cannot produce. It's a real medical problem. And the cure is you need to get a less stressful job, you need to take a break, take it easy. And back off. They tell us, physicians do, that the pressure upon these performers is so great.
That they often suffer and break down, and quote, their kingdom falls from within. They break down. Frailty. The bottom drops out. When we get our eyes off of God and our frailty is magnified and we're overwhelmed.
And you might say, Jack, you're kind of bordering on the bit of psychology here. You know what? Uh maybe I am. I don't believe in psychology. I believe in.
Jesus Christ. Converting a soul. Body, soul, and spirit. Not only the spirit, not only the body, but the souque, the psyche of a man. But the fact remains that you and I are keenly aware of our frailty.
Now, what do we learn from this? We see, first of all, is that. We can be deceived by our feelings. And they'll render us helpless or in a state of helplessness. when we allow our frailty To consume us, we get our eyes off of God and then we realize, oh my goodness, I can't handle this any further.
Hannah didn't do that. She wept and cried out to God. And listen, so often our emotions, our feelings deceive us, and we get overwhelmed with a sense of helplessness. And I want to ask you, and I'm going to ask you a lot tonight: do you ever feel helpless? And that helpless feeling also can be felt as hopelessness or loneliness, a great pressure of isolation.
We get overwhelmed with our frailty, and so we begin to sense a great and deep helplessness. Look at Hannah's example. It says, and it happened as she continued praying before God. I don't know if you're going to like it or not. It doesn't matter.
I don't know if I do either, but it's a fact. Listen, she continued praying. And you say, Jack, don't tell me to keep praying about the situation that I'm dealing with. Listen, friend, you may be like the 49ers. I don't mean the football team, I mean the 1849ers.
Many of them worked and searched for a vein of gold, picking up a little dust here and there and a couple of nuggets along the way, but quit one inch away from the greatest, most colossal vein ever discovered on earth. And the man, by the way, who had that stake, quit one inch away, sold it for a couple of bucks, and the next guy took it, took his pick and struck it, and it hit the greatest vein ever exposed in the earth.
Okay. quitting a moment too soon. We so often go to prayer, and if God doesn't Hear our prayer, and maybe we'll even pray two times about it, and we will give up on it.
Well, that's a sad thing. We are byproducts of our culture. Give it to me, give it to me now. We are the instant generation. I want it now.
I want it fast. And I want it fresh. And I want it ready. And it's, you know.
Next thing we're going to want is somebody to eat it for us. Hannah's example is that, look, it says, and it happened as she continued praying verse 12 before the Lord. I love this. I have this highlighted. Happened and continued.
You can't separate the two. What else? Yeah. What happened? I want to ask that question.
Well, the whole rest of the book happened. What happened? 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel? On and on it goes. All from the prayer of a woman.
She continued praying in her grief and her bitterness of soul. She's praying, and she stayed at it, by the way. She continued. She stayed at praying. Luke chapter 11: Jesus tells us, So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you.
Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened.
Now I don't know if we believe this verse. What do you mean? I mean, I don't know if we believe it. I find that highly offensive. I believe everything in the Bible.
Well then wh why don't we act like it then? How long have you been praying for something? Is there something in your life that you've been praying years for? I hear about women. I hear about men who have been praying for the conversion of their wife or their husband 10, 12, 15, 25 years.
And then he comes to Christ, or she comes to Christ. I just wonder. what would happen if they'd give up or if they would have. Given up. Jesus said, ask.
See, this is how we go. Jesus says, ask and it will be given. That's as far as we read. Lord, I want. Golly, it's been like thirty seconds.
I don't have it yet.
Well, if you keep reading, he says seek. That now means to get your. You know, Sherlock Holmes Magnifying glass out and start pursuing, seek. Hunt! Search out.
Then he says, knock. And what's implied, if you read that chapter 11 of Luke's Gospel, it's knock, knock, and keep on knocking. It doesn't say, don't get me wrong. Get away from it. Get a buttress and Whack and whack and whack until it comes down.
He says, knock. Doesn't say slap. Doesn't say blow it up. He says, knock. I hear so many times.
Well, I prayed, and then look what the Lord did. He opened this door, and I'm sitting here listening to this story, and it's tough. I won't comment on these issues when someone says, Well, you know, I did this, and you can see it in their eyes. You can see like the whole thing, you can see what they wanted. It's there, you can see it around their eyes.
And I did this, and I did, and then, and then, you know what? And I went and I pushed, and then I got a bunch of dynamite, and the door blew open. And I said, thank you, Lord. That was so great. God opened up such a beautiful door.
And. And don't you think it's me what the Lord's done? And I can't respond. I can't, I have to look at them and go. And it's pathetic because sometimes they've got, you know, their hair is blown to bits, they look like they've got gunpowder all over them, their clothes are all blown up, and they're trying to convince me that God did it.
And they look like a cartoon. I don't think God did it. Oh, you know, the Lord has called us to this or to that or the other.
Well, how do you know? Got this. Burning in my bosom. You know, it's just... We really feel it's the right thing to do.
I bet Johanna sometimes felt like strangling Panaya.
Okay. Help me hang out these clothes to dry, will you? Huh. She prayed. Things happened.
Prayer always invites, listen. The will of God into the situation that we're praying about. Prayer was never given to us, nor is it intended. For us to get our way with God. Did you know that?
If I just pray hard enough, I know this thing's going to happen. No, you shouldn't think like that. You should say, if I just keep at prayer. My will is going to be united with the perfect will of God. And the very thing I'm crying about may not be worth crying about for crying out loud.
As I pray, it may be that very thing that God brings my heart into alignment with His perfect will. My eyes will be opened, and I will no longer want what I think I want. I will rejoice in what He has decreed for me. Father knows best, you know. 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. Life when the bottom drops out, verses 12 through 13, blinds us to our own effectiveness.
Listen, when we get our eyes off of God, we're no longer effective. When we get our eyes off of God, we become helpless. When we get our eyes off of God, we lose our effectiveness. Eli watched her mouth.
Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved. You understand that, right? But her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli thought she was drunk.
So she's like this. Everybody with me? She's.
So, Eli, being the sensitive man of God that he is. Filled with discernment, says, Hey, woman, why don't you go be drunk somewhere else? She whiz. This woman is precious. You know, she had not lost her effectiveness.
She didn't let her emotions rule her. She's not only quiet, she is silent. And she's praying. If you know anything about the precious Jewish commitment, to their relationship with God and And I love it. They give all.
They really do. And sometimes people think it's theatrical. It's just that you don't understand. You see those guys at the wailing wall where they're praying? And you'll see the.
Hascetic Jews, the guys with the Funny hats with the curls, and you see all kinds of Jewish businessmen there at the wall, you see soldiers at the wall. It's awesome. I love the fact, by the way, there are prayers for you and for this church. in that wall. And when you stand there next to those guys, and we've stood there next to those guys.
Then you asked him. When they're done praying, why are you moving like this? You ever seen them move like that? You know what I'm talking about? Many of them.
You ever flown on a flight that's heading to Europe and you have a Jewish guy on the plane? It is absolutely spectacular. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to be experiencing rough turbulence here in a moment. Please put your seat belt on, and it doesn't matter. Oh, it's time to pray.
And up stands the jewel. It is great. The plane's bouncing all over God's creation, and there he is in the back, just hanging on, and he's praying. And he's got a compass, and he's leaning towards Drew. He's looking towards Drew, and even at the wall, man, they're praying and they're moving.
He's saying, Why are you doing that? He says, Well, you know, there's no other. God hears my prayer. He knows my heart. He knows everything about me, but there's no way that I can articulate to God that I love him with my strength unless I put my body into that activity.
And so I move like this. I tell you, some of them just kind of move like this, and some of them look like. Michael Jackson doing a break dance. I mean, they get down. And it's between them and God, and it's very cool.
That's very cool. Pouring out their heart to God. Hannah is pouring her heart out to God. She's a great example of effectiveness. In the midst of the apparent bottom-dropping out of her life, she's there at the end of the rope, so to speak.
She's brokenhearted, her guts are wrenched, and she's teaching us how we ought to be in times of difficulty. Hannah spoke in her heart. Her lips were moving. That was her. Her very natural reaction, oh God, and her lips are moving and The physical.
Is she loving God with all of her heart, soul, strength, and mind? Absolutely, she is. And this is what we learn from her. She's praying. Jeremiah 29, 10.
Tells us, For I know, or 11, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Verse 12, then you will call upon me and go and pray to me. And I will listen to you. Verse 13, and you will seek me and find me when you have searched for me with all of your heart. Isn't that awesome?
She kept praying. She's pouring her heart out. She's silent in her heart, but her lips are moving. And God And God alone understands what's going on. She refuses to succumb to frailty.
mocked, ridiculed. Unproductive. She hangs in there in the midst of what is an apparent. Bottom dropping out. Verses fourteen and fifteen.
We see here that. These emotions can often overpower us. for defeat. And so many Christians, if not all of us, from time to time to some degree or another, suffer from spiritual defeat. Verse 14, so Eli said to her, how long will you be drunk?
Put away your wine from you. And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I'm a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. There is no way on God's grain earth That you or I will ever be defeated if we are pouring out our heart unto God. He will not allow it.
Did you hear that? If we go to him. And pray. God, will you please Hear my cry and Lord bring my prayer. In line with you, if I pray anything at this hour that is not in accordance with your perfect will, Lord, strike it from your record.
Take it away from your ears. But Lord, as I begin to pray right now, lead me in your spirit. As I pray, God, may the words that fall from my mouth be the words that you want to hear. Lord, please program me now. To pray effectively to you.
And you know, Jesus taught us that. Jesus in John 15, 7 says, If my word, the Bible, abides in you, You can pray what you wish. And it shall be done unto you. John 15, 7.
Some of you are saying, What? Where's it? Verse 1. Yeah, it's John 15, 7. Jesus says, Put my word in your life and then go pray.
Go pray the Bible. You want answered prayer? Pray the Bible. See, we don't often get answered prayers because we're praying our will. We would never say that.
I saw Very famous televangelist on a certain television program. And he said this. He said, in fact, I have it on audio cassette. He said, I will never. Pray, God's will be done.
And that's weak. He said, I will pray. My will be done. And I thought. God please.
Don't blow up my TV set. I was just joking when I turned on that channel. I was just surfing by, and I heard this guy. You know, you expect lightning to come down. That's blasphemous.
You see, our emotions overpower us. in our frailty, and we are so often carted off to defeat.
So so many times we're defeated. And we walk around in this state of being defeated. Eli looks at her and he. considers her to be a drunk. She responds by saying, listen, that's not the case.
I'm a woman sorrowful of hearts. The second point that we see this evening is this. Life when The bottom seems to drop out, often creates a critical eye within us. We get a critical eye. This is a plague of many people, both in and out of the church.
Sadly, I say this. I say this with a lot of emotion. and a lot of concern. It is my personal belief that if The church that is wayward tonight because they've been hurt by ministries or hurt by other Christians, the church that is wayward tonight would come back home to the fold.
Now, granted, they may have been wronged and may have been wronged terribly. That's no excuse for them to stay away from Jesus. They may not like the church, but remember, if that's you wayward, Jesus died for the church. You may not think much of it, but he thinks the world of it. You may not love the church.
He loves it. My encouragement to you who, well, you're not even here, so who am I talking to? But if you get the tape And you're able to hear this. The greatest thing that you can do for Jesus. is to go to a Bible-believing church.
That's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Life When the Bottom Drops Out. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's new series called 1 Samuel. It's a great series highlighting the life of the prophet Samuel, who was called by God during one of Israel's darkest times, to lead the people back to the heart of true worship. And we'll pick things up next time right here on Real Life Radio. Mm.
Pastor Jack, let me tell you what Chris has to say in his letter. Pastor Jack, thanks for being God's man. Listen to this line. He says, it's so refreshing to hear preaching from the word from a pastor that really believes that every word of God, capital letters there, is true and nothing's going to change it. He says, your boldness to call out those leaders in government that don't hold up God as the founders of the United States.
He likes that. He says, it's my prayer that the United States of America will once again be united under God. Chris says, All God's blessings be upon you and your family. Thank you. Chris.
Wow, Chris, listen, thank you, thank you, thank you. And yes, listen, there is hope as long as the Word of God is open. And it's being proclaimed, there's hope that our nation can turn. We know that it's God's will that America turn back to God.
So let's keep praying together. Let's keep standing in the truth. And let's keep proclaiming the truth because that is the only thing that can really save our nation in the most eternal way. Thank you, Chris, for listening and thank you for praying for us. Hey, you know, if you'd like to drop a note of encouragement to Pastor Jack, that'd be awesome.
He'd really love to see what you have to say about him and how his ministry has affected your life.
So please do that. Go to the Connect tab at jackhibbs.com. That's the tab labeled Connect. 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 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.
