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Now, whatever your path, JackHibbs.com has the tools and the insights and the encouragement that you need. Tune in, log on, find something real. Once again the website jackhibbs.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues his series called 1 Samuel with a message titled Worship at War, Part 1.
Samuel of the Old Testament was a man dedicated to God who was Israel's last judge and the first of the prophets at a time when Israel was facing difficulty, adversity, and real uncertainty. You see, the Bible is filled with acts of worship as well as acts of war. But worship is rarely linked with spiritual warfare in the life of a believer. When we worship, We are waging war against evil. It's the kind of warfare that honors God and sees us through the difficulties of life.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches that the path to victory is the desire to see God in all of His glory. And to praise him for all that he's done, especially when, as with Samuel's mother Hannah's life, our prayers are answered in the most trying of times.
Now with his message called Worship at War Part 1. Here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hughes. You can set off a nuclear bomb right here and it changes and alters nothing in the spirit. Did you know that? You can blow the building away and you can blow my skin away, but you can't change the spirit of who I am.
And you can't change the fact that I am living forever in Jesus Christ. And when we pray and when we worship, it sticks. It's eternal. I love how God gives us hints about this. We can make a bond that.
Costs $30 million. Strap it onto the undercarriage of an aircraft and drop it somewhere, and in seconds it's obliterated, right? 30 million bucks strapped to a plane, which is disposable also, and you blow it up and it's all gone. I love how God speaks to us about how temporary things are in this world. You can spend 30 bucks on a bomb and it's gone in a second.
Well, yes, that's because it's designed to blow up. Of course it's designed to blow up. But after the explosion, you still have the enemy to deal with. There's still a material world to function. and to attack you with.
In the realm of the Spirit, when we pray, when we worship. There is a war that no military strength on earth can combat. As long as there's time, we can pray. As long as there is a lost soul, we can pray. It's not up to human powers.
When God wages war, He doesn't need to depend on the Pentagon or Kremlin or anything else. In 2 Corinthians 10, 4 The Bible says, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, that is, of this earth, or fleshy. But mighty in God for pulling down strongholds and casting down arguments. and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Well, how does that happen? Because our weapons in this war are not of this world. I love this story.
Some of you remember this, Gehezai. He was the assistant to Elijah. The prophet, it's in 2nd Kings 6. If you want to turn there, 2 Kings 6, verse 13. 2 Kings 6:13 says, Therefore, Uh he sent horses and chariots.
and a great army there, there's a battle that's being amassed. And the enemy is sending these troops, and they came by night and surrounded the city. And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, this is. Gehazi, there was an army surrounding the city with horses and chariots, and his servants said to him, Alas, my master, what shall we do?
So he answered, Do not fear. For those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elijah prayed and said, Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire.
all around Elisha.
So when the Syrians came down to him, Elijah prayed to the Lord and said, Strike this people, I pray, with blindness. And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elijah. Did you get that? Listen, it's just two guys, Gehazi and Elijah. and they're surrounded by the entire enemy army.
So when his servant goes outside, he freaks. And Elijah, now, in my mind, Elijah, he's rocking, he's got a corncob pipe. Maybe a straw hat. I don't know, maybe he's whittling on something, you know? And Gehazi comes flying up, dropping stuff, lands on the porch and says, We're in trouble!
The enemy has completely surrounded us. And Elijah says, Lord. Oh boy. Open his eyes. Yeah, hey Zai.
Those that are with us are more than those that are with them.
Now that guy had to look at Elijah and say, Are you. Nuts. He saw none of that stuff. He saw none of it. And when Elijah says, Lord, open his eyes, the spiritual veil was opened.
There was a world in front of him that he was not aware of. Isn't that amazing to think right now in our nation, right now in the world, right now in this building, in our own city, there is a world where if we could grab it, we just can't. grab it. But if we could grab it, we could Heard it. And there would be a world of spiritual activity that we could.
pass into and actually we're in it now. It's wild to think. That obviously the structure of the spirit realm, when Jesus rose from the dead, he was both physical, but he could pass through things. And he could vanish and appear. At will.
Isn't it awesome to think that right now, between you and I, there could be an absolute war going on between spiritual light and darkness? And I believe there is. You might say, oh, I really want to see that. I don't think you do. You don't want to see it.
It's not up to human powers. Our second consideration this evening about worship at war is that believer's path to victory. The Believer's Path to Victory. is to desire God's glory. And she says, She's continuing her prayer, verse 26.
Read it there, look at it. Oh, my Lord, she says. As your soul lives, my Lord, I am the woman who stood by here praying to the Lord. Remember? As the priests held Eli was serving.
For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of him. Therefore, listen, I also have lent or given him, loaned him. Gave him back. to the Lord as long as he lives. He shall be the Lord's.
So they worship the Lord there.
Now that's awesome to me. The desire to see God's glory. Listen, God gives her, ladies, listen, sacrifice. Absolute, incredible. God gives her a baby.
She's longed for a baby. God gives her a baby? And her heart. It's so right on. Honestly, I don't understand this.
This, to me, is the greatest worship. She takes the baby. And she gives the baby back to God. She's going to take the baby to Eli and leave him there, dedicating him to God. She's going to go home.
Because she loves God so much, and she loves that baby so much, there's nothing better for her to do. There's nothing greater, there's no greater thing that she could do. She loves God so much, she loves the baby so much. What do you do? If you love God so much, and if you love your child so much, there's only one thing you can do.
And that's to give your child to God. It's better to give your child to God. Than to lose your child to the world. Because Eli lost his sons to the world. Why?
Because I believe, I know it's a stretch. But I believe That the two differences that we're seeing here is a child's life dedicated to God via worship. Versus or in contrast to a religious Family. Not holding the things of God dear and sacred. And the children being left to themselves to be brought up as they would.
Easy mistake to make. When the things of God become Common. And we become complacent. The believer's path to victory begins with a desire to Give God the glory. And she does it.
I believe it's important, especially for young people, to see things in the world, see things in our nation. Causes your eyes to be opened. Especially as a believer. It causes you to become, I think, a little bit Sober. and in a way somewhat somber.
about how we have viewed things. And how materialistic we can become, and carnal we can become. And I thought about this. The believer's path to victory begins with the desire to bring God glory. and I thought about the glory of men.
You know, the Year we saw the advent of a new millennium. And uh Remember how some Of us, we talked about, and we watched the television. After our New Year's service, we went home and And even before we came, it was New Year's and other parts, you know, 24 time zones, right? And nations were celebrating. They had cameras around the world watching the millennium come in.
And you probably saw it and stuff. And all the glory and all the pomp. And you know, remember, Paris stole the show with the Eiffel Tower blowing up and all whatever it did, lighting up like that with all the Roman candle things on it and stuff. And it's like everybody oohed and odd, and it became the front page of all the news magazines, the glory. of men.
But I thought about the glory, uh the glory of men and and I I've been to the Kremlin in in Moscow, Russia. and I've touched its 1400 year old walls. The glory of an empire. It's fading. Paint is fading, the paint's chipping.
The bricks are falling? Glory is fading. I've been to Buckingham Palace. And it's fading. They gotta go out there and paint it all the time.
Not the palace itself, it's made out of stone, but all the little trimmings and stuff. Because it's getting old, it's fading. The Kremlin? Mm-hmm. Buckingham.
Tales? Yeah? falling apart. Been to the White House, been in the White House. You have?
Yeah. It's an old building. It's a lot smaller than I thought. It's fallen apart. The glory of men.
It's fading. Been to the Pentagon. The Pentagon's got to be cool. It looked older than anything else. The glory of our mighty.
We are mighty! We are America. We'll blow up anybody who messes with us. Then Man, we're walking through hallways and stuff, and it's like, what is this place? I mean Walmart looks better than this place.
Who's pussy? Pathetic. But see, the thing is, if you go there thinking, man, I'm going to see my tax dollars at work. You're gonna be disappointed. You really will.
The glory of men, it's fading. Listen. Hannah desired to see God's glory. It never fades. 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. In 1 Corinthians 2.9, the scripture says, as it is written, eye is not seen, nor ear heard.
Nor has it entered into the hearts of men the things that God has prepared for those who love him. Hey, did you hear that? Eye has not seen. Ear has not heard. You ever been to a Wonderful orchestra or beautiful Pageant.
Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has prepared for us. Where? When? Let's go! It's in heaven!
It's going to be fantastic. 2 Corinthians 12, I love this. Paul, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 2, Paul says, I know a man, he's speaking about himself. He's just humble about it. I know a man in Christ who, 14 years ago, whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know.
God knows, such a one was caught up to the third heaven. Don't panic. The third heaven is where God lives. The second heaven is the celestial space And the first heaven is the atmosphere that you and I live in: the atmosphere where birds fly, then there's where the stars go, and then there's the presence of God, the third heaven. Paul says, I got caught up there.
And this is when he was stoned to death. Um He sees, well, he doesn't know if he sees heaven or he went there himself. He doesn't know. But he says, God knows. How he was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, that is, words that cannot be explained.
Or he could not explain correctly. Rightly. which are not lawful for a man to speak. Too glorious. What is heaven?
Just forget these stupid programs that say, you know, Johnny got hit by a train and he had an out-of-body experience and he saw heaven and he's taught, now he wrote a book about it. Don't even waste a nickel. If he starts saying, well, you know, heaven's like this, Paul the Apostle says heaven is so great, human words cannot articulate. There's no vocabulary. Isn't that great?
There is no dictionary, there's no language on the face of the earth that can formulate a word with a definition that applies to what you see in heaven. Oh man, let's you see why we want to go now? Say, man, I wish you would. I wish I would too. The believer's path to victory begins.
With the desire for God's glory, and she had that desire. She wanted to see God glorified and blessed. And so she gives her son to the Lord. She honors him. There's no greater place.
Psalm 27, 4. Greatest prayer in the Bible, in my opinion, Psalm 27:4. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. And behold, the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Not any earthly temple.
Psalm 96, 8. Give to the Lord the glory, do his name, and bring an offering. Wow, could that be our children? And come into his courts. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty.
of holiness. The believer's path to victory. It is to trust God's plan. God had a plan for Hannah. She said in verse 6, the Lord kills and makes alive.
He brings down to the grave. He brings up. The Lord makes poor, he makes rich. He brings low, he lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust.
He lifts the beggar from the ash heap. To set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. Who does? God does. Why?
He's got a plan. Listen, we need to Go quickly on this, but listen, God has a plan. The believer's path to victory begins also with trusting God's plan. God's plan in your life. Listen, are you rich?
That's God's plan for your life. Are you poor? That's God's plan for your life. Boy, this wouldn't go over good on some. Programs, huh?
See, why can't we all be rich? I don't know. I've already asked that question too long. It just doesn't work. It just doesn't happen.
Why can't everybody be just like fine in the church? Because you know what, personally, this is my Thought. I believe that God brings people in financial need in the body of Christ to every church. To test the hearts of all those who have more than that person or that family. I believe if you're a family here tonight and you're in need, you have been divinely placed by the plan of God in this church to test our hearts.
To see if we will be moved with compassion to share what we've been given by God. In our own lives, to bless those that are around us. If a church does not do that, that church is blind. Like the Ephesus church. Blind like any other church that has become wealthy.
Or a Laodicean church that has got goods. But cannot see. And in fact, has become naked, poor. Wretched. and blind.
God has blessed this church with wealthy, He has blessed this church with middle income, and God has blessed this church with those say poor, but you're rich in the rest of the world. but poor. You might say, well, golly, can God take this blessing off me and put it on someone else for a while? Remember Tevia and Fiddler on the Roof? He's there complaining to God about his poverty.
And he goes You know, Lord, he says, I know that you say that riches are a curse. But God I pray that you'd smite me with it. Yeah. Well, it's funny how.
some wealthy people I know. They have to hire attorneys to keep them safe so they can sleep at night. 'Cause it's Everybody wants their money. You don't want that. God has a plan.
He makes Death and he makes life. He is altogether sovereign. We'll stop here for tonight and pick it up next time together. In this study, And uh Hannah, what a precious woman of God. Father.
We thank you, Lord, for your truth and Lord, how we need to learn to worship. Because uh It's so powerful and so meaningful. And Lord, in Jesus' name we pray. That you would divinely, supernaturally Lord. Remind us and prod our hearts to worship.
Bother me tonight when we leave here. In fact, even in a moment as we begin to sing, May we think about doing damage. in the realms of spiritual darkness. And may we think about giving you Glory. May we give back.
What you've blessed us with. Father, we pray that in this body Both here and the way that you'd heal those that are sick. That you would touch those who are struggling. Laura, that you would Meat. Every need.
Spiritually? Physically, mentally. Emotionally, Lord. And we pray. All of us together.
that you would heal our nation. Jesus That you would call the shots. And none of man's plans and schemes would prevail. But your will only. We ask you, we invite you, we want the record.
Two. be clearly written. that we sought your face, Lord. And we asked for your good hand. And all God's people say.
Amen. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. Here on Real Life Radio, with his message called Worship at War, Part 1. You know, this message, by the way, 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 ages, to bring the people back to a heart of true worship.
and will continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
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