Today on Real Life Radio. The very call he puts upon you? Because you sought him and asked him? You've got to plead with him to fulfill it. It's a strange thing.
It's like giving birth. It's in your heart or in your belly. You know things are gonna happen. 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. Have you ever ignored a warning, only to regret it later? What if the warnings we so easily brush aside are exactly what we need to live a life full of purpose and protection? What if instead of seeing warnings as obstacles or interruptions, what if we embrace them as the love and wisdom of a God who wants to protect us from destruction? How often do we dismiss the warnings in our lives because they challenge our comfort, our convenience, or our pride?
In this month's featured resource called Words of Warning, Charles Spurgeon calls us to wake up to the seriousness of the spiritual battles we face every day. Words of warning. Listen to the subtitle, everyone, for those wavering between belief and unbelief. You need this book. Everyone needs this book.
If you're struggling with belief and unbelief, Get it. Get words of warning by Charles Spurgeon for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That's jackhibbs.com slash real radio. On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues his series now called First Samuel.
and a message titled, Hearing the Call of God for Your Life, Part 1.
Now Samuel of the Old Testament was a man dedicated to God as Israel's last judge, and the first of the prophets who heard and understood the call of God upon his life. You see, the word of the Lord was rare in those days, and there were no widespread revelations. But in desperate times, there are desperate needs, and the call from God will come to the proper person. And just as Samuel heard and responded to God, he's called us to respond as well.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that God loves to talk to us. And if we have no message from God, we've got to get one. If we have no direction, we gotta find one. and if we feel no protection from him. We gotta trust him.
Now, in his message called Hearing the Call of God for Your Life, Part 1, here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. Boy, I tell you, the Apostle Paul in his personal experience in Galatians chapter 1, verse 15. through 18, a dear passage of scripture for my own life. Paul says, but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, Or sanctified me, or set me apart from my mother's womb, and called me. through his grace.
to reveal his son in me. that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. But I went into Arabia.
My friend, that's the desert. I went into the desert. And I returned again to Damascus. Listen, then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him 15 days. If you put all of Paul's waiting period together.
You come out to be somewhere around six to seven years, Paul had been converted. before he preached. Wow. God was instructing him all that time. This was Paul's life.
In John 16, verse 2. Jesus says, but I will. Or but they will put you out. That is of the places of worship. Yes, the time will come that whoever kills you will think that they're doing God a service.
That's Paul's life before he got converted, he thought he was serving God. And then he got saved. And Jesus warned about people. Who will think That if they attack a Christian or kill somebody, You know, they think they're being doing God a service. Boy, I tell you, isn't that happening in the world today with the increased?
Persecution that's going on. Paul was like that before he was converted. And yet God saved him and God sent him. out to be taught by God. The call that Samuel has upon his life.
The call that God has called us to. I think it's the same. Our third point tonight, verses nine through fourteen. Hearing the call of God for your life. We want to ask this question, what will this call sound like?
When God calls us, what will it sound like?
Well, first of all, verses 9 and 10 teach us that you'll know the words. The believer will know the words when God speaks. It says in verse 9: Therefore, Eli said to Samuel, Go lie down, and it shall be. If he calls you, that you must say, listen. You must say.
I have that marked. You not you should say You must say. Say what? Speak, Lord, your servant hears.
So Samuel went and laid down in his place.
Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times. Samuel Samuel. And Samuel answered, Speak. For your servant hears. What a great thing to say.
That's what we're supposed to do. If you get anything out of this message tonight, it's this. Speak, Lord, your servant hears.
Isn't that cool? We can all hear. Do you want to hear? That's the thing. I don't know, Jack.
If I pray. He might like send me to You know. Bangladesh. You won't do that. Oh no, I well.
He may send you to Bangladesh only after. He puts a call in your heart, and you fall in love with Bangladesh. And here's the funny thing: God is so funny. You won't go to Bangladesh until Bangladesh is in your heart. You're looking at a globe.
You're crying over it. You got your finger on it. You pray about it. You're going online to find out what the weather's like in Bangladesh. You start getting Bangladeshi clothes.
You get obsessed with it, and then here's the deal: you're crying out to God, God, send me to Bangladesh. Lord, give me Bangladesh or else I die. I'm serious. He will burden your heart with it, and then the very call he puts upon you. Because you sought him and asked him?
You've got to plead with him to fulfill it. It's a strange thing. It's like giving birth. It's in your heart or in your belly. You know things are going to happen.
And there comes a point in time, we know when a woman's pregnant, she gets kind of, she's scared at first. I've never had a baby before. What's going to happen? And what's going to happen to my figure? It's going to go down the tubes, lady.
It's going to be a wild trip. You're going to have this huge baby. This stuff's going to go on, all these hormonal things are going to take place, all this radical stuff. But you know what's funny? The woman, when the doctor says, you're pregnant.
You know, that's wonderful. You're pregnant. And then she drives home, she's in a day. She doesn't even know what street she's going by. She's like, I'm pregnant.
And she starts thinking, thinking, thinking. And then, as you keep going on, I know this because I've watched this a few times, as it keeps going on. As it keeps going on, then you start thinking, I'm going to paint the room. Oh, I'm going to get these pictures. And they start decorating.
And what once was traumatic, the news, it's like, hey, this is kind of cool. And then, after a while, I tell you, there comes a point in time where earlier the woman's afraid of all the pain she's gonna experience.
Now, at about eight and three-quarter months, she's like, Get this thing out! I can't wait. Let's go now. I want to do this. And it's an amazing thing.
God calls you and you're like, oh, you know, I don't know. And then, you know what? God begins to put in your heart a little hunger for this, a little hunger for that. You start wallpapering your house, you know, looking like the African wilderness or whatever. And it gets in your blood.
And all of a sudden, it's like, God, you've got to send me. Here I am, Lord. Send me. Remember, Isaiah, he was all caught up in the politics of the day. He was all caught up with the king.
He lived in the palace, he had all the wealth, and when he saw God, He said, here I am, send me. That's what happens to the believer. You don't have to be afraid. Oh, I don't want to pray that kind of, you know, surrender prayer to God. Oh my friend, you're missing out on so much.
Surrender now. Give it over to him. What will this call sound like?
Well, Ha, you'll know his words. I want to say you'll hear his voice. I actually met someone at Calvary Costa Mesa years ago who said, and they accepted Jesus. And This guy was a little over a month old in the Lord, and he was telling us that he hears God talking to him. Richard and I were talking to this guy and we thought he was nuts.
This guy literally heard God speak to him. I've never heard of such a thing. I never heard God's voice. I have never heard God's voice. I don't know if I want to.
I'll wait till I get there. But I'm going to say something. I don't know if you'll get it.
Some of you will. In fact, I'm certain some of you will. I've never heard God's voice, but I have. I have felt his word. And I yet I say that Hesitating because I don't want to put Any basis on feeling.
I don't know what to tell you other than. It's as though his word. The sentence, the command, the call. He spoke it, but it wasn't audible. It was better than being audible.
It was embossed on my heart. I knew it instantly. And Yet I didn't hear him. And yet it was better than hearing him. And from that moment on, there's no way that you could have convinced me otherwise.
No way, you could just, you could have talked yourself blue. It wouldn't have mattered. I wouldn't have listened to you. I heard from him.
Well, what did you hear? I didn't hear anything.
Well, what do you mean? You're confusing me. I don't know what to tell you. I knew that I knew it was him. And it's amazing.
It's true. 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.
So Samuel says, speak, Lord, your servant hears. Verse 11 Be prepared because it may sound wonderfully strange. When God speaks then the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. Wow. He's telling it Samuel's secret A.W.
Tozer wrote a book, God Tells the Man Who Cares. You ought to pick up that book and read it. God loves to talk to his people. In John chapter 10, you know this. Jesus says, My sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me.
He loves to speak to his people. I love 1 Kings 19. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah had just got done dealing with the... Prophets On Mount Carmel. Great moment of victory and Then Jezebel is threatening him, and he freaks out, and he's running and crying, and hiding, and.
Barricades himself in a cave and he's afraid of this woman. She must have been something. For this fiery man of God. to get a message from her. I'm going to kill you, she says, I'm going to kill you about this time tomorrow.
And he, this guy, Elijah could run. You ever read that book? Elijah could run. That guy was wild. He would run from Bethel to Jericho.
Some of you have made that journey. That's a long way. Through a wilderness, and you get up and run. He's running like a bionic man. He's just running.
Guy could run. And now he's running from this woman, hiding in the cave. And he says, would to God that I was dead. He's suicidal. I want to die.
Why? Can you imagine? Jezebel, she's a mean woman. And he's looking out there because there's been an earthquake and a wind, and all those stuff's going on. He's looking out the cave.
And it says, A still small voice came from the Lord and said to him, I love it. Elijah What are you doing here? Isn't that great? Oh, he does this thing, and God says, Oh, put a sock in it. Let's go, we got work to do.
Wonderfully strange his call might seem to you. And I think it has to be that way. I think when God calls us, I think it has to be overwhelming to us. It has to be something that is so beyond us. I think it ought to be that way.
If God calls you to do something, It seems strange to you? It should cause you to cry out in your next breath, Oh Lord God, have mercy on me. But I'm reminded, Lord, of the verse: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, strengthen me now. Dependent. Verses 12 to 14 teach us What will his call sound like in our lives?
It could sound like an alarm. In that day, God says, I will perform against Eli, remember. All that I have spoken concerning his house from Beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity. Listen carefully, which he knows.
Not which he did, but which he knows of. Because his sons made themselves vile. And he did not restrain them. And therefore, I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for. By sacrifice or offering forever.
In other words, Samuel, I'm gonna judge Eli because his boys are rampant. They're bad witnesses. They rip off the people of God. They defame my name. And here's the reason why I'm gonna destroy Eli and his family.
Because Eli knew about his son's evils and didn't do anything about it. He never spanked his boys, didn't discipline them, didn't correct them. They grew up to be evil men. And because he allowed that, I'm gonna judge them. Wow.
And God says, don't make an offering. Don't intercede. Don't sacrifice. For him, Forever. I won't listen.
Why? Because he knew that his sons were doing evil and he did nothing about it. Fourth point. We have five. I don't know if we'll make it tonight.
Fourth point. Hearing the call of God for your life, what will the call be like? Verses 15 to 18. What will the call Be like. Verses 15 through 18, he says this to us.
Verse 15, So Samuel lay down until morning and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision.
So, the first thing that we see here is that's compelling. What will it be like? It will be compelling. The message comes to Samuel. It's a heavy one, no doubt about it.
But listen, it will be compelling. When God calls you, it will be compelling. It will seize you. Listen to what Jeremiah says about that. Jeremiah 15, verse 6.
Your words, Jeremiah says, were found, and I ate them, and your word was to me. The joy and the rejoicing of my heart. Why? For I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. That's a wonderful comfort to know.
It will be compelling. Listen to the message that God gives little Samuel: it is heavy. And it says there that Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about it. Listen. Christian, servant of the Lord.
When God calls you, This is one of the most difficult things about the call. Are you ready? You won't have a message. You must get one from God. You'll have no direction.
You gotta find one. In the Lord. You'll have no protection. What do you mean? No protection.
God will see to it that you have no protection from man. If you're called by the Lord to serve him, you will answer to him. You will be dependent upon him. He will be your shield. What did he say to Abraham?
I will be your reward. I will be your shield. Christian, honestly, listen, there is not one person in this universe that can defend you. Not one, but God only. Do we have friends?
Yes. Do we love them? Yes. Praise the Lord for that. But there is one who can deliver us, only one.
And he is the one. His call upon your life will be compelling. It is this, the fulfillment of the scripture when Jesus said. Take no thought in that hour for what you will say. For I will give you in that selfsame hour the words to speak.
Do you know how much faith it takes to step up and to go not knowing what you're going to say? And yet that's what God compels us to do. On and on we could go. Time doesn't permit. It must be compelling.
Secondly, it must be. Supernatural verses 16 to 17. Then Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, here I am. And he said, What is the word that the Lord has spoken to you?
Can you imagine being little Sammy? Big Eli and Eli was big. Huge guy. Samuel? What did the Lord say?
Basically, Eli, that you're gonna fry. You and your house. It's over for you. What do you say? How do you say?
My goodness. In Amos 3:7, the Bible says, Surely the Lord does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants, the prophets. And what was Samuel? Both the Priest and a prophet. Supernatural.
Ephesians chapter 3, verse 16 to 21 teaches us that God. Will do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. And he will do that in our lives to strengthen and build and encourage the body. God will use you in supernatural ways. He's committed to that.
We'll end right here at this point, and we'll end. By saying this. I want to encourage you. Today I backed up and I wrote some things down. And we'll leave off with this.
God so wants to do something, and He so wants to do it in a supernatural way. That I believe he's begging us. To step out and trust him. In my own personal prayer, journal my Life. There's some things in there that For some of us in here looking around We've been together for a long time.
I see Mary back there. This whole thing started in her house. And Looking back at this.
Somewhere around 10 years ago, I prayed this prayer. Lord, please take my life and use it to your glory. That I might be used by you and Lord, keep me usable. That prayer was enlarged to, Lord, I also ask that you would use this home Bible study group. To be used to your glory.
that we might be used by you. Keep us usable. That prayer was again enlarged to Lord, take this church of 300 people. And use it to your glory that we might be used by you. Keep us usable.
And you think of last Sunday's service and before service in the office, we prayed. And I prayed, Lord, now. Take these thousands of people and take us. Use us to your glory. Lord, do something with us so awesome, so grand.
So honoring to you. That everyone will know it was impossible for any one of us to have done it on our own. And that's the prayer. That we ought to pray. Or something like it, Lord God.
Take us. Come on now, who are you to night? Oh Jack, I'm just, you know what? I'm a janitor, I'm a housewife, I'm a business person, I'm a computer person, I'm a this, I'm a what. Don't think like that.
You've been called by are you a Christian? Oh, that I am. You've been called by God. Can I still be called by God and be unemployed? You're an unemployed.
Christian. You've been called by God. Couldn't he have called somebody else? No, he's called you. The call Is freedom.
From external circumstances, no matter how close they might be. And you pray, Lord. Tonight. I ask you from this moment on to take my life. and cause it to be a glory, an honor, A blessing to you and your name.
Do something, Lord, through my life. I invite you, do it. Through my life. That when it's done Everyone will know that it's not of me or anyone else around me, but you only. Do something, God, so radical.
Because, God, I believe you do want to do something radical. And I don't want you to do it with somebody else if you're going to do it. Think about it. God, if you're gonna do it. Don't pick somebody else.
Lord, here I am. Send me. And God do it in my life. You can pray that prayer, can't you? Let's pray it.
Father, in Jesus' name, we come together as a church in these last days. We pray, O Lord of heaven and earth, that you would do a work through us. We ask you, Lord, that you would baptize us with the power of your Holy Spirit. We pray, Father, that you had put within us The call That Lord for each of us There would be that thing that would begin to simmer, cook. In our heart.
that it will begin to consume us and to compel us. Lord, give me the homeless. Or else I die. Or give me my home. Give me my...
Family, my extended family, give me my neighborhood lest I die. We ask that prayer. In Jesus' name, Lord, we pray. Amen. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
Here on Real Life Radio, and his message called Hearing the Call of God for Your Life, Part 1. Thanks for spending some time with us today. We're glad you did. You know this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called First Samuel. A series highlighting 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'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/slash know God. 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. Have you ever felt alone?
Well, of course you have. We all do. We go through those seasons. But what's important is not what we feel, but it's what. God's word says, and God has promised to never leave us no matter what we're facing.
In fact, it's been my experience in life that what we're facing It's not just a problem. It's an opportunity for God to reveal himself to us. He's even found in the silence.
So Lord, in Jesus' name, bless my brother, my sister, as they may think. that the heavens are shut up to them. But Lord, that you would speak to them and encourage them as they are facing the giants in their life. May you be the one that delivers them in Jesus' name. Amen.
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.
