Today on Real Life Radio. The most important thing is that what you think God is speaking to you, you can open up your Bible and find a confirmed word in the scripture about it. And in the day and age in which you and I live, it is a very critical time because people are living off of emotionally based. Christian experiences. 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. You ever felt like something's missing in your life? Maybe you've been searching for answers for peace or a sense of purpose? You know, the truth is those longings are there because you were created to know God.
At jackhibbs.com, there's a tab called No God. It's designed to help you discover what it truly means to have a relationship with God. This isn't about religion, it's about understanding who God is. Why he loves you, and how you can find hope and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. The page breaks it down in a simple, clear way, answering common questions and guiding you through the steps of faith.
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On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack now continues his series called First Samuel. and a message titled, Hearing the Call of God for Your Life, Part 2.
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, as we learned in part one, in desperate times there are desperate needs, and the call from God will come to the proper person.
So just as Samuel was ready for the call, God has called us to be ready as well.
So today Pastor Jack teaches that God can speak to us through dreams, but with all things, it must be examined before an open Bible. His call on our lives will come at the right time, but we need to listen. and to be still before him.
Now with his message called, Hearing the Call of God for Your Life, Part 2? Here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. Lord, you've already touched us, though we should have and Determined to touch you during the worship, Lord. It's as though. The song and the heart has reached your heaven, and you've Poured it back upon us, Lord.
We felt and feel even now your presence and. Lord, you're so very good and so very kind. And Lord, we pray that you would now bless the going forth of your word. Father, help us to be a people that are serious about the Bible. We live in a place and in a world that puts so much emphasis on the performers, the singers, the drums, and the speaker.
When in reality We all, as your children, were the ones. Lord, really accountable. As the word goes out that we would put it into action, it's not. how high we can jump, but it's how straight we can walk. And so, Father, we pray that as Just The verse Of Scripture that goes forth from our lips into the heart, Lord God, would have its great effect.
The very effect that you intended from The very creation.
So Lord, bless now, and cause our hearts. To listen and to hear your truth. In Jesus' name, amen. Hearing the call of God for your life. In 1 Samuel 3, if you remember, God's call came to Samuel, and it came through what appeared to be very natural means.
In that Samuel, who after laying down heard his name called. and thinking and supposing Eli was calling him, He got up each time and went into Eli's room and said, Well, here I am. You called me. And Eli quickly said, no, I didn't. And you can almost sense a little frustration.
Go back to bed. Get out of here, kid. You're bothering me. And he goes back and lays down and he hears his name called again. Samuel So little Samuel gets up, goes back into Eli's room and says, What?
And Eli perceives that it must be the Lord calling. him calling Samuel.
So he says, listen. Lay back down. And when you hear once again, Samuel, say, what is it, Lord? Your servant is listening. And He was listening, and God gave him.
A very Insightful, detailed. judgment that was going to come upon Eli And his life, all because Eli was a very Lazy And delinquent father though he be a priest Though he be a man of God, He did not govern over his own sons, and they in their lifetime. began to manipulate and cheat and rob from the people of God. and so bring into question the ministry. And how true that is today, and it's always been true, but how true it is today that so many people bring harm to the very service that God has called them to defend and to protect.
and to be a custodian over, It is a strange thing, though. I don't want to write it off too lightly. It is a strange thing that God has called humans into the custody of His Holy Word. It's an amazing thing. I don't quite understand it.
It seems to me... As I grow, and as you grow, and more of an understanding of the Bible, that it seems to me that it should be entrusted more to angels, maybe. Or to uh To God Himself to rend open a cloud and speak the gospel message from the heavens. That to me makes sense as I see the gospel more noble and more powerful and more gracious. In my life, it seems to me that God would have entrusted this truth to angels or to just himself alone.
But he's given it to these, you and I. creatures. And yet, there's power in that: that God would take the word, put it into our hearts, change our lives, and we might tell others about the truth. God seemed fit. And sees fit to do that.
Hearing the voice of God will often be the most challenging effort. Of our Christian experience. Listen, we know from the Bible that specifically this is true. In the book of Ezekiel, Chapter 6, verse 1. The Bible says the prophet Ezekiel reports thereby saying, Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, So the prophet Ezekiel says, the word of the Lord came to me saying, Hearing the voice of God for our own lives ought not to be a difficult thing because God intends us to hear his voice.
Ezekiel says, I heard the voice of the Lord. And we read it every day in our Bibles. Not only was it specific, but distinctly in Jeremiah 1:13. Jeremiah says, And the word of the Lord came to me a second time saying, Very specific. Listen, the Bible leads us to understand that when God speaks, He speaks in such a way that we ought to be hearing.
So why do we make it such a mystery? What's the problem? I think in my life, and I'm going to venture out to say it's true in your life, that we are people who need to be conditioned to hear and to listen to the voice of God and move away the clutter. Granted, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, others wandering around the wilderness and in small little hamlets, I think it would have been easier to hear the voice of God. Is that our excuse today?
Sorry, God, I can't hear you. I live in a city. Oh no, he's able to speak. I think living in the last days, having the entire Bible, which I don't think that's a coincidence. We've got the Bible.
We're supposed to be reading that even if we live in You know, downtown Los Angeles, we can still have the Bible and read and understand God's direction for our lives. And God also speaks clearly in Acts chapter 10. There the Bible says, and the voice came to me saying, Paul is speaking, and the voice, or God's voice, came to me saying, So why do we make it difficult? We shouldn't, because we know that finally God has spoken to us in Hebrews chapter 1. Where there the Bible says God at various times and in various ways spoke in times past.
to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days Spoken to us by his Son, that is Jesus Christ. whom he has appointed heir of all things, and through him he made the worlds.
So God says, I'm done speaking. I have spoken through my son Jesus. And I'm not going to say anything else. All that we have, isn't it funny? All that we have is right here in this book, the Bible.
But people will say, you know what? I need to hear a message from God. Read the book. Oh, I need to hear a word from the Lord. Read the book.
God says, I've spoken and it's through my Son. And God has given us the Bible. People will often ask, can God speak through dreams? Of course, God can speak through dreams. He can do anything he wants.
People might say, will God speak through my friends? Oh yeah, sure, God can do that. People say, well, God speaks through maybe preachers or the radio. Yeah, he can do that. And I think he does do that.
But regardless of what you're questioning or asking can God speak to me through this venue or through this Surmen are through this dream. The most important thing is that what you think God is speaking to you, you can open up your Bible and find a confirmed word in the scripture about it. And in the day and age in which you and I live, it is a very critical time because people are living off of emotionally based. Christian experiences. Not what the Bible dictates, but what their friend told them.
In fact, listen, it's quite dangerous when in the Christian church, somebody can say, I've had three friends tell me over the course of a year that I ought to go and be a pastor. What do you think? Don't ask me that question. Three friends? Oh yeah, they're really cool and they're spirit filled.
That's nice for them. But are you going to hang your direction on what three friends have said?
Well, they love the Lord. Don't do that. My friend, remember: if somebody comes up to you and they say, you know, God told me that you're gonna be my wife or you're gonna be my husband. You know, this is a real big thing in singles ministries. God told me that you're going to marry me and we're going to be together.
Hey, listen, girl, if somebody lays that one on you, you better stop right there and say, well, if God told you, He can certainly tell me. As of yet, he hasn't spoken a word.
So, in the Lord. Get lost, you know? It's very important. If God is gonna speak to you. He can speak to you directly.
Listen. Christians, God will use Christians to speak to other Christians. Quite frankly, I see in scripture and I see in experience, though experience lined up against scripture, that when God speaks through another Christian to buy Christian, it is more often than not in the area of a rebuke or a correction or encouragements. Hey brother, I want to encourage you to keep going. Or, hey, brother, I don't think you should be staying over at Bubble's house so late in the.
Night, it looks bad, you know. And that's got a rebuke, and it's oh my goodness. Or someone might say, Listen, you're living in sin. You need to get out of that. You need to follow God.
That's. Very often how God will speak. Uh through a brother? Or a sister. And you got to be listening for that.
But I believe personally that if you're a Christian, you ought to open up your Bible and let God speak to you. I think there'll be a lot less trauma in the body of Christ if people will just seek Him that way. Does God wanna speak to me? Does God wanna speak to you? Absolutely yes.
That being the case, we shouldn't make it a big difficult thing. Really? I think And I almost sound legalistic about this, but I think as systematic, as daily as possible reading through the Bible, God will speak to you.
Well Jack. Man, I'm in Chronicles, and all I'm hearing is so-and-so begat so-and-so. God could be talking to you through those guys. You know? It's very, very true.
But I think we need to be in a systematic reading of the Bible, and you'll be surprised how your life's. Situation. God will miraculously align with your daily reading. It's amazing. You'll have such a question.
You'll be thinking about it all day. You get home at night, you open up your Bible and you read, and lo and behold, the very thing that you've been stressed out about or wondering about, in that day, God had the answer for you. That's why it's better to read the Bible in the morning before you get going. 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. Last time together, we saw that hearing the call of God for your life meant a few things. And number one was desperate times and desperate needs.
If you remember, the time had become desperate. Here in 1 Samuel 3, there was a dearth in the land for God's word. There was no widespread revelation. of God's word. And so God was raising up Samuel.
We saw also in verse 1 that the call will come to a proper person. When God calls a person, when God calls you, it will come to you. Every believer has a calling that God has set aside for them. If you can name the name of Christ tonight, by the way, I got a note from somebody, and I guess I should say it's my habit.
Somebody wrote me a note and they said, I'm really upset with you because I come in week in and week out, and you say, If you're a Christian, then you'll la-di-da-da. And so, listen, if you're here tonight, because you didn't sign the note, and I wound up reading it, because I have a policy of not to read unsigned notes. And you caught me off guard, whoever you are. And I read it, and you said that it makes you upset when I challenge you that way.
Well, listen, I don't know, I don't. Know about anybody else's salvation and walk with God in this room, let alone in this church. This is, you know, one-fourth of the church bodies here tonight.
So, I don't know about you. I only know about me. And I can't know. You must know before God. That's why I say: listen, if you're a Christian tonight, then you will be hungering and thirsting after hearing the voice of God.
So I apologize in advance, kind of. for saying that. My friend, if that's you and you're insecure with your walk with Jesus, I suggest you find out that your walk is secure with him. Because someone can tell you otherwise and you can walk away saying, well, he said I was saved. Oh brother, somebody says that you can sing.
If somebody said that you're safe, somebody can come back and say, I don't think you are, and you're devastated, you're an emotional wreck.
So be rooted in the Lord. The call will come to the proper person, meaning Every believer, and if you're born again, God has put a call on your life. It may not be to take Billy Graham's place. But it will be to reach someone in your world. And it's incumbent upon the Christian to find out.
who it is God wants us to reach. The Bible says there that the boy Samuel ministered To the Lord. And that's what we're to be doing. Secondly, we saw under this point that the call will come at just the right time. Verses 2 and 3 taught us that it came to pass at that time.
It went on to say that before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord. God's call will come upon your life at exactly the right time. You need to remember that because when God calls you, you don't have to wonder and say, well, you know, I'll pray about it. There's a time to pray. But when God says, get up and go.
There's a time to run with it. There's a time to go. And quite frankly, Christians, many Christians, maybe all of us, when we're not too hip on doing something, we will often do the biggest Christian lie. and cop out of them all. And what is it?
I'll pray about it. Hey, my car's broken down. Can you come? Pick me up, I'll pray about it. My house is on fire.
I'll pray about it. You know, it's weird, but we do this. No, listen, the call will come at exactly the right time. And God's call, what I mean by that is God's call. use and purpose for your life.
Don't second guess him. Just listen to him. And trust him. When you ask him, Lord, reveal to me the call that you've placed upon my life. You must, from that moment on, begin to look for the opportunities that God brings into your life.
Start moving on those Moments that God gives. You've got to go for it. Is this scary? Yeah. Are you kinda like insecure?
Yeah. You feel like you're gonna fail? Uh-huh. But step out, watch what happens. I believe personally that's one of the great meanings of the scriptures that says that, you know, I will bear you up on eagle's wings.
When you step out, He'll bear you up. The call will come at just the right time, as it did with him. Listen, the second point we saw last time in verses 4 through 8 is: how can I know God's call for me? How could I know? And we studied this.
Verses four and five, we learn that His call will come when we're still. When you're still before the Lord, It says, and he answered, here I am. And so he ran to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called me. And he said, I did not call you. Lie down again.
And he went and lay down.
Now, listen, I think God is trying to send us a message. Not that you have to lie down to hear God's call, but after the busyness of the day, little Samuel was laying down. By the way, little Samuel. Commentators speculate from five years of age to 13 years of age.
So we don't really know exactly how young he was, but he was young. He's laying down. And God begins to speak. Samuel was learning how to practice the presence of God. And we need to do the same thing.
We need to be in that mindset. Secondly, We learned that How can I know God's call for me? is when the call persists. God persists with the drive or the call or that invite to come and follow him in a certain area. And we talked about Jonah.
God's calling can be so strong upon your life, you can even pull a Jonah and God will pursue you. Isn't that amazing? I mean, the stuff. God went through to get Jonah into the ministry. The Bible says that God prepared a great fish.
It's not a whale. You know that? Oh no, I'm It's gotta be a whale. They don't say whales, a fish. Great fish.
Did God make that fish for that moment? Could have. Was it a great fish that was born for many years and it grew up and it swallowed Jonah that way? Could have been. Could have been like a whale shark.
They could have said, that's a fish. You could certainly get in its mouth. It's wild. He was so unwilling to follow God in the call that what did he do? He basically committed suicide.
He said listen throw me over the boat Throw me over, you guys. Remember the storm and they're going crazy and Jonah, he's hiding out, he's down on the bottom. And the ship, the captain, the ship of... The ship's captain goes downstairs, wakes him up. And he says, hey, arise, O sleeper.
Get up! We're going to seek the gods. And Jonah goes, oh, I know what's going on. It's all because of me. Listen, throw me overboard and everything would be fine.
They're trying to save his life. They're throwing all the gear and everything over the ship. Jonah goes, throw me over, everything will be fine with you guys. He wants to k he wants to die. Overboard he goes.
And this great fish swallows them. That happened, by the way, in a real historic event in the 1800s and Where a great fish swallowed a man. Actually, it was a, in that case, it was a whale. And this man went on, by the way. circus, he was a freak.
He was swallowed by a whale. And he was later vomited out. And all of his hair was completely bleached off. He had turned a lime. a lime white colored from the bile.
And he was actually paraded around in a circus for years. As the modern-day Jonah, it's your real story. Can you imagine what Jonah looked like when that fish spit him out on the shore? He said, and he goes out, and he's got seaweed, and he's probably. yellowish white bile bleached body.
Bile bleached body. And then he Marks. Over the desert and through the woods to Nineveh, he goes, and he shows up and he says. 40 days and you burn. That was his message.
God says, Jonah, go preach to them. 40 days and you burn. And then he sits down and he's waiting forty days. All right. It's gonna be great.
But the people began to pray. The heathens began to pray, and God began to listen. And God says, Joe Nell, listen, I'm gonna back off on my judgment because they've all repented. And he goes, That's just like you. And he scolds God for being merciful and forgiving.
God persisted. In Jonah's life, and God used him tremendously. By the way, in Jonah's life, in his ministry, it was the greatest evangelistic outreach in human history. It is estimated That somewhere between 100,000 plus people came to Christ by Jonah's message that he preached. Nineveh was converted.
And the evangelists didn't even want people saved. What kind of a deal is that? Can you imagine? Do you want a follow-up program? There won't be any follow-up program.
You want to get Bibles? They won't need Bibles. They're gonna burn. God saves them. It's amazing.
What a guy. I heard a message one time by Dave Hunt that reminded me of that. What an awesome man of God he is, a prophet of God, Dave Hunt. and tremendous. tremendous voice to the church today.
Jonah was a tremendous voice. God persisted after him. Thirdly, we saw in verse 7 under this point that the call comes. When it comes, it's very personal. It says, Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. Then Eli perceived that the LORD had called the boy. A very personal call. In 1 Corinthians 9, 16, I love this passage. Paul preaches concerning the personal call.
He says, for if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about. For of necessity is laid upon me to preach it. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. He was under a mandate from God. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
Here on Real Life Radio, and his message called Hearing the Call of God for Your Life, Part 2. Thanks for joining us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called First Samuel. It's 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 will continue.
on the next edition of Real Life Radio. 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. Hey, this is Pastor Jack, and I want to encourage you to join me every morning this year at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, where we literally get together online in a prayer group, and there are thousands who are joining us.
I'd love for you to participate. That's 5 a.m. every day throughout the entire year. We get together and pray. I look forward to meeting up with you.
Come get prayed for and join Pastor Jack in the Word. That's the Lyft Daily Prayer every day this year on Pastor Jack's Facebook page. 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.
