Today on Real Life Radio, I am seeking you with all of my heart. I serve you. Lord, deliver me. Take that Bible and stand on it. You can prepare your hearts.
For the presence of God. 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. Daniel Cohen here from Israel.
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Sign up now at reallifeenetwork.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues his series called First Samuel and a message titled Getting the Victory in Life, Part 1. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets.
So here in chapter 7, Samuel prays for the people of Israel after they've suffered a devastating defeat. and endured great insult to their pride. You see, it's a turning point for Israel. The people have been humble, so they move from defeat and fear to to an uplifting victory and a renewed trust in God.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that, like Israel, it's only when we live our lives dependent upon God that we're going to have any victory at all. It's about creating a life of worship towards God and the desire for victory over heartbreak and sin.
Now with his message called Getting the Victory in Life Part 1. Here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. A nation as great as ours. is destined To fall. If we leave God out.
will fall. We will falter.
Now I'm wondering if our nation wasn't on top I bet you churches would be more packed. I said, what? Yeah, you know what? Um I'm not against prosperity. I'm for it.
As long as it's used Wisely. But you know what? When we get away from that and we begin to worship the things more than the God who gives those things. Who? Or, which of you is a parent who loves your kids?
If they get snotty and rebellious and selfish and mean and At all? It's right for you to take their toys away and say you won't get this back until you learn to share. Have you ever seen a little kid that just harbors their toys in the corner and little Junior comes over next door to play? And everything Junior picks up, that guy grabs and says, it's mine! You ever seen that happen?
You know who needs a spanking? The parents. Of that child.
Okay. Share, Jr., he's going to grow up. Mine, mine, it's all mine. And if he ever gets into a church, he's gonna walk into the church, he's gonna be thinking, well, what's this church gonna do for me?
Well, you know, how's it going to serve me?
Well, wait a minute. The church is a a gathering of believers in need. of God, who He touches through people. Where do you fit into the equation?
Well, I thought all these people were here for me. Interesting. We have to be careful. We begin to compare ourselves with others that are around us, and the Bible says that those who compare themselves among themselves are not wise. Why?
Because the Christian is called to a greater standard. Israel was called to a greater standard, and that it was for God to be their leader. God to be their king. Tragically, we're going to get to chapter 8. And they're going to throw off God and they're going to call for a man to be their leader.
And boy, do things go downhill It's terrible. Our second point tonight is found in verse 3. Getting the victory in life is that. We're to be living the walk of life. Then Samuel spoke to all of the house of Israel, saying, if you return, Look.
If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, mark that in your Bible. That's the key to the whole chapter. All your hearts. Then put away the foreign gods and the Estros from among you and prepare your hearts for the Lord and serve Him only. He will deliver you from the hands.
of the Philistines. First thing we see here in verse 3. is that we're to stop going. Where we're going. That's what Israel was doing.
They were heading down the wrong path, and God got their attention. But what about us? We ought to stop going the direction that we're going privately, me personally. You personally, in what direction of our lives are we going? And we've been going.
That's not right. That's what Samuel is saying, verse 3. If you return to the Lord with all your hearts. You see how simple this is, but are we willing? Here's the deal.
God Give me a heart to return to you. If you're not willing tonight, If I'm not willing tonight to follow him, we ought to at least ask, God, give me a heart to follow you.
So Samuel, he's not... He's not soft shoeing these guys, you know? He's saying, if you, notice what he does, he's a good. Pastor teacher. He's a good prophet.
He's saying Israel, if now the burden is on them, On us. If you'll turn... Back to the Lord. You've got to do it with all your heart. That's the requirement.
So, this verse implies that they're going the wrong direction. Stop. and return. Every believer from time to time, listen. I'm I am talking about me and I'm talking about you.
We From time to time, must stop in the direction we're going and turn around. Are you accountable to anyone else in this church or Christian friends? My friend, if you're not, you are destined for failure. If you're not accountable.
So what do you mean accountable? If you don't have a Christian friend. Who can freely speak to you about the Bible? Who can say to you, Hey John? I don't think we ought to be doing this.
You're destined for failure. spiritually. You better make sure, and only you can do this for you, and I have to do it for me, is to surround yourself with people that will challenge you spiritually. If you don't, you're going to go down, something's going to happen.
Now listen. What if I surrounded myself with people in this church who were just yes men, yes people? Listen. I can tell you the last ten years would have been disastrous. Churches that do that stifle.
people. They bruise people. They break people. Because it becomes a self-serving ministry. That the ministry leaders begin to say or think that all of these people are here for us.
The exact opposite's true. The leadership is here for all of the people. Christian leadership, they'll line or the names begin at the bottom. And the weakest, newest. Shiniest Brand newest.
Christian is at the top. And he's got this foundation of servants under him holding him up. And the pet, excuse me, the pastor. The evangelist The servants of the church are at the bottom. This is important.
Have we lost it? Isn't it wild that on Sunday I could show up on Sunday wearing a robe? On a robe. I don't mean a bathrobe. I mean a religious robe.
A religious robe. With the tassels and the Whole thing. You know some people would walk in here and they'd just go, oh, that's all cool.
Okay. Yeah. It doesn't matter to them because they They won't talk to me anyway. I'm some guy so far away Up on this pulpit?
So far removed, because that's how they were brought up. That the ministry is some sort of special group of people. I would hope by now that you have learned. Yeah. That uh that doesn't happen here.
But see When we begin to compare ourselves and when we begin to go in the wrong direction, we begin to look to people. We begin to get really religious and not so relational with God and the people around us. We file in, we file out. And I don't want to meet the pastor. This is between us.
I love greeting people as they leave the building. The only bummer is there's more doors than that one door. And uh but when the new church is built The whole foyer I mean, that's my baby. I told the guys you can go fiddle with ever with anything else you want, but don't mess with that foyer. Because these doors open up and I want to greet these people.
And the funny thing about it is I see people, even in this little hallway down here, they are coming down the hallway and they see me and you can see their throat tighten up. And they're I don't know. know what they're thinking. That I'm gonna like you know, scared them or I don't know. But I want it when I see that happen.
I was like... Hey, whoa, what you so tight about? It's really a Temptation for me, but Definitely.
Some people it's just uh mm-mm. And it's funny because I meet people, I just met a couple last Sunday who had been here for just a few weeks. Last Wednesday night, I met a couple and the whole family. who had been here for the first time last Wednesday night. And then I meet people who say, hi, Pastor Jack, I've been here six years.
And I'm thinking, six years? And then I'm wondering, I don't even remember seeing them. Man, I wonder, they got the right church. It's funny. Be accountable to people.
Know people. Get to know people. Don't isolate yourself. 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 he says: if you return to the Lord with all of your heart, Also, look. Then he goes on to say, Then put away the foreign gods and the asteroids from among you. Start doing what we should be doing. We should do what we should do. Follow the Lord with all of our hearts.
Put away the foreign gods. You might say, well, that doesn't apply to us. Wait a minute. The Asteroths, are you ready for this? That's pornography!
Are we not living in a pornographic age? The Astros were a bunch of little pornographic idols. And you would take an astroth idol? And there are many of them, by the way. They've all been unearthed.
And they have all these various perverse positions of sexual acts. And you would take this Astaroth, and you would go down, you'd buy it at the Agora. and you would take it into the temple area and you would there meet with the temple priests or prostitutes. and worship that God. That's what they did!
Israel's doing it. Samuel's saying, put away the pornography.
Okay, now does it apply to this age in which we live in? going to my doctor and Beverly Hills, just about ten doors down. From my doctor is Larry Flint's office. Flynn? Publications.
Penthouse magazine. I drive by that building. And you know what? People coming in and out with ties and dresses and. Beamers and Rolls-Royces and they look so like That's how I want to be.
So world, right? But what they're doing is they're bartering and trading in the souls of men. Did you know that? And it's a huge black high-rise. They got the color right.
And I tried by that building. And it's right on the corner there of La Cienega and Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. And I drive by there and I say every time I go by, Lord, send an earthquake underneath this building. Of course, save the people first. But send an earthquake, break those presses, destroy those things.
But you know what? That's the asteros of today. Say, well, I don't have a little carving. Oh, no, no, we perfected it. We've put it in technicolor and video.
We've put it in magazines and Shopping center corners and peep shops and movies and adult toy. Stores. And uh Prostitute the people. Traffic in the souls of men. All for the dollar bill.
Don't be fooled. When you're tempted to read that love novel, and oh, I wish my husband was romantic like this. Goofball in this book. You know what? That is a form of Asteroth.
Because now he comes home and he's you know, if he's like me, you know Sweaty and belly's hanging out, you know, and. I'm hungry! She's been reading this book all day. He swept me in his arms. His lips were like velvet.
The wind was blowing, and all you could smell was sweet magnolias. The woman's things in her mind. She's thinking about it all day. And the guy, you know, he's on the freeway, he's listening to the The Angels get beat by the Yankees and He comes in, I'm hungry. It's hot.
And she's thinking of brother. Look at this guy. But listen, Satan's got his plan. All that guy has to do is sit down. With his, you know.
Pop-tart or whatever he's got. And he's sitting there, and lo and behold, there's a stinking Victoria secret. Commercial. Listen, Victoria's Secret, you know the ladies are going, What's wrong with that? Ask your husband or your son what's wrong with that.
If your husband or son's walking with the Lord, You'll see them look down or they'll get out of the room. Over Victoria's Secret, Hey. That's all a guy needs. And Larry Flynn knows it. You Hefner knows it.
Because it's in the human heart to go after asteroths. In balls. Pornographic worship. That's who these gods were. Times haven't changed, have they?
The heart of the man that is lost is the same. And the temptation that Satan brings to the believer is the same. But I'm telling you, as we were praying this evening, Boy, as our prayer meeting turned toward husbands and fathers. Those of us who were here, did you hear the cry? of mothers and women rise in prayer.
I noticed that. And as cries were even mentioned in the prayer meeting, God deliver. This man from pornography It's horrible. It leads you and opens you up to demonic activity in your home, even if you are a Christian. Demonic activity will invade your home.
Be careful. Get away from it. Samuel says Depart from that. Put it away.
Okay. Follow God with all of your heart. That's taken a proactive Position Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6: Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. says the Bible, and lean not on your own understanding. And in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct Your Paths.
Great verse, Proverbs 3 verses. Five and six. Take a proactive stance. Start doing what we should be doing. What do we do?
Proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6. Trust in the Lord. Start doing what's right. The Jesus style of doing things. Thirdly, under this point, we need to be going forward with God.
He says in verse 3: prepare your hearts for the Lord and serve Him only. I would mark that in your Bible. I've got it marked. Serve. And my flesh says, me only.
Serve Whatever your interest is only. No, God says serve me only. And he, Samuel says, will deliver you. That's a promise. Man, you can take this verse and say, God, You said I am seeking you with all of my heart.
I serve you. Lord, deliver me. Take that Bible and stand on it. You can prepare your hearts for For the presence of God. We need to be careful about that, people, because the temptation is to go home tonight and not prepare our hearts for his presence.
And also as we need to serve him. And that is talking about, listen, worship and adoration of him. You see, you're thinking, well, maybe service, you know, no, no, no, it's not doing. It's worshiping him. I tell you, when you're worshiping him, if you're a worshiper, Trials come.
But trials go, And you're walking in victory. Every worshiper I know has trials in their lives, but you know what? You can tell. the worshipers from the non-worshipers because The worshippers have got such a different vantage point of perspective. And the non-worshipper is just panicking.
And the non-worshipper, the believer who's not involved in worship, is usually the first person to run to the assistance of man. A worshipper of God who's in tune with the Lord will run to the Lord. And say, Father, help me, Lord, be my deliverance. Show me. And that's when God begins to speak.
And listen, I want to give you a little. Clue here. Those worshipers come out of their trials much more faster. They get out of the hospital, so to speak, quicker. Because they learn.
And they have learned. to rest in the hands of their loving Saviour. That is a Christian trick. A secret insight, which shouldn't be a secret at all. It should be commonplace for all of us.
Worship the Lord. Adore him. And watch the victory come. Take time to worship him alone in your life. You don't need to raise your hand, but how many of you are going to commute tomorrow?
Turn off. whatever's on and put on worship. Do you ever look around when you're while you're on the freeway? I drive my daughter to West Covina every day. And you look out the car, you see people, and uh They're yapping away.
They're talking to... Whoever the disc jockeys are, you would think there's a ton of people in the car. They're singing, they're laughing, they're carrying on. You think that there's a whole meeting taking place? They're all by themselves.
You know what? When we pull up behind a car that's got the Jesus said, come after me sticker, by the way. If you were going up the 57 freeway this morning and you're Ford Excursion? What's the big one? Yeah, excursion.
It's so cool because you have that white, that big white excursion, and you have that Jesus said, come after me sticker on the back. And whenever we see that sticker in our in our car, From our car, we see you go by, we pray out loud instantly, and we just say, Lord, bless them. Lord, give them a great day. Lord, bless whatever they touch. Bring you water.
So whoever you are with that, Car at 750 this morning. You were going down the freeway? And my daughter and I were sitting there, and I saw you get radically cut off by that guy and that Toyota. The cool thing was, as you pass us, I saw the sticker and said, Lord, bless them and call them. cause all that they put their hand to to prosper and wham, that guy cut in front of you.
But you know what? By God's grace, you got to keep going. Who knows? I don't know. But I want to believe that God had engineered that moment.
I got a chance to see your sticker. knew that you were associated with the Lord somehow. Maybe even fellowship here. Shot the prayer up, and then milliseconds later, this knucklehead almost cuts you off the highway. Could there have been a connection?
I'll never know. But I know that God doesn't waste prayer. I said now everyone's gonna flock the counter for those stickers. I would too. I would too.
Get prayer. When you see that sticker, Jesus said, come after me. That's That's, yes, that's a sticker that we made here, but it's not limited to this church. People pull into the coffee house and grab that sticker. I've seen that sticker in Germany!
I've seen it up in Seattle. Lake Tahoe! We were at a church. They had a stack of them! They got them from here!
So you can be driving around. Oh man, hey, Lord bless them. Hey, I'll take the prayer. It's a good thing. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
Here on Real Life Radio, and a message called Getting the Victory in Life, Part 1. Thanks for spending some time with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called 1 Samuel. It's a series that highlights the prophet Samuel, who was called by God during one of Israel's darkest ages in order to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. and we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
Pastor Jack, tell me about the new book. Are you excited? More than excited. Yeah, we're talking about the new book, Call to Take a Bold Stand. The subtitle is Resilient and Effective Faith for a Godless Age.
Tell me. We live in an age where people, we've all gone through this evolution, or I should say de-evolution, maybe starting with COVID, that our voices got a little bit. Less you know, influential. We kind of got quieter. We were kind of beaten down with the quote data.
And you know, the CDC muzzled us. We for the for me, for many of us in California, our governor tried to silence us. Right. And I saw all this stuff going on. I mean, I'm this book came out of really the COVID era.
That's what inspired me to write this book: is that, wait a minute, we are being pressured and we are being intimidated to not say certain words. Uh but to begin to pair it You know what the political influence has been versus what the Bible says. People who are gripped with fear. What's the counter to fear?
Well, it's certainly love, knowing that God loves you. But if you know that God loves you, You're going to be able to take a bold stand because you're not looking for the love of other people. You're looking for the approval of God. And if you know you have that from the scriptures, then it just becomes, I think, second nature for the believer. To take a bold stand.
Absolutely.
So Living in the Days of Deception was about spotting the deception, right? And this current book, am I right when I say this is what to do about that deception? Absolutely.
Days of deception. We shine the light on the deception that is in the church and without the church in all areas. And so once we are schooled as to what in the world is going on, and boy, did I learn something about my own life or maybe the church I go to or what I thought I believed was right.
Now what do I do?
Well, This book is that the go-now book.
Now that you've recognized the deception that's around us, what do I do? You go stand. Uh with your bold faith and this is how you do it. Called to take a bold stand. The newest book by Pastor Jack Hibbs.
It's our featured resource for this month and it's available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That's jackhibbs.com slash real radio. 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.
