Today on real life radio. But you pray for them. Why? They have come into that area of now being accountable and being responsible to God. Here's what scares the parents to death.
If you understand this, they are now needing their own salvation relationship with 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 now called First Samuel and a message titled Living Life the Hard Way, Part 1. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets.
So here in chapter 8, Samuel warns the Israelites about wanting a king instead of allowing God to lead them. You see, Samuel couldn't convince the people to not demand a king. As God's prophet, he tells them in advance of all the trouble they're going to have. Still driven by their impatience and pride, they chose to have a king rule over them.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches that despite the cost, the Israelites insist on what they want. Like other nations, they want a king to lead them. God eventually grants their request, but it's a sobering reminder that if we choose the easy way and go against God's plan for us, it's not going to be a good thing.
Now with his message called Living Life the Hard Way, Part 1. Here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Huggs. As a parent, and certainly as a Christian, the greatest. thing. That I could ever want for my own kids.
And as a Christian, for your own kids, is that your children would grow in the ways of the Lord. There's no greater thing. Do you know it's possible, especially for the Sunday crowd? That many of the people, I have not met them, nor their children. But this I know.
That Their children. The growth of them in the Lord is the greatest asset that this church can accomplish for the kingdom of God. Your children, should Jesus tarry in his return for the church, your children and my children will be. Be the laborers, they'll be the servants, they'll be the pastors, the missionaries. The children's workers, the worship leaders of the future church.
They're the greatest asset. But if we do not. Instruct our kids in the ways of the Lord. Not only that, but if we don't live before them, An example. They're going to miss it.
As we get into the scripture tonight, and we'll probably make this a two-parter, you've got to ask the question: where did Samuel go wrong? But you know what? As we go through this, I'm going to argue back at you. I don't see any record anywhere of Samuel going wrong. Did you know that?
Say Jack, do you mean it? Oh yeah, I mean it. Are you saying that just because you've got teenagers and you're trying to cut some slack for your own life? Yeah. No, but really, seriously, listen, we're to point our kids to the Lord.
And then there comes a time when they are to respond to the Lord.
Some of you are sitting here tonight and you say, Jack, where did I go wrong? I pointed my kids in the ways of the Lord. They saw us praying for them. They heard Bible in our home. They saw Bibles and they saw us going through the Bible.
We went to church all those years and they're wayward from God. They've wandered from God. My friend, hold the course. Stay on target. Don't deviate.
Oh, I would say about a year and a half ago, a family came into this church. This is the scenario that brought them to this church. Their daughter had gone astray. And they began searching, and they began saying, listen, we need to get back to God. And so they came in and they said, What can we do?
First day they came into church. They stopped me in the hallway. What can we do? And I said, The greatest thing that you can do for your daughter is to live for Jesus.
Well, you don't understand. She's doing this, she's doing this. We don't know when she's coming home, and she's doing, and I'm not going to give you the details. All of these terrible things. What can we do?
I said, I told you, live your life for Jesus Christ. And they began to take a stand. The Word of God began to go out into their heart, strengthening their heart. They were able to stand firm in the confidence that they have in Christ, and they took a holy, high ground. I'm not talking legalistic, and I'm not talking cold.
They just said, listen. As for your mom and I? We will serve the Lord from here on out. And she left them off. But they held their ground.
And in time, their daughter saw that they were serious, and she wanted what they now had. Many parents tonight are Maybe crying themselves to sleep. if not actually certain in spirit, because they feel like they've Led their child astray when, in reality, parents, listen, I'm going to say something here, you're going to wish you'd written it down. When your child, when your teen starts to rebel. Rather than get in their face, you should fall on your face.
Rather than getting into their face, you should fall on your face and begin to pray for them, intercede for them. You want to know why? Teen rebellion is not a genetic. Uh Malady or mishap. Teen rebellion is not something, listen, I mean this when I tell you.
They don't get it from TV. You may think so. But it's not where they get it from. Teen rebellion, and you know how it visits some kids earlier?
Some later? Everyone's unique. Have you noticed that? You wanna know why? It is that moment of time when God in His sovereignty begins to move them out from the covering of your faith.
In the home. They begin to have independent thoughts. You know what I'm talking about? They begin to think that you've all of a sudden become stupid. They've become brilliant.
And that you don't know anything anymore, except that somehow money comes out of your pocket. And it's an amazing thing. They begin to rebel. Why? Because inside, there is a spiritual clock that has gone off.
They are no longer under the covering of your faith. They are motoring out Over here, and for you over here. They're motoring out from underneath that umbrella of your home, of your faith, of your covering. And they're coming into independent thoughts. They're coming into things like this.
Is this God even real that my parents tell me about? Who is Jesus anyway? And what about this Bible? They begin to rebel against authority, all authority. Why?
Basically, they're saying, I will not have anyone rule over me. Including God. This God that I once thought I knew, but now after I think about it, I don't know if I know at all. And they begin searching. And you will see your child, some of you to a greater extent than the others, they will head down the path as Satan greases the track and shoves them down the path.
Seriously, the teen rebellion is them not hating you. They're confused on the inside. But it manifests itself, frankly, because you're The parents. They don't even understand most of what they're doing. But you pray for them.
Why? They have come into that area of now being accountable and being responsible to God. Here's what scares the parents to death. If you understand this, they are now needing their own salvation relationship with God. They're no longer in that place that if they should die, they'll go to heaven because they're so young and covered by your faith.
As a young child that is not accountable, now they're on their own. Thus, instead of getting in their face, get on your face and pray for them and their salvation. Very important. You haven't blown it. Parents?
They've just grown up. And now they're searching and it breaks our hearts. But listen, living a life, as we'll see in this chapter, in a rebellion against God and not submitting to the will of God is a hard way of life. It's a difficult way of life. But pointing our children.
In the right direction. Is the greatest way of loving them. You know this verse, you hear it about every other week here. Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Boy, I tell you, that verse should be all over graduation. This time of the year, don't you think? Jeremiah 29:11, God says, I know the thoughts that I think. toward you and they're for a hope and they're for a future. To bless you.
That's what God wants for his kids. That's what we want for our own kids. Proverbs chapter 3, verse 6 in the living Bible says, In everything you do, put God first. And he will direct you and crown your efforts with Success. That's another great verse.
Why? Because you don't want to go the hard way of life. Why is that so important? Because God is wanting to bless you and to bless obedience. And He is always looking for someone to bless.
Did you know that? He's not selfish. He's always looking for someone to bless. That blows my mind. I mean, selfishly, think of this.
I'll just say this here. with us. I want to be blessed. See, well, I would never pray a prayer like that for myself. Why not?
God says in Jeremiah 29, 11, I want you blessed. Lord, bless my life that I might be a blessing to other people's lives. Bless mine. He wants to bless. Listen, 2 Chronicles 16:9.
I love this. Scripture here, 2 Chronicles 16:9. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth. To show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal toward him.
Well, amen, Lord. Come and show yourself strong. Lord. Come on now! And show yourself strong.
I need you. 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. Is your heart toward God tonight? Is your heart hot on God? Peter says that we ought to have fervent love in our hearts, one for another, and for God. The word in the Greek means hot hearts.
Isn't that great? A burning, blazing heart. Is your heart hot toward God? If it's not tonight, you can be sitting right where you're at and say, God, make my heart hot for you. And He'll do it.
He'll do that very thing. In Acts chapter 17, verse 28, the Bible says. For in him we live and move and have our being. Our very existence is in the Lord. He doesn't want us to live a hard life, he wants us to live A blessed life.
So, living life the hard way, what can we learn from this brutal chapter of rejecting God?
Well, first of all, jot this down. Verses one through three, we learn here that living life the hard way, well, it all begins at home. It begins at home. It says, now it came to pass when Samuel was old. That means his sons had now been...
Advanced in years as well. That he made his sons judges over Israel. And the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second. Um Abahai or Abajai And they were judges in Beersheba.
Now, Beersheba is quite a distance from Ramah, and that might be part of the problem. They're now older boys. And they're judging Israel. That is, they're sitting in the place as their father did, but they're in a remote area, they're not near dad. You gonna send your kid off to college?
They're not going to be near dad anymore. And I tell you, if that doesn't keep you on your knees, I don't know what will. But Lord, you know, you want to pray these kinds of prayers. Lord, if Junior wanders away over to a party he ought not to be, just make him sicker than a dog. You know those kinds of prayers?
Lord, cause him to run out of gas, break his leg, trip, and I don't care what it is, God, keep him out of trouble and keep him away from all these kinds of people and all those kinds of girls or all those kinds of, and on and on, boy. There's going to be a lot of Parents committing their children to the hands of the Lord in a few days. I believe Samuel committed his children to the hands of God, but the children failed to commit themselves to the Lord. And verse 1, I think that it all begins at home this way. You ask this question: was God in the house?
And I think God was in Samuel's house. But it's very important. According to the Old Testament, Samuel did the right thing, he was to commit this task to. His sons. Showing any kind of Nepotism to where he employs his boys because they're his boys, they've got a call on their lives.
The Old Testament spoke about this. They had talents, they had gifts, they had callings. Samuel knew the Lord. He wasn't being stupid about it. Was God in the house?
So the question comes back to us: is God in our house? If Someone visited our home tonight. Would they be able to tell it's a Christian home? Is there anything in our homes that Christ would not be able to be blessed by? Then get that thing out.
Say, well, you know, this is my treasure, my little thing. I just keep it for cultural purposes. If you've got to think or muster up an excuse for it, get it out.
Well, this is an ancient pagan something or other artifact dug up. And listen, if it's perverse or if it's goofy, weird like that.
Well, these are really old Playboy magazines. They're collectors items. Get out! Come out. Come on.
It's crazy. Is our house a place where God wants to live? Is it where God wants to dwell?
Well, in that room, in that room, in that room, in this hallway, but not in that room. Oh man. No. I think Samuel was a man of character. I think Samuel was a godly man.
I think Samuel passed the message on to his children. But tragically We see from the The text before us is Sons refuse. What went wrong? Listen, remember where Samuel grew up? Remember he grew up in the temple, didn't he?
And he grew up under the care of Eli. And I think Samuel did not become like Eli. I think Samuel was the exact opposite of Eli. Remember, though, Eli's sons went astray in a huge way. But the Bible says Eli knew all along the rebellion of his sons and the wicked way of his boys, yet never confronted them.
He never stopped them. And so Samuel is not an Eli. There's no record of scripture where Samuel's doing anything wrong. I think Samuel prepared a house that was godly. And this should be a solemn warning to young people tonight.
Your parents can be right on.
Now, when I say right on, No parent is perfect. Isn't it t you know, it wouldn't it be great if kids came out with a manual around their foot? Wouldn't that be great?
Okay, what do we do? Read the book. We'll figure it out. Everything in Life comes with parts and instructions and with little wrenches. I mean, some stuff you buy, and they got the tools that come in the kit.
Isn't that great? For people like me who own no tools, you can buy that thing and it's got a little ailing wrench right in there. It's like, this is great. You know You pay all this money for it, and you got everything you need. Then this kid comes into the world, and you don't know which end is up, you don't know what to do.
You put the diaper on backwards, you don't... You're what do we do with this thing? This person's invaded our lives. We love them. But who is it?
Have you noticed that? This is my baby. You know it's wild. You gotta learn to know that kid. It's weird.
It's like all of a sudden a stranger's been delivered in your house. You don't think about this as a parent until you get a little older. Who is this? Yes. It's amazing.
We have to learn to know our children. We've got to get to know them. And all the while. They're looking at us to be the authority and help me, save me, and all that stuff. And so we will.
But man, sometimes we come running in, we rescue, we throw the life preserver over them, you know, and they say, I'm just, I'm just joking around, Dad. I'm just goofing off, back, back off, you know, I'm just playing. And it's like, what? We so often misread and and You're trying to study their personality and and to Direct them in the ways of the Lord that they ought to go. It's not easy.
I think kids coming into your world is the greatest stimulant to prayer. It's it's something. And you love them. You want the best for them. And so you want a home.
That they hear about Jesus. It begins at home, verses 2 and 3, and that was God in the hearts?
Well, God was in Samuel's heart, no doubt about it. But it says in verse 3, but his sons did not walk in his ways. Isn't that sad? Mom or dad, that breaks your heart just thinking about it, doesn't it? His sons didn't walk in his ways.
That tells us right there that Samuel's ways were just. Is that true? They didn't walk in his ways. He had righteous ways. He had good ways.
But they didn't walk in that path. And so I believe God was in the heart, but was God in their hearts? Painful thing. I'm going to, as we go through these passages, I'm going to enumerate five. Mishaps, five grave mistakes.
This is number one. And that is, they did not walk in his ways. That's the first step. A child failing to walk After the example that's been given to them. Samuel walked a good walk.
I believe the baton was passed to the boys. But somewhere it was dropped. And this is a call, I believe, to all the men. Who named the name of Jesus to pass it on to the kids? It's so very important.
He might say, Well, listen, and by the way, I got to tell you something. This is amazing to me. I was asked to speak at a school one time. Um And I said there what I'm about to say here. That nobody gets saved on the salvation faith of another.
You'll get to heaven because you put your faith in Christ. You will not get to heaven because your dad believes in God. You will not get to heaven because grandpa believes in God, or your mother was the church secretary, or a missionary, or. You know, your dad's the Pope. That wouldn't work, but.
That's not possible. But you're not going to get to heaven that way.
Well, my dad, you know. Oh. That doesn't count! That doesn't work. God has no grandchildren.
Did you know that? Only His own. And here's the deal.
Well, my dad saved. Praise the Lord. for your dad. My mom saved. Praise the Lord for your mom.
But you're not getting there. Because of them. and you're not getting there with them. You're getting there with Jesus. God has no grandkids.
And I said this one time at a A Christian high school? And I didn't know that they held a different doctrine to all that. If you're born into a Christian home, you can be Satan himself and you're going to go to heaven. That's what they teach. Y if you're born into a Christian home, you're automatically in.
And I tell you, the principal came up to me, and the guy was wagging his finger at me. I thought he looked like a helicopter. He's coming at me? And man, that East like this? Yeah.
And I did exactly what you're doing. I'm just going, whoa, what? And he told me, we believe. That if our kids are born into a Christian home, they go to heaven no matter what they believe. And I said, you know what?
I am outta here. I am so out of here. I dusted off my feet and I got out of there. That is heresy. All that does is breed a bunch of lost kids.
Isn't that terrible? That comes from the background of not wanting to face the truth. It comes from not evangelizing your own kids. What would it profit a man I'm making this part up? If he should evangelize the whole world and lose his own house.
What does it matter if a man travels around the world? preaching Christ and his own kids don't make it. At least this. Make sure your kids have heard the gospel. If they choose to reject it, Tragically, Ezekiel teaches us.
Their blood is on their own hands. But may we be the watchman. Blaring that trumpet of warning. To be ready. God was in the heart of Samuel, no doubt about it.
But God has no grandchildren. The Bible says here in verse 3, it all begins at home in this way. Also, was God in their thoughts? He was in Samuel's thoughts, but he wasn't in their thoughts. Look at the letter into verse 3.
They turned aside. To dishonest gain, they took bribes and they perverted justice. Wow. Number two boo-boo is this, they turned aside. They didn't walk in his ways.
Not only that, they turned aside. They willfully turned away from what is suggested here: the straight and narrow path. Remember what Jesus says? Jesus said that the way into the kingdom is very narrow and very straight, and few people find it. But broad is the way, right?
And many people be on the path of destruction. It's the easy path. Here's what concerns. Me regarding our culture. Most of our children have not been prepared to fight for that which is right.
to fight for that which is good. Most of our children have not been trained how to contend. For life. Let alone the faith. We're a culture that gives up so easy.
Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Huggs. Here on Real Life Radio. with his message called Living Life the Hard Way, Part 1. 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 to bring the people back to a heart of true worship.
and will continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. In a world growing darker by the day, will you stand firm or be swept away? Pastor Jack Hibbs' new book, Called to Take a Bold Stand, is a wake-up call for every believer. With biblical clarity and real-life conviction, Jack Hibbs shows you how to overcome fear, hold fast to truth, and make every moment count. That's Called to Take a Bold Stand by Pastor Jack Hibbs.
Get your copy for a gift of any amount at jackkids.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.
