Today on real life radio. We don't ever want to settle for the second best in our lives. Tragically, Tragically, I think that the Christian church, I think that we have lowered our standards so low. Regarding what God wants to do in the earth. That we Swallow.
A mediocre type of Christian existence. 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 reallife network.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues his series now called 1 Samuel and a message titled The Will of God in Your Life, Part 1. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets.
So here in chapter 9, Samuel tells us how God is personally interested in us. and has a very specific plan for our lives. You see, like the people of Israel, we often struggle with finding direction and purpose. And more importantly, what we want in our impatience may not be the right thing for us. The people wanted a king, but it wasn't what God had originally planned for them.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that God will make things clear for us. But in the meantime, we simply need to focus on doing the right thing right now. knowing that clarity will indeed come from God as we continue to trust in Him.
Now, with his message called The Will of God in Your Life, Part 1, here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. Lord, what do you want to do now? Tonight, tomorrow, next week. What is God going to do with you and I next year?
Well, hopefully. He would have taken us to heaven by then. That's what I'm hoping for. But if he doesn't Where will you and I be? three hundred and sixty five days from tonight.
I hope that we're in a place to rock Rock. The kingdom of Hell.
So what? Yeah, hell. We want hell. To be shaken by virtue that we're weak people, but we pray and know and worship an awesome God. We want to be guilty.
Like Paul was, and like Jesus, who, when the demons were getting ready to. Tear into The sons of Siva That They say, in the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, we command you to come out of this guy. And the demon speaks back to these knuckleheads that are imposters spiritually, trying to act like Christians, but in fact, we're not. The demons said, Hey, Jesus, we know. And Paul we know.
But who are you? Can you imagine a demon saying that to you? And the Bible says that these demons leapt out of the possessed man and got onto those guys, tore their clothes off, and they ran away naked. I'm sorry, that's pretty funny. But the amazing thing to me is that the name of Paul the Apostle was known in hell.
Every praying church is known in hell. You've heard me say it before, and I hope it is true and it comes true more and more every day. I hope that demons in their little spiritual car kind of drives down our street and they say, speed up, keep going, don't slow down there. Those people pray, go. Punch it!
Get out of here. They give us goosebumps. or heavenly bums. Having God's will in our lives. What is God's will in our lives?
We pray, Lord, in my life, exercise and execute your will. If you remember in our study last time together, the children of Israel were crying for a king, remember? We want to be Samuel like all of the other nations of the world. Give us a king. It was God's economy that God would be.
The ruler of Israel. They didn't want God. They wanted a physical icon. They wanted an earthly king. And so Samuel, remember, was upset at their request.
But God says, Samuel, don't be bummed out. Don't wig out. They have not rejected you so much, Samuel, as they have rejected me. Give them a king.
Now listen. It was God's will that he lead the people. That Israel be a theocracy, like the church today is a theocracy. Listen, I don't want to dwell on what I'm about to say next. It is step on a few toes as it is.
But God does not want earthly leaders to be worshipped. Regarding the church. It is an abomination to God. It is wrong to God. And listen, even men like Billy Graham.
They have to be careful that people don't deify them. Is it true that Billy Grammys preached the gospel to more people on the face of the earth than any other human in all of world history? Yes, it's true. But I would not want to be Billy Graham. I would not want to go through the temptation.
Of greatness that certainly the enemy visits him with. Can you imagine? It is wrong for a human to be looked toward Rather than God. It's wrong. God wanted to be The theocratic leader of Israel, Israel rejected him.
But the church is to be the living example tonight of what a theocratic rule of God is all about. We should be the greatest examples of what God's invisible leadership should be like. But the people cried out for a king. Here's the awesome thing: you might want to take a note about this, this is great. Regarding the will of God in your life, God knew from the very beginning that Israel would cry out for a king.
Don't you know that?
So that's why in Deuteronomy 17, before Samuel ever came on the scene, Before these children of Israel ever cried out for a king, in Deuteronomy 17:14, the Bible says there, God speaking to Moses, says, When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, to possess it and dwell in it. The people will say, I will set a king over Me like all the other nations around us. He says, You shall surely set a king over. them whom the Lord your God chooses. One from among your own brethren to set up as king over you.
Even though God was planning on being the theocratic ruler, God knew in his prophetic mind that Israel would cry out for a king. And so God told Moses, the day that they cry out for a king. Write it in the law. that a king's to be given to them. Is that in the will of God?
Yes, it is. But God had a higher standard. You guys, we don't ever want, and I'm afraid we do, we don't ever want to settle for second best in our lives. Tragically, Tragically, I think that the Christian church, I think that we have lowered our standards so low. Regarding what God wants to do on the earth.
That we Swallow. A mediocre type of Christian existence. When God doesn't want us to settle for second, third, or fourth best, He wants His perfect will done in our lives. His perfect will. In your family, in your marriage, in your home, with your children.
What is God's second best versus what is God's perfect will? Tragically, we live in a culture today that is gladly choosing the second best, the third best, the fourth best. It's an easier way out than to take the high road. But God wants us to be dependent upon Him. He wants us to have that.
Leadership view, even though he's invisible, he wants to lead us and guide us. He is holy and awesome. And he has a will. That he wants to do in your life. The first thing that we want to notice in our study of this chapter, and again, we'll go as far as we can tonight, but look with me in verse 1.
There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish. The son of Abiel, the son of Zior, The son of Bekroth, The son of Apha. a Benjamite, a mighty man of power, or some of your Bibles say wealth. That's better. He's a rich man, a very, very wealthy man, and thus he has power.
And he had a choice and handsome son, whose name was Saul. And there was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward, he was taller than any of the people. He must have been a cutie. Amazing.
head and shoulders above the people. I saw a picture not too long ago of my hero. Abraham Lincoln. And Abraham Lincoln was at a was at a camp. visiting soldiers.
And the tallest soldier in the camp came to Abraham's shoulders. He was huge and that was with his head off. You know that hat he wears? He was huge. Unfortunately though, maybe not.
Abraham Lincoln was rather uncomely looking. This man though, Saul, he had a rich dad, he was head and shoulders above all the people. And he was an absolute uh whatever you teenagers call Q it is now. Huh? You don't know?
I don't either. A hottie? Saul was a hottie. And all the people said, look at him. He's head and shoulders of everybody.
Man, he's a cutie or whatever the hottie thing is. He was a bomb last year. He's it. Look at him. Woo!
And you know what? Be careful because this is one of the things when you cry out for a king, this is one of the things that the world will offer you. Here's a king. But what would it take to be a king?
Well, according to the Bible here, thousands and thousands of years ago, we learned a lesson: you better be head and shoulders above the people, and you better be a hottie. You better be cute or else the world won't even look at you. Listen, the world is willing tonight because it is so lost that if you're good-looking, you got bucks, and you stand head and shoulders above the rest of the people, we'll vote for you. We don't care if you're brain dead, you look good, just stand there. Isn't that true?
You look at the stuff that's being worshipped today. Worshiped. I tell you, by children and by youth and by adults. It has everything to do with what sends a message of good looks, power. And more good looks.
And... And being the one. that everybody looks to. And the world says, that's what we want. That's the king that we want.
And we're coming off A world at a system that is constantly rooted and grounded on what titillates the eyes, And what causes you to look at what the person is either doing publicly or speaking, and the world will overlook all the stuff because you know what? There's a charisma. There's a charismatic way about her. Or about him. Listen, I'm probably going to get in trouble for this, but bring it on.
You look at the stuff, the worship, and I mentioned this a couple weeks ago about how I was in England in London. In front of Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived on the day of her funeral. and her procession. And yet the worship of that woman. And the Queen Mother was trying to communicate to the people that she was an adulteress.
Did you know that? The Queen Mother was trying to communicate that Princess Diana was an adulteress. Did anybody listen to the Queen Mother? No, they bow down in worship to the dead princess. Why?
Because According to English standards, she had the looks. She certainly had the bucks. And she was head and shoulders above all the other women. That's a danger. We have to be very, very careful.
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.
Jot it down if you're taking notes. We learned this now out of verse 3. That God has ordained a specific plan for you. God has ordained a specific Plan for you. And the way that's manifested is in verse 3: you need to see God's specific plan.
You need to see that. Can you jot that down? That you need, I need to see God's specific plan. Christian, pray it. In your life.
God, let me see your specific plan for my life. Listen, number one, immediately forget everybody else's plans. Man, forget it. I talked last night to a bunch of pastors at a church. And you know what was funny?
The funny thing was They're all Calvary Chapel guys. And they're all trying to dress, look, talk and act like Chuck Smith. And I remember trying to look, act, and dress like Chuck Smith. When you're insecure, you'll adopt somebody that You absolutely look up to, and you'll try to mimic their ways. There's a bit of godliness to it, for Paul said: as you see me imitate Christ, imitate me.
But when you're insecure, rather than leaning on Christ and you lean toward men, you begin to mimic them to find your identity. That's wrong. Find out, see God's specific plan for your life. Why? He has ordained one for your life.
Listen, how many of you are Christians tonight? Raise your hand. Look at this, look around, look, look around. Every one of these hands raised, God has a specific Plan, ordain for your life. And he wants you to see it.
Now you better get excited with me tonight on this one. 'Cause I'm not going to do this on my own. Whoever you are, If you can raise your hand, know this: God has ordained a specific plan for your life. and he wants you to see it. It is his will in your life.
That you know that. The Bible says, Now the donkeys of Kish The Donkeys of Kish If you have the Old King James Version Bible, I wish I had the guts to read it. Ha, it's great. The donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul. Please take one of the servants with you.
and arise and go and look for the donkeys.
Now, here's cool. This is great. Saul has been commissioned by his father to go look for the donkeys. Israel has asked Samuel to go look for a king. See the likeness?
Isn't that great? But that's so funny. It's so true. We want a king. We want a king.
So God says, all right. Samuel, go find them. uh a king all these Donkeys want to find a king, while the king, to be, is out looking for the donkeys. You say, well, Jack, how can this be?
Well, what's the deal specific plan? What's the specific plan? Listen, mark it, highlight it in your Bible. Circle the word there donkeys or asses in your version of the Bible. Circle it.
God uses donkeys in our lives. He does. You say, well, you know, how does this work? Listen, God is exercising and executing a specific plan that Saul would see it, and Samuel, by the way, and the nation using dogs. Monkeys.
The point is God will use the most silly things. God will use things that you and I think of as absolutely common. Everyday things. In our lives, in our culture, what is it? Cars?
Computers? The routine? Listen, cheer up, Christian. That means right now, if you raised your hand, God has an ordained specific plan for your life. You need to see that plan.
And listen, realize this: His plan will come often about through very routine, mundane things. And you and I don't like that. We want the airplane to ride it in the sky. God, just speak to me. And we expect the plane to write it up there.
Skyrider We expect it to come and it's on the front page of the Evening paper in the front yard. No, God often speaks through very, very simple, mundane things of life. And here's the deal: isn't it just like God? He's so smart. He wants us to learn how to listen and to learn how to follow.
So, where does He get us? Right where we need to learn to listen the most. in everyday things of life. It could be a husband, could be a wife. Could be a friend?
Could be your boss. Could be your employee. God will use to execute His specific plan out in your life that you might see it through the routine things of this life that you and I live. And that's the great challenge because we so often get dull, callous, and cold to the world around us. Listen how smart he is.
He will do it that way to get us in tune with the most basic, mundane things of our lives, meaning God is in everything. You got it? It's so great.
Now it makes sense that when a little sparrow falls from the sky, God cares and He knows. You see why now how it makes sense. God's not just concerned in the Building of the building. He's concerned of one person occupying one seat in that church. That's what's important to him.
God never prostitutes the missionary to reach the mission field. Did you know that? He uses the mission field to minister to the missionary. It's the way that he works. His economy is perfect.
He's amazing. And this. He uses donkeys. Situations with donkeys to see the specific plan, the involvement of God in everything. And how does that happen in my life?
In the simple ways. By the way, as Christians, right now we need to begin to be people who measure the routine mundane things of life. Give me an example. Tomorrow morning, what's going to be one of the mundane things in your life?
Somebody shout something out. Shave. That's That's pretty good because God's gonna, when you shave, the Bible says when a man looks in the mirror. And he needs to consider what kind of man he is, right? James tells us that less we forget what manner of men we are.
That's good. What else? Going to work. Is that a commute or getting there? Getting there and Yeah.
What else? Laundry. Laundry? See, that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. That's the kind of stuff where it's you don't even think about doing the laundry.
You're programmed to do it. And it's in those programmed things where you don't, the next thing you know, you wake up and it's like, I guess I got all the laundry done. tomorrow, and we'll be praying for you. God wants to speak in the midst of that laundry. He really does.
Said Jack, come on. I'm serious. Get in tune and see what God's specific plan is for your life. Begin to see that God knows and he knew all along. That there'd be donkeys in your life every day, and a crisis would come.
that you might have to go look for one, or in this case a bunch of them. I think what we ought to do from here on out is begin to stop and slow down and say, okay, this is a stupid thing that's happening right now in my life. God? You're probably right in the middle of it. Help me see that.
I don't understand what's happening in my life. This is absolutely beyond me. Wait a minute. I don't understand. It's absolutely beyond me.
Okay, God, I think I see you near me. You see? I don't get it. Hmm. If I don't get it.
This must be one of those challenging moments that's causing me to thrust my logic upon God. You see, what do we do? We criticize it. We complain about it. We send it back to the maker.
We walk back into the store and say, this thing doesn't work. And all the while, the parts were right there behind the little thing that we never looked because we're impatient. And God made us look like a fool at the store because we were impatient. I'm not talking about personal examples here, I'm just telling you.
Okay. God has ordained a specific plan for our lives. And the next thing that we want to consider about this is: not only do we need to see God's specific plan, but we need to embrace it.
Okay, Lord. What is it that you want to teach me? and embrace that specific plan. Saul doesn't know what's going on. He just knows his rich dad told him to take his good-looking self and go out there and find the donkeys.
He's a rich kid. wandering around looking for donkeys. He's got servants. Why did he say, forget that? In fact, his father could have said, Saul, go look for the donkeys.
He had the authority to say, all right, Dad. turns to his servants and says, you go look for the donkeys. But now this guy's out in the wilderness looking for donkeys with one of his servants. What possible good thing could come of this? Where's God in that?
Right in the middle of the whole deal. What are you going through right now? What's going on in your life? Working overtime. seven days a week.
And then We've all been there. Stop, take a deep breath, and ask God, I am working overtime. Seven days a week.
So show me who I need to minister to to break this endless cycle. Yeah. God, what's the deal? Show me. Embrace God's specific plan.
Remember how you raised your hand a little while ago? He's got a plan. Embrace it See it. Find it out. Embrace it.
See what it is. Understand and determine that God's personal interest is the best for your life. Psalm 139, verse 17 says, How precious also are your thoughts toward me, O God? How great is the sum of them? And if I should count them, they would be more than the sands.
Here's the deal.
Some of you with that wonderful verse will just go, yeah, man, I needed to hear that. And some of you are just going to go, ooh. And tune that right out because it's too great. And that's not good. You need to say, Lord, I know that you're not a liar.
I know that you're holy and true. Your Bible says that your thoughts are precious towards me and more than the sand. Then Lord I want to know what those thoughts are. And I want you to take those thoughts, and here I am, Lord, and you do it in my life. Help me to see what you want to do regarding the plan that you have for my life.
And Lord, don't let me be a donkey about it. Let me embrace it. Don't let me resist it and be stubborn and be foolish. Let me embrace it. Let me know it.
The Lord wants to do great things in our lives. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, with his message called The Will of God in Your Life, Part 1. We're glad you took the time to be with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called 1 Samuel, a series highlighting the prophet Samuel, who was called by God during one of Israel's darkest ages. bring the people back to a heart of true worship.
and we'll 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, Call 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 Higgs.
Get your copy for a gift of any amount at jackkids.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.
