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That's jackkibbs.com slash real radio. On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues his series now called 1 Samuel and a message titled Responding to God's Will. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets.
So here in chapter 12, we find that God himself is a responsive God. You see, in chapter 10, we talked about the will of God for our lives. In chapter 11, we learned how to confirm God's will in our lives.
Now it's time to respond to His will with conviction, confidence, and determination.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches that God wants us to experience Him as well as respond to Him. It's indeed a two-way relationship in that when we come to Him, we can pray with confidence for our needs, for the needs of others, and for those who don't know Christ.
Now with His message called Responding to God's Will. Here's Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs. Responding to God's will. in your life. Responding to God's will in chapter 10.
of this great book, we studied about knowing the will of God for your life. Chapter 10. In chapter 11, we talked about confirming God's will in your life, and we saw that how. Uh there was that great challenge that War that was there where Nahash, remember what his name was all about? Nahash, the one who's a type of Satan, came to attack the people of God, and God confirmed his will.
in calling Saul To be Israel's king. You know that the people asked, for a king. Looked at was, remember, Saul's donkeys being lost? And we thought, how can God use donkeys being lost?
Well, God used that. to reveal that we might know his will. By the battle, chapter 11, confirming His will. And here in chapter 12, we respond to God's will in our lives. God wants us to experience Him and respond to Him.
There's nothing more. depressing than to have a relationship Where one person is doing all of the responding, all of the acting. Uh all of the livelihood of the of that Union and the other person not. I can't think of a more pathetic marriage. I can't think of a more pathetic business.
Uh Venture than to have one partner that does all the work and the other one does nothing. Or to have a marriage to where one person is the one that just gives and gives and gives while the other person just sits there. That's tragic. Were you here last night for Tommy Nelson's teaching? on intimacy and marriage?
Boy, I can't repeat. There's some young ears in this room right now, but I can't repeat some of the things he said. But man, I had to laugh. You call that a marriage where one person just sits there while the other person just caters to them and. I'm trying to change it because there's young ears in here.
But he talked about how there's like the flower and the little bee that flies around and flies around, you know, trying to pollinate that flower as it just sits there. There's relationships like that. God doesn't want that relationship with us, that we just sit here.
Okay, God. And we've got God dressed up like with a Santa Claus hat on. Come on, God, aren't you supposed to do this? You're supposed to give me all the money. You're supposed to give me all my health.
You're supposed to find that job for me. God, you're supposed to take care of this. God, my grades. What do you do with my grades, God? And we looked at him like he's a Santa.
We are to call upon God. We are to reach out for Him. That takes, though, action. It takes movement on our part. God wants a relationship with us.
Why? He is a responsive God. He's always talking. He's always listening. But if one side of that relationship is dead and dormant, how pathetic.
In fact, is that a relationship at all? I don't think so. God wants you and I to have a lively relationship with Him. He wants us to respond to His will, and in chapter 12, that's what it's all about. In your notes, jot this down.
In John chapter 6, verse 40, John 6:40, the Bible says, For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him Shall have eternal life. We know that God's will in responding to God's will is that people be saved. We can pray in confidence for the salvation of someone, and we need to do that. In our prayer meeting before service, many of you were praying. Many of you stood up and received prayer for a father or a mom who doesn't know Christ.
It's God's will that you're Mom and dad know Christ, that they'd get saved. We can pray with confidence. In 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 3, Another verse about God's will is that, for this is the will of God, even your Sanctification. God wants you and I to be different than the world. The world outside this room right now is out there Getting loaded, they're getting cocaine stuffed up their nose, they're dropping acid, shooting up.
Diving into sex, trying to find something to make this life worth living in some way, shape, or form. And we who have been Christians for a long time to look back and say, oh man, what's wrong with those people? Wait a minute. Remember where you and I were before we got saved? We were dropping acids, shooting up.
Uh whatever we were doing involved in sex, whatever, because our life was empty. And God says, wait a minute, this is my will. My will is that you might be saved, and my will is this, that you might be sanctified, that is set apart from the world. Why? Because the world is going to hell, and the world is sick, the world is dying, the world's got diseases, the world is at war.
And God says, I've got something better, over and over again. And haven't you been hearing it? For these last few months If your God is a God of love, then how come?
Alright, fill in the blank. Wait a minute, my comeback is this. My God is a God of love, but this world around us is a world that doesn't want His love. This is what happens when man rejects God. That's what's happening in the world.
Why is there so much evil in the world? You want to know why? Because man is stubborn and not willing to bow his knee to God. That's why there's so much evil in the world. Let's start putting blame where blame is due.
It's our flesh. It's this world system and it's Satan at work. I take great pleasure in telling people this world is not the world that God intends. His world is coming. And I'm going to be a part of it.
And I hope you are too. Again, in 1 Thessalonians 5.18, The scripture there says, in everything Give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Oh man, you need that on your dashboard or your car or in your office. You need that in your house. Every student should have that on their book.
In everything give thanks. Oh man, things happen in life. God, is this your will for my life? The answer is yeah.
So, you need to infuse Him right in the middle of it. What is going on in your life? God is very much in that. Several things we'll look at tonight in this chapter. 1 Samuel chapter 12, the first thing that we see in responding to God's will for your life is this, and that is, we're to be doing His will.
That's what we're going to learn. From Samuel tonight. We're going to be doing his will. That is our first step in responding. to the will of God in our life.
And the first thing we see here in verses 1 to 3, in regards to doing his will, is that Samuel's character was a witness. It says, To all Israel, indeed, I have heeded your voice in all that you said to me, and I have made a king over you. And now, here is the king walking before you. I am old. and grey-headed.
And look, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day, and here I am. Witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox, Samuel says, have I taken? Whose donkey?
Have I taken? Meaning stolen. Or whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I received any bribe with which to blind my eyes?
I will restore it to you. Samuel's old now, he's fading away. The previous chapters have led us from his mother going to the temple to dedicate this little boy to God.
Now he's an old man. He has been faithful. Listen, has he been perfect? No. Did he fail?
It seemingly appears that he failed at handing over a very Reverent and holy lifestyle to his children. His boys didn't seem to get it. They were honored and godless boys.
Now Samuel is old. He's Gray-headed, he's about time to pass. And he's saying, listen, here's the deal. Have I defrauded any of you? He wants to set The record straight.
Doing God's will. Responding to God's will means that we're going to do God's will. Can you write that down? If I'm responding to God, number one, I'm going to be doing His will. What does that mean?
It means this, character would be lived out in our lives, character. Listen, nobody's born with character. A little baby doesn't come out and say, My, look at he's got the blue eyes, and he's got his mother's nose, and he's got his father's character. That doesn't happen. Character is instilled often through hardship.
difficulty um If not, Hard work. Being committed. Character can be gotten in many ways, but character must be gotten. The thing is, nobody likes to obtain character. It's a rough road.
Kids in school, children, students. Teachers are to be committed to Instilling character into these kids. Parents. There's times when your kids. Um are in need.
And we've got the resources to fix that need, don't we? But we don't do it. We back off and say, now, no, you can go do this. Go do this on your own. You know, one of the famous things is this: you know, if your kid's involved in sports or whatever, they bring home, and it's that time of the year, you know, they bring home all the.
chocolate bars that they've got to sell.
Now, you can either A, have your kid go door to door and sell the chocolate bars, or you can whip out 200 bucks and buy all the chocolate bars from them. And a lot of parents do that because they don't want to deal with the time issue of. Taking their kid around the block or whatever it is.
Some parents just do that because, oh, I don't want my kid to be going door to door. That's kind of like low life. Wait a minute. Forget that thinking. You could be instilling in them tremendous character by them having to go door to door.
Think about it.
So, well, how can that help? Number one, they'll be thinking differently the next time somebody knocks on your door who's going door to door. selling umbrellas or chocolates or whatever they sell. But sometimes junior or little miss needs to understand that not everything's handed to them. That they need to actually put an effort out.
And when kids hear this, they go, oh man, that's satanic counsel. That is. That is not from God. I don't receive that. But yet a parent knows there comes a point in time when the kid's got to make their own bed.
A kid's got to get out there and get that job. We may have enough money to pay for their insurance or to pay for their gasoline, but we've got to say, I'm not going to pay for your gas. You've got to make this work. What are we doing to them when we do that? We're preparing them for the real world.
Uh They're going to be better people if we do it. Man, I remember my dad telling me, and I thought, he has absolutely flipped his lid. He's out of his mind. And now that I'm a parent, I say that to my kids, and I can hear my dad's voice in my ears. I sound like my dad.
And God wants to do that same thing with us. He wants to instill character into us. And Samuel was a man of character. And he's saying, hey, okay, listen, I'm an old man. I have led you guys all the way through.
By the way, for the record, Have I defrauded anybody? Have I robbed you at all? Very powerful. He says to them, indeed, I've He did your voice. When you request and ask of me to have a king, that's back in 1 Samuel chapter 8.
The people, listen, we're not to have a king that way. In Deuteronomy through Moses, God spoke and said that when Israel has a king, this is how it's to be. The people of Israel right now with Samuel, when they asked for a king, it was not that way. Remember they said, we want a king like all the other nations? We want a king who will go out and fight all of our battles for us.
God says, no. For you to have character, you fight your battles with me dependent upon me. You don't send a king to fight your battles. No character in that. 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, when they requested, oh, give us a king. That he may Fight all of our battles so we can be like all the other nations of the world. That was the wrong request. It wasn't wrong that they had a king, it's how and why they wanted a king. And Samuel is saying, witness and character is everything on this.
And he's also saying that he's been the messenger. That's what he's saying. He's represented God to them. Consider Samuel's character. Ministry today, people, ministry needs the character of Samuel.
How many people have been burned by churches, burned by deacons, burned by elders, burned by pastors, priests, or whatever, fill in the blank, where there's no character? Does that mean that character is always going to be pleasant? No, sometimes character, when it's true, can also be in the area of discipline. Nobody wants that. But character!
Is the person like Samuel who's leading? Can you point to Bible verses that? Substantiate that person's witness. Samuel is saying: look at my life, look at the will and the word of God, and see that there's character. And he's laying before them a great witness that we need to mimic.
Paul was of this heart. Paul the Apostle in Philippians 4:8, he says, Finally, my brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just. And pure? Whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of a good report. If there is any virtue, and if there is any thing that's praiseworthy, meditate on these things.
The things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me, These do. And the God of peace will be with you. What a witness, huh? Paul the Apostle said, Hey, and listen, I think this is God's will for all of our lives. Paul says, Hey, everybody, Calvary Chapel.
What you've heard come out of my mouth. What you see me do as you observe my life. The things that I've done. How I live, you do that. And if you do that, The God of all peace will be with you.
Tragically, there are so many ministries where the leadership can't say that. Many Ministers live way beyond their people. and their lifestyle. They somehow think that, well, we were ministers, we're worthy of double honor, and they take that as a financial meaning. I bring this up because it's hot on my heart right now.
I learned A couple weeks ago of a pastor Who said to his board. I don't want to raise anymore. I don't want the salary that you've given me anymore. I don't need it. And they were like, oh, wow, that's fantastic.
What are you going to do?
Well, How about I just Get 10%. of what the church gets.
Well, because that was a yes board, not a no board, or I'll think about and pray about a board, but it was a bunch of yes men, they said yes to that. And that pastor went from Uh making a certain amount to making almost one and a half million dollars a year now. One and a half million dollars a year. Look, if in my opinion And it's just my opinion. Why would you live with that kind of money when people in your church do they make a million and a half a year?
I don't get it. Samuel is saying, Have I robbed your donkeys? Have I taken any oxen from you? Did people in the Fellowship where Samuel was at? Did they have like one ox, but Samuel had 25 oxen?
So Jack, are you promoting some form of Communism? No, by no means. Was Abraham rich? Yes, he was the richest man on the earth. What about Solomon?
Richest man on the earth. Job, the richest man on the earth. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about, though, ministers.
Well, do ministers, are they supposed to be poor? No, the Bible makes it clear, they're not supposed to be poor either. I think there's wisdom. Personally, I think that. With most things in life, if you give somebody a rope, they'll either hang themselves with it or they'll pull themselves out of a hole with it.
It depends on what they do with the rope. and what they do with the rope speaks volumes of their character. Very important. Samuel is a man of God. Paul the Apostle is a man of God.
He's saying, look at my life. I bet you Paul did not live behind some Ivory Palace gated community to where nobody could get to. And I'm going to get letters from somebody because you're going to send this tape to somebody you know who's in the ministry who lives behind some guarded gate, and they're going to write me a letter. And they're going to cite this because I've already heard this before. You don't know the security threat that I'm under.
My response is, trust God. Like the rest of us have got to trust God. Trust God.
Well, there's people out for my life, there's people that, and listen, Satan's out for our lives. I better get off of this because Samuel is our witness, he's our example, he's the messenger of God. And he's got a message. Is that messenger filled with flaws? Yes.
Is he not perfect? He's not perfect. No messenger of God is perfect. In fact, God loves using messengers that are not perfect. But is the message perfect?
Yes. Is that message inerrant? Yes, though the vessel may be errant. It's a strange thing, ministry, strange. Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 and 2.
God, who 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. The fathers and the prophets were not perfect people, but the message was perfect, and the message was ultimately fulfilled in his Son Jesus Christ. It's God who speaks. Very important.
The character God wants to speak. And what's Samuel is teaching? Us is that there should be a character to the witness. He was a man of character. Beautiful.
And if the messenger believes, by the way, the message, oh boy, if the messenger believes. believes the message. then his character will take on The meaning of the message. People can preach and teach. Listen, you can go to seminary and learn how to do.
Messages. You can do that, you can learn. You can go to school in public speaking, and you can go, listen, you can learn that stuff. But does the messenger believe the message? There's only one way to find that out.
Does the pastor or does the evangelist or does the preacher really believe what he's teaching or preaching? The answer is only by observing his life. It's the only way. But if the messenger believes the message Like Samuel believed the message from God, he will live that life. It's very important.
The second thing we see here is doing God's will is in verses 4 and 5, and that is Samuel's heart was right. He had the right motives. He had the right heart. The people said to him, you have not cheated us or oppressed us, nor have you taken anything from any man's hand. Then he said to them, The Lord is witness against you.
And his anointed is witness this day. That You have found nothing in my hand. And they answered and said, He is, that is, the Lord is witness. What does this word mean? That Samuel's heart Was right.
His motive was true, so that the people even had to confess: you have not been. A burden to us. You have not been. Anything. of a cheat or an oppressor to us.
Isn't that a great witness? Isn't that wonderful? It's great. The ministry needs Samuel's Today. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hughes.
Here on Real Life Radio. with his message called Responding to God's Will. Thanks for taking the time to spend with us today. 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.
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