Today on real life radio. There is no form or comeliness of beauty that we should desire him. Jesus was the exact opposite. of appearance. But man, are we suckers for it?
And God says, better watch it. You get in trouble that way. 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.
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Now, whatever your path, JackHibbs.com has the tools and the insights and the encouragement that you need. Tune in, log on, find something real. Once again, the website, jackhibbs.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues his series called 1 Samuel and a message titled When God Comes Upon a Man, Part 1.
Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets.
So here in chapter 16, we'll learn how King Saul is so full of pride and his spirit becomes so dark that Samuel anoints a new king whose name is David. You see, all along, God was supposed to be the ruler over Israel, and God's will for the people was for them to prosper. But when Saul was anointed king, he only partially obeys the Lord, and it leads to bitter consequences.
So today Pastor Jack teaches that what matters to God is that his will is being done. And the world looks at things differently, gossiping and twisting and turning the truth. But when God is our influence, he reshapes our hearts, our priorities, and our responsibilities.
Now, with his message called When God Comes Upon a Man, Part 1, here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. Let me say this and I hope you've never heard this from me. I can't remember if I've ever said it. If I ever, say it. Will you come up and slap me?
In the face. And it's this. Your attitude about ministry is all important, but how do you have a right attitude? By knowing if you're called to the ministry or not. God comes upon the men and women that he calls.
But listen, if you're called, here's the deal: you won't be complaining about your service to God. And I can't Imagine if you ever hear me saying, well, you know what, the ministry's so hard. It's so tough. Whew? Boy.
You know, it's really, really difficult, and I would encourage you not to get into it, man. You know, it's so hard and. We're really carrying a big load for all of you. Hope you appreciate it. Boy ministry's tough.
You know what? That's sick. We want ministry to come off in such a way that you are sitting with your Bible open, and halfway through the message, you're sitting there thinking, now, wait a minute. Who's this bonehead talking to me up there? I can do what he's doing.
I can do that. May we, may this church minister in such a way that you go, I can do that, or I can do this. The moment we begin to say, oh, the ministry is so hard. Oh, I've had such a hard time ministering to all of you. You know what you're saying.
That you're such an elitist. Oh boy, you know. You should all be blessed that God has sent me here to minister to you. Because Nobody else could take it. That's nuts!
He could get Balaam's donkey to come here and do it. But your attitude. You're going to see such a difference between Saul and David's attitude. You know what? We talk This among the staff, we talk this among.
Christian brothers and sisters behind the scenes. We pray it all the time. It's this. Isn't it radical? Isn't it awesome?
Isn't God great? I mean, think about it. We'll say, think about it. We get to go out on Sunday morning and do what few people in all of history have ever had a chance to do. You know that?
We'll pray like that on Sunday mornings. God, thank you so much that we get to go out right now and we get to open up your word before your people. God, it's radical to think that just such a few people, if you take all of the population of the world, That you would allow us to open up the word of God in front of your people. What a privilege, God! It's awesome.
Think about it. What are you doing for the Lord? Is it children's ministry? Is it parking lot? Attendee, you know, what are you doing for God?
Do you realize that if you took all of humanity and put that number up on a screen, that you are but a fraction of a fraction of people who have served the house of God? Isn't that an honor? Isn't that exciting? Dave Messenger, playing music tonight. What an honor!
That God has called him to play music and lead us in worship.
Now hopefully you're sitting there now thinking Wow. Yeah. I wonder what I get there. Get all excited about. No.
Well no, my thing is.
Well, that's my whole motive for bringing that part up a moment ago. Because God's got something for you that you get up in the morning and you go, God, I can't believe I get to do what I'm going to do. This is amazing. I hope your life's like that. It needs to be like that.
I love what God says, though, to Samuel in verse 1 again. Just back up to verse 1. Oh, we're making heads, we're making lots of speed here. Samuel's got to obey God. He's a prophet of the Lord.
Watch what happens. God says, Fill your horn with oil and go. I'm sending you. Don't you love that? I got it marked in my Bible.
Fill your horn with oil and go. I'm sending you. Man, hey. We know this. If Samuel would have said, uh-uh, I'm not going anywhere.
I got news for you. God would have had Samuel get going somehow. Remember Jonah? I love it. The most successful evangelist in human history.
Jonah. Didn't even want to do the crusade. Jonah, get up. I'm going to send you. to Nineveh.
Those stinking people? Yeah, go. I'm not going. Let them go to hell. That's just let him go to hell.
I'm not going to preach.
Okay. Forget you, God, he goes down like God can't see. He goes down to the coast. And he gets on a boat and he hides. I feel good.
But God's got a plan for this man's life. Listen. If you disagree with me, don't tell me because I don't want to hear about it. I believe this is true. You can try to run and hide all you want.
God will take away the layers of what you've put over yourself. You can hide under anything you want, God's going to expose you because He's got a plan for your life. And you won't be happy. Happy. Happy.
Until you're doing that thing that God's built you to do.
So really I thought happiness was doing it my way. I thought happiness was Everything that I want. Nope, that's not it. I had a friend of mine tell me just the other day as they were going, and they have a very elite community that they live in, and they were going door to door for a certain thing that's going on in their community. It's very, very wealthy.
And She said, you know, as we went from door to door, Instead of talking about this thing that we're Bringing it up for the community, I began to realize I need to start giving out Jesus at every door I talked to, come to, because when we would knock on a door, You know, either the whoever would open up the door, the owner or butler, or whoever, and they were miserable. She said they're miserable. People with all this money. And some big rap star lives there too, and his house is right there, and real famous guy. I'm not going to say his name.
And But listen They got all this wealth and all the fame and all this stuff in the world, and they're not even happy. And yet, the world goes out and tries to establish happiness by trying to obtain things to themselves. And uh that's not going to do it. It won't work. It's Jesus that Works in your life to bring you to that place.
It's a very powerful work of God. And you must obey him. And God says, fill your horn with oil. You know, oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Fill your horn with oil.
I'm sending you. I love that. 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. In verses 4 through 7, we see here when God comes upon a man, it's based upon his will being done.
So, based upon his will being done, skip down to verse 7. It says, But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance. or at the height of his stature. Because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as a man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
As Samuel comes to Jesse's house, all of his sons were there, and they're obviously grown-up boys. And the first young man that comes along is obviously tall.
Now, wait a minute. When's the last time we heard of a man of high stature? Tall stature? Hello, Samuel. Wait, this didn't work last time.
Remember, it says that Saul was head and shoulders above all the people? Don't go for the tall guys. No, I'm joking, but... But you see how the You see how the world though things? Listen, it's true.
I don't know. Have any of you worked like in corporate America? And have you seen, I don't know what the deal is, but we would have. Our corporate presidents come to Baxter Healthcare when I worked in Newport Beach, and they would come. And they were all They were all 6'4, 6'5, 6'6, every one of them.
And I remember the comments being made. And we're walking by, and it's like, you know, it's like a parade. Whoa, man, there, man, there's a, hey, woo, wow, hey, woo, there's a guy, you know, wow, hmm. And you know what? They're like this, they're all six.
Four plus. And it was the weirdest thing. I mean, I'm not saying there's a connection there. I'm not saying if you're going to be a tall guy, you're going to be successful. And I'm not saying if you're going to be a tall guy, you're going to be a loony.
I'm just saying how the world wants someone bigger than wife. I went to the Museum of Natural History in London. And there's Charles Darwin. And it's really cool. He's sitting down, frankly, anybody ever been there?
He's sitting down. And it looks like he's going to the bathroom. And he's like this. And the greatest thing about Chuck Darwin. is that he's they made him bigger than life.
That's how the world thinks. We need some big ones. Because we're such little insignificant people. We need big leaders. They gotta be big guys.
It's a very weird thing.
So God says to Samuel, stop looking. at the outward appearance. What's wrong with you? Listen, is that not the way we are? What's wrong with us?
I I don't know. Don't raise your hand, but if you're a single guy or a single girl in here I think that's a pretty neat verse to hang on to. 1 Samuel 16, 7? What do you mean, Jed? Don't look at his outward appearance or at his height or stature.
Or hers too. Oh man, have you seen her? What does that mean? Oh, she's beautiful. For how long?
Yeah. What's she like? Huh? What is she like? Oh, I don't know.
But man is she good looking Wait a minute. You know, it's the eve of Valentine's Day. I shouldn't be talking to him like this, huh? But think about it. We'll end here.
Don't panic. We'll end here. This would be a part 10 message, obviously. But the thing is, this, we have to be careful. God has given us His Word.
And how does this translate into our lives? We judge by appearance. Listen, Christian, listen up. You know where we're perhaps more guilty? Than even judging by appearance.
We judge by what we hear about someone. Oh, here's the scourge of the church. When somebody comes up and says, Oh man, did you hear this about? Bobby Sue? Hear what?
That actually comes through, yeah. Really? Oh my gosh! Oh, be sure to pray for them. Yeah, right.
You go home. Did you hear about Bobby Sue? Scourge of the church, gossip. Here's the thing. Little known to you.
You've just played the part of a fool. You've listened to one side of a story. And not only did you violate God. You violated Bobby Sue. And God will not hold you guilt-free on this.
Well, I don't even know who Barbius Lew is. He will not hold you guilt-free on this. Because the Bible warns about someone who repeats a matter. In fact, in the context of that verse, God says, don't repeat a matter, even if it's true. Don't repeat it.
But see, there's some evil twisted thing in the heart. of people. To repeat bad news or something that's destructive about somebody. You want to know why? Because of insecurity, it makes you feel better.
That's why Mark Twain said A lie will go around the world twice before the truth ever gets its shoes on. And so, the scourge of many Christians today is believing one side of the story. That's a horrible thing. Can you imagine? If somebody came up to me and said, Jack, you know, have you heard about Have you heard about Mike?
Listen. I've said this for years, don't know if it's ever going to take. But you ought to stop right there and say, well, wait a minute. First of all, can I quote you with what you're about to tell me? Can I quote you?
I guarantee you that person If you want to know If they're outside the will of God, If you want to know they're lying or passing on a rumor, watch what happens. If they say, have you heard about Mike? Say, wait a minute, before you tell me, can I quote you on this? Uh, whoa, whoo, boy, whoo, getting kind of, wow, no, you know, let's just forget it. Boy, did you see that, you know, that game?
And look at the weather and. No, you tell me about Mike, I'm going to quote you. You know what I'm saying? Oh, can you do that? What's your evil option?
Yeah, tell me about Mike. Then you enter right into the sin and you propagate it, and God will not hold you guiltless in this matter. What have you heard about someone lately? How do you know it's true? And even if it were.
God condemns the action of repeating it to another. That's something. That's heavy stuff. No, don't judge according to appearance, and that's tough. Because our flesh is so Longing.
To know a powerful man. A rich man. An influential man. And James says Silly Christian. Don't you know that these are the guys who sue you and drag you into court?
Cool. Isn't it amazing that Jesus didn't even own a house? He used a rock for a pillow. He had to borrow money from a fish. to pay his taxes.
There is no form or comeliness of beauty that we should desire him. Jesus was the exact opposite. of appearance. But man are we suckers for it. And God says, better watch it, you get in trouble that way.
Next week, we'll see how God looks. In at the heart. The human heart. And that is A scary thing. Because you know, the Bible says in the book of Jeremiah: our hearts are desperately wicked.
And we can't know them. But Jack, you don't know my heart. I even have that sticker on my card to know me, is to love me. Hey look lady, you don't even know your own heart. I don't know mine.
We can't know our hearts. Only God knows our hearts. Isn't it something?
So God, oh God, help me. Lord. Make motives right in my heart. Have you not found out yet? Have we not discovered that we, I am, my worst enemy?
If Satan were bound today and thrown in the bottomless pit. I would still be such a nuisance to myself. It's me, myself, and I. It gangs up. On the born-again jack.
But thank God that greater is he that is In me. Than he that is in the world. Father, we thank you for your word, and Lord. Teach us. Increasingly so, Lord, to be people.
Who are led by your spirit. Lord, to not judge according to appearance. We know, Lord, that that's impossible, actually. Unless we have your Holy Spirit and the discernment of the Spirit. Father is a church.
We ask that you'd baptize us, Lord, in the power of your Holy Spirit. And bestow upon us in these days, Lord, discernments. Discernment, Lord. And we know that that comes through the work of your Spirit. As he uses the word of God in our lives.
Father, we ask you. That you might come upon us. And Lord, that you would. Cause us always to walk with you. Keep us from ourselves.
Keep us from the wicked one. And in this world, Um May we shine. as lights in a dark place. We love you, Lord. We ask tonight if our hearts have strayed.
If any be backslidden or have gotten into that thing of gossip or repeating a matter or forming a judgment about someone without hearing. both sides, or whatever the case might be. We were guilty of judging according to appearance or what was heard. Lord, make us like you. May the concern of heaven Be our heart's concern.
and our church is concerned. In Jesus' name and all guts, people say. Amen. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hughes. Here on Real Life Radio, and his message called When God Comes Upon a Man, 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. It's a series that highlights the prophet Samuel who was called by God during one of Israel's darkest times to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. and will continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
So, as you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you'd like to know what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life personally, we would love to help you out with that. Go to jackhibbs.com/slash know God. That's K-N-O-W-God. And there you'll be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you'll find in knowing God.
Don't miss out. That's the Know God tab at jackhibbs.com. Hey everybody, we got our first time ever actually devotional. We have a 40-day devotional called Watching Waiting. 40 days of walking you through biblical passages that excite you and prepare you for the soon coming of Jesus Christ.
Watching Waiting is a 40-day devotional that's all tied to biblical prophecy. Watching Waiting. It is our featured resource for this month and it's available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com/slash real radio. Jackhibbs.com/slash real radio. Are you looking for some solid biblical teaching that speaks to the world today?
At jackhibbs.com, you have access to Pastor Jack's entire library of sermons on demand. Anytime. anywhere. Whether you're commuting, you're at the gym, or you need a moment of encouragement. You can dive right into some powerful verse-by-verse teachings that make God's Word really come alive.
from deep dives into scripture to practical messages on everyday issues. Pastor Jack's teachings help you understand the Bible in a way that's clear, it's relevant, and it's easy to apply. You're going to find sermons that address today's toughest questions with biblical insight and hope in the midst of life's challenges.
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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.
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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.
