Today on Real Life Radio. How does Jesus come to us? Answer, by the person of the Holy Spirit. And every Christian. Who has asked Christ to be their Savior has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.
Every believer. But not all believers have the Holy Spirit upon them. 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.
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. On today's edition of Real Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called 1 Samuel and a message titled Church Growth 101. This is part one. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets.
So, here as we continue in chapter 16, we'll look at how the Spirit of the Lord comes upon David and even today, comes upon the life of the believer. You see, the Lord comes to us by the person of the Holy Spirit. Every believer has the Holy Spirit within them at the moment of coming to Christ as Savior. It's the Holy Spirit that is our helper and comforter and is both with us and within us.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches that when we ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit, it is something different. It's when we continually ask for the Holy Spirit to fill us with His power so we can be an effective witness and an example of Christ.
Now, with his message called Church Growth 101 Part 1, here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. Lord, we are here humbly and Lord, just in great need before you, asking you to fill us with your Holy Spirit. to baptize us, Lord, into your will. And Lord, that you would galvanize us into the very ministry that you've called us to be and do as a church. That Lord until you come again May we be busy about our Father's business.
For Lord, we ask it now in Jesus' name, and all God's people said. Amen. Why don't you grab your Bibles tonight and turn to again 1 Samuel chapter 16? 1 Samuel 16, and listen carefully. If you were here, is anybody here last Wednesday night?
Raise your hand. If you were here, about maybe half of you or so, I don't know.
Well, if you're here last Wednesday night, we came to verse 13. And As we taught on the Holy Spirit coming upon David. The Bible there says in verse 13, that Samuel, the prophet of God, The Samuel the one who God called to make kings and Priest Samuel took verse 13 the horn of oil. and anointed him, that is David. In the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.
And we talked about the Spirit of God coming upon David and coming upon us today in the New Testament sense. But recorded right here in the Old Testament is the introduction. To the person and the work of the Holy Spirit and the life of a believer, the coming upon experience. of God's power. And so verse thirteen catapulted us into a study.
And if you were not here, let me recap a moment. That study led to an invite, really. To you, To receive or to experience the coming upon of the Holy Spirit. Which is, of course, as we see here in 1 Samuel 16:13, an Old Testament event, but also, we know from Scripture, a promised event. Increasing event in the New Testament time.
And so over six hundred of you stood. Last Wednesday night to receive the baptism or filling or the empowerment or the coming upon experience of the Holy Spirit.
Now, some of you, I'm guessing, I don't know.
Some of you might say, Well, Jack, I did and I prayed and I asked God to come upon me and nothing happened. Be patient. By the way, keep asking, but be patient.
Some of you, and I've already heard about it, some of you prayed that prayer last Wednesday night, and then I saw you Friday night at the marriage retreat, and I could hardly hold you down on the ground. You're so excited, and God already manifested power in your life. Just from that Wednesday night on, at work and at home, and you experienced a boldness. I got a letter from somebody. Um who told me?
That they had prayed, they asked the Lord to fill them with the power of the Holy Spirit, and God led them to witness to a friend of theirs that they had always been beating around the bush about mentioning Jesus to. And that person wrote me a note and said I was experiencing power like I'd never known before. And they said, Thank you for Wednesday night with an exclamation point. That's great. The Holy Spirit.
given to us that we might be more effective. Witnesses and examples of Christ. And in fact, without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, there is no true. vital success in our lives. I'm going to give you a lot of scriptures, and here's what we're going to do.
We are going to continue on with this theme for how long? I do not know. It could be just for tonight. But we're going to pick it up last week, because if you remember, we had to put The breaks on last week, we had to just, it was getting too late. The service actually, watch this, watch the people head for the doors.
The service started at 7 in worship, and we had to kind of reel it in at about 10 after 9. Last week.
So, if you have to leave, I understand that. I'm not anticipating anything like that again.
However, the hunger, Bruce led us in the song tonight. What was the song? Um Hunger, Hunger, More of You, More of You. You know that song? I want more of you.
How's it going? Anyone? Come Holy Spirit, come and however it goes. You know the song? And uh That's a great song.
As we were singing, I'm praying. I was praying that song. Lord, may this be our prayer. This is a great prayer. Lord, we all ought to raise our hands as a holy prayer to you.
It's a great prayer.
So, what we're going to do is continue where we picked up last time. And by the way, there's some great reasons why we need to go into the teaching that we have tonight. And hopefully, some of your questions will be answered. Hopefully, some questions will be. Uh encouraged.
And the answer, of course, being found in the Bible. Can you mark that in your head, will you please? I don't want to, I cannot be, I should never be the answer to your question. If I become the answer to your question, or listen, let me be frank. If Calvary Chapel is the answer to your question, that's wrong.
It's wrong for me to be the answer to your question. If your denomination that you've come from tonight is your answer to your question, that is wrong. The answer to your question class ought to be what? Jesus Christ, specifically, I was looking for the question, the answer, the Bible. Jesus, the Bible.
The Word of God. Should be the answer. The Holy Spirit. We're talking about Him and the empowerment that He brings. First of all, some of you Are you interested about who is the Holy Spirit?
Some of you have come out of cults and you're still saying and you're still wondering who is the Holy Spirit, even if He is a He. Because you've been taught that he's an itce.
Well, listen, Acts chapter 5, verse 3. Speaks of the Holy Spirit being a person. But Peter said to Um Ananias Ananias Anias Patron, how you? pronounce it, I guess. Peter said, Why has Satan filled your heart?
to lie to the Holy Spirit. And keep back a part of the price of the land for yourself. While it remained, was it not yet your own? And after it was sold, was it still not under your power? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart?
You have not lied to men, but unto God. Two truths are known in Acts chapter 5. The Holy Spirit is a person because you can only lie to a person. You can't lie to a street poll or an it. You can only lie to a person.
Number two, the person being lied to in Acts chapter 5. Is spoken of here as being the Holy Spirit, God. God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, who is a person always referred to as a He, by the way. has emotion.
He has emotions. In fact, in many scriptures, it says: Do not quench the Spirit of God, do not grieve the Spirit of God. These are human attributes. And characteristics of a human or of a person person. God the Holy Spirit.
a person, though he's not human. He has A emotion. He has a logic. He has a mind. And in Isaiah 63.10, this is an amazing verse.
Isaiah 63.10, there the prophet was speaking to the nation Israel about how they had disobeyed and rebelled against God. And Isaiah 63:10 says, But they, that is the children of Israel, rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit, so he turned himself against them. and became their enemy, and he fought against them. The Holy Spirit. Can you imagine the Holy Spirit turning on you?
Because of you grieving him and grieving him?
Now it's amazing. We live in the end of the New Testament age, and the Holy Spirit, He puts up with so much. Isn't that true? He bears up with so much. But back in the Old Testament times, obviously the children of Israel grieved.
the Holy Spirit, and he turned on them and became their enemy. He has emotion. Acts chapter 13 verse 2 teaches us that he's sovereign. He has his own will. Acts 13:2 says, And as they ministered unto the Lord and they fasted, the Holy Spirit spoke and said, Now separate unto me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them to do.
Isn't that interesting?
So you see the cult that says, well, it's just an it. They're not familiar with their Bible. No, the Bible says here in 1 Samuel 16, 13, that Samuel took the horn of oil Remember what that is all about? The horn of oil, a symbol of the Holy Spirit. And he anointed David, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.
The oil. In the Old Testament time, the oil, as we touched on before, is a symbol, a mark of the Holy Spirit. It is a biblical type of the Spirit of God. Exodus 29. Verse 7.
There, Moses is commanded that you shall. Take the anointing oil and pour it on the high priest's head and anoint him. Why? Because it was a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Exodus 30, verse 22 to 25.
Moreover, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Also, take for yourself. quality spices 500 shekels of liquid myrrh. Listen to this. Half as much sweet smelling. Ointments, two hundred and fifty shekels, two hundred and fifty.
uh according to the shekel of the sanctuary. olive oil, and you shall make from these a holy anointing oil, an ointment compounded according to the art of the perfumer, and it shall be holy anointing oil unto you. A symbol, a type of the Spirit of God. We know from the book of James that we're to pray for those who are sick, anointing them with oil. The oil speaks of the Spirit.
Psalm 23, verse 5. You anoint my head with oil. And by the way, it goes on. The psalmist David says, My cup runs over. Two statements regarding the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the.
Believer. In John 7, verse 35, Jesus says that regarding the person and the work of the Holy Spirit, he says, when the Spirit comes upon you and takes Possession of your life and comes within you. As one who trusts in the Lord, there in John 7, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will gush out of you, as it were, torrents of living water. My cup runneth over. Interesting.
And then David, of course, says, you anoint my head with oil. Again, a symbol of type. of the Holy Spirit. 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. Genesis chapter 28. You can mark it down.
I just love this. I always look for reasons to insert this portion. of Scripture into a study because it's so fun. Genesis 28:11, it's about Jacob. You know, Jacob was quite the stinker.
You know that? He was a. He was a brat. He was a conniver. And Jacob's one of those guys where you read about his life and you wonder: can this guy get saved?
He's always, I always see Jacob just totally dressed up and in this pinstripe kind of funky suit. working at some sort of a sales thing, you know. And he's real slick. Jacob would rob you blind and you'd never know it. And he's full of himself.
And God will break Jacob. But it says in Genesis 28:11, So Jacob came to a certain place and stayed there all night long. By the way, he was on the run. because the sun had set, And he took one of the stones of that place, and by the way, I've been there, there's a lot of stones. And he put it at his head or under his head.
He used a rock for a pillow. And he lay down in that place to sleep. And then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to the heavens. And there the angels of God were ascending. And descending on it.
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, your father. And the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie, listen, I will give to you and your descendants. Also, your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north. And God lays out the blessing there.
And he says in verse 15: Behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you. Then Jacob woke up. from his sleep and said, Surely the Lord is in this place. And I didn't even know it.
And he was afraid. And said, How awesome is this place? See, I say awesome all the time, it's right here in the Bible. How awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God.
And this, listen, and this is the gate to heaven. Then Jacob rose early in the morning and he took a stone, That he had placed underneath his head, and he set it up as a pillar, and he poured what on it. Oil. And he called the name of the place Bethel. The house of God.
It's been a while since I've had a chance to show you this. How true is this scripture?
Well, take a look at this. Bethel, that's it from 220 miles out in space. Can't see much there, can you? Look at that. See what I just don't see it.
Well, we're going to rotate the map here pretty soon. There's Bethel. Are you able to see that? That's from space, that's a real photograph from a US satellite.
Now we rotate it to the left. You see that area that circled? That's the mountains just east of Bethel.
Now watch this. That area Remember, we rotated the map now, so north is to your left. Hebrew is red from right to left.
Okay? Keeping that in mind. Take a look at this. You see the city of Bethel to the south here, or what would be down bel below? You see those mountainous areas up where the north is at?
Watch how this turns out here. And this is where Jacob slept. See that? Say, well, I still don't see anything. Just wait.
That's the city and hill country of Bethel. Watch this. Watch this. You see that? Wow.
Letters of the Lord for his name.
Now, watch this. This is Jehovah. Remember, they don't say Jehovah. They don't have J. They is the sound.
Jehovah. Jacob is sleeping here, and he says, Surely God's in this place. And I didn't even know it. Well, we didn't know it either until we put a satellite up there. And I never knew it until a little old lady in Tiberias showed me this.
And I almost uh I almost passed out. It's amazing, but watch this. You see that little uh Well, back up a second. You guys are going ahead of me here. I don't know what you guys.
I'm using this, but you're not listening to a word I'm saying here.
Okay, stay right there.
Now go ahead one. Look at this. These are the Hebrew letters for only unique son.
Now back up a second guys. This is the name of the Lord. He says, I didn't even know. God was in this place.
Well, not only that, when you take a closer look in the top left-hand corner, watch how the print, in correlation with the topography, changes to God's only Son. Isn't that amazing?
Well, it's no wonder why Jacob had that to exclaim. Why he had that to say? It's amazing. Bethel, truly God is in this place. God is involved in every detail to bless us, so much so.
That he's waited all that time for us to put a satellite up into space that we might see such a thing. The Bible says that God has, and the Jews believe this true, that God has written his name. on the land of Israel. And truly he has. Amazing and exciting.
Listen, concerning the promised work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus promised in John 14, 16, we touched on it last time. Jesus said, and he was speaking to all of his guys just before he left. He said, and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper. That he, that's a person, may be may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you. And will be in you.
Jesus then says in verse 18, an amazing statement. Remember, he's leaving, he's going back to heaven. And he says, I will not leave you orphaned. I will come to you. How does Jesus come to us?
Answer, by the person of the Holy Spirit. And every Christian. Who has asked Christ to be their Savior has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Every believer. But not all believers have the Holy Spirit upon them.
That is an experience that we learn from Scripture, is an over and over and over again event that comes, as we saw last time and as we maybe will see tonight, is by us asking the Spirit to fill us or to come upon us. Many believers, post- Resurrection Jesus. post ascension of Christ, believed in Christ and were converted. And then Paul would come to town and he would say, What was it that you were baptized into? And they said, Well, John's.
We were baptized into John's Uh Work into water. And right then, there, throughout the book of Acts, many believers then were baptized. with the Holy Spirit. And they began to either speak with boldness, or they had miracles, or they had tongues, or whatever the. Work of the Holy Spirit dictated in their lives.
Very amazing, very exciting. Romans 8, 16. I love this because the Holy Spirit was given to not only strengthen the church with gifts and to be at large in the body, but to also give us assurance. Excuse me, Romans 8:16, it says, The Holy Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. Do you know what that means?
For the life of me, what do you think that means? Romans 8:16, the Holy Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. Don't you think this implies that we ought to know that we're children of God? This word to me is absolutely clear. If the Spirit of God dwells in you, Your spirit, that's the part that was born again.
You, the part that got saved. Your spirit that's been born again agrees with his spirit that we're the children of God. It's really exciting stuff.
Some friends, I know people who need to understand that. They're Christians, but they walk around like this. Oh, golly. What's the matter? I don't know if I'm going to be a Christian tomorrow.
Why? I don't know. I couldn't really goof up. That's not what I read in the Bible. Our spirit bears witness with His Spirit that we are the children of God.
Pretty clear. It's exciting! The Holy Spirit at work. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, and his message called Church Growth 101, Part 1. 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 times to bring the people back to a heart of true worship and will continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. Hey everyone, it's almost impossible to keep up with what's going on in the world today. I think we've all come to that realization. My goodness, just the news regarding Israel and Israel's neighborhood. We're looking at what's going on in North Korea.
We're seeing what's happening in China and other parts of the world. It's just overwhelming. But I want to encourage all of you. Be in the Word of God now and more systematically than ever before. In fact, as we are in this season, I want to encourage you to join me actually at 5 a.m.
Pacific time. 5 a.m. Pacific time. And whatever time zone you're in, you can join me at my Facebook page live for five minutes as we are praying together with people all around the world. And you can leave your prayer request right there.
You can leave it in the comment section and people will be praying for you.
So listen, with all that's taking place in the world, you don't have to walk through this alone. There'll be others with you to pray with you and love on you. But friends, more than ever, If you draw near to Jesus and practice the presence of God more and more, and it means you're going to have to turn some things off and minimize the distractions, you will see some pretty miraculous things start to happen in your life.
So I encourage you to do that very thing.
So listen, 5 a.m., you can do it, West Coast time, 5 a.m. For those of you who are in Cape Town, South Africa, it's 3 o'clock in the afternoon. And listen, we'd love to have you. And even if you can't be with us live, you can always view it, pray with us, and leave your prayer request there at the comment section. The Lift Daily Prayer.
That's every day on Pastor Jack's Facebook page. That's at 5 a.m. Pacific time, so don't miss it. Make it a habit if you would. Come get prayed for and join Pastor Jack in the Word.
That's the Lift Daily Prayer every day this year on Pastor Jack's Facebook page. Be sure to join us. You'll enjoy it. Did you know that along with the radio program, Pastor Jack also has a TV show with more of the Pastor Jack Hibbs content that you like? It's called Real Life TV.
If you enjoy Pastor Jack on the radio, you're going to love him on TV.
So check out your local listings or visit jackhibbs.com and catch the latest episodes. That's jackhibbs.com. 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.
