Today on Real Life Radio. Too many of us are running around trying to take care of it on our own. We're all stressed out and wigged out about it. Don't we have to figure everything out? Haven't you learned by now that God will not let you figure everything out?
He's not gonna let it happen. Because if you could figure it out, you wouldn't need him. 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 friends, first of all, Merry Christmas. And like we do every year, we go through the Bible in a year. That's how we keep a big church family together by going through the Word of God together.
Well, this year, we're throwing you a curveball that you can hit. This is a brand new one. This is different. This is the Dr. Charles Stanley Life Principle Daily Bible.
This Bible has got not only the daily reading, it's got insights by none other than Dr. Charles Stanley. We encourage you to get a copy of this for yourself. And listen, we also want you to be aware of the fact that we have a devotion, watching, waiting. It's a 40-day devotion, and it's all about scripture verses that excite you and encourage you about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God bless you. Visit jackhibbs.com to get your December Book of the Month double feature, the one-year Bible, and Pastor Jack's brand new devotional, Watching Waiting. They're available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. Again, that's jackhibbs.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio.
Pastor Jack continues now with his series called 1 Samuel and a message titled Winning the Battles of Life, Part 1. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel, and he was the first of its prophets.
So here in chapter 17, we'll rediscover that well-known story of David and Goliath. You see, the event before us was a true battle. Young David facing the giant Goliath. Israel is now being threatened as Goliath mocks God's people. Fear is everywhere, and when it comes to Goliath, well, we have giants in our lives as well.
So today, Pastor Jack teaches that Saul was the leader of Israel's army, and still he couldn't face Goliath. But just like David, we need to live with the expectation of victory. The Christian life isn't always easy, that's the truth, but with the Lord, we don't have to live on the sidelines or feel defeated.
Now, with his message called Winning the Battles of Life, Part 1, is pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs. Ephesians 6.12 Tells us, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age. against spiritual hosts. of wickedness in the spiritual or heavenly places. But the Bible says here that Saul and the men of Israel had gathered together, they were encamped.
and they drew battle lines. And there's a danger to that in my opinion. One of the things that a soldier or that a general is very leery about is calling his troops. To arms too soon. Have you ever seen that perhaps in a movie and you're wondering, what are they waiting for?
Why don't they just go march on? There's a moment when you should march. But if you call to battle too soon your troops and they're standing ready, you know, in fact, you know this. If you're going to shoot a rifle or a pistol, You need to pick it up and aim at the target and shoot. Don't sit there and think about it for a while.
You want to know why? You start shaking. Either because you're nervous or because you're thinking about, oh, am I going to miss? Am I going to miss? or your body gets tired.
You don't call your men to battle array for 40 days and 40 nights and they're like this. There's a moment where it goes too far. In your life, God knows the exact moment when you and I should be advancing or holding our ground. God knows exactly when.
Well, am I gonna know? Probably not. But he knows. We're going to trust in our captain. We're going to trust in our general.
But there's a danger. They're encamped, they're in battle array. And I'm afraid. In many ways, that the Christian church, by By and large, they are in battle array, they're talking about battle. I tell you what.
Isn't it amazing that the Christian church is suffering more? damage in the way of doctrine. and marriage and children. And Just aberrant theology. And yet, there are more Christian bookstores than ever in human history.
There are more books on marriage, more books on finances. There are more books on children, more books on family relationships and church growth. Do you know that there's more books right now tonight on church growth than at any other time in human history? You think Jesus had a book on church growth? Let me see.
How do they say to do it? No, he leaned on the Holy Spirit. Where to lean on the Holy Spirit?
Well, if I can just get a book on how to reach my kids, reach your kids. Don't reach your kids. Fall on your face for your kids. Pray for your kids.
Well, you just can't get to them. Don't get to them. Fall on your face and talk to God. Seriously, I'm gonna go get a book. on on ch on rearing children.
The Bible is a pretty good book. You see what I'm saying? I'm afraid that we're in battle array.
Okay. Oh, here we go. And we're like this. For days, weeks, months, years. And we become almost, as it were, ten soldiers or petrified soldiers.
Israel is here, yet they're trembling. Before the Philistines who have come into their land, and they were powerless because they had a powerless leader, by the way, Saul. was defeated by this time. He had so grieved the Holy Spirit, God had anointed another man. By the way, as we'll see in following studies, this is an important thing.
Who was the tallest guy on the Philistine army? Goliath, who was the tallest guy in the Israeli army? Mm. Not a good thing. Who do we got around here that's taller than anybody else that can take on this giant?
Saul was the only guy. The Bible says he was head and shoulders taller than anybody else. I bet he'd just kind of go, I don't know, keep looking. Kicks off his boots. Yeah, you guys should find the tallest guy now.
But as it were, Saul was judged already. and found lacking Powerless. He's got all the armor, he's got all the troops, he's got all the organization, he's got all the church growth booklets, he's got all the conventions, he's got the conferences, he's got the posters, he's got the hotline. But he's got no power. The Holy Spirit had departed from Saul.
Yes, we shall see. And so that's a very sad And frightening thing, awakening to the fact. Verses 3 and 4, awaken to the fact that we're in a spiritual battle. Listen, it's a war, and there's nothing fair about it. Did you know that?
The enemy does not fight fair. I remember as a kid growing up, did you guys do this? We played Army all the time. Oh, we loved it. We had the real stuff, we had everything.
The real gear, it was hilarious. But uh We would throw dirt clods at people. I mean, not people, at one another. Because if you got dirt on you and stuff like that, you know, we would check to see who died. If you had dirt on you, you were dead.
But one of the things, you know, you'd be playing, you'd be, and in those games, when you're throwing and shooting and all this stuff, time out, time out, I got something in my eye. You could stand up and get something out of your eye.
Okay, time in. Remember that? Satan never sleeps. Satan, Satan, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Timeout.
I got something in my eye. Sing goes, oh good. And ping. He nails us. Yeah.
There's nothing fair in war.
Sometimes I wonder, you think they're re- There's the Geneva Convention rules regarding war. We will fight fair.
Okay, that only works if you have a really nice enemy. And if you have an enemy nice enough to obey the Geneva Convention. War? Uh rules. He shouldn't be your enemy.
Think about it. You think Osama bin Laden cares about the Geneva Convention rules? All right, Tallyman. I can't do it. Can you imagine?
When the English invaded us, Remember what they got all upset with us because the Indians taught us how to hide behind bushes and rocks. Did you? No, I'm serious. The English came out and they were in lines with red coats on. Shoot me first!
And they would walk out there and they'd see the guy, and then they'd start, then they'd load. Wait. Wait a minute, I'm not loaded yet. And they would get ready, and then boom, okay, and they'd file back, okay, next guy forward. And it looked like a drill team out there.
Boom. And they were doing this thing. And so we learned from the Indians and from the French, they said, hey, hide behind a rock. It drives the English crazy. And we got in trouble.
They said time they time out. We're going to meet with your leaders. You guys need to fight like gentlemen. That's what they said. This is cowardice, what you're doing, fighting behind rocks and dressing up with trees and stuff around you.
It's wrong. It's wrong. Can you believe that? You think Satan's going, oh, you know what? Look at That Calvary Chapel, they've been praying so hard.
They've been really doing it. I think I'm gonna back off today. You've got a chance. The enemy does not fight fair. The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel on the other side, there's a valley between them.
And a champion, verse 4, went out from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath. from Gaff. Yeah. I wonder if you had a jersey on. Goliath from Gath, number 49.
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.
In war, nothing's fair. And notice how close the enemy is. He's closer than you think. The enemy.
So close. Why do I bring that up? Because the distance in that valley, those of you who were there, I could literally be on one hill while a man is on the other side of the hill, and you can converse back and forth with each other. That's how close it is. They heard everything.
You could hear the metal clinking. And the horses snorting and the scuffing of Horse. It's that close. And there's a champion there. This one Goliath.
The word champion, by the way, is a very interesting word. A warrior tyrant Um I actually r I saw in a book reading this. A warrior tyrant. Terrorist of the uh Jewish of the Israeli tri uh Army. And boy, all of a sudden we mentioned the word terrorist and That gets our attention.
A champion. He's a A warrior. And he's standing there in this metallic suit on. The Bible tells us here in this chapter that he's got legs wrapped in brass. He's got a breastplate, he's got a coat of mail, a coat of armor, brass.
He's got a helmet. He looks like a metallic monster of. Bronze. And he's standing there. He's huge.
The enemy is not only Not fighting fairies closer than we think. He'll come out after us, verse 4. The enemy will come out and find us.
So we need to be ready. You can't be a Christian and be a spectator. And the enemy, by the way, is a ruthless foe. His name was Goliath from Gath. Goliath.
If champion here means warrior, tyrant, or terrorist, The word Goliath means interesting. A middle man Some have translated it between two. Ancient scholars say that the name Goliath means That is Bigger than men, but not a god. He's between Men. Interesting thought.
His name also means, listen, this is powerful as a picture of Satan. Goliath also means one who has been exiled. One who does not have a country. Goliath means to be banished. The word means to be estranged from home.
to be sent out. It also, Hebrew scholars say that it also suggests of one being a soothsayer. A soothsayer is someone who dabbles with evil spirits. Goliath was a freak. In every way.
A grotesque man. The Bible tells us another passage of scripture that he was one of several brothers, and of his kind it says that they had. Six fingers and six toes on each foot and hand. They were mutated weirdos. strange things.
You can read more about That in Scripture, but some of the things I want you to consider behind the scenes: if Goliath is a type of Satan. If you think of them that way, isn't it interesting that Satan in the the metal bronze or Brass is symbolic in Scripture of judgment. What did Moses hold up on a staff out in the wilderness? A brass serpent. Speaking of judgment, Goliath is wrapped in brass.
Of course, in his culture, That was for power. But in the culture that David comes from, that was for judgment. I wonder if David looked at him and said, hmm, the job's halfway done already. He's wrapped for judgment. Yeah.
I love the way David thought. And then, thirdly, verses 4 through 7, we learn this: awaken to the fact that we're in a spiritual battle, is that the enemy has resources that we don't know of. It says, Whose height was six cubits and a span, and he had a bronze helmet on his head. and he was armed with a coat of mail. And the weight of the coat was 500 shekels of bronze.
That's 200 pounds, US pounds. two hundred pounds of armour. And he had bronze greaves on his legs and bronze javelin between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam. And his iron spearhead weighed 600 shekels, that's 25 pounds.
And a shield bearer or an armour bearer went before him. You know, the first thing I notice when I'm thinking about spiritual battle and thinking about just Goliath here in the flesh is, I'm not very tall. He's a monster. Don't our problems look huge when we look at them through our eyes? Aren't they gigantic?
Oh man, how am I going to get through this? And yet Our problems in comparison to God or nothing. See, we need to stop looking at our Temptation or a problem or difficulty, the sin that you might be in, or the great mountain of difficulty that's ahead of you, that quest that God has taken you upon is so huge, or this battle is so big. Yes, in my strength and in your strength, it's impossible. It's got to be that way.
But take that problem, take that temptation, take that attack, and put it next to God. Verse 4 tells us that His height was six cubits and a span. Six and a half qubits.
Now we know from We know from uh We know from biblical archaeology that A qubit is anywhere from 18 to 22 inches. That's Shaquille O'Neal, seven feet one. Yet he's not all that tall throughout history. You know that there's a man Who died on July 15, 1940, at the age of 22? Robert Wardlow.
He stood eight feet eleven inches tall. You can go online to the Guinness World Book of Records and see actual photographs of them. And you got O'Neill here. Who's only seven feet one? You're only seven feet one.
Consider Goliath, who was at least nine feet six inches tall. Shaquille O'Neill would have come probably to about. Goliath's armpit.
Now, I don't know if you've seen these guys in real life. But when you see these guys in real life, It's not like It's not like it's real. When you're standing there. They're bigger than life. Shaquille O'Neal's shoe is at 22 triple E.
I've had a chance to see it, it's about that big. Like so. But he's a wee little guy. compared to Goliath. See, we see our problems like this.
True. It overwhelms us. No, I want to encourage you tonight. As we look through this series on Wednesday nights, for the next several Wednesday nights.
Okay. We need to pit our problem. before the Lord. Because too many of us are running around trying to take care of it on our own. We're all stressed out and wigged out about it.
And we have to figure everything out. Haven't you learned by now that God will not let you figure everything out? He's not going to let it happen. He won't let you. Because if you could figure it out, you wouldn't need him.
Let's take our problems to the Lord right now, shall we? Father, we come tonight, and Lord. We ask That you, Lord, You who know. The depth of our hearts. You know, the plague of our soul right now.
And Lord, I could not guess all that is in the hearts of these people tonight. I don't have to. But Lord, you look And you love And you care? And tonight There are those that are carrying loads and burdens and concerns so great. There are husbands and wives here tonight.
And they can just scarcely squeak out a fresh breath. of air to fill their lungs because the tension the anxiety around their hearts, Because either a marriage breaking down. or had already been cast to the wind. There's husbands and wives here tonight, no doubt. that are longing for the salvation of their mate.
There's moms and dads lamenting over the waywardness of a child. And there's children tonight wandering and wondering. What life has for them. And the moment we start to think about these things, our heart rate gets going, we get panicky. We lose our joy, and God, all of a sudden, you shrink.
in our faith to nothing. And we're right in the valley of Elah. And we're losing We're scared. We're trembling. We can't see anything but the giant.
Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, Tonight We give you our Goliaths. Yeah. We give them to you now. We ask you, Lord, to help us to walk in faith and victory, to walk around our kids' bedroom or our house, to walk around our wife's office or the husband's office or that. place or whatever or the city.
Mm-hmm. property, but we walk it. dedicating it them. into your hands. Uh That we would gladly confess, Lord.
Before this enemy, I cannot compete. Um But you, O Lord, They're nothing before you. And so, Jesus, we give you our concerns. Hmm. Teach us, O Lord, how to embrace, actually, be ready and prepared and excited.
About the battles of life. Because Uh We are on your side. And we thank you guys. In Jesus' name. Yeah.
Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. Here on Real Life Radio, with his message called Winning the Battles of Life, Part 1.
So glad you're with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called First 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 we'll 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, Pastor Jack, this is the time of year when we normally start talking about the one-year Bible because we like to get together as a church and as everybody who listens to our various broadcasts to do the one-year Bible together, right? This is the time of year we start talking about that. But we've got this special deal going on where you can get the one-year Bible.
And your new book, Watching Waiting, the devotional, the 40-day devotional. For a gift of any amount, we're going to send you both of those books. Tell us about the one year Bible. Tell us about Watching Waiting. Yeah, thank you.
Wow. You're making me go back now for decades. And I mean many decades. Could be three decades where we as a church. The entire church family, you know, how do you have a big church stay small, feel small?
Well, here's what we do. Every year, we all start out reading the one-year Bible. Starting on January 1st. And so every November, every December, we make sure that those who don't have the one-year Bible, that they make sure that they get it. And so on January 1st, all of us dive into the Word of God.
And my goodness, I think we're coming up on 30 years of going through the Bible. Uh, 30 times. Isn't that amazing? And so it's been amazing, and we're just encouraging people. And then, of course, as you mentioned, getting a copy of the brand new devotional.
It's a 40-day devotional, watching, waiting. It's a devotional written about really the expectancy of Christ's coming. Are we ready? How do we get ready? What does it mean to be ready?
And so it's all scripture versed and scripture-referenced. And we think that you're going to love it. I think it'd be a good addition. To your one-year Bible. The one-year Bible and the 40-day devotion by Pastor Jack called Watching and Waiting.
Get your copy for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com/slash real radio. That's jackhibbs.com/slash real radio. Daniel Cohen here from Israel. If you love Pastor Jack Hibbs' fearless approach to teaching God's Word, you'll love the Real Life Network. It's built for warriors who want the truth.
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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.
