very active in it. Well, let's look tonight at 1 Samuel 17 and let's get the picture. We're talking about David, a man after God's own heart. Last week we kind of brought to your attention, or tried to bring to your attention, David's relationship with his father. He was obedient to his father. Now David was a young man, I understand that. David had some responsibilities, I understand that. He was the keeper of a few sheep. I don't know of a record in the Bible where it records the facts that David killed a lion as a young man and he killed a bear as a young man. But David doesn't hesitate to tell King Saul that he had that experience when Saul was questioning his abilities. So tonight we find David out visiting his brethren. Remember he took, under the command of his dad, his father, Jesse, he took some cheese and bread out to his brethren who's on the battlefield. So when he gets out there he finds not just his brethren, but he finds the armies of Israel hiding in the bushes. because the Philistines have a superhero, if you want to put it that way, a giant, Goliath, that would frighten them to the point where their hearts would, the Bible says, fill them. Their hearts would fill them and they weren't able to function. So they were hiding there. When David got out there, he had some questions. Young guy, Never had on a suit of armor, never carried a sword, never carried a spear, never shot a bow, as far as we, in this passage anyway. So when he gets out there, he wants to know, with all these soldiers around, why are we here? Because the Philistines had been defeated before by Israel, 1 Samuel 5, 4 and 5. But they'd been defeated before, so why are we hiding from them now? Well, previously, we hadn't seen this guy called Goliath. Nor had we seen his spear. You know Goliath was over nine foot tall? That's two or three times me tall, not wide, but tall. No, but he was about nine foot tall. His spear weighed about 125 pounds, they say. So he was a pretty good-sized fella. I'd hate to be stabbed with Well, I'd hate to be stabbed with a 10-pound spear, but I'm talking about a 125 would go right through you. But anyway, we're going to go down to verse 26 in chapter 17 to start there. Or 25, rather. And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man that has come up? Surely to defy Israel is he come up. And it shall be that the man who killeth him, the king, will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel. And David spake to the men. Now David's name is, actually the word David, David's name is used about 29 times in the remainder of this chapter. object of God's instrumentality here is going to be who? It's got to be David. It's not going to be the armies of Philistine, the Philistine armies. It's not going to be Israel's army. It's going to be this one individual called David. That's going to be God's instrument for victory. Now let me tell you a little bit about David. Number one, David was solution-oriented. He was young, but he realized, we got problems in this old world. He didn't hide in the bushes. He didn't run back and tell his dad what was going on. David was a solution-oriented individual. Now, how do I know that? Well, go down to verse, prior to this, go down to that verse 33, if you would, please. And Saul said to David, this is when he goes before Saul, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war with his youth. And David said to Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. David was solution-oriented. That's all there was to it. He could have left that lion or bear with that lamb and, OK, I've lost one lamb, but I didn't risk my life. I let it happen. OK, bad things do occur. This is bad. He could have been a Baptist if he wanted to. That's how Baptists do things. naturally solution-oriented people. We are naturally problem-oriented people. Now why does it surprise us? Why does it surprise us when we get out there and we fought with the Philistines before? Why does it surprise us that we're fighting with them again? Now they were at the point in time, the Philistines had moved into Israel's territory and were progressing aggressively progressing, and Israel stopped them here in this valley. Israel was on one side, they were on the other side. And this giant came out, Goliath, came out to challenge someone in the Israeli's army, so whoever wins this battle is the victor and takes the prize. Well, David, being solution-oriented, by the way, said, well, no, wait a minute now. Hold it. First of all, let me point out something to you. This is defiant to the God of Israel. Let's get our priorities. We're going to sit back as the children of God and watch the Philistines be defiant toward God, to our God, the God of Israel. When God had proven himself over and over and over again, David was solution-oriented. He knew what God would do or could do. Either or. He knew that. And he acted upon what he knew about God. Now hear what I'm saying. He didn't know when he went out there that day that he would do any more than deliver bread and cheese. That's what he was supposed to do. He had no idea what the circumstances held. None whatsoever. But you mark this down. Circumstances often bring problems into our lives. That's what Philippians is all about. that circumstances were robbing the church of Philippi of their joy because of circumstances. And Paul writes, no, this can't be. We'll rejoice when you pray the prayer, and I'm delivered, and blah, blah, blah. So let your joy be full. And of course, that's all over the book of Philippians. Well, here we go. In order to do that, we'll have to be similar to what David was here and realize that, yes, I am doing my Father's will. And the circumstances dictate my next response. Now I have an option. I have an option. Watch this. Remember who sent him out there? His dad. Let's jump ahead. The battle's over. David beheaded Goliath. He killed him. He carried the head of Goliath into the presence of Saul. Verse 58 says, and Saul said, whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant, Jesse. All the way through, who does he honor and glorify? His dad. I'm my dad's son. I'm Jesse's son. Now who else do we know did that? That we know personally, by the way, other than Jesus Christ. I didn't come to do my will, I come to do the will of he that sent me. The Father's will. That's a picture type of us following after Jesus Christ because we know he does the Father's will. Here's the point. Will it be or will it not be the will of God that David slays Goliath? Come on. Now did David know that ahead of time? No, but he knew God. And he knew that that which was opposed to God, whether circumstances or others or situations, he knew that he had to work through that. Now it's not just for his benefit either. I don't know how many soldiers were in these bushes and hiding. I know the mountain is quite large and the valley is quite large, but I don't know how many soldiers on either side of the coin as far as that's concerned. But I know this, they were at a complete standstill. And this is what fear does. Fear is debilitating. You know that? You know why some people don't pray? They're afraid God will hear them. I'm telling you. There's some prayers that you pray that you're probably afraid for God to answer. Because His answer won't be what you think it ought to be. And you know that before you pray it, don't you? Sure you do. You know what God's will is before you ask it. You do. At least for you. You don't know about the circumstance, but at least for you. You don't know how it'll come out. So the point being is that fear debilitated these big mighty armies, put them to the side, or at least the Israelites put them aside because of their fear. Of who? One man. Now no matter how big he was, he was one man. You got this? One individual. Do you know that one man was birthed just like any other man? He had flesh, he had blood, now he might have had a little more than us, but he had flesh, he had blood, okay? He had a mind, he could talk, he ate, he slept, he this, he that, and he died. And he died. So what's that tell you about the Goliath? Just a temporal figure on Earth. What's it tell you about the circumstances? These can't go on. And it's not that they'll pass. It's that in the middle of these circumstances, David's going to be proactive. Why? Because he's solution-oriented. Now, I can't honestly say with any integrity that David himself didn't have some fear. I don't think David is a superman. As a matter of fact, he's just a young boy. As a matter of fact, he's going to attribute his victory to God, the battle of the Lord and so forth. We'll get to that in a moment. But he's just a young boy. So I can't honestly say that David was so naive that he had no fear. But he obviously didn't act upon fear, did he? He didn't join the brethren in the bushes. But he went forward. Now let's look at verse 21, 2 rather. And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath delighted in thee, and all his servants love thee. Now therefore the king is son of all. And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of David. Now Saul knew David because David had been to Saul's house. David had been to Saul's house in this fact that David played the harp. When the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, then the evil spirit came upon him, and David was called forth to come and play music, Mark. Why? Because that would soothe Saul. and would soothe his mood or change his mood because of the music. And that's true today, by the way. I'm serious. When you're feeling a little slow about things and so on, just listen to some good music. It'll do you good. Good music, by the way. Listen to some good music. It'll do you good. And I'm not talking about you know, the next country western hit and all that. I'm not talking about that. I ain't even talking about Johnny Cash, okay? You don't get depressed, just let's know Johnny. But the point being, that'd make you jump off a brick bridge somewhere. But anyway, he said, now what are we gonna do with this guy? And David, his brothers, in verse 28 of 17, Elias' anger was kindled against David. Now watch this. This'll put a distraction on you, that your family member, although he's hiding in a bush. Your family member has spoken out against you and trying to rebuke you. And he said, his angle was as kind as David. Why do you come down here? Forget the fact, I want to thank you for the bread and cheese, by the way. Forget that. But he says, why are you down here? And who let those few sheep in the wilderness? Well, I know who's taking care of those few sheep in the wilderness. You remember, he got a keeper. Remember that last week? That he was responsible enough to not negate one responsibility to assume another. Well, he didn't neglect one to assume another. He had his priorities. From his father's house, he was a keeper of a few sheep, no matter how we like it or not like it. And now his father calls for him in. Before he goes in, he gets a keeper of the sheep. And who is it? And Eliab says, don't Eliab think that he's responsible or reliable? You know, I know another young guy in the scriptures that his brethren were mean to him. They called him Joseph. They called him Joseph, and just because he had a dream. Let's face it, when he told them what that dream indicated and implied, they hated him even the more. Now, he was a spoiled kid to start with. He was. Go back and read about that. Dad had his pick. That happens in the scripture several times, by the way. But the point being, David said, no, I'm not. You come down here to see the battle, he says. And David said, now, here's where we want to go. Number one, let me clear the record. What have I done? Let me clear the record here. Have I done anything to cause this, or to cause you to be angry, or to bring this upon me? Here's a good solution-oriented individual. Am I the problem? Is that giant out there because of me? Are you in the bushes because of me? Are you jealous of me? Let me get me out of the way here, okay? The problem's big enough, but let me get me out of the way. Hey, listen folks, that's a good place to start. A great place to start. Did I cause this? Did I provoke it? Did I bring it upon myself? Was I a poor steward? Was I this? Was I that? That's a great place to start. Self-examination. Because sometimes you'll find that you brought this on yourself. Okay? You did it yourself. Let me stop right here and illustrate to you. Ulcers. Nervous stomachs, anxieties, et cetera, et cetera. Many of those things are caused by your response to circumstances. You hear this? Unbiblical response. It's really, I want to change the language a little bit. It's your reaction to circumstances rather than your response to circumstances. And there is a big difference. A reaction is just an impulse. It's just impulsing something. a program last night where this fellow was on trial for killing this teenager, shooting him. The teenager was, he and two more of his buddies, I think it was, was intruding on this individual's property and scaring his family and threatening his family, verbally. So they did some little something and took off in their car. He took off after them in his car, truck. He shot that kid with one of these semi-automatic AR-15s, is that what it is? What's it called, Bob? Rifles. He chased that kid down in the country, shot that kid, and killed him. I looked at him and said, you can't do that. So he was on trial for murder. Well, I can tell you right now, he's guilty in the sight of the law, no matter what they did. He should have stayed at the house. And he claims stand your ground. That's not stand your ground. He was standing on somebody else's ground. So he went to prison. Reacted. He got mad. He reacted out of anger and so forth. Well, what's Eliab? So he attacks his brother. Eliab does. He begins to verbally assault his brother, and David says, OK, here's what we'll do. Am I the reason for this? And of course, we know the answer to that. Then he said, is there not a cause? There's not a reason for me to be here. Is there not a problem here, a difficulty here that we need to face together maybe? Is there not a cause? I think this kid, David, is a pretty intelligent kid. He's pretty responsible. He really is. He's wise beyond his years maybe. He may be wise beyond what we are today. because of the way he's responding to this thing, rather than, you know, I'm just going to get depressed, I'm going to get in a closet, I'm going to shut the door, I'm going to, I'll just quit going to church, I don't want to be around anybody, I'll do all these things, and la, la, la, la. Come on. Come on. You mean one little circumstance like a giant would cause you to die yourself? I mean, you're not willing to physically die, but you're dying in the bushes. Because the Philistines are not going to get stagnant over on the hillside. It's too hot, it's too humid. They're not going to camp over there forever. They didn't invade your land so they could just take a piece of it. They want it all. Now, go ahead with me, please, if you don't mind. In verse 28, he says, I know thy pride, thy naughtiness of thine heart. For thy heart cometh down, that thou mightest see the battle. And David said, well, what have I done? Is there not a cause for me to be here? And he turned toward another and spake in the same manner, and the people answered him again after the former manner. In other words, now let's get a group of people to vote on this. Let's get a committee together. So he turns and he says it to the crowd. And the crowd said, well, really? Really? Now, Charlie, remember this. I'm a mighty soldier. I carry a lance. I carry a sword. I carry a bow. I've fought many a battle. And here this kid has never had an armor, a piece of armor on. Send him to the house, would you? Be quiet, son. Go away. It's a rebuke to Israel. It's a rebuke. You know what? And sometimes when we respond to things or react to things in a bad way, it ought to be a rebuke to you. It's nothing to laugh about. It's not to say, boy, I wished out of this and just kind of grin. No, no. It should be rebuked to you for not exercising what? Wisdom. Well, wait a minute, wait a minute. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, James says. Is that not true? And don't we all get into situations where at that immediate moment we lack wisdom? Well, then ask. Who gives to all men liberally and upbraideth not? And you know what you'll be in James chapter 1? You'll not only be a hearer of the word, you'll become a doer of the word when you begin to exercise God's wisdom. There you go. And that's the point here. So let the crowd do what the crowd does. I hope you realize that as a Christian, in a public, about any public gathering except for church, we're a minority. I don't know whether you know that or not. You're not a majority. The majority of this country is not Christian. Come on, people. We can't get revival in a church, much less out in the world. Good night. They're not Christian. They're not making Christian decisions. But anyway, David says, it's not a cause. Go with me, please. 31. And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul. And Saul sent for him. David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine." David, come on. Why would he do that? I want to show you why. Go over, if you would, to verse 45. This is where David had been threatened by Goliath in verse 44. In verse 45, David responds, he said, thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield. Now this little boy, he's not carrying a bow, he's not carrying an arrow, he's not carrying a spear, he's not carrying a sword, he don't have a garrison of soldiers behind him. This young boy, I'm using my imagination, this young boy stand before this nine foot nine guy and says this, I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts. That's why he could do what he was doing. Do you understand this? He didn't come in his own might. He had no might. He had no power. He had no weapon that was sufficient or thought to be adequate to take on his competition here. But he says this to him. He said, I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom, and he reminds the giant, whom thou has defied. I'm out here because you have defied my God. That's why I'm out here. Now wait, wait. This, he goes on, this is provocative. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand. And I will smite thee and take thine head from thee. It sounds like something might have been wise, sarcastic and done, and gotten killed. But he said, I'll give you carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day in the fells of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth, and all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, he said. Now, that's why he said what he said to Saul, because he knew the battle wasn't his. He knew he was inadequate, inadequately prepared, When we mentioned the armor, we'll talk about that in a moment. But he was inadequately prepared and trained as far as that's concerned. And all he had to reflect upon was the fact that God helped him kill a lion and a bear. Well, I bet the bear wasn't nine foot tall. And I bet the lion wasn't nine foot tall. This is the biggest thing that David's probably ever faced. And what is he but solution-oriented? He doesn't compound the problem, you know. He didn't say, let's get a game plan here, guys. He takes the initiative. He responds to it in a good, God-fearing way that the circumstances that he didn't provoke, he didn't bring them on, but yet he's in the midst of them. And not only is it affecting him, but it's affecting all of Israel, period. So we've got to be solution-oriented lest we die here in the bushes on the hill. And David feared God. And in verse 35 of 17, and I'm moving, David said to Saul, oh, I'm sorry. Saul said to David, verse 33, not able to go against the Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth. He a man of war with his youth, from his youth rather. Now jump over, in other words he's saying David you got no experience. So let's give David some preparation. Let's give him a two hour course on how to fight a giant. He could even get this on the internet probably. YouTube it. He could watch it on something. That's how I fix stuff around the house now, YouTube. But anyway, when I fix them. And in verse 37, David answered, Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he would deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul sent unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee. Now watch this. And Saul armed David with his armor. You say, well, so what? Well, it didn't fit. You see, when the Lord's dealing with you, nobody else can do it. You can't clothe yourself in your friend's righteousness. You've got to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, period. Whether it is a John or not. or anyone else or not, but Saul rather armed David with his armor and put a helmet of brass upon his head and also he armed him with a coat of mail. Now a coat of mail is nothing but armor. Shield, it was really made out of chain links, they say. I've never seen one, but links of chain that covered the torso and so forth and it was too heavy. David couldn't carry it. He couldn't carry it. There you go again to see David's complete inadequacy and inability to fight the way that men or mankind would battle their problems. It's not going to happen. Now Saul, if he'd gone out, he'd have been dressed in his armor, obviously. And so he wanted David to be protected, and he put his armor on him. And verse 39 said, And David girded his sword upon the armor, and he had said to go, but he had not proved it. In other words, he had not tested it. He couldn't carry it. David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them or proved them. And David put them off him. There you go. If it would protect David from being slain, it would have protected Saul from being slain. Tell you what kind of guy Saul is. Saul's not willing to trust it on him, but he's going to put it on David. Thank you, Saul. Saul was his first deacon probably or something, but I'm teasing about that. Thank you, Saul, for your encouragement here, but it doesn't fit. I can't carry it. It's too heavy. And Saul himself, by the way, wasn't a giant, but history says that Saul was a big man. David was a young boy. It's not going to work. it's not going to work. But in David girded, verse 39, verse 40 here's what David did do. He took his staff in his hand and he chose him five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag. which he had, and even in the script, and a sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the fiddlestick. Here we go. Now to hit the giant with a staff, you're going to have to be close. It's going to be a close encounter. But with the sling, I might get a long shot at this one. Okay, and that's exactly what's going to happen. But somebody asked me, why five stones? I have no idea. And if you've got an idea about it, just keep it to yourself because you're not going to prove it with scriptures. One fellow preached that Goliath had four big brothers. And he could have. I mean, he could have more than that. And I think he did have some brethren, but he could have had more than that. But I don't find it in here where David deliberately picked up five stones. And besides that, I don't think David knew Goliath personally, nor did he know Goliath's family personally. So siblings is now the question here. Five stones? I got no idea. Well, five's the number of gr- whoop, got that too. That's numerology. I don't preach numerology. He just picked up five stones. I've been to that brook, and I picked up five stones. I did. Gave them away, but I picked them up. I just wanted to say I'd been to the brook. And it was a pleasure, by the way. I'm privileged. Nothing beautiful about it. Anyway, and the Philistine came on and drew near unto David. And the man that bared the shield went before him. In other words, the shield for the giant, not David. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, he hated him, he despised him, he cursed him. For he was but a youth and a ruggie and of fair countenance. In other words, he looks like a young kid to this giant. What an insult. by the way, to the Giants and to the Philistines. Saul must have lost his mind. I mean, let's be a Philistine for a minute. Saul must have lost his mind sending this guy out. I mean, he's not thinking. Either that or he just wants him to be killed. That happened. No. That's how the devil thinks, by the way. He's just a kid. It's greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world. You hear this? So this giant, let's measure him up beside the God of Israel. Let's do that. It's not me. It's not me personally. The giant looked at David as if it was personal. He's a good looking kid. I got a funny feeling he had red hair and freckled face. I don't know. But the point being he was just a kid to this giant. And the devil says you got to be kidding me. How about you? You ever been discouraged when you stepped out by faith? About the time you stepped out you were discouraged. I'm just a kid. I'm just a little guy. Look how big my problem is, as if it's unique, that there's never been anybody go through anything that you've ever gone through. You're the only one, Elijah. I, only I, am left in Israel. And God said, are you kidding me? There's 7,000 down there that have not bowed the knee to Baal. You're not in this by yourself. When did God ever forsake Israel? I can't find a place. Now I know there's been times of lack of communion, fellowship, and that kind of, but God has always had his hand on it. And today he has his hand upon the nation of Israel, by the way, or Jews. We can't deny that. And I don't want to deny it, as a matter of fact. But the point being, and by the way, Dennis has often given us a news report on things like the China situation today. The Israeli leader reminded the United States recently of Iran, or was it Iraq, had vowed to wipe the nation of Israel off the face of the earth. And I thought, you'll die with a deed undone. It'll never happen. It will never, ever happen. Why? I've read the book. I've read it from front to back, from back to front. It's not gonna happen. So, but the point being here, the Philistine come out and said to David, come to me in verse 44, oh I'm sorry, verse 43, I'm sorry. Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods, just to give evidence of what David was saying all along, you defy the God of Israel. See, his trust was in his gods, David was in the real God, the true God, the living God. And David said to Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword, with a spear and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the Lord of the armies of Israel, whom thou has defied. Listen to this kid. So we know it's not in his power, his strength, etc. You know, even in Ephesians chapter 6, and I'm not going to turn over there for time sake, but even Ephesians chapter 6, where we put on the whole armor of God, that's all defensive stuff, not offensive stuff. The sword of the Spirit in Ephesians 6 was about an 18-inch knife, which required close encounter battles. But nowhere does God command us to charge hell with a water pistol or any other pistol as far as that's concerned. But here, this came out to meet the circumstances, came out to confront, come out to kill David and destroy Israel at the same time. And he said, no, you came. And verse 46, he tells him what he's going to do to him. Go down to verse 28. And it came to pass, the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh to meet David. that David hastened and ran toward the enemy to meet the Philistine, and put his hand in the bag, took a fence of stone, slung it, and smote the Philistine in the forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth." One shot. As far as I know, one shot. One rock. Maybe he'll keep the other four and sell them in a gift shop somewhere, I don't know. But the point being, one shop, what I see right here. Anybody got anything on that other than that? I just see it one time, and the Philistine fell on his face. And David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone. There you go. And smote the Philistine and slew him, but there was no sword in the hand of David. That's another good evidence, by the way. David ran and stood upon the Philistine, took his sword, drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And the Philistines saw their champion was dead, and they fled." Now we live in a time where we wouldn't give God credit for that. We'd think, like Israel, David's going to become a hero. He is. They're going to start singing about Saul and David. And one of the best ways to get to know David is to listen to Eddie preach on Wednesday night from the book of Psalms. There you'll really get to know David. He wasn't always this page. He was going to make the transition. But the point being, he slew the giant. He killed the giant. He cut off his head. And the Philistines fled. They ran. David's not a hero here. We teach Sunday school sometimes, like David's the hero. David's not the hero. He's the instrument. God doesn't have heroes. He has instruments. People, humans, that he appoints and anoints. David would be anointed three different times. He was anointed by Samuel when he first was in Jesse's house. He'll be anointed in private later. He'll be anointed before the whole nation of Israel eventually. But David was anointed a king. Nothing's going to change that. You hear this? Nothing. Not even the giant. Not even the circumstance. This isn't the only circumstance David's going to face. Matter of fact, the very king that he served is going to turn against him. Why? Because they're singing those songs. They're making a hero out of David instead of Saul. Saul didn't mind being a hero. David wasn't the hero. They sang that Saul had slain his thousands But David is 10,000. In other words, David was much more mighty than King Saul. And Saul was a popular, popularly known, powerful individual. He wasn't a wimp at all. Matter of fact, he was a mighty man of war, according to the scriptures. So David cut off the champion's head, and they fled. Look down at verse 54. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. And when Saul saw David, when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? Now, I haven't figured this out yet. Why Saul didn't recognize David? Or was he just bringing this to Abner's attention? I don't know. Because David had played. in Saul's residence played his harp. Matter of fact, he sent for David numerous times. Now Saul says, Abner, who is this guy? Now, I don't have the answer to that. Do you have a suggestion about that, maybe? Okay. If you do, I'd be glad to listen to it. He said to Abner, the captain of the host. I didn't hear you. Who sons this youth? Yeah. Okay, good observation. Well, and it's a good thought because that's how it reads by the way. Charlie? Chapter 16. Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send David thy son. Exactly. Exactly. He would pick up little things like that when you're reading and say, I didn't get that. I wonder why he did that. And the commentators, go ahead. Maybe. Who, Saul? He just don't remember faces? I got it. OK. OK. I don't know. Like I said, I don't know. I don't know. But anyway, he wanted to go back home later. He wants to go back home, and Saul won't let him go back to Jesse. So it continues. OK. But anyway. So anyway, we're going down to verse 57. Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. Now, if the Philistine was 9 foot 9, how long do you think his head was? and probably weighed a ton, not a ton, but had quite a bit of weight to it. Anyway, he took his head in his hand and Saul said to him, whose son are you, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant, Jesse. Again, David honors his father, even though David did the work. He gave his father, I'm the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite." Because obviously Jesse, when Saul requested David to come and play, etc., then David went and Saul sent to Jesse saying, let David, I pray thee, stand before me. He knew who David was. But anyway, it was a cooperative effort, I'm sure. But I just wanted you to see tonight that David, as an instrument of God, he realized it, too. That's why he was solution-oriented. He wasn't in the midst of the storm, Jesus, just to show them he could walk on water. He didn't heal people just to show them that he could heal people. He's the Messiah. He's the Son of God. So when God manifests himself, it's for the glory of God. This is for the glory of God. And nowhere in here did I read where David takes the glory. Nowhere in here. For being a servant of God. Matter of fact, later, and as we've learned in Psalms, if you've been on Wednesday night, we've learned in Psalms, that David relished the idea of serving God. It wasn't a drudgery to him. And by the way, I just learned when we talk about David being a servant or Jesse being a servant, it's as though they are enslaved to the individual. In other words, Jesse is your slave. That's the word. Now, not slave like we would use the word, but a bonding between a master and a servant. In other words, he's the king, I'm the subject. And today, one of the problems we have in our church today is we don't really recognize the Lordship of Christ, do we? If you did, how would it change your life? It'd change your life if you recognize that He's your Lord. and you are his servant, bond slave. I realize it's a taboo message in a non-subjective world, or submissive world, but that's what they realized. And they were all cooperative. Why? Because they were the God, the true God, was their God. And they relished the idea of all the idols and false gods in the world that they knew the true God through God communicating through them throughout history. This is not the beginning of the history of Israel. It starts way, way, way, way back. And they followed after that. They were the children of God. And I don't know what else to say about that, honestly, because it ends up with the lordship of God, of course, Elohim. Let me admonish you just for a second, we'll go home, to pray for lost people. I don't know, I believe in election, but I don't know who God's gonna save and who he isn't gonna save. Paul was an Israelite, you've heard me say this prior to this occasion, and he prayed for Israel. And he knew the scriptures concerning Israel. And he said, I could wish myself accursed that my brother might be saved. And he knew who would be saved and when. So Paul knew that. And he prayed for Israel to be saved. Well, pray for your families to truly be saved. The problem is we don't have a good picture of salvation, we got ours down pat, but we don't have the depiction of Christianity true enough with others to evaluate. And you say, well, you're going to be judgmental. No, I'm not going to be judgmental. I'm going to say, what is a Christian? What does this say a Christian is? Who is a Christian? Okay. How are they a Christian? I'm going to say that. So just pray. I'm praying for my sister right now. Phyllis, who called and wanted to know how you could know that you're saved. And we've had conversations and conversations. What did you do, Pastor? Well, I tried to give her 10 verses that would prove it. No, I didn't. I told her to go to the book of 1 John, and let's read through 1 John together. And if you can't see it in there, then probably you need to be saved, OK? Because I write these things that you may know that you have eternal life. And one thing I don't want her base and her salvation on is me. Okay, it's basically like I had to do on the word of God. It's only on that. But pray for lost people. Pray for those Christians that are struggling. Pray for, and we know many, by the way, even here in our assembly, that are struggling. And just pray for them. I think of the families in our church that are taking care of elderly people, or the elderly relatives, rather, and situations going on in their homes beside that. They're sick, and they're taking care of, well, I think about Chris and Brian and Mom, Chris being sick as well, you know. So you pray one for another. It's not, I think about Barbara Hooks often. I pray for her, Martha. I pray for them. I pray for Jimmy. that she'd straighten up and fly right. She won't, but I pray for her anyway. I know the outcome of that before I even utter it. But just on and on and on and pray and pray and pray and pray. There's nothing we can do in a lot of cases, okay? And we may want to be like the Israelites were in the bushes. No, no, I wanna be like David. I want to be solution-oriented, to the extreme that God would use me to be solution-oriented. And nothing worse than a Christian that can't handle problems. They say they have hope, and they don't have hope. Hope and peace are sisters. They run together, by the way. But pray one for another. Pray for the church. Pray for the elderly. Of course, the sick. There's Hilda over in the hospital, of course, and that's going to be probably a period of time of debility. And I'll tell you something, Stan. When that Alamu accident happened and we got debilitated, that wasn't fun. I could handle the pain probably more than I could the debilitation. You know, when you can't get up and get a glass of water, when you can't, you know, Take care of yourself and hygiene. It's bad. I mean, it's just bad. So you need to pray for these folks. It's not a pleasant thing to experience. But God is faithful. And he will be glorified. And that's what this is all about. Glorifying God. Let's pray together. I don't know why I got off on that, but I wanted to. But pray one for another, for sure. Pray for Herman Miller, Gene. That's an ongoing situation as well. There's several of those here in the church. Pray for Jimmy Campbell and Rebecca. That's going to be probably got more time with it as well. Pray for them. And I miss all those people. I really do. And not just because I miss them. I love them and care about them. And I talked to Jimmy today, and again, as he says he's got so much help, it's almost overwhelming sometimes with his family. So he didn't need anything, he didn't want anything, just pray for he and Rebecca, if you would please. Let's be dismissed in a word of prayer. Bob Nordlander, would you please? and thank you for the message, Lord, that you do have an answer for us, you have a will for us, Lord, and how we need to approach things and be solution-oriented. Thank you for the pastoring and the studying of what's done, and I pray for the physical prayer requests and spiritual prayer requests that we receive tonight, that it should all be done in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in Christ's name, amen.