Let's turn to 1 Samuel chapter 17. 1 Samuel 17. And we'll have the scripture on the screen again this morning. I think I forgot to include all of my scripture this morning. So go and follow along with me. I do have the first few verses. So 1 Samuel 17, and this morning, we're going to begin our journey through 1 Samuel 17, where David defeats Goliath. Pretty awesome story. I mean, miraculous story. And I think probably one of the biggest takeaways for me with this is that God uses weakness He uses those of us that come to him with empty hands and say, God, I really have nothing to give. I'm just offering myself. So God, whatever you could do in and through me, I'm giving myself to you. 1 Samuel 17, we're going to, I wanna say survey. We're really gonna cover 27 verses this morning, even though I'm not gonna read every single one of them. I'll kind of summarize. I would encourage you to go back and read through this passage on your own, but we'll kind of summarize some things. We'll begin with the first few verses this morning. First Samuel 17, the Bible says that the Philistines gathered their troops for battle. They assembled at Soco in Judah. They camped in Ephestamon between Soco and Ezekiah. Saul and the Israelite army assembled and came in the Valley of Elah. I'm gonna point out something here in just a few minutes. So I'd like to point out, just kind of give you a reference point here. The way that the Bible describes the Philistines gathering together versus the more passive way that the Bible speaks of the Israelites assembling together in verse number two. and we'll talk about that here in just a minute, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against the Philistines. The Philistines were standing on one hill and the Israelite army on another, with the valley between them. Charles Swindoll, he speaks about this area having a minimum width, this valley of one mile, depending on where you're at. So it was kind of big here. Then the Bible says a champion, in verse number four, came out from the camp of the Philistines. His name was Goliath. A champion of the Philistines, his name was Goliath. The account of David and Goliath, this incredibly well-known story here in the Old Testament in 1 Samuel chapter 16. This story happened at a really difficult time during Israel's history. And I, really this, I guess kind of the connections for me really came together this last week as I was studying out this passage. Really the state in which Israel was in and particularly Israel's leadership. By the way, I don't have to convince anyone in here this morning, I don't think, that leadership problems are everywhere. And when I think about the leadership problems here in America, maybe there's a parallel here. I'm not sure. But Israel had demanded a king. How many of us remember that? They came to Samuel and they said, hey, we want you to give us a king. We want to be like the other nations and all of that. And yet there was another reason. I can't remember if I said it. when we began this series, but in 1 Samuel chapter eight and verse number 20, if we have that on the screen, go and throw it up there real quick. The Bible says this. One of the reasons that Israel wanted a king was guess what? For national security. And here's what they said. They said, our king will judge us and lead us and, what's the next phrase there? And will fight our battles. So Israel's national security was one of the reasons that they wanted a king. And you say, Pastor Mike, who was their greatest threat at this point in history? Well, it's none other than the Philistines. As we look back, if we were to look back over 1 Samuel, really the enemy that we would see the entire time was the Philistines. Hey, Samuel, give us a king. We want him to fight our battles. We want him to lead us in confidence and give us national security, security as a nation. Who was their biggest enemy at the time? The Philistines. Okay, now Saul has been provided, King Saul has been chosen among the people as the new king or as the king. And so maybe some of us might be wondering at this time, where was Saul? Because if Israel's national security was one of the main reasons that they asked for a king, you would expect Saul to be out in front blazing the trail with a heart full of hope and confidence in God, providing leadership for the people. And yet that is the exact opposite of what you find here in 1 Samuel. I think about this, in 1 Samuel 9, verses 1 and 2, the Bible says, and I don't think I have this in your notes or on the screen here, there was a Benjamite man named Kish, son of Abel, son of Zeror, the son of Bekoroth, the son of Aphaia, of Benjamin. He was a prominent person. Verse number two, He had a son named Saul, a handsome young man. There was no one among the Israelites more handsome than he was. And notice this phrase here where the Bible says he stood head and shoulders above all the people. Now what Saul should have had was anything but short man syndrome. I probably shouldn't have said that. You would expect him to be out confident, you know, you know, it's Kate flapping in the breeze. Okay, maybe not. Maybe his robe. I don't know. But standing here, head and shoulders above the people, you would expect him to be confident, leading the people at a minimum confidence in God saying, guys, this guy might be tall. He might, you know, be nine feet, nine inches tall, which is kind of the traditional idea regarding the cubit as the measurements are given in the Bible here. And yet that is the exact opposite of what we find. Notice here a statement in Actually, I wanna make sure that I skip some verses here. If we could go back, I'd like to point out some things here in 1 Samuel. The Bible says in verse number one, that the Philistines gathered together their troops. The word that's used there for the Philistines gathering their troops together, it is in the active voice. What we find in verse number two is that Saul and the Israelites in the inactive voice, they were gathered together. And it's almost like you see kind of a leadership vacuum here among the people. Notice in verse number four, the Bible says, then a champion came out from the camp of the Philistines, his name was Goliath. Now let me point out something really interesting about that word champion, because it's not, that is the concept that the word is speaking of here, but it is not a word that simply means champion. Okay, what the word means, in fact, the exact word is, I wanna make sure that I pronounce it correctly. Where did I even put that? Oh, it's in verse number four. The word champion is the word ish habenayim, ish meaning man, habenayim meaning the between. So literally the word champion as it is given here is the man of the in between. The idea is that of a man, okay, we have two armies together, and from one army, there is a man that is willing to step out and risk his life to kind of stand out there in the middle of the two armies and challenge the opposition, if you will. Now, the Bible tells us that there was a man who was a man of the in-between. He was willing to step out and challenge the other army. He had the guts to lay his life on the line. Now, is this Goliath? Yeah, that's who we're talking about this morning. But here's what I would submit to us this morning. It should have been Saul. Saul should have had confidence in his God to the point where he stepped out to the in-between and did something crazy like we see David doing later on in the chapter. There was a champion, there was a man of the in-between, and yet it wasn't King Saul like it should have been. head and shoulders above the other people. The problem here is that God was no longer with Saul. The spirit of God had been taken from Saul and who was he given to? Not a trick question. He was given to David. And so instead of Saul acting in confidence and bravely before his people, willing to step out and risk his life, be the man of the in-between, he is essentially a coward. By the way, I don't know that I want to give Saul too hard of a time here because there have been so many times where I myself have been filled with fear. regarding the opposition, knowing what God wants me to do and the way that he wants me to live. Maybe you've personally experienced this before. I heard about a five-year-old by the name of Johnny. He was in the kitchen and his mother was making supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn't want to go in alone. He said, he says, it's dark in there and I'm scared. And she asked again and he persisted. Finally, she said, it's okay, Jesus will be with you in there. Johnny was, he walked hesitantly to the door, he opened it slowly, he peeked inside, he saw that it was dark and started to leave when all at once an idea came. He said, Jesus, if you're in there, would you please hand me a can of tomato soup? Maybe you've personally been fearful, knowing what God wants of you, discouraged, disillusioned maybe. and maybe stopping living in victory. I think this morning about the friars. I could not personally put my mind fully in the state of going on deputation during COVID. It's been weird and crazy enough during COVID pastoring a church. I've asked Pastor Berman many times, I'm like, are you sure that God led you to retire when he did? Because I'd be totally cool with being second man right now. Fearful, full of fear, and I don't know what it is that hounds you. Max Lucado gave this application. He said, your Goliath doesn't carry sword or shield. He brandishes blades of unemployment, abandonment, sexual abuse. It is amazing to me how many people have gone through abuse like this. It's absolutely amazing. Or depression. Depression, the common cold. Your giant doesn't parade up and down the hills of Elah. He prances through your office, your bedroom, your classroom. He brings bills you can't pay, grades you can't make, people you can't please, whiskey you can't resist, pornography you can't refuse, a career you can't escape, a past you can't shake, and a future you can't face. You know well the roar of Goliath. Goliath dominates your day and infiltrates your joy. Whatever it is that taunts you, whatever it is that continues to remind you of its presence, I think about Goliath as he went out to challenge the Israelites. At one point, I think it's in verse number 15, where the Bible tells us that he is coming up to the Israelites. almost like he is now past that point of being in the middle of the valley, and he's actually going after, he is going up the hill to where the Israelites are, taunting them. And I think about the way that the Bible describes our enemy as Christians, the devil, Satan, whatever name you wanna give to him, and the Bible describes him as a roaring lion. seeking to discourage us and devour us, taunting us. Now, again, we already read this here just a moment ago, but in verse number four, we find this champion, this man of the in-between there, this man named Goliath, almost 10 feet tall by our traditional understanding. In verse number five, the Bible tells us he had a bronze helmet on his head and was wearing scale body armor, a male coat, The weight of his bronze body armor was 5,000 shekels. He had bronze shin guards on his legs. and a bronze javelin was slung over his shoulders. Verse number seven. Again, I apologize for not having this on the screen here. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam and the iron point of his spear weighed 600 shekels and his shield bearer walked before him. Not only did he have all this shield or this protection for himself personally, this body armor, he had his own personal shield carrier, totally equipped. What we find here really is a very tall, battle-equipped man. Now, we don't know much about Philistine dress regarding their warriors and army and all that kind of stuff, but what we do know is that the Philistines had a monopoly on metalworking. So what we find here in Goliath, he's almost like a self-contained metal shop. You know, he's just walking, I mean, we're talking about, and I just couldn't even imagine how much this stuff weighs. I'll give you some quick thoughts in a minute on how much it may have weighs. But he was, without question, he was dressed to intimidate. dressed to intimidate. And that he did very successfully. This coat of mail, some people have suggested that it was at least 125 pounds, maybe as many as 200 pounds. We add in the bronze helmet, the bronze shin guards. javelin, spear, and again, put it all together and you really have quite the image. This man that would have been carrying this shield for him, this particular shield would have been the size of a full grown man. It was like the full size, the largest shield that would have been in existence from what I have personally found. Okay, so we find this incredibly intimidating image. Add the fact that he was nine foot, nine inches. I think Charles Swindoll made the comment that the NBA would have loved him, you know. And what is it that we have? If there has been one lesson that has stood out with all of this so far as we have looked at the life of David, what is the one principle that we have found that kind of has just been, it's been like this consistent thread all the way through? In 1 Samuel 16, in verse number seven, when Samuel went to Jesse's house to anoint one of his sons as the new king over Israel, here's what God told Samuel. He said, don't be impressed by his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. And here's the principle. God does not view things the way men do. People look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Charles Swindoll made this comment, notice this here. Goliath had all the things that would normally impress and intimidate. In this instance, however, and we're kind of zooming ahead here, thinking about the life of David, David had been given the ability to see as God always sees. Because no matter how big the giant might be, God is greater. And no matter how powerful he might be, God is all powerful. God does not view things the way men do. We find this young man, who was but a youth, as we saw in this last passage, who would have had no reason, I mean, either David is totally filled with God himself, or he is a nutcase. He has just lost his mind. Because David has absolutely no reason to think that he could ever beat a man like Goliath, unless maybe David has spent time with God. And if there is one lesson that seems to just flow through this entire story so far, look, I don't know who you, what difficulties you might have in your life. I don't know what problems you might face. David gives us a little bit of a secret here. Spend time with God. as you and I spend time with God. What we discover is that God is so much greater and so much more powerful than we could ever imagine. Someone who spends time with God and seeing the magnitude of who God is when they come to their problems, guess what? Especially in relation, our problems might feel as big as the world and yet they feel smaller the more time we spend with God. If all you do is spend time with your problems, they will seem absolutely huge and there's nothing you could do about them. But the more time you spend with God, I don't wanna say that problems will just seem small because I know there are burdens that are carried here in this room that I could not imagine. But here's the point. The more time you spend with God, it will make your problems seem smaller and it will make God, when you catch a glimpse of who God is. Here's what was needed. Someone who sees as God sees and not as man sees. And the exact same thing is still needed today in the 21st century. What a different day we're living in. I've thought often throughout the past year, how close is the return of Jesus Christ? And if it's not like, you know, two minutes from now, then how are things gonna look when Jesus Christ actually returns? I have no idea. But what I do know is that, man, I am only personally able to take so much of the problems that are going on today before I'm just overwhelmed. And in today's day, listen, God has not changed. And what the world needs today is people who are crazy enough. They spent enough time with God to where as they come out and face the problems of the day, their hearts are filled with God's presence and with hope regarding what God can do today. As I think about New Zealand in the field out there, this question regarding religion, what can religion do in anyone's life? If he, let me ask you this, what has Christ done in your life? And maybe God has left us here on this earth at this time, not just to hunker down until he comes, but to tell someone else. about what he has done in our lives. Notice what Warren Wiersbe said, the thing that hinders the working of God is not his lack of power, but his people's lack of faith. Here's what the Bible says, for we walk by faith, not by sight. I'm just thinking here about that one explorer that I told you about months ago. It was originally came from, I can't remember the name, Rick Boya. And he talked about that group that went out exploring and they thought they made land. I can't remember which side of the globe that they were on, but they thought they made lands and yet someone pulled out a compass and they pulled out the tools and they discovered that they were moving backwards faster than they were traveling forwards. And they discovered that they were actually on an ice flow. And today, if we can keep our eyes clearly on heaven, that right there is probably one of the greatest applications in the book of Colossians that we just went through. God tells the people there through the apostle Paul, he says, set your eyes on things above. Stay fixed on heaven. What we find here in the life of David is that there was this young man, his eyes were fixed on heaven. Notice here with me, my enemy may be intimidating, but he is no match for God. And this is what God wants us to see. My enemy, the opposition, whatever it might be, may be intimidating. We live in intimidating days, don't we? But he is no match for God. You and I must see as God sees. Here in Romans chapter eight, phenomenal passage regarding who we are and the victory that we have in Jesus Christ. Did you realize this morning, Christian, that your victory has already been won? Okay, so you and I already know that we are on the winning side. If you're a child of God, if you have called upon Christ for salvation, if you've received his eternal life, you know that you've already gotten the victory in Jesus Christ. When the Bible talks about our placement in Christ, we are literally in him in the heavens right now. So we are placed in heavenly places with Jesus Christ. Our victory, it's already been claimed. And notice this confidence that the apostle Paul writes in. He says in Romans chapter eight, this is not in your notes, it's verses 31 through 39, if you wanna check it out later, what shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Indeed, he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him freely give us all things? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? Just thinking here, I've got a vision in my mind about Goliath taunting God's people on the other side. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died. More than that, he was raised. Who is at the right hand of God and who also is interceding for us? David came to bring his brothers some food. Do you think that maybe there were some other Israelites that were kind of looking out and maybe some younger people that couldn't be in the battle, they were looking out and they were cheering the Israelites on? Here we find Jesus Christ himself interceding for us at God the Father's right hand. Jesus, right now, he's praying for you. He's praying that God will give you confidence that you will live victoriously, that I will live victoriously in 2021. If we're still here on earth and God is interceding for us, Pretty awesome. Verse number 35. Who will separate us from the love of God? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword, as is written, for your sake, we encounter death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we have complete victory through Him who loved us. For I'm convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Christian, do you understand the secure place you have in Christ? Do you understand the victory that you already have in Him? Who is He that condemns you? Well, the question there, I think the answer is obvious. No one. Do you and I live in confidence day by day, claiming the victory in Him? Well, here we find every morning and evening for 40 days, Goliath steps out and he challenges Israel. Saul was not leading his people the way that he should have. In fact, a verse here I'd like to point out. In verse number eight, the Bible tells us, Goliath stood and called to Israel's troops. Why do you come out to prepare for battle? So Goliath is asking this question, okay, why do you come out and prepare for battle? It's almost like Goliath himself knew that there was a lack of leadership in Israel. Do you get that in the text? What are you guys doing? No challenger coming forth? You don't have your own man of the in-between that's willing to step out confidently? You claim that your God is the living God of heaven and earth? What are you doing? You've assembled for battle, morning and evening for 40 days. How weary do you think the Israelites were at this point? And as we know the story this morning, the proposal is that if the Israelites could get their own champion, the man of the in-between to come out and face Goliath, And if he were to defeat Goliath, that the Philistines would be their servants, and the opposite would also be true if the opposite happened. Whoever won would bring dominion over the other. By the way, if you know the story, if you know the rest of 1 Samuel, you know that Goliath lied, as the enemy often does, because the Philistines never subject themselves to the Israelites. So anyway, that was a lie. The story of David and Goliath, it seems to correspond with an ancient tradition that is called battled by champions. A number of years ago, I read this account here in 1 Samuel 17 in a study Bible that I have. It's called the Archaeological Study Bible. And this is just some food for thought here. According to the Archaeological Study Bible, these battles, a battle by champion, had ramifications for entire armies or nations. So instead of the entire army giving themselves in battle, the strongest member or the champion of each party fought a similar representative of the opposing army, and the victory of one man vindicated the entire host. And the idea behind this was, and it was really kind of a superstitious thing, a battle had already been decided by the gods, And so instead of all the armies, you know, everyone coming together in this big slaughter, you know, it was instead decided by these two people, one from each army, a representative, a challenger, a champion, a man of the in-between. And again, in the superstitious thought, the idea was that the gods had already decided the battle. And by the way, we know that the battle had already been decided. I'm thankful that we don't have to worry in superstition about various gods over different aspects of creation, whatever. But here we find Jesse, as the story continues on, Jesse, he is concerned about his sons. Jesse is already up in years, and so he couldn't make the journey himself. He's concerned about his sons, and he sends young David to the battlefield to give food and supplies to his sons. Interestingly enough, in this day, there was no official system that would meet the soldiers' needs in this day, so rations had to be provided by themselves. David, he came out, with no plans to be a part of the battle, none whatsoever. What was it that he knew about what was going on on the battlefield? We have absolutely no idea. But what we know is that David, he came out to do an ordinary task and bring his brother's food. 40 days this had been going on, this challenge by Goliath. Bring me a man, someone that you have chosen. Well, Israel had already chosen, hadn't they? And yet their chosen man was being a coward in the Israelite camp. 40 days, David comes out completely not... with no plans to fight, he simply had confidence in God. 40 days, the number 40 in the Bible, it corresponds with testing. We see this in the life of Moses, actually a couple different times. 40 years of wandering in the desert. 40 years of preparation before even leading the children of Israel. Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by the devil. And here on the 41st day, David shows up. And notice the way that the Bible describes David. Notice in verse number 13 here in our text. The Bible says in verse number 13, Jesse's three oldest sons had followed Saul to war. The names of the three sons who went to war were Eliab, his firstborn, Abinadab, the second oldest, and Shammah, the third oldest. Now David was the youngest. Do you see here what the Bible's putting in our minds here? We've got the oldest, we've got the second oldest, we've got the first oldest, we've got in verse number 14, now David was the youngest while the three oldest sons followed Saul. So it's like the Bible's giving in our mind a category here. David is the youngest, he's the smallest, he is not ready for battle, at least in our thinking here. Here, the oldest are with Saul on the battlefield facing the enemy. In verse number 15, David was going back and forth from Saul in order to care for his father's sheep in Bethlehem. John Woodhouse gives this insight. He says that this errand running boy is the Lord's chosen king. If the spirit of the Lord has come upon this lad, it is difficult to see. But remember, the way that God sees and the way that mankind sees, totally different. God might be moving in your heart to contribute in a particular way, to minister in a particular way, to reach out and show love and grace in a particular way. You might say, God, you've got the wrong guy. And God says, I've got the right one. I know who you are. I know your limitations. I made you. This is what God saw. And yet again, for us, it might be difficult to see. Notice he says, he appears to be no more than an obedient servant doing his father's bidding. And yet notice second with me, God often uses the weak and unexpected so that he will be glorified. Say, what is it that God uses? First Corinthians chapter one. God uses the things that are foolish, the things that are weak, the things that are despised. And if you put yourself in that category and you say, how is it that God could use me and do this and use that person? God does not see as man sees. Mankind, we look on the outward appearance. We see Goliath and we're like, man, look at that metal shop coming at us, taunting us, coming up our hill now. Man, what are we gonna do? 40 days growing more and more weary. And in this day, it almost seems like there's this constant onslaught, and we listen to the news, and we get discouraged, and we look on social media, and it seems like there's just discouragement coming from every angle. And God says, listen, you've already gotten the victory. You are already victorious in me. And it's not about what you can bring to the table, it's who I can make you to be. All you have to do is be a willing vessel. That is it. That's it. God often uses the weak and unexpected so that he will be glorified. And I think that there's a reason for this. Notice what Zechariah chapter 4 tells us. He answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by what? My spirit. by my Spirit. And what's the whole point? What's the whole idea behind this? He tells us in 1 Corinthians 1, so that no one can boast in His presence. So that no one can boast. We go to the very cross of Christ, and we see something that is foolish. We see something that was used by the Romans in the day for the hated, the most hated of all criminals. Something that you would never talk about in a polite conversation. Lifted up, cursed, hanging on this tree, hanging in humiliation. And God says, that is how I am going to save the world. What is it that God uses? He doesn't choose the things that are wise and strong in our world today. He uses weakness. I will never forget back when I was in college, there was a group of us that, man, God had, We were given a particular area to minister in. I may have told you this story before, I'm not sure. But we were given a particular area to minister in. It was about 30 minutes from the school and the school and the church. And I remember me and this one guy, we were called soul winning captains. We were given this particular areas in the town of Mojave, California. And we were looking at this map 3,500 people and we're like, what on earth are we going to do here? And I will never forget as time went on, God began to develop a ministry out there. So as time went on, we were able to ask the bus director there at the church and the school if we could have a bus to actually go out there and pick up some kids to bring them to church for the Sunday school program that was there. Somewhere along the way, I had heard, I think it was from Tennessee Temple, how the school there in Tennessee, they used to have these chapel ministries, and they would send out these young college guys to go lead those ministries. And then God started to burden our hearts. What if, in the town of Mojave, if we were able to start a chapel ministry out there kinda like that? Totally crazy. I went to the pastor there and I presented my crazy idea. And God began to work things out. Just yesterday, I was thinking about the time where we found the first building that we started meeting in there in Mojave. 3,500 people. It was an old, oh man, I'm trying to think here. It was an Amaranth temple. Let's see. It was a break off or a division of the Masonic Lodge. And so there we started meeting in that place. The presentation I gave to the owners was, hey, we can pay like $600 a month and give you a $600 write-off for the rest of it. He wanted $1,200. A bunch of college students, we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. No idea whatsoever. But we began meeting and God began blessing. And I'm so thankful, man, all to the glory of God, there is a chapel, a church, essentially, really, that's meeting there today, that's been meeting for, man, for, if I'm doing the math correctly here, I want to say it's been 17 years now. And that was the place where God had done things for other people that just blew my mind. And yet God used that time in my life to say, I am the God of the impossible. We had nothing to give and we didn't know what we were doing. And yet God took that group who had really had nothing to offer and started something that he is still using today. I'm just saying here, there is nothing that is special about me, but what God has shown me is that there are no limitations, physical limitations that we would typically think of. God is the God of the impossible, and he still works today. And I hope this morning, as we consider what God wants to do in our day to day, there has been nothing that's changed about this God that brought about the downfall of a giant that was looked at by the Israelites as being impossible. What can God do in 2021? You say, Pastor Mike, hearts are just hard today. And they are, aren't they? You notice that? Here in America, there's just a growing hardness. And yet, until God takes us from this earth, can we keep in our minds this category? Jesus said, the fields are white unto harvest. I'm still working. I've still got something for you to do. Spend time with me so that you're not limited by what you see physically. I am the God who sees what no one else can see. Well, here, David arrives at Israel's camp. Could you just imagine him coming over that last peak, and he looks over, and as a young man, he is just in awe at what he sees, both armies in array. He talks to his brothers, finds his brothers, talks to them, and then all of a sudden, we find really the turning point here in this story. David, who had spent much time with God, he comes out. at the time where Goliath, who has been doing this day after day, morning and evening, coming out and taunting the Israelites, the Bible tells us in verse number 23 that David hears it. What was this taunt? Notice with me in verse number 8. Goliath stood and called to Israel's troops. Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Do you even know what you're doing? Am I not the Philistine? Are you not the servants of Saul? Choose for yourselves a man so that he may come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and strike me down, we will become your servants. But if I prevail against him and strike him down, you will become our servants and will serve us. Then the Philistine said, I defy Israel's troops this day. Give me a man so that we can fight each other. Well, here David is. He hears exactly what Goliath says. And again, I think about the fact how these taunts from Goliath, they must have just made Israel completely weird. Man, just, oh, he's coming out again. You've got to be kidding me. Just warn. Charles Swindoll writes, David had the character to see the present as though seeing with hindsight, and he wasn't impressed, nor was he intimidated. Could we say it this way? To David, Goliath was simply a scarecrow. Think about the statement here. Someone has suggested, A wise bird knows that a scarecrow is simply an advertisement and announces that some very juicy and delicious fruit is to be had for the picking. There are some scarecrows in all the best gardens. Every giant in the way which makes me feel like a grasshopper is only a scarecrow beckoning me to God's richest blessings. Could it be possible that all of the intimidating voices, all of the scarecrows in 2021, the taunts, that they're just a bunch of scarecrows and maybe they're indicating for us that there is still a work to be done, that there is still a victory to be had because we already have victory in Jesus Christ. There is opportunity. Now Saul's approach on this was to try to motivate someone else, someone else to do the dirty work. He offered his own daughter great riches for the father's house, his father's house, whoever the victor was, to be taken off the tax rolls. Kind of a cool thing. But God's answer, on the other hand, was a man who had spent time with him. And we see that in David's life. Warren Wiersbe said, God had brought David to the camp for such a time as this, and he was ready to accept the challenge. Faith Baptist Church, has God brought us here to 2021 in this place for such a time as this? There's been nothing that has changed about God, nothing at all. Notice the statement here, our third point. I must keep my eyes focused on God above all. Yeah, we've got the enemy who is taunting and we've got Goliath and we've got, seems like all kinds of Goliaths around us and all these taunts. And yet God, he wants us to keep our eyes on him. He wants people that can see not as man sees, but see as God sees. This statement as well, Warren Wiersbe said, the thing that hinders the working of God is not his lack of power, but his people's lack of faith. If we see the glory of God, if we patiently wait on God, if we follow the word of God, and if we enjoy God's joy and peace within, then we can be sure we are living by faith. I have no idea how God is gonna work in the upcoming days, your faith at the church. Man, my hope and prayer is that God continues to work as he has over the years through Pastor Berman and others, and I'm so thankful for everyone that has gone before us, but it would be a great disservice to those that have gone before us if we were to just hang up the towel this morning and say, okay, now the opposition has become so great, yeah, I don't even think that God can work today. We already have the victory in Him. So long as God keeps us here on this earth with God helping us, can I just encourage our church? This might be a little bit more different of a message, I'm sorry. Can we commit to locking arm in arm together? and say whatever it is. We might try some things along the way that are just off the wall and crazy. Guess who your pastor is? Pastor Mike, sometimes you have some pretty weird ideas. Guilty as charged. We've got this movie night coming up, and I'm praying, and just pray with me, that God would use it. I have no idea who God might use or reach through this. And coming up, beginning of June, I'm praying that we have several here from our community that might never go to church, and yet they might come to a movie on the lawn. I don't know if I've ever heard of that being done before. I don't know. I know it's gonna be a great time for us as a church family. It's gonna be awesome. But I'm praying that someone there, maybe they'll hear the gospel for the first time. This other announcement that I made just this last week, having a barbecue for the police officers, man, I will say that's the beginning of August. Man, I'm looking forward to that time. And we're not gonna cram the gospel down anyone's throats there. We just wanna show love and grace to those who serve our community. And hopefully, man, along the way, maybe we'll do some more things. I'm praying that God would give us wisdom and direction on that. And maybe we'll have some crazy ideas, but... And by the way, there might be some things that fail along the way. Maybe they'll like totally fail. That's fine. But if we can, as a church, lock arm in arm together and say, whatever God has for us, we want it all, and we want to be his tools here to glorify himself in this day, because guess what? Lots of time has gone between us and Goliath and David, but God has not changed. And he's still ruling and reigning today. And with God's help, we want to be lights for him in our community and point people to Jesus. I'm so thankful that the God who worked miraculously, and I'm trying to think now here, I'm just gonna throw a number out there and say at least 3,500 years ago, at least, he's still working today. And so God help us to live and minister in a way where, man, we look to him. And where he gets the glory. If we ever do what we do as individuals or as a church to get the glory ourselves, we have failed. We have failed. Yeah, God has given us opportunity to exalt Himself, and would you pray that God would allow us to do just that? If you're here this morning, and maybe you've never, this whole thing about Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for us 2,000 years ago, if this is unfamiliar to you this morning, I'll just tell you, God loves you. And He died. He came to earth 2,000 years ago. He died on the cross so that you might have eternal life, something that you could never obtain on your own, something that I could never obtain on my own. He died on the cross, arms stretched out, elevated in humiliation, that anyone who calls upon Him might receive eternal life. And if you've never experienced that, man, I hope that today, I hope that today, that today would be your day. Let's go and pray. We'll have our heads bowed and eyes closed. Let me ask you a couple questions here. First of all, let me ask a Christian, are you discouraged? You don't have to look at what's going on in the world today, in our country today. You don't have to look far before you're discouraged. And yet in Jesus Christ, we already have the victory. Are you spending more time with God or with the opposition? Are you spending more time in fellowship with God or among that which discourages you? The taunts are pretty loud. and the taunts are constant. And some of us go to work, some here in this room, you go to work on a daily basis and you are just taunted and beaten down day by day. Can I encourage you? There's no other place to go to get confidence, to get God's view, to put wind in your sails than spending time with Jesus. There's nothing better you can do. I wonder if you're here this morning and maybe you've never called upon Christ for salvation. I just want to tell you, first of all, we love you, but most importantly, God loves you. God himself came to earth some 2,000 years ago, died on the cross, gave his life that you might receive his eternal life. And if you're here this morning, maybe you've never made that decision to turn to Jesus Christ, I would encourage you, you could even right there from your seat, call upon Christ for salvation. Thank God for the victory that we have in Him. God, I pray that you would have your hand upon this moment. Lord, I pray you'd help us to look to you. Well, thank you for all that you do. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. As heads are bowed and eyes are