and the story again of David and Goliath. You know, when 9-1-1 happened, and I guess as I look around, some of you would have been pretty young when 9-11 happened. I forget how old I'm getting and how long ago that was, but many people that are my age or maybe older have a story, you know, about that day. Where were you when 9-1-1 took place? And my wife and I were in New York City. I was an assistant pastor. Katie was a Christian school teacher. I was supposed to be closer to Manhattan that day, but there was a pastor's fellowship taking place, but my wife had a dentist appointment, so I was at the school, which was good, because I don't know that there were other men there that day. And the attack took place, I think, if I remember right, late morning. And from where we were in New York City, we could see the smoke, the sirens were blaring. It took us 45 minutes to get home, a drive that would normally take like six or seven minutes because the main motorways were shut down. They staged the fire trucks at the Belmont racetrack, one of the Triple Crown racetracks, horse racing tracks, was right there in Elmont. And I mean, hundreds of fire trucks from all over Long Island were there because nobody knew what was happening. A week later, I don't know if you remember this, and again, you were very young, There was another plane that went down and a lot of people don't remember that because 9-11 was so big it really fell into the shadow of that but another plane went down off of, I think it flew out of JFK and crashed into the sea, there the ocean. And so, you know, sometimes in life, you reflect on big events like that. Where were you when that happened? You know, right now we're focused on Russia and it's posturing and, you know, are they gonna try to get Kiev? You know, are they gonna attack Ukraine? What's gonna happen there? And again, when these things happen, if they do happen, and we pray that wouldn't, we're praying for the believers there in Ukraine, but when they happen, I mean, it's a very clear, vivid memory, like, Okay, I know exactly where I was, what was happening when that big event took place. And so as we look at this story, I can just imagine there are audiences there, right? It's not happening just David and Goliath. They're out in some wilderness area or something like that. We've got the Philistines on one side. We've got Israel on the other side. And I can just hear some kids coming up in the future to their dad and say, Dad, tell me again, tell me again, what happened? Well, there I was, you know, on the sideline and for 40 days this giant has come out and he's yelled at us, he's demoralized us, we're all afraid and dismayed. And then I saw this guy come and he didn't look like a very big guy or anything like that. He said, what will be done to the man that kills Goliath? And then they took him to King Saul's tent. And I expected him to come out with all this armor on. Instead he comes out, we know the story and we're gonna read it a bit here. And he's telling his kids that's what it was like. Why? Because it was an epic moment. It was such a big battle in a small scale that was gonna take place that for years, the story of that was going to be shared. And so let's get ourselves back into the story here, verse 39. Okay, 1 Samuel 17 and verse 39. It says, and David girded his sword upon his armor and he has saved to go. He said, I can't go like this. For he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these for I've not proved them. I've not, you know, this isn't his armor, it's King Saul's armor. And David put them off him. And he took his staff in his hand and he chose him five smooth stones out of the brook. He put them in a shepherd's bag, which he had even in a script. And his sling was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistine. It's interesting how descriptive about that the Bible is. The Bible is just making it very clear that he went out as a shepherd to fight against Goliath, right? No armor. It tells you exactly what he's got. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David and the men that bear the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him for he was but a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance. And the Philistine said unto David, am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his guys. We talked a lot about this last week. Goliath's kind of offended. It's like Israel said, we're going to send out our smallest warrior to come fight you because you're nothing. And so he's feeling like that. And he said, I'm gonna give your body to the beast of the field, the fowls of the air. In verse 45, then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defined. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand and I will smite thee and take thy head from thee. I'll give the carcasses of the hosts of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saved it not with the sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. Don't you love the boldness of David? It's awesome, I mean, this day, this day, God's gonna, He is, because He had complete confidence in God. David was a righteous man, and as a righteous man, he had the boldness that the Bible speaks about in Proverbs 28, verse one, where it says, the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. You know, God helping us, we need to be bold like David. David, like a lion, goes out to fight against Goliath. I mean, incredible. You'd think he'd go out with fear, trepidation, anxiety, panic attacks, but instead he just looks at the giant and everything about him is just full of confidence in God. And so as we begin here this morning, we find that David was a bold soldier for God, a bold soldier for God. Does David have character flaws that were gonna come out in his life? Yeah, very sadly. And I mean, we don't like that about stories in the Bible, but the Bible doesn't hide the bad. I mean, there's very few people in the Bible that we don't know that they really struggled with sin. You know, the Bible doesn't speak badly about Daniel, but Daniel speaks badly about himself when he's confessing the sins of Israel, he's confessing his sins as well. to God but I mean Daniel would be an example but there's three righteous men that God lists in the Bible if these were there even they couldn't spare you know the people they would just save themselves the Bible says and that if I remember right if I can remember him it's Daniel it's Noah and I do know the other one and it's not coming to my mind right now. But anyway, I mean, those are righteous men, but David was a good man. David was a godly man. but David was a man and there's no excuse for his sin, but as a man, he sinned and the Bible is going to be very clear about that. So the Bible is going to reveal that in other sins that we're going to have to look at with scrutiny and think, you know, was that right? The situation that David found himself in, because the Bible says so much about David's life. Was that right? The way that he responded, but what the Bible will never show us about David, as far as I can remember ever in David's life, except maybe we can find something around the time that he sent is any fear, any cowardice. We see that in King Saul's life. King Saul, what happened when he was appointed as king? Remember what the Bible says? Samuel's looking for him, where is he? And God says, he hath hid himself among the stuff. And maybe that was modesty and humility as it seems like that. And yet maybe it was fear. Maybe there was timidity. Certainly Saul was adventuring himself to go out and fight against Goliath. But one character trait that we do see in the life of David is that he was a man that had courage. Now, a lot of times we might lack boldness. How many of you have ever been afraid? All of us would have to raise our hands and say, maybe every day we have a temptation to fear, or every week. It's quite often if we include with that worry and anxiety. Fear is a very natural human response, and yet it's not the response that we want to have. We want to be bold for God, but if I said, how bold are you for God? A lot of us would have to say, well, I'm not very bold. I would say that's normal. But if we don't have boldness, one thing that we can do is go to God and say, God, we lack boldness. That's what the apostles did. That's what the disciples did in Acts chapter four, when they were being persecuted and they were commanding them not to preach and teach in Jesus name. The Bible says in Acts 4.31, that when they had prayed, okay, it's gonna say what happened, but the prayer that they prayed was granted unto thy servants that with all boldness, we may speak thy word, all right? That was their prayer and the Bible says the place were shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness. Okay, if I asked you about Paul, was Paul bold? What would you say? Paul, the preacher, the man that would stand, I mean, he stood in the face of some incredible adversity. He was stoned, he was whipped, and yet he got up again and again and he preached. But if I asked you, was he bold? You would, I think, if you know Paul, you'd say, yes, yes, Paul was bold. But where did his boldness come from? His boldness came through prayer as well. Ephesians 6, he says to the church in Ephesus, Pray always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, watching there into with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Okay, he's saying pray. And then in verse 19, and for me, that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I'm an ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Where did Paul get his boldness? From God. See, I think sometimes we think, well, that person's bold, but I'm not bold. Well, ask God for boldness, ask God for grace to stand up for Jesus and speak out and say something for the Lord. Our boldness ought to be from God. And so do we see cowardice in our life or are we bold in our life? And so David boldly ran at his enemy, verse 48. It came to pass when the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Parents know this. If a child doesn't want to do something and you're trying to get them to do it, how quickly do they go to that task? I mean, we say something like, stop dragging your feet. You know, it's like, they really do drag their feet. Like, come on, David's not dragging his feet, is he? As David looks at that Goliath, he just goes, man, God said kill the giant. He's off to do battle there against him. He's not dragging his feet. And notice he's not just running at the giant. He's running towards what? the army of the Philistines. Behind the giant is the enemy lions. I mean, they're behind Goliath. And so he's not just running at the giant, he's running at the whole army of the Philistines that are over there. He ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. David boldly ran because David trusted God. I'm gonna read a long text from Psalm 18. But it's written by David and it maybe perhaps is reflective of what he saw God do on this day and other days as he fought for the Lord. It says, By my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He's a buckler to all those that trust in him. A buckler is the small shield that is held in the arm. For who is God? Save the Lord. Or who is a rock? Save our God. It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hind's feet and setteth me upon my high places like a deer that has that ability to just hold its ground. He teaches my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation. Thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them. Neither did I turn again till they were consumed. I have wounded them, that they were not able to rise. They are fallen under my feet. For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle. Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. that has also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. They cried, but there was none to save them, even unto the Lord, and he answered them not. Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets." All right, so he runs at the enemy. Why? Because God is gonna give David the victory. There's great confidence, not in himself, His confidence is in God's enablement. Praise God, right? I don't know about you, but I could be bold if I'm trusting that God is going to give every bit of enablement that I need as I enter into that engagement with the enemy. And so David boldly ran at his enemy. David boldly killed his enemy, verse 49. It says, Okay. Goliath is dead. Now we're going to talk about what comes after this, but Goliath is dead. He slew him. The stone sunk into his forehead. And Matthew Henry said that some Jewish rabbis teach that Goliath and his pride either took off his helmet or had his visor open. Okay, so I mean, he would have had armor that would have been there, but because of his pride, or he sees David, and David sees his chance maybe, he's got it open, he's mocking David, and for whatever reason, he lets his guard down, and David takes advantage and kills him. Okay, a sling. Dangerous weapon, yes or no? Well, Goliath was killed by it. So the answer is yes. And was it a weapon of war? Yes, it was. In fact, the tribe of Benjamin, I read this in my Bible reading this past week, Judges 20 verse 16 says, among all this people, there were 700 chosen men left-handed. Everyone could sling stones at a hair breadth and not miss. All right, don't mess with the children of Benjamin, right? Because they are deadly when it comes to slinging stones. And obviously David had that gift and that was his weapon of choice. Now there's a good warning for us as we think about this. And so the warning would be this, don't let pride make you mess around with sin that you might look at and think, well, it's not that deadly. I can handle that, right? I mean, that's Goliath's idea, right? He looks at it, he goes, I can handle that. That's just this little guy coming out to fight me, maybe casually opens up his visor, maybe mockingly opens up his visor, we don't know. But there was definitely a sense of pride in his heart that David was nothing and that he could defeat David. And so it could be in our hearts that we look at it and think, well, it's just a little sin. But the Bible says about sin, James 1 15, then when lust hath conceived it bring forth sin, sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death. It's a better thing for us to keep our armor on, be humble and say, God, I need your help against all adversaries. God guard me from sin. Keep our armor on and God guard us from sin. Second application, as we think about this, is obviously we can kill God's enemies, no matter how big they seem, no matter how dominating they may appear. 2 Corinthians 10 verse five says, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity, do you know the next two words? Every thought to the obedience of Christ. How pure does God want us to be? It's interesting, isn't it? A lot of people say, well, you can never get victory in your mind. You can never think right. I mean, certainly, I mean, you might be able to not to do certain sins or whatever, but the Bible speaks about very much, God wants us to have victory, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against God. And so there is a desire that God has for us to be pure. And so fighting even about those things, those imaginations, even as David said, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. Romans 8.37 says, nay, in all these things, all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. So nobody can look at their life and say, well, I just can't get victory over that. I just can't win that battle. It could be anything. It could be emotional. It could be sin related. It could be relational. I mean, there's so many things we think, oh, well, I just have to be defeated there. No, that's not God's expectation for us. God's expectation is that we boldly go out and fight and kill the enemy and win the victory by God's grace. And it's always through God's power. And so, David boldly killed his enemy. And then David boldly revealed the death of his enemy. He boldly revealed the death of his enemy. Verse 51 says, therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine and he took his sword and he drew it out of the sheath thereof and he slew him, okay, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistine saw, saw that their champion was dead, they fled. Okay, when Goliath fell down, I think it was kind of like in their minds, they could hear the ref going, one, two, three, you know, and they're going, get up, get up, you know, you can almost hear him on the side screaming at their giant champion, he's down on the ground, get up, you know, but when David draws the giant sword, stands on him, I guess, I don't know, and whoosh. All of a sudden, it's pretty obvious, and it's pretty gory as well, but it's pretty obvious that their champion is dead. And he demonstrated that to them. So when they saw that their champion was dead, what'd they do? They fled. It's over right for in them it's it's demoralizing it's it is it is there. They thought it would never happen and it happened. You know when Jesus won the great victory over the devil at the cross did he let the world know that he had killed the giant. The answer is absolutely he did. The Bible says Colossians 2 14 blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. which was contrary to us, all our sin, all that wickedness that we've committed in our life, as he paid the price for our sins, like he put it on his cross, that he was guilty of that, which was contrary to us, he took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Jesus proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that redemption was complete, that the devil was defeated as he was victorious there on the cross. I've shared before the story of being down in Florida and almost stepping on a coral snake. Red-on-yellow kill-a-fellow. It's a very poisonous snake, and I say it died of depression. I had 25-pound bars that I had with my mobile caravan, and I want to say travel trailers is the name of the states. But I put one of those bars on him, and then I took the other bar, and I depressed its head. So the snake died of depression. But I depressed its head. I bruised its head. And it killed the snake. You know, Jesus Christ bruised the serpent's head. As the Bible says in Genesis 3, 15, it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. Satan is mortally wounded. It is finished. Jesus Christ won the victory and Jesus Christ made it known. And so what? So we can be bold. We're on the winning side. The enemies of Christ ought to flee. Why? Because Christ was victorious on the cross. It is finished. It is over. Satan is defeated. He's still fighting. He's still acting upon that. But there's great victory for us to look and say, my savior absolutely defeated you. You're a defeated foe. That's why we can resist the devil. And he will flee from us because Jesus Christ won the victory on the cross. And so David boldly revealed the death of his enemy, lifts up the head there of Goliath. And his boldness, David's boldness encouraged God's people. It encouraged God's people. It's interesting, there's a great change gonna take place in the army of Israel. His boldness encouraged their courage. Verse 52, it says, and the men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted. Okay, do you remember the way the army was described before this point in the battle? As far as their, if you were to analyze the morale of the army, they were what? Afraid and dismayed. But all of a sudden there's a great change that's taking place. All of a sudden there's a shout. But I would say this, when they saw David go out to battle, did that make them shout? I could see them on the sidelines watching the shepherd boy go out and they're saying to each other, you're kidding. Can you imagine? I mean, if you're there, you don't know what God's gonna do. And I mean, you see this guy going out and you just see Goliath's killing him. And all of a sudden that young man slings a stone into the giant's head. The giant falls, his head is cut off. It's like they have gone from depression to ecstasy. I mean, they're just so excited at what has taken place. And so his courage gave them courage. You know, when you go to a sporting event, have you ever noticed that the winning side is the only one that has something to shout about? You know, the battle's taking place, and at first, both teams, it's an equal contest, and they're all excited, and everyone's screaming and yelling, but as one team takes a decisive position that seems that they have victory, what happens to the other side? All of a sudden, they're demoralized, right? All of a sudden, they've got nothing to shout about, but the other team can't stop shouting, right? And so what you see, when you see that Israel is shouting, it's like, man, they are invigorated. They're on fire. They know they've got it. Why? Because God has done something amazing. And so that courage that David had brought courage to their heart as well. You know, do you have your shout today? We're on the winning side, you know? Are we acting like we're on the winning side? Are we demoralized? And oh, you know, woe is me. Wait a second, God's on our side. God is great. God has killed the devil at the cross. He defeated Satan at the cross. There is absolute certainty in our life today that we can live in victory. And as I said already, do I like it that we've got sickness and we've got other things going on? No, but in everything give thanks and all things work together for good to them that love God and God is good and God is gracious and God is working. There are certainly today things that we can look at and say, I can shout because God is gonna get it done, right? We might've lost our shout a little bit, a little bit afraid and dismayed, but we need to get back to our shout and say, hey, I am on the winning side. 1 John 4, 4, year of God, little children have overcome them because greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. Isaiah 54, 17, no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. That means this, Satan cannot win. Now, I can temporarily hand him victories, but Satan can't win. He's defeated, no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Where's our righteousness from? God. Praise God, right? I'm so glad I'm not standing in my righteousness today because my righteousness are filthy rags. But when I have the righteousness of Christ, I am righteous and I am in victory because of Christ. And so may we be encouraged. Let's get our shout back. Let the battle that's been won encourage us. His boldness encouraged their fight, okay? There was no fight in them until they saw what David did. All of a sudden, they shout and they're ready to get back into the battle. Verse 52. And they pursued the Philistine until they'll come to the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way of Shurim even unto what? Gath and unto Ekron. Where was Goliath from? He's Goliath of Gath, all right? They beat the Philistines back to the home city of Goliath. I think David was probably leading the charge against the adversaries. The Bible doesn't say that, but it seems obvious that he would have been engaged in that battle, and certainly they were motivated to fight because of what they had seen in David's victory over the giant. Okay, is this a different army than what we saw before the battle? Same people, but totally different in the sense of what they're doing, right? For 40 days, they've been defeated. They've been looking at it going, oh, there's no way, we can't, we can't, we can't. But all of a sudden they see the giant fall on us and we can, we can, we can, and we're going to fight and we're going to do something for the glory of God. What was different was this, they believed God and they engaged the enemy. Could they have done that before? Yeah, they could have, did they? No, they didn't, but they could have. But what was key is they saw what God could do. And so they believed God and then they got into it. And they said, let's do it, let's fight against this. William Carey said this, expect great things from God and what? Attempt great things from God, for God. So what's he saying? Believe God and do something. You can't just do one or the other, you gotta do both. You can't just believe God, okay, God's got it, and not fight. And you can't fight and not believe God. You gotta put those things together. And faith does not just say God can, it says God can and therefore I will and I'm gonna engage the enemy. Sometimes it may be that we're not winning the battle because of either of those two things. Maybe we're trying, we're trying in the flesh and say, oh, I'm going to get, I'm going to, I'm going to do better at this. I'm going to really do better at this. And there's no dependence upon God. On the other hand, we could say, well, I'm going to trust God more. I'm going to trust God more, but we're not engaging. And so it's a combination of things that help us to do that, Lord, help us to get into that fight and let you give us the victory. So his boldness encouraged their fight. His boldness encouraged their prosperity. It says verse 53, And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistine and they spoiled their tents. You know, was it advantageous for them to engage the adversary? Yes. They got the fruit of that. They got to go fight against God's enemies, but then the wealth that their enemies had, they got to take that to themselves. They earned it. They got the spoils of war. That was right that they should have that. Let me ask you, is there any advantage to us fighting against the enemies that we have? Yes, it is biblical and it is right for us to say, I want to engage the enemy because there is prosperity in that. There is benefit to me, to my family, to my church, if I fight for the Lord. Revelation 22, 12, Jesus said, behold, I come quickly. Do you know the next phrase? And my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be. There's a reward, you know, praise God. We're fighting for God in Midlothian. We're seeking to stand for God here in this community. There is reward for that. Now, every man according as his investment is into that labor, right? We praise God for the opportunities that God gives us. And if we're faithful with those, there is reward. And we ought to say, that's great. And there's reward now for standing for God and fighting for God. There's blessing in my family. There's blessing in my marriage. There's blessing in my church. There's blessing maybe in my community as I stand for God. But aside from that, when I get to glory, is there going to be blessing and reward? Yes, it's absolutely worth us saying, man, I'm gonna fight because there is prosperity from that. And then his boldness encouraged their pride, their good kind of pride, pride in God's ability to work. Verse 54, it says, and David took the head of the Philistine, and he brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. Okay, David also was blessed. Okay, he got some souvenirs. What did he get? Well, he got the armor of the giant. He puts that in his tent. What else did he get? Well, he got this big old head of Goliath as well. I'm from a hunting culture growing up in the States, and I've said that before. It's part of my culture. So maybe I can understand this a little bit and put it into perspective perhaps for us. Most hunters are not trophy hunters. In other words, they're harvesting meat for their family. But if you shoot an animal that is an incredible animal, there is something significant about that. And other people will see that, be inspired by that, and think, wow, you know, that is amazing, that is a massive animal. And there's glory to God that's given through that. Wow, God's creation is amazing. Look at this animal, as well as a young person thinking, man, I hope someday I'm able to harvest an animal like that. Okay, so with the giant, as the giant's head is held up, and again, it's kind of gory. A lot of people say, well, that's really gory. Well, the thing is this, people would look at that and say, that is glorious, that such an adversary, that is a massive man that was killed by God's servant. You get what I'm saying? And they would see the glory of God in that and say, God is incredibly powerful. But you know what else they'd say? I think there's some shepherd boys that look around and they may be out practicing a little bit more with their slang. Because they're thinking someday when I grow up, I'm going to do that too. Do you get it? It's like, I want a trophy like that for God and for God's glory. I want to go out and get something like that. We ought to look at some of the things that God's servants have done and say, wow, that is amazing. Praise God they did that. And we ought to say glory to God. That was a huge giant. We get inspiration like that. We look at George Mueller. We look at Hudson Taylor. We look at William Burns and Robert Murray McShane. We look at Thomas Chalmers. We look at great men of the past and say they slew some giants for God. And we ought to get some inspiration and say, well, I'm just going to practice a little more with my slang. I'm just going to put a little more time in. Why? Because David wasn't a great man, but he had a great God and God used David to kill the giant. And so in that sense, he encouraged their pride, good pride. And then lastly, David's boldness earned him a higher place with the king, a higher place with the king. Saul was apparently not as familiar with David as David was with Saul. Verse 55, it says, when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, as thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. And the king said, inquire thou whose son this stripling is. Okay, you might be confused in your Bible reading. I know I have been, as I come to 1 Samuel 16, and then I come to chapter 17. He's in the court of King Saul. Then there's some time passes, he comes out to fight the giant, and it seems like King Saul doesn't know him. But I think it's a little bit like this. There was a man, that I met that was an RTV guy. When I met him, he had set up a tour program at a brand new, back in 2006, Hyundai Motors plant in Montgomery, Alabama. And he even gave President Bush Sr. a tour, and he gave the president of Hyundai a tour. I mean, it was a pretty neat job that he had. But he said before that he worked in the White House, and he would pin the mic clip on the president before the president would give his radio addresses and things like that. And the president that he worked for was President Bill Clinton. And he said the only time he spoke to the president was one time. It was Easter, and the president was in a really good mood. He'd just given his Easter address. And he said, Merry Easter, Mr. President. And actually the correct way of saying it would have been happy Easter. You say Merry Christmas in the States, but happy Easter. And so he kind of blew it. He was saying I kind of blew it. Does President Bill Clinton remember him pinning the clip on his tie? Probably not, but this man can't cease to tell others about the engagement he had probably with President Clinton. I think it's maybe a bit like that. King Saul's busy, he's got a lot going on. He's got a musician that comes in, plays a little music for him, but he would never think of these two as being the same person. And that's what Matthew Henry says. The notice that was taken of David, though he had been at court formerly, yet having been for some time absent, Saul had forgotten him, being melancholy and mindless and little thinking that his musician would have spirit enough to be his champion. And therefore, as if he'd never seen him before, he asked who's son he was. Abner was a stranger to him, but brought him to Saul. And now Saul gets to see the trophy and inquire about David's heritage, verse 57. As David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul and with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant, Jesse, the Bethlehemite. All right, he's being more formally introduced to this man, David, a man that, for better or worse, he's gonna get to know as no other person in his life. He's gonna become the most important person to King Saul, as we'll find out later in the story. And, Very interesting, he's brought into the king's court. You know, God said to Eli through Samuel, and I'll just quote part of the verse. 1 Samuel 2.30, David is gonna get honor. Why? Because he went out and fought the giant. You know, we ought to, again, get inspiration from the story. We ought to look at it and say, wow, you know, David and Goliath is a real story, real adversary of God's, real servant of God's that said, you know what, I'm going to go fight the giant. There's a lot of giants in our life. We ought to say, God, by your grace, I want to fight the giant. I'm going to be bold for you. I'm going to fight. I'm going to do something, not just believe you. I'm going to actually try to do something and see God kill the giant. All right, let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God give us courage this week as we face different giants in our lives. May the Spirit of God just remind us of the story, David versus Goliath. Nobody would have thought Goliath would die, but he did because God, you helped David. And Father, I pray that we'd be like the Israelite army after the death of the giant. that we would have a shout, that we'd have courage, and Father, I just pray, Spirit of God, apply this to our lives. It might be real giants that somebody's facing, they think, ah, there's no way, but God, there is a way. It's by dependence upon God and doing what we can to fight and stand, and Father, having done all to stand, it's in Christ, and we pray, amen.