The Church of Eleven22 - David Fights Goliath - In The Arena: Wk 3

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

In week three of In the Arena, Pastor Joby walks us through 1 Samuel 17 and the true meaning of the David and Goliath story. It's not about us being brave enough to slay our own giants. It's about a greater David, Jesus, who has already won the victory we could never win on our own. Whether you’re staring down fear, addiction, brokenness, or doubt, the battle isn’t yours to win—it's already been won at the cross. You don’t need a cheerleader; you need a champion. And good news: you have one. - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

Amen and amen and amen. Hey, if you got your Bibles and I hope you do, we're going to go to 1st Samuel chapter 17. We're in the third week of this series called In the Arena because life is war. That's not all it is, but it is always that. That's a John Piper quote. And I want us to be prepared for the battle.

And so today we're going to talk about one of the most famous events in all of human history, even if you're brand new to Bible study, you've heard of this, and we're going to talk about David and Goliath. Anyone staring down on Goliath? anybody got an obstacle something that seems immovable seems impossible you ever feel outmatched you ever look across you feel stuck you feel unprepared well week one in the in the arena series pastor britt did an amazing job laying the foundation that the reason that we can have confidence is because the greatest enemy of all sin and death has already been defeated he said we know a guy that picked a fight with

sin and death and he won and because he walked out of the grave we can walk in freedom too Last week we looked at the Seven Sons of Sceiva and what it looks like to fight without power. You'll get it handed to you. Today we're going to see what it looks like to fight with power. We're going to look at David and Goliath. And everybody loves this event. I hesitate to call it a story because I don't want you to think story like Veggie Tales or Star Wars. It's an actual event.

There was a dude name David, little guy, big guy named Goliath. It actually happened. But we love a good underdog story, don't we? I think this is why we love sports so much. We love a good upset. We love a good underdog story. There's some great upsets in sports history. Back in 1980, some of us remember this.

Some of you read about it in the history books. It's called The Miracle on Ice. The USA beats the USSR to win gold in hockey. They never thought it was going to happen. Back in 2007, Appalachian State beats number two Michigan with a block field gold. I love that. I don't know why I don't like Michigan, but I don't like them. Except when they play Ohio State.

Then I root for them because I hate them. worse. 2021 and 22, little guy who was a walk-on quarterback coming out of junior college walks on to the mighty Georgia Bulldogs. He's on his Stetson Bennett wins two

national championships, four MVPs. Come on, y'all should be cheering. We love it. Even if you're not a Bulldogs fan, you had to root for the kid because he was like, nobody thought he had what it takes, and he goes all the way. And I know, you're like, we like Tebow. We all like Tebow. We all love Tebow.

But he's like a godly Goliath. I mean, everybody looks at him and be like, of course he's going to kill everybody. He's bigger in the defense, all right? But Stetson was a wee little man, and he did big things, all right? We love an underdog story. Now, we are going to look at the events of David and Goliath, and it's one of the most well-known events and one of the most misunderstood accounts in all of his scripture. 1 Samuel chapter 17, we're going to do verse by verse.

We got about 51 verses to go through, so it's been three or four minutes per verse, and we'll be out of here by tonight. Ready? Chapter 17, verse 1. Now the Philistines. The Philistines are kind of the eternal bad guys in the Old Testament. And they were bad guys. When I say bad, I mean real bad.

Like pagan, worshiping, devil, worshipping, child sacrificing, rape and pillage kind of people. And the reason that the Philistines are here in the promised land that God had already promised to God's people, it was because all the way back in Joshua's day, God's people didn't do what God told them to do, and they did not kick them out of the promised land. And I don't know if you realize this, but when you ignore problems, they don't go away, they get bigger. That's a whole sermon right there, but I ain't got time. I got 49 more verses to go.

Now the Philistines, they gathered their armies for battle, and they were gathered at Soca, which belongs to Judah. And they encamp between Soca and Azica in Ephes Damim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the Valley of Allah. If we ever get to go back to Israel, then I'll take you to this place. I've been to this place. And by the way, pray, pray, pray. We are people of prayer.

I know this world is very, very tense right now, and everybody's got an opinion and your opinion's like an armpit. Everybody's got a couple and they stink. But what the people of God do is we pray. We pray for our leaders. We pray for peace. We pray for all the people involved because Jesus died on the cross for all the people. Amen.

And so we need to pray for peace in the Middle East. but if hopefully it happens and we can go back. And they are in a place called the Valley of a Lot. And they drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side. And Israel stood on the mountain on the other side with the valley between them. And so nobody's going to go first because nobody wants to give up high ground and make themselves vulnerable. So here's what they come up with.

Verse four. And there came out of the camp of the Philistines a champion. The word in Hebrew for champion means a man. man who stands between. It's only used twice in the Bible. It's going to be used in this chapter. The name champion means a man that stands in between. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines, a champion named Goliath of Gath. His height was six cubits and a span. That's nine foot six. This is every basketball coach's dream. This is Hebrew for swole. This brother was swole. He had a helmet of bronze on his head.

and he was armed with a coat of mail, is how it's translated in English. Literally in Hebrew, he was covered in scales. Here's what I think the writer of First Samuel wants us to think. This isn't just big guy versus little guy, good guy versus bad guy. That's not what this is. That here is Goliath from a pagan nation doing pagan things, and he's standing there, all swollen, nine foot six,

and he is covered from head to toe with scales. You know who else is covered with scales? a serpent or a snake. And he's got bronze all over him. And in Hebrew, bronze was a way to say that there was a poisonous snake. For you gifted class Bible people, remember Moses and the people of Israel, they got bit by poisonous snakes? And then Moses takes a bronze snake and lifts it up on a pole because that's how the Hebrews

would say a poisonous snake. I think the writer of the scriptures doesn't want us to just think underdog versus the big guy, but wants us to think Genesis chapter 3. that God's people are staring down an enemy, a snake, a serpent that is here to kill, still, and destroy. That's what's going on here. So he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze. That's 125 pounds. That's like the size of a band member, all right?

Some of them. And he had a bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders, and the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron. That's 26 pounds. And his shield bearer went before him, which is the worst job ever. The reason all this bronze talk is here is because the Philistines were the people that brought us into the Bronze Age.

The Bible writer wants us to know that it appears that David is going to be completely unmatched. The weapons of warfare that Goliath has are far superior to what the Shepherd board he's going to show up with. And he stood and he shouted to the ranks of Israel, why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine? And are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourself and let him come down to me. And if he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together.

This is what is called representative warfare. That oftentimes in ancient times, one of the things that they would do is instead of all of the armies killing one another, they would decide not to do that because the winner got the spoils. Not only did they get the gold and the weapons, but they got the people.

So they said, so instead of killing all the people that we could own, why don't we just send? You send a champion, I'll send a champion, and we'll go winner take all. That's what they do. It's called representative warfare. And when Saul, who's the king of Israel, by the way, and by the way, he is the king that Israel chose. Samuel is the prophet. Samuel's talking to the people, the people of Israel, say,

we want a king. So Samuel goes to God. It's like, hey, God, they want a king. God's like, no, no, he don't. It's like, yeah, they do. So he comes back, like, are you sure? Because God's your king. And the people are like, we want to be like everybody else. We want a king like the rest of the world. Can you believe that church people wanted to be just like everybody else back in the day? It's unbelievable, isn't it? Be careful what you ask for, because God might give it to you. And in fact, in Romans chapter 1, God says it's actually, it's the wrath of God to turn you over to your own desires. But it's his kindness that would lead us to repentance.

And so they pick this king. And the Bible says that he's head and shoulders above all of the rest. He's the tallest, studliest guy in all of Israel. And it says, when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and they were greatly afraid. They were confused and they were frozen. And when Goliath comes out every day and says, I define you in the name of my God, then everybody in Israel, when he says, send me a man, they all look down to the end of the table. And there's King Saul, who was supposed to defend Israel. And Saul looks around, he's like, one, two, three, not it, and he doesn't go either.

And this is what happens day after day after day. When Saul and all of Israel heard these words, here's what they were. The Bible tells us how they felt dismayed. That means they were confused, and they're not even regular afraid. They're greatly afraid. I've told you this about 100 million times. The opposite of faith is not doubt. If you've got doubts, if you've got doubts, if you've got to,

unanswered questions. If you're like, why in the world would God allow this to happen? I've got good news. You could make a great disciple. Like, where do you get that, pastor? The disciples. They didn't understand anything. I mean, Jesus told them over and over and over, I'm going to be arrested, crucified, dead, buried, and on the third day, rise again. Guess what they didn't understand? That is the whole point. Just right over their head. So if you're a little slow on the uptake, on Bible study, you can make a great disciple. The opposite of faith doesn't doubt. Pick up your doubts, pick up your unanswered questions, and by faith, follow after Jesus. You'll be just fine. We'll be together in heaven. The opposite of faith is fear,

because fear paralyzes. Faith produces action. Fear paralyzes. The Bible, in the King James version, 366 times commands us some version of don't be afraid. Fear not. Be anxious for nothing. Don't worry. Why? I don't know about you, but every single day of my life, including leap year, I need to hear the words from God. Do not fear. Why? Because I am with you. You see, it's okay to be scared. Scared's a feeling. Fear is demonic. The Bible says, Paul tells Timothy, I did not give you a spirit of fear. Now, when you look at your circumstances and you get a little scared, scared is fine. Scared is a feeling as long as it doesn't control you. But when you face that scared and you step forward in obedience through what made you scared, that's called courage. And we need some men and women in the church to be courageous these days. Amen. But fear paralyzes, and these folks are paralyzed. Think about this.

They are in the promised land. They're standing on the ground that God said, that's yours. Take it. But they can't because all they can see is the giant and not the size of their God. And so it leaves them afraid. Let me ask you, what are you afraid of? I mean, is there something in your life that is just intimidating you

that has you frozen? are you taking the trust that God has given you as a gift and are you putting it in your circumstances? That's what fear is. Fear is misplaced trust. Faith is when we snatch that trust back from our circumstances and say, God, I'm scared to death. But here it's yours. I'm going to trust you more than I trust the way I feel right now. And I'm going to step forward in what you have called me to do.

Verse 12, things begin to change. Now, David was the son of an epithite of Bethlehem and Judah. named Jesse. For some of you advanced class Bible people, Jesse's grandma and granddaddy are Ruth and Boaz. That's kind of cool. And he had eight sons. And in the days of Saul, the man was already old and advanced in years. The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul into battle. And their names of the three sons who went into battle were Eliab, the firstborn, and next to him Abedadab and the third Shema. And David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, the king, but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.

So David is a shepherd boy. Now when we think shepherd boy, we think, oh, that's cool. In the ancient times, it was not a good job. It was the lowest of the low job. Nobody's and rejects did that. You know why? Because sheep are dumb. They're dumb.

And you just have to overlook a flock of dumb animals that without your help will die. one of the most common things the Bible calls us is sheep. Why? Because you're dumb. We do dumb stuff. We are dumb. We need a shepherd. And so this is his job.

And for 40 days, the Philistine came forward and he took his stand morning, eat evening. Now, the Bible's over there. I'm making this up because when I do Bible study, here's how I try to do Bible study. I'm not trying to just read stories about the past. This is an actual event. David was a teenage kid, okay? And every single day, his brothers are off doing cool stuff for King Saul, and he's watching

these dumb sheep. And maybe he began to think, why do I have to be out here, man? I mean, does my life matter? This isn't fair. Has God forgotten me? In fact, what's crazy is if you back up one chapter, Samuel, the prophet of God, has anointed David as the future king of Israel. And he could have been like, God, what are we doing?

You got big plants for me, but you got me out here just tending these dumb sheep. Now, David never talks this way. I talk that way all the time. David never talks this way. He just does what his dad ask him to do. Check this out. Verse 17. And Jesse said to David, his son,

take for your brothers an ephah of this parts of grain and these ten loaves and carry them quickly to the camp of your brothers. That's bread. And also take ten cheeses to the commander of their thousands and see if your brothers are well and bring some time. token for me. Listen, Samuel just told David in chapter 16, he's going to be the anointed king of Israel. And now his dad tells him to run some food. Listen, David is like a pepperoni away from being a pizza delivery boy back in the day. You understand? And nowhere in

here do you see him complain. Listen, man, you want to do great things with God? Be trustworthy. Trustworthy with a small thing that's right in front of you. If you ever want God to give you any sort of mantle of leadership, then first learn how to be a servant. Why in the world do you ever think God would give you authority if you don't know how to submit to the authority that he has put over you? And check this out, it's not submission until you don't like it. When your boss is like, you need to take a day off, I'll submit to your authority. That ain't submission. And David just does what God puts right in front of him. Hey, listen. The way my path that led to getting to have the position that I have now is because that's just what I've done.

I never had like dreams of aspirations of leading a big church or anything. When I was 19-year-olds, I felt like God called me to teach the Bible to teenagers, and that's what I did. In the last service, there was a girl from my very first youth group at Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Beaver Dam, Virginia. Have you ever heard of that? Of course you have it. She was sitting right over there. She's all grown with kids now. And when I first got in the ministry, man, I showed up to the church and talked about we had three kids show up.

We met in a broom closet. It was awesome. About three weeks later, we grew to 12. And I thought, you can change the world with 12 disciples. Can I get a witness? And all I ever tried to do is just be faithful to what is right there in front of me. And then over time, the people in authority over me just gave me more opportunity, more opportunity, more opportunity. And then one day, Pastor Jerry looked at me and said, I think you should plan a church.

and now I get to pastor the greatest church in the world. Now you can't clap because I'm talking about you. Don't clap because that's prideful. We are awesome, all right? God opposes the proud. We want him on our side. We don't want him on the other side. All right, amen.

But I'm telling you, man, David could have thought, man, I'm wasting my time out here. Is God punishing me? How come I don't get to go do that? I ain't got nothing to do, but maybe I'll play this harp. Who's ever going to listen to that? Maybe I'll journal a little bit. but I doubt anybody will ever read it. You know what I got nothing to do?

Maybe I'll pick up a sling and sling this thing a little bit. And he started getting really good at that sling. And then it went from boredom to, like, scared them. And the lions and bears show up to try to kill the sheep. And he could have thought, God, are you punishing me? But he got really good at killing the predators. You see, one of the things I want you to see is some of you are in a place in your life that you never thought you'd be. It's not the way you wrote it.

You know, you're a single parent. You got a prodigal. You don't have a job right now, whatever it is. And you might think that you're in the pasture, and that pasture is punishment, but it very well could be God's provision to prepare you for the big thing that he's got for you. Whatever you do, don't waste where you are. Don't waste where you are. That harp thing for David got him an audience with the king.

That journal that he was right now thinking nobody's ever going to hear these songs. They're the Psalms that we still worship God. to. And one of those rocks, he wrote down, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in one. It could be the most famous song that has ever been written in the history of humanity. And that sling work, it turned out to be really, really, really helpful.

So your pastor may not be punishment at all. It very well could be the provision of God. Whatever you do, don't waste where you are. It may not be your plan, but I know what God's plan for your life is. God's plan is to conform you into the image and likeness of Christ. And that's what he's doing. That's what he's doing. you see don't fall into the myth of there because you'll begin to think once i get there everything

will be fine let me give you a theological reality you are here and god's name is i am that i am and he wants to meet you right here and he has not given you the mercies that you need for tomorrow so why don't you be present in the right now and be faithful to what god has called you to do in the right now and you trust him with the future he's already got the future in his hands he's not going to be surprised. He is preparing something for you, for your joy and his glory. That's what's happening. So David shows up delivering pizza to his brothers. Verse 19. I love this verse. Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Ilaa, look what it says, fighting the Philistines. They weren't fighting the Philistines. They were running and hiding every time Goliath called him out.

There ain't much of a fight, is it? I think it's funny if you ask, hey man, what you've been doing? We've been fighting the Philistines. Well, tell me about your fight. Well, we get dressed up every day. He cusses at us and then we run in hiding our tent. That's how we fight. Honestly, it reminds me most Christians I know.

You ever notice Christians don't sin anymore? I mean, they actually sinned. They just say, I'm just struggling. What do you mean? Oh, no, that's sinning. You're sinning. That's called a sin. Stop.

And the reality is, if you were actually struggling, You might not sin as much, you know what I mean? Like if you'd actually fight against it, a lot of us have just given ourselves over to it and just call it struggle and be like, well, I'm so authentic. No, dude, get in the arena. Get in the fight. Kill sin or it'll be killing you.

Christ has put it to death on the cross, and I get it. We're all tempted, we all stumble, we all fall, but stay in the war and fight. Don't run away. Verse 20, and David rose early in the morning, and he left the sheep with the keeper, and he took the provisions, and he went as Jesse had commanded him,

his dad. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line shouting the war cry. And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army, and David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. One of the things that I've noticed in this chapter is that David never walks in 1 Samuel 17. Whatever opportunity God gives him, he immediately goes to it. and he ran to the ranks and he went and greeted his brothers and he talked with him behold the champion the philistine of gath galith by name came up out of the ranks of the philistines and he spoke the same words as before now i want you to think about this don't think flannel graft

and veggie tales this is a big old swall-up pagan dude cussing israel and david heard him david's talking to his brothers like here you go here's a little you know little cheese and crackers and then he hears him cussing the God of Israel. And David's like, do what? Would you say? Where I'm from, we say, say it again. Son, I'm about to come over there and hit you so many times you think you're fighting an octopus or something.

You know, he's like, that's what he's doing. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, Goliath, they fled from him and were much afraid. This has been happening on repeat for 40 days. And the men of Israel said, have you seen this man who has come up? surely he has come up to defy Israel. I want you to see the different perspective between the people grip with fear and David.

All they can see is the size of the giant and they see themselves. And that's why they're paralyzing their fear. Listen, man, I am all for biblical counseling, but let me tell you something that biblical counseling is going to do. It's going to help you get your eyes off you a little bit. If all you ever do is look at the problem and look at yourself, you got a problem. And it's the problem in you. And it ain't ever going to get better. that's what they do see the size of that giant and we're scared over and over and over he says have you seen

the man who has come up surely he has come up to defy Israel and the king because david said what happens if somebody kills him and they're going to tell him the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches he'll give him his daughter he'll make his father's house free in Israel so he's like all right man you get cash prizes a girl and no IRS seems great and then david says said to the man who stood by him, what shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the approach from Israel? But here's what David sees. For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should divide the armies of the living God? See, everybody else said, look at the size of that giant. David said, what are you talking about that uncircumcised

Philistine? See, David sees a Gentile. He don't care that he's not Jewish. That brother does not live under the covering and covenant of God. And my Bible says that God has a blessing on his children. And when you bless us, you get blessed. And when you curse us, you get cursed. And he just cursed us. So that brother's about to get cursed. He saw the Gentile and he saw a gigantic God. That's what he saw. Everybody else saw a giant and he saw a Gentile and the God of the armies of Israel. They're looking at different things, man. And the people answered him the same way, so shall it be done to the man who kills him. He's like, all right, well, if you kill him, you get cash and prizes and a wife and you don't have to pay taxes.

But cash and prizes will never be enough to sustain you. If God has a call on your life, that will be the thing that drives and sustains you. Verse 28. Now this is sad right here. And this is so real. Oh, my gosh. I want you to see how real this is. Now, Eliab, David's eldest brother heard when David spoke to the men, and Eliaab's anger was kindled against David.

Jealousynolds a brutal thing. it. And he said, why have you come down and put, and with whom have you left those few sheep in your wilderness? This is such a big brother move. Hey, little guy, what'd you do with those dumb sheep? That's what he's saying. He's talking smack to his little brother. Then it gets worse. Let me tell you how it gets worse. Now he begins to question the motives of his brother. He goes, I know your presumption and the evilness of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle. and David said What have I done now?

Was it not but a word? I was just asking a question. Listen, man, words are so, so powerful. And mark my word. When God calls you to do a great thing, your biggest adversary won't be out there somewhere. It'll be somebody close to you. And words are so powerful.

The Bible says that in the power of the tongue are life and death. And it's one thing with rando people that you don't even know, like say mean things about you on Twitter, you know. Typically, I mean, dude, I get all kind of hate. It's so, I just usually just tell them, you're probably right, and they don't know what to do with it, and then they just explode on themselves.

They don't know what to do, okay? But it's another thing when somebody close to you, somebody your brother, your big brother, somebody that's supposed to protect you and love you and speak life into you, and when they begin to have these kind of words, oh, it could be destructive. When you hear things like, you'll always be a loser. here a disappointment. You're just a drunk. You're always going to be a drunk.

But I want you to notice what David does. David's going to shrink the sizes of his ear to what the naysayers have, and he's going to turn his face to what the God of the armies of Israel have to say about him. This is what you have to do. This is why you've got to be deep here in this word. So when the enemy, through some other human beings, begin to talk smack, you can hear the word of God. And his word over you is that he loves you.

you and he's proud of you and he's for you when Jesus was baptized before he ever did anything before he ever preached the sermon or he ever walked on water or he ever died on the cross and resurrected from the grave before he did anything God said look at my boy behold my son in whom I am well pleased and God's posture towards you if you are in Christ is he is pleased with you he is proud of you he speaks life over you my Bible says Baptist he dances over you this is how God sees you and if you can begin to see you the way God sees you, then you could do the things God has called you to do. So here's what he does. And he, David, turned away from the schmack talkers and turned towards another. And they spoke in the same way and the people answered him again. Listen, this reminds me, the wrote Teddy Roosevelt

quote that we've named the series after in the arena. It is not the critic who counts. It is not the man who points out how the strong man summals or whether doer of deeds could have done better. But the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. Don't, let the applause of man shut you down, but you do what your heavenly father has called you to do. And of course you're going to get beat up, battered, and bruised. But if God has called you into the arena, then the victory is his and you can trust him. Don't even give your time to the naysayers. And when the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul. And Saul sent for David. And Saul is probably thinking, sweet. Finally, somebody's courageous

enough to fight Goliath. Maybe he won the contender series. He's going, Rise up, I bet this dude's tough, and in walks David. And David said to Saul. And David's thinking, oh, I mean, Saul's thinking, no way. Aren't you my heart player? A little kid comes in. And here's what David said, let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine.

And Saul said to David, you're not able to go into Philistine to fight with him. For you were but a youth, and he has been a man of war since his. youth. Saul's like, aren't you, you're my harp player, right? Yeah, you're a wee little guy. You're like Old Testament Prozac. When I get depressed, you're supposed to play me a song and the demons flee. You're going to fight? But David doesn't let what the king says to find who he is because he knows the God of the armies of Israel. But David said to Saul, your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion or a bear, he took a lamb from the flock. I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me,

I called him by his beard and I struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions, plural, and bears plural. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. And I think what if in this moment David begins to realize, you know what? I'm ready for today because of what God has brought me through in the past. Like I thought I was out there wasting time fighting lions and bears. And what was happening is God was preparing me for this very moment right now. Listen, man, God does not waste a hurt. He doesn't waste a pain. He doesn't waste whatever you are going through. I'm just telling you, God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to

his purpose. So whatever you do, man, don't waste your life. You understand? I know you may be in a place in your life that you did not expect. that you would be. Like in rehab or divorced or a single parent or without a job. I'm just telling you God is with you. I promise you the empty tomb and the alarm clock or empirical evidence that God is not finished with you. And he has great plans for you. I know it because you're here right now. So here's what David says. The Lord who delivered me from the Paul of the Lion and the Paul of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul, says to David, go and the Lord be with you. That's Hebrew for him. Good luck being dead. That's what he's

saying. Here's the thing though. David never says, I got this. David says it's basically a song we sing all the time. All my life, you have been faithful. All my life you have been so, so good. Even when I couldn't understand it, I could trust you. And David, back in his tent, he's got a stuffed bear and a stuff lying. Now, most of you, me and Mr. Johnny, we've killed some lions and bears. All right. Mine were like, not a moofosal lion, but some other kinds, okay? But you know what we have, this better than a lion's paw and better than a bear, Paul? When we look into our past, you know what we have as evidence of God's faithfulness towards us? We have a cross and an empty tomb. And if God did not withhold from his own son, how much more will he give us all that we

ask? You understand? If any church in America knows this, you better know this. If the tomb is empty, anything is possible. So when God has called you to do whatever the thing is, even if it seems impossible, then we should be faithful because we trust him, not our circumstances. Charles Stanley, an incredible pastor out of Atlanta, passed away several years ago. He used to say, if God calls you to run your head through a brick wall, you better start running and trust him for a hole. That means you'd be faithful to what God has called you do, and you trust him with the circumstances. And so David's like, in the power of the name of God, I'm going to go out there and the Lord's going to hand over this Philistine to me. Verse 38 and so Saul

clothed David in his armor. Saul's like, well this is how we do it, but it's not working. I love this so much. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail and David trapped his sword over his armor and he tried in vain to go for he had not tested them. You see, Saul was a big dude. David was a little guy. Saul stopped it big and tall. David got his stuff from Abercrombie or even an extra large is a shmedium, you know what I'm saying? Listen, I'm so glad there's a bunch of 1825ers here. Please hear this. This is true for you 40-year-olds.

You just won't have ears to hear it. You're never going to be who God called you to be if you put on Saul's armor and you're David. You've got to do what God called you to do. And listen, I know your mom and dad love you like crazy. That's why they tell you what to do all the time. But you will not stand and give an account to your mom and dad. you will stand before God Almighty one day and give an account to him. And too many times we try to appease man.

Even people that love us in our forests and are smarter than you, your parents are way smarter than you. It's not even close. But they're not the God of the universe. And if you try to live your whole life in somebody else's armor, you'll never be the you that God created you to me. The greatest way that you glorify God is to be the you that he created. He came up with the idea of you.

God don't make junk. That he knit you together. He gave you your heart, your desires, your experiences, and he has a call on your life, and you have to do whatever it is that he has called you to do. And if you don't, you'll be living somebody else's life, and you'll never fulfill God's call in your life. So David put them off. He said, this ain't going to work. The Bible says to fulfill your ministry. You can't fulfill mine, and I can't fulfill yours.

You fulfill your ministry. And so then David took his staff in his hand, and he chose for me. five smooth stones from the brook and he put them in the shepherd's pouch i love this so much i read all kind of commentaries about what the five stones mean here's what it is man do you know this galith had four brothers that's why he picked five stones he's picking him things out he's like all right i got one for you big boy and i got one for your brother and his other one and that one and that last one too i got you too let's go that's what he's got one for all of them he picks out five smooth stones his sling was in his hand and he approached the Philistine.

And the Philistine moved towards, and he came near David with his shield bearer in front of him. Worst job ever. I'm talking about a failure. This guy didn't do his job either. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him. For he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. He's a pretty boy. He don't look like a fighter.

And the Philistine said to David, am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his God. The Philistine said to David, come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beast of the field. These next few verses are some of my favorite verses in all of the scripture. Because it is some Holy Spirit and smacked smack talk right here. That's what's about to happen. Now I want you to pay attention to these verses because we're all going to say them in about 20 minutes, okay? So you get ready.

So this big old nine foot six swole up bronze spear warrior is staring. and down David. Do I look like a dog to you? I'm about to feed your body to the animals. And David says to the Philistine, well, you come against me with sword and spear and javeling, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Here's what I love so much about the Bible. I want you to love it like I love it. So we're reading history right here. These are actual events that happen in real time. But if you flip over to the Psalms, you can read about how David felt while some of these things were happening.

David in Psalm chapter eight he writes these words this is what's going on at times in David's life in his heart oh Lord our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth you have set your glory above the heavens out of the mouth of babies and infants you have established strength because of your foes to steal the enemy and the avenger when I look at your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have set in place what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him him. If you were to tap David on the shoulder, standing in front of Goliath, and you would go, hey, dude, he's gigantic. David would say, I don't care. My God is galactic. If he can hang the stars in the air, watch what he's about to do. This big old joker, that's what he says. He said, you come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Host, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. And this day, the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you down and cut off your head, and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air, the wild beasts of

the earth, and all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all the assembly may know that the Lord saves, not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. Boom, that's what he says. David stands out there and says, Goliath, I'm out here in confidence, not because I think I'm awesome, because I serve an awesome God. And I am out here so that the whole world may know that there is a God in Israel. And when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, and David ran quickly to the battle. He runs to the battle line to meet the Philistine. That's what he does, man. He runs. Let me tell you what bold faith is. Bold faith is acting as if you actually believe God is who he says

He is and he always keeps his promises. I know we believe in God, but do you believe him? Like when he calls you to do something, do you trust him? What is the thing that God has called you to boldly run after? Maybe it's forgiveness. You don't feel like it. You just know the Bible commands it. Or maybe it's generosity. Or maybe it's going on that first mission trip.

You signed up twice. You didn't show up because you were afraid. Maybe it's reconciliation. That's a hard one. Maybe it's to slay the giant of pride and you would confess and repent and say you're sorry. or maybe it's finally walk away from that sin that you've been keeping around like a pet in your life. Or maybe it's to finally break up with that boyfriend or girlfriend that consistently drag you away from the Lord. Or maybe it's to not give up on your marriage and fight for her instead of with her.

Or maybe it's to go after your prodigal child one more time. What is the thing that God has called you to? And you go, yeah, but it's impossible. Amen. if the tomb is empty, anything as possible. And so David put his hand in his bag, and he took out a stone, and he slung it, and he struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone stink into his forehead, hit him right between the running lights, and he fell on his face on the ground.

And that was the last thing that ever went through the mind of Goliath right there. Goliath goes down. Historians tell us now, they still have these kind of slings. It's not like one of these guns. It's like two big straps of the pouch, and you get that thing slinging around, and the exit velocity of one of these hard stones from the Valley of Allah had the stopping power of like a 357 magnum. So all along, everybody thought David was the underdog.

He wasn't the underdog. I mean, one of the points here is don't ever bring a spear to a gunfight. You know what I mean? You'll lose. And so David prevailed over the Philistines with a sling of a stone, and he struck the Philistine, and he killed him, and there was no sword in the hand of David. And then David ran, and he stood over the Philistine,

and he took the sword, and he drew it out of his sheath. and he killed him, he cut off his head with it. When the Philistine saw it, that their champion was dead, they fled. And then all of a sudden, guess who got infected with courage? All the Israelites, let's go get him. Can you imagine there's a guy up on the hill with his by-nose? And he's like, David's slinging a sling. Goliath's cusset.

Let's see what happens. And then, shh, uh-oh, he got him. What? I'm serious. He got him. Yeah, he's down. What's David doing it? He's running.

Don't run at him. having you watch horror movies he's probably faking and when you get there he's going to grab you by the neck squeezing out your eyeballs so he's running right in oh now he's got a sword oh there goes the phyllisines head yep now he's just hanging it around spike it like a football all right and the philistines are like we're out of here that's what happens okay now let me tell you why this is one of the most famous events but one of the most misapplied events you hear this all the time it's often taught something like the bigger they are the harder they fall you ever heard that this is literally from this event right here and the worst thing you can do is think all right

you get this pep talk and I'm gonna go out there and I got some giants that I need to slay and I can do this as my dear friend Matt Chandler famously said you're not David you're not David and your job promotion is not Goliath and it's not up to you to go out there and hit that thing with the rock so that you can win you know why because guess what would happen if in your own power, you go out there and try to slay that giant. You're going to miss. And you're like, yeah, but I got five shots. You're going to miss five times.

We've all been there before, right? He says, Matt Chandler, my buddy, he says that we are more like the Israelites up in our tent, you know, with our wet pants going, oh, please don't hurt me. I think we're actually, we're like the smooth stones. You see, what we need, we don't need a cheerleader. We don't need a little pep talking a cheerleader. That's not what we need. We need a champion to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

that Jesus is the greater David. That the ultimate villain who has ever faced us is the devil of hell himself, who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. But Jesus has already put death to death. One that does not look like a warrior, a shepherd boy out of Bethlehem, shows up on the scene, not equipped like an army would be equipped, but equipped with the grace of God. And he shoots his shot, goes to the cross,

pushes up on his nail pierced feet, and says, it is finished. And then three days later, he didn't throw a stone. he rolled a stone away and he came walking up out of the grave and down goes death, down goes sin and down goes Goliath and we are on his team. That's the champion that we have. You see, we're fighting from victory, not for victory. The Bible over and over and over says we're more than conquerors.

First time four four says, you dear children are from God and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. So if we are a character in the story, I think we're the smooth. stones. And here's what I mean. God doesn't put rocks anywhere on accident. That for all of human history, God has been working all things together that these stones would be just the right size and just the right shape and in just the right place for that moment. Every time a flood swept through and there stones banged up against other stones, it smoothed them out. When a chariot would ride over them and it would crack a big one into two smaller ones, it would be just the right size. And of all the

places in the world, they were in the exact right place so that when the champion picked them up and put them in his sling, they were more powerful than they could ever be just sitting in the brook. That's what you and I are. When we take our one and only life and we put our life in the hands of the champion Jesus Christ, then he can slay all kinds of giants and he decides to use us to do these things. And we got giants in our world like fear and bitterness and injustice. like human trafficking, child exploitation, brokenness, defiling the name of God, addiction, people pleasing, depression, temptation, hopelessness, doubt, disbelief. And do you know what he does?

He uses us. And listen, man, even though David was anointed as king over Israel, he was still in the land of Elah and there are still giants. There are still giants that you and I face. And there are giants that you and I face today. addiction, cancer, broken homes, marriages are struggling like crazy, people that we love that are sick. And I'm telling you, we don't have the power to take them out, but when we put our lives in the hand of Christ, then we fight from victory because he's already overcome the grave and we live in the same kind of victory that he has called us to.

We just have to get our eyes over nine foot six tall, get it off of the giant and get it on to our champion, Jesus Christ, who has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves. And so with that in mind, again, let me be as clear as I can. You don't need a cheerleader. We need a champion to do for us what we can't do for ourselves. And Goliath's got to go down, man. Fear and depression and addiction and broken homes. and child exploitation, human trafficking, all these things. And there are some particular things that you're fighting right now in your life.

And we're going to end by claiming the words of Jesus. Okay? A hundred years ago when I was a youth pastor, I would take these kids on mission trips, these high schoolers. It was one of my favorite things to do. And I'd try to take them to the dirtiest, grungiest, non-air-conditioned place, all these little spoiled brats and put them in there. And I'm telling you, they would rise to the occasion. But oftentimes, before we would go out, one of the things that I did most is I just make them preach.

I just have them share their testimony and share the gospel. It's the best way to make a disciple. And I wouldn't give them any warning. Guess what? You're up. Go. You know, most people say that our number one fear is the fear of public speaking. People fear that more than death.

Seinfeld says, when you go to a funeral, most people would rather be in the box than the one talking, all right? And so before we would go, we were gathering the morning, we'd get our Bibles, and we'd go to 1st Samuel 17, and we would take these very words that David spoke, not in our own power, but in his power, because we knew we were going to face some giants today. And that's how we're going to close, okay? So I want to invite everybody to stand up right where you are, and listen, I know some people like to scoot out. This ain't just scoot out, Dave. I'm telling you. And if you don't have a giant you're facing, some of us do. Maybe you could stand as a champion in between our behalf and shout these words of God's for us.

And I need you to get that giant in your mind, that fear, that anxiety, that prodigal son, that cancer, that broken home. Whatever that thing is, it seems like it's an impossible, immovable thing out there. And I want you to repeat after me, and you've got to do it with some gusto, okay? You come against me. That ain't it. That ain't it. you sound like an old dead church that's what that just sounded like all right you're going to encourage the enemies we don't let him hear you talk like that you're going to make it mad you understand

listen man we have an enemy that wants to steal kill and destroy right and we have a savior that came that that we may have life and have it abundantly in the same kind of veracity that he's trying to take you out and take your kids out and take the ones that you love out and ruin you and your relationship with the lord with that same kind of intensity we stand on the solid rock of the god and we claim His words, so you repeat after me, you come against me with sword and spear and javeling. But I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have to find out. And this day the Lord will hand you over to me.

And the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. And the whole world will know that there is a God in 1122. And all those gathered here will know that it's not by sword or spear. That the Lord saves. For the battle is the Lord's. And he will give all of you into our hands. Amen? Now listen.

So it's war. So we're going to close the way we always close. Because the way we close services is so the week. will be prepared for battle. And when we're going to sing, we're going to sing all hail king Jesus. I'm not the king and I'm not the champion. You are and I need your help.

And when we sing, we join together with literally tens of thousands of people that call 1122 home. And we're all singing the same thing at the same time to the same God. It's like a big corporate prayer. So we need to sing like save people. And we bring our ties and our offerings.

You just say God, it ain't much, but this is what I got in my hands. What could you do with this? Just like David did. All I got is a stick and a sling. Can you do some of this? And we pray. And we pray.

And we come before God and we say, God, I'm facing down a giant. You already know what it is. But I'm believing the God of the armies of Israel, the host of the armies of heaven. God, I know that you're fighting for me because of what you did on the cross. But God, I need you to move.

And so like David ran, Maybe you need to run down here and get on your face and maybe bring a warrior with you and say, I need you to pray for me. Let's sing, let's bring, let's pray, let's respond.