Difference Maker - Week 1

We are starting a new four-week sermon series called Difference Maker that is going to help us understand that we are not only called to be difference makers as believers, but it will also challenge you to evaluate how you are living out your faith for Christ daily.

We'll do this by looking at biblical leaders throughout the Bible and learning important lessons from them that will help us as we embrace being difference makers for Christ.

There are many people that make a difference in this world, or according to this world, but just as we heard in that video, we are called to make a difference for Christ. When we read God’s Word, and understand what Jesus has purposed us to do, it changes our perspective on what it means to make a difference.

Tonight we are going to take a look at David, so if you’d like to turn in your Bibles, please go to 1 Samuel 16 (PAUSE). You see, David was the youngest in his family, and would have been least likely to become king, and yet God had other plans.

As young people, particularly as students, some would look at you all and seek to say that we are not capable of making a big difference in the world because of your age, grade, maturity, and other things of that nature.

Basketball in HS or the difference between the opportunities I had in HS versus the ones I was denied in college

However, I believe what this world needs more than anything else is a generation that is absolutely on fire for Christ to make a big difference for Him. But what we tend to do is allow things like our age, our doubts about how much we know, our fear of not being able to say the right things, and all of these other factors to keep us from living out our faith in bold ways.

I want you to first understand that despite your age or grade or any of those kinds of factors, you are called to be difference makers. God doesn't look at our age as a limitation, rather He sees it as an opportunity, and our text in 1 Samuel tonight is going to help show us that.

The main point for tonight is: God has called you to be a difference maker!

Background:

After Israel was saved from slavery in Egypt, they developed a covenant with God, but they constantly failed. It was a time of insane chaos where the Israelites repeatedly turned their backs on God in exchange for idols, and it all ultimately displayed this massive need for wise and godly leaders to lead God’s people. The first of those was a man named Saul.

Saul was an extremely powerful man and looked the part of a king. He was tall in stature, large in physique, and was the type of guy who was noticeable in a crowd. He represented everything the Israelites desired in a king, but there was a problem. While Saul looked the part, he did not obey God. Where we pick up in 1 Samuel is when Saul is really on a downward slope. His many character flaws, such as being super prideful and extremely dishonest, are becoming more and more noticeable, and he even comes to the point of directly disobeying God's commands.

This causes Samuel to proclaim that God is going to raise up a new king to replace Saul because Israel needs a humble and faithful king - so basically commit treason. Samuel goes searching for this new king, and that is where we will pick up in 1 Samuel 16:6.

Scripture:

Called to lead (16:6-13)

Read the passage

Check out v.7 once again here. God's instructions to Samuel are to not look upon the outward appearance; rather, God is focused on the heart of the next king.

God is not worried about David's outward appearance or his physical features or how old he is. He instead instructs Samuel to look for someone whose heart is set upon the Lord.

If your heart is set upon Him, then you are available to be used by Him.

So Jesse begins lining up his sons and has each one of them pass in front of Samuel (v.8-10). However, as each one passes, God declares each one of them as unfit to lead.

David is an insignificant shepherd boy who is the youngest in his entire family. He is the least likely candidate to be king, but God does not base David’s status upon his physicality, but upon his heart. It’s David’s faith and trust in the Lord that enables him to lead.

Our circumstances, such as how old we are, or how much we know, do not limit our ability to be used by God. There is not an age requirement for sharing the Gospel with your lost friends or a grade level you must be in to boldly pray for others. Rather, we are individually called by God to lead based upon our hearts' status and our faith in Him.

Illustration: [Use the large empty box as an illustration for your group to understand that we can quickly become guilty of placing God in a box, or limiting God's ability to work through us when we believe we have to be a certain age in order to lead.]

Have a student come on stage and perform a simple task. Then have them fit in the box and try to perform the same task.

It is not that we do not believe in God or how powerful He is. It is just that we don’t necessarily believe that He could use us for something that is greater than the capacities of our age, grade, status, or knowledge.

We’re fine believing that God would send His Son to die for our sins and that Jesus was resurrected from the grave three days later, but using me to reach someone who is lost? Don’t be ridiculous!

The point is that when we allow things like our age to limit our faith, what we are ultimately doing is saying to God, “I believe in you and I believe you are powerful, but maybe not that powerful." We limit what we think He is capable of doing through us based upon factors that He sees beyond.

We have to be willing to place our full trust in God’s ability to work through us because, again, God cares about the status of our heart more than He cares about our grade level.

We are called to lead as young David was called to lead. However, in this calling, we are going to face opposition.

Called to Face Adversity (17:4-7)

This is where Goliath takes the scene, and adversity enters the picture.

Though David was just anointed as the new upcoming king a few verses ago, we see how quickly opposition rises up against leadership as well.

While we are called to lead as difference makers, we do not receive a hall pass that excludes us from facing difficult trials or situations in our lives.

In the same sense, just because I am a Student Minister does not mean that I do not still struggle with sin or struggle to do things I should be doing daily such as getting in the Word as much as I'd like to or praying for others as often as I'd like to.

We see this with David as Goliath steps into the scene.

Just a few verses after David has been chosen by God, a difficult situation develops with Goliath, who is this huge, brutal fighter, and he's mocking all of the Israelites and even God.

We see what he shouts at the Israelites from the battlefield in verses 8-10.

As he does this, we see in v.11 that the Israelites are stunned in fear. They do not know what to do, but a few verses later, David is going to do something pretty bold.

There will be Goliaths that appear throughout our lives as we seek to answer God’s call to lead, but just as we are called to lead, we are called to face adversity.

The term “difference maker” means that you are going to be someone who is intentionally going against the flow of things.

You don’t make a difference by blending in with what is going on around you. You make a difference by stepping up and willfully choosing to do something that goes against the norm.

We’re called to be obedient to God even in the face of difficult circumstances because our circumstances do not define our God. Rather, He defines our circumstances for us, and we should, therefore, not allow our circumstances to define our obedience to Him.

Even in the face of the frightening Goliath, David proves faithful to God’s call to lead, God’s call to face adversity, and God’s call to be obedient.

Called to Obedience (17:31-37)

In verses 32-33, David is courageously offering himself to go out and battle against Goliath. Still, Saul doubts him and essentially tells him no since he is too young, and Goliath is an experienced war veteran.

Saul says, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”

Once again, we see David being dismissed by others because of his age and lack of experience. However, David is persistent.

David says that it is the Lord who will watch over Him in this fight, it is the Lord who will deliver him from the hand of the Philistine, and it is the Lord who is going to bring about this victory.

It is not that David was simply braver than the Israelite army or had more courage. Rather, he is more confident in the God that Goliath is mocking and His ability to do something mighty through David than he is afraid of the opposition that he is facing in Goliath.

When they come face to face in battle in 1 Samuel 17:45, David says to Goliath, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”

When we are faced with an opportunity to do something bold, we tend to shy away rather than volunteer as David does here.

Great example: when someone asks who wants to pray, we tend to look around, hoping someone else will rather than jumping out in our faith and excitedly volunteering to.

How often does God call us to do something that is outside of our comfort zone and, when He does,we become frightened like the Israelites were when they heard Goliath mocking their God?

We are constantly surrounded by opportunities to live out our faith, but we seldomly do. It takes courage, but more importantly, it requires confidence that God is greater than any fear or opposition that we are facing.

If you know the rest of the story of David and Goliath, then you know that David ends up winning the battle against the great Philistine in outrageous circumstances as he kills Goliath by slinging a stone at him.

However, David was not victorious because of the stone he chose or a sharp edge on the stone or anything like that.

David was victorious because of his great faith in God and his obedience to God’s calling.

In the same way that we are called to lead and face adversity, we are called to be obedient to God in all that we do.

Each of us has been charged by Jesus to go and make disciples. Are you living that out? Can you confidently say that you are remaining obedient to God no matter what the circumstances are?

Last week, I asked my small group to start practicing how to share the gospel, and this week, one of them is going to share it with our group. It’s important that we know the truth of the gospel, if we are to follow Jesus.

Conclusion:

As we look at and learn from David, I want to stress the importance of the status of your heart in all of these callings.

As we talk about being difference makers, you first have to decide to accept the difference that Jesus has made for you.

You can take the first step in being a difference-maker tonight by praying and accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

If you are saved, and you do have a relationship with God, then I want you to understand that you are called to be a difference-maker.

Despite your age, grade, knowledge, or status, you are called to lead.

I want to challenge each of you this week to start a Gospel-centered conversation with a friend.

Ask them what they think about Jesus or if they believe He rose from the dead or how they feel about the whole religion.

Simply begin the conversation and pray that God would open the door to their heart and use you to point them to Christ.

Maybe a way to open the conversation up is to use what’s on your seat as an invite to Student Ministry.

You are called to be a difference-maker and, if you have surrendered your life to Christ, you are capable of being a difference-maker. Let's pray.

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