9 1 Samuel 17

Standing out for God: A study of the glory of God.

EOT-David slaid Goliath for the Glory of God.

EOS-Living alive for the Glory of God

DDS-

I was different as a kid.

But I did not want to be different.

Let me give you one example. I was a band kid who played basketball. I never embraced band. What was not the norm. I liked playing basketball but the real reason I did not like the band was not because I did not like the saxophone, but rather it was because if you were a basketball player being int he band was not cool. When I transferred to a new school I would hide my saxophone. I would rather fit in than stand out and be good at to things.

Don’t we like to fit in?

But don’t we do this in our relationship with God as well.

When we moved down here to plant RCC, our whole family was standing out for God. We moved down here with nothing but a dream and no job. And we dropped our nets to follow him. And I remember after we got through a couple of years I had two thoughts, God is awesome in what he just did.

But the second one was, I never want to have to take that big of a step of faith again. But there are way too many times instead of standing out for God, I just want to blend in.

Are you standing out for God right now?

Or

Do you fit in with the world?

Today God is calling us to stand out for him.

David was living in a time where God was looking to find people who would stand out for him.

Earlier Kyle read about we the situation that Israel was in. And in this intro their are three groups I want us to see that David was different than. Because he was different he was experiencing the glory of God in fresh ways.

Goliath-

He was the best of the best, as we see in this opening scene, the whole army was afraid of him.

The Israelites-

1 Samuel 17:11 NASB95

When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Saul

1 Samuel 17:8 NASB95

He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, “Why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me.

David was willing to be different than these three groups. It was not a weird different, it was a different that allowed David to live fully alive and experience the glory of God.

In the same way God is looking for people who will stand out for him.

WHY IS HE LOOKING FOR PEOPLE?

I could quote a lot of stats but let me tell you a story. As a youth pastor i was in my office and a young man came into my office and he said, “Never get divorced”. Then he walked out of my office.

This young man was hurting because his parents had just gotten divorced. We live in a world were their is hurt and brokenness all over and God is looking for people who will stand in the gap and stand for Jesus Chrust and shine his hope.

He wants you and me to stand out for him.

He is looking for people who will say with CT Studd, a man who did stand out for him.

“Some want to live within the sound Of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop, Within a yard of hell.”

― C.T. Studd

CT Studd lived a life that stood out for God. .

Today will you live differently, will you live your life on fire of the glory of God.

To live fully alive for the glory of God we must embrace these three differences like David:

1. The first difference we must embrace to live fully for the glory of God like David is the WHO WE WILL FEAR (Man or God)!

Who do you fear?

Proverbs 1:7 (NASB95)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

This enormous war was about to take place and who were the very people of God afraid of. They were afraid of man

1 Samuel 17:11 (NASB95)

When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Notice they were not just a little afraid of him they were greatly afraid.

It is so easy to live afraid. I heard a song this week and one of the main lines was:

Fear is a liar!

Then David is introduced

1 Samuel 17:12 (NASB95)

Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons. And Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men.

Here is who David is.

David is the youngest son of this guy named Jesse. He is not even a soldier in war. But somehow someway he was the only person who was not afraid of this Philistine monster.

Why do you think this is?

Here is how we know David feared God

a. David was not motivated by man’s reward

1 Samuel 17:25 (NASB95)

The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel. And it will be that the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.”

Look at what everyone else prized. This was the very people who were afraid’s motivation.

Notice so far man’s reward did not motivate one person in all of Israel to fight Goliath.

Worldly rewards are not all bad, but they were not David’s greatest focus.

Worldly rewards cannot be our greatest rewards.

1 Samuel 17:26 (NASB95)

Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”

David’s greatest motivations was that this man was literally taunting the armies of the living God.

What if our greatest motivation right now is that there are people all ocer houston and all over the world who are missing out on the very love of God and are in jeopardy of spending eternity with the God of the universe.

What is motivating you right now?

Is it a promotion, is it the applause of someone else. What is your greatest motivation?

What if our motivation was the glory of God..

Here is how we know David feared God

b. David had a great view of who God is.

There is a saying:

Big God small problems, small God big problems.

How big is your God.

1 Samuel 17:34–35 NASB95

But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

Look at this David went hunting for lions and tigers and bears. How in the world was this guy able to do this and we have to remember he was not very big and he was young.

He had a great view of who God was.

David was faithful to God in the little things and when he was doing those little things God showed up.

1 Samuel 17:37 (NASB95)

And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”

The next thing we must do To live fully alive for the glory of God :

2. The next difference we must embrace like David is What Weapons will we use (Physical or Spiritual)!

David Contrasted to Goliath

1 Samuel 17:4–7 NASB95

Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor which weighed five thousand shekels of bronze. He also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; his shield-carrier also walked before him.

Illustration of Seal Team Six-

These guys are a different breed-

How intense they are and how good they are-swim buddies-

That is seal team, to be seal team six you are the best of the best of the best. One of the things that separates these elite levels is they can have any weapon they want.

David gear did not work out for him. Now he did have the kings gear, the king was going to fight.

1 Samuel 17:38–39 NASB95

Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor. David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” And David took them off.

So David chose his own weapons

1 Samuel 17:40 NASB95

He took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine.

The difference could not be greater, this is actually a pretty hilarious scene.

Could this not be our problem today in the church. How many times are we doing God’s work and more worried about the physical tools instead of the spiritual tools. There is no way David should win this battle in the physical.

1 Samuel 17:41–46 “Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance. The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and 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 taunted. “This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,”

David knew that it did not matter what weapon he had in his hand, any weapon plus + God = Victory.

What weapons are you using right now?

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. It also tells us that it is powerful.

1 Samuel 17:47 NASB95

and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”

Acts 1:8 NASB95

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

If we want to stand out we can. We have the access to the power source that will allow us.

Observations in tapping into God’s power

Spending regular time with God

We have a prayer meeting on Wednesday nights

We need to tap into God in our most important areas

With our spouses

With our kids

At our jobs

in our neighborhoods

Since the hurricane, I have been fighting with the physical weapons of warfare, but God is calling us to use the spiritual weapons.

If we want to see this church used in great ways we have to tap into the spiritual weapons that God has already gave us.

Friends can you just for a second take a time of confession of ways you have not tapped into the spiritual weapons!

3. The last difference we must embrace like David is our WHY (The Glory of God)!

One of the majors in the Christian life is that we live for the glory of God.

What get’s you out of bed in the morning.

David Contrasted to Saul

Saul did not want to fight Goliath.

Has anyone asked the question who was supposed to be fighting Saul in this situation. SAUL.

David went to the King and basically said I ma your man.

1 Samuel 17:32 (NASB95)

David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

David made himself available to God and not only did he make himself available to God he wanted to fight him.

1 Samuel 17:33–34 NASB95

Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,

Look at Saul-Not only did he not want to fight Goliath he doubted the one person who wasn’t afraid to fight him.

Saul was scared.

Saul was not willing to get behind the next generation.

Aiden was talking to me yesterday and one of the coaches that is talking to him about a scholarship is a coach who takes his teams on mission trips in the summer and he said, this coach wants me to go on a mission trip with him. As he was talking Bella also said I want to go on a mission trip as well.

Church we have to be a church that get’s behind our youth when they want to do great things for the Lord.

Here with a youth with God Sized dreams.

He was living fully alive for the Glory of God.

Did you know that many of the greatest movements in the history of revivals started with students.

1 Samuel 17:36–37 NASB95

“Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”

Read how the story played out:

1 Samuel 17:48–58 NASB95

Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground. Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. The men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the slain Philistines lay along the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath and Ekron. The sons of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines and plundered their camps. Then David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent. Now when Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” And Abner said, “By your life, O king, I do not know.” The king said, “You inquire whose son the youth is.” So when David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head in his hand. Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

What a beautiful picture of what God did.

2000 years ago another king would step out of heaven, only this time everything was bigger and he would fight an enemy that no one had defeated to this point, Satan and death himself. When Jesus walked this earth he came on mission to seek and to save the lost. When he died he gave a permantnt solution for our probolem with sin and our reality of death, he defeated it once and for all. And he rose again on the third day.

The victory was his.

Closing

Church will we stand out.

All of us would say here today under a church building that we want to stand out for God, but will you be different like David.

Will you fear God over man

Will you use spiritual weapons over physical weapons

Will your why be for the glory of God

Church we have done well to this point. I had to remind myself this week that it has not even been a year since we have had our grand opening. God has done a lot. Do you realize some of the things that we want to see God do? We want to see many more life groups started. What if there are people right in this group who are supposed to start life groups. We want to s