“I’m Built Different”

Introduction

We as Christians have potential. That means that when we were being formed, God packed us with potential. This, in turn, means that we are are built different. We are created with potential inside of us. In the Bible, we see many characters who are built different. Joseph was a victim of jealousy, he was sold into slavery, and he was thrown into prison because of a false allegation, but it is Joseph’s faith in God that the Lord is with him and he is made ruler of Egypt, so he comes back to his brothers in Genesis 50 and tells them, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.” He was built different. In Daniel 3, the three Hebrew boys were faced with a possibility of being burned alive by a fire, but they had a different mindset, that they were able to say “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us.” These are examples of people who had potential and were all built different all throughout the Old Testament, and we are going to see another example of a person in our text today who was built different.

Text context

In this text, Samuel writes to the Jewish people. The Lord was with Samuel from an early age, because the Lord has spoke to Samuel when we was a little boy working under a man named Eli, and the Lord told him that he was about to do a shocking thing in Israel. And as he grew up, the Lord was with Samuel and continued to speak to him in the Tabernacle.

But it is here in our text today where after years of relative peace, the army of the Philistines once again threaten the Israelites. Both the Israelites and the Philistines are on opposite mountains and a valley is in between them. Instead of trying to engage in battle with the Israelites, The Philistines send a giant named Goliath. He is their champion. Goliath would come from the top mountain every morning and every evening, and mock the Isaraelites. He would say to them that they all did not have to fight in the battle, but he would tell them to send just one to fight him and if that one would kill Goliath, the Philistines would be the Israelites’ slaves, but if Goliath wins, the Israelites would be slaves of the Philistines. If you saw Goliath, you would understand why the Philistines were counting on him and why everybody was afraid of him. Goliath is literally a giant of a man. He is over nine-feet tall. He wears a bronze helmet, and the bronze coat he wears weighs 125 pounds. He had a bronze leg armor, a customized light spear, and a sword.

So Goliath makes this challenge against the Israelites, and when he does, Saul and his army are afraid. We are told that David’s three oldest brothers are in Saul’s army, but David is back in Bethlehem taking care of his father’s sheep. Anxious about his other sons, David’s father, Jesse, sends him to visit the troops and take some food to his brothers. When David arrives, he hears Goliath challenging the Israelite army. Although no one has volunteered to fight yet, Saul offers some rewards to the man who can defeat Goliath. He offers wealth, honor, his daughter’s hand in marriage, and no taxes on that person’s family. Although Saul’s offer is good, who in their right mind would actually go out and fight this 9-foot tall giant. Could I tell you that a little boy named David wanted to fight. David went to some soldiers nearby and asked them what would someone get for fighting and defeating this giant, and he heard about the rewards. David felt like this giant had no right to challenge “the armies of the living God”, which is what David called the Israelite army. But David’s older brother, Eliab comes out mad. Why is he mad?? Well, see in 1 Samuel 16, Samuel is sent to Bethlehem to anoint a new king. When Samuel arrived, he saw the big brother, Eliab and thought that he was the one, because he looked good on the outside, but the Lord reminded him that he considers inner qualities and not outward appearances, and the one he will choose will be “a man after his own heart”. Since Eliab didn’t pass, Jesse sent his other son, Abinadab, but he didn’t pass either. Jesse then sent his other son, Shammah, but he didn’t pass. Jesse had sent seven of his sons, but neither of them passed. So Samuel asks Jesse if he has any sons left, and Jesse says that he has the youngest, which is David, but he is taking care of the sheep. Samuel asked Jesse to send him, and it was something about David that caused Samuel to say “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” So here in 1 Samuel 17, the big brother, Eliab is mad at David because he has been chosen to be the new king and Eliab has not. That is kinda like some people. Some can be mad at you and hate you, not because you’ve done something, but because your chosen, because God is with you, because God has picked you, but you shouldn’t let that discourage you, but you should let that build you up and help you to be better. So Eliab is already mad, and in this moment, he is not trying to be “Brother of the Year” here, but he is mad and he asks David what he was doing there and about the sheep that he was supposed to be taking care of. But David just tells his brother that he was only asking a question. David then goes to another few soldiers, asks them the same question he asked the others, and gets the same answer. But David’s question was reported to the king, and the king sent for him.

David goes to King Saul and tells him to not worry because he will beat the giant. Saul says to him “don’t be ridiculous”, you are just a boy and this giant has been fighting since he was a boy, but David obviously had a real good argument, because Saul agreed to let him go and fight the giant. After he agrees, Saul gives David his armor, but David cannot fit in it, and he says that it is not for him, so he takes it off and looks around and finds five stones. He puts these five stones in his shepherds bag, goes out to fight Goliath, and he defeats him.

Message

I have to ask the question today, what are you going through? There may be some of us who are like these Israelites: scared and fearful because of a challenge or a situation that seems so big that it is impossible. And the fact of the matter is that with these situations, you can either face it or fear it, and I need to tell you that if you fear it, it will not leave, but it will keep bothering and picking at you. But, if you face it, you have to face it with assurance knowing that you are built different. This young boy named David has major faith in God. Although he is smaller than this giant physically, he is 10x bigger than him spiritually, and that is because he knew and understood that he was built different.

Body of Message

I believe today that Samuel teaches us three things that David has that show us how he is built different. SO Let’s back us and see these three things and see how David gets the victory.

David Has FAITH TALK.(vv. 32-36)

Everybody is afraid of Goliath. Verse 11 tells us that even King Saul is afraid. Not that is sad because he is the leader and the king, and when the King is afraid, when the leader is afraid, you know you’re in trouble. But not this little boy named David. David comes to Saul and says “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” David was basically saying “don’t be afraid, Don’t be scared, I got this. I’ll go fight him.” That is faith talk. Faith talk is when you talk talk that's bigger than you. Faith talk is when nobody thinks you can do it, but you stand up and says “I got this!” But in verse 33, Saul comes back with fear talk. He tells him to not be ridiculous, for there is no way that you can go out and defeat this giant. I like how David has faith talk and I feel like David is not only telling Saul that he Got his and he’ll go fight him, but he was telling himself that.

EX: I was scrolling on Instagram one day, and I saw this teacher who Did a thing with her students. She told her students to say some affirmations to themselves like “I Can Do This”, “I am Strong”, “I am Brave”, and other things. And i thought about that, and what I came up with is that sometimes you have to speak life and positivity into yourself. Even if there is nobody around you to tell you that you can do it, you just have to speak it into yourself. You have to tell yourself that you will go into hallways and classrooms and be the light that you are called to be. You have to tell yourself that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. You have to tell yourself that whatever problem is thrown at you, you can handle it. You have to speak life and positivity in yourself.

It was not just Saul that thought that David didn’t stand a chance, but his own brother didn’t even think he could do it. He is doubted by his own family, which is supposed to be encouraging him. His brother says to David that he know his about his pride and deceit, and that he just wants to see the battle and when he sees David asking the soldiers a question, he brushes him off in a way by telling him that he already knows him and that he only wants to see the battle. The big brother is mad at David because he has been chosen to be king, and on top of that, he brushes him off. Have you ever had somebody just brush you off, as if you don’t matter, but despite that, David still has faith talk. Even though David is doubted, he still says “I will go and fight him.”

David has faith talk. He has faith talk, even though Saul thinks he can’t do it because he’s young. He tells David that he is just a boy. David is doubted because he’s young. When I was reading this and I saw this verse, it made me think of 1 Timothy 4:12, which says “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young. God can use young people like you and me to do amazing things. In the Bible and even in the world today, there are young people, teenagers like you and me that are making a difference.

EX: Joseph was young, and he went from being sold into slavery to being in charge of Egypt. Joshua was a young man, and because of his patience and persistence, God made the walls of Jericho fall down. Even Jesus was just twelve years old when he wandered off from his parents and went into the temple and was talking and listening to the doctors and teachers in there, and everybody in there was amazed at how much knowledge he had.

If God can use them, what makes you think that God can't use you? In order to face and fight your giants, you have to have faith talk.

David has CONFIDENCE in God.(v. 37)

Saul is not convinced that David can go out and fight this giant. But David has evidence. David has a job of watching his father’s sheep. He was a shepherd boy. And while he was watching his father’s sheep, he tells Saul that when a lion or a bear came and attacked a sheep, he would go after it and rescue the sheep. He says that he has killed both a lion and a bear, and Goliath will be like one of them. He then says “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” He knows that the Lord will give him victory because of what he’s already done. Believe it or not, me and you as young christians have evidence of God in our lives. We’ve been confused before, but God gave us knowledge and understanding. We’ve been hurt before, but God has comforted us. God has brought us through the last grade, even when at times it was hard and confusing. So might I ask: Why are you worrying?? You know that God is a helper, a comforter, a provider. And if God did that for you then, God can do it for you now.

David does not have confidence in others. He does not have too much confidence in himself. Sometimes when It come to our situations, we don’t go to God about them even when we should. We can put confidence in people to help us and pick us back up and help us, and that is good. It’s great when people believe in us, cheer us on, make us feel valuable. But here’s the key: you can’t become so dependent on people that you’re putting less dependence on God. We should stop becoming so confident in people, but put it in God.

We should not only not put all of our confidence in people, but we cannot become over-confident in ourselves. David showed us earlier in the text that God’s glory was his priority. He said in verse 26 "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?” Notice how David says “this uncircumcised Philistine”. What does this mean? Circumcision was an act of faith to symbolize the covenant of God between him and Jewish people. See, it was custom that male Israelite babies were to be circumcised. David was circumcised and Goliath was not, which means that David believed in God, but Goliath didn’t. David had so much confidence in God because he knew he was on his side. When you know you have somebody on your side, when you know there is somebody in your corner who is waiting for you to tag him in, you don’t have to be worried, you don’t have to be afraid, but instead you can have confidence in God. David did not have so much confidence in himself, that he saw Goliath challenging him, but he saw him challenging God. In this point, David made God’s glory his priority. He was not going on to fight to make himself look strong, but he was going out to represent God, because he saw this as a challenge against God. David knew that he needed God to win this battle.

EX: In the movie “The Wiz”, which is a remake of “The Wizard of Oz”. In this movie, after Dorthy meets and saves the Scarecrow, she meets the tin Man, and the thing about the tin man is that the Tin Man cannot move or talk without oil. He needs the oil to help him function. We cannot become too confident in ourselves because that fact of the matter is that we need the oil and the anointing of God to help us fight and defeat our giant. We need to put our confidence in God.

I don’t know about you, but I have confidence in God. I don’t put all of my confidence in people, I don’t put all my confidence in my teachers or my principal, I don’t even become over-confident in myself, but since I know I need God, I put all of my confidence in God.

David Has TRUST in His Own Resources.(vv 38-40)

After Saul agrees to let David go out and fight, he dresses him in his own armor. This was quite an honor. David got to go out and fight, not just with anybody’s armor, but with the king’s own and personal armor, but there was a major problem: David was only a teenager and King Saul was a tall, impressive man. And David must’ve noticed something was off about it, because he tried to walk around and at that moment he comes to the conclusion that Saul’s armor is not fit for him. Someone else’s armor is not fit for you. You cannot wear someone else’s armor. Saul gave David his armor, but David decided to use his own resources.

David cannot go out in Saul's armor because it is not him. This shows us that David is authentic. To be authentic means to be genuine and real. In these few verses, David simply keeps it real. There are assignments that are connected to your authenticity, which means if you are not authentic and not Yourself and not being real, you are missing out on what God is calling you to do. I know that we may think others are better, but you are uniquely made, and there are some people and some places that God has assigned to you. In fact, you don’t know what God has for you in this school year, but you will never get there if you never be authentic. You have to go all throughout school and life just being yourself and being who God called you to be. You don’t have to go out all through this year pretending to be someone else and putting on a mask and hiding who you really are, you don’t need to change yourself because of the people who ware around you, you just have to go out and be yourself. Be authentic. Be authentic in your style, in your academics, etc. Just be you.

David has authenticity. He does not go out in the battlefield as someone else, but he goes out as himself. The Bible says that David looks around and finds five smooth stones, puts them in his shepherd's bag, and goes out to fight. David does not reconsider, he does not put them back down, but he trusts in these five smooth stones to help him win. He trusts his resources. Can I tell you that we have resources that we can trust. God has given us the resources we need to go out and fight the battle and win. He has given us the Belt of truth, the Helmet of Salvation, Breastplate of Righteousness, the Shield of Faith, the Shoes of Peace, and the Sword of the Spirit. And when we have these resources, there is nothing we can’t handle. Trust in your resources. Be authentic. You don’t have to put on somebody else’s armor and use somebody else's resources, because you are authentic and God has already prepared you and given you resources. That’s why God knows that you can make it and that you can handle this school year, because even when you didn’t see it, God was preparing you. God was preparing David while he was working with his father’s sheep. He was preparing him for this moment. God was preparing you. So child of God, don’t be afraid this school year, but instead be authentic, trust in your resources, and trust in the fact that God was preparing you for this year.

Conclusion

David had faith to fight and defeat his giant. But the things that really made his faith stronger were his faith talk, in which he said to Saul and himself that he can handle it. It was his confidence in God, where he knew that the Lord would rescue him because of what he has already done. It was his trust in his resources, which allowed him to not go out as somebody else, but be authentic and use the resources that God gave him. We already know that we have faith in God, but in order to make our faith stronger, as we go back to school, we have to have faith talk, confidence in God, and trust in our resources.