The Giant
Notes
Transcript
Well if you were here last week we started our new series called “David”
And last week what we talked about is how the current king of Israel was unfaithful to God and because of that God wants a new king.
And what happens is he chooses David to be the next king.
And he does this by having Samuel who was a prophet during this time anoint David which was basically a way of setting David apart for a specific task.
And what is amazing is David gets anointed, but he has no idea why.
but by him allowing God to annoint him was a way of saying: God however it is you want to use me, do it.
Set me apart for your purpose, whether thats being a Shepard or king.
And part of how we ended was by us saying God we want to live lives set apart for your purpose (whatever that is).
But you know often times what happens is we make a commitment like that where we say God I want to set this apart in my life, but the issue is often times not to far down the road, something will get in the way of us trying to live a life faithful to God.
Its like if you have ever started a diet, you usually start strong, but then the time it takes to make something healthy gets in the way, or there is something that looks to pass, and it gets in the way.
But just like that we try to live a life for God the best we can and something gets in the way.
It might be an addiction, it could be a struggle, it could be a person,
But somthing gets in the way.
and specifically today we are talking about fear that gets in the way of our walk with God.
So today we are going to be in and we are not going to read the entire chapter but we will be reading a few sections of the scripture in this chapter,
and really this speaks to what fear does in our life and how we can handle it.
So this story starts out with two nations the Israelites and the Philistines and throughout a lot of the Old Testament these nations did not like each other.
and parts of this was because they had disputes over land or different things,
But largely the philistines worshiped false gods and what they believed caused them to be aggressive and cause a lot of conflict.
And so in this story both of the nations are in a vally and on one side is the Isralites and on the other the philistines
And they are getting ready to fight.
but here is the issue because the Philistines have a Giant man on their side named Goliath.
And Goliath was a big guy, He was around 9’ 9’’ and he was strong because it says that just his armor was around 125 pounds.
and Goliath comes out and would just trash talk the Israelite army
and one thing he said was I defy the Israelite army
which in a way was for him also to say I defy your nation and your God.
and what happens is no one moves forward to face Goliath because there is most likely a fear.
and so what happens is for 40 days this passage says Goliath would come out and say this both morning and night.
And you can almost imagine the shame they have by now that they have been stuck facing this fear for 40 days in the morning and the night and they have no plan on how to face it.
But you know I think that shows what fear does to us because often times its the first thing we think of in the morning, and the last thing we think of at night.
And it starts to beat you down when you are stuck in the fear.
But look what happens because David was still a little to young for battle so he would go back and forth from the battle field during these 40 days where he would take care of the sheep and also bring his brothers who were fighting food and supplies
and I look at verses 20-23 because it says that the two armies were fighting and it says:
And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. 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. As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.
Did you catch that?
It does not say David goes to the battle field to kill Goliath and be a hero, he was actually just on another trip to help his family,
but this is what you need to catch it says this time he heard what Goliath said.
there is this quote I love from this Christian band called “Casting Crowns” it says “David did not set our to kill a giant. He set out to follow God and a Giant got in his way.”
because David hears what the Giant says where he mocking Israel and there God and he looks around and every time this happens people are running away in fear.
and he finally says its time to take a stand.
Because he realizes that if he is set appart for God this can’t keep happening.
and can I just say there are things in our lives where it is time to take a stand.
There are things in our lives where if we have said I am set apart for God then this can’t keep happening
It is time to take a stand at that immorality in our life
It is time to take a stand against our anger issue
Its time to take a stand against the injustice in our society.
Its time to take a stand against our fear that holds us back from God.
It is time to take a stand agai
It is time to take a stand!
And look what David does because he starts telling people we need to do something about this! We cannot keep living with the Giant around.
a
and look what David does because he starts telling people and look at verses 28-30 because it says
Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil 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?” And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before.
So Davids oldest brother comes to him and David I know why you are here.
You are just trying to stir up issues and make yourself seem like this hero.
I know where your heart is.
But you know whenever you make a stand there will often be people who get mad at the progress you make against your giants.
I know a person where for him his giant was saying God I’ll give you my finances.
And at one point he decided he would take a stand and say whatever you call me to do financially, i’ll do it.
And they finally got to the point where they said God I want to give whatever you want financially from me.
And when his family found out about this t
And he decided to do this but it was not to long until his family found out what he did.
Do you realize what your doing?
and they pulled him aside and said do you know what your doing?
Do you realize what you could do with that money instead of that?
Do you realize what you could do with that?
How are you going to live?
But you know there are often times where people will be upset over us taking a stand.
and I love how David response in this passage because he says “I just said a word” and really you can picture him saying I do not regret saying it.
Because I am upset and you should be to.
and he actually just turns away and keeps talking to others.
(Maybe insert illustration)
So look what happens because David makes an impact and it says word actually reaches Saul (The current king) and he calls David to him and David actually tells Saul I want to fight Goliath
And Saul tells David that this is great, but you are to young.
But look at Davids response in verse 34-37 because he says:
But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and 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 caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied 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 will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil 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?” And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before.
This really pertains to the fears that hold us back from our walk with God.
Because there are two points to this:
First David realized that God had prepared him to face the fear.
Because David says while I was a Shepard I faced lions and bears
and you know God uses our past to prepare us for the future. which means where you are right now is not a waste.
But second off and probably most important is David points out that it was God who delivered him.
and this is the powerful part because David realizes when he had lion size or a bear size problem in his life God took care of him.
And now he is standing with an even larger litterly giant size problem.
And he is looking at the past and he is going if God could deliver me from the lion or the bear, then what is this giant?
And I want to be transparent this morning because there have been times where I have gone down a rocky road before.
But during those times where you face the lion it grows your trust for when you face the giant.
And David actually goes out to face the giant and all eyes are on David.
and it says Goliath and his shield bearer are coming closer to David and you can imagine as Goliath gets closer he gets bigger and bigger until hes close to David.
And Goliath sees David and he says are you serious you are sending a child to fight me and the philistine army started cursing Davids God .
And then finally Goliath says hes going to kill David and feed him to animal
I mean first off Goliath crossed a line there and went to far, but second off David should be freaking out!
But look at what Davids response is and this is how I want to end today, because David in verse 45 says look “You come at me with a sword and with a spear, and with a Javelin , but I come to you in the name of the Lord of host, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
David knew who he was fighting for.
and he knew that God would be with Him.
Goliath had his strengths, he had his armor , his Javelin, a spear, but David had his God.
Maybe this morning you have that fear or that thing that you cannot get past in your walk with God and it is paralyzing you.
I don’t know about you but there are times where I feel like the Israelite army going “what now?!”
I am paralyzed by fear, there is a Giant in my life that I can’t get rid of, there is this thing separating me from where God wants me.
and all we can see is how huge it is. Its strength, its armer,
and we can not even see over our problem.
But what would happen this morning if we did what David did?
David never looked at the Giant and said look how big he is.
But he looked at God and said look how big my God is.
And he said I can do this.
and the result is in verse 49 because David grabs his sling shot and sinks a stone in Goliaths head and he fails face.
This morning what would happen if we looked at our God instead of our giant?
I th
Will you pray with me?