Best man hit my hand!
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Best Man hit my hand!
Best Man hit my hand!
Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. Saul and the Israelites gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and formed ranks against the Philistines. The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. He stood and 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 servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 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, “Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. As he talked with them, 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.
All the Israelites, when they saw the man, fled from him and were very much afraid. The Israelites said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. The king will greatly enrich the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter and make his family free in Israel.” David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall 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 defy the armies of the living God?”
Intro:
Dr. Howard Thurman in his book “Jesus and the disinherited” suggests that “Our homes, institutions, prisons, and churches are crowded with people who are hounded by day and harrowed (distressed) by night because of some fear that lurks ready to spring into action as soon as we are alone, or as soon as the lights go out, or as soon as ones social defenses are temporarily removed.”
And if......
......any substantial portion of his statement is true
.....it means many of us are more afraid than we are willing to admit
(pause)
Fear by definition is this:
The unpleasant emotion caused by the awareness of danger.
Dr. Thurman goes on to say that,
“Those without the dead weight advantages in groups with SocioEconomic and political power are disadvantaged and know that they cannot fight back effectively, and that they cannot protect themselves, and that they cannot demand protection from their persecutors.”
(pause)
And I wonder if it is this unwanted vulnerability in life that intices fear to taunt us in our weaknesses.......
(pause and expound)
In today’s text.....
We find an entire army led by Saul immobilized with fear of this Giant named Goliath.
(slight pause)
The landscape of this biblical context portrays this valley in the scripture as a geographical battle line...
And on one side of the valley up in the mountain stands the Philistines
And on the other side of the valley up in the mountain stands Israel
(pause)
Barrel:
Whenever I was getting ready to get in a fight in elementary school we would never just jump right into the fight...
But there would be one person refereeing the event who would say something like....
Best man hit my hand!!!
(Pause - yall don’t know nothing bout that)
And this was really our stand off moment where we would size up the other person in the fight and see who had the most courage going into it........
And if you were too slow hitting the hand of the person standing in between the two of you......
.....it made it look like you were scared and your opponent had the advantage
Because what it meant was......
Fear has taken over....
....and that means if you are my opponent and you are fearful of me
.....I already got this battle WON!!!
(pause)
And in today’s text.......
Goliath is playing the role of the fighter who does not need a referree.......
(slight pause)
And for forty days he keeps coming out looking for a fight and saying......
“Best man hit my hand.....”
But according to the text.......
“Israel is too scared to MOVE!”
(pause)
And I believe that the reason that they don’t want to face Goliath is because....
.......they don’t believe that they are able to fight back effectively.
(pause)
And in verse 8 Goliath is here challenging Israel for a fight!
He stood and 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 servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.
According to the text.......
Goliath is already standing down in the valley looking up to the side of the mountain where the Israelite soldiers are standing in battle ready formation.......
and in my spiritual imagination Goliath says,
“Yall aint come to do nothing.........
(slight pause)
I’m down here representing the Philistines..............
Send somebody down here to represent Israel
.....Saul who you got!!!?!
(pause)
And according to verse 4 the bible calls Goliath a Champion.....
And in the Aramaic or Hebrew language in this particular scripture.....
A Champion is described as one who steps out between two opposing armies to do single combat!
(pause)
And I would argue based on this definition of a Champion that Fear can be seen as a champion.
Because.....
Fear has a way of stepping up in the middle of two opposing individuals or groups of people and declaring war in our lives......
......and fear will also look to attack us one on one....
(pause)
And one of the reasons Goliath is stepping up like a Champion is because.....
He thinks he is bigger than anything else.....
From his elbow to the tip of his middle finger is 18 inches.
From the tip of his thumb to the tip of his little finger with his hands spread out is 8 inches.
He stands over 9 feet tall.
And Freedom family,
May I suggest to you today that Fear thinks that is is larger than anything else also......
Fear will try to stand over you
Fear will try to stretch into both your past and into your future
Fear will even get in your head and start talking to you as if you are lesser than you really are.
(pause)
And just like Goliath comes out.....
Fear comes out day after day and shouts into our lives.....
“Give me SOMEBODY to fight it out with!”
(pause)
And I believe that we are all standing in a place right now in our lives where......
Fear is standing in the valley shouting,
“Come on, and let’s fight it out!”
(pause)
And according to the text......
That young shephered boy named David that we talked about last week that was anointed by Samuel.....
......just so happened to be bringing some food to his older brothers as his father Jesse had asked him, and he overheard something
(pause)
And what he overheard was Goliath standing in the valley shouting,
“Best man hit my hand!”
(pause)
And when David overhears Goliath challenging Israel’s army he can’t believe it!
(slight pause)
He can’t believe..........
.......that somebody who doesn’t even believe in their God would have the audacity to threaten their God or the people of God in this way....
(pause)
So......
David starts asking questions to try and find out more about this fighting arrangement.....
And then David says something that proved he is not immobilized by fear like everybody else....
(pause)
David says,
“Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
In other words.....
“If you looking for the best man to hit your hand........
“Here I go!”
(pause)
Now here’s what I wanted to know.......
Why aint David scared?
(long pause)
And here’s what I discovered.....
David didn’t just show up in this moment able to magically OVERCOME his fear and take on this Goliath.
(pause)
But he has had some moments before this........
he has had some moments in his life before this that have helped him to build his trust in God!
(pause)
He had some.....
Psalm 23 moments.....
A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
David.....
has discovered God as his shepherd while he was out being a shepherd......
and through that relationship he has grown closer to God to understand how God deals with his life.
And David has learned what we must learn and that is......
Our Challenges and fear don’t do nothing but push us deeper into God’s arms of protection.
(pause and expound)
David also had some......
Psalm 19.1 moments.....
The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
David......
has found out about the greatness of God hanging out in the open fields and watching anture all around him.
And my question to you is......
What have you discovered around us that reminds you of God’s greatness?
(pause)
Because if you are ever going to OVERCOME fear........
If you are ever going to Overcome the thing that you are afraid of.......
You got to have some MOMENTS like this!
(pause)
Some MOMENTS where you.....
Discover God’s Power
And.....
Some MOMENTS where you.......
Discover God’s Greatness
(pause)
Because these type of MOMENTS help to build our perspective.......
These types of Moments helped David to view this Goliath in perspective to a greater God.
And these types of Moments help us to place our Fears in perspective to a greater God....
And we start to become able to see like David that......
Goliath may be big, but Goliath still has limitations
And that means that.......
Our Fears may be big, but even our Fears still got some limitations.
But when we look at our God.........
Our God does not have any limitations.......
(pause and Shift)
And once you have discovered God’s Power and Protection.......
And once you have discovered God’s Greatness......
(pause)
Goliath.......
I dare you to open your mouth again!!!!!
I wish you would............
(pause)
What was that you said Goliath.........
Speak up a lil bit........
.......I don’t think I heard you.......
(pause)
Did you just say......
“Best Man Hit My Hand!!!?!!”
(pause)
“.........Here I GO!!!!”
Closing.......
Note:
Narrate the battle where David beats Goliath
.......Give me my slingshot
.......Give me 5 smooth stones
Note:
Quote the 23rd Psalms....as if David is remembering God’s Powerful protection and Greatness
And the whole time I see David saying.......
God is coming to my rescue!!!
Just hang in there........
He aint never let me down before!!